Senior politicians from around the world have begun arriving in Kyoto, in Japan, for the final stage of a conference on the threat posed by the increase in greenhouse gases.

A week of talks involving officials from more than 160 countries has failed to remove key obstacles to an agreement on curbing emissions of the gases, which are thought to cause global warming.

British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott arrived on Saturday to take part in the conference.

One of the main arguments centres on whether developing countries must sign up to targets on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide - believed to be the main cause of global warming.

The latest plan, put forward by New Zealand, would commit poorer countries to curbing pollution once the richer nations had started to meet their targets.

Strong emotions are blowing through the conference hall

That has been rejected out of hand by developing countries but the leader of a delegation to Kyoto from the US House of Representatives stressed that any deal excluding poorer nations would receive little support in Congress.

Senior politicians arriving at the weekend for the final stage of the 10-day conference must now find a compromise.

"Lifestyles must change"

John Prescott will speak on Monday, shortly after the US Vice President, Al Gore, who has said America - the world's biggest polluter - might walk out of the talks if no agreement was on offer. Mr Prescott told reporters he was optimistic a solution could be found.

Earlier, the British government's Chief Scientist, Sir Robert May, appealed for "collective tolerance" in the battle against global warming.

He told the BBC: "We may have to accept collective tolerance to have a world in which our grandchildren can live." Sir Robert acknowledged this might mean changing lifestyles.

Developing countries attacked US and Europe for doing little to solve problem they created

In a bid to cool temperatures between the US and the European Union, which has proposed the most ambitious cuts, President Clinton, European Commission President, Jacques Santer, and EU Council President, Jean-Claude Juncker, issued a joint statement saying they wanted to work together.

"The US and the EU are committed to finding common ground for moving towards a solution," it said.

"Kyoto presents a golden opportunity to make real progress on climate change _ a complex and obdurate challenge that requires years of co-ordinated effort."

Before a meeting of the three in Washington, Bill Clinton said: "The chances that we can get an agreement are reasonably good if everybody there really wants one," the President added.

Anger boils over

"We want to see countries bound to targets which will lead us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That's the test."

The EU has proposed a 15% cut on 1990 emissions of three greenhouse gases by 2010 while the US wants to stabilise emissions at 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012.

Scientists fear the build-up of gases like carbon dioxide, caused by burning fossil fuels, will cause climate changes in the form of more fierce, frequent storms, flooding, droughts and melting of the polar ice caps.

Poor nations' anger at being asked to help limit global warming boiled over on Friday when China and India criticised the US and other rich nations for doing little to solve a problem they had created.

America shows little interest in giving up the car in favour of "greener" forms of transport

Meanwhile, the environmental group Greenpeace denounced the deadlock, saying that negotiators had failed to make headway and merely agreed on when to meet next.

The head of Greenpeace, Thilo Bode, said suggestions to set the year 2010 as the deadline for implementing binding emission limitations amounted only to pushing back the problem.

"You can agree on a 30% reduction but have so many holes in the regulations that emissions, in the end, will increase."

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