In a declaration adopted at the end of a two-day ministerial meeting here, the ministers said they were "alarmed that biological diversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate as a result of human activities".

The 74 ministers "reconfirm our commitment to more effectively and coherently implement" programs to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss but called for more money to do so.

Thousands of species are believed to become extinct each year, although scientists disagree on the numbers.

The website of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) says "an estimated 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species face extinction".

The ministers also reaffirmed the role of indigenous communities in conservation and pledged to work towards the "development of an effective international regime on access and benefit-sharing" of genetic resources.

But they stopped short of saying whether the framework would be voluntary, as preferred by rich nations, or legally-binding as demanded by developing countries fighting biopiracy.

Irish Environment Minister Martin Cullen, whose country is chairing the EU presidency, said there was "renewed political impetus" to make conservation efforts a top priority.

The EU had pressed for the establishment of a global network of protected areas and ecological networks by 2010 on land and 2012 at sea.

But he said the United States must ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity -- already ratified by 187 parties -- so that they could "collectively win the challenges that lay ahead of us."

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom added: "It is interesting that the United States is looking for life on Mars. Maybe we should also ensure that there is life on this planet for the future so that if the Martians come and visit us, we are still here."

The Kuala Lumpur declaration adopted at the conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity here urged governments that have not yet ratified the convention to do so, without mentioning any countries by name.

Activists, however, said the ministerial statement failed to reflect the urgency of the need to stop or slow down the rate of biodiversity loss.

Greenpeace spokesman Shane Rattenbury said that despite the weak political statement, a fair assessment could only be made Friday at the end of technical negotiations in the working groups.

One of the contentious issues is a proposal by Argentina and Brazil, backed by Australia, to subject the convention and conservation efforts to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, he told AFP.

"It will make this convention subservient to the WTO and significantly undermine the CBD. Many countries have reservations about that and it is now under heavy negotiation," he said.

One European delegate said the ministerial statement was too vague and a "disappointment" but noted many concrete measures and targets had been mapped out by the various working groups.

Indonesian officials earlier said they were pushing for a committment from the governments to curb illegal logging and trade of illegal timber but this was not reflected in the statement.

This issue has earlier sparked a war-of-words between Indonesia and host Malaysia, with Jakarta seeking a ban on Malaysian timber in Europe and Kuala Lumpur accusing Indonesia of trying to undermine Malaysian wood exports.

TERRA.WIRE