Mexico’s President Calderón announced on World Environment Day (WED) at Xcaret eco-park in Mexico just outside Cancun that he plans to combat climate change alongside the establishment of new protected areas.
In a wide ranging speech, flanked by several key ministers including those from finance and the environment, the Mexican president said the country would voluntarily cut global warming gases by 50 million tons a year.
The announcement came as thousands of people around the planet celebrated World Environment Day, from remote villages to sprawling capitals. On every continent, children, companies, mayors and heads of state came together to unite to combat climate change under the banner of the UN event, heeding Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call that Your Planet Needs You.
President Calderón said Mexico – the host of the main WED ’09 celebrations – would double this cut under its new Special Programme for Climate Change if the right kind of financing arrangements are in place—by some estimates the announcement equates to an eight per cent to 16 per cent reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said people from over 100 countries around the world were today sending a clear signal to their politicians and world leaders that action was urgently needed—Mexico had heard and responded to that call.
“The challenge in Copenhagen is to bring over 190 countries, at different points in their development together in common cause where each understands they are gaining rather than losing by combating climate change,” said Mr Steiner.
On June 5th, President Calderón underlined Mexico’s rapidly evolving leadership on climate change—its determination too to be part of the solution despite the country having no formal, legally-binding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol,” he added.
The Mexican leader, speaking in the theme park of Xcaret on the site of a Mayan settlement, said that climate change was among his top priorities as it represented a “true danger to humanity”. He also announced five new protected areas including a biosphere for the whale shark in Quintana Roo.
Later in the day Mr Steiner was among guests taking part in a Mayan ‘Healing of the Earth’ ceremony held in the ancient Mayan tongue.
Shamans conducted the healing while drummers and players of haunting wood instruments looked on with costumed, body-painted symbols of Mayan spirits in attendance. The ceremony ended with a traditional corn-based drink, designed to cure the earth of ills made with ingredients of honey and cinnamon.
Source: United Nations Environment Program/ www.unep.org
