“Today, 55 newspapers in 44 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.
“Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security.”
This is how the world media are calling upon their leaders to reach an agreement during the Climate Change Conference starting in Copenhagen, Denmark, today.
The joint editorial, also run by The New Vision, points out that the facts on global warming have started to speak for themselves: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and oil and food prices are rising.
The editorial, published in newspapers ranging from China, Russia and India to Lebanon, Uganda and Brazil, calls on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen to stop the blame game and agree on a coordinated action to avert the worst effects of climate change.
“This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west.
“Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone,” say the 55 newspapers, 11 of which are in Africa.
Rich countries, which are responsible for three-quarters of all carbon dioxide emitted since 1850, should take the lead, the statement says.
“Every developed country must commit to deep cuts which will reduce their emissions within a decade to very substantially less than their 1990 level.”
But developing countries will increasingly contribute to global warming in the future and must pledge meaningful and quantifiable action of their own, it adds.
The world media calls upon the industrialised nations to dig deep into their pockets and pledge cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and develop clean technologies to enable them grow economically without increasing their emissions.
“The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance — and far less costly than the consequences of doing nothing.”
Contrary to previous innovations in history that were born of conflict and competition, like putting a man on the moon or splitting the atom, the coming carbon race must be driven by a joint effort to achieve collective salvation, the joint statement says.
“If we, (newspapers) with such different national and political perspectives, can agree on what must be done then surely our leaders can too.”
