The agreement came more than a day after the 190 nations busted a Friday deadline for delivering a deal.

European and US envoys duelled into the final hours over a European Union proposal that the Bali mandate suggest an ambitious goal for cutting industrial nations' emissions - by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The EU and others said the goals were needed to direct upcoming talks. But the guidelines were eliminated after the United States, joined by Japan and others, argued that targets should come at the end of the two-year negotiations, not the beginning.

An indirect reference was inserted as a footnote instead.

But, just when it appeared an agreement was within reach yesterday morning, developing nations argued for more recognition that they needed technological help from rich nations.

US Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky baulked at that at first but finally relented, after India and others suggested minor adjustments.

'After hearing the comments... we were assured by their words to act,' Ms Dobriansky said. 'So with that, we felt it was important that we go forward.'

The resulting agreement was hailed as a turning point in the world's struggle to come to grips with rising global temperatures that scientists say will lead to widespread drought, floods, higher sea levels and worsening storms.

The so-called 'Bali road map' launches two more years of formal negotiations. These will spell out what each country will have to do to slow emissions of global warming gases after 2012, when the current deal - the Kyoto Protocol - ends.

'What we have seen disappear is the Berlin Wall of climate change,' said UN climate chief Yvo de Boer. 'This is a real breakthrough, a real opportunity for the international community to successfully fight climate change.'

The road map also scored on other fronts: pilot projects to slow deforestation will begin, and a fund to help poor countries adapt to climate change was kickstarted.

For environmental campaigners, the victory was bittersweet.

Greenpeace International's executive director Gerd Leipold complained that the 'science has been relegated to a footnote', in the same year that UN scientists warning about global warming won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nonetheless, few could deny what Bali has achieved.

As Indian Science Minister Kapil Sibal said: 'What is at stake is saving future generations. It's not what I commit or what you commit, but what we commit together.'

arti@sph.com.sg