President Rupiah Banda has called on developed countries in the world to lead the way in agreeing on ambitious and legally binding green house gas emission reduction targets in accordance with scientific advice.
In his pre-recorded message posted on the internet to the United Nations Climate Change Summit held in New York yesterday, Mr. Banda said climate change has threatened sustainable development of all countries in the world hence the need to have find measures to address this menace.
He said like many other developing countries, Zambia was already experiencing adverse effects of climate change, noting that this trend must be reversed through finding an effective adaptation framework to reduce the risks posed to humanity.
“However, an adaptation framework will not be enough if we do not address the root cause of green house gas emissions. It is therefore important that developed countries take the lead in agreeing upon ambitious legally binding emission reduction targets, consistent with scientific advice, while developing countries will require support from the global community to adopt appropriate actions,” he said.
President Banda further pointed out that countries all around the world should act pragmatically to reverse the negative impact of climate change, adding that huge amounts of financial support should be provided to the most vulnerable developing countries to finance their adaptation and mitigation programmes.
“These funds must be additional to the Official Development Assistance (ODA). In addition, a transparent financial mechanism should be put in place so that deserving vulnerable countries can easily access the funds,” he added.
The UN climate change summit, which was convened by the UN Secretary General yesterday, is a huge step towards the big climate change summit to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December this year.
The Copenhagen summit will produce a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol which expires in 2012.
President Banda said this support should also include capacity building to enable local communities, who are at high risk of effects of climate change, to learn new ways of responding to the challenges.
“This December, we have to make a choice. To act responsibly as a united global community and provide a firm ground to safeguard our common good or stick to traditional positions and negotiating tactics and consign our future and that of our children to doom,” he concluded.
He was among over one hundred heads of state and government that attended the summit at the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has urged heads of state and government attending the General Assembly to accelerate their action against global warming and preserve the planet for future generations.
Mr. Ki-Moon said when he officially opened the summit that world leaders should now stop dragging negotiations towards coming up with a new agreement to curb greenhouse emissions that would go into 2012 when the Kyoto protocol’s first commitment period expires.
“Climate change is the pre-eminent geopolitical and economic issues of the 21st century. It rewrites the global equation for development, peace and security,” he said.
He noted that although countering effects of climate change would require huge financial costs, further delays to come up with effective mitigation measures would make countries in the world pay an unacceptable price.
He stresses that developed countries should take first steps in acting to reverse the impact of climate change while developing countries should also follow.
“All countries must do more now,” he said, adding that “not sealing the deal in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically shortsighted and politically unwise”.
And United States President, Barack Obama, who was one of the speakers during the official opening of a one day summit on climate change, said all countries must unite in fighting the effects of climate change because the fates of this hazard were intertwined.
Mr. Obama, who received a huge applause when he stepped on stage to address the summit, said no nation, big or small, can stand along to fight the impact of climate change.
He called on the countries in the world to actively get involved in addressing the causes and effects of climate change.
After the official opening of the summit, the heads of state and government that included President Banda went into interactive high level roundtable discussions on climate change.
Other key issues that would be discussed during the 64th General Assembly will be the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), world financial and economic crises and its impact on development, disarmament, UN reforms, including Security Council reform and revitalisation of the General Assembly.
It will also review the peace building commission and the Human Rights Council as well as consider issues relating to system wide coherence, sustainable development and HIV/AIDS.
The theme of the General Assembly is “Effective responses to global crises, strengthening multilaterism and dialogue among civilisations for international peace, security and development”.
The General Assembly, which was established in 1945 under the UN Charter, is a chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN and is a unique forum for multilateral discussions of full spectrum of international issues.
ZANIS
