NEW YORK, New York, October 3, 2007 (ENS) - Too little is being done to ward off the dangers of climate change, leaders of small island and mountainous countries told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday. One after another, they called for intensified measures to tackle global warming that threatens to inundate low-lying islands and melt the snow and ice off the world's mountains.

"The Maldives, as a low-lying small island state, is particularly vulnerable to the perils of global climate change, a point brought sharply into focus by the recent sea swells which submerged a large part of the country," said the Indian Ocean nation's Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

Despite many conferences, summits and plans aimed at combating climate change, rhetoric exceeds implementation and "the past 20 years has been an era of missed opportunities," he said.

Underscoring the importance of "collective responsibility" in curbing climate change, Shahid expressed optimism that the upcoming major climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia, in December provides an occasion to make up for lost time.

Family home near the shore in the low-lying Pacific island nation of Kiribati (Photo by Galenfry Singer)

Natanaera Kirata, the country's Minister of Public Works and Utilities, told the General Assembly that most of Kiribati's islands are barely two meters above mean sea level, making global warming a crucial security concern.

"There is no more time to debate on the issue as climate change is now a fact of life," Kirata said. "It is now time to put words into action so that this living planet is protected from complete destruction and is preserved for use by our many generations to come."

He called on the international community to adopt a unified response to the challenges posed by climate change and for the issue to receive increased political support and commitment at the UN.

"More serious and more immediate" is the speed at which Himalayan glaciers are receding, Bhutan's Foreign Minister Yeshey Dorji told the delegates. Bhutan's agricultural sector, the mainstay of nearly 80 percent of the population, is at risk.

The retreating glaciers of Bhutan are melting into lakes below. (Photo courtesy NSIDC)

"Our capacity to carry out research, monitor developments, forecast outbursts and take mitigation measures are severely constrained by lack of scientific, technical and financial resources," Dorji said.

He stressed that climate change must be confronted within the context of sustainable development and on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

The mountainous Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan also called for sustainable development measures.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ednan Karabaev told the delegates that over the long term, "sustainable development depends on the stability of human relationships based on knowledge of how to use resources available for current socio-economic development and at the same time conserving for future generations."

Karabaev stressed the importance of the convening of the Second Global Mountain Summit to establish a sustainable development policy for mountainous regions.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.