Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland warned that disaster is on the horizon and that 115 people are dying every day as a result of climate change.
“If we don’t take action, we don’t have a planet worth living for,” Scotland asserted in a speech held during the events of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) on Monday.
“Just look at what has happened over the last few months to countries like Bangladesh, where 60% of the country is underwater.”
“This is a catastrophe, there is more than $40bn worth of damage, and we have thousands of people as well as millions more who will now be put in a situation of real destruction and hunger,” she added.
“We all — and all of humanity — must focus on this.”
“Those of us who have realised the situation should speak out, and we should all be able to say to everyone that this is everyone’s business, and no one can escape it, because if that [climate-related catastrophes] happens, our whole humanity is in danger,” she said, stressing that this is about preserving the planet.
The COP27 kicked off in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday 6 November under the theme of ‘Implementation’ and will run until 18 November.
