The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 16 July 2021
/
58:13
/
MP4
/
661.3 MB
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNHCR , WHO , UNOG , WMO
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing - Deadly Flooding In Europe WMO 16 July 2021
Armed group attacks displace civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Babar Baloch, for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that the UNHCR was calling for urgent and enhanced measures to protect civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where a series of recent attacks by an armed group had displaced nearly 20,000 people in North Kivu province.
Since 22 June, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were alleged to have brutally killed at least 14 people and injured many others in and around the city of Beni. Several properties had been looted, and others burned to the ground. This was the first attack in two years by the ADF on the city, and the group’s resurgence was terrorizing the lives of inhabitants.
Mr. Baloch stressed that there was a sense of panic and anxiety among the community, as well as a lack of confidence in security forces given the high expectations of improved security conditions following the new measures. Nearly two million people had been uprooted by insecurity and violence in North Kivu province alone over the past two years. UNHCR and its partners were supporting local authorities to register forcibly displaced families and assess and respond to their needs.
Responding to journalists’ questions, Mr. Baloch stated that this population had been going through ordeals over the previous two years. UNHCR had been pleading for a while that civilians in North Kivu needed protection. Many killings had been attributed to the ADF. Where there was no military presence, armed groups staged comebacks, looting houses, killing, and injuring local people. The motives of the ADF were hard to grasp, but their actions had led to the deaths of hundreds of people.
More resources were urgently needed, stressed Mr. Baloch, as UNHCR’s appeal for its DRC operations of USD 205 million was only 36 per cent funded.
UNHCR briefing note is available here.
Following a question, Ms. Vellucci referred to a recent statement by the UN peacekeeping operation in the country, MONUSCO.
Extreme weather: floods, fires, heatwaves
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), stated that heavy rainfall had triggered devastating flooding causing dozens of casualties in Western Europe, with Germany and Belgium worst affected. At the same time, parts of Scandinavia were enduring a lasting heatwave, and smoke plumes from Siberia had affected air quality across the international dateline in Alaska. The unprecedented heat in Western North America had also triggered devastating wildfires.
Some parts of Western Europe had received up to two months’ worth of rainfall in only two days on soils that had already been near saturation. Authorities had reported dozens of dead, with many more missing; those were all developed countries with advanced disaster warning systems, stressed Ms. Nullis. In Switzerland, water levels were described as critical, particularly in the central parts of the country, affecting local infrastructure and tourism.
Meanwhile, Northern Europe had been gripped by an extended heatwave. Finland, for example, had its warmest June on record. The Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea was record-warm, up to 26.6°C on 14 July, the warmest since records began 20 years ago.
Ms. Nullis added that Western regions of the United States of America and Canada had also been gripped by heat, with many records broken in the most recent heatwave the previous weekend. Death Valley, California had reported temperature of 130°F/54.4°C on 9 July, according to the US National Weather Service. The US National Weather Service was once again warning of excessive heat in Northwest Pacific which had been hit by the end of June heatwave.
Experts say that climate change was already increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, and many single events had been shown to have been made worse by global warming.
The record-breaking heatwave in parts of the US and Canada at the end of June would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change. As the atmosphere was getting warmer, it held more moisture which meant it would rain more during storms, increasing the risk of floods.
In her answers to questions posed by journalists, Ms. Nullis said that there was a need to step up climate action and climate ambitions because the world was off track to reach the Paris Agreement targets. Early warning systems in Europe were advanced, but it was not always clear that people heeded such warnings. There was also more that could be done to better prepare and adjust to climate change. Ms. Nullis confirmed that records of all sorts were being broken, and that there was indeed a reason for great concern.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), referred to the Secretary-General’s condolences to the families of the flood victims in Europe.
COVID-19
Responding to questions from the media, Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that the next press briefing bv Dr. Tedros was planned on 21 July. The end of the pandemic was in our hands, stressed Mr. Lindmeier, and vaccines were only one part of the comprehensive approach to fight the pandemic. While there had been less hospitalizations and deaths thanks to the vaccines, infections were now increasing around the world. The Delta variant was circulating in more than 100 countries at the moment. Health care and frontline workers, along with the elderly and the vulnerable, should be the first to be vaccinated. The pandemic had to be fought in every part of the world at the same time.
Mr. Lindmeier said that knowledge transfer was an important factor when it came to an increase in vaccine production around the world; it was not only about passing on patents. Also, not every country had all the logistics for production in place. WHO had been warning for a long time against premature openings; every country ought to consider its own reality and apply a risk-based approach. We were definitely not out of the woods yet.
Geneva announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, for the UN Information Service (UNIS), informed that the High Commissioner for Human Rights had issued a statement on Cuba today. Video messages in English and Spanish would be made available today to interested press.
She also informed that the Human Rights Committee would have a short public meeting this afternoon at 4 pm to consider the progress report of the Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations on State party reports. This session of the Committee would close on 23 July.
The Committee against Torture would conclude today at 12:30 its review of the report of Belgium.
