Is time running out to seal post-Kyoto climate pact?

By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Negotiators face a mammoth task to try to agree by the end of the year on the outlines of broader climate pact to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.

Key issues such as financing climate change adaptation programs in developing nations, transfer of clean-energy technology and disagreements over rich nations' targets to cut planet-warming emissions still need to be resolved.

Following are responses from Howard Bamsey, Australia's special envoy on climate change, on how the negotiations are proceeding as nations step up the momentum to try to seal the pact during a U.N. gathering in Copenhagen in December.

THERE'S LESS THAN FIVE MONTHS TILL COPENHAGEN. IS TIME

RUNNING OUT?

"We've certainly got a long way to go before all the bits of the jigsaw are in place. While some people are now saying we don't expect to fix everything, we're not sorting issues into those we will fix in Copenhagen and those that will come after.

We've just got our heads down and are working as hard as we can with others to complete the task.

"Many countries understand the importance of building confidence. If this is the prisoner's dilemma writ large, overcoming the lack of confidence about the actions of others is pretty fundamental. So an approach which encourages rather than disparages is the right one."