(UNEP) Feb. 6, 2009 - Failure to tackle climate change could lead to insecurity and economic upheaval, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned.
Speaking at the New Delhi Summit on Sustainable Development on 5 January, Ban called all countries to strive to reach a 'conclusive carbon emissions reduction deal' at the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. The New Delhi summit, which is also being attended by UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, aims to lay the ground work for the key Copenhagen talks on cutting emissions.
During the meeting, UNEP will launch the new report Freshwater Under Threat: South Asia that shows that climate change is likely to lead to severe water shortages across all of South Asia's river basins.
'Failure to combat climate change will increase poverty and hardship. It will destabilize economies, breed insecurity in many countries and undermine our goals for sustainable development,' Ban said at the Summit. More >>>
