Global sustainable development: crucial factor against climate change
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Climate change, as a global issue, should be considered from a global angle and dealt with using integrated and orderly activities. This calls for worldwide efforts to achieve sustainable development, according to a top meteorological scientist in China.
Ye Duzheng, a 94-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Science, is a leading scientist in the atmospheric science of China and one of the earliest scientists focusing on global warming in the world.
He said after the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the United Nations needs to take more effective action to tackle climate change.
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Ye Duzheng, a 94-year-old meteorological scientist in China.[China.org.cn] |
"The global climate issue became apparent in the 1980s and after 30 years, the world started to pay attention to the problem. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference gathered many world leaders in a room and confirmed the limitation of global warming to 2 degrees. In this sense, it was successful," Ye said. "But the problem is they didn't find a solution."
"The main reason is that the United Nations didn't make good preparations for these international negotiations. They only focused on partial facts about climate change and didn't look at the underlying issues."
Ye explained that climate change is a concept, which consists of politics, economy and society. So rather than simply discussing the targets of cutting carbon dioxide emissions, what each country really needs to do is to give a clear explanation about the consequences of trying to minimize or prevent climate change.
This includes the financial losses after cutting emissions, the following unemployment which may occur due to the changing model of the economy and the difference in the economic environment of each country, as well as the potential benefits brought by global warming.
"On the basis of these data, countries can balance their interests and take the common responsibilities. We need a good performance of the world, not of a single country," Ye said. "This should be the direction for the COP16 UN Climate Change Conference in Mexico this December."
