U.N. presses for action on climate

• Tweet

TOKYO, March 2 (UPI) -- World governments are called on to implement agreements reached at last year's climate conference in Mexico, a U.N. official said in Japan.

The agreement struck in Cancun, Mexico, where representatives from 194 nations met to prepare a climate protection treaty, calls for major emissions cuts, launches a multibillion-dollar fund to help poor nations adapt to climate change and finalizes a scheme to stop deforestation.

The secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, said during a news conference in Tokyo that world leaders needed to get to work on climate reform.

"Governments must now implement quickly what they agreed in Cancun and take the next big climate step this year in Durban, (South Africa)" she said in a statement.

Figueres said the climate talks in Cancun were steps in the right direction toward strengthening global climate action. She added that the Cancun agreement was one of the most comprehensive climate packages ever discussed.

She warned, however, that pledges from the international community only limit emissions by 60 percent of what scientists recommend to help curb global temperature fluctuations.

Figueres is in Japan meeting with government officials and business executives.