Cosatu weighs in on climate change
With the COP21 summit underway in Paris, COSATU president Sdumo Dlamini has warned climate change is a real danger that could wipe humanity out.
He was speaking in Johannesburg today.
Dlamini said they expect world leaders to put matters relating to society and the environment first and forget about their own personal interests.
They also expect resolutions coming out of this meeting that will take us a global society forward.
Dlamini said as Cosatu, they too would have to raise their campaign on climate change as the time for action is now, because we are already behind.
''The environment is in danger, that's a fact. And already this drought, [the lack of rain] and heatwave have begun to show exactly that we are at that point where we need to be conscietising one another on what and what not to do,'' he said.
President Jacob Zuma is among the more than 150 heads of state attending the summit which began today in Paris.
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At the summit, US President Barack Obama said his country accepts its responsibility to cut greenhouse gases as the world's second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
French president Francois Hollande, whose country suffered its worst ever terror attack this month, says the future of the planet is at stake.
''I'm not choosing between the fight against terrorism and the fight against global warming.
''These are two major global challenges that we must overcome, because we must leave our children more than a world free of terror,'' he said.
Leaders and negotiators will spend the next fortnight trying to agree how to prevent global warming.
(File photo: Gallo Images)