World Environment Day Calls For End To Carbon
Addiction
NEW ZEALAND: June 6, 2008
WELLINGTON - The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick an
all-consuming addiction to carbon dioxide and said everyone must take steps
to fight climate change.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the
defining issue of the era and will hurt rich and poor alike.
"Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit," Ban said in a
statement to mark World Environment Day, which is being marked by events
around the globe and hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington.
"Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, makes us deny
important truths and blinds us to the consequences of our actions," he said
in the speech to reinforce this year's World Environment Day theme of "CO2
Kick the Habit".
"Whether you are an individual, an organization, a business or a government,
there are many steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. It is a
message we all must take to heart," he said.
World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the United Nations' principal
day to mark global green issues and aims to give a human face to
environmental problems and solutions.
New Zealand, which boasts snow-capped mountains, pristine fjords and
isolated beaches used as the backdrop for the "Lord of the Rings" film
trilogy, has pledged to become carbon-neutral.
"We take pride in our clean, green identity as a nation and we are
determined to take action to protect it. We appreciate that protecting the
climate means behaviour change by each and every one of us," said New
Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
New Zealand, like many countries, staged art and street festivals to spread
the message on how people can reduce carbon usage. New Zealand Post has
asked staff to bring a magazine or book to work and swap it to reduce their
carbon footprint.
In Australia, Adelaide Zoo staged a wild breakfast for corporate leaders to
focus on how carbon emissions threaten animal habitats.
GLOBAL EVENTS
In Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, people plan to clean up Gulshan Baridhara
Lake that has become badly polluted, and in Kathmandu the Bagmati River
Festival will focus on cleaning up the river there.
Many Asian cities, such as Bangalore and Mumbai, plan tree-planting
campaigns, while the Indian town of Pune will open a "Temple of Environment"
to help spread green awareness.
Global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are rising quickly and
scientists say the world faces rising seas, melting glaciers and more
intense storms, droughts and floods as the planet warms.
A summit of G8 nations in Hokkaido, Japan, next month, is due to formalise a
goal agreed a year ago that global carbon emissions should be reduced by 50
percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
But some nations think the cuts should be deeper, leading to a reduction of
80 percent of carbon emissions by 2050 to try to stablise CO2 concentrations
in the air to limit global warming.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the cost of greening of the world's
economy would cost as little as a few tenths of global GDP annually over 30
years and would be a driving force for innovation, new businesses and
employment.
The UNEP urged greater energy efficiency in buildings and appliances and a
switch towards cleaner and renewable forms of electricity generation and
transport systems.
It said more than 20 percent of new investment in renewable energy was in
developing countries, with China, India and Brazil taking the lion's share.
Renewables now provide over 5 percent of global power generation and 18
percent of new investment in power.
But the UN body said an estimated 20 percent of carbon emissions came from
deforestation and urged developing nations to save their forests as carbon
sinks.
(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fogarty)
Story by Gyles Beckford
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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