UN chief calls on NAM to assist with "urgent global action" to combat climate change

 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday called on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to assist in "urgent global action" to fight the threat posed by climate change.

Ban's statement was contained in a message to NAM's 50th anniversary meeting in Bali, delivered by El-Mostafa Benlamlih, UN resident coordinator in Indonesia. In the message, Ban said "the threat posed by climate change continues to require urgent global action."

Climate change was one of three fields "in which joint action by the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement is essential."

The other fields were building a safer world, and fighting extreme poverty, he said.

"We still have a long way to go in meeting the scientific bottom line for effective action," he said.

Ban told ministers from the member countries of NAM that " governments must implement fully all the agreements made at Cancun, including on climate finance, protecting forests, adaptation, and technology."

"National efforts on the ground must be accelerated to curb emissions and strengthen climate resilience," he said. "As always, the UN stands ready to support these efforts, including in the vitally important area of energy access, energy efficiency, and clean energy."

With eliminating extreme poverty, he said progress towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs ) -- a global action to achieve eight anti-poverty goals by 2015 -- is uneven.

"We have the tools, policies and know-how to keep the MDG promise," he said. "The budget crisis around the world should not be an excuse to abandon commitments."

With NAM's call for strengthening the United Nations, he said " in the United Nations and in me personally, you have a full partner in your efforts to ensure that the multilateral system and the United Nations are more effective in meeting our shared objectives."

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