New York, 28 November 2023 (TDI): The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres called on world leaders to take urgent action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, protect people from climate chaos, and end the fossil fuel age.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of the dangers of climate change, saying that Antarctica is melting at an alarming rate.
Guterres, who recently returned from a visit to Antarctica, said that the ice is melting well over three times faster than it was in the early 1990s. He said that this is a “profoundly shocking” development that has far-reaching consequences for the world.
“What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica,” Guterres said. “We live in an interconnected world.”
Melting sea ice means rising seas, which directly endangers lives and livelihoods in coastal communities across the globe.
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Floods and saltwater intrusion imperil crops and drinking water, threatening food and water security. Homes are no longer insurable. Coastal cities and entire small islands risk being lost to the seas.
Guterres urged for urgent action to address climate change and protect Antarctica.
“We are the first generation to feel the full impact of climate change, and we may be the last generation to have a chance to act,” he said.
The melting of Antarctica is a serious threat to the planet, and it is important to take action now to address climate change.
Guterres said that the cause of the problem is clear, it is fossil fuel pollution. He said that if we continue to use fossil fuels, the Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets will cross a “deadly tipping point,” which would ultimately push up sea levels by around ten meters.
Guterres said that we are trapped in a “deadly cycle”: as ice melts, it absorbs more heat from the sun, which leads to more melting. He said that the solutions to climate change are well known and that we need to take action now to avoid a catastrophe.
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