Obama: Countries facing severe effects of climate change offer ‘moral call to rest of the world’

Former President Obama has said that the countries that face the most serious effects of climate change offer a “moral call to the rest of the world” to act.

“For those of you who are … experiencing the effects of it right now, there may be some hard questions in terms of adaptation versus mitigation,” Obama said Friday during a conference of youth leaders in Malaysia, Reuters reported.

“Your voice, your witness to what’s happening right here and now, is a moral call to the rest of the world. And figuring out how to tell the story of what you are seeing, and the losses that are already taking place, that’s going to be important,” he added. 

His comments came as island countries that are most threatened by climate change reportedly accused wealthier nations of not seeing its urgency during a United Nations summit in Madrid. 

Obama also said that the previous generation did not handle climate change “the way it should have,” according to Reuters. 

“The oceans will be rising, and that is going to displace people. So we’ll to have to anticipate and care for some of the consequences, including large scale migrations and disruptions. That’s going to be very possible,” the former president said. 

“Old people are not going to worry about this as much as young people because they’re going to be gone when the full effects of this will come. So you’re going to have more urgency and educate your communities,” he added. 

His comments come as President Trump has announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, which the U.S. signed during Obama’s presidency.

Once it leaves, the U.S. will be the only country that is not part of the accord.