The collapse of civilization and the natural world is on the horizon, Sir David Attenborough, British naturalist and TV personality, has told the UN climate change summit in Poland. Attenborough was chosen to represent the world’s people in addressing delegates of almost 200 nations who are in Katowice to negotiate how to turn pledges made in the 2015 Paris climate deal into reality.
“Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change,” he said. “If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.”
The Conference of the Parties (COP) summit is the highest body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Expected at the COP24 meeting this year are close to 30,000 delegates from all over the world, including government leaders and ministers responsible for environmental policy.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
“Do you not see what is going on around you?” asks one young man in a video message played as part of a montage to the delegates. “We are already seeing increased impacts of climate change in China,” says a young woman. Another woman, standing outside a building burned down by a wildfire, says: “This used to be my home.”
Attenborough said: “The world’s people have spoken. Time is running out. They want you, the decision-makers, to act now. Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of civilizations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands.”
Recent studies show the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, and the top four in the past four years. Climate action must be increased fivefold to limit warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius scientists advise, according to the UN.
The COP24 summit was also addressed by Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general. “Climate change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later before it is too late,” he said. “For many people, regions and even countries this is already a matter of life or death.”
Guterres said the two-week summit was the most important since Paris and that it must deliver firm funding commitments. “We have a collective responsibility to invest in averting global climate chaos,” he said. He highlighted the opportunities of the green economy: “Climate action offers a compelling path to transform our world for the better. Governments and investors need to bet on the green economy, not the gray.”
Ricardo Navarro, of Friends of the Earth in El Salvador, said: “We must build an alternative future based on a just energy transformation. We face the threat of rightwing populist and climate-denying leaders further undermining climate protection and racing to exploit fossil fuels. We must resist.”
Another goal of the summit is for nations to increase their pledges to cut carbon emissions; currently they are on target for a disastrous 3 degrees Celsius of warming. The prime minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, who led the 2017 UN climate summit, said his country had raised its ambitions. He told the summit: “If we can do it, you can do it.”
(The Guardian)
在波蘭卡托維茲舉行的聯合國氣候變化高峰會中,英國博物學家及電視名人大衛‧艾登伯洛爵士表示,文明和自然界的崩壞即將來臨。艾登伯洛獲選代表全世界人民,向來自近兩百個國家的代表發演說,這些代表將在會中談判如何落實二○一五年巴黎氣候協議所做的承諾。
「我們現在正面臨範圍擴及全球的人為災難──氣候變化,這是數千年來我們所面對的最大威脅」,艾登伯洛說。「若不採取行動,文明的崩壞和大部分自然界的滅絕便將到來。」
締約方(COP)峰會是聯合國氣候變化框架公約(UNFCC)的最高機構。今年舉行的第二十四屆締約方會議有近三萬名來自世界各地的代表,包括政府領導人和負責環境政策的部長。
「你難道沒看見周遭所發生的事嗎?」播放給與會代表的一段影片集錦中,一名年輕人問道。「在中國我們已見到氣候變化的影響越來越大」,一位年輕女士說。另有位女子站在被野火燒毀的建築外說道:「這之前是我的家」。
艾登伯洛說:「全世界的人都說過,時間不多了。全世界都希望你們這些決策者現在就採取行動。你們是各國的領袖,必須做出領導。文明和我們所賴以生存的自然界,其延續與否就掌握在你們手中。」
最近的研究顯示,有紀錄以來最熱的二十年,發生在近二十二年中;其中最熱的四年,便是過去的四年。根據聯合國調查,因應氣候變化所採取的措施必須增強五倍,才能將全球暖化限制在科學家所建議的攝氏一點五度以內。
聯合國秘書長安東尼歐‧古特瑞斯也在峰會上致詞,他說:「氣候變化的速度比我們的動作還快,我們必須儘早趕上,避免為時已晚。」「對許多人、地區甚至國家來說,這已是生死攸關的問題。」
古特瑞斯表示,為期兩週的這次峰會,是巴黎氣候峰會以來最重要的會議,必須承諾資金的穩固。「避免全球氣候亂象,我們全體都有投資的責任。」他強調綠色經濟的商機:「氣候行動提供了一條令人信服的道路,讓我們把世界變得更好。政府和投資者要放手一搏的是綠色經濟,而不是灰色經濟。」
「薩爾瓦多地球之友」的里卡多‧納瓦洛說:「我們必須基於合理的能源轉型,來建立未來的替代能源。我們面臨右翼民粹和否認氣候變化的領導人的威脅,這種領導人進一步破壞了氣候保護、競相開採化石燃料。我們必須加以抵制。」
此峰會另一目標,是讓各國對減少碳排放做出更多承諾,目前的目標是將暖化限制在攝氏三度以內,這仍會造成許多災難。主辦二○一七年聯合國氣候峰會的斐濟總理弗蘭克‧班尼馬拉馬表示,該國已將目標提高,他告訴峰會說:「如果我們能做到,你就可以做得到。」
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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