KOBE — Major nongovernmental organizations from Japan and abroad gathering in Kobe for the Group of Eight environment ministers' summit called on the G8 Friday to lead the fight against climate change.

Specifically, they urged the G8 nations to drastically cut their greenhouse gas emissions, preserve biodiversity and halt the export of waste to developing countries.

In a statement released Friday evening that will be formally presented to the G8 environment ministers summit that starts Saturday in Kobe, the NGO community demanded the G8 industrialized nations commit to major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in order to deal with climate change in the coming decades.

"The G8 nations that bear a major responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions must take the lead in initiating effective action, based on a recognition that world emissions, which are expected to peak during the next 10 to 15 years, must be cut by more than half by 2050, and that developed nations overall must reduce emissions by at least 25 to 40 percent by 2020, as compared to 1990 levels," the statement said.

Protecting the biodiversity of the world's rapidly dwindling rain forests and old-growth hardwood forests will also require G8 leadership and significant funding, it said.

Developing states that make the goods developed nations consume often suffer horrendous pollution due to such production, creating anger and resentment when developed nations tell to commit to emissions-reduction targets.