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From Kyoto to Copenhagen: this December, the world community will meet in Denmark to fashion a new climate change treaty. Deforestation is on the agenda. What are the odds of a deal?

Article Excerpt
Outside the Bella Center, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, stands a solitary wind turbine. Come early December, the machine is likely to become the most famous symbol of renewable energy in the world, or certainly the most talked about. Why? Because at that time the Bella Center will host key United Nations talks that aim to secure a new global deal to tackle the threat of global warming. If the talks succeed, then the convention center's wind turbine will launch a thousand news reports that claim it points the way to a low-carbon future. If they fail, the windmill will stand only as a silent witness to a vital chance missed. Perhaps the last chance.

The December talks are the latest round of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The series of annual talks can trace its roots to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, and in 1997 it spawned the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only existing treaty aimed at restricting the greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming. The first phase of Kyoto expires in 2012, and there is nothing yet lined up to replace it. For a seamless transition, and to give nations enough time to ratify a new treaty, analysts say pens must probably be put to paper on a new agreement in Copenhagen. To head off the worst of global warming, scientists say the world needs to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, which would mean an 80 percent cut for developed countries. The Copenhagen talks will attempt to make progress toward that goal. Europe wants them to set...

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