Climate change is one of the most important topics on the agenda of the ongoing 140th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, said two Dutch parliamentarians.
AH (Agnes) Mulder, member of Parliament, Netherlands and Joop Atsma, member of the Senate of the Netherlands, told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the Assembly that they had discussed the recent natural calamity in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the context of climate change.
“It is a difficult subject. We have to organise the whole thing in a very systematic way. We have to get all countries together and search for suitable solutions and suggestions to face the issue,” said Mulder.
“We have to see that we need to raise the standards. Otherwise many people will lose their countries. We all need to take measures to support the globe and we have to do it together,” noted Atsma.
“All the countries have taken into account climate change as an emergent item especially with what happened in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. We feel that it is all related to climate change and we have to take measures to protect the world," explained Mulder.
"That is what we discussed here. There are mitigating measures as well as adaptation measures to tackle climate change. We need to take concrete actions. Some of the real issues are: Are we ready for the new kind of weather? What should we do in a practical sense so that we have less worries?” she pointed out.
Mulder also highlighted the project of ‘Adopt an SDG (Sustainability Development Goal of the UN)’ in her country and how it helped achieve the SDGs. According to the official, around 26 members of the parliament in the Netherlands are working on several SDGs such as education, climate change among others.
Atsma noted that terrorism was another major topic of discussion during the conversations in the Assembly. “Terrorism is a big topic on our agenda. We have talked about it and promise to work hand in hand to counter it. It is one of the main goals of IPU and many countries have come out with more suggestions to counter extremism,” said Atsma.
The official also called for the right mix of population in the parliaments. “We should have representation from all ages of population and everyone should be given the right opportunities irrespective of their gender. In the Netherlands, we don’t face the issue of gender parity as women are adequately represented,” he noted.
“Women representation can always be better. Women are somehow discriminated in this digital world due to many factors. It may not be on purpose but it happens. We should change that. We want to have as many opportunities for men as well as women,” added Mulder.
