Close to Half of Humanity in Climate Danger Zone, Says Guterres

The Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres stated on World Environment Day: "Close to half of humanity is already in the climate danger zone – 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts such as extreme heat, floods and drought."

Guterres explained: "This planet is our only home. It is vital we safeguard the health of its atmosphere, the richness and persity of life on Earth, its ecosystems and its finite resources. But we are failing to do so. We are asking too much of our planet to maintain ways life that are unsustainable. Earth’s natural systems cannot keep up with our demands."

He added: "More than 3 billion people are affected by degraded ecosystems. Pollution is responsible for some 9 million premature deaths each year. More than 1 million plant and animal species risk extinction, many within decades."

"There is a 50:50 chance that annual average global temperatures will breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next five years. More than 200 million people each year could be displaced by climate disruption by 2050."

Guterres clarified: "The recent Stockholm+50 environment meeting reiterated that all 17 Sustainable Development Goals rely on a healthy planet. We must all take responsibility to avert the catastrophe being wrought by the triple crises of climate change, pollution and biopersity loss."

Next, the UN Secretary-General expressed: "Governments need urgently to prioritize climate action and environmental protection through policy decisions that promote sustainable progress. To that end, I have proposed five concrete recommendations to dramatically speed up the deployment of renewable energy everywhere, including making renewable technologies and raw materials available to all, cutting red tape, shifting subsidies and tripling investment."

He pledged: "This year and the next will present more opportunities for the global community to demonstrate the power of multilateralism to tackle our intertwined environmental crises, from negotiations on a new global biopersity framework to reverse nature loss by 2030 to the establishment of a treaty to tackle plastics pollution."

Finally, he concluded: "The United Nations is committed to leading these cooperative global efforts, because the only way forward is to work with nature, not against it. Together we can ensure that our planet not only survives, but thrives, because we have Only One Earth."