Nice to Know Global Action Can Happen
The current financial crisis shows it is possible for politicians to cooperate. The question is how can we get them to realize the urgency of to stem tide of climate change? The same sense of urgency is desperately needed if millions of people in poorer parts of the world are not to be swept up in the consequences of inaction, says Laurence Gray, advocacy director for World Vision Asia Pacific.
IT IS amazing the political will and financial resources rich nations can marshal when they are under threat. The result is hundreds of billions of dollars invested to prevent a meltdown of the US financial system and its impact on economies everywhere.
Just as in the debate over the financial crisis, climate change also has been marked by warnings, denials, anger, blame, grandstanding and demands that the system — or the ecosystem — be left to correct itself. Unlike the financial crisis, what is lacking now from global leaders is a sense of urgency and action.
Sir John Holmes, the United Nations’ emergency relief chief, says the number of disasters has doubled, from about 200 to more than 400 a year over the past two decades, with nine out of 10 climate-related. The signs are clear: climate change will result in more frequent and violent storms and surges.
If climate change is not taken seriously, the world will be forced to cope with mass migrations of millions and political and social upheaval associated with poverty and displacement.
The challenge climate change presents has obvious parallels with how governments are responding to the financial crisis. The danger signs are clear and the need for an urgent response is undeniable — and the money can be found.
I don’t know how we get the same decisive political will from wealthy nations to act quickly and comprehensively about climate change as they do about money.
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