1 Small island nations are urging rich countries to go beyond earlier promises and cut emissions of global warming gases, not just stabilize them.
2 The plan would pledge countries to cutting man-made emissions of carbon dioxide -- the main 'greenhouse gas' -- to at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2005.
3 Low-lying countries worry that a warmer climate could melt polar ice caps and make sea waters expand, swamping many inhabited areas. The proposal by 36 nations including Haiti, Cyprus and Malta may be put on the March meeting's agenda.
4 Environmental groups have long called for the step and an international scientific panel supports it. But the proposal was officially proposed for the first time at a U.N. meeting that began Monday.
5 Representatives from more than 100 countries are preparing for a meeting next month that will decide whether to strengthen the U.N. climate treaty signed at the 1992 Earth Summit.
6 The treaty currently requires developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000.
7 As delegates gathered, environmental groups said many industrial nations are still dragging their feet on more modest goals set at the Earth Summit.
8 'A few parties have made a strong start but most are lagging behind waiting for someone else to lead the way,' said Daniel Lashof of the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
9 Many scientists believe rising levels of greenhouse gases, caused by burning of oil and other fossil fuels, will raise the planet's average temperature by 1.5-4.5 C (3-8 F).
10 Among the feared consequences are more extreme weather and a shift in climate zones, with problems for world agriculture.
11 Carbon dioxide accounts for about 60 percent of all greenhouse gases, so named because they trap the planet's heat.
12 A U.N. scientific panel warned last year that current commitments by industrial nations will do little to stop concentrations of carbon dioxide and other global warming gases from rising.
13 This is partly because the gases remain in the atmosphere for many years.
14 Stabilizing carbon dioxide concentrations even at double today's levels over the next 100 years would require emissions eventually to 'drop substantially below 1990 levels,' the panel said.
15 Critics of the global warming theory say climate models used to predict it are imprecise.

The plan would pledge countries to cutting man - made emissions of carbon dioxide - - the main " greenhouse gas " - - to at least 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2005 .
cutting man - made emissions of carbon dioxide
What man-made emissions will be focussed on and cut?