It's survival of the toughest at U.N. climate talks

By David Fogarty

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Welcome to U.N. climate talks where days of frustration, political point-scoring, long hours and sheer exhaustion guarantee a memorable meeting, if not always much progress.

And if you're the last one standing, you're the winner.

"This process is agreement by exhaustion. It's not the smartest way to work out key issues which should be driving the world forward, but that's the way it's done," a senior delegate at U.N. climate talks in Bangkok said this week.

The talks on how to fight climate change, which began on Monday, are due to end on Friday when a formal report for government policymakers is expected to be adopted by delegates from more than 100 countries.

"What will happen here is that we'll fiddle around for two and a half-days and then it'll be obvious that this thing has to be done in the last day and a half and that's what will happen," said the delegate, who asked not to be identified.

"It's just standard. It's exactly what happened in Paris and exactly what happened in Brussels," he said, referring to two previous reports this year by the Intergovernmental Panel and Climate Change (IPCC).

Both meetings, as well as recent annual Kyoto Protocol gatherings, ran deep into the night right at the end, when many delegates looked haggard.

"It's just such a strange atmosphere," said Martin Hiller, climate change spokesman for environment group WWF, citing the sheer intensity of negotiations and day after day with just four hours of sleep, particularly during Kyoto gatherings.