Published: 9 December 2011
Statement by Bekele Geleta to The United Nations Climate Change Conference
Seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17)
(Durban, 28 November – 9 December 2011)
Mrs President,
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is deeply concerned about the humanitarian consequences of climate change, especially the impacts of increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather on the most vulnerable people. Our volunteers living in their communities experience daily suffering and are adapting, coping and responding.
We know that it is effective to invest ahead of time, and we welcome the fact that the Cancun agreements have made disaster risk reduction an integral part of adaptation.
On the issue of adequate climate financing, your Red Cross Red Crescent societies – as auxiliaries to governments - are already mobilising the will and means available among your citizens.
We call upon the international community to deliver on the Copenhagen and Cancun commitments to increase financing for adaptation. And we call for prioritized action towards the most vulnerable people AND towards the most effective measures to reduce their risk. This must include investments into local capacity and soft, local solutions such as early warning systems and public awareness and education.
Mrs. President,
Changing minds, attitudes and ways of life is only possible through reaching across established divides in the spirit of humanitarian principles and values – most of all fairness and dignity. Global negotiations take time, but the sum total of small actions taken by people here, there, and everywhere can make a difference to the way we live and how we relate to the planet we share.
The almost 1 billion people going to bed hungry each night and others vulnerable to climate change do not need more words but action. We must demonstrate leadership and do them justice.
Thank you.