Leaders of 16 Asian nations have shown their support for the environment by signing a pact pledging action on the issues of climate change and forest cover, and to promote the use of nuclear power. These 16 nations, including China an India, have shown their commitment behind a UN plan to tackle global warming.

The East Asia Summit saw countries pledge to develop and support alternative energy sources such as nuclear power, and to help improve energy efficiency in their country. The agreement now paves the way for the UN-backed climate change talks in Bali next month.

With oil prices continuing to increase, countries have agreed to push for increased use of nuclear power with stringent safeguards to ensure that the plants are safe and secure, a particularly important point given concerns that nuclear waste could be used in making atomic weapons if it fell into the wrong hands.

The 16 nations are also looking into reducing energy usage by increasing energy efficiency although dates for actual energy efficiency increases have been dropped.

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