Climate change is our top priority, says UN chief

Hilary Osborne and agencies
Friday March 2, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


Climate change poses at least as big a threat to the world as war, the new UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, warned last night.

Addressing students at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said he planned to make the fight against climate change one of his top priorities in his new role and that he hoped the US would help lead the way.

Mr Ban, who assumed the role in January, said that while he had grown up in the shadow of the Korean war, young people today were faced with a different threat.

"Today, war continues to threaten countless men, women and children across the globe. It is the source of untold suffering and loss. And the majority of the UN's work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict.

"But, the danger posed by war to all of humanity - and to our planet - is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming," he said. "I believe that the world has reached a critical stage in its efforts to exercise responsible environmental stewardship."

Last month the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report showing a strong link between human activity and climate change, and warned that without action temperatures could rise by more than 6C by the end of the century.

A rise of 4C would be enough to wipe out hundreds of species, bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause catastrophic floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people, it said.

Mr Ban said that despite some "admirable efforts" the environment continued to be degraded and natural resources used in an unsustainable manner and that the world needed to make some big changes.

"We have to change the way we live, and rethink the way we travel and transact business," he said.

"The world needs a more coherent system of international environmental governance. We need to invest more in green technologies and smarter policies. And we need to do far more to adapt to global warming and its effects.

"But, our efforts should focus particularly on the needs of the poor, who already suffer disproportionately from pollution, disasters and the degradation of resources and land."

The secretary general said he would be attending the G8 summit in June to discuss the issues with heads of government and that he was "strongly committed" to ensuring that the UN helped the international community to switch to more sustainable practices.

And he said he hoped the US would take the lead on the issue.

"I hope that the United States - while they have taken a role in innovative technologies as well as promoting cleaner energies - will also take lead in this very important and urgent issue," he said.