UN chief calls for strengthened efforts vs. climate change

FILE: Deeply impressed by the innovative project at Bangkok Centenary Park to mitigate floods by absorbing millions of gallons of rain water in this vulnerable city. Climate action is a global issue but cities should play a critical part. (Photo: antonioguterres/Twitter)

NONTHABURI, Thailand – Gains against climate change continue to lag behind the destruction of the environment that has put the lives of more people in danger, the chief of the United Nations (UN) said Sunday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a briefing after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – UN Summit here, said leaders of the regional bloc have acknowledged the impact of climate change on their respective economies.

He said climate change is “the most dramatic threat to sustainability today.”

“There’s a major concern for us all. Indeed, we are still losing the race. Climate change is running faster than what we are,” he said.

The UN chief said impact of climate change has resulted to severe droughts, melting of glaciers, and bleaching of corals, among others.

He said these environmental changes, which have resulted in disasters, have affected the lives of people around the world.

Citing the result of a study that was released recently, Guterres said an analysis of the speed of the rise of sea level showed that it is faster than what was known earlier.

“It is now foreseen that if we are not able to defeat climate change we will have, in 2050, an impact on the sea level rise over 300 million people,” he said.

He, thus, reiterated the need to make sure that the rise of temperature is capped at 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, that the world becomes carbon neutral by 2050 and emissions are reduced by 45 percent.

“In the next decades, if we miss these objectives the situation will be catastrophic with dramatic impact around the world,” he said.

Guterres also called for the implementation of carbon tax, noting that subsidies to fossil fuels that governments extend to businessmen come from taxpayers’ money.

He also raised the need to stop the construction of new coal-fired power plants starting in 2020 and instead push for production of more renewable energy.

He noted that there are a number of coal-fired power plants that are in the pipeline for construction in East, South, and Southeast Asia in the next few years.

“It is very important to recognize that the addiction to coal can undermine our efforts to defeat climate change,” he said.

He disclosed that he has talked with country leaders where the new coal-fired power plants will be constructed or executives of companies that finance these projects to reconsider the plan.

“My appeal is for an emphasis to be put on renewables and to be able to stop the construction of new power plants, coal power plants, because, as I have said, the addiction to coal can undermine, because of its impact in terms of CO2 (carbon dioxide), can undermine our efforts to defeat climate change,” he said.

The UN chief also pointed out that “today it is clear that renewable energy is the cheapest one.

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“Technology has evolved in such a way that today renewables are the most effective form to produce electricity,” he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo, in a statement, said President Rodrigo R.

Duterte, during the Asean-UN Summit “expressed his appreciation for the actions taken, with the assistance of the UN, to build resilience and strengthen the support for climate change adaptation and mitigation in a region where national disasters occur frequently.”

He also said that the President “has once again exhibited his broad knowledge and understanding in international affairs before the global audience.”

This, after the President noted that 2020 will be a promising year for the regional bloc because Indonesia and Vietnam will be part of the United Nations Security Council (UN Security Council).

“PRRD manifested that he considers this as Asean’s coming of age as this meant the association’s further engagement with the world,” he said.

He said the region can also have a huge hole in conflict resolution and conflict prevention – – “a job that the United Nations is currently performing.”

“The President thus called on Asean and the UN to pursue preventive diplomacy, including the advancement of women in the peace and security agenda, which the Philippines pioneered in the ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry (AWPR),” he said.

Panelo said the President also urged both the Asean and the UN to strengthen cooperation in sustainable security.

“Both, according to PRRD, must promote counter-narratives to address the message of hate and destruction propagated by violent extremists and terrorists,” he said, noting that “the President cited the experience of the Philippines in Marawi to show such methodology of international cooperation.

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