Capacity of cities to tackle climate change key in ‘crucial battle’ for planet’s preservation, says UN chief

Cities – hubs of creativity and new ideas – can provide solutions to resolve humanity’s “suicide war” against nature, and lead the world towards a sustainable future, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in Lisbon, which has been named the 2020 European Green Capital.

Nature has responded to this “suicide war” many times, “as we have seen through hurricanes, fires, and severe drought in various regions of the world,” Mr. Guterres told the ceremony, at which the European Commision honoured Lisbon’s push for a green transformation that could serve as a role-model for other European cities.

But the UN chief stressed that no matter how much harm we do to the Earth, “it will continue to spin around the sun for millions of years.” The real problem is that “humanity is destroying itself, and the possibility of being able to live on the planet,” he explained.

Mr. Guterres emphasized that in the “crucial battle for the preservation of the planet, and above all, for the preservation of our presence in the planet” are two essential factors: the capacity of the cities and the European commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Highlighting that cities have half of the world population, two-thirds of the European population, and account for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, the Secretary-General said: “Cities can be the basis of our success.”

As for the European commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, he stated that “our hope is that Europe will lead the example and convince other superpowers to enter the right path to defeat climate change”.

In his remarks, Mr. Guterres also spotlighted 2020 as the year to make the fight against climate change more efficient. He identified three opportunities to start breaking the “cycle of war, which we are waging against nature”:

• The 2020 UN biodiversity Conference, set to be held in Kunming, China in October
• The 2020 UN Ocean Conference, to be held in Lisbon from 2-6 June, and
• The next UN climate conference, COP26, which will take place in Glasgow next November and where countries can pledge concrete measures to combat climate change

The Secretary-General pointed out that these major events will take place during Lisbon’s presidency as the Green Capital of Europe, and at a time when three major battles are being lost: one million of the Earth’s species are at risk of disappearing; pollution is increasing, especially plastics in the ocean; more efforts are needed to ensure the Paris Agreement is an effective tool to fight climate change.

Original source: UN News
Published on 17 January 2019