The Secretary-General had issued a message calling for an observation of the Olympic truce, said Ms. Vellucci. He had also published a message on the upcoming Nelson Mandela Day, which had been shared with the media.
Tuesday, 20 July, would be an official holiday at UN Geneva, informed Ms. Vellucci, and there will be no press briefing by UNIS Geneva.
Teleprompter
Good morning.
So let's start this press briefing of the UN Information Service in Geneva, Friday, 16th of July 1st of all, I would like to welcome to our briefing the MDA students from the International Management School of Geneva that are doing us a visit, paying us visits and assisting today as observer to this briefing.
I'll go straight to Babar for the first topic on the calendar.
Babar, you have a point on Eastern DRC.
Please go ahead.
Thank you, Alexandra.
Good morning, dears.
A happy Friday to all and a warm welcome to our visitors.
Indeed, highlighting another sad situation in in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, UHCR, the UN refugee agency, is calling for urgent and enhanced measures to protect civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a series of recent attacks by an armed group has displaced nearly 20,000 people.
In DRC's N Kivu province, armed groups continue to devastate civilian lives despite DRC's president launching a state of emergency on 6th of May in North Kivu and its neighbouring Ituri province.
The declaration was meant to halt violence perpetrated by armed groups and establish law and order in the region.
Since June the 22nd, the Allied Democratic Forces, known as ADF, are alleged to have brutally killed at least 14 people and injured many others in and around the city of Beni.
Several properties were looted and others burned down to the ground.
This was the first attack in two years by the ADF on the city and the group's resurgence is terrorising the lives of the city's inhabitants.
There is a sense of panic and anxiety among the community, as well as lack of confidence in security forces given the **** expectations of improved security conditions following the new measures.
These recent attacks have forced thousands of people to flee their homes to seek safety in the eastern part of Beni and are continuing to weaken and disrupt social, economic and educational activities.
Despite our best efforts, the humanitarian response in this part of the DRC is becoming worryingly overstretched by the cumulative impact of multiple emergencies, including the after effects of the volcanic eruption in Goma on May the 22nd.
Nearly 2 million people have been uprooted by insecurity and violence in the North Kivu province alone over the past two years.
Unit CR and our partners are supporting local authorities to register forcibly displaced families and assess and respond to their needs.
Despite dire conditions, some of the displaced are slowly returning to their neighbourhoods.
More than 100,000 people were assisted with emergency shelters in 2020 and almost 14,000 so far in 2021.
But needs remain **** as attacks by armed groups continue to displaced people in the province, with many forced to flee multiple times.
Women and children with with particularly acute needs are being assisted with shelter, relief items and cash assistance.
We are also supporting local communities as important first responders to recurrent force displacement.
UNITR and our partners are doing the vital work of documenting human rights violations as well.
More resources are urgently needed.
Unitr's appeal for our DRC operations of 205 million U.S.
dollars is only 36% funded.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Babar, for this briefing.
Let me see if we have any questions for you.
I see Lisa as a question.
Lisa, you have the floor.
Thank you, Alessandra.
Good morning and good morning, Babar.
Happy days.
Yeah, I have a few questions.
The first one is, I don't know how to put it naive or whatever it is, but it needs asking what, if anything, is a solution to this situation which which never ends, it just keeps repeating itself.
And you started out by saying that the president, I had launched a state of emergency.
I mean, what does that really mean?
That was that backed up by more armed forces, more security forces?
It seems impossible somehow to protect these poor people.
And then on this particular occasion, you said that many people fled.
Do you have a, do you have a number in terms of how many have fled and why is it that some people, maybe not this recent group, but that some, some of the displaced actually have, have gone home?
Thank you.
Thank you, Lisa.
One really feels for the people I mean in, in general who have to kind of go through the brutalities of armed groups in in this part of of the DRC.
But also not only that this has been happening with this population for now continuously at least for for the last two years that we have been seeing and remember from February to March and, and and and and and, and the other recent months where we have been kind of coming here pleading that civilians need protection in, in this part of the country.
Let's not forget that 2 million people over all are are displaced inside North Kibu and this has happened during the last two years.
With the announcement of May 6th, Congolese were hoping that they would see some peace and stability and they would see the return of law and order in their lives.
Indeed, we we see there are more forces on the ground.
They are trying to address the situation, but it appears to be not enough.
ADF is, is a force that has been disrupting civilian lives, bringing devastation to, to to to a large number of of people.
But also during 2020 we saw 500 civilian killings being attributed to the to the ADF.
If we look back in 2020 in terms of what was happening at at least in in the three provinces of of eastern DRC, we talk about N Kivu, S Kivu and Ituri.
There were 200 killings in in 2020 in in terms of people, they try to stay close to home in a hope that they will be able to return home.
So small number is able to go back.
But the trend the way we have seen is as soon as they go, there are new attacks displacing them again and again.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I had seen Peter's hands, but it's down now, so I'll go to Freddy.
