World leaders’ participation key to clinching success at climate conference – UN

Over 100 world leaders and 15,000 others are expected to attend the climate change conference that kicks off in Copenhagen next week, making it the largest gathering on the issue ever, a senior United Nations official said today, stressing how success in the Danish capital rests largely on the engagement of heads of State.

“For more than two years, [Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] has been urging heads of State to own the climate change issue as a strategic priority, a priority for the security and prosperity of their nations and for the world,” Janos Pasztor, Director of Mr. Ban’s Climate Change Support Team, told a news conference in New York.

“Copenhagen demonstrates that the Secretary-General’s call to action has gained unprecedented traction,” he said of the conference, where nations are set to wrap up talks on a new pact.

The involvement of global leaders is vital for success in Copenhagen, Mr. Pasztor said, noting that Mr. Ban welcomes the news that United States President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will be attending the summit.

The Secretary-General is also encouraged by emissions reductions targets announced by the two nations, as well as India, Brazil, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and many others.

Mr. Pasztor said that if the world continues with “business as usual,” it faces a 6 degree centigrade temperature increase, with every year of delay in slashing emissions in line with a 2 degree target costing $500 billion.

“The need for an ambitious Copenhagen agreement therefore cannot be stressed strongly enough,” he underscored.

The issue of climate change is “a matter of human rights,” a group of 20 UN independent rights experts said in a joint statement.

“A weak outcome of the forthcoming climate change negotiations threatens to infringe upon human rights,” they stressed, pointing out that extreme weather events like storms and droughts, as well as rising sea levels, can impact peoples’ enjoyment of their rights.

The experts called for individuals and communities affected by global warming to be able to participate in designing and implementing adaptation and mitigation projects.

“Focusing on the rights of those who are already vulnerable and marginalized due to poverty and discrimination, a human rights-based approach to climate change can be a useful tool to complement international efforts aimed at tackling the adverse effects of global warming,” they emphasized.

For his part, Hamadoun Touré, the head of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), issued a plea to delegates to the Copenhagen conference to utilize advanced technologies to dramatically lower emissions in a wide range of industry sectors.

“At Copenhagen, we have a real and reachable opportunity to help save the planet through astute deployment of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs),” he said.

Studies have shown that more effective use of ICTs can significantly cut back on carbon dioxide emissions, he said.

“Put simply, ICT is the single most powerful tool humankind has at its disposal to avoid potential climate catastrophe.”