13 Dec, 2007

Global Leaders Speak

Imtiaz Muqbil

Five leaders’ speeches, all reproduced in full, provide a useful overview of the key issues at stake at the Bali conference, as well as some succinct bulletpoints for easy insertion into Powerpoint presentations.

A series of dispatches from the UN Framework on Climate Change Conference in Bali

In this dispatch:

1. BAN KI-MOON, Secretary-General, United Nations: “We are all part of the problem of global warming. Let us all be part of the solution that begins in Bali.”

2. KEVIN RUDD, Prime Minister of Australia: “This challenge transcends the old ideological, political and developmental divide”

3. YVO DE BOER, UNFCCC Executive Secretary: “We must make the leap forward, or be condemned to the ‘Planet of the Apes’.”

4. ACHIM STEINER, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Environment Program: “An opportunity of moving towards more intelligent and sustainable consumption and production patterns”

5. FRANCESCO FRANGIALLI, Secretary-General, World Tourism Organization: “Three key messages to the industry, governments and travel and tourism professionals.”

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1. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations: “We are all part of the problem of global warming. Let us all be part of the solution that begins in Bali.”

As we convene here in Bali the eyes of the world are upon us. This is a historic moment, long in the making. Decades of careful study by the planet’s leading scientists. Years of heated argument among the world’s policy makers. Countless media stories debating the linkage between observed natural disasters and global warming.

Now, finally, we are gathered together in Bali to address the defining challenge of our age. We gather because the time for equivocation is over. The science is clear. Climate change is happening. The impact is real. The time to act is now.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that, unless we act, there will be serious consequences: rising sea levels; more frequent and less predictable floods and severe droughts; famine around the world, particularly in Africa and Central Asia; and the loss of up to a third of our plant and animal species.

They emphasize that the costs of inaction – in ecological, human and financial terms – far exceed the costs of action now.

But the scientists also stress a silver lining: that we can address the problem, in ways that are both affordable and promote prosperity. By being creative, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while promoting economic growth.

In this sense, climate change is as much an opportunity as it is a threat. It is our chance to usher in a new age of green economics and truly sustainable development. New economics can and must grow with reduced carbon intensity even as they create new jobs and alleviate poverty.

This shift toward a greener future is in its infancy and needs urgent nurturing. The multilateral agreement that will emerge from the UNFCCC negotiations needs to make the necessary changes possible. We must ensure an incentive structure for countries, businesses, and individuals. There is no trade-off between fighting climate change and pursuing development. In the long run, we can prosper only by doing both.

Already, there is an emerging consensus on the building blocks of a climate agreement, including adaptation, mitigation, technology and financing. It must also be comprehensive and involve all nations, developed and developing. Our atmosphere can’t tell the difference between emissions from an Asian factory, the exhaust from a North American SUV, or deforestation in South America or Africa. And it must be fair, reflecting the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

The issue of equity is crucial. Climate change affects us all, but it does not affect us all equally. Those who are least able to cope are being hit hardest. Those who have done the least to cause the problem bear the gravest consequences.

We have an ethical obligation to right this injustice. We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable.

That is why any agreement should look to developed countries to continue taking the lead on curbing emissions. And developing nations need to be given incentives to limit the growth of their emissions. Together, we can spur a new era of green economics, an era of truly sustainable development based on clean technology and a low-emission economy.

But we must also take action on the immediate challenges. It is critical that we follow through on existing commitments and ensure the resilience of populations that are or will be the hardest hit by climate change impacts.

What the world expects from Bali – from all of you — is an agreement to launch negotiations towards a comprehensive climate change agreement. You need to set an agenda – a roadmap to a more secure climate future, coupled with a tight time-line that produces a deal by 2009. The date is crucial, not only to ensure continuity after 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires — but equally, to address the desperate urgency of the situation itself

I ant encouraged by progress in the negotiation on both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. The implementation and enhancement of agreements on adaptation, deforestation, and technology will be important both now and in the period after 2012.

Reaching a comprehensive climate agreement will not be easy. Having the right tools for such an agreement will help us to implement it in a cost-effective way. And the United Nations will assist you in every way possible. We stand ready to deliver on the mandates that you have already entrusted us, to support you throughout the negotiating period, and to help implement the agreements reached.

Every UN agency, fund and programme is committed. We are determined to be a part of the answer to climate change. Indeed, as the summary paper distributed to all delegations explains, the Chief Executives of the UN system have already begun to define a joint UN contribution on this issue.

