THE HONOURABLE TINA GRONLUND-NUNEZ MINISTER OF STATE AT THE EUROPEAN UNION CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

Salutations

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Climate change has now come to be globally recognized as the single environmental issue of the 21st century, that poses unprecedented threats to mankind. The fact, that it is not confined to any one sector, but has cross sectoral implications, including those related to socio-economic well being, such as the potential to undermine sustainable development efforts, reduction of poverty and sustained economic growth, places this issue in a unique position in the global context. Where in the past, traditional approaches to address global environmental issues have often been found in sectors such as those related to wetlands, waste disposal or marine and coastal resources. Today, we find that such approaches, though traditional, does not encompass the overall complex problem of climate change which transcends bio-physical impacts.

While climate change, in and of itself, has been naturally occurring for the past millennia, it is also now generally accepted, based on overwhelming scientific evidence, such as those presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that the current accelerated rate of observed climate change is being caused by human influence through the increased emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, as a result of the historic combustion of fossil fuels on which economic activity is primarily driven. As a result, there exists a distinct human component to the accelerated rate of climate change. This Ladies and Gentlemen, then beg the suggestion, that if there is a human-induced cause - there must be a human-induced solution as well.