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| Elliot Diringer |
Mr. Diringer listed four main features of the problem:
- Climate change is essentially a global phenomenon. Green house gases affect us all and all of us were involved in producing them — from the taxi driver in New York to the power plant in New Delhi. The best hope of controlling emissions lay with the Kyoto Protocol and all nations, including the US, should sign up to it soon.
- Climate change is essentially a long-term challenge. The 1990s were the hottest decade of the millennium; the ice cap grew thinner and spring came earlier. The world has to move away from fossil fuels. Politicians and businessmen who tended to think only short-term had to be persuaded that the pay-off for long-term thinking would be crucial for a viable future for the whole planet.
- There is uncertainty in predicting the future. Estimations of global warming in the next century vary from 2% to 10%. Sudden changes could have a catastrophic effect. The sooner governments and businesses took action, the less costly would be the effects of climate change.
- There is a deep unfairness about the likely effects of global warming. In the past, one-third of all global warming was caused by the developed countries, but in the future developing countries will give off far more harmful gases. Because of the high costs involved, it is difficult now to get developing countries to take precautionary action. In the future, the poorest countries would suffer the most from severe climate change – places such as Bangladesh, small island states such as Tuvalu, and African States bordering on desert areas. Fairness in sharing the burdens of prevention would be essential.
Environmental Degradation — Adnan Z. Amin, Director, New York Office, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
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| Adnan Z. Amin |
UNEP’s mandate is to be the leading environmental agency. This is possible only through education and awareness, especially of youth. The fourth “R” (reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic) is “respect for the environment.” Education about the environment is a lifelong learning process, and for over 30 years the U.N. has made vital contributions to understanding greenhouse gasses and environmental degradation.
Sustainable development is also a primary U.N. concern. People must be put first; development must take into account the ”whole picture.” There must be a united front against poverty AND environmental degradation. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of environmental change and the need to reconcile differences in dealing with it. Environmental degradation is the direct result of the unsustainable use of the world’s resources. The poor suffer the greatest impact from environmental degradation, from the lack of clean water to the loss of farm land to desertification.
The end of the Cold War has greatly relieved the threat of world war, but the threat of environmental degradation looms equally as large, if not larger.
