U.N. chief wants U.S. to take lead on climate change

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope thatthe U.S. will take a leadership role in combating climate change -which he said poses as much danger to mankind as war and is likely tofuel future conflicts.

After a Thursday address to hundreds of students from around theworld, Ban was asked what he thought about the rejection by PresidentBush's administration of the Kyoto protocol, the 1997 pact thatrequires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases byan average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Ban said he thought there was now an "active discussion" going onwithin the U.S. government regarding Kyoto, and that he hopes thisdebate among lawmakers in the world's biggest polluter will lead tomore action.

"I hope that the United States - while they have taken a role ininnovative technologies as well as promoting cleaner energies - willalso take lead in this very important and urgent issue," he said.

Ban underscored what he said were the dangers of climate change -namely that it posed as grave a threat to the world as war.

"The majority of the U.N.'s work still focuses on preventing andending conflict," Ban said.

"But the danger posed by war to all of humanity - and to ourplanet - is at least matched by the climate crisis and globalwarming."