Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of United Nations (right) leaves the room after briefing reporters for the 62nd session of the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters accompanied by his spokeswoman Michele Montas, yesterday. - AP

UNITED NATIONS (AP):

The science is clear and the time short, but the political will is lacking to confront global warming, the U.N. secretary-general said yesterday.

Ban Ki-moon said he hoped next Monday's "climate summit" here will help galvanise leaders to take action "before it is too late."

Asked at a news conference about U.S. President George W. Bush's planned separate meeting to discuss global-warming measures among a handful of countries later next week, the U.N. chief said Bush assured him it would be coordinated with the established U.N. process of negotiating climate treaty commitments among all nations.

The U.S. administration rejects treaty obligations, such as the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Bush favours voluntary reductions instead.

Of the Washington meeting, Ban told reporters, "We welcome individual measures and initiatives by many countries, but all these measures and initiatives should fit into the (U.N.) process."

He said about 80 heads of state and government would be among the 154 participants at Monday's all-day climate discussion. It isn't designed as a negotiation, but to send "a strong political message at the leaders level for the climate change negotiations in Bali meeting in December," Ban said, referring to the annual U.N. climate treaty conference.

Unabated global warming

Bush is not listed among participants in the day's events the U.S. mission to the United Nations said he will join in the summit dinner that evening.

In a series of major reports this year, a U.N.-sponsored scientific network said unabated global warming, potentially raising average temperatures by several degrees Fahrenheit, would produce a far different planet by 2100 - from rising seas, drought and other factors. The scientists said animal and plant life was already being disrupted.

"The science has made it quite clear, and we have been feeling the impacts of global warming already clearly," Ban told reporters. "We have resources. We have technology. The only (thing) lacking is political will. Before it is too late, we must take action."