Guest contribution by Eric Worrall
According to the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, “these next 10 years will be our last chance to avert a climate catastrophe”.
Resilient earth “needs our help” to undo damage, emphasized the Secretary General in the message for World Environment Day
The following is the message from UN Secretary General António Guterres on World Environment Day, which was celebrated on June 5th:
We are quickly reaching the point where there is no going back for the planet. We face a triple environmental emergency – biodiversity loss, climate degradation and escalating pollution.
For too long, humanity has cut down the world’s forests, polluted its rivers and oceans, and forgotten its grasslands. We are devastating the very ecosystems that support our societies. And in doing so, we risk depriving ourselves of the food, water and resources we need to survive.
The destruction of nature is already undermining the well-being of 3.2 billion people, or 40 percent of humanity. Fortunately, the earth is resilient. But she needs our help. We still have time to undo the damage we’ve done. For this reason, on this World Environment Day, we are starting the United Nations Decade to Restore Ecosystems.
This global movement will bring together governments, businesses, civil society and individuals in an unprecedented effort to heal the earth. By restoring ecosystems, we can drive a transformation that will help achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The task is monumental. We have to replant and protect our forests. We need to clean up our rivers and seas. And we have to make our cities greener. Fulfilling these tasks not only safeguards the planet’s resources. It will create million new jobs by 2030, raise more than $ 7 trillion each year, and help eradicate poverty and hunger.
The United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration is a global call to action. It will bring together political support, scientific research, and financial strength to massively expand restoration. Everyone can contribute.
Science tells us that these next 10 years will be our last chance to avert climate catastrophe, reverse the deadly tide of pollution, and end species loss. So let us start a new decade today – one in which we will finally make peace with nature and ensure a better future for all.
For information media. No official record.
Read more: https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20757.doc.htm
The UN has a long tradition of issuing 10-year warnings. The first 10-year climate warning I know of was issued in 1989: –
UN predicts disaster if global warming is not checked
PETER JAMES SPIELMANN June 30, 1989
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A senior UN environmental official says entire nations could be wiped out from the face of the earth due to rising sea levels if the global warming trend doesn’t reverse by the year 2000.
Coastal floods and crop failures would lead to an exodus of eco-refugees, threatening political chaos, said Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
He said Governments have a 10 year window to resolve the greenhouse effect before it gets out of control by humans.
If warming melts the polar ice caps, sea levels will rise up to a meter, enough to cover the Maldives and other flat island nations, Brown said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Coastal regions are flooded; a sixth of Bangladesh could be flooded and a quarter of its 90 million people could be displaced. According to a joint study by UNEP and the US Environmental Protection Agency, a fifth of Egypt’s arable land in the Nile Delta would be flooded and the food supply would be cut off.
″ Ecological refugees are becoming a huge problem, and what’s worse, you may find that people can move to drier soils, but the soils and natural resources cannot support life. Africa doesn’t have to worry about land, but would you want to live in the Sahara? ”He said.
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Read more: https://www.apnews.com/bd45c372caf118ec99964ea547880cd0 (Link to a PDF copy of the AP article.)
Why is the chosen period 10 years? My theory is that it has to do with the length of tenure of UN secretaries-general.
The general secretary’s term of office is five years. If the Secretary General is satisfactory, he can be appointed for a further five years. Guttere’s first term ends in December this year.
A 10-year climate warning is short-term enough to create a bit of a stir, but far enough in the future for Gutteres to safely retire by the time his climate deadline is reached.
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