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Marrakech, Morocco - World Wildlife Fund today called on governments gathering here for two weeks of global climate negotiations to finalize the Kyoto climate treaty so that it can become international law by next September's World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

The Marrakech talks focus on completing the translation of the landmark ministerial agreement on the Kyoto Protocol, achieved in Bonn last July, into detailed UN legal text that specifies precisely how each of the components of the Kyoto treaty will operate. The Bonn climate summit forwarded a package of decisions to the Marrakech conference, some already approved, and others requiring further work. One of the key issues for Marrakech is agreement on how nations will account for, report and verify their emissions of global warming pollution and the amounts that forests and land-use absorb. Though technical in nature, the provision of accurate data is the backbone of the climate treaty that is essential to ensure countries are achieving their Kyoto targets to limit emissions.

"Government officials should finish the deal they started in July, by agreeing on a complete legal text for the Bonn agreement," said Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF's Climate Change Campaign. "It's time governments outlined their plans for bringing the Kyoto climate treaty into force in the coming nine months."

WWF has prepared a detailed set of recommendations for making the Protocol's provisions as effective and watertight as possible. The recommendations refer to the operation of systems for emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation, sinks, measuring and monitoring emissions, compliance and allowing public scrutiny of projects intended to reduce emissions of global warming gases.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized countries to reduce emissions of six global warming gases five percent below 1990 levels in the period 2008-2010.