United Nations chief Ban asks for faster response to climate change
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is asking governments to speed up talks about climate change. He wants to create a joint response to global warming because it is "dangerous for the whole human race."
At the opening ofyearly UN climate talks, Ban spoke to environment ministers and climate officials from nearly 200 countries. They were discussing future climate changes and how to help poor (developing) countriesdeal with climate change.
This year alone, there have been weather problems including Hurricane Sandy in North America and the Caribbean in late October. Ban said "abnormal" has become the new normal as the world warms. It presents a "crisis, a threat to us all, our economies, our security and the well-being of our children."
Climate scientists say it is hard to prove that global warming causes weather problems, but some say the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy was made worse by the rise of sea level.
“Climate change can impactrich or poor," Ban said. "It is a problem for the whole human race." He warned, "Our response to climate change is still not enough."
Ban said countries are trying to keep temperatures from rising. The goal is to keep our temperature 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures. It is more difficult to do that now, because we use more engines and cause more fossil fuel emissions than before.
Climate scientists have seen changes including melting Arctic ice and snow, rising sea levels and acid content of oceans, and changing rainfall patterns causing floods and droughts.
They say some Pacific islands are losing shoreline to rising seas. The seas are rising because of increasingheat and melting ice.
Ban noted that now is the time for governments to act. He showed examples of recent reports of rising greenhouse gas levels, which most scientists say are causing global warming. A small number of climate scientists still do not agree with this.
"Let us agree that climate change is happening. Let us prove wrong all who do not believe that climate change is caused by humans," Ban said on Tuesday.
Governments have started talking about a new global climate agreement that would start in 2020. They are also talking about how to limit greenhouse gas emissions. They want to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which is an agreementthat limits gas emissions of most rich countries. This agreement expires later this year.
One of the most important issues discussed was money. Officials talkedabout the promises by rich countries to give money to help poor countries. Poor countries need this money to make a change toward cleaner energy sources. This will help them adapt to climate change.
Developingcountries complained that the developed(rich) countries were not going to give them the money. On Tuesday, Britain promised 133 million pounds over the next three years for climate-related projects in developing countries.