Commonwealth countries, including Malaysia, have agreed to press for a legally binding treaty to be implemented during the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen.
The decision was made at a special session on climate change held after the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, were invited as guests to give their views at the session on Friday. The Commonwealth has 53 member countries.
The Prime Minister, who also participated in the debate, said Malaysia felt it was timely for member countries to make a firm commitment during Chogm to ensure the success of the Copenhagen Summit less than three weeks away.
He added it would be difficult to get a commitment from some countries, especially developed countries, to act with just a political agreement.
During the Chogm session, Sarkozy had called for a World Environmental Organisation to be set up as the Kyoto Protocol - where 37 industrialised countries had committed themselves to a reduction of greenhouse gases - did not provide for a supervisory body.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed the setting up of a US$10bil (RM33.92bil) fund over a period of three years to help small developing island states. Globally, these islands have the highest ratio of economic losses from disasters and other climate impacts although they did not contribute to global warming.
The fund is to be used for mitigation against environmental disasters and adaptation of technology to reduce carbon emission.
During the debate, Najib said there should not be too many conditions set for the fund as this would hamper efforts to help affected countries.
He also urged countries not to set aside the declarations of the Kyoto Protocol which contained many fundamental principles that had been agreed upon earlier.
On reports that Sarkozy had hijacked Chogm to talk on global warming, Najib said this was not the case as climate change was a main issue at Chogm.
“Many Commonwealth countries are victims of climate change. Some have said that if global warming continues, small island states might totally sink. For many of them, this is a matter of life and death," he said.
Earlier, when opening Chogm 2009 in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, Head of Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth said the environmental threat was now a global challenge which would affect security and stability in the years ahead.
She pointed to the fact that most of the countries under threat were the most vulnerable and least able to withstand the adverse effects of climate change.