NAIROBI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The United
Nations has called for urgent action on climate change to help achieve
sustainable development goals (SDGs).
According to the sixth Global Environment
Outlook (GEO-6) report, urgent action is required now as any delay in climate
action increases the cost of achieving SDGs and Paris Agreement targets on
combating climate change.
"At present the world is not on track
to meet the SDGs by 2020 or 2050," says the report launched Wednesday on
the sidelines of the ongoing fourth session of United Nations Environment
Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi.
It said that green investment of two percent
of countries' GDP would deliver long-term growth as high as presently projected
but with fewer impacts from climate change, water scarcity and loss of
ecosystems.
The report that was authored by 250
scientists during the last five years, says that the world has the science,
technology and finance it needs to move towards a more sustainable development
pathway, although sufficient support is still missing.
"It is unfortunate that we have what
it takes to manage climate change but the public, business and political
leaders are still clinging to outdated production and development models,"
said Paul Ekins, co-author of the report.
Ekins said that the globe now requires a
bottom up approach that should include the civil society organizations and the
private sector to lead in the transformation.
"Climate change and other
environmental degradations require a visionary, social and policy
transformation," he added.
The report recommends adopting less
meat-intensive diets, and reducing food waste in both developed and developing
countries.
It says that at present, 33 percent of
global edible food is wasted, and 56 percent of waste happens in industrialized
countries.
"We need to take keen interest in
climate change mitigation and adaptation, address decarbonization, decoupling
and detoxification, prevention and management of risk and disasters,"
Ekins noted.
Joyeeta Gupta, co-chair of UN Environment's
GEO-6 report, called for policy interventions that address entire systems -
such as energy, food, and waste rather than individual issues, such as water
pollution.
She also called for action to curb the flow
of the 8 million tons of plastic pollution going into oceans each year.
"While the issue has received
increased attention in recent years, there is still no global agreement to
tackle marine litter," she said.