By Gyles Beckford
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations urged the worldon Thursday to kick an all-consuming addiction to carbondioxide and said everyone must take steps to fight climatechange.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming wasbecoming the defining issue of the era and will hurt rich andpoor alike.
"Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit," Bansaid in a statement to mark World Environment Day, which isbeing marked by events around the globe and hosted by the NewZealand city of Wellington.
"Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controlsus, makes us deny important truths and blinds us to theconsequences of our actions," he said in the speech toreinforce this year's World Environment Day theme of "CO2 Kickthe Habit".
"Whether you are an individual, an organization, a businessor a government, there are many steps you can take to reduceyour carbon footprint. It is a message we all must take toheart," he said.
World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the UnitedNations' principal day to mark global green issues and aims togive a human face to environmental problems and solutions.
New Zealand, which boasts snow-capped mountains, pristinefjords and isolated beaches used as the backdrop for the "Lordof the Rings" film trilogy, has pledged to becomecarbon-neutral.
"We take pride in our clean, green identity as a nation andwe are determined to take action to protect it. We appreciatethat protecting the climate means behaviour change by each andevery one of us," said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
New Zealand, like many countries, staged art and streetfestivals to spread the message on how people can reduce carbonusage. New Zealand Post has asked staff to bring a magazine orbook to work and swap it to reduce their carbon footprint.
In Australia, Adelaide Zoo staged a wild breakfast forcorporate leaders to focus on how carbon emissions threatenanimal habitats.
GLOBAL EVENTS
In Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, people plan to clean upGulshan Baridhara Lake that has become badly polluted, and inKathmandu the Bagmati River Festival will focus on cleaning upthe river there.
Many Asian cities, such as Bangalore and Mumbai, plantree-planting campaigns, while the Indian town of Pune willopen a "Temple of Environment" to help spread green awareness.
Global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels arerising quickly and scientists say the world faces rising seas,melting glaciers and more intense storms, droughts and floodsas the planet warms.
A summit of G8 nations in Hokkaido, Japan, next month, isdue to formalise a goal agreed a year ago that global carbonemissions should be reduced by 50 percent below 1990 levels by2050.
But some nations think the cuts should be deeper, leadingto a reduction of 80 percent of carbon emissions by 2050 to tryto stabilise CO2 concentrations in the air to limit globalwarming.
The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said the cost ofgreening of the world's economy would cost as little as a fewtenths of global GDP annually over 30 years and would be adriving force for innovation, new businesses and employment.
The UNEP urged greater energy efficiency in buildings andappliances and a switch towards cleaner and renewable forms ofelectricity generation and transport systems.
It said more than 20 percent of new investment in renewableenergy was in developing countries, with China, India andBrazil taking the lion's share. Renewables now provide over 5percent of global power generation and 18 percent of newinvestment in power.
But the U.N. body said an estimated 20 percent of carbonemissions came from deforestation and urged developing nationsto save their forests as carbon sinks.
(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fogarty)
