The issue of climate change is one of the top priorities: Ban Ki-moon

The Economic Times , Thursday, November 17, 2016
Correspondent : UrmiGoswami
It is a season of farewells, COP 22 in Marrakech is Ban Ki-moon’s last UN-sponsored climate change talks as the UN’s top boss. The South Korean diplomat, who served as United Nations Secretary General for the last decade, was responsible for giving climate change its high political profile. Looking back on the past decade in an conversation with ET, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks about his efforts to put climate change and sustainable development on the priority list of governments, the refugee crisis, UN reforms and Donald Trump.

You made climate change one of the top priorities for the United Nations, could you tell us how you were able to make that possible and the challenges you faced?

Ban Ki-moon : The issue of climate change was one of the top priorities together with what at that time were the Millennium Development Goals now the Sustainable Development Goals and gender empowerment. These were the three priorities I set, while I paid seemingly equal attention to all, the focus was more on climate change. My difficulty at that time was that world leaders and business leaders were not aware of the severity and urgency of climate change. I am not a scientists just a political person but I thought that while engaging with many scientists and particularly with our many good senior advisors who are advising me that climate change is one that needed some political push.

The world leaders were very uncomfortable at that time, there were very few leaders who were able to engage in dialogue with me. When I first invited world leaders to a summit meeting in September 2007, they, almost all of them, were all reading from their talking points, but as time past by, they began to feel much more comfortable. Trying to convince the Republicans administration of the United States was a big issue, moving India and China, particularly China, was a big issue. Moving these three giants, let alone Russia, was a big task.

I wanted to show by example, so I went to Antarctica, then I went to the Amazonian river basin to see the rampant deforestation, where 500-year old huge trees were cut down just for some hundreds of dollars. All this was hugely heartbreaking so I have began speaking out from the scene:

Melting ice of Antarctica and the Artic, the Amazon river basin, meeting with indigenous people, Lake Chad, which was shrunk to one-sixteenth its original size. In so many places I saw the changing and devastating situation, I think by doing that I was able to get leaders to take climate change seriously. Now it has become a fact of our life.

Now it is an issue for not only governments but business communities. And the most powerful force to make this possible has been the civil society, they have been marching, and they have been raising their voices. The economic institutions and businesses have retooled their way, and they now understand that low carbon and climate resilient operations are the answer for successful businesses and for the people. Now people want it, businesses demand it, and government leaders are fully committed to addressing climate change that is where we are now.

The Paris Agreement is about countries coming together in a common endeavour. Do you feel that political events such as the election of Donald Trump and Brexit threaten this collaborative spirit and multilateralism?

Ban Ki-moon : I know that the world is changing from very conservative rational way of thinking to liberal and sometimes to a drastic way of thinking. This has sometimes resulted in some changes of leadership, not just in the United States but we have seen it in Europe and Asia as well. The unconventional political rhetoric has earned the support from people on the ground. Why does this happen? I think there is a serious situation of inequality, some people regard it as injustice. We have to understand why people are feeling a sense of frustration and sometimes anger that has been reflected in recent political events. I think political leaders must address the challenges, aspirations, and sometimes grievances of the people, their voters.

Having understood this situation, I believe climate change is a different kind of issue. This is a science; it is about nature. Nature doesn’t care what you think, feel, or do. Nature doesn’t negotiate with the human beings. As human beings we have to adjust and live harmoniously with nature. We really must change our behavior, by which we have abused our privilege in in last two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, That is why voices for climate change has been rising. The UN has been raising this issue along with scientists and dedicated civil society leaders. In 2014 when I convened the Climate Summit, there were 400,000 people who marched in Manhattan, I was one of them, there many leaders, both business and political, and the people and celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and many actresses and actors, they were shouting and chanting, all about climate change and the need to act on it. I hoped at that time that all these voices should be heard in the UN General Assembly hall where we had more than 150 leaders, and they listened.

Climate change is real. I have travelled to many of the South Pacific small islands developing states like Kiribati, Solomon Islands, countries that were sinking. Island states like Kiribati that has been negotiating to relocate their whole country. Reports say they purchased some land in Fiji, and were negotiating with New Zealand and Australia for environmental immigration. It is a matter of survival and I was very much concerned. When I visited Kiribati, I found that most of the roads built in earlier times were under shallow water, because depending on the moon, the sea level increases up to 60 cm, so all houses are built on stilts. These are real facts. So we must translate the Paris Agreement into action.

We have no time to lose. We are running against time. That is why all the leaders participating here are speaking in one voice. Nobody is speaking differently. The so-called climate naysayers and skeptics have been almost silenced. It is unstoppable course of action, and we have almost turned around the corner in terms of political commitments, business operations, and civil movement. Even ten years ago, the voices for climate change were like a cacophony, then five of six years later it was like a harmony, but now it is a movement. So now we are sending out a harmonious voice like a concert. I am very encouraged by this.

