The world gets down to the serious business of saving the planet tomorrow, here in Bangkok.

With the help of top scientists, countries gather in the Thai capital for five days to decide what has to be done to stop Earth from cooking.

To show they mean business, countries attending will be working "around the clock" until a task list is down on paper. Last year scientists delivered their bluntest warning yet: without action, global warming will bring hunger, floods, drought and the extinction of much life. The Bangkok talks tomorrow are arguably the most significant historical global assembly on the world's most pressing issue: saving it.

More than 1,000 participants are here for the summit, including government officials, businessmen, activists and scientists from 192 countries. The venue is the United Nations Conference Centre.

The first decision to be made will be how rich countries are going to meet commitments they made to slash carbon-dioxide emissions by between 25 per cent and 40 per cent by 2050.

Once that's settled, politicians and boffins turn their attention to "a long-term mechanism to solve global warming".

The stumbling block for the experts will be costs and "worldwide political equity". Nations will have to "thrash out differences that almost derailed their last gathering", the United Nations Convention on Climate Change says, but at the end of the day Bangkok will devise a plan that "should lead to the most ambitious treaty yet for reining in greenhouse-gas emissions and battling global warming", it adds.

"I hope Bangkok ... is focused on what it's supposed to focus on," UN convention boss Yvo de Boer says.

Guidelines on slashing killer emissions agreed on in the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012. UN convention spokesman John Hay says participants have to "produce specifics outlining who does what, when and why".

By Kamol Sukin

Sunday Xpress

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