By SEAN DOUGLAS Sunday, April 19 2009

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UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain yesterday....

UNITED Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday warned the world was “on the edge” of a political crisis, and urged leaders at the Fifth Summit of the Americas to work together to head it off.

Speaking at a working luncheon of Latin America and Caribbean leaders at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, Ban called for a recovery from the global recession plus a show of environmental care. He said the world now faces new realities.

“First, as a global community, we are living on the edge.” He recalled the global crises over the past two years in energy, food, climate-change and recession.

Ban warned: “I fear worse. Today’s economic crisis, if not handled properly, could evolve into a full-scale political crisis, defined by social unrest, weakened governments and angry publics, who have lost faith in their leaders and their future.” He said the world faced more problems with fewer resources in national budgets, aid programmes and voluntary donations.

However, he added that the challenges were all inter-related, and can be tackled at their links. “We can find effective, efficient, enduring solutions for a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future,” he stressed.

Ban hailed the recent G-20 meeting in London for agreeing on a genuine global stimulus to advance all nations. “They took a major step towards a ‘Green New Deal,’ and vowed to reach agreement at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. I know how important this is to you,” he said while having recalled seeing shrinking glaciers in Antarctica and the Andes; deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and the loss of bio-diversity.

Ban said: “The very existence of some Caribbean nations, including portions of Trinidad and Tobago, could be threatened if sea levels rise.”

The UN Secretary-General said collective social and economic security was the basis for global social justice. “We must push this prosperity agenda. Opportunities are coming up at the July G-8 meeting in Italy, and the climate change summit at the United Nations in September.”

Ban vowed to bring together the UN in coordinated, decisive and innovative ways.

Ban lamented the region’s big rich-poor gap, and urged help not just for the poorest, but also for the emerging middle-class.

He urged the leaders to be good neighbours. “Haiti, for example, is at a turning point. We made progress at this week’s donor’s conference in Washington, but we need to continue building that partnership for change.”