Bonjour, Freddy, we.
Bonjour.
Alexandra.
Bonjour, Baba.
Bonjour.
The more the population.
The.
Indeed, I mean, since since the announcement came in in May, the hopes were really ****.
And this at the time seemed a measure which was badly needed for for this part of the of the DRC.
So since we have seen military operations have been launched in different areas of North Kivu and Ituri provinces with the aim to, to bring and, uh, law and order and, and, and restore some normality in, in, into, into the, uh, in, into the civilian and, and human lives.
Uh, so where the presence of the military is there.
And then when they launch an, an operation and secure the area, uh, it seems it works.
Uh, what happens, Uh, it's a vast area with being scattered all around where there is no military presence, where civilians are on their own.
Then the armed group get a chance to, to make a comeback and attack civilian lives.
And that's why they have been going from towns to town, villages to villages, killing people, burning their houses, looting the houses, injuring people as well.
So our appeal is for a comprehensive approach to bring peace back to the civilian lives in in this part of.
The DRC, Thank you.
Mercy, Lisa, you have a follow up.
Yeah, just very quickly, Babar.
Why?
Why?
Why are they attacking the civilians?
I mean, seriously, is it a criminal enterprise that they're looting and so they're enriching themselves?
Is there an ideological reason behind it?
Is it because they can't figure out what else to do with their lives?
Thank you, Lisa.
Very hard to to go into the, the minds of of of of of people who terrorise civilians or who ****.
This is an armed group.
This has been around for a while in in the DRC.
The motives are very hard for me to to say what it, but results are very clear on, on, on on the human lives and the civilian population.
Their killings have been on the rise.
500 people that the ADF killed, or at least these were attributed, reported that the ADF was involved in it nearly 500 last year in 2020.
As we understand, there are many armed groups in in, in the DRC.
The count could be in in the dozens and more than 2000 were killed in the three provinces of Ituri South and N Kivu as well by the armed groups.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Barbara.
I don't see any other question from the journalist.
So thank you very much for being with us.
I'll now go to Claire.
Claire, you, you're going to brief us on extreme weather, floods, fires and heat waves.
And on this I would like to say just that they yesterday the Secretary General sent his condolences to those who have lost their lives and their family, particularly in Germany and Belgium.
But you're going to tell us more on this extreme phenomena, Claire.
Yes, good morning, everybody.
As we've all seen tragically on the news, heavy rainfall has triggered devastating flooding, causing dozens of casualties in Western Europe.
Germany and Belgium have been the worst affected in terms of loss of life.
But it's not just the flooding.
At the same time, parts of Scandinavia are enduring A lasting heat wave.
Smoke plumes from Siberia have affected air quality across the International Dateline in Alaska.
That's how far the smoke has travelled and the unprecedented heat which we saw in western North America has triggered devastating wildfires.
And again, the the the smoke from those wildfires are travelling huge distances.
In short, yet again, we've seen a summer of unprecedented heat, droughts, cold and wet places, starting first with the with the with the floods.
Some parts of Western Europe, notably parts of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days.
So this was the 14th and the 15th of July.
And what made it worse was that the soils were already saturated by by by previous rainfall.
Germany and Belgium worst hit countries in terms of loss of life.
We're, you know, seeing reports of, you know, many dozens of casualties.
And these are, you know, in highly developed countries with very, very, very good early warning systems, a very good disaster management.
So, you know, this gives you an indication of just the scale of this disaster.
We've seen images of houses being being being swept away.
It's, it's, it's really, really devastating.
And so, you know, we obviously add our voice to that of the UN secretary general in, in extending our condolences.
It's not just Germany and Belgium.
Luxembourg, Netherlands and, as we know in our own country, Switzerland, have also been badly affected, as has northeastern France.
In Germany, the authorities are describing it as a catastrophe.
According to the German meteorological service, the Deutsche Betadine's about 100 to 150 millimetres of precipitation occurred in 24 hours.
So on the 14th and 15th of July I've I've given you the more detailed detailed numbers in the briefing notes, which you should have or will be shortly about to to to receive here in Switzerland.
You know, Meteo Suisse has described the **** water levels as critical.
Worst affected areas are in central parts of Switzerland, Beale Tune and Lake Lucerne, where you've got the top level 5 flood warning in place.
These are obviously, you know, touristy areas at this time of year.
You know, people camping, they like to go pack camping by by by lake.
So obviously, you know, it's, it's having a real effect on, on local economies, but also, you know, really destroying in infrastructure as well.
Earlier this week in London, the transport network was was temporarily paralysed on the 12th of July as about 70 millimetres of rainfall.
I fell in a very short space of time and obviously in a highly populated urban area which couldn't couldn't absorb it.
So that's the situation with the with the rain.
Just a very quick summary, heat.
Northern Europe has been gripped by an extended heat wave.
It might not feel like it here, but certainly Scandinavia.
You know, our friends and colleagues there have been really feeling the that the heat.
