There are just eight negotiating days remaining for all countries — that's every single country in the world — to agree to a groundbreaking climate treaty in Paris that puts the world on course to avert the worst consequences of manmade global warming.

As one might expect, progress hasn't exactly been speedy so far.

One working group that is tasked with drafting language for the agreement presented its 50-page draft negotiating text on Thursday in Paris, and like most draft texts, it's full of brackets to indicate language that is still to be decided.

Two thorny issues have been dividing rich and poor nations, namely climate finance and what is known as loss and damage. It is already apparent that the question of how industrialized countries are going to help developing nations adapt to global warming impacts and leapfrog dirty energy technologies is the biggest sticking point in these talks.

Making things more difficult, it seems, is a proposal by some industrialized nations, including the U.S., that would have developing countries contribute to climate finance. The main alliance of 134 developing countries, known as the G-77 plus China, has objected to this language, saying it runs counter to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was signed in 1992 and placed most of the burden to reduce emissions and provide financial support on industrialized countries.

In a press conference, South African ambassador and chair of the G-77 plus China Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko humorously mocked the vagueness of the language some developed countries are favoring to put into the agreement.

The language reads:

"Parties in a position to do so, including developed country Parties, should provide support to assist developing country Parties in need of support with respect to both mitigation and adaptation."

That language appears in the draft text several times, including on matters related to capacity building and technology transfer.

For more than two decades, countries have been negotiating on the assumption that financial and technological assistance would flow from countries like the U.S. and European nations to the developing nations, which have the least resources to cope with climate change. But the new language seems to potentially turn this on its head.

Demonstration at COP21 on behalf of Climate Vulnerable Forum. Image: IISD/ENB

The phrase, "parties in a position to do so" is one of the main points of disagreement, Mxakato-Diseko said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon local time in Paris.

She said it's not even clear what this means.

"What is a legal personality called a country in a position to do so? How do you enshrine that in an agreement. We have the same question," she said in response to a reporter's question about what the phrase means. She said inserting this provision into an agreement would alter the mandate negotiators received at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa, in 2011.

“In my family with the children I tell them you will clean, so and so, you will clean the room," she said. "I do not say that someone will clean the room."

"There is no someone in a position to do so will wipe the floor. I need accountability, I really do need accountability," she said, "and I need to know above all that the floor has been cleaned."

She said the language of the Framework Convention and the so-called "Durban mandate" should not be re-negotiated in Paris.

At a separate press conference by the bloc of least developed countries, Pa Ousman Jarju, chair of this group of countries, told reporters that the provisions on climate finance are critical to arriving at a climate deal.

"Finance is the bedrock of this agreement," he said.

The least developed countries are also fighting for a clear mechanism to provide assistance related to climate impacts in many countries, a category known in the U.N. talks as loss and damage.

Minister from Gambia: "If loss and damage is not addressed adequately, there will be no outcome in Paris.” #COP21 — Andrew Restuccia (@AndrewRestuccia) December 3, 2015

Environmental groups observing the process in Paris reacted with cautious optimism after seeing the draft negotiating text.

“Clearly, finding all the solutions to protect the world from the ravages of climate change is going to take hard negotiations and multiple drafts," said Tasneem Essop, the leader of the delegation from the environmental organization WWF, in a statement.

"We’re still early in the process, but negotiators have a lot of work to do if they’re going to turn this draft negotiating text into an ambitious and fair agreement."

Negotiators are optimistic, though, that ultimately the various parties will make necessary compromises to reach a meaningful deal.

“This is the time, this is our moment, and we must do it,” Jarju said of the need to conclude with a workable treaty.

“There is not going to be a second Paris.”