Singapore - After years of delays, a world plan to fight global warming goes into force on Wednesday, feted by its backers as a lifeline for the planet but rejected as an economic straitjacket by the United States and Australia.
The 141-nation Kyoto Protocol formally takes effect at midnight New York time with celebrations in the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto where it was signed in 1997.
Green groups and the United Nations say it is a crucial first step in trying to limit the onslaught of higher temperatures, rising seas and greater extremes of weather.
But some developed nations say the pact is unfair because it excludes major developing nations India, China and Brazil, whose growing economies comprise more than a third of humanity.
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'Australia has just completely missed out. I think it is shameful' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for global unity.
"Climate change is a global problem. It requires a concerted global response," he said in pre-recorded remarks to be aired during a ceremony in Kyoto later on Wednesday.
"I call on the world community to be bold, to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol, and to act quickly in taking the next steps. There is no time to lose!"
The pact is the first legally binding plan to tackle climate change, building on a scheme launched at an Earth Summit in 1992 to stabilise emissions at 1990 levels by 2000, a goal not met.
In Sydney, ice sculptures of kangaroos and koalas melted during a protest by green groups over Australia's refusal to ratify the pact. Prime Minister John Howard says Kyoto is bad for industry and unfairly excludes rapidly growing India and China.
'The causative factors behind which do not respect national borders or customs gateways' Australian Conservation Foundation vice president Peter Christoff berated Howard for his stance.
"It's time that he actually got involved in the only game in town when it comes to dealing with climate change globally.
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