Washington: The United Nations' human rights chief warned at a discussion on Monday that the world is moving towards a catastrophic future where tens of millions of people will be at risk of famine unless climate change is adequately addressed.
Volker Turk said in a speech to officials at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, that extreme weather events were having a serious adverse effect on crops, herds, and ecosystems, raising new concerns about the availability of food around the world.
More than 828 million people were at risk of hunger in 2021, according to Turk, and by the middle of this century, climate change is expected to put up to 80 million more people at risk of hunger.
Signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement, also known as the Paris Climate Accords, which was ratified by 196 parties at the time, agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or less if possible, above the levels of 1850–1900.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the UN predicts that current policies may cause a 2.8 degree rise by the end of the century.
To avoid "delivering this future of hunger and suffering to our children, and their children," Turk said that there is still time to take action. And we're not required to.
We, the generation with the most potent technological tools in history, have the ability to change it, he continued.
Turk also criticised world leaders who "perform the choreography" of addressing climate change but then "get stuck in the short term" when faced with how such policies might affect distantly related industries like fossil fuels, which are frequently supported by government subsidies.
Turk also urged an end to "greenwashing," the practise of businesses misleading consumers by exaggerating a product's sustainability or downplaying its environmental impact. He also criticised those who contest "climate science."
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The 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council concludes on July 14
