Participants in the UN climate change conference underway in Copenhagen resumed on Wednesday after a two-hour halt due to a dispute between small island states and large countries, a WWF official said.

The head of the WWF Russia Climate and Energy Program, Alexei Kokorin, attending the conference, said the discussions were stopped in the early afternoon due to an "acute conflict" between "small island states and rich emerging economies."

He said Danish climate minister and conference president Connie Hedegaard started discussions on clean development, considered the least "painful" point on the talks' agenda.

Oleg Shamanov, a member of the Russian delegation, said the talks had been delayed due to disagreements over certain countries' proposals on a new climate agreement, intended to replace the Kyodo Protocol, some elements of which expire in 2012. Japan and Tuvalu were among these countries, he said.

A new binding treaty to cut global greenhouse emission is widely expected to be agreed during the talks in the Danish capital.

However, some observers believe the summit is more likely to just outline principles and directions for a post-Kyoto framework.

The conference, which puts together about 15,000 participants from 192 countries, will run until December 18.

MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti)