Frank McDonald in BaliThe UN climate change summit moves into high gear today with the arrival of environment ministers, prime ministers and heads of state to agree on a mandate for negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by 2009 at the latest.
Indonesian motorcycle police and chauffeurs spent all day yesterday doing dummy runs for the motorcades that will whisk leading politicians from 190 countries to the Bali International Conference Centre at the Westin Hotel in Nusa Dua resort.
As trade ministers met for informal talks on how to break down tariff barriers to promote solar panels, wind turbines and other "climate-friendly" technologies, finance ministers were holding another side meeting on carbon trading and other money issues.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley flew into Bali yesterday to play his part in the EU team, which is determined to ensure a successful outcome to this summit - the 13th conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Nobody expects COP13, as it is known, to produce a global agreement to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. But what the Bali meeting is expected to do is to define a "road map" for further talks over the next two years on how to to tackle global warming.
The UN convention's executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, has talked about the need to find a "tool kit", including the expansion of carbon trading schemes, incentives for developing countries to come on board and opportunities for co- operation between richer and poorer countries.
In the wake of a succession of reports earlier this year by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is no longer any doubt that global warming is already happening and will become much more severe unless steps are taken soon to mitigate it.
One of the most politically-charged issues is the question of who should curb greenhouse gas emissions and by how much, against the backdrop of figures showing that Africa emits only one tonne of carbon dioxide per capita, compared with seven tons in Asia and 22 in North America.
Although China is expected shortly to overtake the US as the world's biggest emitter of CO2, its per capita output will be significantly lower for years to come. But the US, supported by Canada and Japan, wants any emissions-reduction deal to embrace China and other developing nations.
IPCC chairman Prof Rajenda Pachauri, of India, is on record as saying that it would be next to impossible to expect the developing world to agree to mandatory cuts at this stage. What he wants to see is leadership from richer countries, including Ireland, in making deeper cuts.