Ban
on Ice, or Maybe Not: The Arctic is Melting
"I
will try to deliver a clear strong message from my visit to the North
Pole," Ban told reporters yesterday in
Secretary-General Ban wants to deliver that message to two important climate meetings before year's end. First, the meeting of government leaders that he will convene at UN Headquarters in New York on September 22, a time when heads of state and government will be there for the opening of the General Assembly.
And,
the make-it or break-it meeting December 7-18 in
Ban clearly feels the pressure of time. He repeats that only 15 days of negotiations remain before the start of December's climate change conference
"Now
is the time for decision-making," the Secretary-General stressed once
again as he has many times this summer to a wide variety of audiences. "We
must seal a deal in
While in Oslo, Ban attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial of Trygve Lie, a Norwegian who was the first elected UN Secretary-General. He met with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and King Harald V.
Today,
the secretary-general flew to
Located near the
Ban spent most of the day with scientists, who updated him on the the latest research concerning warming temperatures, melting ice and disappearing glaciers.
He stopped at a Norwegian Zeppelin station, a research center where air in the Arctic region is monitored for various purposes, including determining the effect of greenhouse gases.
On
Thursday, Ban will be in
The secretary-general has great hopes for his September 22 meeting.
He
expressed those hopes in
"There can be no solution to the challenge of climate change that is not global," Ban said. "But if we can come together in partnership, we can transform today's challenge into tomorrow's opportunity - an opportunity for green growth and sustainable prosperity."
"We can take a big step along this road on September 22nd at the United Nations Summit on climate change."
"We need a major "top-down" push from world leaders - a push on the negotiators to seal the deal that we need."
Ban
said more than 100 heads of state and government are
expected to join the
"I am grateful for his support and his engagement," said Ban, "but, we also need a strong bottom-up push from academics and opinion-shapers such as you," he told the educators. "Universities such as yours are founts of ideas and innovation. They are furnaces of innovation and entrepreneurship."
"So, send forth this word. Tell your university students, your colleagues, your political leaders - we must seize this once-in-a-generation chance."
"World
leaders must go to
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