UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was the first UN leader to attend the Pacific Island Forum. (Bradley Ambrose/AFP/Getty Images)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said his recent visit to the Pacific had reinforced the urgency of action on climate change.
On his first visit to the region, Mr. Ban went to Kiribati and the Solomon Islands on his way to New Zealand for the Pacific Islands Forum on Sept 7 and 8. Mr. Ban’s attendance at the forum was the first by a UN leader.
“For those who believe climate change is about some distant future, I invite them to visit Kiribati or the Solomon Islands, and most of the Pacific island countries,” he said in a speech at Auckland University. “Climate change is not about tomorrow. It is lapping at our feet—quite literally in Kiribati and elsewhere."
Mr. Ban said there was scientific evidence for climate change, but he had also seen first-hand the impact of it in places as far flung as Antarctica, the Amazon Basin and Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro.
“Having visited Kiribati and the Solomon Islands has strengthened my conviction that climate change is a distinct threat to humanity; it is even a threat to international peace and stability.”
Mr. Ban said rising sea levels were sending a signal that something was “seriously wrong with our current model of economic development”.
“We will not succeed in reducing emissions without sustainable energy solutions,” he said.
According to the Kiribati Government, locals in the capital Tarawa constantly battle rising sea levels, moving stones and building walls, but to little avail. A 2004 World Bank report on Kiribati says Tarawa—where nearly half the population lives—will be 25-54 per cent inundated in the south and 55-80 per cent in the north by mid-century unless there is significant adaptation.
EU President
The power of seawater in the Pacific is evident in the remains of a destroyed fale (house) in Saleapaga, American Samoa after a tsunami hit in 2009. (Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)
The problem is so palpable it was raised again by José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union, who was also present at this year’s PIF, becoming the first European Union representative to address the Pacific Leaders at a Forum plenary. Significantly, he was accompanied by Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action.
Mr. Barrosa said Pacific Island countries were among the least responsible for global warming, but the first to suffer the consequences.
“The combination of sea level rise, ocean acidification, coastal erosion, more frequent and devastating tropical storms and cyclones is rendering many of your islands and coastal zones wholly or partly uninhabitable,” he said in a speech delivered to the Forum.
Mr. Barroso said that no single country or region can combat the effects of climate change alone— “a global effort is needed. We must together spearhead those efforts,” he said.
Chief Scientist Despairs
Comments by the senior statesmen on the urgency of climate change come in stark contrast to sentiments aired by Australia’s chief scientist this week.
Professor Ian Chubb said the climate change debate continues to hit new lows as the Government’s carbon tax becomes part of the bigger political picture.
“Every time I think it’s reached a low, we then go on and reach a new low,” Professor Chubb told ABC Television’s Four Corners programme.
Professor Chubb said that while he welcomed a diversity of views on climate change, the level of debate is inflaming the issue and some of his colleagues had received death threats.
“And I think that’s of very little benefits to us as we’re trying to grapple with what is a very serious problem that needs serious discussion.
“I would urge politicians to look at all the evidence and to wonder why it might be that something like 32 national academies of science all around the world are all saying that it’s very likely that human activity has adversely affected our climate through global warming,” Professor Chubb said.
GCC News Brief 
Posted on September 21, 2011