UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday the Pacific possesses "a unique moral authority" to demand global action on climate change because its people are bearing the brunt of the problem.

Visiting Fiji as part of a South Pacific tour to highlight the dangers of global warming, Guterres said the region was on the front line of climate change.

"Here in the Pacific, sea-level rise in some countries is four times greater than the global average and is an existential threat to some island states," he said.

He said this was despite the fact that the Pacific islands contributed little to global warming and had been among the first nations to minimise their greenhouse gas emissions.

"Your experiences underscore the urgency of the threat," he said. "The Pacific has a unique moral authority to speak out -- it is time for the world to listen."

Guterres' visit -- which also includes New Zealand, Tuvalu and Vanuatu -- will see the UN chief meet locals whose lives have been upended by cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather events linked to climate change.

It comes ahead of the Climate Action Summit in September in New York, billed as a last chance to prevent irreversible climate change.

Members of the Pacific Islands Forum regional grouping commended Guterres for travelling to see "the everyday reality of climate change".

They sent a strong message to the New York conference, warning "we are facing an unprecedented global catastrophe for our blue planet".

"Platitudes and repackaged commitments cannot be the substance of our deliberations," they said in a statement.

"We need transformational change at scale, and courageous leaders prepared to deliver it."

Guterres will address the Fiji parliament on Thursday.

Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Impossible research produces 400-year El Nino record, revealing startling changes
Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 08, 2019
Australian scientists have developed an innovative method using cores drilled from coral to produce a world first 400-year long seasonal record of El Nino events, a record that many in the field had described as impossible to extract. The record published in Nature Geoscience detects different types of El Nino and shows the nature of El Nino events has changed in recent decades. This understanding of El Nino events is vital because they produce extreme weather across the globe with particula ... read more