Just to give you an example, Finland had its warmest tune on record according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and that heat has extended into July.
Just to give you one example, the place called Cuvalla Angela, and my pronunciation is not very good.
It's in southern Finland.
It's seen 27 consecutive days with temperatures above 25°C.
This is, this is Finland.
You know, it's not Spain, It's not North Africa.
It's Finland.
A couple of places in Finland earlier this week, overnight temperatures, that's normally when temperatures fall didn't, didn't drop below 24°C.
So that tied the warmest night ever in Finland, as far as as far as we're aware, the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea is record warm, according to researchers at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, up to 26.6°C on the 14th of July.
So that's the warmest recorded temperature of the waters since records began.
Records fairly recent, only about 20 years ago, but that gives you an indication of the of the heat.
And then obviously as we all know, western United States and Canada has also been gripped by heat in in recent weeks with many records broken.
The most recent heat wave in the southwest of the United States, which was last weekend.
Las Vegas tied its all time record of 100 and 7017°F, which is 47.2°C, as did as did Utah.
Death Valley in California, which holds the record of the world's highest temperature.
Death Valley last Friday, so one week ago reported a temperature of 130°F and that is 54.4°C and that's according to the US National Weather Service in Las Vegas.
We've received a lot of media enquiries as to whether this is a new all time temperature record.
You know, the provisional response to that is no, it doesn't beat the previous record, but we're already examining A seeking to verify a temperature of 130°F which was recorded last year.
And so, you know, we'll probably extend that investigation to include last week's, last week's temperature.
It's not over yet.
We're still mid-july.
the US National Weather Service is once again warning of excessive heat.
And that's the word, the wording it uses in the Northwest Pacific.
So the northwest part of the United States, which was which was hit the end of the end of June.
The heat wave in the western United States has led to numerous wildfires.
The smoke from these wildfires is affecting air quality.
It's travelling long distances and combined with the heat, we've got a, a mega drought in, in the western part of the United States.
So it's, it's, it's a double whammy, which, you know, increases the the risk.
And again, in the briefing notes, I've included a map from the latest US Drought Monitor, which, you know, shows a sizeable part of the southwestern part of the United States in exceptional drought.
And that's the the highest level of of drought.
So the question that everybody asks is what about climate change?
You know, as we say repeatedly, as climate experts say repeatedly, climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme events.
And many single events have been shown to be made worse by global warming.
At the moment, you know, the, the, the, the droughts, sorry, the floods in Germany is still still ongoing.
So, you know, we nobody's had time yet to carry out an attribution survey to say, you know, the, the, the role of climate change in these particular floods.
But the what what we do know is the, the, the heat wave that we saw in parts of the US and Canada at the end of June, there was what we call a rapid attribution survey conducted by a, you know, prominent group of climate researchers into that.
The results were published last week and it's said this heat wave would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human caused climate change.
Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions made the heat wave at least 150 times more likely with with with flooding.
Obviously as the atmosphere gets warmer, it holds more moisture, which means that when we do have storms, you know, we will see heavier rainfall.
And just by coincidence, on the day that we saw the very heavy rainfall event in in London, the UK's Met Office issued a new study which looking at the, you know, the incidence of **** impact weather in the United Kingdom, including extreme heat and heavy rainfall.
And the study found that the higher the level of global warming, the projected increase in frequency or severity or both of hot weather and droughts and flooding will be greater.
The number of days of **** impact heavy rainfall in the UK could rise by about 3 days per year.
And that's according to this new study by, by the, by the Meta, by the Meta Office, the, as you all know, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be issuing its, one of its reports on the 9th of August on the, you know, on, on, on climate change.
So we wait to see what that study says.
But in its special report on global warming of 1.5°C, which came out a couple of years ago, it, you know, it did say that global warming has caused multiple observed changes in the climate system.
And we're seeing that playing out right now.
So I think that's all for me in the, in the briefing notes that I've sent you, we've, I've included a lot of, a lot of maps and graphics just to, just to give you an idea as to, you know, as to, to explain what's, what's happening.
And there are quite a few questions for you.
I'll start with Jamil.
Sorry, Jameen.
Just one thing for our guests.
If you want to hear what the journalists are asking, could you please get to the table and get one of the earpieces?
Otherwise, you can't really hear Jamil.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yeah, Yeah.
Claire, good morning.
Some questions actually first on the 9th of August, are you planning any release in Geneva under embargo?
I know it's not completely.
With you, but if there there is any possibility of getting the message through that we would like to have something in Geneva.
At least the technical briefing that we could get ready for the for the report.
That's the first question.
Secondly, what is your message to negotiators in the run up to Glasgow?
That's the second question.
And 3rd question, are the systems in Europe in fact well prepared for this situation or this is such a different situation that systems will have to be improved or at least changed?
And Alessandra, I have a question to double HO later.
Is that possible as well?
It's more than possible.
In fact, I'm very honoured that Christian has come here this time for for the briefing.
So we will.
Be very wunderbar.
