Ban Ki-moon urges efforts to achieve basis for global action on climate change

Continuing his campaign to galvanize the international community on climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged ministers meeting in Indonesia to work towards a solid basis for international action to tackle the problem.

“The threat of climate change has moved to the centre of the global political arena with more urgency and intensity than any issue in recent memory,” Mr. Ban said in a message to an informal Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change being held in Bogor.

He reviewed recent developments, including the high-level event he convened in New York in September, which fostered a consensus among national leaders on key themes.

Participants “pointed to mitigation and adaptation as central to a sound response, with financing and technology as key tools,” he said, recalling that they also stressed the need to harness technology and foster innovative financing, including incentives to prevent deforestation.

“While these themes may provide the building blocks for a future regime, the true challenge lies in putting them together to create a solid foundation for global action,” Mr. Ban declared. “It is critical that this ministerial meeting lay the cornerstone for success in Bali.”

The Indonesian island will play host in December to the next Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). That pact’s Kyoto Protocol contains binding commitments for countries to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change, but it will expire in 2012. The challenge for the Bali meeting is to lay the groundwork for an international regime after that date.