Liberia’s President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has appealed for climate justice during his speech at the General debate of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Boakai said Liberia is one of the countries facing a serious threat from climate change.
President Boakai’s Tuesday speech comes hours after United States President Donald Trump said at the same podium that climate change is a hoax and warned world leaders to get away from the “green scam”.
Trump said, “It used to be global cooling. If you look back years ago in the 1920s and the 1930s, they said global cooling would kill the world. We have to do something. Then they said global warming would kill the world. But then it started getting cooler. So now they just call it climate change because that way they can’t miss climate change – if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, it’s climate change. It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you’re involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people who, of course, consider their country’s fortunes first and give those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
Boakai said in his speech, “For Liberia, climate change is not a distant threat but a present reality. Rising seas are eroding our coasts, while storms and heavy rains devastate communities, threaten lives and livelihoods, and exacerbate food insecurity. Yet we are acting. We are carrying out coastal defense projects, developing climate information systems for early warning, finalizing our carbon market policies, and advancing a blue economy strategy. But our efforts alone are not enough. We urge the urgent implementation of the Paris Agreement, full capitalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, and greater global investment in adaptation and mitigation. Above all, we call for Climate Justice – those who contribute the least to this crisis should not be forced to suffer the most.”
Boakai also appeals for support to establish a court to seek justice for Liberians during the civil war. He called for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and said that Liberia is willing to support any initiative that supports peace.
