inclusiveness" to tackle the perils of climate change,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday, marking World
Environment Day with a call for urgent global action that takes into
account the needs of the world's least affluent countries.
"Solutions to global warming proposed by developed nations cannot
come at the expense of less fortunate neighbours on the planet," Mr.
Ban wrote in an opinion column for The International Herald Tribune.
Noting that global warming "affects us all, yet it affects us all
differently," he said wealthy nations already have the resources and
know-how to adapt to global warming.
"An African farmer, losing crops or herds to drought and dust
storms, or a Tuvalu islander worried his village might soon be under
water, is infinitely more vulnerable," he said in a statement released
in Accra on Thursday by the UN Information Centre.
Mr. Ban, who is in Heiligendamm, Germany, for a summit meeting
with leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations,
noted that the United States and European countries were proposing
contrasting strategies for dealing with climate change.
"We shall see how all this unfolds... But let us remember. A G8
agreement that is not global in scope cannot hope to offer solutions
to a global problem. It is time for new thinking and a new
inclusiveness."
He welcomed US President George W. Bush's recent declaration that
he would launch a US climate initiative, but urged that it take place
within the UN's global framework for discussion.
Mr. Ban stressed that the sign is clear on climate change, with
everyday bringing new evidence of both its growing impact and its
principal cause - humans - and the need for urgent action.
"Today's solution du jour - the rage for carbon trading - is but
one weapon in our arsenal.
"New technologies, energy conservation, forestry projects and
renewable fuels, as well as private markets, must all be part of a
long-term strategy. So must adaptation. After all, mitigation can only
go so far," he stated.
He added that he would soon announce the details of a special
high-level meeting on climate change, to be held in New York in
September before the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
07 June 07
