Warnings of global impacts of climate change but global deal yet to enter into force
President Obama used his final speech to the U.N. General Assembly to issue a strong warning about climate change.
“If we don’t act boldly, the bill that could come due will be mass migrations, and cities submerged and nations displaced, and food supplies decimated, and conflicts born of despair,” he said.
The global agreement to tackle climate change that was agreed in Paris at the end of last year will take effect when 55 countries totaling 55% of global emissions have formally approved the deal – so far 60 countries have signed on, representing 48% of global emissions.
Activists criticized the European Union for failing to formally sign on to the deal this week.
Syrian cease-fire talks flounder
The United Nations resumed aid convoys in Syria on Thursday, for the first time following a deadly attack on its delivery trucks earlier in the week.
A 25-truck convoy was reported to have arrived in a suburb of the capital Damascus with supplies for 40,000 people.
However, progress towards restoring the cease-fire appeared to stumble, with the U.S. and Russia exchanging ideas on how to move forward, but no agreement was reached.
World leaders approve plan for refugee crisis
World leaders approved a declaration aimed at providing a coordinated and improved response to the refugee crisis.
The meeting produced The New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees. It contains no concrete solutions and is not legally binding.
Meanwhile, a fire at one of Greece’s main refugee camps on the island of Lesbos forced more than 3,000 people to flee.
