Cooperatives can help to tackle global warming: Ban

United Nations, Jul 6: Stressing the importance of cooperation in tackling global warming, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that the cooperative enterprise can play a major role in addressing the issue.

''Every coordinated effort, no matter how small, can contribute to and form a larger more powerful response,'' Mr Ban said yesterday in a message marking the International Day of Cooperatives, whose theme this year is 'Confronting Climate Change through Cooperative Enterprise.' He said cooperatives have taken an inclusive and longer-term approach for development.

''It is in keeping with this focus that the cooperatives are expanding their development efforts creatively into areas such as environmental sustainability and carbon neutrality, as communities around the world are struggling to adapt to climate change and strengthen their resilience against its impacts,'' the Secretary-General noted.

He cited the example of agriculture and energy sector cooperatives' abilities to concurrently address food and energy security as well as environmental deterioration.

''On this International Day, I strongly encourage governments to carry out measures and regulations that will be supportive of partnerships with cooperative enterprises,'' he said in a message adding, ''Let us redouble our efforts to find new points of collaboration as we address the daunting challenge of the climate change.''

UNI