"Nature will not wait while we negotiate,"

UN's Ban at climate talks: 'We need results now'

7 December 2010 - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, trying to revive long-stalled climate talks, told world environment ministers on Tuesday he is "deeply concerned" that many years of negotiation have proven largely fruitless.

"The pace of human-induced climate change is accelerating. We need results now, results that curb global greenhouse emissions," Ban declared at the opening of high-level talks at the annual U.N. climate conference.

In the two-week session's final days, environment ministers will seek agreement on knotty side issues in coping with global warming, but once more the U.N. climate treaty's 193 parties will fail at Cancun to produce a sweeping deal to slash greenhouse gas emissions and control climate change.

"I am deeply concerned that our efforts so far have been insufficient," the U.N. chief told delegates.

"Nature will not wait while we negotiate," he said. "Science warns that the window of opportunity to prevent uncontrolled climate change will soon close." {read rest}