UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, obviously moved by "the unprecedented number" of recent natural disasters spanning from Texas to Sierra Leone, said on Tuesday "it's time to get serious about keeping ambitions high on climate action."
While he said the world organization "stands ready to support relief efforts in any way possible," it is also time for "building resilience and reducing disaster risk."
The UN chief spoke to reporters at UN headquarters, the day after members of the Security Council roundly condemned the recent Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear test. He said that crisis along with sectarianism in Myanmar and recent floods and mudslides were the three most pressing issues the world faces in the run up to UN General Assembly annual General Debate that opens in two weeks.
"The number of natural disasters has nearly quadrupled since 1970," Guterres said. "The United States, followed by China and India have experienced the most disasters since 1995 and last year alone 24.2 million people were displaced by sudden onset disasters, three times as many as by conflict and violence."
"Even before the recent floods, preliminary reports for this year show that there have been 2,087 deaths from natural disasters," he said.
"It is true that scientists warn against linking any single event with climate change," the secretary-general said. "But, they are equally clear that such extreme weather is precisely what their models predict will be the new normal of a warming world. With science forecasting a dramatic rise in both the frequency and severity of disasters it's time to get serious about keeping ambitions high on climate action and on building resilience and reducing disaster risk."
Asked if his message on climate change was directed at U.S. President Donald Trump -- who pulled his nation out of the Paris Agreement on climate change earlier this year -- Guterres replied, "We are totally committed to the Paris agreement and we hope that all countries will understand that it's not only the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do, because the green economy is the economy of the future."