UN chief urges end to war on nature, commitment to sustainable development for children

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an end to war against nature and for sustainable development for children.

“2023 must be a year of transformation, not tinkering. It’s time to end the relentless — and senseless — war on nature, and deliver the sustainable future that our climate needs and our children and grandchildren deserve,” the top UN official said in his message for World Meteorological Day, observed each year on March 23, Xinhua news agency reported.

“On this World Meteorological Day, humanity faces a difficult truth: climate change is making our planet uninhabitable,” Guterres said.

He underscored that every year of insufficient action to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius “drives us closer to the brink, increasing systemic risks and reducing our resilience against climate catastrophe”.

“As countries hurtle past the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, climate change is intensifying heatwaves, droughts, flooding, wildfires and famines, while threatening to submerge low-lying countries and cities and drive more species to extinction,” the Secretary-General added.

This year’s theme — The Future of Weather, Climate and Water Across Generations — “compels us all to live up to our responsibilities and ensure that future generations inherit a better tomorrow,” Guterres said.

“That means accelerating actions to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius through scaled-up mitigation and adaptation measures,” he added.

“It means radically transforming our energy and transportation systems, breaking our addiction to fossil fuels and embracing a just transition to renewable energy.”

“It means developed countries providing a revolution of financial and technical support to developing countries as they mitigate emissions, adapt to a renewable future, build resilience against extreme weather events, and address the loss and damage resulting from climate change,” he said, adding that “it means living up to the promise made last World Meteorological Day to ensure that early warning systems against climate disasters cover every person in the world”.

World Meteorological Day was established in 1951 to commemorate the World Meteorological Organisation creation on March 23 in 1950. This day is celebrated in all member countries.

–IANS