The Maldives, whose fight against rising sea levels has become a cause celebre for environmentalists, said on Monday it would have to skip UN climate change talks in Copenhagen this year to save money.

The president of the Maldives said on Monday he plans a $3-a-day green tax for all tourists at its popular island resorts to help pay for the country

The Maldives, one of the countries most at risk from rising sea levels, will not attend this year's Copenhagen summit on climate change because the atoll nation is broke, its president said Monday.

President Mohamed Nasheed told reporters in the capital Male that his newly-elected government had no money to fund his visit to the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

Failure to find agreement at United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen in December would threaten a much needed overhaul of the international trading system, Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organisation, warned yesterday.

It will cost between $500 billion and $600 billion every year for the next 10 years to allow developing nations to grow using renewable energy resources, instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.

India

Britain will help Bangladesh secure the interests of the least developed countries at the critical Copenhagen climate negotiations in December this year, two visiting British ministers said on Monday.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has described the notion of

Industrial and Infrast-ructure Development Finance Company (IIDFC) Limited yesterday signed two agreements with the Denmark government and World Bank to help brick making sector use efficient and clean energy.

>> The Sydney Theatre Company is set to become environmentally sustainable under a federal government programme to