UN chief calls for decisive action on climate crisis

New Delhi - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for a comprehensive agreement to tackle the climate change crisis while stressing that developed countries should reduce emissions by setting ambitious targets. The UN chief was speaking at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, organized to discuss the impact of climate change and global warming. The summit with 'Towards Copenhagen: an Equitable and Ethical Approach' as its theme comes ahead of negotiations in the Danish capital in December, which aim at cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012. Ban, who received a Sustainable Development Leadership Award at the conference, identified three political challenges that he said had to be resolved to reach an 'ambitious, comprehensive and ratifiable agreement' at the Copenhagen talks. 'First, Copenhagen must clarify commitments of developed countries to reduce their emissions by setting ambitious mid-term targets with credible baselines,' Ban said. 'We must also achieve clarity on what mitigation actions developing countries will be prepared to make,' he said, adding that a failure to combat climate change would increase poverty and hardship. 'Secondly, Copenhagen must advance on the issue of financing the mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries,' Ban said. 'Thirdly, governments as well as the UN system must come up with credible solutions for the governance of new funds and for their implementation response.' Finish President Tarja Halonen, Kiribati President Anote Tong, Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were participating in the summit. Ban arrived in the Indian capital Wednesday night after concluding a regional tour to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Besides attending the environmental conference, Ban is to also meet Indian leaders who were expected to share details of the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November. The UN chief was scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and chairwoman of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, during his daylong visit to Delhi. During his visit to Pakistan Wednesday, Ban urged Pakistan to cooperate fully with India in the investigation into the Mumbai attacks, which killed at least 173 people. As bilateral ties have deteriorated amid India's claim that Pakistan was not doing enough to track down the culprits, New Delhi was planning to step up international pressure on Pakistan. Officials said that during his meetings with Ban, Mukherjee would share evidence linking Pakistani nationals to the Mumbai attacks. The Indian minister would also discuss different avenues within the United Nations to intensify the pressure on Pakistan to bring the perpetrators to justice, they said.