United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for the “necessary political impetus” to reach agreement on a new global climate pact when nations gather in Copenhagen next December for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change. The Danish capital will play host to the most important climate meeting in years with talks aimed at agreeing on a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol. Addressing the 17th U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, Ban said he had invited all heads of state and government of the 192 U.N. member states to a high-level meeting on September 22 at U.N. headquarters in New York. “This will be the only international climate meeting before Copenhagen that will bring together all the world leaders—from the major emitters to the most vulnerable countries,” he said. The meeting “will focus on solutions and providing the necessary political impetus to seal a deal in Copenhagen.” At stake is an agreement that will mean rich nations likely spending hundreds of billions of dollars greening their economies by 2020 while helping poorer states do the same. In addition, wealthy states are expected to provide funding to allow developing nations to protect themselves against the impacts of climate change. “Climate change will affect agricultural production and exacerbate drought and desertification,” said Ban, who has designated 2009 as the year of climate change. “This will have a devastating impact on the poor. It will particularly affect women, who make up a significant portion of agricultural producers in many vulnerable countries,” he added.