Wunderbar, Exactly.
OK, let's clear answer and thank you for putting the volume in the room.
Whoever did it, thank you.
So the 9th of August that is in the hands of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
As far as I know, there will be a press conference for journalists.
I imagine it will be virtual.
And again, from what I what I know, because this, you know, this report, it's, it's negotiated.
It's, you know, the negotiations go up until the last minute.
It's not something that can be sent out a long time ahead on under embargo.
That's just the that's just the nature of it.
But again, you know, if you've got questions, contact Jonathan Lynn.
He is, you know, he is around and he's busy, but hopefully he can he can answer your questions.
But as I said, as far as I know, there there are plans for, you know, for a press conference.
So on that, yeah, maybe what we will do is I'll I'll take the question to Jonathan and see if we can organise something about virtually.
Yeah, go ahead Claire with the other questions message to negotiators in Glasgow.
Obviously the UN Secretary General is, is giving repeated messages on this and the World Meteorological Organisation echoes that.
You know, we need to step up climate action.
We need to step up the level of ambition.
We're not doing nearly enough to stay, you know, within the targets of the Paris Agreement and keep temperatures below 2°C, even 1.5°C by the end of this century.
So that is very much the, the message of the, of the entire UN system.
So it's not, it's not just, you know, WMO systems in Europe.
Are they well prepared?
Yes and no.
So the, the, the early warnings in Europe are, you know, are very advanced.
The Meteo Swiss has an excellent app, as does the, you know, the German ****** service.
And certainly for, for me, I have the, the Meteo Swiss app on my phone.
And on Wednesday it was just, I was just getting alerts non-stop, you know, for heavy rainfalls for, for flood alerts.
And in Germany they also have AI think it's called a Vette Varnum app.
So the warnings are advanced.
The warnings were issued.
Whether people heeded those warning warnings is, you know, it's, it's another question, not one that I can I can answer, but certainly, you know, I saw a, a diagram on Twitter yesterday, I think it was from the German interior minister, you know, giving people advice on, you know, how we're going to have to adapt to more extreme weather.
You know, flood proofing sellers is, is a classic example.
Also heat proofing our, our, our homes, you know, in, in Europe, Northern Europe, we place more emphasis on, on heating our homes, you know, in future because of climate change, we need to pay more attention to, you know, to, to keeping, keeping our homes, our homes cool.
And then there's the whole, you know, other adaptation issues, you know, Netherlands sea level rise, you know, building flood defences, etcetera, etcetera.
But yes, Europe on the whole is prepared.
But you know, when you get extreme events such as, you know, such as what we've seen two months worth of rainfall in, in 2 days, it's, it's, it's very, very difficult to, to, to cope.
And I've seen photos this morning from I think it was Rhineland Falls, just, just, it was utter devastation.
It was, you know, it was, it was heartbreaking.
And Jamil as, as Claire said, the secretary general speaks about climate action all the time.
There is a specific website where we have all his statements and the last one I can see here, which is well, he, he did another one on to the finance summit.
But on the 8th of July, he was speaking specifically about this extreme phenomena and the fact that we are running out of time.
And for COP 26 in Glasgow to be the turning point we need, we need the same promise from all countries on the National determined contributions to cut global emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels and so on and so forth.
There are many, many declarations.
So including to the COP 26.
So please have a look at this.
I have now on my list Nina, Nina Larson.
Hi, thanks for taking my question.
Hi, Claire, I just had a question.
I saw in your briefing notes that you were talking about how that you're calling for the connection of the the large scale scale disturbances across the the Northern Hemisphere this summer to be investigated for how they might be connected to the warming of the Arctic.
I'm just wondering if you could say who who should carry out that such an investigation.
I mean, we're talking about the entire Northern Hemisphere disruptions and also sort of what how do you see sort of what connections do you see with the warming of the Arctic with what we're seeing in, you know, the US or the flooding or you could say about that?
Thank you.
Yeah, I mean, obviously the, the, there's a huge number of investigations taking place at, at any one time, you know, study new studies are coming out literally every every week.
So you know, this, you know, this, this will be investigated not necessarily by us, but but certainly by the, the climate science community.
And a lot of research is being conducted into whether the melting of the Arctic ice is affecting the, the jet stream and leading to more, more what we call blocking, blocking patterns.
What we've seen in, in Europe is effectively, you know, the system was, was blocked, which meant that you got the, you know, the heavy rainfall over quite a limited small area rather than, rather than a bigger, a bigger area.
I think, I think I answered your question on that.
There's a new, there was a new study and I can send you the link.
I saw it just before I came to the briefing on the incidence of, you know, increased heavy rainfall, stationary rainfall patterns in, in Europe that came out a couple of weeks ago.
It wasn't a WMO study, but it's, you know, it's pertinent to, to this.
I can.
I can send that to you.
Thank you very much.
And Nina.
Yeah, don't see your hand up, so there's no follow up.
Peter.
Peter.
Kenny.
Good.
Morning.
