A wind turbines is pictured near Magdeburg March 12, 2007. Climate change has risen to the top of the international agenda in recent months. The 27-nation European Union pledged last week to cut its greenhouse gases by 20 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2020. The G8 Environment Ministers meeting is taking place in Potsdam until March 17. Picture taken March 12. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

BERLIN, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A meeting of environment ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) nations is to begin on Thursday in Germany, with environment leaders of emerging economies present.

    The three-day meeting in Potsdam near Berlin gathers environment ministers or officials from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa aside from those from Germany, Italy, France, Britain, the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia.

    "International negotiations on climate control need urgent political momentum," German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said before the meeting.

    "This is the only way to master the challenge of the new century," added Gabriel, who will chair the meeting as his country is to host the G8 summit in June.

    No concrete decisions were expected from the meeting, which is designed to launch an honest dialogue on climate change, a spokesman for the German minister said, but Gabriel said input of the meeting would go into the G8 summit in June and the UN climate conference on the Indonesian island of Bali in December.

    German news agency DPA quoted ministry sources as saying that Gabriel is seeking agreements between G8 and emerging economies that would help provide successor agreements to the 1997 Kyoto treaty.

    The protocol sets legally binding targets for developed countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by 2012 compared with 1990 levels.

    "The year 2007 is a decisive one for international climate control," Gabriel said, adding that this gathering would seek to identify obstacles on the way to a post-Kyoto deal.

    The G8 bloc and emerging economies would also discuss the best way to remove these obstacles, Gabriel said.

    In addition to climate change, biodiversity will also be on the agenda of the meeting when the talks start on Friday morning after informal discussions over dinner Thursday evening.