Climate change talks resumed after walkout

Approximately 130 developing nations including China and India walked out of the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen Monday.

12:54 PM Update: According to Reuters, African nations agreed to allow talks to restart in a compromise after a five-hour standoff. Andreas Carlgren, environment minister of Sweden whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency said, "We found a reasonable solution." Developed nations told Africans that they were willing to discuss the Kyoto agreements. Previous Story: As a result of the walkout climate change talks have come to a screeching halt. A major motivation for the walkout was to try and bridge the gap between the developed countries and the developing countries. Countries that have suspended co-operation are those which make up the G77-China bloc of 130 nations. These range from well-off countries such as South Korea to some of the poorest states in the world. Many developing nations particularly in Africa fear that the developed nations want to remove the Kyoto Protocol. Kamel Djemouai, an Algerian official who heads the African group, told Reuters, "...we are going to accept the death of the only one legally binding instrument [Kyoto] that exists now." Some believe that the walkout is being used as a ploy to shift the agenda from the industrialized nations to the developing nations. Penny Wong, Australian Climate Change Minister, told Reuters, "A range of developing countries have expressed their concerns and acted accordingly. This is not the time for people to play procedural games. We need to resolve the process issues and get onto the substance." While the developing nations are trying to make a point, the United Nations is hoping to dispel any misinformation. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters, "The vast majority of countries here want to see the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. I'm not aware that any countries are trying to block anything." Yvo de Boer believes that negotiations would could continue sometime Monday afternoon.