As the incoming administration in the United States takes shape, the country’s expected withdrawal from the Paris Climate accord is all but certain going by the electoral promises of President-elect Donald Trump.
But the outgoing US Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says that as difficult as the prospect of US withdrawal may be, the world has realized that they could go on without the United States.
The US top diplomat was responding to a question at a media briefing in New York on the back and forth of US commitment to climate change as the defining issue of the moment and the policy somersaults of different Democratic and Republican administrations from Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden.
In the words of Thomas-Greenfield, “I think that the Paris Agreement continued without us and became stronger, and people became more committed to ensuring that it moved forward when we were not in the room. And we felt during – when President Biden was elected, very first appointment along with me and the Secretary of State was appointing secretary – former Secretary Kerry to continue those efforts. And we saw American companies, we saw American cities continuing to engage on this issue.”
The US top diplomat however, emphasized that “it’s better for us to be in the room, to be part of it. But the process continued without us, and it’s stronger with us.”
On the issue of hunger around the world, the Ambassador expressed dissatisfaction at the level of hunger all over the world, including the United States. “As many of you know, this is something that is very personal to me. I’ve seen starvation up close. Today this challenge is more urgent than ever before as millions of people face hunger, even famine, across the world. To address this crisis, the United States will convene a high-level meeting on food security on December 9th, focused on galvanizing action toward achieving SDG 2: Zero Hunger. We’ll be bringing together experts from across the international community to discuss where we’ve been, where we are, and most importantly, where we’re going in the collective fight to end food security.”
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
“When I deal with issues related to hunger, I also visit and work with inner cities, where we’re seeing basically food deserts where people are – have not gotten access to healthy food. I’m looking at countries that have been impacted by Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine that has led to grain not being available in countries around the world or becoming more expensive in countries around the world. I’m hearing from people in Africa how the cost of food has gone up significantly because of the war.”
In what appears to be grading her performance in office, the Ambassador used the opportunity of the exit media conference to claim that over the course of the past four years, the United States worked diligently to rebuild alliances and reassert its leadership at the UN and around the world, but quickly added “what comes even after the next administration is not something that I’m privy to or that I can predict.”
Thomas-Greenfield also fielded questions on Africa and specifically on US priorities on the enduring and escalating security challenges in the DRC, Somalia, and the Sahel countries.
The Ambassador who also served as the Assistant Secretary for Africa in the Obama administration stressed that the United States had been focused on conflicts around the continent very aggressively throughout the US presidency of the security council.
According to the diplomat, the US remains engage in DRC, supporting the Luanda Process, the Nairobi Process, and the regional countries who have been involved in trying to find a solution for the situation in DRC.
Similarly, she said, US had been actively engaged in Somalia.
“I have been a very strong, active, loud voice on ensuring that the world pays attention to what is happening in Sudan, where we see tens of thousands of people who’ve been forced from their home – in fact, millions have been forced from their homes – in a war that is being carried out by two generals who were brothers in arms and now they’re tearing their country apart. And I was really very upset that nobody was paying attention to what was happening in Sudan. And fortunately, we’re beginning to see more attention being paid to that, but more important than paying attention to it is finding a solution that will end this horrific war and the suffering of the Sudanese people.”
