Delegates told to speed up talks on climate change

Africa already is suffering from "climate shocks," the president of Ghana told a 160-nation climate conference Thursday, joining a chorus of calls to speed up the pace of talks on a new agreement to rein in carbon emissions. More than 1,600 delegates and environmental experts began a week of tough U.N.-sponsored negotiations, hoping to start drafting language for a treaty due to be adopted next year. The agreement would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. President John Kufuor said Ghana had witnessed devastating drought and floods in recent years, underscoring scientific predictions that Africa will be the worst-hit continent if the Earth's average temperature continues to rise. "There is a real need for strengthening the capacity of countries, particularly in Africa, in coping with such climate shocks,"... [read full story]