Understand The Times, International

Business leaders and governments meeting at the World Economic Forum were urged to use the current economic crisis to create a global 'Green New Deal'.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon urged world leaders meeting at Davos, in Switzerland, launch a Global Compact to create jobs and fight climate change by investing in renewable energy and technological development. Speaking at the forum, he said the changing times called for a new definition of leadership - a global leadership.

"We live in a new era," he told delegates. "Its challenges can be solved by cooperation - and only by cooperation."

At other sessions in Davos, the Secretary-General also pushed for a climate change communication initiative to encourage global engagement in tackling climate change, and for businesses and world leaders to make water security a top issue for climate change adaptation discussions this year.

"The problem is that we have no coordinated global [water] management authority in the UN system or the world at large," he said.

"There is no overall responsibility, accountability or vision for how to address the related problems of climate change, agricultural stress and water technology."

This year's World Economic Forum saw social networking become an integral part of the activities, with YouTube, MySpace and Facebook all running initiatives to get their audiences involved in the debate.