“Antonio Guterres is a strong voice in the fight against the climate crisis – voices that are needed to finally make courageous progress in climate protection.” Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen also used his visit to the COP27 world climate conference on Monday to meet the UN Secretary-General, who shortly before had rarely used drastic words in his opening speech for the climate crisis and the lack of efforts to combat it.
“We’re on the highway to climate hell – with our foot on the accelerator,” Guterres said, among other things, to the dozens of heads of state and government in the Sharm el-Sheikh auditorium. “We’re fighting the fight of our lives – and we’re about to lose.”
Van der Bellen once again assured him of his solidarity: “I have promised Antonio Guterres my full support in the fight against the climate crisis – and I will not rest until the last ones have understood that this is about nothing less than our livelihood and our future,” said the Federal President after the meeting, which was not open to journalists. Last but not least, Van der Bellen added, “the abominable war of aggression in Ukraine shows us that the energy transition is also so important to free us from dependence on Russia. We can generate energy from wind, sun, water and biomass also produce locally.”
The Federal President had previously visited the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) pavilion and the “Children and Youth” pavilion, which was set up for the first time at a world climate conference.
At WWF, one of the largest global nature and environmental protection organizations, Van der Bellen met WWF’s Global Head of Climate and Energy, former Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who chaired the COP20 in Lima. “Our rainforests, our seas, our rivers are the basis of our existence,” said Van der Bellen after the conversation. He exchanged views with Pulgar-Vidal about the connections between the climate and biodiversity crises. “Manuel Pulgar-Vidal also told me about the enormous impact of the climate crisis on the environment in his home country Peru. We agree: we have to raise awareness of the value of our environment and how to protect it. Because there is none on a broken planet prosperous future for us.”
In the youth pavilion, the Federal President exchanged extensive views with the Austrian youth delegates who came to COP27 with the support of the Ministry of Climate Protection to give the voices of the younger generation a stronger hearing. Their most effective public voice in recent years, the Swedish climate protection activist Greta Thunberg, stayed away from the COP27 amid “greenwashing” allegations and protests against the host country and its treatment of civil society.
“The participation of young people and civil society in the world climate conference is extremely important,” affirmed Van der Bellen after the meeting. “Young people are a strong, warning voice for more climate protection. They are rightly demanding more commitment and more commitment in the fight against the climate crisis and criticizing that too little has happened so far. It is up to us to do everything we can to gain the trust of young people win back. Through concrete actions.”
Finally, with Surangel Whipps Jr., the Federal President also paid a visit to the President of one of the countries most affected by climate change: the small island state of Palau, which is only a few meters high, is in danger of being completely submerged in the Pacific Ocean due to rising sea levels.
“We agree,” said Van der Bellen after speaking with Whipps. “The example of Palau clearly shows us how devastating the effects of the climate crisis can be if we don’t finally do more and ambitious climate protection, worldwide. We are destroying our own livelihoods. It is our great, common task to prevent this .”
Source: Nachrichten
