It was full house when NRC, in cooperation with CICERO (Center for Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo), The Nansen Initiative and the Norwegian Climate Network invited to panel debate about climate change and people displaced.
“Climate change is an existential threat”, said panel speaker Dr. Chaloka Beyani, Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, UN.
Every year climate changes forces hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Of the total amount of people displaced by natural disasters in 2013, 97 percent were people from developing countries.
Over 120 people had showed up for the climate seminar. Photo: NRC/Hanne Eide Andersen
Crucial year
2015 marks a crucial year for international climate negotiations culminating with The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21 which will be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December.
Aleksander Melli, one of the panel speakers and the author at Norsk Klimanettverk called upon NRC’s support in responding to the challenge:“We are in a global emergency which requires collaboration between the humanitarian sector, the scientific community and the popular scene in order to face the challenges. I hope NRC will get on board this year with tackling the many climate challenges the world is facing”, Melli urged.
Need to do more
Egeland argued that losing sight of the generational challenge that is climate change is our main challenge:
“As humanitarian actors we are overwhelmed by, for instance what is happening in Syria, and we tend to loose sight of this great challenge that climate threat constitutes. NRC needs to do more; we all need to do more. If not, our children and grand children will regret what we did not do in 2015. We, who caused this situation, will be the last and the least it will hit. Therefor, we need to take responsibility for our actions”, Egeland said.
NRC wants to thank everyone who took time to visit us and participate at today's important panel discussion.
