(ATR) Nothing less than the future of the Olympics--and sports in general--are at stake with climate change, according to a former top UN environmental official.
Christiana Figueres, who for two terms served as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, on Tuesday was the IOC Session keynote speaker. Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat, is also a member of the IOC Sustainability and Legacy Commission.
Figueres implored the IOC to use its bully pulpit and microphone to amplify the message of sustainability to the rest of the world.
Self-interest reasons for the IOC to do so include, in Figueres' words, that athletes "disproportionately" are impacted by poor air quality (which already impacts nine out of 10 people).
If the athletes’ best interests aren’t enough to sway sports leaders, Figueres said climate change deniers will kill sports.
"The survival of sports as a human activity, is currently threatened by climate change," Figueres warned.
"So-called ‘climate change’ will lead to ‘so-called Games."
"If we want Games under stable conditions then we have to address climate change," she added.
Figueres offered advice for future bid cities, namely to include resilience plans and mandatory environmental commitments before becoming a bid city.
And for the next Olympic host, Tokyo 2020, Figueres suggested they lead the charge against single-use plastic items such as straws. "That’s another of the converging crises. The issue here is that you have so many environmental crises that are converging at the same time.
"Addressing one has impacts on the other."
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