As this work progresses, we will continue to provide a credible, coherent scientific foundation for understanding what is happening to our planet and how we might best address it. We will continue to expand support for global, regional and national action on climate change, drawing on the agenda you set. And we will lead by example, by moving towards carbon neutrality throughout the UN System.

You have come here with a clear charge. At the High-Level Event on Climate Change in New York in September, world leaders called for a breakthrough in Bali. This is your chance to live up to what the leaders have been calling for. If we leave Bali without such a breakthrough, we will not only have failed our leaders, but also those who look to us to find solutions, namely, the peoples of this world.

This is the moral challenge of our generation. Not only are the eyes of the world upon us. More important, succeeding generations depend on us. We cannot rob our children of their future.

We are all part of the problem of global warming. Let us all be part of the solution that begins in Bali. Let us turn the climate crisis into a climate compact.

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2. Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia: “This challenge transcends the old ideological, political and developmental divide”

A little over a week ago I had the honour of being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Australia.

In my first act as Prime Minister, I signed the formal instrument for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

I have just handed this instrument to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

I have done this because I believe that climate change is now one of the greatest moral and economic challenges of our time.

Australia now stands ready to assume its responsibility in responding to this challenge — both at home and in the negotiations that lie ahead across the community of nations.

For Australians, climate change is no longer a distant threat. It’s no longer a scientific theory.

It is an emerging reality.

In fact, what we see today is a portent of things to come:

<> Our inland rivers are dying.

<> Bushfires are more ferocious, and more frequent.

<> Our unique natural wonders — the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, our rainforests — are now at risk.

This will also sound familiar to many of our Pacific neighbours who are experiencing the impacts of sea level rises, more frequent severe weather events and diminishing access to freshwater.

And regrettably, it is now an increasingly familiar story across the globe. Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation.

Our choice will impact all future generations.

This is a global problem that requires a global solution.

It requires a multilateral solution.

Unilateral action is not enough.

We must all shoulder our share of the burden.

Australia has a long tradition of multilateral engagement:

<> Australia was a founding state of the United Nations at San Francisco in 1945.

<> The Cambodian Peace Settlement.

<> The Chemical Weapons Convention.

<> The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

<> Australia was in fact among the first to sign the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.

In the past we’ve been willing to put our shoulder to the wheel.

Under my Government, we are doing so again.

For too long sceptics have warned of the costs of taking action on climate change. But the costs of action are far less than the costs of inaction.

We must lift our national and international gaze beyond the immediate horizon – to comprehend the magnitude of the economic and environmental challenge unfolding before us.

We must not be so distracted by the day to day domestic political challenges that we lose our long term perspective.

Action to tackle climate change will not be easy. It will require tough choices. And some of these will come at a political price.

But unless we act, the long term costs will threaten the security and stability of us.

The truth is that we — the community of nations — are in this together.

The truth is that this challenge transcends the old ideological, political and developmental divide.

As our host, President Yudhoyono, said to me when we met yesterday, there can be no North or South in the dimensions of this challenge.

Together we are custodians of the planet.

Together we are custodians of the planet’s future.

That’s why these deliberations are so important.

That is why climate change is a top priority of the new Australian Government. We have embraced a comprehensive plan of action.

The Government has committed to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.

Last year — when my party was not in government — we commissioned a major study to help us set shorter term targets along the way.

This study, the Garnaut Review, will report in mid 2008.

Together with economic modelling already underway in the Australian Treasury, and also critically, informed by the science, this Review will drive our decisions on short and medium term targets.

They will be real targets. They will be robust targets. They will be cognisant of the science.

And they will set the Australian economy firmly on the path to achieving our commitment to a 60 percent reduction in emissions by 2050.

But it is not enough just to have targets.

We have to be prepared to back them with sustained action — because targets must be translated into reality.

Australia will implement a comprehensive emissions trading scheme by 2010 to deliver these targets.

We will increase the proportion of renewable energy to 20 percent of our national electricity supply by 2020.

We will invest in research and development to deliver transforming technology. But whatever one country does alone, it won’t be enough.

This conference must agree to work towards a shared global emissions goal.

A goal that, on the best advice available, recognises the core reality that we must avoid dangerous climate change.

We must now move forward as a truly ‘United Nations’ with developed and developing nations working in parallel.

