(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-13 18:56

Bali -- UN top climate official said on Thursday that the ongoing climate talks could collapse unless the delegates to the conference solve their disputes which are blocking the launch of negotiations on a new global climate deal.

"We are in an all-or-nothing situation in that if we don't manage to get the work done on the future (terms for negotiations) then the whole house of cards basically falls to pieces," Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference, one day ahead of the conclusion of the two-week meeting.

"I'm very concerned about the pace of things," he said.

The Bali talks are deadlocked over terms for launching two years of negotiations on a new climate deal before the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The protocol binds 36 industrial nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases until 2012. So far, the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia are resisting efforts to include a guideline for rich nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The European Union, which favors the range to show that the rich countries will lead the way, accused Washington of being the main obstacle in Bali.

The two-week UN climate meeting, which gathered over 10,000 delegates from over 180 countries as well as observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organization, will conclude on Friday.