Mexican President Felipe Calderon, hosting a UN climate change summit that opened Monday, said many countries including his own were already feeling the effects of global warming as he urged government ministers to deal with the growing threat, DPA reported.
"Climate change is already a reality for us," Calderon said as he opened the two-week conference in Mexico's resort city of Cancun. "It is having severe consequence both for us and the entire planet."
Calderon said he hoped the Cancun talks would mark a "milestone" in the international process, which has been deadlocked since world leaders failed to agree a new climate treaty last year in Copenhagen.
Mexico has experienced the most severe hurricanes on record in 2010, Calderon said. He also cited devastating floods in Pakistan and record heat waves in Russia as signs of climate change's impact.
"Climate change is beginning to make us pay for the fatal errors we as humanity have committed against the environment," he said.
Though no new global treaty will be agreed in Cancun, negotiators are hoping to restore trust in the international process by agreeing to a series of side issues on stepping up financing for poor countries.
"In Cancun, we have the opportunity to make substantive progress toward a new age in combating climate change," Calderon said.
Calderon said the threat of climate change meant the "eyes of the world" were on negotiators in Cancun: "All of humanity will be awaiting the results of what will be achieved here."