Serbian president addresses Paris climate change event

Serbian president addresses Paris climate change event

Nikolic recalled the work of renowned Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovic, who nearly a century ago explained the connection between variations of the Earth's orbit and long-term climate change.

Since 2000, Serbia has suffered an estimated damage of over EUR 5 billion due to extreme climatic and weather conditions, Nikolic said, reminding of last year's catastrophic floods, unprecedented in the past 120 years.

Material losses of about EUR 1.7 billion led to over 125,000 people being brought to the verge of poverty overnight, he said.

Addressing the event, Nikolic said that "the horrific terror that swept across Paris recently and extremism are one of the biggest threats to all countries of the world and that is why this requires a global response, as does climate change."

Life and freedom have triumphed, and the idea of sowing fear will never succeed, so it is important that we care for our common, indivisible planet, our only home, and protect it from any threat - from extremists and global climate change alike, he noted.

Climate change is not just a matter of our survival and future: we live that change also today - it is a part of our present time and our reality, Nikolic said.

Serbia is offering full support for efforts to find a universal solution to one of the problems of the modern civilisation that no country is immune to, he said.

On the sidelines of the COP21 UN climate change conference in Paris, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic talked with a large number of world leaders.

Nikolic also "discussed the migrant crisis with US President Barack Obama in the light of terrorist attacks that had recently shaken Russia, France and Mali," the president's press service said on Monday.

The Serbian president also talked with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the presidents of Hungary, Indonesia, Albania, Cyprus, Chile, Palestine, Bulgaria, Armenia, Moldova, Ghana, the prime ministers of Austria, Greece, Slovenia, Japan and France among others.

Nikolic also thanked representatives of the states that did not recognize Kosovo's independence and voted against its UNESCO membership, and the states who did recognize Kosovo but abstained from voting, reads the release.