UN Chief says global warming an emergency

EDUARDO FREI BASE, Antarctica, Saturday (Reuters) - With prehistoric Antarctic ice sheets melting beneath his feet, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for urgent political action to tackle global warming. Antarctica has warmed faster than anywhere else on Earth in the last 50 years, making it a fitting destination for Ban, who has made climate change a priority since he took office earlier this year.

A boat transports United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and delegates from South Korea during his visit to Antarctica. AFP

“I need a political answer. This is an emergency and for emergency situations we need emergency action,” he said during Friday's visit to three scientific bases on the barren continent, where temperatures are their highest in about 1,800 years.Antarctica's ice sheets are nearly 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) thick on average -- five times the height of the Taipei 101 tower, the world's tallest building. But scientists say they are already showing signs of climate change.

Satellite images show the West Antarctic ice sheet is thinning and may even collapse in the future, causing sea levels to rise. Amid occasional flurries of snow, Ban flew over melting ice fields in a light plane, where vast chunks of ice the size of six-storey buildings could be seen floating off the coast after breaking away from ice shelves.

“All we've seen has been very impressive and beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful,” he told reporters. “But at the same time it's disturbing. We've seen ... the melting of glaciers.” It was the first visit by a U.N. chief to Antarctica. Ban is preparing for a U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December, which is expected to kick off talks on a new accord to curb carbon emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Ban has focused strongly on the environment and held a climate change summit at the United Nations on the eve of the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders. On Saturday, he is expected to continue his South American tour at Chilean national park Torres del Paine, where Andean glaciers are also being affected by global warming.