We expect all developed countries to embrace a further set of binding emissions targets — and we need this meeting at Bali to map out the process and timeline for this to happen.

And we need developing countries to play their part — with specific commitments to action.

We need all developed nations — those within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, and those outside that framework — to embrace comparable efforts in order to bring about the global outcomes the world now expects of us.

The approach we take must be comprehensive and must incorporate critical challenges, including deforestation.

Australia believes that action on climate change and action on development must proceed in tandem.

We understand that development is a top priority.

We strongly support the Millennium Development Goals.

We must all respect the aspiration of developing nations to secure their economic development and deliver rising living standards for their people.

But failure to act on climate change will make the development goal even harder to achieve.

Australia recognises the particular responsibility of the developed countries to assist developing countries in this process of transition.

In the form of technology transfer.

In the form of financial incentives.

And in the form of support for adaptation.

Around the world, great steps forward are being taken by individuals, households, businesses, communities, scientists and governments.

But the effectiveness of all those efforts rest on the negotiations that begin here.

As we work towards achieving a new global compact in 2009, Australia is committed to working hard to build bridges between nations with differing circumstances and differing outlooks.

The world expects us to deliver binding targets.

It expects us to deliver specific commitments.

It expects us all to pull together and for all of us to do our fair share. The government I lead is only 10 days old.

It is a government that is realistic about how difficult the next two years of negotiations will be.

It is a government prepared to take on the challenge, do the hard work now and deliver a sustainable future.

The community of nations must reach agreement.

There is no Plan B.

There is no other planet any of us can escape to.

We only have this one.

And none of us can do it alone.

So let’s get it right.

The generations of the future will judge us harshly if we fail.

But I am optimistic that with clarity of purpose, clear-sightedness, courage and commitment we can prevail.

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3. Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary: “We must make the leap forward, or be condemned to the ‘Planet of the Apes’.”

We have come together at this conference at the cusp of an incredible year for climate change. The heyday of the climate skeptic has been put to rest once and for all, and political momentum and global public awareness for climate change have never been higher.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has come with a message that no one can fail to understand:

1. First, the science is clear: climate change is happening because of human activities.

2. Second, the impacts are serious and will be felt by everyone in one way or another. The poor will bear the largest burden.

3. And third, there are affordable ways to deal with the problem. Concerted action NOW can avoid some of the most catastrophic projections.

What does that second message really mean?

In terms of water stress, it means that:

<> By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change.

<> By the 2050s, freshwater availability for millions in Asia will be threatened, because glaciers that provide dinking water are melting.

In terms of sea-level rise, it means that:

<> One tenth of the global population lives in coastal areas that lie within just 10 metres above sea level and are exposed to seaward hazards such as flooding, storms and cyclones.

<> Sea-level rise will threaten major cities around the globe, from Alexandria to Hamburg, Lagos, Los Angeles, Jakarta, Shanghai and others. Sixteen of the world’s nineteen largest cities with populations above 10 million, are located on coastlines.

<> Sea-level rise will wipe Small Island Developing States off the map.

So where does this leave humankind? What does this mean for people’s lives and survival? How many millions of people and how much capital will be condemned to follow Atlantis? The beginning of the answer to these questions lies in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize.

If you fail to act, the consequences of climate change can plunge the world into conflict. In 2010, there could already be as many as 50 million Environmentally Displaced Persons due to climate change, desertification and deforestation. Competing for water, energy and food can lead to ethnic rivalry and regional conflicts.

There have been studies on the link between climate change and security, including for military planning purposes.

So, how can it be, that Defence Ministries are actively planning for climate change impacts, while preventive action, is not taken?

How can it be, that security is being considered ahead of establishing policy certainty for economic actors to provide the solution?

I am shocked that some people are saying that delivering on what the IPCC tells us is needed is akin to science fiction!

To meet the drastic increase in the world’s hunger for energy, a massive investment of 20 trillion USD is needed up to 2030. More than half of these investments are required in developing countries, where energy is needed for economic growth. Up to 86% of these investments will come from the private sector.

If we do not succeed in changing the course of this investment super tanker into a low-emissions direction, global emissions will increase by 50% in 2050 – instead of decreasing by 50%, which is what science tells us is needed.

So, sound science must be translated into clear policy. Clear policy must be translated into sound practice. Business is ready to move into the low-emissions era, but needs the appropriate policy framework from governments to do so.

To go back to science fiction, we must make the leap forward, or be condemned to the “Planet of the Apes”.

