South Pacific countries sound alarm at UN debate on impact of global warming

20 September 2006
UN News Service

The South Pacific nations of Papua New Guinea and Kiribati have used their addresses to the annual debate of the General Assembly to voice concern about rising sea levels in the region and to urge United Nations Member States to do much more to reduce global warming.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Michael Somare warned the Assembly that small islands and low-lying atolls across the Pacific are already being submerged by rising sea levels.
“For us, this is not academic, it is reality!” he said, adding scientific studies indicate that climate change is also responsible for the increasing frequency of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, flash floods and landslides.

Mr. Somare called on industrialized nations to slash their greenhouse gas emissions and on those countries which have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol to do so.

For the full story... and Kofi Annan on Climate Change