UN Climate Conference: We demand a plan to save the planet!

 

Statement by Christina Nikolaou, Head of the Environment Affairs Bureau of the C.C. of AKEL

Our people’s interests must be put above the interests of capital

1 November 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The global leaders’ summit today, 1 November, marks the start of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

As leaders gather in Glasgow, fostering optimism with their promises, the UN is warning that current rates of fossil fuel production will not meet the goal of keeping temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The climate crisis is a reality. The 50 degree Celsius heatwave in Canada this summer, the biblical floods in Germany, the firestorms in southern Europe, the melting glaciers of Africa that will be gone in twenty years’ time are precursors of phenomena that no one can deny and ignore.

Our country is already in the process of desertification. Our natural wealth is disappearing. Fires are now commonplace. Furthermore, increases in electricity prices are being felt due to the government’s inadequate environmental and energy policies.

It all leads to the conclusion that the disastrous aspect of the coming cataclysm has nothing to do with technical weaknesses and deadlocks, but with the lack of political courage and an absence of political will.

We demand the elaboration of a real plan to save the planet, especially by the rich countries, which must contribute with resources and technology towards this end. The goal of environmental and social justice can only be achieved if the environmental parameters and the interests of our people are put above the interests of capital.