DUBAI: The head of the Berlin office of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Martin Frick, is urgently calling for progress on climate protection.
“We still have six or seven years to turn the tide on climate change. Once we reach the tipping point, there will be drastic and irreparable consequences,” Frick told German news agency (dpa) on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
“Greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise worldwide. This is suicide by instalments.”
When it comes to food security, there is not a production system but a distribution system, said Frick – so far.
“But that could soon change very quickly due to the climate crisis, resulting in real shortages.”
Frick acknowledged the commitment of the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the conference this year as an oil state, for example in political declarations on food security that were adopted on the sidelines.
“But the key question is ‘What do you think about fossil fuels?’ And it remains to be seen whether the final document contains a commitment to the phase-out,” he said.
The climate conference is scheduled to end on Tuesday and is therefore in its decisive phase. However, extensions are common.
“No matter how much money we spend on compensating for climate damage and supporting countries in dealing with climate change – if we don’t manage to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it will never be enough,” Frick said.
He also reminded the audience that even a black-and-white phase-out cannot be enforced by anyone.
“In the end, this only works through political pressure between countries,” he said.
Financial pledges, which are often announced at climate summits, are valuable, said Frick. However, many things could also be glossed over, for example by double-counting funds.
Not all donors are as reliable as Germany, he said.
“If all the financial pledges from the 28 years of climate conferences had become reality, we would already be living in a world where no one is hungry or poor.”
Azerbaijan, another oil country, is hosting the climate conference next year.
“This is a worrying sign, because we urgently need to get out of fossil fuels,” Frick said. – BERNAMA-dpa