<> The challenge you face is to show that we can indeed turn that corner.

<> The challenge you face, is to tell the world that you want to change the direction of the world’s future into a low-emissions economy. An economics-based response to climate change will yield numerous, tangible economic gains for all.

<> The challenge you face is to prove to people that you are serious about adaptation to the unavoidable.

You can begin doing this in three simple ways:

1. Launch formal negotiations

2. Agree an ambitious agenda

3. Set 2009 as the deadline for negotiations

We simply cannot afford to fail our people by leaving this unique island without convergence of science and politics.

Bowing out of this is something we cannot even begin to explain to those who are looking to us to provide solutions to this global threat. You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. (Lincoln)

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4. Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Environment Program: “An opportunity of moving towards more intelligent and sustainable consumption and production patterns”

In 2007 climate change is understood as an environmental change phenomenon but one that has profound economic and social — indeed security — implications.

The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in 1998, have transformed the scientific and political landscape — this year and forever.

We are facing a challenge of extraordinary scale and of pace.

But the IPCC underlines that we are also facing an extraordinary opportunity if only we can grasp it.

An opportunity of moving towards more intelligent and sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Every generation has its challenge—this one, climate change, is ours.

Ten years ago governments adopted the Kyoto Protocol. It was a moment of huge celebration and optimism.

Ten years on the UN can say it has delivered the structures, mechanisms and creative markets instruments but there remains a gap between the promise and the reality.

Indeed we are now faced with ever sobering impact assessments—ones that may play out in a far shorter and more rapid time scale than had been imagined only a few years ago.

It is a scientific reality that demands and requests an order of political commitment, responsibility and urgency higher than we may have imagined only 12 months ago.

The UN is delivering as one in rising to the challenge under our new Secretary-General.

Collectively the UN has engaged on behalf of member states in assisting to realize what a post 2012 emissions reductions regime might look like and one that reflects the responsibilities and opportunities unfolding.

The UN is not alone.

One of the defining developments of the recent years and months is the rate at which companies and citizens are also requesting solutions and a chance to maximize the unities for transiting to a low carbon world.

Within the last half hour, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Norway publicly reaffirmed commitments to climate neutrality.

Countries of Europe and Asia, of North America and Latin America and of Africa and of the Caribbean and the Pacific—join them under the understanding of the Rio Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities.

But responsibilities nevertheless.

<> The multilateral system is certainly trying to live up to its responsibilities to support member states and establish a platform of consensus-building and greater public awareness around the climate challenge.

<> Support via the impartial and validated science and forward-looking economic assessments of the IPCC.

<> The Secretary-General’s unprecedented High Level Event in which Heads of State committed to finding solutions to the climate challenge.

<> Through confidence-building between governments such as the accelerated freeze and phase out of HCFCs under the Montreal Protocol.

And we will continue that support to Member States in Bali and Beyond.

<> In collaboration with the UNFCCC, we have been building the capacity of negotiators from developing countries—it will continue.

<> UNEP and adaptation or climate proofing economies—we will focus and distill the latest scientific knowledge of the IPCC to establish much needed impact assessments at the regional and national level.

<> Ecosystems will be crucial in a climatically challenged world. UNEP will continue to not only build understanding but assist in transferring ‘soft’ technology on intelligent and effective ecosystem management.

<> We will continue to devise and define smart market mechanisms to meet the sustainable energy challenge.

<> We need to make progress even while the negotiations are on going and to be concluded.

<> UNEP will be taking forward its partnerships with the multi-trillion dollar finance investment community in order to accelerate the transition to a more climate-friendly but also profitable global economy.

<> And we will accelerate the implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan on Technology Support ad Capacity Building.

<> Under the UN Nairobi Framework, UNEP and UNDP are already assisting developing countries to gain greater access to the carbon market.

<> Ministers in developing countries need swift and reliable advice on climate proofing infrastructure up to agriculture and health—we are developing this service too.

The eyes and the ears of 6.5 billion people are on this meeting via the medium of modern media.

At the last climate COP, held in Nairobi, UNEP and the World Agroforestry Centre — under the patronage of Wangari Maathai and Prince Albert of Monaco — launched the Billion Tree Campaign.

Over 1.5 billion trees have been planted. This week Indonesia planted some 80 million trees alone—proof positive that if you give the public, business and indeed governments a platform action will follow.

