The New Nation - Internet Edition

Special Correspondent

United Nations secretary general's special envoy on climate change, Han Seung-soo, yesterday in Bangkok called on countries in the region to pursue sustainable growth.

"We can turn the crisis of climate change into a new economic opportunity," Han told a committee of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), says a message received from New York.

Han applauded ESCAP for its Green Growth initiative, which the Commission said calls for a paradigm change in thinking of growth and argues for ecological costs to be fully reflected in market prices.

The envoy's remarks came as Asia prepares to host a conference in Bali next month aimed at hammering out a legally binding agreement capping greenhouse gas emissions to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Han said that the new mechanism would work only if all countries participate, especially the world's 15 major emitters.