ROME, SEPTEMBER 19TH – “Climate change is the key challenge of our time. Our generation is the first to experience the rapid increase in temperatures around the globe and probably the last with the opportunity to effectively combat an impending global climate crisis.” This the opening of a declaration signed by President Sergio Mattarella, along with other 31 Heads of State, for the Climate Action Summit of the United Nations which will be taking place in New York on the 23rd of September.
“The effects of climate change,” says the declaration, “are well documented and are felt everywhere around the globe: The dramatic increase in heat waves, floods, droughts and mudflows, glacial melting and sea-level rise. Water shortages and crop failures are only some of the immediate results, with devastating impacts such as hunger and forced human displacement. Over the past century, the global average temperature has already risen by about 1 degree Celsius over pre-industrial levels. This increase is unprecedented in the history of mankind”.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Environmental Minister Sergio Costa will be in New York for the Summit. “The climate crisis is a concern to all of us. Climate change impedes the global economy”, continues the declaration: “It threatens various sectors including agriculture, forestry, tourism, energy, infrastructure and water supplies and, inevitably, it is a serious threat to peace and stability around the globe. In December 2015, the world witnessed an important moment of hope and confidence: At COP 21, the global community adopted a landmark Paris Agreement with the goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its report on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius unequivocally confirms that we are already seeing the negative impacts of climate change; it also clearly demonstrates the vulnerabilities, impacts and risks of further global warming to human societies and natural systems, including the attainment of sustainable development and of the Sustainable Development Goals”. (SB @OnuItalia)
