EU urged to save Kyoto climate pact; Japan says "no"

* Poor nations want European Union to preserve Kyoto accord

* Japan insists will not agree new round of Kyoto Protocol

* Some delegates see glimmers of hope at U.N. talks

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

BONN, Germany, June 16 (Reuters) - Poor nations pressed the European Union at U.N. climate talks on Thursday to salvage the U.N.&${esc.hash}39;s Kyoto Protocol for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as Japan reiterated opposition to an extension beyond 2012.

The 180-nation two-week talks, due to end on Friday, have made scant progress towards ending long-standing deadlock about how to share out curbs on greenhouse gases among rich and poor to slow global warming. Some delegates saw glimmers of hope.

"There are some encouraging signs," said Alf Wills, of South Africa, whose country will host the next annual U.N. climate negotiations in Durban in November and December, of discussions about ways of saving Kyoto. The EU is Kyoto&${esc.hash}39;s main backer.

Delegates say developing nations, most at risk from the effects of climate change, are trying to push all rich countries -- especially the EU -- to sign up for an extension of Kyoto, which now obliges almost 40 industrialised nations to cut emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during 2008-12.

Japan insisted on Thursday that it will not make new greenhouse gas cuts under Kyoto beyond 2012 despite what it called rumours that it would relent in Durban.

"It is not true. We would like to deny such disinformation," Japan delegation head Akira Yamada told a media conference.

Russia and Canada have also said they will not agree to a new period of Kyoto, meaning it could die in 2102 as the only legally binding U.N. plan for cutting emissions blamed for causing more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

Delegates say that developing nations hope at least to get the EU and other Kyoto backers such as Australia, Switzerland and Norway to agree to keep Kyoto alive beyond 2012. The EU says it will extend Kyoto only if all major economies set curbs.

CAMELS, GOATS

"Developing nations are asking for more than they expect," said Mohamed Adow of Christian Aid. "In Somalia a saying is that if you want to buy a camel in a market, make sure that you at least secure a goat."

"It&${esc.hash}39;s the same here," he said. A "goat" would mean Kyoto based on the EU.

Japan, Russia and Canada want a new, broader pact with curbs for both rich and poor nations, including the United States that did not ratify the 1997 Kyoto pact. Kyoto countries now account for only 27 percent of world emissions, Yamada said.

Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said it was in the EU&${esc.hash}39;s strategic interests to preserve Kyoto to show that it could lead on climate change on a world stage more often dominated by Washington or Beijing.

"If Kyoto dies, EU countries are aware that they will get a fair share of the blame. That is concentrating minds. Saving Kyoto is in the EU&${esc.hash}39;s self-interest to show that it can lead on multilateral action," he said.

The Bonn talks are also trying to work out details of a planned green fund to aid developing nations, a mechanism to share clean energy technologies and to help developing nations adapt to impacts of climate change, as part of a 2010 deal.

"Progress has been patchy," Yamada said.

A U.N. meeting in Mexico last year also set a goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times.

But a study indicated that pledges so far for cutting greenhouse gas emissions were inadequate and would lead to a 3.2 degree Celsius rise in temperatures. Two degrees is widely viewed as a threshold for dangerous change.

"This is a very sad picture," said Marion Vieweg, of Climate Analytics, a group involved in the study.

For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/ (Editing by Louise Ireland)