5:11 pm - Saturday March 27, 7937

Urgent action to address climate change, urges LDC group chair    

Urgent action is needed to protect the least developed countries from the adverse impacts of climate change, the chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group has said at the UN climate change negotiations.

“The latest science tells us that we can limit global temperature increases to a level that will save the poorest countries in the world. All that is required is the will to do it. But if we don’t act urgently the world’s poorest will suffer,” LDC Group chair Prakash Mathema said at the climate meet in Bonn on Tuesday, according to a message received here.

Two new reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in the last three months, revealed the alarming realities for the world’s poorest countries. Extreme temperatures, rainfall and drought, increase in aridity, more intense tropical cyclones, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification are among the other adverse impacts of climate change.

ldc1These impacts will lead to declining crop yields, undernourishment, injury and ill-health, and a number of other socioeconomic and development challenges.

Prakash Mathema said: “It is still technically and economically feasible to limit temperature increases to below 1.5 degree Centigrade, but only if we all work together to resolve the climate change problem. If some countries advance their own interests and ignore the need for international cooperation, then we are doomed.”

The LDC Group has converged in Bonn, Germany, to continue discussions at the UN on reaching a universally, legally-binding agreement on climate change. They call for urgent action to ensure that a new legal Agreement is reached in Paris, December 2015.

Mathema said the governments must make substantial progress in their talks in the period leading up to this date. “We hope that we will have a negotiating text to discuss in the major climate change meeting later this year in Lima, Peru. This means that this June session of climate change talks is critical. We cannot be delayed by procedural discussions. We must put our heads together and start writing a new agreement.”

He said as a sign of their commitment to addressing climate change, the LDC Group is already choosing low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways, and the LDCs want to show that everyone has a role to play.

“We stand ready to engage proactively and progressively in the negotiations for a new agreement. We have demonstrated our leadership as the ‘moral voice’ in difficult negotiations.

“We sincerely hope that all nations will join us in this quest. Reaching a strong conclusion in Paris is crucial for us; it is about the very survival of our communities and future generations. If there is no progress, we stand to lose the most,” said the LDC Group chair.

Courtesy: UNB


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