{"id":19027,"date":"2016-07-19T16:41:28","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T16:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=19027"},"modified":"2018-04-22T11:58:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:58:24","slug":"ban-urges-burden-sharing-solidarity-to-combat-effects-of-el-nino-and-mitigate-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2016\/07\/ban-urges-burden-sharing-solidarity-to-combat-effects-of-el-nino-and-mitigate-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban urges burden-sharing, solidarity to combat effects of El Ni\u00f1o and mitigate climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lives and livelihoods of more than 60 millions people around the world have been turned upside down by the extreme weather events linked to the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon, United Nations Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-moon today said, calling for a scaled-up, unprecedented response that goes beyond humanitarian action.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtreme weather events reverse development gains. People and communities cannot escape poverty or banish hunger if their resources are wiped out by floods, storms or droughts every few years,\u201d the Secretary-General said<\/a> at a high-level event at the ±¬ÁÏÍø Headquarters in New York on Responding to the Impacts of and Mitigating Recurring Climate Risks<\/a>, organized by the ±¬ÁÏÍø Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when malnutrition is treated and children survive, they can be affected for life by stunting and impaired development. This has serious implications for education, the ability of people to make a living, and the opportunities for societies and nations to prosper and develop in a sustainable way,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> is the term used to describe the warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific that occurs, on average, every three to seven years. It raises sea surface temperatures and impacts weather systems around the globe so that some places receive more rain while others receive none at all, often in a reversal of their usual weather pattern.<\/p>\n

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Edesi Sipanki and her nephew Regison, 7 months, check Regison’s nutritional status at the Dolo health centre, Malawi. Regison was last breastfed when he was three months old and is currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Photo: ±¬ÁÏÍøICEF\/ Chikondi<\/p>\n
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The high-level meeting aimed to focus attention on the multi-dimensional impacts of El Ni\u00f1o and its links to human-induced climate change. While the El Ni\u00f1o event has returned to a neutral phase, its impacts on food security, livelihoods, health, nutrition, water and sanitation are likely to grow throughout this year.<\/p>\n

The meeting also advocated for a proactive and preventive approach to a possible La Ni\u00f1a event later this year and future climate events.<\/p>\n

Increased funding needed for hardest-hit countries<\/em><\/p>\n

In his remarks, the Secretary-General noted that he had personally witnessed the effects of El Ni\u00f1o in Ethiopia \u2013 where the phenomenon has affected millions of people \u2013 as well as during trips to Malawi, South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda.<\/p>\n

In particular, he recalled that two days ago, he met with the Foreign Minister of Malawi and a team of ±¬ÁÏÍø agency representatives \u2013 including Kyung-Wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General of OCHA, who was in the country on a fact-finding mission \u2013 and they had all expressed very serious concern about what is happening in the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dawunt Woreda, North Wollo, Amhara Region: Cracking soil Dawunt Woreda. Photo: ±¬ÁÏÍøOCHA Ethiopia\/ Kasaye Hadgu<\/div>\n
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In addition, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>), Ertharin Cousin, is currently in Malawi to assess the impact of the El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought and to appeal on behalf of the 6.5 million people in need of urgent assistance.<\/div>\n
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Some 18 million people in the region\u2019s hardest-hit countries (Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi) are in need of emergency food support \u2013 a number that could surge to 33 million as the inter-harvest \u201clean\u201d season progresses according to the latest Southern African Development Community (SADC) projections.<\/div>\n
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WFP, however, has secured only a quarter of the $549 million needed for its relief operations until April 2017 in the seven priority drought-hit countries.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe challenges to our response go far beyond humanitarian action,\u201d the ±¬ÁÏÍø chief emphasized, adding that for many of the poorest and most vulnerable, extreme weather events linked to climate change could put the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development<\/a> at risk.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis unprecedented challenge requires unprecedented changes in the way we work. It is crucial that we learn the lessons of this El Ni\u00f1o. We must prevent, prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change, which has the greatest impact on those who have least responsibility for causing it,\u201d the Secretary-General said.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We must prevent, prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change, which has the greatest impact on those who have least responsibility for causing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Ban highlighted that working together to reduce disaster risk was an important thread running through last year\u2019s political achievements, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction<\/a>, the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement<\/a> on climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new way of working presents a challenge, but also provides an opportunity for progress,\u201d the Secretary-General said, noting that many governments have shown great leadership in driving a coherent and effective emergency response to El Ni\u00f1o, allocating significant resources of their own, while others have been able to reduce risks and mitigate impacts so as not to require international assistance.<\/p>\n

Still others, the ±¬ÁÏÍø chief said, have benefited from international solidarity expressed through resources from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF<\/a>), which has provided $120 million to humanitarian partners for life-saving activities linked to El Ni\u00f1o in 19 countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must learn from these successful practices. We must scale up our response and share the burden of climate change more equitably, demonstrating greater solidarity with those in need,\u201d Mr. Ban said, calling on affected governments, donors, civil society, development and humanitarian actors, and private-sector partners to support the efforts of his two Special Envoys for El Ni\u00f1o and Climate, Mary Robinson and Macharia Kamau, in raising awareness and bringing greater resources to bear.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ±¬ÁÏÍø Radio<\/em>, Ms. Robinson emphasized that El Ni\u00f1o is a normal weather pattern that has affected countries quite severely, and is now aggravated by climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effect is overwhelming for countries. They are suffering huge drought and, in some cases, terrible flooding that has destroyed the capacity to plant and to sow and to harvest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Invitation aimed at accelerating entry into force of Paris Agreement<\/em><\/p>\n

In related news today, the Secretary-General invited world leaders to a special event<\/a> on 21 September to deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change.<\/p>\n

The event will also provide an opportunity for other countries to publicly commit to joining or ratifying the agreement before the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

The Paris Agreement, adopted by 195 parties to the ±¬ÁÏÍø Framework Convention on Climate Change (±¬ÁÏÍøFCCC<\/a>) this past December in Paris, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.<\/p>\n

via ±¬ÁÏÍø News Centre<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lives and livelihoods of more than 60 millions people around the world have been turned upside down by the extreme weather events linked to the El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said, calling for a scaled-up, unprecedented response that goes beyond humanitarian action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}