UNITED NATIONS, Sep. 1, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The United Nations recommended on Tuesday a 500-billion-U.S. dollar plan that calls for a "truly integrated" strategy to curb rising temperatures and promote sustainable development at the same time.
The report, entitled The World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet, was launched by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
"The science is clear. We need to drastically lower greenhouse gas emissions in order to protect the planet and avoid dangerous temperature rises globally," stressed Rob Vos, who heads DESA's Development Policy and Analysis Division, at a press conference at UN Headquarters.
"If we do not significantly reduce emissions, the damage to poor countries as a percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) will be up to more than 10 times greater than in the United States and most other developed countries," Vos told reporters.
RACE AGAINST TIME
The report came three months ahead of the historic Copenhagen climate change conference where states hope to clinch a new global deal to address climate change. It argued that the race to keep global temperatures within safe bounds is now a race against time.
Increased scientific understanding and greater public awareness have not translated into a focused policy response. This is particularly true in today's advanced industrialized countries, whose two centuries of carbon-fuelled growth lie behind the present warming of the earth, the report said.
According to the report, since 1950, the advanced countries have contributed as much as three-quarters of the increase in global emissions, despite accounting for less than 15 percent of the world's population.
The failure of wealthy countries to honor long-standing commitments of international support for poverty reduction and adequate transfers of resources and technology remains the single biggest obstacle to meeting the climate change challenge, the survey noted.
POOR NATIONS BEAR MAJOR BRUNT
It is in developing countries that the impacts of climate change are most keenly felt and where the greatest impacts are forecast - more severe droughts in some areas, more intense precipitation in others will wreak havoc with the world's water supplies and agricultural capacities, the report said.
Vos said that for every rise of one degree in global temperature, the annual average growth in developing countries drops between two and three percentage points with little impact on advanced countries.
At the same time, the report noted that developed countries have per capita emissions that are still on average 6 to 7 times greater than those in developing countries.
Stark differences in terms of energy needs exist between developed and developing countries.
