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UN / GLOBAL CLIMATE CLOSING
STORY: UN / GLOBAL CLIMATE CLOSING
TRT: 1:52
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 MARCH 2019, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
29 MARCH 2019, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, General Assembly:
“Climate change is not a future challenge. It is happening today, but if we work together we can unlock the opportunities that are available now.”
4. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, General Assembly:
“My generation owes the youth of today, I think, an apology. We ignored the evidence far too long. We opted for business as usual, and this has to change, of course. And thankfully there is still time to change course. Young people must be included in all our discussions, in all our plans and programmes. And likewise, we must learn from our elders, from our indigenous peoples, who have much to teach us about environmental stewardship.”
6. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, General Assembly:
“Your messages over the last two days have been loud and clear. Our window to act is closing, and if we want to achieve our vision of a peaceful prosperous world; if we want to secure the future of humanity, we must act; and we must act now.”
8. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Luis Alfonso de Alba, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Action Summit:
“We have come to a consensus in these two days in the sense that it is urgent to act. It is still possible to avoid catastrophic consequences, and it is therefore our responsibility to respond. We have the tools, and we can avoid the worst and irreversible climate disruptions if we do it properly.”
10. Wide shot, Trusteeship Council
At the closing of a high-level meeting on climate change, UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa said, “Climate change is not a future challenge. It is happening today, but if we work together we can unlock the opportunities that are available now.”
Addressing the High-Level meeting on the Protection of the Global Climate for Present and Future Generations of Humankind, Espinosa said discussions on climate change are often depressing but the two-day meeting left her feeling optimistic. She said the meeting brought together Presidents, Prime Ministers, and delegates with young people, civilian society representatives, and the private sector, who all worked together to find solutions.
The President of the General Assembly said her generation owes the youth of today, “an apology.” She added, “We ignored the evidence far too long. We opted for business as usual, and this has to change, of course. And thankfully there is still time to change course.” She stressed that young people must be included in all discussions, plans and programmes to address climate change and likewise, “we must learn from our elders, from our indigenous peoples, who have much to teach us about environmental stewardship.”
Espinosa told attendees that their messages over the last two days “have been loud and clear. Our window to act is closing, and if we want to achieve our vision of a peaceful prosperous world; if we want to secure the future of humanity, we must act; and we must act now.”
UN Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Action Summit Luis Alfonso de Alba said attendees had come to a consensus in these two days “in the sense that it is urgent to act.” He added, “It is still possible to avoid catastrophic consequences, and it is therefore our responsibility to respond. We have the tools, and we can avoid the worst and irreversible climate disruptions if we do it properly.”
De Alba hoped that Member States would come to the 2019 Climate Action Summit to be held in September with very concrete proposals that will demonstrate the political will necessary to achieve our goals. HE said the goal was to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and near zero emissions by 2050.
The Special Envoy said he expected to see move solutions for transformative development pathways to be developed by governments, civil, society, and the private sector in the upcoming Summit.
The High-level meeting aimed to provide a bridge between last year’s United Nations Climate Conference in Katowice, Poland; the review of Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action in the High-level Political Forum in July; and the United Nations Climate Summit and High-level Political Forum Summit to be convened during the High-level week in September.
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