UN Secretary General  Ban Ki-moon has hailed the agreement reached at  the United Nations climate change talks in Cancún as an “important success for a world much in need of it,”.

Known as the Cancún agreements, nations after a two week meeting agreed a package of decisions to help countries advance towards a low-emissions future, delivering what the world body’s top officials have hailed as a victory in the battle against one of today’s biggest challenges.

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon

Ki-mmon in a statement today said governments came together in common cause, for the common good, and agreed on a way forward to meet the defining challenge of our time- climate change

The decisions reached include formalizing mitigation pledges and ensuring increased accountability for them, as well as taking concrete action to protect the world’s forests, which account for nearly one-fifth of global carbon emissions.

Delegates meeting at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also agreed to ensure no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol, an addition to the Convention that contains legally binding measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and whose first commitment period is due to expire in 2012.

Agreement was also reached on establishing a fund for long-term climate financing to support developing countries, and bolstering technology cooperation and enhancing vulnerable populations’ ability to adapt to the changing climate.

“The outcomes in Cancun have given us important tools. Now we must use them, and strengthen our efforts in line with the scientific imperative for action,” Ban Ki-moon says.

The next Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC is scheduled to be held in South Africa from 28 November to 9 December 2011.