President Rupiah Banda has called on developed countries to lead the way in agreeing on ambitious and legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

In his pre-recorded message posted on the internet to the United Nations climate change summit held in New York yesterday, Mr Banda said climate change has threatened sustainable development of all countries in the world.

He said like many other developing countries, Zambia was already experiencing adverse effects of climate change, noting that this trend must be reversed through finding an effective adaptation framework to reduce the risks posed to humanity.

President Banda said countries all around the world should act pragmatically to reverse the negative impact of climate change.

He said huge amounts of financial support should be provided to the most vulnerable developing countries to finance their adaptation and mitigation programmes.

"These funds must be additional to the Official Development Assistance (ODA). In addition, a transparent financial mechanism should be put in place so that deserving vulnerable countries can easily access the funds," he said.

The UN climate change summit, which was convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon yesterday, was a huge step towards the big climate change summit to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

The Copenhagen summit will produce a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

President Banda said this support should also include capacity building to enable local communities, who are at risk of effects of climate change, to learn new ways of responding to the challenges.

"This December, we have to make a choice. To act responsibly as a united global community and provide a firm ground to safeguard our common good or stick to traditional positions and negotiating tactics and consign our future and that of our children to doom," he concluded.
He was among more than 100 heads of State and government that attended the summit at the 64th General Assembly of the UN.

Meanwhile, Mr Ban has urged heads of State and government attending the General Assembly to accelerate their action against global warming and preserve the planet for future generations.

Mr Ban said when he officially opened the summit, that world leaders should now stop dragging negotiations towards coming up with a new agreement to curb greenhouse emissions that would go into 2012 when the Kyoto protocol's first commitment period expires.

"Climate change is the pre-eminent geopolitical and economic issues of the 21st Century. It rewrites the global equation for development, peace and security," he said.