UN General Assembly
2017

We today extend our deep condolences to our brothers and sisters and continue to keep them in our prayers. But even as we do so, we also remember the victims of the three horrific earthquakes in Mexico and those in Japan and New Zealand. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the Governments and the peoples of those countries. The time has now come for the world to treat these phenomena not as natural disasters but as the man-made disasters that they are. The science is irrefutable. Our oceans continue to get warmer due to our continued abuse of our planet Earth. Warmer oceans feed and create horrific storms such as Irma and Maria. Now more than ever, we bear witness to the compelling need to support the call for a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and all other actions and behaviours that aggravate the effects of climate change.