(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-08 17:13

BALI, Indonesia -- Saying that rising seas might wipe countries off the map, small island states urged rich nations at UN climate talks on Saturday to axe emissions of greenhouse gases far beyond their existing plans.

"The principle must be that no island must be left behind," said Angus Friday of Grenada, chair of the 43-member alliance of small island states at December 3-14 climate talks at a beach resort in Bali looking for new ways to fight global warming.

Low-lying states, such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean or Tuvalu in the Pacific, were already suffering from rising seas and storm surges linked to climate change. And in the long term, many low-lying atolls risked being washed away.

"We want drastic action," Friday told a news conference.

The group said that even the strictest goals by industrial nations were insufficient to avoid dangerous change, including a European Union target of limiting warming to a temperature rise of 2 Celsius (3.6 F) over pre-industrial levels.

"Emissions must be reduced at a level that ensures that global temperature rise remains well below 2C," the alliance said in a statement.

The Bali talks, of more than 10,000 delegates, are seeking to launch negotiations on a new global deal, to be agreed by 2009, to fight climate change. The small island states seem to be making toughest demands that the rich should lead the way.

The UN climate panel projects that seas will rise by 18 to 59 cms (7-23 inches) this century -- threatening the economies of small island states that often depend on farming, fishing and tourism. Seas rose 17 cms over the past century.

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