Post-Copenhagen climate talks begin amid discord

Differences emerged Friday at the outset of the first U.N. climate conference since the disappointing Copenhagen climate summit, as delegates from 175 countries began mapping out a path toward a hoped-for global warming deal by the end of this year.

The failure of the summit in December in the Danish capital to agree on the architecture of a new climate treaty hung heavily over negotiators concerned that the process begun more than two years ago was badly damaged, and uncertain about how to go forward.

The three-day UN conference is meant to set a program of meetings leading up to the next major conference in Cancun, Mexico, and decide whether Cancun should aim for a legally binding agreement or an outline that can be completed over the next year.

Few delegates believed a full treaty can be completed this year, and probably will wait until the end of 2011.

The meeting ran into immediate discord over how to regard the only document to come out of the contentious summit, the three-page Copenhagen Accord brokered by President Barack Obama with China and a few major developing countries in a hectic round of consultations on the final day.

African nations said the Copenhagen Accord was done by "a selected few," and any further attempt to bypass the majority "will obstruct the process."

"To repair this damaged process we must learn the lessons from Copenhagen," said Congolese delegate Nsisli Tosi Bibande Mpanu Mpanu, speaking for the Africans. "They broke the trust that is necessary for any partnership," he said.