Maldives warns on climate change, Berlin for tough action

Berlin, March 9 : Germany called for tough action to combat climate change Monday following a new warning from Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed about the threat posed to his nation by global warming.

"We will simply not survive as a country if there is no agreement (on cutting CO2 emissions)," Nasheed said at a press conference in Berlin following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

For her part, the German leader warned about the risk of deadlock emerging at the United Nations' climate change talks set for November in Mexico City.

"Germany along with the European Union will be again pressing for binding targets (on greenhouse gas emissions)," Merkel said, adding that it remained open whether China and India could be convinced by then of the need to set goals.

India and China, which are two of the world's leading emerging economies, have ruled out adopting binding climate change targets.

What also matters, said Merkel, was to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.

The Copenhagen climate summit last December agreed to limit warming to 2 degrees but did not set out the moves for reaching the goal.

Considering the controversy surrounding the Copenhagen meeting, Nasheed did not appear optimistic that negotiations on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, saying that the chances of forging a

concrete agreement this year were not great.