UN chief urges new climate change deal by 2009
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UN chief Ban Ki-moon late Tuesday appealed to all countries to do their utmost to seal a new climate change deal by 2009 and have it in force by the time the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Addressing an informal General Assembly debate on the impact of climate change, Ban said: “All countries must do what they can to reach agreement by 2009, and to have it in force by the expiry of the current Kyoto Protocol commitment period in 2012.”
“We need a comprehensive agreement under the UNFCCC process that tackles climate change on all fronts, including adaptation, mitigation, clean technologies, deforestation and resource mobilization,” he added.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the parent of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The UNFCCC’s annual climate change conference, to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali in December, is to thrash out a new treaty to take effect after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Last month, UNFCCC executive secretary Yvo de Boer hailed a call by Group of Eight leaders at their summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, for conclusion of global talks in 2009 in order to have a post-2012 climate change regime in place.
The two-day informal debate (story 1443 GMT), bringing together prominent scientists, business leaders and UN officials, aims to prepare the ground for a high-level meeting called by Ban for next month on the sidelines of the General Assembly and for the Bali conference in December.
It features interactive panel discussions with climate change experts and a plenary debate with statements on national strategies and international commitments by UN member states.
Ban told the meeting: “We cannot go on this way for long. We cannot continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action on a global scale.”
Filed by Maria Robson under The Environment, Climate Change