United Nations: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Antarctica and Amazon rain forests during his visit to Latin America and Europe next week to gauge the damage done to the environment by human activities.

The visit comes ahead of the December climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, which will try to kick start negotiations for a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012.

The protocol contains legally binding targets for reducing emissions. His spokesperson Marie Okabe told a news briefing that Ban's environmental stops include Punta Arenas, Chile, whose residents live with a hole in the ozone layer, Chile's Torres del Paine National Park, where glaciers have been affected by climate change, Antarctica, where he will be briefed by scientists at research stations and Brazil, where he plans to visit an ethanol plant, and meet researchers and indigenous groups in the country's Amazon region.

The Secretary-General, who has made fighting climate change as one of his priorities, will also visit Valencia, Spain, on November 17, where the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be releasing its latest report.

The IPCC was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Al Gore.

Ban will pay an official visit to Buenos Aires, as well as Santiago, where he will attend the of Ibero-American Summit, meeting of leaders of American and European Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, before wrapping up with an official visit to Brasilia.

Source : PTI