By Ban Ki-moon
So, the lines are drawn. As the industrialized nations of the
Group of Eight gather in Heiligendamm, the forces mustered to fight
global warming have divided into competing camps.
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Germany and Britain seek urgent talks on a new climate change
treaty, to go into effect when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
They talk of stiff measures to curb carbon emissions and limit the
rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius over the coming
four decades.
The United States, offering an initiative of its own, opposes
what it considers to be arbitrary targets and timetables.
We shall see how all this unfolds. But while the US and Europe
debate, some basic facts are beyond dispute.
First, the science is clear. The earth's warming is unequivocal;
we humans are its principle cause. Every day brings new evidence,
whether it's the latest Greenpeace report on Mount Qomolangma's
retreating glaciers or last week's discovery that the Antarctic
Ocean can no longer absorb CO2. Think of that: the world's largest
carbon trap has been filled to capacity.
Second, the time for action is now. The cost of not acting, most
economists agree, will exceed the costs of acting early, probably
by several orders of magnitude. The damage Hurricane Katrina
inflicted on New Orleans may or may not have anything to do with
global warming, but it's a useful caution on the financial and
social perils of delay.
It's equally evident that we can no longer afford to endlessly
parse our options. The solution du jour - the rage for
carbon-trading - is but one weapon in our arsenal. New
technologies, energy conservation, forestry projects and renewable
fuels, as well as private markets, must all be part of a long-term
strategy. So must adaptation. After all, mitigation can only go so
far.
There's a third fact - as I see it, the most important of all.
That's a basic issue of equity - a question of values, ranking
among the great moral imperatives of our era. Global warming
affects us all, yet it affects us all differently.
Wealthy nations possess the resources and know-how to adapt. An
African farmer, losing crops or herds to drought and dust storms,
or a Tuvalu islander worried his village might soon be under water,
is infinitely more vulnerable.
It is a familiar divide: rich-poor, north-south. Put bluntly,
solutions to global warming proposed by developed nations cannot
come at the expense of less fortunate neighbors on the planet. How
else would we achieve our UN Millenium Development Goals of halving
world poverty - so solemnly laid down at previous G8 meetings - if
the developing world's aspirations for a greater stake in global
prosperity are not honored?
A sense of human dimension should govern any issue which we
peoples of the world together must face, climate change included. I
consider it a duty, an extension of the sacred obligation to
protect, which is the foundation of the United Nations.
Each day, I walk through the lobby of UN headquarters in New
York, where some of the world's most famous photojournalists are
currently displaying their work. They capture the faces and voices
of people too often unseen and unheard, from all parts of the
globe, many of whom live daily in severe hardship made worse by
climate change.
Our debates in the Security Council, often dull affairs
conducted in opaque diplomatese, occasionally burst astonishingly
to life - and for moments become anything but diplomatic. I recall
in one discussion in April, when the representative of Namibia
spoke out on his perception of the dangers of climate change. "This
is no academic exercise," he all but shouted. "It is a matter of
life or death for my country."
He told of how the Namib and Kalahari deserts are expanding,
destroying farmland and rendering whole regions uninhabitable. This
made me think of my own country, South Korea, more and more often
choked by dust storms.
Malaria has spread to areas where it was once unknown, the
Namibian representative went on. Species of plants and animals are
dying out, in a land famed for its biodiversity. Developing
countries like his own are increasingly subject to what he likened
to "low-intensity biological or chemical warfare".
These are strong emotions, drawn from life and not imagined. For
those in the developed world, it is important to hear, and to act
accordingly. This is the message I will deliver over the coming
days in Heiligendamm.
It is why I will soon announce a special high-level meeting on
climate change, to be held in New York in September before the
annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
The meeting has been called for by Bangladesh, the Netherlands,
Norway and Brazil, as well as Singapore, Barbados and Costa Rica.
It is why I recently appointed three special envoys, whose brief is
to speak out for the interests and concerns of nations most
vulnerable to climate change, home to the vast majority of the
world's people.
I welcome US President George W. Bush's recent declaration that
he, too, will launch a US climate initiative. I urge that this take
place within the UN's global framework for discussion, so that our
work may be complementary and mutually reinforcing.
In December, the world's leaders will gather again in Bali to
build on what is decided in Germany this week and in these
subsequent meetings.
But let us remember: A G8 agreement that is not global in scope
cannot hope to offer solutions to a global problem. It is time for
new thinking and a new inclusiveness. We can no longer go about our
business as usual.
The author is UN secretary-general. The article first
appeared in the International Herald Tribune.
(China Daily June 8, 2007)
