Based on the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen launched the “Climate Ambition Initiative” in the past few months, which has been supported by over 30 countries worldwide. The said initiative will be presented at the UN Climate Summit, which will take place from 21st to 23rd September 2019 in New York. Particularly pleased is the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina also supported the initiative, which shows the determination of our country to seriously tackle climate challenges.
The effects of climate change are well documented and are felt everywhere around the globe: The dramatic increase in heat waves, floods, droughts and mudflows, glacial melting and sea-level rise. Water shortages and crop failures are only some of the immediate results, with devastating impacts such as hunger and forced human displacement.
Over the past century, the global average temperature has already risen by about 1 degree Celsius over pre-industrial levels. This increase is unprecedented in the history of mankind.
In December 2015, the world witnessed an important moment of hope and confidence: At COP 21, the global community adopted a landmark Paris Agreement with the goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its report on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius unequivocally confirms that we are already seeing the negative impacts of climate change; it also clearly demonstrates the vulnerabilities, impacts and risks of further global warming to human societies and natural systems, including the attainment of sustainable development and of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We appeal to the international community and to all Parties to the Paris Agreement: Let us act jointly, decisively, and swiftly to stop the global climate crisis.