Climate change lies at the heart of many of human-political crises and in the future climate change will force bigger waves of migration. At the same time there are countries that are talking about building walls and closing borders. How do you suggest governments respond to this real human crisis?

Ban Ki-moon : If you look at the root causes of many crisis that we are now experiencing, it has lot of connection with the impacts of climate change impact. El Niño and La Niña have caused devastation of many economies. When the economy is not functioning well, peoples’ lives will be in a miserable situation then they will have grievances against the government. This will lead to political instability, which means violence and fighting. This is a major issue. Ten years ago the United Nations Environment Programme issued a report establishing that one of the causes of the Darfur crisis was the lack of water resulting in fighting over water, and fighting over land where they can find water.

There was a lot of tribes moving, which led to tribal clashes in order to keep their land and protect sources of water, and prevent other tribes from entering their area. This is one thing we have to remember that all these strife in Syria Yemen, South Sudan, and Libya comes from the dissatisfaction of the people with their leadership. Therefore I always say to the world leaders please listen to carefully to the voices of your people, what their aspirations are, what their challenges are. But I am afraid to say that one of my disappointments, as Secretary General has been that some leaders were detached and disconnected from the people. That is why we are seeing a lot of problems, starting from Syria.

On climate and SDGs, India has shown leadership, but in the sanctum sanctorum of the United Nations, the Security Council it doesn’t have a place, do you see this situation changing?

Ban Ki-moon : I know that to address all these issues we need to have good institutions and mechanisms. The United Nations was founded after Second World War, we learnt some tragic and hard lessons from the war, and we are still learning. But the speed of learning by world leaders has not been able to cope with the wishes of the people and the changes that are taking place on the ground. One good area to address this would the reform of the Security Council. Considering the tremendous changes that have been taking place during the last seven decades, it is only natural that UN institutions and systems including the Security Council should change becoming more transparent, democratic, representative, and accountable.

These have been the demands of the member states but somehow while they were asking for changes they have not been able to present the reasonable and acceptable formulas. Each and every country has been presenting proposals based on their own national perspectives rather than a global one. There is always a conflict, how we can come up a reasonable acceptable formula that can represent the voices and aspirations at the global level that is the key issue now. Unfortunately, during the last ten years which I have seen, even dating back to 2001 during the time I worked with the President of the United Nations General Assembly when we convened an open-ended working group, that member states have not been able to agree on reasonable and acceptable formula. All this time I have been urging all countries to build a consensus.

The US is a key player and President Obama put in a lot of diplomatic energy making the Paris Agreement possible. Do you see the United States continuing to play a leadership role?

Ban Ki-moon : First of all, I believe in the wisdom and leadership of President-elect Donald Trump. He was able to gain his popularity, I think based on his very successful business operations. He has been known as a successful global businessman, and he has built up on this as candidate and been elected president. He is someone who knows better than anyone else about the way businesses should operate. Big businesses in the US, not to mention in other parts, have retooled and reinvested in sustainable development. For example, Kellogg, which is big company, has decided to act on deforestation, big states like California, Washington, and cities like New York, Nashville, have all changed. If you go to Chicago, you see how the Mayor of Chicago has changed most of the old buildings to ways that enhance energy efficiency.

Sustainable development and energy has become a key part of the framework of not just businesses but also government, which are changing their institutions to adapt to sustainable development and climate change is a part of this agenda. This trend started from Rio Conference of 2012. It was the starting point for the building on political will, a moment when political leaders came together and showed an unity of purpose then after three years of negotiations they reached Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals. The world is now moving much faster towards sustainable operations.

I know there are some differences, depending on the individuals or some countries, but on the whole the trend is to move in the direction of sustainable development. Till now, 193 parties have signed the Paris Agreement, that is almost the whole membership of the UN, which is nearly 100 per cent of international community including the United States. As the largest economy, the most powerful and resourceful country, the United States realises that sustainable and low carbon practices is the solution that will not only help the US economy but the whole global economy.

The US knows that China is on board, and they are retooling reshaping their whole economy and their systems towards sustainable, low carbon and climate resilient economy. This is a huge movement, a big trend. I am very optimistic that Mr Trump will understand this economic situation. The political campaign is now over and he has been elected President of the United States of America, and I am sure he will act as a global leader

Do you see President-elect Donald Trump making good on his campaign promise of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, or even the UN Climate Convention?

Ban Ki-moon : I will try to have a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, and discuss all matters of mutual interest and other security issues. I would like to emphasise that since the political mandate of any country is decided by the people political leaders may have to respond to their wishes. But sustainable development and climate change these are universal issues. This was the outcome of reflecting on the most common denominators of member states including the United States and as such all these decisions achieved through painstaking process that took longer than two decades with the whole hearted support of all countries. This should be respected, and undoing it is not good or even fair especially as a global leader. I am confident that this climate change agreement will be honoured by the US government, and by all countries.

 
SOURCE : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/the-issue-of-climate-change-is-one-of-the-top-priorities-ban-ki-moon/articleshow/55469374.cms?prtpage=1
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us