Ban Ki Moon calls on countries to introduce practical steps to adapt to climate change

(July 28,2009): United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday stressed that adaptation to the impact of climate change is an “essential investment in our common future,”
and urged countries rich and poor to take practical steps to deal with the impact of global warming. Addressing senior Mongolian Government officials in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, Mr.Ban said that cutting greenhouse gas emissions and trying to mitigate climate change is essential. We must get serious about adaptation and we must do so now Adaptation is both a practical need and a moral imperative,” he added.
Mr. Ban emphasized that many of the people who are bearing the brunt of climate change are those who can least afford it, or who contributed least to the problem, such as the citizens of landlocked developing countries like Mongolia, where desertification and extreme weather conditions are increasing threats. He told Mongolians that they are part of the one third of the world’s population – 2 billion people – who are potential victims of desertification..
The UN Secretary General said any climate change deal, reached at global talks in Copenhagen, Denmark in December, must include provisions, where affluent nations provide assistance to vulnerable and poorer States to adapt.