Students and young activists on Saturday threw down the gauntlet to world leaders heading to United Nations Headquarters next week for high-level climate talks, demanding that they “stop wasting time” and work harder to curb carbon emissions, “or we will vote you out.”
It is “crucial” that the world’s 1.8 billion young people have a say in the fight against climate change and ultimately “the future of the planet” according to the UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake.
Staff at UN Headquarters in New York joined untold numbers of students, scientists, organized labour, and everyday people worldwide, who took to the streets on Friday, demanding action to address climate change.
Nature is “one of the most effective ways” of combatting climate change and should be part of every country’s climate strategy according to the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Inger Andersen.
There are five key United Nations summits taking place next week to spur action on the climate crisis and other global concerns, which will showcase the UN as a “driver for meaningful, positive change”, according to the man at the helm of the Organization.
Ahead of global leaders’ arrival in New York for the Climate Action Summit on 23 September, the United Nations deputy chief has launched a comprehensive report on how the world can take swift and meaningful action to slow down climate change.
Cities around the world are the “main cause of climate change” but can also offer a part of the solution to reducing the harmful greenhouses gases that are causing global temperatures to rise according to UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
New measures to speed up the transition to clean energy and green economies are among the initiatives to be unveiled during the UN Climate Change Summit next week.
A recap of Monday’s top stories: The ozone layer is on track to repair; Instability rises over oilfield attacks in Saudi Arabia; General Assembly chief Espinosa bows out; Disaster and conflict displace thousands in Asia Pacific; Sexual violence unpunished in South Sudan; Genocide threat remains for Rohingya.
At the current momentum, scientists predict the planet’s protective shield of gas - or ozone layer as we know it - will be completely healed as far as some regions of the planet are concerned, by the 2030’s, the UN’s environmental agency (UNEP) revealed on Monday.
