Gaps remain between rich, emerging and developing countries about the extent to which each will have to cut emissions as part of any international agreement to succeed the soon-to-expire Kyoto treaty.

Moreover, poorer nations want developed economies to financially aid them in implementing changes to their energy systems to make them more ecological. A UN report earlier this week said that at least 500 billion dollars a year was needed in north-south aid flows to help the poor adapt to climate change.

Ban and others, including green activists' groups, have warned during the conference that climate change was having geopolitical and economic ramifications. While the poorest would be the first to suffer and the hardest hit, developed countries would also over time feel the severe affects of a warming planet.

Nearly all members of the UN are part of the WMO, a scientific and technical organisation. Its previous conferences led to the creation of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is expected that, within 12 months, the WMO would set up a task force for a Global Framework for Climate Services, a mechanism for quickly delivering science-based climate predictions and other services.