Top UN official calls for assisting world's least developing nations

UNITED NATIONS: A top United Nations official has called for assisting world's least developed countries (LDCs) to counteract adverse effects of global warming, pointing out that they are the most vulnerable members of the world body.

"The UN debate on climate change will lose credibility if the concerns of these countries are sidelined or marginalised," Anwarul Chowdhury, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), said on Thursday.

Chowdhury, whose last day in his position is this Saturday, launched a new study entitled 'Climate Change Report 2007', which was presented to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday morning.

While acknowledging that the report is neither academic nor scientific, he said he hoped it would spur interest among the media and support groups to advocate on behalf of these countries and raise awareness of the obstacles LDCs and SIDS face.

Aside from the environmental effects, the report said that climate change impacts LDCs and SIDS in the economic, human and social cultural realms as well.

Reduced rainfall and prolonged droughts could lead to dwindling water supplies, while subsistence agriculture, on which these countries depend heavily, will be harmed by increased tropical cyclones, droughts and loss of soil fertility.