PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades said he was deeply affected by teenage activist Greta Thunberg’s address on Monday when she took on world leaders for failing to tackle climate change.
In his address at the UN General Assembly, Anastasiades said it was time to realise the world was at a defining moment as regards climate change.
He said he was particularly touched by the massive presence of young people at the Climate Action Summit and their sincere calls of worry and concern regarding the effects of climate change.
Anastasiades was especially affected by Thunberg’s words “the eyes of all future generations are upon you”, referring to world leaders.
“Indeed, we collectively carry the obligation to provide the generations to come with a better future, a greener planet,” the president said.
“Cyprus,” he said, “considering the particularly alarming projections concerning the impact of climate change on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, “has recently undertaken an initiative for coordinating regional climate change actions.
“This initiative intends to bring together the region’s leading scientists and policymakers, with a view to developing practical and achievable solutions that will have durable benefits for the peoples of the region”, he said.
The Cypriot government communicated its climate change actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the UN summit in New York
Τhe ‘Cyprus Climate Change Initiative’ aims at developing a regional action plan to address the specific needs and challenges countries are facing in the Middle Eastern region, to address and reduce the impact of climate change and advance mitigation actions in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
In order to achieve the objective of developing a plan on climate change, a detailed work programme has been laid out, which consists of two distinct components, a scientific and an intergovernmental one.
The initiative will involve three phases: the “Scientific Component for Scoping of a Regional Action Plan Through Thematic Task Forces”, the “Intergovernmental Component for Development of Regional Climate Action Plan” and the final implementation of the regional action plan.
The letter outlining the initiative was also sent to the leaders of Egypt, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
