No climate deal risk to developing world

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Walking away from the climate summit in Denmark next week will harm countries that have done the least environmental damage, the U.N. secretary-general said.

World leaders descend on Copenhagen, Denmark, next week in an effort to find a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been campaigning aggressively for a comprehensive agreement on climate change, though several industrialized nations are reluctant to step forward on a deal.

Ban in an address in Trinidad and Tobago to a delegation from developing island nations said failure to reach an agreement at Copenhagen put their vulnerable topography at risk.

"Failure to reach an agreement at Copenhagen will most harm those who have done the least to cause climate change," he said.

The secretary-general praised a strategy developed by island states to address climate change by enacting deep emission cuts as a beacon of leadership.

He warned, however, that without the funding and the political will to mitigate the impact of global warming, the risks were great.

"We all know what is at stake in Copenhagen," he said. "Without a deal, emissions will continue to rise and climate impacts will grow ever more severe."