UN chief uses Thai floods to press for movement on climate change

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday used Thailand's current flood crisis to press world leaders to commit to climate change initiatives at an upcoming conference in South Africa.

"I am urging the leaders to address these matters with a sense of urgency," Ban said after meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose government has been struggling to contain the country’s worst floods in five decades.

"We do not have any time to waste," Ban said before visiting a centre for flood victims in Bangkok.

The UN chief urged world leaders to clarify a new Kyoto Protocol at the climate conference starting November 28 in Durban.//DPA