Global network necessary to confront climate change crisis

15 September 2008 – With media interest in climate change waning since last year, cooperation from all sectors of society is essential to tackle the crisis that it poses, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

Global warming “is less in the news than last year,” Mr. Ban said at a service held at the Holy Family Church in New York. “Yet the evidence is all around that the problem is worse than most projections.”

The phenomenon is also spurring humanitarian crises, such as Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and hunger in Haiti and the Horn of Africa, he added.

Speaking on the eve of the start of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General pointed out that any solution to climate change has to be truly global, with the United Nations working in tandem with Member States.

“But we realize that governments cannot do the job alone,” he said, stressing the role of the faith community, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and others. “We need all of our partners in this monumental effort to address the global challenges of our time.