(LISBON) - Rich countries must give poor nations more aid to help them overcome the impact of global warming, international experts have told an EU conference.

"The most vulnerable are the poorer" countries, UN Development Programme chief Kemal Dervis said at the European development conference which ends Friday.

"There is here a phenomenon of an extreme injustice," Dervis added.

"There is an issue of historical responsibility which we cannot escape," he said, highlighting how 70 percent of greenhouse gases are emitted by rich countries, 28 percent by developing countries and only two percent by the world's poorest nations.

Some of the worst hit countries are those in regions vulnerable to drought or floods but which do not have the resources to battle the added pressure from climate change.

The European Commission has created an international alliance to fight climate change and has allocated a 50 million euro budget for the period 2008-2010.

The EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, said the aim was to find other donors who would help finance an international campaign.

The international community is currently trying to take measures to make sure that global warming does not get out of control, while on a second level nations are trying to adapt to the warmer temperatures.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said there has got to be a stronger link between financing for adaptation to climate change and mitigation.

He said there has to be "resources for clean growth strategies and adaptation measures."

But there have also been complaints that donor countries keep too much control of the money they do allot to battling climate change.

Saleem Huq, director of the climate change programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London, said: "Adaptation funding is not charity, it is an obligation.

"It does not address poverty but pollution, and rich countries have been causing pollution and they have to help developing countries," he told the conference.

Text and Picture Copyright 2007 AFP. All other Copyright 2007 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.