Climate change warnings renewed at UNGA 

By Aaron Humes: Talk of climate change has been a major part of the United Nations General Assembly debate which wraps up today, Tuesday, with smaller nations trying to convince larger ones to take the long view: “If COVID-19 doesn’t kill us, climate change will.” 

The Associated Press says countries are acutely aware there’s no vaccine for global warming, unlike COVID-19 which sapped needed resources and drew attention away from what smaller countries still believe is a marquee issue. Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the world had lost an opportunity to “take back our planet” and avoid “environmental Armageddon.” 

Counterparts such as President of Palau, Tommy Remengesau Jr.; prime minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, who spoke from the beach; and the Marshall Islands, President David Kabua, said their countries are among the few free of COVID-19, but in the words of the Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries Group, they may not be around in another 75 years. 

The main goal of the 2015 Paris climate accord is to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, but scientists say the world is on track to soar past that. A new study found that if the world warms another 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the West Antarctic ice sheet will reach a point of irreversible melting. It has enough water to raise global sea levels by 5 meters (16 feet). 

Africa too has joined in, as the continent which contributes least to global warming but stands to suffer from it the most. 

“In favoring solutions based on the respect for nature, we’re also preserving the health of our peoples,” said President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger, part of the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert where temperature increases are expected to be 1.5 times higher than the world average. 

“Our global home that was teeming with millions of species of God-given creatures, both great and small, is slowly dying,” added Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who last year noted that his country was the only one in Africa to reach the goal of making renewable energy 75% of its energy mix. “Our world is yearning for us to stop its ruin.” 

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