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“I closed
my eyes and prayed to God.”
At the Bonn
climate conference in Bonn witnesses of climate change are talking about
their personal experiences.
Bonn,
20th July 2001: “I closed my eyes and prayed to God,” said Mariana
Gonzales, Nicaragua, who accepted an invitation from Greenpeace to come
to the climate talks to tell her first hand experiences of the impacts
of climate change. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch flattened her village. It was
a miracle that she and her immediate family survived. Hurricane Mitch
wreaked havoc across central america between October 26 and 31, 1998.
More than 9000 people died in the devastating cyclone.
Phillip
Occonor, a diving instructor from Fiji, also accepted the Greenpeace invitation
and tells how some of the most beautiful coral reefs are dying. “In the
past three or four years I could see changes in the reef,” he said. “The
reef looks different now. The coral is dead. Fish we used to see have
gone.”
Both stories are examples of the results of human made global warming. The reports from both people are part of the Greenpeace Climate Witness Project. The Project shows that we are already feeling the dramatic consequences of climate change.
“The testimonies of both these people should make the politicians and delegates wake up to the fact that behind climate change are real people,”said Karsten Smid.
The voices of these climate witnesses should be heard by all the delegates here at this conference. Not every hurricane is caused by the greenhouse effect, but what was new and different about Mitch was the intensity, combined with the extraordinary length of the storms and the size of the affected area.
The death of the coral reefs is due to rising temperatures, another outcome of climate change. The rising temperatures caused by the greenhouse effect has also resulted in an increase in the surface temperatures of the oceans. For example, the temperature of the tropical oceans has increased by an average of one degree centigrade. As a result of rising temperatures the corals bleach and sometimes die resulting not only the loss of the coral but also the fish and plant life that depends upon it.
Greenpeace demands that as a result of climate change and the fatal consequences for humans and nature the Kyoto Protocol must be ratified now.
As part of the Climate Witness Project, Greenpeace filmed in the past few months hundreds of people affected or threatened by climate change. Their statements demand that the delegates and politicians act now. The interviews will be broadcast throughout the conference and copies will be given to each of the delegates.
Contact:
Karsten Smid +49 171 8780821
Stefan Schurig
+49 171 8780837