2007-03-14 17:24:52 -

WASHINGTON, March 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An international poll finds widespread agreement that climate change is a pressing problem. This majority, however, divides over whether global warming is urgent enough to require immediate, costly measures or whether more modest efforts are sufficient.

The survey was conducted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, in cooperation with pollsters around the world. It includes 17 countries -- China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, Poland, Iran, Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Israel, Armenia

-- and the Palestinian territories.

This is the first in a series of reports on the survey's findings. Not all questions were asked in all countries.

Twelve countries were asked whether steps should be taken to address climate change and majorities in all but one favored action. The largest majorities in favor of measures to combat global warming are found in Australia (92%), China (83%) and Israel (83%). In the United States -- the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases -- 80 percent want to take steps to address the problem.

In no country does more than one in four endorse the idea that costly steps are not necessary "until we are sure global warming is really a problem." Indian respondents are the most skeptical: 24 percent believe nothing should be done yet to address climate change, though nearly half (49%) favor taking some action.

Ten countries were asked to evaluate how great a threat global warming poses to their "vital interests" over the next ten years. Strong majorities in all ten consider climate change to be an important threat, including six where it is considered "critical:" Mexico (70%), Australia (69%), South Korea (67%), Iran (61%), Israel (52%) and India (51%).

Although there is agreement in 12 countries that climate change is real, there are differences over how much should be spent to address it. In five countries (Australia, Argentina, Israel, United States and Armenia), the most common view is that steps should be taken now "even if this involves significant costs." In another five, the public tends instead to believe that because global warming is gradual, low cost measures are sufficient (Philippines, Thailand, Poland, Ukraine and India). And in two (China and Russia), the public is evenly divided.

For more details see http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/ or http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/.

Source: Program on International Policy Attitudes