NEW YORK // With global temperatures, food prices and population rising, it is more urgent than ever to formulate ways to make life on the planet more sustainable, the UN's climate change chief says.
The warning by Janos Pasztor comes as a UN panel on sustainability prepares to meet in Helsinki in May to draft a plan to address the problems of global warming, poverty and water scarcity.
The panel, which includes Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE Foreign Minister, faces a "tough project" to meet the December deadline for completing the plan, Mr Pasztor said.
"What needs to be done is quite substantial," he said. "Panelists must develop a vision on moving towards sustainability in this world. It's about eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and making growth inclusive, while combating climate change and respecting planetary boundaries."
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation warned last week that global food prices hit record highs in February. Price increases are linked to crop losses during droughts in Russia and West Africa and flooding in Pakistan, Australia and Sri Lanka. Harsh weather has been blamed on gas emissions and climate change.
"The food crisis, connected to unrest in Tunisia and Egypt, and the increased frequency of natural disasters in Pakistan and elsewhere, has created anxiety among a public at large that doesn't really have a framework for how these challenges are connected and what strategies will manage them effectively," said Marc Levy of the Earth Institute of Columbia University. "This panel may offer a way to understand and respond."
Experts offer many solutions, from enlarging protected forest and marine areas to using new technologies for renewable energy, hybrid car engines and raising farming yields with drought-resistant crops and low-waste irrigation.
Some argue that lifting the world's poor out of poverty will help stabilise the global population. Others say financial schemes, such as subsidies for clean fuels and taxing carbon emitters, offer market-driven remedies.
Jeffrey Sachs, a UN adviser and professor of economics at Columbia University in New York, has said that spending less than three per cent of the global economy could help end world poverty, stabilise the global population and stave off climate change.
But Mr Sachs and others argue that free-market capitalism is at odds with sustainability, and that the consumption patterns that have spurred economic growth and raised living standards in the developed world cannot continue indefinitely.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the panel, which is led by the presidents of South Africa and Finland, must consider "major changes in our lifestyles, our economic models, our social organisation, and our political life".
For decades, the UN has promoted sustainable growth, defining it in a 1987 report as "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Results have been patchy. Nations tackled ozone depletion in the 1980s and achieved the landmark 1997 Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but a successor treaty has proven elusive.
The 2009 Copenhagen summit broke down amid rows over how much wealthy countries should spend helping poor countries limit emissions. Negotiators from 190 countries agreed in Cancun last year on modest steps to tackle global warming.
"Copenhagen was the funeral for an obsolete approach to global problems, and the world is still searching for an alternative model," said Mr Levy. "We haven't done this yet, but it will probably be a reorientation of broad economic objectives that are more subservient to the goals of sustainability and equity."
Mr Pasztor described "plenty of reports from the past 25 years" that lay out technological and economic solutions to the world's woes. The real problem, he said, was a lack of political will and a clear road map to sustainable living.
"The panel does not need to come up with anything new," he said. "They will collect the existing knowledge and solutions and write them up as a politically feasible project of actions and mechanisms."
Damian Ryan, a policy analyst for The Climate Group, said the UN plan should be couched as a "green revolution" that will channel investment into jobs and education and improve the well-being of the environment and people.
"The debate has been obscured by negatives - costs, burden-sharing and making others do the heavy lifting," said Mr Ryan.
"We need a paradigm shift to reframe the debate in terms of investment that drives low-cost renewable energy sources and the benefits they would bring."
jreinl@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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Company%20Profile
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
More from Armen Sarkissian
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
The%C2%A0specs%20
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
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