Danish Mogens Lykketoft is soon to become President of the UN General Assembly. His vision is clear: UN has to change. Climate and social equality will be the central focus in the next sustainable developing goals, and China has an important role to play.
“People in the Chinese cities feel they are being choked by smog. Right now, China is the largest contributor to destroying the earth and they admit it,” Mogens Lykketoft said Monday, when he officially was elected to the position in New York.
Both China and the United States are, however, very ambitious in their climate targets for the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris. But it is all about the countries’ own desires of respecting and complying with international laws.
“China’s example shows that if we continue on this road we will destroy our environment. We will face some ecological situations that will become irreversible. The consequences will be huge, and the Chinese know that perfectly well,” Lykketoft said.
Fight poverty with equity
In the first sustainable developing goals poverty worldwide was halved. It was the most important goal and it was reached. The new 2015 goals will be way more ambitious and besides focusing on climate, focusing on the massive inequality in the world.
“We can only fight poverty by eliminating the huge inequality existing in the world. China is a good example of an enormously unequal society. There is a huge distinction between poor and rich,” he said.
“We are not talking about giving everyone the same amount of money. We are talking about distributing the worlds resources, enough to give everyone access to health and education”.
