Bali Talks Agree to Launch Talks on Climate Pact

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar is the host of the talks.

U.N.-led climate talks in Bali agreed on Saturday to launch negotiations on a new global warming pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after the United States dropped last-minute opposition.

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, the host of the talks, banged down his gavel on the deal to rapturous applause from delegates after a plea by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to overcome their differences.

The deal after two-weeks of talks is a step towards slowing global warming that the U.N. climate panel says is caused by human activities, led by burning fossil fuels.

Rising temperatures could cause seas to rise sharply, glaciers to melt, storms and droughts to become more intense and mass migration of climate refugees.

The Bali meeting approved a "roadmap" for talks to adopt a new treaty to succeed Kyoto at a meeting in Copenhagen in 2009.

Kyoto binds all industrial countries except the United States to cut emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. Developing nations are exempt and the new negotiations will seek to bind all countries to emission curbs from 2013.