I sincerely believe we are in the final end game of devising an even greater stage.

One upon which governments, communities and corporations are liberated to use their ingenuity and entrepreneurialism in order to realize a low carbon and climate proofed world.

One in which we may finally get to grips with the unsustainable production and consumption patterns of the past.

One in which we unleash the greatest and most abundant commodity on this planet: namely human ingenuity.

In doing so we can transform the way we do business on this planet and not only deal with the climate change challenge but the wider sustainability issues confronting current and future generations.

The science, but also increasingly the day to day experience of millions of people, tells us climate change is a reality right now but also an opportunity that we cannot fail to take.

So why not take it now. And if not here, where? If not now, when?

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5. Francesco Frangialli, Secretary-General, World Tourism Organization: “Three key messages to the industry, governments and travel and tourism professionals.”

The climate is changing, and tourism as well. These two developments are not unconnected.

We are here in Bali because the atmosphere and the water in the oceans are becoming warmer, and the issue at hand is no longer reversing this, or even stopping this trend, but rather slowing it down and making it tolerable. It is already beyond doubt that this change is the result of human activity.

Tourism, a central phenomenon of today’s world, is also changing. It is become globalized. It is diversifying. It is growing spectacularly, from 165 million international arrivals in 1970, to 846 million last year, and undoubtedly, 1.6 billion in 2020. At the very least, five times more people travel within their own country each year.

A phenomenon of such magnitude cannot remain without consequences for the climate, on account of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by trips and stays. In turn, the warming caused by the major activities of humanity—industry, agriculture, accommodation, transport—profoundly alters the conditions of tourism development.

Tourism contributes to warming and is at the same time a victim of such warming. This two-way interaction was at the heart of the Second Conference on “Climate Change and Tourism” that, in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization, and with the support of the Government of the Swiss Confederation and of the World Economic Forum, we held in Davos at the beginning of October, four years after the first one, in Djerba, Tunisia.

Today, we submit to you the Davos Declaration that was adopted there, whose content was confirmed at a Ministerial Summit held in London on 13 November and at the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization, two weeks ago in Colombia.

The outlook is not all negative: for example, it is plausible that in certain regions, beach tourism will become possible during periods when it could hardly be practised until now.

However, the negative considerations outweigh such benefits—and by a wide margin. Four types of destination are particularly threatened: small islands — especially in the tropics — and coastal areas, which are affected by the rise of both sea levels and water temperatures; areas undergoing a process of desertification where access to potable water will become uncertain for both tourists and residents, whose needs will compete with each other, destinations, some of which are close to where we are, whose product is based on primary forests and biodiversity that is in rapid decline; those, such as mountain destinations, whose offerings depend on the presence of snow and glaciers, which is becoming scarcer.

In this context, it is vital for transport operators as well as destination managers to anticipate the changes on the horizon and to respond to them in the best possible way. They have to look at more carbon-efficient alternatives as they become available, adjust their marketing and distribution policies in order to extend the season, undertake investments in order to diversify their products and make them more sustainable, carry out intensive training efforts, and above all, they must change minds—the minds of public authorities, of the members of host communities, and of consumers. Climate change is calling the tourism world to a revolution — a revolution that is not just economic or technological in nature, but also cultural.

In light of these considerations and basing myself on the Davos Declaration and the decisions of our General Assembly, I would like to deliver a threefold message today.

The first message is that we will not shrink back, that tourism will participate in the common effort of the international community, led by the United Nations. Our General Assembly has responsibly engaged itself in this effort, and a consensus in this regard has been forged among the members of the UNWTO.

We should not try to sidestep the issue by arguing that the contribution of travel and tourism activities to greenhouse gas emissions Is relatively limited—on the order of 5 per cent of total carbon emissions, half of which is accounted for by passenger air transport—and that we perhaps pollute just as much even if we stay home. Nor is it a valid excuse to point out, even if it is true, that a sector like agriculture, whose economic importance is comparable to that of tourism, contributes to emissions into the atmosphere at proportions that are three to four times higher, without counting the considerable impact that the process of deforestation represents.

To the public authorities we say: it is necessary to anticipate the developments that will take place in the travel, tourism and transport sector, to foster its adaptation, to diversify the products offered in order to make destinations less vulnerable, but also to limit such activities’ contributions to the phenomenon of warming.

