島国ツバルの外相、海に立ち気候対策呼び掛け

【グラスゴーＡＦＰ＝時事】海面上昇により水没の危機にさらされている太平洋の島しょ国ツバルのサイモン・コフェ外相が、太ももまで海に漬かって気候変動対策を訴える動画を製作した。英グラスゴーで開催中の国連（ＵＮ）気候変動枠組み条約第２６回締約国会議（ＣＯＰ２６）で９日、公開される。（写真はツバルの浜辺で、太ももまで海水に漬かりながら気候変動対策を訴えるサイモン・コフェ外相。同国法務・通信・外務省提供の動画より）
　コフェ外相は、「気候変動と海面上昇は、ツバルをはじめ海抜の低い環礁国にとって、致命的で存続に関わる脅威だ」と指摘。「わが国は沈みつつある。だが他の皆も同じだ」と訴えている。
　動画はまず、青い幕を背景に、スーツにネクタイ姿でツバルと国連の旗の横に立つコフェ外相のアップから始まる。カメラが徐々に引いていくと、浜辺で太ももまで海水に漬かって立つ外相の姿が映し出される。
　コフェ外相は、人口１万２０００人のツバルが「国土が消滅し、国民が立ち退かなければならないという最悪のシナリオに備えている」と説明。気候変動により領土が失われた場合でも、国境が国際的に認められるよう、「大胆な法的手段」を模索していると述べた。
　「周囲の海面が上昇している時に、演説を待っているわけにはいかない」と語り、「あすを保障するために、きょう思い切った代替策を講じなければならない」と呼び掛けた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/11/10-12:29）

Tuvalu's foreign minister has filmed a video address to be shown at a UN climate summit Tuesday standing thigh deep in seawater and pleading for help as his country slips beneath rising oceans.
In the video, Simon Kofe tells delegates that climate change and sea-level rise are deadly and existential risks for Tuvalu and low-lying atoll nations.
We are sinking, but so is everyone else, he said.
And no matter if we feel the effects today, like Tuvalu, or in a hundred years we will all still feel the dire effects of this global crisis.
The film begins with a close-up Kofe standing at a lectern, wearing a suit and tie, in front of a blue screen with Tuvalu and UN flags.
We are demanding that global net-zero be secured by mid-century, that 1.5 degrees be kept within reach, that urgently needed climate finance be mobilised to address loss and damage, he pleaded.
We are looking for the world to get its act together.
The camera then pulls out to reveal Kofe standing up to his thighs in the water off Tuvalu's coast.
Delegates are gathered at the COP26 summit in Glasgow to try and implement the goals of Paris Agreement of limiting global heating to well below two degrees Celsius and to a safer 1.5C cap if possible.
Host Britain says it wants the conference, which runs until the weekend, to keep 1.5C alive.
Based on latest national emissions cutting plans, Earth is set to warm by 2.7C this century, according to the UN.
Kofe said his nation of 12,000 people was preparing now for the worst case scenario, where our lands disappear and our people must leave.
He also said it was pursuing bold legal avenues to ensure that Tuvalu's borders are still recognised internationally if or when its land territory is lost to climate change.
We cannot wait for speeches when the sea is rising around us, he said.
We must take bold, alternative action today to secure tomorrow.