- With world leaders set to wrap up climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week, any new agreement must emphasise human rights to avert hunger among the world’s most vulnerable, a United Nations independent expert said today.
“Climate change is a ticking time bomb for global food security,” underscored Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
Global warming, he said, disproportionately impacts some of the poorest countries, especially the most vulnerable in these nations, with small scale farmers and indigenous peoples dependent on land for their livelihoods.
The expert called on States to “exploit the untapped potential of sustainable agriculture in order to combat hunger and climate change at the same time.”
He also reiterated a call issued by a group of UN human rights experts, including himself, issued last week at the start of the historic Copenhagen conference that “a weak outcome of the climate change negotiations threatens to infringe upon human rights.”
Policies, Mr De Schutter said today, must be based on a rights framework and take the right to adequate food into account so that the needs of the most vulnerable will be prioritized and that poverty and inequality will not be exacerbated.
“This is not a theoretical debate,” he stressed, adding that there have been real cases of the violation of the right to food linked to climate policies.
The high-level segment of the Copenhagen conference will continue today, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday exhorted nations to ‘seal the deal’ on an ambitious new agreement, warning that the well-being of all of the world’s people is at stake.
The two-week summit under way in the Danish capital is “as momentous as the negotiations that created our great United Nations… from the ashes of war more than 60 years ago,” Mr. Ban said at the opening of the high-level meeting.
“Once again, we are on the cusp of history.”
With the two-week summit set to wrap up on Friday, Mr Ban underscored that nations cannot be allowed to fail in the home stretch, urging countries to put aside their “maximalist” negotiating positions and “unreasonable” demands.
“We do not have another year to negotiate,” he said. “Nature does not negotiate.”
Any deal, the Secretary-General emphasised, must incorporate five key elements: more ambitious mid-term emissions reductions targets from industrialized countries; stepped-up efforts by developing nations to curb emissions growth; an adaptation framework; financing and technology support; and transparent and equitable governance.
He also underlined the need for countries to hammer out how to provide medium- and long-term financing to bolster climate resilience, limit deforestation and further low-emissions growth.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español