It is still not too late – former UN envoy

As negotiators in Paris seek an ambitious solution to rising temperatures, Alexander Borg Olivier recalls Malta’s pioneering efforts 25 years ago that laid the foundation for international action on climate change. A quarter of a century has gone by and climate change remains a major threat – but it is still not too late, according to the former ambassador of Malta to the United Nations in New York. Alexander Borg Olivier had spearheaded negotiations at the United Nations on behalf of Malta which in 1988 had requested the UN to take action to protect the global climate. Malta’s initiative was timely and important, said Dr Borg Olivier, as it was the political consensus for international action forged at the time that led to the 1992 UN Framework Convention on the Protection of Global Climate. The world was becoming increasingly aware and concerned that human activity was adversely affecting the global environment, he recalls. Meanwhile the Cold War was ending and there was an opportunity for the international community to shift from security concerns and East-West confrontation to universal collaboration on sustainable development. Malta’s initiative for the protection of global...