Bonn, Germany  - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday that increasing global awareness of the threats posed by climate change "is one of the things that make me hopeful," but he simultaneously called for action on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking at a major UN conference on biodiversity being held in the German city of Bonn, Harper sketched out Canada's role, not only in protecting its own vast wilderness, but also in assisting developing countries to protect their biological diversity, particularly with regard to woodland.

One of the Canadian government's top priorities was to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework. "We need to get past the empty rhetoric ... and to take real action to get Canadian industry to take real action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Harper said.

He noted that Canada, with the second-largest landmass in the world, was home to 100,000 plant and animal species, with vast areas of forest and woodland and the largest reservoir of fresh water in the world.

"We understand that this is merely on loan, passed on from previous generations to safeguard for generations to come," Harper told delegates from around 190 countries that have ratified the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

In cooperation with non-governmental organizations, the Canadian government was working to buy large tracts of land near urban areas where ecosystems were sensitive and species under threat.

"Despite these efforts, we are still losing wildlife species at an alarming rate," he said. (dpa)