 |
| Pa Ousman Jarju Gambian minister |
Dear President Obama:
As former chair of Least Developed
Countries group in the United Nations climate change negotiations, and former
Special Envoy for the group, I am speaking on behalf of LDCs who are already
suffering from the devastating impacts of climate change.
The latest IPCC report indicates
that the evidence of human-caused climate-change impacts is unequivocal, and
that increased warming likewise increases the likelihood of severe, pervasive,
and irreversible impacts.
The research shows that these
increases in temperature will be linked to increases in the level and the
extent of poverty around the world, making more difficult our recovery from
climate-related disasters. Both will set back decades of human development
efforts and create new security risks for the world.
Mr. President, the long-term
consequences on our countries will be devastating. The LDCs are already
experiencing debilitating impacts on our agriculture, water supply, and
floodplains.
Since 1980, more than one half of
the deaths from climate-related disasters have occurred in our nations.
However, the overall contribution to climate change by all the LDCs,
constituting 12 per cent of the world’s population, is less than 1 per cent of
global greenhouse gas emissions.
These asymmetrical impacts call for
LDC priorities to be at the centre of current decisions and actions. As the
poorest and most vulnerable to climate change, we are seeing the impacts first
hand.
Mr. President, we welcome your
initiative on climate change gases in coal-fired power plants announced this
week: this action was overdue, and it is an important step in bringing the U.S.
closer to the actions of the rest of the world, including those of developed
and many developing countries.
The scale of the problem requires
such bold and sustained action. Mr. President, we request that you accept UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's invitation to the special Climate Summit in New
York on 23rd September and engage proactively in the process. Your presence and
bold pledges for further actions will not only demonstrate that the U.S. is
taking climate change seriously, but it would set an example for other leaders
around the world.
One of the reasons behind the
failure to achieve success in Copenhagen in 2009 was that presidents and prime
ministers only engaged at the last minute.
This time, success by climate change
negotiators in Lima in 2014 and Paris in 2015 will ultimately depend on
presidents and prime ministers engaging early, by coming with high level
political commitments to New York in September and directing their negotiators
to work out the details.
2014 is the year of ambition
on climate change: the twentieth Conference of the Parties in Lima is the
penultimate COP before the adoption of 2015 Agreement. Mr. President your
legacy to the US and the rest of the world will be marked by the level of
commitment you show in the next months.
Sincerely,
Pa Ousman Jarju
Minister of Environment, Climate
Change, Water Resources, Parks and Wildlife
The Gambia
No comments:
Post a Comment