Probono

I love the fact that the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia each forced deletion of text that would engage their citizens to think that the issues are relevant to them? Do they think that omitting the words wil change the reality?

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approved its latest report on global warming on Friday after last-minute wrangling to remove some critical parts of the report.

Issuing the report, panel chairman Rajentra Pachauri praised what he called a "very good document" which had not been easy to reach.

"We have just completed a marathon meeting. We have approved a report. It's been a very productive but tiring exercise. In the end we have a very good document. It was a complex excercise and not an easy document to produce," Pachauri said.

According to delegation sources in Brussels, the last-minute obstacles which had to be resolved in drafting the final text came from Saudi Arabia, China and Russia insisting on a watering-down of the text.

Further details were expected to emerge from the press conference following the issuing of the report.

During ongoing negotiations in Brussels, experts from 130 nations had yielded to demands from the United States and China.

The sections removed included one on the expected climate damage in North America, sources said. The draft had originally said that tornadoes, drought, flooding and fires would increase as a result of climate change and was removed at the behest of the US.

During negotiations, China had insisted that one part of a text be removed according to which damages "with a very high likelihood" would occur. Scientists attending the negotiations had then demanded that this particular part of the text be retained. A compromise was then sought.

Various graphics have also been removed from the document, according to delegates. One such graphic showed temperature rises based on various hypotheses while another illustrated the regional effects expected in Africa.

At the start of the conference, it became known that at least one- fifth of animal species and plant species were in danger of extinction. Heat, smog and malnutrition were making more and more people ill. Floods and droughts are becoming more frequent.

In February, it released the first part of the current round, which focussed on the science and found in more unequivocal terms than ever before that human activity has caused the massive buildup of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide that trap heat beneath Earth's atmosphere.

The third part of the report is to be released in May and is to show ways of counteracting climate change.

? 2007 DPA