SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON’S OPENING STATEMENT TO THE HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE Poznan, Poland, 11 December 2008
Thank you Mr. President of the Conference of the Parties, Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,
Most of you have noticed, entering this hall, a sculpture of a 10-foot-high “wave” of carbon-dioxide emissions, about to engulf the planet. This is no empty metaphor. We all know, from the scientific evidence presented over the past few years and days, we know the problem is growing worse.
The world is watching us. The next generation is counting on us. We must not fail. Together, we face two crises: climate change and the global economy. But these crises present us with a great opportunity—an opportunity to address both challenges simultaneously. Managing the global financial crisis requires massive global investments. A big part of that spending should be an investment in a green future. An investment that fights climate change, by creating millions of green jobs.
We need a “Green New Deal”. This deal is a strategy that works for all nations, rich as well as poor. It is an idea that was embraced with enthusiasm at the recent development conference in Doha, Qatar, and at the recent meeting of finance ministers in Warsaw. Our response to the economic crisis must advance climate goals. And our response to the climate crisis will advance our economic and social goals.
What we need, today, is leadership. We look for that leadership from the European Union. The decisions currently being made by European leaders in Brussels are of great consequence for the whole world. We look for leadership from the United States. It is therefore encouraging to hear about the incoming Obama administration’s plan to put alternative energy, environmentalism and climate change at the very center of America’s policies.
We see encouraging movement elsewhere, as well. China is dedicating one-fourth of its sizable economic incentive plan to scale-up renewable fuels, environmental protection and energy
conservation. Denmark is investing in green growth. Since 1980, its GDP has grown by 78 percent with only minimal increases in energy use. Brazil has built one of the greenest economies in the world, creating millions of new jobs in the process. India has launched a comprehensive Climate Change Action Plan that shifts to a greater use of sustainable sources of energy, particularly solar power. India is also fourth in the world in terms of wind energy capacity.
This is the way of the future. A future we must all embrace. As we travel our road to the future, you can count on my support. I will continue to press hard world leaders for their commitment to action.
I will do all I can as Secretary-General of the United Nations to see that the UN family responds, as one, to these challenges.
Thank you.
SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON’S OPENING STATEMENT TO THE HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE Poznan, Poland, 11 December 2008
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,
This coming year is the year of climate change. Here in Poznan, we have three challenges:
• First, we need a work-plan for next year’s negotiations.
• Second, we need to sketch out the critical elements of a long-term vision. We need a basic framework for cooperative action starting today, not in 2012. Within this framework,
industrialized countries must set ambitious long-term goals, coupled with mid-term emission reduction targets. Developing countries need to limit the growth of their emissions, as well. To do so, they will need robust financial and technological support—not just promises, but tangible results. Adaptation will be key, including risk reduction and management. Change must be integrated with strategies for development and poverty alleviation. One without the other means failure for both. The world’s poorest should not suffer first and worst from a problem they did least to create.
• Third, we must re-commit ourselves to the urgency of our cause. This requires leadership — your leadership. Yes, the economic crisis is serious. Yet when it comes to climate change, the stakes are even higher. The climate crisis affects our potential prosperity and our peoples’ lives, both now and far into the future. We must keep climate change at the top of national agendas.
Ladies and gentlemen,
There can be no delaying on our commitments to a future of low-carbon emissions. We must break free of old arguments—who is to blame, who must act first. We are all in this together. As we travel our road to the future, you can count on my support. I will do all I can as Secretary-General of the United Nations to see that the UN family responds, as one, to these challenges. Our UN agencies, funds and programmes will support you in implementing all agreements under the UNFCCC. We have worked hard to implement the Bali roadmap, and we look forward to next year’s World Climate Conference.
It is fitting that we meet in Poland, the land of Copernicus. Let us launch a new Copernican
revolution—a revolution in thinking, a revolution in action. Let us save ourselves from catastrophe and usher in a truly sustainable world. Remember, too, that Poland is the birthplace of the famed trade union, Solidarnosc. Precisely 20 years ago here in Poland, it set in motion an historic transformation. Today we need a global transformation to fight climate change, the defining challenge of our era. Twenty years from now, let our children and grand-children look back upon this day and say: “Yes, that is where it began.”
