By EPW Blog
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
From March 1, 2007 UN Article Excerpt:
"[Mr. Ban] added that he would discuss climate change with global leaders at this June's summit meeting of the G-8 major industrialized nations.'These issues transcend borders,' he declared. 'That is why protecting the world's environment is largely beyond the capacity of individual countries. Only concerted and coordinated international action, supported and sustained by individual initiative, will be sufficient.
'The natural arena for such action is the United Nations. I am strongly committed to ensuring that the United Nations helps the international community make the transition to sustainable practices.'"
March 2, 2007 Article: Excerpt from BBC
"[Mr. Ban]said the world needed a more coherent system of international environmental governance in order to tackle global warming beyond the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012."
1 March 2007 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world's younger generation to take better care of Planet Earth in the face of global warming than his own.
"We are all complicit in the process of global warming. Unsustainable practices are deeply entrenched in our everyday lives. But in the absence of decisive measures, the true cost of our actions will be borne by succeeding generations, starting with yours," Mr. Ban told a UN International School conference in the General Assembly Hall in New York.
"That would be an unconscionable legacy; one which we must all join hands to avert. As it stands, the damage already inflicted on our ecosystem will take decades, perhaps centuries, to reverse--if we act now.
"Unfortunately, my generation has been somewhat careless in looking after our one and only planet. But I am hopeful that is finally changing. And I am also hopeful that your generation will prove far better stewards of our environment; in fact, looking around this hall today, I have a strong sense that you already are," he added.
Mr. Ban cited his own childhood in war-ravaged Korea as the starting point of his identification with the UN which ended hostilities on the peninsula. "I grew up viewing the United Nations as a saviour; an organization which helped my country, the Republic of Korea, recover and rebuild from a devastating conflict," he declared.
"Yet if there is one crucial difference between the era I grew up in, and the world you inherit, it is of the relative dangers we face. For my generation, coming of age at the height of the cold war, fear of a nuclear winter seemed the leading existential threat on the horizon.
"Today, war continues to threaten countless men, women and children across the globe. It is the source of untold suffering and loss. And the majority of the UN's work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict. But the danger posed by war to all of humanity--and to our planet--is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming," he added.
As he has frequently stressed since he took office on 1 January, Mr. Ban said action on climate change would be one of his top priorities as Secretary-General, noting that global warming has profound implications for jobs, growth and poverty, affecting agriculture, the spread of disease and migration patterns, determining the ferocity and frequency of natural disasters, and prompting droughts, land degradation and other changes that "are likely to become a major driver of war and conflict."
He added that he would discuss climate change with global leaders at this June's summit meeting of the G-8 major industrialized nations. "These issues transcend borders," he declared. "That is why protecting the world's environment is largely beyond the capacity of individual countries. Only concerted and coordinated international action, supported and sustained by individual initiative, will be sufficient.
"The natural arena for such action is the United Nations. I am strongly committed to ensuring that the United Nations helps the international community make the transition to sustainable practices."
March 2, 2007
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that climate change poses as much of a danger to the world as war.
In his first address on the issue, Mr Ban said changes in the environment were likely to become a major driver of future war and conflicts.
He urged the US - the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases - to take the lead in fighting global warming.
Mr Ban said he would focus on the issue in talks with leaders of the G8 group of industrialised nations in June.
The UN is also due to hold a conference on climate change in Bali in December.
UN environment officials have been urging Mr Ban to take up the issue, says the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York, arguing that global leadership is needed and that he could make an impact.
The danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming
Ban Ki-moon
Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said his generation had been "somewhat careless" with the planet but that he was hopeful that that was changing.
"The majority of the United Nations' work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict," he said.
"But the danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."
Last month, a panel of scientists organised by the UN published a report showing that human activity was "very likely" to be causing climate change, and predicted rises in temperatures and sea levels.
Mr Ban warned that poor people living in Africa and small island states would suffer most from the effects of global warming, even though they were least responsible.
And in future years, the upheaval caused by environmental changes such as droughts and coastal flooding was likely to drive conflicts, he pointed out.
He said the world needed a more coherent system of international environmental governance in order to tackle global warming beyond the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
"I hope that the United States, while they have taken their role in innovative technologies as well as promoting cleaner energies, will also take the lead in this very important and urgent issue," he added.
The US, which produces a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, is not a signatory to Kyoto.
Story from BBC NEWS:
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