AFRICAN countries yesterday boycotted meetings at United Nations (UN) climate talks, insisting that industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the action forced several technical meetings to be cancelled, while the 50 or more African countries said they would only discuss pledges submitted by wealthy countries.

Delegates to this week's UN climate talks in Barcelona, Spain warned that, unless the Africa's protest was settled, it could set back the timetable for concluding a new climate change pact at a major UN conference next month in Copenhagen.

The African countries say they are the most vulnerable to climate change yet the least responsible for the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere that is causing global warming.

A landmark 2007 UN report based on the work of about 2,000 scientists predicted Africa would suffer the most from drought, agricultural damage, rising sea levels threatening coastal areas and the spread of tropical pests and diseases.

Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, but targets announced so far amount to far less than the minimum.

Talks continued yesterday to try to resume the closed-door meetings on technical issues related to emissions reductions, including identifying new greenhouse gases to be regulated and setting rules by which rich countries might offset emissions with green technology investments in poor countries.

In London, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday admitted that the climate change treaty might not be resolved this year, as nations may be unable to commit to firm emissions limits at Copenhagen.

"Copenhagen will be a very important milestone. At the same time, realistically speaking, we may not be able to agree all the words," Ban said after holding talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Ban said he would push leaders to strike a pact in Copenhagen, but that it was more likely to be an agreement on principles - rather than specific targets for cuts.

"We need at this time the political will - if there is a political will, there is a way we can come to a binding agreement in Copenhagen," Ban said.

The Copenhagen deal would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which called on 37 industrial countries to reduce emissions of heat-raising gases by an average five per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. It made no demands on major developing countries like India and China. The United States (U.S.) was the only major greenhouse gas emitter to reject the Kyoto accord.