Mexico presses EU to unblock promised climate funds

(BRUSSELS) - Mexico on Monday urged European leaders to hand over funding promised to help poor nations cope with global warming, as an important gesture before a key climate conference in Cancun later this year.

"The developing countries want to see this money unblocked, and the smallest, notably the island nations are waiting for this funding," Mexico's Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada told a press conference on the margins of talks with his EU counterparts.

The Europeans have committed to providing 7.2 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars) from 2010-2012, including 2.4 billion euros this year, to help the poorest nations deal with the consequences of global warming.

At a climate conference in Copenhagen last December, the international community as a whole pledged 30 million dollars, in public and private funding, over the three years to help the poor countries cope

However the funds have not yet been unblocked and non-governmental organisations fear this will become merely an exercise in "recycling" development aid.

"We need the transfer of the funding," Quesada insisted.

However the Mexican minister also stressed the need for long-term financing.