Obama Urges Climate Change Action (Al Jazeera English)

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An Arctic fox hunts in Svalbard close to Ny-Aalesund in April 2009. Polar bear cubs, the arctic fox and caribou herds are among the victims of dramatic changes in the Arctic due to climate change, a study published Thursday found. (AFP/File/Gregory Tervel)

Sept. 22, 2009 -- (Al Jazeera English) -- The world must address climate change now or suffer an "irreversible catastrophe," U.S. President Barack Obama told a high-level conference on climate change at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, Tuesday opened a climate summit of about 100 leaders saying that failure to reach a new treaty this year on fighting global warming would be "morally inexcusable."

Obama, in what was his first speech at the UN, said that the United States was "determined" to act on global warming, but offered no new proposals that could
jumpstart stalled talks on a UN climate pact.

"Though many of our nations have taken bold actions and share in this determination, we did not come here today to celebrate progress. We came because there is so much more progress to be made.

"We came because there is so much more work to be done.

"Our generation's response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it - boldly, swiftly, and together - we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe," he said.

"The time we have to reverse this tide is running out."