World leaders must intervene to rescue flagging climate talks by brokering in person a deal to combat global warming in Copenhagen in December, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday, according to Reuters. Brown is one of the few leaders of the major economies who has announced plans to go to the U.N.-led Dec. 7-18 conference, which is supposed agree curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and how to help poor countries cope with climate change. "Success at Copenhagen is still within reach. But if we falter, the earth itself will be at risk," Brown told representatives of 17 of the world"s main polluting nations, gathered in London. Environment ministers aim to sign a global pact to extend or replace the existing Kyoto Protocol. But talks preparing for Copenhagen are bogged down in complex drafts and mutual suspicion between industrialised and developing nations. "Over the remaining weeks to Copenhagen and in the two weeks of the conference itself I will work tirelessly with fellow leaders to negotiate a deal," said Brown. "I"ve said I"ll go to Copenhagen, and I"m encouraging them to make the same commitment." --SP