Our industry must engage itself and refuse to take the easy way out. It should accept, for example, the application to it—and in particular to air transport—of regulatory mechanisms implemented in application of the Kyoto Protocol. This should be accomplished not just at the regional level, but on a global scale. Likewise, it should be a stakeholder in the new pact that is to succeed to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, whose foundations, we hope, will be laid down here in Bali.

We are ready to take up our share of the burden. But, by the same token, we are also within our rights to tell public opinion and the media, as well as the participants in this Conference: Do not unfairly target tourism! It is an activity that is just as respectable as others, and which satisfies needs that are just as essential. It does not deserve to be demonized or penalized.

Be aware, also, that if this industry joins the common effort and takes part in it to the same degree, the sacrifices it would have to assume in order to do so will be proportionally bigger than in other sectors. This is because it faces the immense challenge of reducing the volume of emissions even as the market is bound to double in size in the span of one generation.

Our second message is directed at the governments and international organizations gathered together here.

We tell them that, as a global phenomenon, tourism is intimately linked to another major challenge that is at least as important for humanity: poverty alleviation; and that it would be an error to take an overly simplistic approach in which apprehensions regarding climate would lead to losing sight of all other priorities.

Tourism, which is now one of the principal categories of international trade, generated 735 billion dollars in receipts last year. Let us bear in mind that out of this total, 221 billion — nearly a third — went to developing countries.

Those who believe they are doing the right thing in questioning our enterprises and our jobs by saying: ‘Do not travel far from home and avoid taking planes in order to save several tonnes of carbon emissions’ should think twice. First, because few people feel alluded to by such reasoning, but also because these long-haul trips are often to countries that are home to the planet’s poorest populations. We already know that these communities In developing countries, where the capacity to adapt is weakest, will be the first victims of warming. These populations would be doubly affected if we also deprive them of the economic contribution of tourism. Let us not add another form of discrimination to those that they are already subjected to.

The fight against global warming is a great cause. It does not deserve to be pursued to the detriment of another great cause: the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

This major conference, which brings together twelve thousand participants in this emblematic destination that is Bali, constitutes the best illustration of the point I wish to make.

If it has been possible to organize such an event on this island, it is because, at the initiative of the Government of Indonesia, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank, a Tourism Master Plan was drawn up here beginning in the 1970s, and because an instrument was established to put this plan into effect: the Bali Tourism Development Corporation. Without it, this large island and its remarkable tourism potential would have remained unharnessed. Its population would be at the same level of poverty as those of neighbouring islands that did not see the same opportunity offered to them. Let us not cease to travel to Bali, or to other destinations in the developing world, which need tourism in order to lift themselves out of extreme poverty!

Bali has been struck by terrorism on two occasions; it was hurt by the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the tsunami in 2004, although neither of these directly affected it. With the help of the Government of Indonesia and the support of the UNWTO, the destination has bounced back every time. It is projected to receive 1,500,000 visitors this year. Let us make sure that Bali’s tourism industry does not fall victim to either warming itself or to an inept response to the problem of warming.

My final message is aimed at travel and tourism professionals, operators, managers of accommodation establishments, and developers.

Their behaviour must be that which is proper to an industry with a civic mission. Many of them have understood this and have engaged themselves without waiting, courageously accepting the need for their own private interests to take a back seat.

Our conference in Davos has shown this; tourism entrepreneurs are beginning to realize that partial responses are already available: better insulation of accommodations and the use of renewable energy sources for the heating or air-conditioning of hotels, the introduction of less-polluting technologies and the accordance of preference to the most efficient modes of land and air transport, the rational use of biofuels despite their limitations, improvements in air control practices and aircraft traffic on the ground…

These innovations should be implemented as quickly as possible, because time is running short. With a temperature rise of two degrees Celsius, certain leisure activities—medium-altitude ski resorts, coral diving—will be seriously affected. Some already are. The winter of 2006-2007 was the worst ever in the Alps in terms of snow cover. Half of the beaches in the Maldives are suffering from erosion. Two-thirds of the coral of the Great Barrier Reef is affected by bleaching or has begun to die off. Beyond two degrees of warming, the very existence of entire swathes of our industry will be threatened.

To the negotiators gathered here, we would like to say: you hold an important part of our industry’s destiny in your hands. The fate of one of our human community’s major activities will depend on the choices you make: tourism, an activity that stems from the need felt by everyone to travel and discover the world. In the decisions that you are to take, you who have travelled from far away to come to Bali, do not forget the message of tourism!