Extreme weather is the new normal and poses a threat to the human race, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said yesterday in a bid to revive deadlocked global climate change talks.
Mr Ban's intervention came as efforts to agree a symbolic extension of the UN Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that obliges developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, looked to be faltering.
In a speech to almost 200 nations meeting in Doha, Mr Ban said a thaw in Arctic sea ice to record lows this year, superstorms and rising sea levels were all signs of a crisis.
"The abnormal is the new normal," he told delegates. He said signs of change were apparent everywhere and "from the US to India, from Ukraine to Brazil, drought [has] decimated essential global crops".
"No-one is immune to climate change – rich or poor. It is an existential challenge for the whole human race – our way of life, our plans for the future," he said.
Urging nations to cast off their apathy and embrace ambition, he had earlier said Superstorm Sandy had "given us an awakening call".
The failure to agree a Kyoto extension is blocking efforts to lay the foundations of a new global UN deal that is meant to be agreed in 2015 and to enter into force from 2020. In 2009, a summit in Copenhagen failed to agreed a deal to succeed Kyoto.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article