In the past two years, green issues have triggered bitter squabbles between continental Europe and America.

Indeed, the rift exposed by the Gulf conflict can be traced back to President George W. Bush's ditching of the Kyoto Protocol shortly after he took office in 2001.

The UN's global warming pact was eventually saved thanks to concessions by the European Union, but even so the accord will only take effect if G8 member Russia decides to ratify it.

But the "K" word is likely to be kept firmly in its box throughout the meeting, which runs from late Friday to early Sunday, gathering Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, as well as the European Commission.

The European members are unlikely to expend much effort lobbying Russia to seal Kyoto, given that Moscow's representative will be only a junior minister for natural resources, Irina Ossokina.

Nor will they vent their anger on the controversial US policy on climate change. The chief US delegate, Environmental Protection Agencyadministrator Christie Whitman, is making a rare foray into the international arena.

One reason for this is electoral change over the past two years.

Europe is the fountainhead of the environment movement, but France and Italy now have conservative governments, leaving Germany as the only G8 nation in which the Greens are part of the ruling coalition.

But a bigger factor for the low-key tone is the Iraqi conflict.

"The point of the meeting is to rebuild unity between governments after the war," Friends of the Earth International's Helene Ballande told AFP.

"But it is not a meeting of governments which have made the environment their priority... the Germans feel very isolated in the G8 today on this score."

France, the current G8 chairman, is keen on repairing relations with Washington after the war. The signal it wants from this meeting is of stability and continuity, of international diplomacy being placed back on track.

Sources close to the meeting told AFP on Wednesday that both the French and US delegations included several diplomats who would seize the opportunity to hold behind-the-scenes talks on the future of Iraq.

As for the environmental agenda, it includes some of the issues of the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg -- help for Africa; sustainable production and development; and strengthening environmental governance and cooperation.

In what is expected to be a bland final communique larded with worthy but imprecise commitments, the ministers will reiterate Joburg's goals of halving by 2015 the number of people living without clean water or decent sanitation.

There may also be an appeal for better maritime safety, but German and French demands for specific support for tighter regulations have been opposed by Russia and Japan.

EU transport ministers last month approved a regulation, similar to US laws, which ban single-hulled oil tankers from their countries' ports. The move came after two decrepit tankers foundered in French waters in less than three years, soiling holiday beaches and putting fishermen out of business.

A small protest is expected in Paris on Saturday while a "counter forum" will take place in the centre-western town of Angers, the original venue for the meeting until it was moved to Paris a few weeks ago for security reasons.

SPACE.WIRE