SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Returning from a recent international climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, a GNWT bureaucrat said the low expectations he had going into conference were exceeded.

Ray Case went to the balmy coastal city on Dec. 1 as part of Canada's federal delegation and returned Dec. 12. As the director of environment for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he was among a large group of bureaucrats in similar roles from around Canada and participated in negotiation sessions with them.

"Although the outcomes don't resolve a lot of the issues, it really did restore the confidence in the process and put everybody back on track in working toward an agreement in South Africa," said Case.

Last year's conference in Copenhagen was attended by five NWT MLAs and two government employees, and cost the GNWT $55,000. Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger told News/North last month that Copenhagen had been built up to be a "major seminal event" but did not nearly meet its expectations - no legally binding agreements came out it.

Case said no legally binding agreements came out of Cancun either, but the process is moving along, albeit in baby-steps.

He said the two Cancun Agreements, which are not legally binding, contain promises from both developed and developing countries to cap, and hopefully lessen, greenhouse gas emissions and help each other adapt to a warming climate.

One is an agreement under the Kyoto Protocol to work on establishing a next step after the protocol agreement ends in 2012, with the "general understanding" that the next step would involve new targets.

"There's also a call under that agreement for parties to improve their pledges and it urges them to increase the level of ambition," said Case. "Currently what is under the Kyoto Protocol and what's likely to come forward going into the future is probably insufficient to meet the overall goals of putting a lid on the warming climate."

The hope is for a renewed set of legally binding targets to be completed by next November's conference in Durban, South Africa.

The second agreement between countries attending the conference is one in which they acknowledge global warming to be a real thing; that temperatures are going to get warmer; and that not only are changes going to have to be made to reduce emissions and hold the temperature increase below 2 C, but countries are going to have to adapt to a warmer climate.

"They also recognize ... adaptation will be required no matter what type of mitigation measures are put in place, and what types of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are put in place," said Case.

Though these are very small steps and don't directly do anything to fix the woes of the environment, Case said "it's likely the only process that will get us to where we want to go."

"There's no doubt it's frustrating - I think it's frustrating to everyone involved - but it's a complex issue with a lot of different viewpoints on it," he said.

Doug Ritchie, program director for Ecology North, said although some progress was made, he still thinks Canada is not taking nearly an active enough role in the global climate change negotiations.

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