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Typhoon Haiyan is a wake-up call for UN climate talks: Agencies
Members of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) are warning government representatives gathered at the United Nations climate talks in Warsaw, Poland, that the devastating super-typhoon that struck the Philippines is a glimpse of the future if urgent action is not taken
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embers of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) are warning government representatives gathered at the United Nations climate talks in Warsaw, Poland, that the devastating super-typhoon that struck the Philippines is a glimpse of the future if urgent action is not taken.
David Harewood, a British actor who has campaigned on climate change for several years, joined their call.
'More and more, extreme weather and its effects are being seen in every country around the world. When these events happen more frequently and with greater force, they form a pattern that points strongly towards climate change,' Harewood said in an official statement on Sunday.
He added: 'There's no more time to waste: the lives of millions of people all over the world are being impacted by the changing climate right now. It is time for us to stand together and demand action for our planet, for people living in the Philippines and ' most of all ' for the generations yet to come'.
The 14 members of the DEC are working to deliver life-saving aid to millions of Philippine people affected by the typhoon.
Aid agencies Christian Aid, the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD), CARE International, Oxfam and Tearfund said the ministers meeting this coming week in Warsaw had to act immediately because climate change would see extreme weather events, like Typhoon Haiyan, become more common in the future. This would cause more humanitarian emergencies and put more people at risk.
They added that during the Warsaw meeting, government leaders should deliver more finance, drastically cut global emissions and establish a "loss and damage" mechanism, which would oblige developed countries to help others whose people were losing their lives and livelihoods to the effects caused by climate change.
Oxfam's head of advocacy, Max Lawson, said: 'This should be a wake-up call for negotiators who have been sleepwalking through a process fraught with delay and indecision.
'The images we have seen from the Philippines are a reminder that climate change is not about numbers and process, but a growing reality for poor people who desperately need support to protect themselves and build safer futures'. (ebf)
