Peter Capella Yahoo News 3 Sep 09;
GENEVA (AFP) – The world is speeding towards a climate catastrophe, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday, urging rapid progress in talks to cut emissions and tackle global warming.
"Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," the UN Secretary General said in a speech to the World Climate Conference.
Ban, who this week visited the Arctic to witness first hand the changes wrought by global warming, warned that many of the "more distant scenarios" predicted by scientists were "happening now."
"Scientists have been accused for years of scaremongering. But the real scaremongers are those who say we cannot afford climate action -- that it will hold back economic growth," he said.
"They are wrong. Climate change could spell widespread disaster," Ban warned.
The UN leader pinned his hopes of a breakthrough on a summit of world leaders in New York this month to discuss climate change.
Talks on an agreement to extend the Kyoto protocol on emissions cuts in time for December's Copenhagen conference had been too limited and slow, he said.
"We have 15 negotiating days left until Copenhagen. We cannot afford limited progress. We need rapid progress," he added, criticising "inertia" towards climate change.
"In New York, (I) expect candid and constructive discussions. I expect serious bridge building. I expect strong outcomes," Ban told delegates and ministers from some 150 countries at the meeting in Geneva.
The UN chief warned that the price of failure in Copenhagen would be high "not just for future generations, but for this generation."
Ban later reiterated that a pledge by the Group of 8 industrialised countries this summer for a long-term 80 percent cut in emissions by 2050 was not sufficient.
"I continue to believe that they should have a mid-term target, I'm going to continue on that with the G8 and G20 (leading economies)," he told journalists.
Visibly sobered by his Arctic visit, Ban warned that rising sea levels, partly generated by melting ice, would threaten major cities and potentially up to 130 million people.
The melting was also triggering a rush for natural resources in the Arctic, "altering the geopolitical landscape," not just the environment, said Ban.
He urged action on the key areas of the Copenhagen negotiations that are riven by disagreements between rich, emerging and poor nations.
They include measures to adapt to climate change and "fast-track funding" to help the most vulnerable and developing countries.
In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned that African nations would walk out of the Copenhagen talks if their demands, notably on funding, were not met.
While developed nations need to set "ambitious mid-term" emissions targets, Ban said developing countries also "need to act to slow the growth of their emissions."
But China maintained its stance for Copenhagen.
"The developed countries should continue to take the lead in undertaking quantified emission reductions commitments, and the developing countries should make contributions as their ability permits," said Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu in Geneva.
In India, a government-backed report released Thursday said the country's per capita greenhouse gas emissions were expected to nearly triple in the next two decades.
With its massive population, India is is one of the top polluters in the world. It is also among countries that have long rejected binding carbon emission targets on the grounds that they would hinder economic development.
The largely technical World Conference on Climate Change in Geneva approved the first steps in setting up a new global framework to share climate information and develop better long-term weather forecasting.
U.N.'s Ban seeks strong climate pact, fears sea rise
Alister Doyle and Sven Egenter, Reuters 3 Sep 09;
GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Thursday for swifter work on a climate treaty, saying inaction could spell economic disaster and a rise in sea levels of up to 2 meters (6.5 ft) by 2100.
"We cannot afford limited progress. We need rapid progress," he told a 155-nation climate conference in Geneva of negotiations on a new United Nations deal to combat global warming that is due to be agreed in December in Copenhagen.
"Climate change could spell widespread economic disaster," Ban said, urging action to promote greener growth.
"By the end of this century, sea levels may rise between half a meter and two meters," he said. That would threaten small island states, river deltas and cities such as Tokyo, New Orleans or Shanghai, he said.
His sea level projection is above the range of 18 to 59 cms (7-24 inches) given in 2007 by the U.N.'s own panel of experts. Their estimates did not include the possibility of an accelerated melt of vast ice sheets in Antarctica or Greenland.
Ban said greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, were still rising fast. "Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading toward an abyss," he said.
Just back from a trip to see thinning Arctic sea ice off Norway, Ban said he hoped a summit of world leaders he will host in New York on September 22 would give a new push to Copenhagen.
"I am really trying to raise a sense of urgency," he told a news conference after speaking to an audience including about 20 leaders, mostly of developing nations such as Tanzania, Bangladesh and Mozambique, and ministers from up to 80 nations.
He reiterated calls for developed nations to agree "more ambitious" targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 than promised so far and more aid. Rich nations want clearer pledges from the poor that they will slow rising emissions.
AID
"China faces enormous tasks in developing its economy, eradicating poverty and improving people's livelihood, but it still attaches great importance to climate change," Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said in a speech.
The Geneva August 31-September 4 conference, gathering about 1,500 delegates, also formally approved a new system to improve monitoring and early warning systems about the climate to help everyone from farmers to investors in renewable energies.
Delegates said the "Global Framework for Climate Services" would mainly help developing nations adapt to changes such as more floods, wildfires, droughts, rising seas or more disease.
Many Asian farmers, for instance, want to know how a projected thaw of Himalayan glaciers will disrupt water flows in rivers. Investors in wind farms can benefit from information on future wind patterns, rather than historical data.
The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) would set up a "task force" of advisers within four months who would then have a year to report back with proposals about how it would work in sectors such as health, energy and agriculture.
"For us, it is a success," Michel Jarraud, head of the WMO, said of the conference.
Tanzania's Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein said the impact of disasters, such as droughts or floods, could be averted with better information. He also said the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro would vanish in coming decades at current rates.
The Geneva talks are the third world climate conference. Meetings in 1979 and 1990 helped pave the way to a U.N. Climate Panel and a U.N. 1992 Climate Convention.
(Additional reporting by Laura MacInnis; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
