United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said climate change will increase poverty, destabilize economies and breed insecurity unless the world acts aggressively to stop it.
The secretary-general spoke Friday in the Indian capital, New Delhi, at the opening of a three-day conference on sustainable development.
Mr. Ban said climate change threatens to undermine progress toward development goals. He called on political leaders to reach an agreement on reducing carbon emissions ahead of a crucial meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
The U.N. chief is currently on a tour of South Asia. On Wednesday, he visited Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he met with the nations' leaders.
While in Islamabad, Pakistan, Mr. Ban said he intends to create a three-member commission soon, to investigate the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
And earlier Wednesday, Mr. Ban told reporters in Kabul, Afghanistan, that he shares Afghan President Hamid Karzai's frustrations about mounting civilian casualties, as Afghan and foreign forces battle Taliban insurgents.
