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Delegates working hard on draft deal
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Saturday marks the 6th day of the United Nations climate summit. Delegates at the conference were working through the weekend to negotiate the text of a possible new global agreement to combat global warming. And still, many disagree about the possible new deal.
Inside the conference hall, where negotiations were taking place, organizers said there was progress at the half-way mark.
A draft climate pact unveiled on Friday revived hopes that U.N. talks might be able to work out an international deal to fight global warming.
Connie Hedegaard, President of Conferrece of Parties, said, "The whole atmosphere here has been very constructive. These two texts, that is a very good sign, that both groups can actually come up with texts, that they have civilized and very constructive debates on that and I also think that showed in the plenary today."
But the draft still left open whether the agreement will be a legal document or a political declaration.
Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary of UN Framwoek Convention on Climate Change, said, "Given the state of play and given the amount of remaining time, we cannot cast that all in a legally binding agreement here in Copenhagen but as the minister has indicated, we do need to do that in the next six to 12 months in 2010."
The draft distributed to the 192-nations attending the conference also set no firm figures on financing or on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
There were still deep splits on raising funds for poor nations and sharing the burden of curbing greenhouse gases.
Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary of UN Framwoek Convention on Climate Change, said, "The purpose of this gathering is to reach a result. It's very clear that the industrialized countries will not agree to an ending of the Kyoto protocol and it's also very clear that many rich nations will not agree to only continuing with the Kyoto protocol, so then it seems that there is only one way forward."
The draft continues the system for industrial countries set up in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol by which they are legally bound to targets for emission reductions and face penalties if they fall short.
Outside the conference hall, tens of thousands of climate activists marched on Saturday as part of a worldwide "Day of Action," to urge negotiators to agree to a strong treaty, one that will tackle global warming.
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