Statement by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Programme

In Response to Hurricane Gustav and the Devastating Indian Floods

2  September,  2008- The  evacuation  of  New  Orleans  in  advance of hurricane Gustav and the
displacement  of  two  million Indians to the worst flood in 50 years underline the increasing
vulnerability  of  humanity  to  natural disasters-vulnerability that is set to rise under the
scientific scenarios if climate change if left unchecked.

According  to  Munich  Re,  one of the world’s leading insurance companies and a member of the  UNEP Finance Initiative, 2008 is already shaping up to be a significant, disaster-prone year.

By  June,  an  estimated 400 natural disasters had occurred costing $82 billion. And while the  earthquake  in  Sichuan  Province, China cannot be laid at the climate change door many of the  others  are  in line with the scientific predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate  Change (IPCC).


“The  year  is  following  the  long-term  trend  towards  more weather catastrophes, which is
influenced by climate change,” said the German-based re-insurer last month.

 There  is  now  less than 500 days before governments meet in Copenhagen in 2009 to agree on a
new climate deal to kick in post 2012.

Nothing  less  than firm, legally binding commitments to significantly reduce pollution linked
with  the  burning  of  fossil fuels will suffice alongside increased funding to climate-proof
vulnerable economies and communities.

Indeed  the  way  we  manage-or  fail  to  manage-our  cities and coastal infrastructure up to
transport networks; agricultural lands; forests; mangroves and wetlands will be as critical as
managing a big decline in carbon dioxide, methane and other key pollutants.

The  IPCC,  whose  20th  anniversary  we  mark  in Geneva this week, has provided the sobering
assessments and the clear direction that detours and delay and are not options.

 It is not just weather-related catastrophes that are of concern.

The current calamities facing the planet, from the serious threat of famine in Ethiopia to the
misery  and  loss of life in India and the disruptions to the people of New Orleans, underline
the kind of economic and human suffering the globe is facing within the coming years.

But  the  IPCC  assessments have shone an even brighter light on the costs of action-indeed it
clear  that  it  will  not  cost  the Earth to save it, perhaps as little as a few tenths of a
percent of global GDP a year over the next 30 years.

In  doing  so  the  globe  can  also  address other running sores from the loss of forests and
biodiversity to delivering clean energy to the rural poor and conserving water supplies.

So  the  IPCC  remind  us that we have challenges but we also have choices. It is time to make
those.                                                                                        

In Bali last year at the climate convention meeting, governments agreed to negotiate a package
of actions to be finalized by, or at, the Copenhagen climate convention meeting.

While some progress was made in August at a meeting in Accra, Ghana, the level of consensus is
failing  to  match  the  magnitude of the challenges nor the opportunities to Green the global
economy.

 The  start  of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season should serve as a reminder and catalyze that
urgent response.

The  IPCC said in its fourth assessment last year that there has been an increase in hurricane
intensity  in  the North Atlantic since the 1970s, and that increase correlates with increases
in sea surface temperature.

The  IPCC  also said it is likely that we will see increases in hurricane intensity during the
21st  century-it  is  not  too  late to act, first at the climate convention meeting in Poznan
later this year and decisively in Copenhagen a year later: we have some 500 days left.