Brincat urges UN cooperation on climate change

Brincat, the Minister for Climate Change said that it was important for the UN to agree on a legally-binding agreement on climate change, which he said will help in securing good governance. 

Describing climate change as an "unprecedented threat facing humankind", he said that that there was no time for procrastination. 

Brincat, who was speaking at the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Warsaw, said that in order to reach certain goals, it was necessary to establish a process for all the parties concerned to formulate ambitious mitigation commitments, such as a timetable to prepare any proposed commitments to be carried out in 2014. 

"Momentum for action is often stalled by immediate concerns related to national or regional events. In actual fact, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that the threats posed by climate change have now moved to the centre of the debate on economic policy," he said. 

Bricat said that the UN needed to send "a clear signal that the international community means business", and that it was on track to take the necessary measures to tackle climate change. 

Brincat said that it was important that any 2015 agreement must ensure the participation and commitments of all parties, whilst stating that "the collective level of ambition should be informed by science". 

"Responsibilities and capabilities are differentiated but evolve over time. The agreement should therefore reflect these evolving realities by including a spectrum of commitments in a dynamic way," he said. 

Brincat also said that the recent tragedy in the Philippines, as well as the human tragedies which occured in the Mediterranean, have increased the urgency to address the challenges posed by climate change. 

"These highlight, more than ever, the urgent need for solidarity within the international community to address this global challenge," he said, adding that the principle of solidarity must always manifest itself through their work. 

 Brincat stressed that such human tragedies will only continue to escalate as the impacts of climate change are much worse for the most vulnerable regions. 

"Climate vulnerability spreads beyond latitudes, which is why the global community must provide the necessary actions to ensure climate resilience," he said.  

Brincat said that Malta, together with the EU and its Member States, had already started implementing its commitments under the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol as of January 1st 2013. 

"Malta recognises that the key for climate action is better governance, and creating synergies between different sectors and actors," he said. 

Brincat also said that, following the adoption of its national mitigation and adaptation strategies, Malta was fully committed to shifting to cleaner sources of energy, whilst preparing a national Green Economy Strategy with a view to creating an enabling environment which promotes the transition towards a more resource efficient and low carbon economy. 

"As we share our national experiences, whatever the scale, we are committed to continuing to build global and regional capacity for climate action," he said.