Urgent action needed, leaders of countries hit hard by climate change tell UN summit

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) – Urgent action is needed to help countries hardest-hit by the effects of climate change, small island leaders said on Thursday at the United Nations climate talks in Turkey, describing global warming as a life-or-death issue for their people.

"It is time to move past the talking," said Alix Sebastien Pillay, vice president of Seychelles, who said the survival of his country, a 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean, is at stake. "For Seychelles, climate action is not simply an environmental priority."

Pillay spoke on the second day of the leaders' summit at the UN climate conference, where governments are trying to reach consensus on how to address climate change and help countries at greatest risk.