(Eds: updating with more details)United Nations, Jan 13 (PTI) India and China are"strongly committed" to the leadership in fighting climatechange and ensuring they do not suffer its "devastating"impacts at a time when others are "failing", the UN has said.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN has a"very solid commitment" for climate action, pointing out thatAfrican nations were the biggest victims of the globallychanging weather patterns.
"Of the largest economies of the world, the two largesteconomies of the G77 are strongly committed to the leadershipin climate action - and I refer to China and India," Guterressaid on the occasion of handover ceremony of the Chairmanshipof the 'Group of 77 (G77) and China' in New York yesterday.
Egypt took over the chairmanship of the group fromEcuador.
"In a moment when others are failing, I see the largesteconomies of the Group of 77 and China to be assuming theleadership in climate action to make sure that we don't sufferthe dramatic and devastating impacts of climate change, asunfortunately we are already witnessing and things will getmuch worse if we are not able to defeat this threat," Guterressaid.
The G77 is the largest intergovernmental organisation ofdeveloping countries in the UN. Established on June 15, 1964,the group today has 134 members including India, the world'sthird largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
"We cannot be defeated by climate change and we are notyet winning this battle," Guterres said.
"It is clear to me that the biggest victims of climatechange are members of the G77, namely African countriesaffected by drought or small island countries affected by thekind of hurricanes that we have seen or the rising levels ofwaters," he said.
The UN chief had on May 31 last year warned the worldleaders that the impact of climate change could affect foodproduction, water security and weather patterns "from Canadato India".
Stating that the "world is in a mess" he had urged theinternational community to "stay the course" even if onegovernment does not believe in the emissions-cutting deal.
Two days later, US President Donald Trump had announcedAmerica's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
India had joined the landmark Paris agreement on tacklingclimate change in 2016.
Arguing that countries like China and India werebenefiting the most from the Paris Agreement, Trump had saidthat the agreement on climate change was unfair to the US, asit badly hit its businesses and jobs.
The Paris Climate Agreement is a pact within the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change dealing with greenhousegas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting inthe year 2020.
According to the agreement, each country determines,plans and regularly reports its own contribution it shouldmake in order to mitigate global warming. PTI LKJ/KIS UZM PMSMRJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.