SECRETARY-GENERAL APPLAUDS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR AL GORE, CLIMATE

 

CHANGE PANEL AS SPUR TO MOMENTUM FOR GLOBAL ACTION

 

This statement was issued on 12 October by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General is delighted that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 has been awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  He pays tribute to Mr. Gore’s exceptional commitment and conviction, as an example of the crucial role that individuals and civil society can play in encouraging multilateral responses to global issues.  The Secretary-General rejoices with the IPCC and its co-sponsors, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.

With this prize, the IPCC joins the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Labour Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations peacekeeping, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ralph Bunche, Dag Hammarskjöld, Kofi Annan and the United Nations itself as Nobel laureates in the United Nations family.

The Secretary-General notes that, largely thanks to the IPCC’s lucid and well-documented findings, it is now established beyond doubt that climate change is happening, and that much of it is caused by human activity.  As a result, there is now unprecedented momentum for action on climate change around the world, and recognition of the United Nations as the forum for reaching agreement on it.

The Secretary-General looks to industrialized and developing countries alike to commit themselves to a real breakthrough at the critical Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record