By Toichukwu Bliss, Abuja
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), yesterday, called for aggressive climate change awareness campaigns as part of proactive measures to tackle climate change-related challenges globally.
UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, made the call in a statement issued in Abuja, following the inauguration of UNDP’s Weather Kids Climate Change Awareness Campaign project.
Steiner was quoted as saying that the campaign was organised in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Weather Channel.
He described the Weather Kids campaign as part of UNDP’s efforts to inspire public conversation and mobilise action on climate change on the road to the COP30 climate negotiations to be held in Brazil in 2025.
He explained that the campaign is in efforts to promote awareness about the impacts of climate change and mobilise people globally to take action to safeguard future generations.
“Weather Kids adds a powerful voice to sensitising people about the future dangers of climate change.
“Continued inertia from climate change will lead to an increasingly uninhabitable planet for the ‘kids of today’ and future generations.
“We can only course-correct if we move at a speed and scale that includes decarbonising our economies and advancing access to affordable and clean energy for all. “By doing so, we will also be protecting and restoring our natural world and empowering communities to have their say in their countries’ climate pledges.”
Continued inertia from climate change will lead to an increasingly uninhabitable planet for the ‘kids of today’ and future generations.We can only course-correct if we move at a speed and scale that includes decarbonising our economies and advancing access to affordable and clean energy for all.
Steiner added that Weather Kids, underpinned by UNDP’s extensive work on climate change and climate action, is being aired on news channels in about 80 countries.
He said the programme is designed to enable weather report television viewers to see the projected forecasts every day and was developed using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and UNDP’s Human Climate Horizon data platform.
According to him, the global reach is possible through collaboration with WMO and Weather Channel, the flagship consumer brand of the Weather Company. Steiner noted that COP30 , which marks the Conference’s 10th anniversary since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, would also enable countries to align with limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
He described the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by countries across the world as the core of the global fight against climate change.
“The newly established UNDP Climate Hub delivers the UN System’s largest portfolio of support on climate action in nearly 150 countries.
“UNDP’s flagship Climate Promise initiative has supported action to tackle global warming by working with 85 percent of the world’s developing countries on their NDC submissions,” he said.
