Climate change not just concern of scientists, but of all

A recent high-level gathering in New York built on the “unprecedented momentum” of public and political attention now being given to climate change, which is no longer the preoccupation of scientists or negotiators but has become a “people’s issue”, according to the top United Nations environmental official.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said that in looking at the range of international environmental issues, “climate change is clearly the preoccupation of the world today”.

Speaking to reporters at United Nations Headquarters, Mr. Steiner noted that climate change has also “graduated from being an issue that is the responsibility of the North alone or a preoccupation of the industrialized world to being increasingly perceived as a direct and immediate and very costly threat to developing nations”.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened the summit on 24 September -- the largest-ever meeting of heads of State or Government on climate change -- in an effort to forge a coalition to accelerate a global response to climate change and build international momentum for the major summit to be held in Bali, Indonesia from 3-14 December.
Addressing the high-level event, Mr. Ban stated: “Climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations”.

“Today, the effects of climate change are being felt around the world. But they are being felt most by those who are the least able to cope. Indeed, the terrible irony for many developing countries is that, though they have contributed the least to the process of climate change, they are the ones most at risk from its consequences. For some island States and peoples this is a matter of survival. The moral imperative could not be clearer”, Mr. Ban said.

In another development, the fourth Global Environment Outlook report (GEO-4) released by UNEP on 25 October, which assesses the current state of global atmosphere, land, water and diversity, further examines the complex population-environment linkage.

The report warns that “we are living far beyond our means”. “The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available… humanity’s footprint [its environmental demand] is 21.9 hectares per person while the Earth’s biological capacity is, on average, only 15.7 hectares per person…”
Quoted in a press release issued that day, UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner said: “The systematic destruction of the Earth’s natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the viability of economies is being challenged – and where the bill we hand on to our children may prove impossible to pay”.

Note: The above cited report is available from www.unep.org/geo/geo4/