UPDATE: The walk out has ended, Kyoto Protocol negotiations will resume again tomorrow. Turns there was some drama and the walk out by the Africa Group proved to be an effective way to get developed countries to realize that business as usual will no longer be tolerated!

The climate talks in Barcelona started with high drama when all negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol (apart from industrialized country targets) were suspended. There was a walk out in the morning and long drawn out moments of silence in the afternoon. Not exactly what springs to mind when you think of successful negotiations, is it?

The suspension means that work on mechanisms, response measures and rules for land use and forestry has ground to a halt. The upside of the suspension is that the inadequate targets that industrialized countries put forward are now under the spotlight. The downside, of course is that the Kyoto architecture and rules that need to be improved are further jeopardized by the delay. For the simple version of what happened, check out the breakdown from Geoff Keeys, our campaigner from New Zealand.

In other news, Denmark was awarded first place ‘Fossil of the Day’ for promoting a ‘politically binding’ agreement as an alternative to a ‘legally binding’ agreement. This is a deliberate attempt by the hosts of the Summit in December to muddy the legal waters. What we need in Copenhagen is an agreement that is legally binding at the international level. For Denmark to suggest anything less, is just providing a way out for governments that are already downplaying or attempting to weaken their responsibility of the outcome. Take Canada for instance, they also received an award for their role in the attempt to shirk legal responsibility.

Stay tuned for more news from inside the talks, I'll be getting the low down from our campaigners and updating you as soon as I can manage to understand it.