BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The political deal to save the Kyoto accord on global warming was finally accepted on Wednesday, after last-minute technical wrangling held up its final approval at a U.N. forum in Bonn for two days.
It took delegates from the 180-odd countries present just three minutes of a much-delayed plenary meeting to see the text formally adopted as no nation raised objections and chairman Jan Pronk, the Dutch environment minister, brought down his gavel.
Russia won a special concession to be allowed further negotiations on one technical passage. But U.N. officials said the decision did no more than accept Moscow would try to bargain on this later and some delegates said it would be opposed.
There was applause and a sense of relief after a hot, tense day in the former West German capital, during which objections from Russia and a number of other countries had threatened to unravel the world's first coordinated attempt to tackle global warming.
``We have not only approved it but adopted it. It is a major result,'' Pronk told the meeting. ``Now we have to build on that.'' (Read photo caption below).
Ministers passed a deal brokered by Pronk on the nod on Monday after all-night negotiations rescued the 1997 Kyoto Protocol from collapse following its rejection by the United States.
It will bind most other industrial countries to cutting emissions of greenhouse gases once ratified.
But officials left behind to iron out linguistic and other technical wrinkles in the hastily worked-out deal ran into a series of problems about subsequent changes in wording.
In Washington's absence, the pact needs the support of most other industrial states and especially of the biggest polluters, like Russia, the European Union and Japan, to come into force.
FEAR OF FAILURE
As efforts to get the political text adopted dragged from Tuesday to Wednesday, there were fears that it could unravel. One European delegate said there were ``a lot of egos at play.''
Russia's delegation chief Alexander Bedritsky denied he had been blocking a deal that Moscow had, along with Japan and Canada among the major industrial states, been initially reluctant to accept.
Another Russian delegation source said supposedly ''technical'' changes between Monday's draft and the present final text from Pronk's office might create problems for Moscow.
In the end, the plenary allowed Russia to put forward in subsequent negotiations a one-paragraph proposal for a footnote that may give it more flexibility in running emissions targets.
But delegates from developing countries said they would object.
The post-Communist industrial collapse has meant Russia has already more than met its target, assessed on 1990 levels, for cutting emissions by the end of this decade. Moscow now stands to earn large sums from selling to other industrial nations ''licenses to pollute'' under a system known as emissions trading.
Many other delegations echoed Russian concerns about flaws in the compromise text, rushed through by Pronk on Monday just as it seemed the first major attempt to curb global warming might fail.
``There was all that euphoria on Monday. But now people have some sleep they see this is not a very successful text,'' the head of one east European delegation said.
While there was some irritation among delegates that the process was dragging on, there was sympathy for Russia.
Several officials from European Union states, which are the most powerful supporters of sharp cuts in emissions, said Russia had made considerable concessions in joining the compromise deal but that had been rather overlooked on Monday when the focus was on the ending of a deadlock between the EU and Japan.
``These discussions are perhaps a good way to underline its contribution,'' one EU delegate said. ``I don't think anyone here wants to leave Bonn with the deal still in danger.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Conference chairman Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk applauds the delegations following the closing of climate talks in Bonn, western Germany, Monday, July 23, 2001. Negotiators from 178 nations rescued the 1997 Kyoto Protocol after 48 hours of marathon talks ending Monday, leaving the United States isolated as the rest of the world embraced the first binding treaty on combating global warming. (AP Photo/Hermann J. Knippertz)
- Jul 23 11:37 AM ET