The international conference on climate change concluded on Wednesday with adoption of the Athens Declaration on Vulnerable Children and Climate Change, which placed emphasis on the urgent need to take actions to bring about major changes.
The Declaration raised the issue of common opportunities and restrictions and highlighted the challenges for future generations, taking into consideration the limited resilience displayed by the most vulnerable and poor populations, while calling for stronger international cooperation in this direction.
Delegates from all over the world discussed the topics focusing on the repercussions of climate change on more vulnerable social groups, as well as investment issues and funding aimed at limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases and the adjustment to climate change.
Speaking at the opening session, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis called for international effort, political intervention and coordinated action forward in order to save the planet’s environment.
Karamanlis warned that if we do not act immediately, environmental degradation could become irreversible.
Investment in a new economy, with respect for the environment, he stressed, was necessary.
UN Intergovernmental Committee on Climatic Change (IPCC) President, Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rajendra Pachauri – one of the keynote speakers at the conference – said that “climate change is a challenge for the present and future generations,” and referred to the decrease in water reserves, big droughts, heat waves, the risk of wildfires and the reduction of farm crops as its repercussions in the Mediterranean region.
Other keynote speakers include UN Secretary General Envoy on Climatic Change and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, and cardiac surgery professor at the Imperial College in London, Sir Maghdi Yacoub.
The international conference titled Climate Change and Challenges for the Future Generations, was held at the Athens Concert Hall and was organised under the patronage of UNESCO and in collaboration with the World Sustainable Development Forum.