Thanks for taking my question.
Claire, I was just wondering if there's any scientific studies that show the surprise of scientists at the ferocity of climate change that we've had this year?
Scientific studies on the surprise, possibly not, but you just need to look at Twitter or, you know, open, open the newspapers and, and, and you, you, you see it.
I mean, my, you know, obviously the WMO Twitter feed.
We we follow a lot of climate scientists and yes, you know, scientists.
I wouldn't say we are surprised.
Certainly, you know, when you see the images that we've seen in in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands this week, you know, it's shocking.
But, you know, under climate change scenarios, we are going to see more extreme, you know, extreme events.
Be it, you know, in particular extreme, extreme heat.
We saw the the awful scenes in in Canada at the end of June where there was one particular village of, of Lytton saw the the temperature of 49.6°C and two days later that village no longer existed.
It it had burnt to the ground.
So yeah, Jeremy was available.
Mercy, mercy Boku.
Just to.
I will follow up in English.
It's kind of a follow up of of Peter's question.
But I mean, is it the new normal records being broken at the same time for different phenomenon?
We're having heat wave records, rainfall records, drought.
Can we even expect to have during summertime heat records and cold records at the same time in different places?
I mean, is it something that it's quite new?
According to you.
We are.
We are certainly seeing more heat records, seeing fewer cold records, certainly similar.
Simultaneously, we're not seeing so many cold records, but yes, you know, and as a result of climate change, we are seeing more extreme weather.
And so that does mean more, you know, daily records means more station records, more national records, and then, you know, occasionally more global records as well.
Mercy, Claire.
Gabriela Hola, Hola, Thank you, Alessandra.
But I, I have a question for Christian and also, yeah, after I've got more questions for Claire.
Thank you, Claire.
Everything was so interesting.
Paula.
Yes, good morning.
Thank you for taking the question.
So this week, earlier this week, there was a report that's appeared in Nature about how we have already reached a tipping point in the when it comes to the Amazon that the the carbon sink is inclined, you know, deforestation and fires are up.
So I'd like to know what you make of this, of this assessments and also, you know, how concerned should we be about, you know, this issue on the other side?
Of the world.
OK, so on the nature study, I haven't read it in detail, but I, I do know that we have what we call the Global Atmosphere Watch network.
And as part of that we have an integrated global greenhouse watch, sorry, an integrated global greenhouse information system.
And one of the members of the steering committee for that was one of the authors of this particular paper.
So I can, I can certainly check with my colleagues in that particular department and get back to you with more information.
How concerned should we be?
Very.
And that's a good answer and short and straight to the point.
Thank you very much.
Claire, I don't see any other question for you, so I'll turn to Christian for WHOI start with Jamil.
I had promised him the first question and then we go to Gabriella.
Jamil.
Yes.
Hi, Christian.
Good morning.
Couple of couple of questions.
First, I was away, so I'm not sure you have announced this before, but are we having a press conference on Friday or did it change for Thursday or was it just yesterday because of the German presence?
So that's the first question.
Second question, if I'm not wrong, in August last year Doctor Tedros said he was hoping the pandemic could be under control within two years, that is mid 2022.
Are you still sticking to that projection or is it today impossible to point out any dates?
And thirdly, sorry for this, with the vaccines coming from Germany to Kovacs, what is the projection of deliveries for the month of July and August?
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Jamil, and good to hear.
See you.
So maybe for all on the press, press briefings, yes, we're trying to get away from the Friday briefings.
Welcome to the conference.
Now we try to have them Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Yesterday we had it because of the special guests.
Of course, we're trying to adapt to any situation, but trying to get away from Friday for help of everybody.
Of course, the next scheduled one I think, or planned I have to say is next Wednesday.
But whatever developments come in between, we may have to adopt as usual on end of pandemic.
And I'll put that together with the vaccine question.
The Director General and all other senior management have repeatedly said that the end of the pandemic is in our hands and we can achieve it quickly and we can achieve it if we all work together and we use all the measures that we have at hand.
And the vaccines are only one part of the package and that's but most important the mask which you just have seen here is one part of the the physical distancing, other measures restrictions if necessary and so on and so forth.
So it's a whole package.
The vaccines achieved that, we have way less hospitalizations and and deaths and that's important and it is great.
But the infections have been going up for now the 4th week in a row again across the world only one region didn't have one, WHO region didn't have increases.
All that has have been increasing for weeks in a in a row now and that is a significant sign.
And we can only beat this without giving a fixed timeline.
Now, if we all work together, everybody wants to have their so-called freedom back, wants to live in some way as normal as it was before.
But in order to do this, we have to work together and we have to work together to fight the virus.
None of us can of us can do it alone.
No country can do it alone.
As much as it's a package of solutions, it's also a package of us all working together on the vaccine deliveries.
I don't have updated figure with me what the what the figures would be now of deliveries across the next months.
But of course, 30 million doses donation already announced and was really good to hear that the minister even said that he thinks there will be more even though.
