To highlight climate change :

UN Chief in Mongolia

MONGOLIA: UN chief Ban Ki-moon began a visit to Mongolia Sunday aimed at highlighting the impact climate change is having on people's everyday lives, his office said.

Ban planned to spend time later Sunday in a traditional Mongolian herder community whose livelihoods are being hit by water shortages and desertification, his office said.

The secretary general has said he will host a summit at the United Nations on the sidelines of the General Assembly in September to galvanise support for a global deal in December on "a fair, effective and scientifically ambitious new climate framework."

Negotiations to seal a climate change treaty at the meeting in Copenhagen have been dogged by disagreements over targets for cuts in carbon emissions and a fund from rich nations to help developing countries tackle climate change. The planned treaty, due to take effect from 2013.

lan Bator, Sunday, AFP