Bolivian President Evo Morales on Tuesday urged the international community to do more to compel the US, "the world's biggest polluter," to abide by the Paris climate agreement.

In June, US President Donald Trump announced his country's withdrawal from the landmark accord, arguing that it hampered American businesses. He once called climate change a "hoax."

Morales said that it was urgent that the United Nations took drastic steps to return the US to the Paris Agreement. "As the world's biggest polluter, it must accept its responsibility ... respect the agreements, the commitments and implement them," he said. The Bolivian leader made the remarks at a ceremony marking development cooperation between the UN and the South American country.

"The arrogance of any president or state has to end," said Morales, adding that "mankind cannot live without Mother Earth, though the planet can live better without mankind."

The Paris Agreement, reached in December 2015, commits almost every country in the world to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, which leads to climate change.

The US and Syria are the only two holdouts on the global climate pact after Nicaragua signed the Paris climate agreement on Monday.

The Trump administration's anti-climate stance was widely criticized both at home and abroad. A Government Accountability Office report released Monday said the federal government has spent more than 350 billion US dollars over the last decade on disaster assistance programs and losses from flood and crop insurance. That tally does not include the massive toll from this year’s wildfires and three major hurricanes. 

The report predicts these costs will only grow in the future, potentially reaching a budget busting 35 billion US dollars a year by 2050. And these costs are expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more frequent in the coming decades.