Welcome to the conference.
That's great, yeah.
And we'll see how this plays out.
Sorry for the voice.
I don't know where he's coming from.
If you can all mute your mics, please.
Gabriela, you have a question for Christian too?
Yes, thank you.
Good morning.
Thank you, Alessandra.
Well, actually have some questions.
One, it's on the Cuba vaccine, Abdullah, that is already in use, I think in Cuba and in Venezuela.
Do you have any data about this vaccine?
And also the same on on Cuba, if I mean double choice assessing the situation there because as a **** Commissioner for human rights said that the the situation there is, is dire.
So that is the first question.
And then second question, sorry, but I have to ask on Cansino vaccine, there is no information about the third trial.
And in Mexico, there's a lot of nervousness because 30 million of vaccines will going to be applied of Cansino.
And then the last question, Mexico is, is in the third wave now the Delta vaccine, the Delta variant is all over the place, but Mexico is sitting on 16,000,000 of vaccines, 16,000,000 of vaccines are in the freezer.
So any advice to Mexico to rush with the vaccination in the light of the of the spread of the Delta variant?
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Gabriella.
A lot of detailed questions on countries where I won't have many information on, but let me take it this way.
We have a system of approving and licencing vaccines and that's the WTO emergency use listing of vaccines.
A stringent process with checking and controlling of sites of looking at data and asking for more data if necessary.
So when all these pre requirements are fulfilled and data are successfully submitted and are sufficient, then of course our different bodies look at giving a licence or not.
So as long as we haven't seen this, I can't evaluate the vaccine wouldn't be up to me.
The Delta variant I think is circulating now in more than 100 countries across the world and we have been saying that we can wait for it to be the predominant by Ryan in across the world.
So it's definitely an an important variant and virus of of concern for us.
Vaccines should be used as a priority as we have listed and many, many times recommended.
That means the priority health groups first, that's all the health and care workers, the frontline workers, the elderly, the the, the ones with underlying conditions.
So all these priority groups as laid out and they should be up there 1st and that's why we have the global target of 10% vaccination across the world by September.
It sounds little if you compare to vaccination rates of some countries of 30-40, fifty, 60% right now already and it sounds a lot when you look at countries which have even sometimes below 1% of vaccination rate at this point.
So when we look at all this globally again, I come back to the answer I gave before to the question before it's a package We all need to work together, and only if we fight this in every part of the world in the same way, then we can beat it together.
Thank you, Christian Peter.
Thank you.
Morning, Christian.
There's been a lot of calls for the narrowing of the vaccine gap.
Now we've also heard about the easing of intellectual property rights and that sort of thing, but that is a longer term solution.
What is the current problem with vaccines at the moment?
Are countries hoarding them?
Are manufacturers unable to make enough quickly or people unable to distribute them through mechanisms like COVAX?
What is your perception of this?
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
Peter.
There's not one wrong or 11 answer to this.
It's it's everything together.
It depends.
First of all, let's not forget it's the pandemic is only 1 1/2 years old and we do have vaccines already since half a year now.
So this is a record.
But of course, if we have successful vaccines and we have different companies developing the different manufacturers develop, developing different vaccines, we don't have a capacity for 8 billion people in the world at the same time.
So producing them takes time and takes space and takes material and it takes knowledge and takes a whole chain of things.
We have been comparing this with a with a complex recipe which you may have, but you can't cook it if you don't have all the the details of it and maybe even the specific knowledge that it needs to produce it, even if you have the recipe in hand.
So knowledge transfer is an important factor which can can solve this if we produce locally.
And as you know, we have been setting up with South Africa already as an agreement to produce locally in South Africa vaccines.
And we're working with other countries around the world in order to have more of these local production sites.
But again, it's, it's not only passing on the, the patent or the recipe.
Logistics is a, is a huge issue.
Not every country has the opportunity or the possibility to have a, a cold chain set up easily have the health workers without the staff trained, have a whole delivery chain set up from the producer all the way to, to the arm of the, of the patient.
And that's why local production as close as possible to the people is, is one of the parts of the solution.
There are many different aspects to it.
Again, it's a package.
Last questions from Lisa.
Good morning, Christian, how nice to see you.
Couple of questions for you.
You talk of well, cases are rising, have been rising now for a while.
Do you think the world is opening up prematurely, too quickly that they because there's a vaccine, many countries think it's all over and of course there are all sorts of economic pressures and other things going on.
But seriously, I mean, should should the countries be more cautious and stick to many the public health measures that you have mentioned and that we know about?
And then secondly, how, how do you explain the vaccine hesitancy by healthcare workers?
I mean, many people are hesitant for a variety of reasons.
I mean, to, to the point where if, for instance, in France right now, I think there are, there are, are demonstrations, protests going on because of vaccine mandates.
And among them are healthcare workers.
I mean, my gosh, they're the ones who come in close contact with people who are vulnerable to getting sick.
Isn't it kind of crazy?
