15 December 2008 – Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance
of political will and leadership in tackling
the 'quintessential global threat' posed
by climate change.
In a message to the
Association of Caribbean States in Port-au-Prince
(Haiti), on 13 December, Mr. Ban called
for the international community to join
forces to seek out "common solutions
to common problems" like global warming.
At the UN climate change
talks that wrapped up last week in Poznan,
Poland, he had appealed for "bold,
urgent steps" to address the issue.
That event marks the half-way point in efforts
to reach agreement on a successor pact to
the Kyoto Protocol, the legally binding
regime for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
whose first commitment period ends in 2012.
The Secretary-General
stressed that the region serves as a prime
example of the key role played by nature
and climate on all aspects of life.
"As our climate
becomes more dangerous and unstable, so,
too, will life on these islands," he
said in the message.
The Caribbean is "particularly
vulnerable" to the increasingly extreme
weather events spurred by climate change,
Mr. Ban said, stressing that efforts to
help developing countries adapt to such
fluctuations must be stepped up.
He also underscored
the need to curb disaster risks, with over
90 per cent of all disaster deaths taking
place in developing nations.
"The poorest –
those least responsible for global warming
– are likely to suffer first and worst from
the consequences of climate change."
The Secretary-General
said that 'greening' the global economy
can help to pull the world out of the current
economic crisis, with funding for lower-carbon
projects potentially stimulating growth.
"Economic growth
need not be tied to the growth of greenhouse
gas emissions," he noted. "But
to get from here to there, we need to harness
political leadership from every sector of
society and from every nation" to achieve
a breakthrough at the UN climate change
conference next year in Copenhagen, Denmark,
where negotiations are slated to end.
