Indonesian delegates to bridge deadlock on target in Barcelona climate change talks

JAKARTA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian delegates at the climate change talks in Barcelona, Spain, will strive to break the deadlock between developed and developing nations over emission cuts to reach a new climate treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark in December this year, the Jakarta Post reported here on Wednesday.

Indonesian delegation head Rachmat Witoelar warned that without serious commitment from the United States and rich nations to announce their targets, the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, were likely to fail to produce a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

"Time is running out. Indonesia, as an initiator of the Bali action plan, will strive to bridge differences to reach global target on emission cuts," Rachmat said.

"Indonesia is ready to help in order to reach agreement," he added.

Rachmat, who heads National Council on Climate Change (DNPI), also said that Indonesia would continue to push rich nations to cut their greenhouse gas emission by 40 percent from the 1990 level.

Negotiators from 190 countries are gathering in Barcelona until Friday to resolve the stalemate.

The Barcelona talks are the last chance for all countries to agree on measures needed to ease the pace of climate change before the Copenhagen summit.

It is also the fifth meeting on climate change this year to prepare a draft agreement to be adopted at the Copenhagen meeting, but no specific commitment on reducing emissions has been reached.

Rich nations have demanded that developing countries, especially Brazil, China, India and Indonesia, agree to binding emission cuts.

Developing countries have rejected the calls, arguing the industrial world has produced the majority of harmful gases in recent decades and should bear the cost of fixing the problem.