With all these lists of questions, I'm not sure I'm coming here soon again, but thank you.
No, it's a, it's a serious topic and, and the questions are all good.
Thank you guys.
On the premature opening, I think W Joe has been warning all the way along in every press briefing, Mondays and Fridays and in between that we should not open prematurely, that we have to consider every country and every individual has to consider the risk based approach.
It's difficult to give A1 size fits all in a region and a country and definitely globally.
So every country has to look at their own scenario at a certain place and has to adapt to the reality on the ground.
Every person can do this too.
So it's again, it's us all together working on this.
And yes, we have to be more cautious.
Some restrictions on some countries may have been lifted too early.
And the same countries are waking, waking up, being woken up now to see that the cases are rising, that hospitals are filling again, that we're facing similar scenarios like we had them before.
Other countries are having lack of oxygen and therefore problems on the on the treatment side.
And let's not forget it's not only the, the COVID-19 patients, it's a, it's a strain on the whole healthcare system.
If we have more and more patients in the hospitals or as outpatients in for COVID-19, that means we have less capacity for other diseases.
And as you have seen this week already with the announcement of the immunisation figures for children or for ex other vaccinations around the world, they are declining, uh, decreasing.
Why?
Because we have less capacity, we have, uh, less opportunities to do so.
And the same as with other diseases, the more patients are covering or are, are, are, are in hospitals, umm, being treated for COVID-19, there's less space for other diseases.
Umm, and that is, that is crucial.
So it's, again, it's a, it's a big package.
I, I keep repeating this word today in different scenarios, but it's, it's, that's what it is.
So a risk based approach has to be taken by countries, by regions, by individuals, and by organisations.
And that's the way to move forward.
And we're not, we're not out of the woods.
We're definitely not out of the woods.
You asked about what explanation I have for the vaccine hesitancy of healthcare workers.
I don't.
It's as simple as that.
Yeah, indeed, Christian, that was your last points.
And so we really hope you you're coming back in person very soon.
Thank you very much to the various briefer.
I have a few announcements for you.
First of all, we spoke about Cuba.
You must have seen that this morning, Mrs Bachelor, the **** Commissioner for Human Rights, put out a statement on the situation in Cuba, urging dialogue and calling for the release of detained protesters and indeed, speaking also about the restricted, the reasons for the protests, including COVID vaccine access.
I have been asked by our colleagues of the OHCHR to tell you that in addition to the message that was put out this morning, Lisa will record in English and in Spanish some sound bites based on the Cuba press release that you've that we've just mentioned.
If you're interested, you can contact the colleagues of OHCHR so that they can share with you those videos, and of course, those who are in the regular list of reporters who have video services will also receive it.
This is about Cuba.
I've been asked to tell you this by our colleagues.
A few usual announcements also on human rights.
The Committee, the Human Rights Committee will have a short public meeting this afternoon at 4:00 PM to consider the progress report of the rapporteur on follow up to concluding observation on state party reports.
And the session which is the 132nd one will then close on 23rd of July.
The Committee against Torture will conclude today at 12:30's review of the report of Belgium.
I also would like to mention that yesterday we have, I think it's stated today though, but we distributed yesterday night the message of the secretary general calling for the observance of the Olympic Truce for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The Secretary General said in a few days athletes around the world will come together in Japan for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
They've had to overcome enormous obstacles to participate in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We need to show the same strength and solidarity in our efforts to bring peace to our world, says the secretary general.
The Olympic Truce is a traditional call to silence the guns while the Games proceed.
People and nations can build on this temporary respite to establish lasting ceasefires and find paths towards sustainable peace.
He concluded by saying seeking peace and uniting around common goals is even more important this year as we strive to end the pandemic and build a strong, sustainable and inclusive global recovery.
I call on all parties to conflict, to observe the Olympic truths during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and to build on it in the weeks and months ahead.
And we also distributed to you the Secretary General's message on Nelson Mandela's International Day that, as you know, the international community commemorates on the 18th of July, which is the date of, I think it's the date of birth of Mandiba.
The Secretary General said that the Nelson Mandela International Day is an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of a legendary global advocate for dignity, equality, justice and human rights.
He says Madiba's call for solidarity and an end to racism are particularly relevant today as social cohesion around the world is threatened by division.
And he concludes by saying let us be inspired by Madiba's message that each of us can make a difference in promoting peace, human rights, harmony with nature and unity for all.
Let us all honour Madiba's call to action and be empowered by his legacy.
We have distributed to you the full a statement, just a couple of points to remind you that Tuesday is an official holiday at the UN.
So we will not have our traditional information briefing, briefing of the information service.
We also would like to remind you that now the corridor of the cafeteria is completely barred by two big goals.
So when you come to this room, which I hope you'll do more often, please pass by the external pathway in the in the garden.
And I think this is all I had for you.
Let me see if there's any other question.
I don't see any.
So I would like to thank our students and their professors for coming today and listen to this briefing.
Thank you very much to you all and have a nice weekend.
Thank you.