The UN climate conference at Cancun today reached a compromise to set up a 100 billion Dollar Green Fund to fight global warming. The fund is intended to raise and disburse a hundred billion dollars a year by 2020 to assist poorer nations with low carbon development and protective measures against the effects of global warming. The decision has been hailed by India as an important step forward. But there was no agreement on extending the landmark Kyoto Protocol on emissions cuts beyond 2012. The progress came despite objections from Bolivia which said commitments on reducing carbon emissions were weak enough to allow global temperature to rise by up to five degrees Celsius. Minutes after a set of decisions was adopted at the end of the two-week conference of ministers from nearly 200 countries, host Mexican President Felipe Calderon said confidence is back and hope has returned. The decisions reached in this conference will be followed up in negotiations next year. It is hoped that a legally binding treaty emerges at the next climate meet in Durban, South Africa.Many of the contentious issues had been by-passed to reach compromises in Cancun. For instance, no number had been given for further emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol and there was no commitment to continue the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.Some groups said that it is a weak text that will eventually lead to the death of Kyoto Protocol. The protocol is the only treaty that imposes legally binding cuts on developed countries. Others said that it is a workable compromise for the moment. Space has been given to dump the Kyoto protocol. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the major emerging economies — Brazil, South Africa, India and China – BASIC have welcomed the decision. He said they are very happy with the text and Cancun represents an important step forward. He said that many of India's contributions had been incorporated in the text. The minister pointed out that under the current text, developed countries are subject to stricter scrutiny on their mitigation cuts than developing countries.He also highlighted that no peaking year for carbon emissions was mentioned in the draft nor a global emission reduction goal set for 2050.Chandra Bhushan from the Centre of Science and Environment pointed out that the lack of these two measures for developed countries spelled doom for the environment. He said it operationalised the Copenhagen Accord and considering the Copenhagen Accord pledges are not adequate this is disastrous for the environment. Everyone, however, appreciated the efforts of Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, who worked for two weeks to ensure transparency in the process and help countries work through their differences.She received multiple standing ovations today and Ramesh even compared her to a Goddess. The Cancun deal appears to have pacified the US and China, which had been at loggerheads throughout the meet on methods for monitoring and verifying actions to curtail greenhouse gases. Chief US negotiator Todd Stern said the text may not be not perfect but it is certainly a good basis for moving forward. His Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, sounded a similar note, saying the negotiations in the future will continue to be difficult. Other main components of today's decisions included promotion of efforts in poorer nations to protect their climate-friendly tropical forests, with the prospect of financial compensation from richer nations. The meet also decided to establish a Technology Executive Committee under the treaty to analyse needs and policies for transfer to developing nations of technology for clean energy and adaptation to climate change, apart from a Climate Technology Centre to build a global network to match technology needs and suppliers.It also stressed on strengthening the reporting requirements and review of emissions-reduction actions by both developed and developing countries, to verify they are being carried out effectively. Developed nations also would improve reporting on climate-related financial support to poorer nations.