The Executive Director, Ambassador Dr. M. NafeesZakaria, of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) urges greater responsibility for major polluters.
He said this while making his policy interventions on ‘Climate Justice Diplomacy’ at the High-Level Segment of United Nations Climate Change Conference at Dubai.
Ambassador Zakaria stated that the countries in the Global South, particularly the Indus Basin States having population of about 300 million, are grappling with the consequences of climate change. He noted that the changing climate is causing security risks intrinsically linked to the stress on resources, which warrants urgent action. While acknowledging the fact that industrial activities have degraded environment over decades, he noted that wars destroy environment instantly on much larger scale. He underlined that Militaries, contribute 5.5% of GHGs emissions but remained exempted from accountability in Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreements.
He stressed the need of an impact assessment of wars and military exercises to make the countries concerned responsible for the damage caused. The Executive Director COMSATS stated that a critical review is needed to ascertain how effectively COP process has helped in compensating and enabling the countries least responsible for the environmental damage. He considered it important that the technologically advanced and economically powerful nations share greater responsibility, but also highlighted the need for greater efforts by developing states.
He applauded the establishment of ‘Loss and Damage Fund’ and hoped for its early operationalization.
