Leaders Warn UN: If Covid-19 Doesn’t Kill Us, Climate Change Will

“Change relies on protecting the most vulnerable, because those on the frontline — whether healthcare workers battling the pandemic or small island nations sounding the alarm on climate change — are critical to the survival of us all,” he said.

“Small island and atoll nations like mine do not have time for paper promises,” Kabua added.

Urgent pleas also came from Africa, which contributes least to global warming but stands to suffer from it the most.

Read also: Oxfam: Richest 1% Produces Twice the Carbon Emissions than the Global Poor

“In favoring solutions based on the respect for nature, we're also preserving the health of our peoples,” said President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger, part of the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert where temperature increases are expected to be 1.5 times higher than the world average.

“Our global home that was teeming with millions of species of God-given creatures, both great and small, is slowly dying,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who last year noted that his country was the only one in Africa to reach the goal of making renewable energy 75 percent of its energy mix.

He added: “Our world is yearning for us to stop its ruin.” 

(Writer: Cara Anna)

Source: https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-oceans-environment-united-nations-general-assembly-d073896990db973a3e45db26787d6a18