Upbeat note at UN climate talks

Climate negotiators voiced hope that UN-led talks would iron out differences to reach an accord on fighting deforestation and assisting poor countries worst hit by global warming.
One year after the Copenhagen climate summit ended in widespread disappointment, the United Nations and host Mexico have tried to keep hopes in check by concentrating on building blocks to a future deal.
With talks due to end on Friday, many negotiators believed they could come to agreement in three key areas: the architecture of a global climate fund, aid to discourage deforestation, and verification of countries' climate pledges.
"I am cautiously optimistic that we will achieve what we came here for," Brazilian negotiator Luiz Alberto Figueiredo told reporters late Wednesday.
Brazil's Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira added: "Now begins the process of closed rooms, nervous negotiators, starving and working through the night."
DEFORESTATION
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expected that the more than 190 countries meeting in the beach resort of Cancun could agree on ways to curb deforestation, a leading cause of carbon emissions blamed for climate change.
"We need to provide hope to a global public growing cynical about small progress in meetings on climate change," Ban said at a side event.
The clearing of forests for timber or farmland accounts each year for 12 to 25 percent of the world's carbon emissions as lush tropical vegetation balances off industrial pollution.
Wealthy nations have pledged 4.5 billion dollars to curb deforestation. The top donor is oil-rich Norway, which has already worked with Indonesia on a wide-ranging plan to preserve rain forests.
"It's almost there. It's ready. But now we are looking for it to be simplified to see how we can get the benefits," said Nepal's Forest Minister Deepak Bohra.
CLIMATE FUND
A draft proposal also spelled out the technicalities for setting up a global climate fund to administer assistance to some of the poorest nations most at risk from drought and other extreme weather from rising temperatures.
The European Union, Japan and the United States all pledged before the Copenhagen conference to contribute to a 100 billion-dollar-a-year climate package for poor nations.
In a revision, the text explicitly calls for a role for women in the fight against climate change. But some environmentalists criticized the draft for removing a reference to ensuring that 50 percent of assistance goes toward helping people adapt to climate change.