Que. environmental group urges progress in Cancun

A Quebec environmental group is calling on delegates to establish some firm "building blocks" at next week's global environmental conference in Cancun, Mexico, which could be used to create a much bigger global climate deal.

Steven Guilbeault, co-founder of Montreal-based Équiterre, said if the global community wants to demonstrate it is serious about its commitment to the environment, it must come to agreements on reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries; the transfer of technologies from the north to the south; and financing for developing countries to help them with adaptation to climate change.

"There are a few elements where there is a general feeling that we can get agreement, and if we can do that, then we can build on them to move to the next phase, which would be to get the global deal that we need," he told CBC News.

Guilbeault said the participants at the larger Copenhagen meeting last year fell just short of reaching agreements on these.

"If we can get these elements, then we can show the international community that we can get the job done," he said.

The Cancun talks will be the first ministerial-level session under the United Nations climate process since the December 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen, which failed to strike a new global climate deal.

A year ago, world leaders met in Copenhagen but left with a non-binding political declaration that failed to win consensus when it was presented at the plenary session.

Because of this failure, other Canadian groups are not expecting much out of the meeting.

"Everyone knows Cancun for its resorts and beaches, so let me put it this way: we're not expecting to get the five-star, all-inclusive deal in Cancun," Clare Demerse, of the Pembina Institute, said during a press conference.

"But this conference can be much more than a discount, spring-break hostel. What we're looking for in Cancun this winter is a nice, beach-front villa with a good view of a global climate deal."