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Climate change talks convening in Ottawa
Environment ministers from more than 30 countries will gather here this weekend to open what is likely to be a difficult and bitter new round of negotiations on climate change.
The meeting is being held behind closed doors, and no agenda has been released. But environmentalists expect frenzied lobbying and alliance-building by opponents and supporters of the Kyoto treaty.
This week’s meeting is being described as informal and preparatory to a major conference set for Montreal in November, the first meeting of all signatories since the treaty took effect.
Scientists have already detected many early signs of global warming, including the shrinking of mountain glaciers and Arctic sea-ice, longer summer growing seasons, changes in the arrival and departure dates of migratory birds and the spread of many insects and plants towards the poles.