A revolution. A turning point. A moment when we turned away from a past that no longer works toward a more equitable and prosperous future.
Thank you.
Message by UNEP Executive Director for World Water Day 22 March 2007
Authorities, distinguished delegates, dear guests, ladies and gentlemen,
water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for six billion people but it is shared unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and managed in an unsustainable way.
The reality of climate change forces the world to pay even greater attention to water scarcity, given the extreme weather events which are likely to hit our planet over the coming years and decades.
Glaciers are melting three times faster than in the 1980s and could disappear in the decades to come. A Brazilian study indicates that temperatures in the Amazon could rise as high as 8 degrees Celsius, dramatically altering one of the world's most important freshwater systems.
So if we want to avoid the menace of water scarcity, a big part of the solution lies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 to 80 per cent.
Fortunately, World Water Day 2007 comes in a year of unprecedented scientific and political emphasis being devoted to climate change. Let us hope that political opinion worldwide is genuinely changing in favour of a new and drastic emissions-reduction regime to replace the Kyoto Protocol treaty, when this expires, that is to say in just five years’ time.
But even without climate change, water scarcity remains an issue in need of resolution.
Environmental degradation, from deforestation to the disappearance of wetlands, is aggravating water scarcity, as are inefficient forms of irrigation, over-exploitation of underground aquifers and pollution to rivers, lakes and streams.
UNEP ha recently adopted a new water policy. In partnership with the UN system, we are fully committed to its implementation, which centres on improved, sustainable management of water resources.
Solutions do not always need to be large-scale or require huge investments. There is, mathematically, enough rain falling on Africa to easily supply 13 billion people. It is a similar story across large parts of the globe including Asia and Latin America.
Reducing water scarcity by, for example, harvesting rainwater has multiple benefits and could help towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Policy statement by Klaus Toepfer at the closing of the 9th Special Session of the Governing Council of UNEP Global Ministerial Environment Forum
Dubai, 9 February 2006
I would like to send my congratulations to the President and to the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
Congratulations to your country for organizing this international environment meeting, for the first time in West Asia. Congratulations for the successful Zayed International Prize for the environment, which you awarded to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. And again congratulations to all those involved and to the people of the United Arab Emirates for their warmth and hospitality, for your engagement and your wisdom.
Some commentators say that the Dubai Declaration we have just issued is not enough. But we have our first step, we have a foundation upon which we can build. It puts us on track to meet the 2020 targets set in the Plan of Action agreed upon at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have said already that this great city of Dubai has become a cross roads, where east meets west and north meets south. But our meeting here has marked another important cross roads, where environment meets economics, where the urgency of balancing development with the Earth’s ecosystems is being finally understood. Developed, developing and rapidly emerging countries know now that environmental degradation is an obstacle to economic development, and no longer see environmental protection as a luxury, but as the fundamental prerequisite for fighting poverty.
There are numerous reasons behind the renaissance in global environmental awareness and policy. First and foremost the issue of energy and climate change. We urgently need more energy for development. Over one and a half billion people in developing countries are without access to electricity. We must bridge this gap. But our current energy supplies are not sustainable. Some 80% comes from fossil fuels. And much of this is wasted. The planet and its people are paying a high price for energy inefficiency. Air pollution kills millions of people around the world. In Asia, pollution is seriously damaging agricultural production. In the developing world it is the women and children who suffer most, spending long hours looking for firewood, when they could be at school.
Inefficient use of energy is also costing dear in terms of climate change. Lat year weather-related natural disasters cost more than $200 billion. Scientists are warning that the Greenland ice cap is now in danger of melting.
So, it is good that our discussions are being held in Dubai. The United Arab Emirates is a member of the global community. It has ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The economic miracle here could not have occurred without water. And water here means desalination. Desalination technologies could play their part in halving the number of people without access to clean drinking water in developing countries. That is why the technologies you have developed here could well be exported, and help the international community meet part the Millennium Development Goals.
This is my wish. Thank you.
