13:07 | Washington D.C. (U.S.), Mar. 9.
The impact of climate change on the modification of the current global geopolitical structure, the crisis of current development theories and the need to promote new energy consumption patterns, were the topics developed by
Peruvian Ambassador to the United States Oswaldo de Rivero in a conference at George Washington University in the U.S. capital.
"Due to climate change, development is today, more than ever, a myth, because all countries, both developed and those mistakenly called 'developing countries', are plunged into a crisis of civilization," De Rivero said.
According to the Peruvian diplomat, humanity is currently suffering from a process of unsustainable urbanization.
In his opinion, any urban expansion inevitably sacrifices agricultural land and forests, consuming enormous quantities of water that should be destined for food production and human consumption.
"All the world's cities are expanding by pouring cement on agricultural land, devouring water, food, oil; and turning the private automobile and its combustion engine into the king of transportation, spewing tons of CO2 into the atmosphere," De Rivero remarked.
The Peruvian envoy pointed out that more than 50% of the world's population now lives in cities, and that in three decades it will grow to 80%.
By then, some sixty megacities and hundreds of cities of some 5 million inhabitants, mostly distributed in underdeveloped countries, will create a "physical-social imbalance" between water, food and energy supplies, on the one hand; and the explosion of urban populations in poor countries, on the other.
"Many economists and politicians do not realize that the current crisis afflicting the world is a crisis of civilization," he stated.
As he explained, "it is a crisis of the urban consumerist lifestyle, of free spending, of an environmentally unsustainable model, which has resulted in unstoppable global warming."
During the discussion, the ambassador said that climate change continues to be a potential threat to world peace. Access to water will in the future be the most important factor in the foreign policy of states, he said.
James Foster, vice dean of the Elliot School of International Studies, thanked the Peruvian diplomat for bringing a new academic perspective to the debate on climate change and its impact on contemporary international relations.
The conference was organized by the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program at George Washington University, directed by Professor Diego Abente-Brun.
Professor Cynthia McClintock was the moderator of the event, which was attended by undergraduate and graduate students from that academic institution, as well as representatives from other governmental and private entities.
(END) NDP/RMB/MVB
Publicado: 9/3/2022