WELLINGTON - New Zealand's chief climate change negotiator left for South Africa Tuesday to help prepare for a broad agreement on limiting emissions at the next United Nations climate change conference.

Minister Responsible for International Climate Change Negotiations Tim Groser is to attend informal ministerial talks on Oct 20 and 21 in Stellenbosch to prepare for the UN climate change conference in Durban in December.

Climate change negotiations in Panama earlier this month had highlighted the challenges negotiators would face in Durban, said Groser.

"Countries have differing views on the future of the Kyoto Protocol following the end of the first period of developed country emissions reduction commitments in December 2012. Those countries prepared to take further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol account for only 16 percent of global emissions, and will only do so in the context of a comprehensive outcome involving all major emitters," he said.

"This year we'll be working for an agreement covering at least 80 percent of global emissions, to give us a fighting chance of securing the level of collective ambition required to keep on track to stabilize the world's temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius or less."