Island countries sharpen cut calls

Small island states have sharpened their calls for developed countries to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. They say low-lying islands are at risk of being wiped off the map by rising sea levels.

In 2008, the small islands called for emissions cuts of "more than 40 percent" from industrialized nations by 2020.

Last month, a group of leading researchers projected sea levels rising this century, at the rate of about a meter, or roughly double the estimate provided by the UN Climate Panel just two years ago.

Anote Tong, Kiribati President, said, "Our villages are about to be relocated because where they were had been eroded. Every second week, which is when the high tides come in, what we experience is that communities being dislocated every so often. Just before coming out, there were complaints that, through representations to government, to do damage repair, and so the people are feeling it, the communities are experiencing the hardships, and the question that we face is how can we deal with this. And it's not getting any better."

Kiribati President Anote Tong speaks to Reuters TV during an interview at the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen December 17, 2009.REUTERS/Bob Strong