Känslosam inledning på klimatförhandlingarna
Filippinernas chefsförhandlare fick många att börja gråta när han förklarade: ”I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm.”
Samtidigt som dödssiffran efter tyfonen Haiyan stiger i Filippinerna startade i dag de FN-ledda klimatförhandlingarna i Warszawa, Polen. Under förmiddagen höll Filippinernas chefsförhandlare Yeb Saño ett längre anförande där han inledde med att tacka för allt stöd hans land fått från omvärlden.
– [F]rom the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your expression of sympathy to my country in the face of this national difficulty. (…) We are deeply moved by this manifestation of human solidarity. This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.
Men Yeb Saño förklarade även att det är just tragedier som den i Filippinerna som följer med klimatförändringarna och som kommer bli allt vanligare i framtiden.
– To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair. I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confronts similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannas of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce. Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.
Enligt den filippinske chefsförhandlaren står hoppet till FN-processen och till att världens länder nu snabbt kommer överens om ett sätt att jobba med klimatfrågan tillsammans.
– This process under the UNFCCC has been called many names. It has been called a farce. It has been called an annual carbon-intensive gathering of useless frequent flyers. It has been called many names. But it has also been called the Project to save the planet. It has been called “saving tomorrow today”. We can fix this. We can stop this madness. Right now.
Hela Yeb Saños anförande kan läsas på RTCC. Utdrag ur talet kan ses här:

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