The solutions are clear. Inclusive and green economies, prosperity, cleaner air and better health are possible for all if we respond to this crisis with solidarity and courage.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their Sixth Assessment Report on the current state of our climate in August. This latest Report is dire and states that climate change is happening in every region of our world and across the whole climate system. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls it “code red for humanity,” emphasizing that the scientific evidence of human influence is irrefutable.
The report also states that continued substantial reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change. Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC indicated that “innovations in this report, and advances in climate science that it reflects, provide an invaluable input into climate negotiations and decision-making.”
Almost every year, we experience the effects of climate change in our own countries from droughts, bush fires, flood, cyclones and not to mention the bleaching of our reefs and melting of glaziers. We ignore these warnings at our own peril. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
Concerned at the lack of ambition among the government parties negotiating the first draft of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), civil society issued a call for governments to strengthen the framework. IBVM NGO supports this call to action.
Read the full statement here.
Read the UN Secretary General’s statement.
