European Union member countries will coordinate their measures against climate change, Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursik said after a meeting of EU environment ministers that he chaired on Tuesday.

The meeting will continue on Wednesday.

The ministers welcomed the White Book that the European Commission released two weeks ago, according to which most of the measures must be taken on the national levels as climate is to change in very different ways in individual EU regions.

Eight EU countries, namely Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain, have already adopted their own adaptation strategies.

EC Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said an agreement on the funding of these adaptations is necessary. The adaptations are to be covered from national budget and from half of the revenues from the sale of carbon credits.

Dimas also expressed appreciation of the change in the US stance on lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

The new US administration under President Barack Obama promised to join the agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, but it remains unclear how much the United States will decide to decrease its emissions.

Dimas said countries like China and India should also take part in the efforts to lower emissions.

Bursik pointed out that coordination of the efforts was needed because the effects of climate change respected no borders.

He said a number of measures need to be introduced due to more frequent massive flooding, speedy thawing of Alpine glaciers and changes in rainfall patterns, and experts around the world agreed that these consequences would be even more intensive in the coming decades.

The discussion on these measures is expected to culminate at an EU meeting in June.