UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed hope that the "active debate" in the United States on global warming will spur it to take a leadership role in combating climate change.
The UN chief was addressing a student conference on global warming at the UN General Assembly hall in New York.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a news conference in Vienna
One student asked what Mr Ban thought about the rejection by President Bush's administration of the Kyoto protocol, a 1997 pact that requires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases by an average 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
"I have a sense of active discussion within the US government and Congress regarding the Kyoto protocol," Mr Ban said. "And this kind of active debate has helped raise its profile and public interest in climate change."
Mr Ban also said climate change posed as great of a danger to the world as war.
"The majority of the UN's work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict," he said. "But the danger posed by war to all of humanity - and to our planet - is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."
The Bush administration argues the Kyoto protocol would hurt the US economy. Instead, the White House says it is spending almost $3 billion a year on energy and technology research to combat climate change.
Mr Ban, who took over as UN chief on January 1st, welcomed that effort, but said it was critical that the international community comes up with a new strategy to deal with global warming after Kyoto expires in 2012.
AP