UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened on Monday the
largest-ever gathering of world leaders on climate change in order
to facilitate an exchange of views between governments on this
issue and to galvanize political will for the upcoming UN climate
change conference in Bali in December.
"Given the nature and magnitude of the challenge, national
action alone is insufficient," Ban told the participants from over
150 nations, including 80 heads of State or Government at the UN
Headquarters in New York.
He thus called for call for a coalition to accelerate a global
response to the issue which he has identified as one of his top
priorities, saying "that is why we need to confront climate change
within a global frame work, one that guarantees the highest level
of international cooperation."
Ban cited the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change that global warming is directly linked to human
activity, calling on the attendees to take "unprecedented action"
to meet this challenge.
"We must be guided by the reality that inaction now will prove
the costliest action of all in the long term," he said.
Development is seriously impeded by climate change, which
threatens to reverse the gains made towards the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals, eight targets to slash a host of ills
including poverty by 2015, the Secretary-General noted.
"But it is not a zero-sum game," he said.
Ban pointed out that the UN climate process is the recognized
appropriate forum for negotiating global action, and stressed that
"our goal must be nothing short of a real breakthrough in Bali"
where the UN Climate Change Conference is to be held in December,
2007.
"Today, the time for doubt has passed," he said. "Our immediate
challenge is to transform our common concern into a new consensus
on the way forward."
"This journey begins in Bali this December. It will succeed or
fail based on the strength of the leadership and commitment
displayed by the people in this hall," Ban noted.
Meanwhile, he scrutinized the current challenge caused by
climate change, saying that most industrialized country emissions
are still rising, and their per capita emissions remain
unacceptably high.
"At the same time, support for adaptation by poor countries has
fallen well short of what is required," the Secretary-General
added.
Ban finally set out essential parameters of the global
framework, which includes enhanced leadership by the industrialized
countries on emission reductions, incentives for developing
countries to act but without sacrificing economic growth or poverty
reduction, significant increased support for adaptation in
developing countries, strengthened technology development and
dissemination, and new approaches to financing.
Srgjan Kerim, President of the UN General Assembly, said at the
opening of the summit that "with the political will we can overcome
the threat of climate change."
He echoed what Ban just stressed, saying the United Nations and
the General Assembly should play a central role to tackle this
challenge.
Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the opening
of the summit that helping the poor nations to finance advancements
in environmental technologies is in the best interests of the
developed world.
He called for efforts to break the stalemate between the
developed and the developing worlds on climate change, saying that
"it is time we came together in a new international agreement that
can be embraced by rich and poor nations alike."
Following the opening remarks by the UN chief and other
officials, four simultaneous plenary sessions on addressing the
challenges of climate change on all fronts will be held on four
themes: adaptation, mitigation, technology and financing.
Each session will be chaired by two heads of State, and speakers
include world leaders and other delegation heads, as well as
representatives of civil society and the private sector.
The event is convened by the Secretary-General to discuss the
climate challenge in order to prepare the way for remarkable
negotiations in December, which seeks to determine future action on
mitigation, adaptation, the global carbon market and financing
responses to climate change for the period after the expiration of
the Kyoto Protocol - the current global framework for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions - in 2012.
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2007)
