US groups have joined together with other environmental organizations to demand action from the US government on the issue of climate change and global poverty, a press release said today.

Twenty-nine prominent development, faith, environmental groups today released a four-key principle press release which they believe should guide US action on these issues.

"Climate change is already creating devastating impacts for the world's poorest and most vulnerable people especially those in developing countries even though they are the least responsible for causing it," said Elizabeth Bast from Friends of the Earth US on behalf of the groups.

"This problem has not yet been given the urgent attention it demands," she said.

The US groups called on the international community to act now to do their fair share to reduce their contribution to global warming, saying that the United States has a responsibility to provide assistance to help developing countries adapt to the consequences of global warming.

The groups called on the US work collaboratively with other nations to address climate change and the critical links between global warming and global poverty.

The United States must both shift to a more sustainable domestic energy path, as well as support other nations in their shift to a more sustainable energy and climate path, they said.

The principles' release comes as a two-week UN climate change conference is being held in Bali, a resort island of Indonesia. The climate conference aimed at producing a mandate for the negotiations of the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol to substantially limit global greenhouse gas emissions.

Funding from industrialized countries to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change is a key component of the negotiations.