From enlisting the help of nuclear test ban experts to cooperating in newly launched disaster warning initiatives, the United Nations weather agency is embarking on an ambitious programme to upgrade its services with a particular focus on helping the world's least developed countries.

Fighting climate change makes economic sense in the long run because using energy more efficiently will ultimately produce enormous financial and green benefits, the head of the United Nations' environmental agency said in a message marking the 10th anniversary today of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which came into force in March 1994.

As government ministers warned that climate change remains the most important global challenge to humanity, a United Nations climate convention ended its annual meeting today with expressions of support for the Kyoto protocol, renewed pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars to developing countries, and adoption of a host of legal decisions.

The 188 parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention are meeting in Milan, Italy, from today until 12 December to assess the progress governments have made in reducing manmade climatic changes and to set the global agenda for the coming year.