Climate Change Not Just Another Issue in Your Inbox, Leaders told

Brazilian climate activist Isabel Prestes da Fonseca.

Brazilian climate activist Isabel Prestes da Fonseca.

By IPS Correspondent
DUBAI, Dec 1 2023 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said world leaders needed to urgently commit to three strategies: cut emissions, accelerate a just, equitable transition to renewables, and to climate justice.

“The science is clear: The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate. Phaseout—with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5 degrees,” he said at the opening session of COP 28 in Dubai.

“So, I have a message for fossil fuel company leaders: Your old road is rapidly aging. Do not double-down on an obsolete business model. Lead the transition to renewables. Make no mistake: the road to climate sustainability is also the only viable pathway to the economic sustainability of your companies. I urge governments to help industry make the right choice—by regulating, legislating, putting a fair price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and adopting a windfall tax on profits.”

His message to business was also direct.

Disasters that they did not cause are devastating developing nations. Extortionate borrowing costs are blocking their climate action plans. And support is far too little, far too late,” he added, saying, “The climate challenge is not just another issue in your inbox. Protecting our climate is the world’s greatest test of leadership. I urge you to lead. Humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.”

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the UAE had set a national pathway to emit zero by 2050, committed to a 40 percent reduction of emissions by 2030, and committed USD 100 billion to financing climate action with a focus on renewable and clean energy. He said they had also committed to investing USD 130 billion in the next seven years. He announced a USD 30 billion fund for global climate solutions, specifically designed to close the climate finance gap.

According to Kind Charles III, it is obvious that there are risks associated with climate change, and it has “devastated countless communities.”

He said real action was needed and noted that “records are being broken so often, perhaps we are becoming immune to what they are telling us. We need to pause to understand what this actually means. ”

The earth is warming faster than nature can fix it, and he asked how dangerous “we are willing to make our world.”

He called for innovation to move decisively toward transitions, including investments in regenerative agriculture.

“In 2050, our grandchildren won’t be asking what we said but living with the consequences of what we didn’t.”

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said it was staggering that 2 trillion dollars were spent on missiles.

“Rural workers cannot feed their families any more when floods come and destroy everything.”

The solution, he said, is multilateralism.

“No country will solve their problems alone, he said before telling the audience that Brazil had drastically reduced deforestation, developed an ecological plan for green industrialization with a common vision with other Amazon countries.

Brazilian climate activist Isabel Prestes da Fonseca, co-founder and environmental director of Instituto Zág, an indigenous youth-led organization, said: “I stand here today, representing indigenous voices and the urgent need to address environmental crises. Join us in this fight for nature and biodiversity. Together, we can be the change.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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Mass Protests Send Message of Solidarity with Palestinian People

Parents and children joined a protest in solidarity with Palestinian people in Karachi, Pakistan. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Parents and children joined a protest in solidarity with Palestinian people in Karachi, Pakistan. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Dec 1 2023 – To mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people condemning Israel’s war on Gaza, protests were held on Wednesday across the globe, from Tokyo to Manila, Tehran and Beirut, Stockholm and London, and in Harare, Johannesburg, Quezon City, and Milan.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres termed this year’s International Day of Solidarity to come during “one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Palestinian people.”

With 1.7 million Palestinians suffering a humanitarian catastrophe and having been forced from their homes, he said, “nowhere was safe.” Even the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was of grave concern.

Like in other part of the world, in the southern port city of Karachi, with a population of 20 million, the youngest protestor was one-year-old Zaaveel. “

This is how she will learn to show solidarity for the oppressed,” said her mother, Noor-us-Sabah, who carried her in her arms on the 2.5-kilometer walk along with people from all walks of life, including politicians, civil society and religious leaders, rights activists, students, and ordinary people of Karachi.

Mothers brought their children to the rally believing that this action would teach solidarity for the oppressed. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Mothers brought their children to the rally, believing that this action would teach solidarity for the oppressed. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Noor-us-Sabah was not the only mother with babies. A school teacher, carrying her two-year-old son, Mir Hadi, said: “What’s happening in Palestine is devastating; carrying him in my arms and walking is my way of condoling with all the mothers in Gaza who lost their young ones,” she said.

Holding placards and Palestinian flags and chanting in Urdu “Azad rahey ga falestine, abad rahey ga falestine,” to “From the river to the sea; Palestine will be free,” many marchers were wearing the keffiyeh, a scarf seen as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance. There was also a group holding a huge Palestinian flag, 28 by 45 feet long, while walking.

Interestingly, as rallies usually go, there were not many poetic slogans during the walk.  It was a deliberate decision, said Umar Farooq, a civil rights activist and one of the organisers. “We kept slogans limited to keep any religious or ideological disagreements out,” he pointed out.

Former Karachi administrator Fahim Zaman, also one of the organisers, told IPS: “Holding the rally had a two-fold purpose: to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the Israeli Zionists and the western imperialists, and to form a non-partisan platform where everyone, including all political and religio-political parties, can come together.”

Artist Durriya Kazi said she joined the rally to “honour the efforts of our ancestors, many from my own family, who untiringly protested the illegality of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the root cause of the conflict in the region over the last 100 years.” The declaration, one of the most controversial and contested documents in the modern history of the Arab world, issued on November 2, 1917, was a pledge by the British to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

She also found it encouraging that the political parties came together at a civil society-led rally. “It brought together ordinary citizens and political parties for one cause,” she said. And even though the rally was not huge, “the only flags flying were those of Palestine.”

“The best thing about the rally was seeing different political parties under one flag of Palestine,” said Rana Ansar, a senior political leader belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and former opposition leader in the Sindh provincial assembly.

Protesters changed 'Palestine will be free; Palestine will live' during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan this week. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim

Protesters changed ‘Palestine will be free; Palestine will live’ during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, this week. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim

A day before, Senator Saeed Ghani, of the Pakistan People’s Party, sent a public message to his part-time workers to join the rally “without party flags,” as the march was not about them but Palestine and its people. The delegate from the Pashtun nationalist political party in Pakistan, the Awami National Party, came wearing their red caps and carried Palestinian flags.

While there is no accurate figure to know how big the rally was, according to Farooq, “the cameramen and reporters who cover rallies and who are more experienced at estimating crowd size told us there were some 25,000–30,000 people.” However, he added more than numbers: “I think people saw a ray of hope in collective action after a long time.”

“It was great to see people from all walks of life, including the elderly, disabled, and children,” said actor Ushna Shah, adding: “As far as rallies go, it was exceptionally well organised and executed.”

“I wanted to demonstrate that Palestinian lives matter and, at the same time, send a strong message to Israel that it needs to stop this lunacy NOW,” said Huma Amir Shah, a popular television presenter, with a keffiyeh around her neck. “Public opinion matters, numbers matter, and hence I joined the march.”

Kazi said the rally was representative of the protest of all Pakistanis who want to stand by Palestinian people, and she wanted to lend her voice to millions across the world who are “horrified by the ruthless massacre by Israeli forces of Palestinian men, women, and children, whose intention seems to be total annihilation of the population and making the land uninhabitable by destroying its infrastructure.”

The Pakistanis, it seems, feel they cannot do enough to ease the pain in Gaza. An unprecedented 2800 doctors and nurses have volunteered their services to treat the injured and the sick in Gaza but are not finding a way to get there.
“I wish someone could raise this issue and bring it to the attention of the international community and Egyptian authorities to let us in,” said 42-year-old orthopaedic surgeon Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman. “They really need us.”
Over 200 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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