The Secretary General of Socialist International, Luis Ayala,
Commission co-chairs, President Ricardo Lagos and Prime Minister Göran Perrson, Our host Beatriz Paredes, Leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
Members of the commission on climate change
Distinguished delegates
Members of the academia and media
It is certainly a great pleasure to be here amongst friends a few days before the beginning of the 16th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) in Cancun to deliberate on the most serious challenge of the 21st century, climate change.
We are here today because of our collective commitment to fighting climate change as we deliberate on how to move from high carbon economies to low carbon, sustainable development societies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is now commonly agreed that Africa, despite having made the smallest contribution to climate change, is the most vulnerable and will suffer the most from its effects.The seriousness increases when we consider the socio-economic challenges already experienced by Africans in general and women and children in particular.
Many African women engage in subsistence farming which is the main source of their income and food for their families. In fact women make up 70 percent of smallholder farmers especially in sub-Saharan Africa. They therefore face the greatest challenges since agriculture is most vulnerable to climate change. The consequent unpredictable weather patterns will undoubtedly have negative consequences for food production.
Climate change which is also expected to bring droughts and floods will affect food production negatively while academics estimate that an additional two million people, mainly women, in sub-Saharan Africa will be affected by water shortages. Changes in climate will also bring more illness especially to the young and the aged and those without adequate nutrition and drinking water will become more vulnerable to illness and disease.
These challenges are compounded for women, who are also less able to relocate to areas that offer more hospitable conditions since they have the responsibility to take care of their children and the aged. They also lack access to disposable income or financial resources that would enable them to relocate should they need to.
In general, women are, and have always been, more intimately connected to the environment.It is critically important that they are placed at the centre of initiatives to transform societies into those that are sustainable. Women and the youth must therefore be educated on the threat of climate change and ways in which to deal with its effects.
What is to be done?
We must as the global community of nations advocate for a multilateral climate change regime that is fair, inclusive and effective, premised on the following outcomes:
- The development and transfer of technology especially to the most vulnerable countries including least developed countries, small island developing states and Africa
- The operationalisation of the climate change fund to support adaption and mitigation programmes
- All countries must implement carbon reduction targets in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
- Temperature increases must be contained at well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels
- Economic growth and poverty alleviation priorities of developing countries must not be jeopardised
- Any agreement must proactively support sustainable development by enabling our transition to a low carbon economy.
We believe without equivocation that the only way for a future international climate change regime to deliver on these requirements is to place new legal obligations on countries through an agreement with multilaterally legally binding instruments. This must necessarily involve scientific progress aimed at the reduction of emissions, international cooperation and technology transfers, alternative sources of energy and the development of clean and renewable energy. It would also be imperative that the Green Climate Fund established during the Copenhagen Summit will be operationalised and managed multilaterally.
While governments are responsible for creating a legally enabling environment, we realise that as part of a holistic approach to climate change, the effort to mitigate against its effects must necessarily involve a partnership between governments, non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, academics, business and communities themselves.We can never hope to overcome the dire consequences of this global phenomenon that is borderless without such a partnership. It is my hope that the Cancun meeting will go some way towards achieving this.
I thank you.
