New York - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that the worst consequences of climate change were drawing ever closer as he urged world leaders to thrash out an ambitious new global treaty by December. "Now is your moment to act," Ban told more than 100 leaders who gathered at UN headquarters in New York to discuss curbs to halt global warming. "The fate of future generations, and the hopes and livelihoods of billions today rest, literally, with you."
Ban, who has made tackling climate change his top priority during his time in office, is hoping Tuesday's gathering will inject some much-needed political will into efforts to reach a new global climate treaty by a key summit in Copenhagen in December.
Ban chastised the talks for "proceeding at glacial speed." He said world leaders should use the conference to give negotiators the push they need to "seal the deal," which became the UN's official rallying cry earlier this year.
Among the leaders speaking Tuesday will be US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, who are both debuting on the UN stage and will be under close scrutiny for their views on a topic on which scientists and politicians still hotly disagree.
The two will be among eight national leaders to open the one-day climate session. The US and China are by far the world's biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, which contributes to the rise in global temperatures.
In what is billed by the UN as the largest climate summit in history, 86 presidents and 36 prime ministers will debate climate change in a series of roundtables throughout the day. Ban will summarize and publicize their views at the end of the gathering.
The UN secretary general said he hopes the summit will give negotiators their "marching order" to complete talks in Copenhagen for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the world's first climate treaty, which expires in 2012.
The climate summit comes ahead of Wednesday's annual opening of the UN General Assembly, which brings together leaders from around the world for 10 days of speeches about global issues.
Hu will reveal Beijing's "new measures" to counter climate change, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. China has proposed that developed nations set aside 1 per cent of their gross domestic products (GDPs) to help poor countries cut their own carbon emissions.
Washington has opposed the measure - the 1 percentage point in GDP would amount to about 140 billion dollars from the United States alone. But Obama will be under pressure to assure the world that the United States intends to follow through on proposals to curb its own emissions.
Hu will be the first Chinese leader in 30 years to address the UN General Assembly. Obama will be making his first address to the assembly since taking office in January.
Other opening speakers on Tuesday will be newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Maldives' President Mohamed Nasheed.
