UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Global Climate Crisis

Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the United Nations has issued a plea for cooperation among the nations of the Earth to formulate a unified strategy to solve the worsening global climate crisis: "The past year will be remembered for the global financial crisis. But next year will be no less dangerous, albeit for a different reason. Lost among the economic headlines is an even more important fact: emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, rose by an unexpected 3 percent in 2007.This revelation means that the 50 percent targets for carbon cuts set by Europe and elsewhere by 2050 are already out of date. Scientists now say reductions of 60 to 80 percent will be needed to avoid a catastrophe. There is other bad news. Everyone knows about the accelerated melting of Arctic sea ice. Now recent U.N. reports offer evidence of less visible but equally troubling changes. Our planet's species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate, according to the U.N. Environment Program. Massive "dead zones" are multiplying in the oceans as pollutants are absorbed, killing off coral reefs and decimating fisheries. Incidents of extreme weather, such as the hurricanes that devastated Haiti and Myanmar, have grown more frequent. Insurers predict that 2008 will set yet another record for economic losses. Meanwhile, U.N. refugee agencies believe that as many as 50 million people will be displaced by climate-related disasters by 2010, and the figure could hit 200 million by 2050. All this points to a stark truth: though we can overcome the financial shocks of 2008, we will not overcome the climate-change crisis unless we act fast. This means 2009 will be the critical year for the critical challenge of our era."

A recent meeting in Poznan, Poland brought world leaders together to lay the foundations for future climate strategies that will be extensively discussed in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark when the nations of the Earth will attempt to establish an extensive agreement of principles to deal with global climate change. It is hoped that developed and developing nations can agree to establish a unified front in which the new United States Administration of Barack Obama takes the lead in solving climate change. With the United States in the lead, it is hoped that nations such as China, Brazil, India and other "newly developed nations" can follow the United States lead and work to combine various methods and technologies that will foster global economic growth while finding practical ways to slow down and solve global climate troubles.

Ban Ki-Moon realizes that the path to solving the climate crisis presents world leaders with many tough choices: "Some experts advocate strict emissions limits. Others favor voluntary targets. Still others debate the pros and cons of "cap and trade" carbon markets versus taxes and national conservation regulation. In truth, there is no single solution to climate change. We need all of the above. The important thing is to act, and to act now. When it comes to climate change, it's make-or-break time."