Vatican City, Jan 12 (IANS/AKI) Pope Benedict XVI has denounced the failure of world leaders to agree to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen in December.

The Pope Monday spoke of his concern in an address to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican, an event at which the pontiff reflects on key issues.

In his speech, Benedict criticised the "economic and political resistance" to fighting environmental degradation and said world peace depends on safeguarding God's creation.

"If we wish to build true peace, how can we separate or even set at odds the protection of the environment and the protection of human life, including the life of the unborn?" Benedict said.

"It is in man's respect for himself that his sense of responsibility for creation is shown".

Benedict has been dubbed the "green pope" for his increasingly vocal concern about the need to protect the environment.

"I would like to stress again that the protection of creation calls for an appropriate management of the natural resources of countries and, in the first place, of the economically disadvantaged," he said.

"How can we forget, for that matter, that the struggle for access to natural resources is one of the causes of a number of conflicts, not least in Africa, as well as a continuing threat elsewhere?"

During Benedict's papacy, the Vatican has installed photovoltaic cells on its main auditorium to convert sunlight into electricity.