AMSTERDAM (AP) A new legal agreement committing nations around
the world to curb greenhouse gas emissions is unlikely to be
completed until the end of 2011, two years later than originally
envisioned, the top U.N. climate official said Wednesday. Yvo de
Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. climate change
secretariat, said countries need to restore confidence in U.N.
negotiations following the dismal results of the Copenhagen
summit in December, which ended in a vague agreement of
principles and a pledge of finances for poor countries most
threatened by climate change. The next annual conference in
Cancun, Mexico, beginning in November should get negotiations
"back on track" among the 194 participating nations, with the
aim of agreeing on the main elements that could be enshrined in
a binding agreement a year later in South Africa, de Boer said.
"My hope is that Cancun will deliver what I had hoped Copenhagen
would deliver," said de Boer, who is resigning July 1 after
nearly three years in office. Negotiators