By Juan Jose Lagorio
Reuters - Saturday, November 10, 11:56
EDUARDO FREI BASE
, Antarctica (Reuters) - While a millennium melted ice beneath his feet, the Secretary-General Kofi UN Ban Ki-moon visits Antarctica, called for urgent political measures to try to curb global warming the globe.
Antarctica is warming faster than any other point on earth for half a century, making a destination appropriate for Ban, who has made climate change one of his priorities since taking office this year.
"I need a political answer. It is urgent and emergency situations, we need urgent action," he said Friday during a visit to three bases Scientists of the Antarctic continent, where temperatures have never been "high" from 1,800 years.
The ice sheet is thick on average 2,500 meters - five times the height of Taipei 101 tower, the tallest building in the world.
Satellite photos showed that the cap West Antarctica is shrinking and could, in future, break up, causing rising sea levels.
"All we saw was very impressive and beautiful, extraordinarily beautiful," Ban told reporters. "But at the same time is a concern. We have seen the melting of glaciers," said Ban, who is conducting the first visit by a Secretary General of the UN in Antarctica, a continent as big as 25 times the Europe, which contains 90% of freshwater on the planet.
Ban is preparing a UN conference on Climate Change Climate to be held in Bali, Indonesia in early December, and should mark the launch of negotiations on an agreement intended to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Saturday, Ban must continue his tour by visiting the National Park Torres del Paine in southern Chile, where Andean glaciers are also depleted due to rising temperatures.
He will then travel to Brazil, which has developed strongly in the biofuels sector.
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