UNEP chief calls for simple terms to connect with people on climate change

Erik Solheim also said that India views environmental issues with moral obligation and has what it takes to lead the world in the issue.
Erik Solheim  (File| AP)
Erik Solheim (File| AP)

NEW DELHI: Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Erik Solheim called for simpler language to explain to people the effects of climate change rather than spoutiong ‘doom and gloom’

He also said that India views environmental issues with moral obligation and has what it takes to lead the world in the issue. "It (India) is a booming economy with the innovation and business expertise to change the way we make and use products," he added.

“The problem with climate change is that it is a long-term phenomenon involving some quite complex science. It does not surprise me that a lot of people find the topic boring, and frankly we are never going to bore people into action. And if we continue to spout doom-and-gloom, people just switch off,” he said.

Solheim called for a global mass movement to protect the environment. “The focus has only been on the risks people’s lives face when the issue of climate change is discussed,” he said and added that the movement can come about only when the complex science behind climate change is broken down into simpler terms for people to understand it.

Solheim is in India for a week where among others, he signed a letter of intent on India hosting the World Environment Day on June 5.

Attributing the cause of plastic pollution in India to laziness, the UNEF executive director said, “India has very high rates of recycling, and in recent years, some of the biggest citizen action movements have happened in this country- for example, the Versova beach clean up in Mumbai," he said.

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