UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the US will take a leadership role in combatting climate change - which he said poses as much danger to mankind as war and is likely to fuel future conflicts.

In a file photo United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon adjusts his glasses during a news conference in Vienna, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007. [AP]

After a Thursday address to hundreds of students from around the world, Ban was asked what he thought about the rejection by President Bush's administration of the Kyoto protocol, the 1997 pact that requires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases by an average 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Ban said he thought there was now an "active discussion" going on within the US government regarding Kyoto, and that he hopes this debate among lawmakers in the world's biggest polluter will lead to more action.

"I hope that the United States - while they have taken a role in innovative technologies as well as promoting cleaner energies - will also 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 UN's work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict," Ban said. "But the danger posed by war to all of humanity - and to our planet - is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."

In particular, Ban said, the fight over resources that become scarcer will fuel fighting.

"In coming decades, changes in our environment and the resulting upheavals, from droughts to inundated coastal areas to loss of arable lands, are likely to become a major driver of war and conflict," he said.

While calling on the US for leadership in battling climate change, Ban said that it would require the work of all nations.

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