Gulf News has joined an unprecedented global call by 56 newspapers in 45 countries imploring world leaders to take decisive action at the Copenhagen climate change talks that begin Monday.
Read post: We can save our planet
A common editorial printed on the front page of Monday’s edition of the newspaper warns that climate change will "ravage our planet" unless leaders agree to take action to limit temperature rises to 2.0 degrees Celsius, noting that commitments so far would see temperatures hit an unacceptable level of 3.5 C.
The editorial, being published in 20 languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic, has been thrashed out by newspaper editors for more than a month ahead of the UN crunch talks. Among the newspapers that are running the joint editorial are some of the world's best, such as the Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, Russia's Novaya Gazeta and the Toronto Star.
Also included in the titles are two Chinese papers – the Economic Observer and the Southern Metropolitan, as well as India’s second largest English-language paper The Hindu, the Arabic language paper An Nahar of Lebanon, the Irish Times, Liberation, Suddeutsche Zeitung, La Repubblica and Turkish title Hurriyet. Delegates in Copenhagen will get a chance to read the common editorial in two local newspapers – Dagbladet Information and Danish Politiken. The sole English-language US paper represented is the Miami Herald.
Peter Cole, head of the journalism department at the University of Sheffield, praised the unprecedented collaboration between newspapers. "This is a tremendous initiative and a good counter to the idea that nobody notices that the world is falling apart," he told the Guardian. "If editors from nearly 50 countries all over the world, including all the major countries that contribute so much to global warming, can all agree, then surely the politicians in Copenhagen would be foolish to ignore it."
The leader was the work of team of Guardian writers and editors and went through three drafts to arrive at a text that satisfied all the editors involved. Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: “Newspapers have never done anything like this before but they have never had to cover a story like this before. No individual newspaper editorial could hope to influence the outcome of Copenhagen but I hope the combined voice of 56 major papers speaking in 20 languages will remind the politicians and negotiators gathering there what is at stake – and persuade them to rise above the rivalries and inflexibility that have stood in the way of a deal.”
Read post: We can save our planet
A common editorial printed on the front page of Monday’s edition of the newspaper warns that climate change will "ravage our planet" unless leaders agree to take action to limit temperature rises to 2.0 degrees Celsius, noting that commitments so far would see temperatures hit an unacceptable level of 3.5 C.
The editorial, being published in 20 languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic, has been thrashed out by newspaper editors for more than a month ahead of the UN crunch talks. Among the newspapers that are running the joint editorial are some of the world's best, such as the Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, Russia's Novaya Gazeta and the Toronto Star.
Also included in the titles are two Chinese papers – the Economic Observer and the Southern Metropolitan, as well as India’s second largest English-language paper The Hindu, the Arabic language paper An Nahar of Lebanon, the Irish Times, Liberation, Suddeutsche Zeitung, La Repubblica and Turkish title Hurriyet. Delegates in Copenhagen will get a chance to read the common editorial in two local newspapers – Dagbladet Information and Danish Politiken. The sole English-language US paper represented is the Miami Herald.
Peter Cole, head of the journalism department at the University of Sheffield, praised the unprecedented collaboration between newspapers. "This is a tremendous initiative and a good counter to the idea that nobody notices that the world is falling apart," he told the Guardian. "If editors from nearly 50 countries all over the world, including all the major countries that contribute so much to global warming, can all agree, then surely the politicians in Copenhagen would be foolish to ignore it."
The leader was the work of team of Guardian writers and editors and went through three drafts to arrive at a text that satisfied all the editors involved. Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: “Newspapers have never done anything like this before but they have never had to cover a story like this before. No individual newspaper editorial could hope to influence the outcome of Copenhagen but I hope the combined voice of 56 major papers speaking in 20 languages will remind the politicians and negotiators gathering there what is at stake – and persuade them to rise above the rivalries and inflexibility that have stood in the way of a deal.”
