The climate change negotiators meeting has been called by The Alliance of Small Island States, in Germany to push for a legally-binding outcome.

AOSIS is concerned with the consistent lowering of expectations ahead of the next talks due in Cancun.

Hundreds of city Mayors from around the globe have sought to side-step international climate talks and forge their own path towards a low carbon future.

As negotiators gathered for the latest round of talks under the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn this week, some 500 Mayors had their own gathering just down the road, where they discussed how local changes can make real differences at the first Resilient Cities conference.

The event, co-hosted by ICLEI's Local Governments for Sustainable Development, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the City of Bonn, aimed to build on the successful meeting of Mayors in Copenhagen last December.

While talks between world leaders stalled, City Halls on five continents reported their own progress and shared good practice.

"We know from past experience that the poor in all countries suffer most from the impacts of climate change. Local authorities are hard placed to provide [help] without a national and international policy framework", Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC said. "National Governments should not be allowed to get away with this".