Roza Aknazarova (MP, Kyrgyzstan) addresses parliamentarians during the Autumn Meeting in Geneva, 4 October 2014.COPENHAGEN, 16 December 2014 – Roza Aknazarova (MP, Kyrgyzstan), the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, today welcomed the agreement reached at the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima but warned that far greater ambition is needed to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures.
"The Lima agreement represents a step in the right direction in committing all nations to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That said, the time for modest pledges has long since passed, and this text falls short not only of expectations, but of what is truly needed. I urge world leaders to recognize the collective gravity of this moment – and their moral responsibility to make far more ambitious commitments to tackling climate change in Paris next year," Aknazarova said.
"Leaders must also never forget the link between climate change and security and the particular toll taken on poorer, low-lying and mountainous countries," she added.
Aknazarova also noted that according to preliminary estimates by the UN's World Meteorological Organization, the year 2014 is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record.
The issue of climate change and efforts to mitigate it has been a focus of the work this year by the PA's Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment.
During the Second Preparatory Meeting of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum in Montreux this May, Aknazarova encouraged States to focus on preventive measures and early warning in order to reduce the impact of natural disasters and climate change.
At the OSCE PA's 2014 Annual Session in Baku this July, which brought together nearly 300 MPs from more than 50 OSCE participating States, parliamentarians approved a Declaration that addresses a wide range of security-related topics, including climate change.
The Baku Declaration "regret[s] the lack of progress on key issues of reducing CO2 emissions and financial help for countries most affected by climate change." It also "calls upon OSCE participating States to continue to work towards a new universal climate agreement so that it appears on the table at the next UN climate change conference in Peru, ahead of final agreement in Paris in 2015."
Climate change was also a topic of parliamentary debate during the PA's 2014 Autumn Meeting in Geneva this October.
