By Megan Rowling and Alister Doyle
POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - U.N. climate negotiators sought on Wednesday to break deadlock on the launch of a new fund in 2009 to help poor nations adapt to more floods, droughts and rising seas.
The 189-nation talks split between rich and poor nations about controlling planned payouts under the Adaptation Fund, which could grow to about $300 million a year by 2012 to help developing nations cope with global warming.
Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said about 100 ministers who will arrive on Thursday for the final two days of the December 1-12 meeting were likely to have to resolve the deadlock among their senior negotiators.
"I think in all probability it will be necessary for the ministers to focus...on the Adaptation Fund," he told Reuters.
De Boer wants the fund to start payments next year, in a decision he says would be a "cornerstone" of the current talks in Poznan, Poland.
Adapting to climate change -- for instance by strengthening sea defenses or developing drought-resistant crops -- is likely to cost tens of billions of dollars a year by 2030.
On Wednesday, the talks were also seeking to end disputes over forests, credits for storing heat-trapping gases below ground, and financing for poor nations under a new treaty to fight global warming, meant to be agreed by the end of 2009.
Economic recession is testing the willingness of many nations to launch costly new projects to fight climate change, or push ahead with ever deeper greenhouse gas cuts as part of the deal to be agreed next year in Copenhagen.
CASH QUICK
Developing nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America want quick access to any funds for adaptation, to be generated by a two percent tax on investments in clean energy projects in developing nations.
The World Bank, which is trustee of the Adaptation Fund and where rich donor governments have a dominant voice, says it wants to ensure proper oversight of payouts.
"Our role is...to ensure there is a good process in place so the fund itself can feel sure its funds are going to their intended purposes," Katherine Sierra, the World Bank's vice president for sustainable development, told Reuters.
"I'm hoping that the developed and developing countries will ... stop fighting against each other on details and really look at what they want to fight," said Boni Biagini, head of the adaptation program of the Global Environment Facility, which funds green projects.
Some environmentalists said Poznan might fail to resolve the standoffs. "The way it's headed it may be punted to next year," said Jake Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Also on Wednesday, China accused some nations of backing away from promises to help the poor to fight climate change.
"The only conclusion many people like me are drawing is that some (rich) countries are preparing for the great escape from Copenhagen," China's climate ambassador Yu Qingtai told Reuters.
And environmentalists urged greater focus on indigenous peoples' rights and protection of animals and plants under a plan to reduce the rate of deforestation.
Trees soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow. Burning forests to clear land for farming generates about 20 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted by human activities.
But the talks failed to agree how to govern payouts to protect forests, leaving the issue for Copenhagen. They did agree, however, that experts would issue a draft outline of a new climate treaty by June 2009.
-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
