Brazil, South Africa, India, China call for strong, binding climate change treaty this year

Developing nations: Climate change treaty in 2010

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Four influential developing nations say the world must work for a strong climate change agreement this year.

Summing up strategy talks in South Africa on Sunday, South African Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica and her counterparts from Brazil, China and India said they want year-end talks in Mexico to produce a binding international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases and help poor countries cope with climate change. But they add success could still come from a 2011 round in South Africa.

Hopes for success in Mexico have been fading since acrimonious talks in Copenhagen last year failed to produce a binding agreement.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, with provisions capping industrial countries’ greenhouse gas emissions, expires in 2012.