12 February 2008

On 12 February 2008, Polish Minister of the Environment delivered address at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York

Today, Professor Maciej Nowicki, Polish Minister of the Environment, delivered address at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, on the General Assembly forum. The session which began yesterday is dedicated to climate change and the actions to be undertaken – on both the global and local scale - to counteract these change and impacts. On the first day of the agenda, addresses were delivered, amongst others, by Mr. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General and Mr. Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City. Discussion panels were also held. 
Minister Maciej Nowicki took part to closed meetings organised by Mr. Srgjan Kerim, President of the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General. He also met Danish Delegation with whom he continued discussions on topics began in Copenhagen a month ago on cooperation on organisation of the (COP 14 and 15) Climate Conferences, and also had discussion with Environmental Minister of Indonesia. 
In his address, Minister Nowicki emphasised the need to intensive and common actions aimed at reduction of global warming since such actions are likely to result in specific, concerted results. Professor M. Nowicki conveyed also invitation to participants of the New York meeting to attend the Poznan Climate Conference (COP14) to be held in December 2008, in Poland. 
Full text of Minister’ M. Nowicki’s address is in extenso cited below.


Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Many individuals, including also many politicians have not still fully realised that the mankind has entered their entirely new development phase. Now, humans driven by their unrestrained expansion force reached the limits as determined by the physical system of the planet where they used to dwell. At present, humans are capable to deliver considerable impact on the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere, including pollution of rivers and seas, soil erosion, and extinction of biological diversity on the whole planet scale. In all these cases the impacts are negative and damaging, and they originate yet from such wasteful exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources that was prevailing over the past 20th Century. 

Nature of all these threats is global and so they require also counteracting on a corresponding global scale. It is a profound merit of the United Nations Organisation that it undertook efforts aimed at reversing these tragic trends. The Rio de Janeiro and the Johannesburg Earth Summits were the milestones on that way. Initial successes can be also noted, such like Convention on the Protection of Ozone Layer which led in a short time to almost entire phasing out of freons and halons that were damaging to the ozone layer. Thanks to that action, one of the hugest environmental hazards was prevented, thus saving – who knows – may be likely also the life on Earth. 

That example proves that the global community is capable of delivering concerted efforts aimed at dealing with a challenge recognised as important on a global scale. Nowadays, mankind has faced yet another and much more huge challenge concerning prevention of anthropogenic change in Earth climate. Now, when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have without any doubt announced that the human impact on climate change has been realistic and essential, the time has just come to implement the relevant concrete actions. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol form the major global mechanisms protecting Earth climate. During the 13th Conference of the Parties to this Convention that was held in the last year in Bali, the Action Plan was approved which should produce a series of commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the post-Kyoto period. 

On behalf of the Government of Poland, it is my have great honour to invite all Member States and other partners in the effort of meeting this global challenge to attend the 14th Conference of this global Convention that is to be held in this year, on the days of 1-12 December in Poland, in the City of Poznan. The Convention output achieved so far, as well as that under Kyoto Protocol, will be summarized there. Poland will make its best effort to provide so as the Poznan Conference be an important step towards arrangement of concrete actions aimed at restraining climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes. The Poznan meeting is also a milestone on the way towards reaching consensus on the commitments concerning reduction of greenhouse gas that is to be attained during the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties in 2009. 

During the Poznan Conference, we would like to put particular emphasis on presentation of specific examples of successful technology transfers and of the actions on adaptation to climate change, so that these good practices could be disseminated. We would like to arrange for an exhibition presenting in an interesting form the innovative inventions and managerial solutions serving for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Those are dispersed among many scientific institutions and companies throughout many countries worldwide. The UN Conference in Poznan to be held with participation of representatives from 190 countries will be an excellent venue to disseminate best practices and technologies to begin the concrete work of slowing and mitigating climate change. I believe that the exhibition in connection with the Convention panels planned will form an important step towards specific actions aimed at the protection of Earth’s climate. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, to conclude, may I once again convey my invitation to all of you to visit Poland and its hospitable City of Poznan, and in my belief, the 14th Conference of the Parties will form an important forum for working out effective methods to counteract climate change being unfavourable to the mankind on our planet, Earth.