UN chief calls climate accord 'important success'

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said today that the global talks on climate were an "important success" but that new efforts are still required.

A possible repeat of last year's failed Copenhagen summit had worried many UN officials, but Ban said the Cancun negotiations "have delivered important success for a world much in need of it.

"Governments came together in common cause, for the common good, and agreed on a way forward to meet the defining challenge of our time."

The UN-organized talks in Mexico set up a new fund to manage billions of dollars in aid to poor nations and moves to combat deforestation. The hard-fought package urged deep cuts in industrial emissions but there was no accord on how nations will cut the carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Ban called it "a package of measures to build a low-carbon, climate-resilient future together."

"The outcomes in Cancun have given us important tools. Now we must use them, and strengthen our efforts in line with the scientific imperative for action."

The UN chief thanked Mexico's leaders and praised the compromises made at the talks which he said showed countries "have proven that the United Nations can deliver results even on the most challenging global issues of the day."

"While there is much work yet to do, the success of the UN conference on climate change in Cancun has set the world on the path to a safer, more prosperous, and sustainable world for all," Ban said.