"We are still on track, the process has speeded up," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said of the Aug. 21-27 negotiations, one of a series meant to end in Copenhagen in 2009 with a new U.N. pact.

"There is a growing sense of urgency," he told a news conference after the meeting of up to 1,500 delegates in Accra.

He said countries expressed widening commitment to plans to safeguard fast-disappearing tropical forests. Burning forests to clear land for farming emits about 20 percent of greenhouse gases from human activities.

"We cannot come to a meaningful solution on climate change without coming to grips with deforestation," he said. Plants soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow and release it when burnt or when they rot.

Governments are trying to find a deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 37 developed nations to curb greenhouse gases until 2012. Neither the United States nor China, the top two greenhouse gas emitters, have limits under Kyoto.

Accra is the third meeting in a marathon meant to end with a new U.N. accord in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 to slow rising temperatures that the U.N. Climate Panel says will bring more heatwaves, droughts, rising seas and more powerful storms.

Countries came up with proposals to raise tens of billions of dollars in funds for forest protection -- such as a Saudi Arabian call for a levy on the logging industry or a proposal by the Pacific island of Tuvalu to tax air tickets and shipping.

RAILS LAID

De Boer said a highlight of Accra was agreement that a text on possible new actions to fight global warming would be drawn up before the next meeting in Poznan, Poland, in December.

"We may have something in Poznan pretty close to a negotiating text," he said.

But many delegates said a deal was still way off, with splits about how rich and poor nations should share the burden of cutting greenhouse gases, mainly emitted by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories, buildings and cars.

Brice Lalonde, representing France which holds the rotating European Union presidency, likened the talks to a railway journey. "We have laid the rails," he told Reuters. "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

"Progress has not been enough," said Bill Hare of environmental group Greenpeace. He accused Japan, Canada, Russia and Australia of doing too little.

The WWF conservation group said rich nations would need to provide about $130 billion a year by 2030 to help poor countries cope with climate change -- about five times current flows. Africa was attracting least cash.

De Boer said the talks clarified the use of sectoral approaches for industry -- for instance the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by making a tonne of cement, steel or aluminium.

Japan favours such sectoral benchmarks but many poorer nations fear it could be a prelude to international trade barriers on inefficient, polluting producers.

"The talks here have made it clear that sectoral approaches are not about imposing targets. Sectoral approaches are something that a government may or may not choose to do on a national level," de Boer said.

"The meeting has helped to crystallise some ideas," said Angela Anderson of the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.

But she said many were waiting to see who would succeed U.S. President George W. Bush in January 2009. Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain favour tougher action.