Developed countries bear the historical responsibility for climate change and should provide compensation for that, an expert from Tsinhua University said on Thursday.

At a technical briefing at the second round of climate talks which is being held here from June 1-12, Chinese delegate Teng Fei, associate professor from Tsinhua University, said developed countries have excessively occupied the atmospheric space from the perspective of cumulative per capita emissions.

"Atmospheric resources are the common wealth of humankind, they should be shared equally by all citizens on the planet," Teng said.

"Developed countries have exceeded their fair share, the cumulative per capita emissions by developing countries is only 24 percent of that by developed countries, this gap shows the unequal distribution of atmospheric space," he said.

In order to correct this inequity, Teng said, developed countries should firstly make deeper cuts in their emissions, and secondly, they should also compensate for their historical responsibilities by providing the developing countries technological and financial support.

The technical briefing was organized to enable parties to the second round of climate talks to receive and share views on the concept of historical responsibility, and as a guide to future action to address climate change.

Speakers from Brazil, India and some other countries also expressed the view that developed countries should bear more responsibility.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2009)