• Guterres said the global temperature must be limited to 1.5 degrees.
Poverty eradication will remain a challenge if the climate change crisis is not addressed, the United Nations has warned.
“We have proven that together, we can tackle monumental challenges. The right to a healthy environment is gaining traction. But we need to do more and much faster, especially to avert climate catastrophe,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said.
He said the global temperature must be limited to 1.5 degrees.
“To keep 1.5 degrees alive, governments must have cut emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” Guterres said.
He said emitters must drastically cut emissions starting this year.
This, Guterres said, means accelerating the end of fossil fuel addiction and speeding the deployment of clean renewable energy.
He said there is a need to invest in adaption and resilience, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable who have contributed least to the crisis.
Guterres warning comes ahead of world leaders Stockholm+50 meeting in Sweden in June.
“Let us make sure our leaders bring the ambition and action needed to address our triple planetary emergencies because we only have one planet earth. We must do everything we can to protect her,” he added.
Stockholm+50 will provide leaders with an opportunity to draw on 50 years of multilateral environmental action to secure a better future on a healthy planet.
It aims at accelerating transformation for sustainable and green economies, more jobs, and a healthy planet for all.
The meeting will also reinforce the message and the outcome of UNEP's 50th anniversary, which took place in March this year in Nairobi.
On March 28, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko and Sweden’s Climate and Environment minister Annika Strandhall co-hosted a meeting to plan the June international meeting.
The meeting was attended by UN member states, NGOs, international organisations among other environment stakeholders.
The climate change crisis threatens to roll back the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development progress.
For instance, 3.5 million Kenyans are in dire need of food as a result of the ongoing drought.
The National Drought Management Authority says the drought is worsening in 16 of the 23 arid and semi-arid counties.
The authority in its latest update said seven counties are in alarm drought phase. They are Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Samburu, Isiolo, Baringo and Turkana.
Another nine are in alert phase. They are Garissa, Kilifi, Kitui, Kwale, Laikipia, Lamu, Meru (North), Nyeri (Kieni) and West Pokot.
“The remaining six counties including Kajiado, Narok, Makueni, Taita Taveta, and Embu (Mbeere) and Tana River are in normal drought phase,” the update indicated.
NDMA said two subcounties–Wajir (Wajir East), Mandera (Mandera East)–are in extreme vegetation deficit and in need of humanitarian assistance.
Four counties–Mandera, Laikipia, Samburu and Wajir-are in severe vegetation deficit.
The report said five counties, including Baringo, Isiolo, Kwale, Marsabit, and West Pokot, are in moderate vegetation deficit.
This is attributed to the poor performance of the 2021 short rains and late onset of the 2022 long rains season.