Cancun agree a deal

UN talks in Cancun have reached a deal to curb climate change, including a fund to help developing countries.

Nations endorsed compromise texts drawn up by the Mexican hosts, despite objections from Bolivia.

The draft documents say deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed, but do not establish a mechanism for achieving the pledges countries have made.

Some countries’ resistance to the Kyoto Protocol had been a stumbling block during the final week of negotiations.

However, diplomats were able to find a compromise.

Delegates cheered speeches from governments that had caused the most friction during negotiations – Japan, China, even the US – as one by one they endorsed the draft.

BBC environment correspondent Richard Black said the meeting did not achieve the comprehensive, all-encompassing deal that many activists and governments want.

But he said it was being “touted as a platform on which that comprehensive agreement can be built”.

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon said the summit had allowed leaders to “glimpse new horizons” where countries had the “shared task to keep the planet healthy and keep it safe from [humans]”.

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Now the world must deliver on its promises. There is more hard work to be done ahead of the climate change conference in South Africa next year.”

The Green Climate Fund is intended to raise and disburse $100bn (