Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of the climate change
Rajendra K. Pachauri
From the wide-open green lands to the well-industrialised society, we have come across a long way. It’s the 21st century and in today’s age we, humans, have developed so many appliances to make our life comfortable and easy. Along the way to human evolution and generation, technology and innovation have made our life effortless. We can obviously count them as a sign of progress but one important thing which we can’t ignore over this is the cost we pay for this comfort, environmental degradation.
Glaciers are key indicators of climate change because they exhibit high responsiveness to climate change. Loss of sea ice expedited sea-level rise and longer, more intense heat waves. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which have more than 1,300 scientists and researchers from the US and other countries, predicts a temperature increase of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Global climate is predicted to continue to change over this century and beyond. The extent of climate change beyond the next few decades depends primarily on the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally. Because anthropogenic warming is superimposed on a naturally changing climate, the temperature rise has not been, and will not be, same or smooth across the country or over time. Average precipitation has increased since 1900, but some areas have had increases greater than the national average, and some areas have had decreases. Projections of future climate suggest that the recent trend towards risen heavy precipitation events will continue. This trend is projected to happen even in regions where total precipitation is expected to decrease, such as the Southwest. Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves everywhere are projected to become more severe, and cold waves less intense everywhere. Summer temperatures are projected to continue increasing, and a reduction of soil moisture, which intensifies heat waves, is projected in summer. The Arctic Ocean is suspected to become ice-free in summer before mid-century. Global sea level has surged by about 8 inches since 1880. It is forecasted to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100. This is the result of melting land ice.
The rise in global climate change over the years has become a most concerning issue for us to deal with and the industries, gadgets and vehicles we rely on so much are the prime causes of this deterioration. We cannot completely stop ourselves to recourse them which is also not an ideal approach but we can control the misuse and prevent the severe changes in the environment and that’s what we are trying to achieve with the discussed and calculated measures taken over a long period of climate negotiations.
A brief history of climate negotiations:
- In 1979, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) had organised the First World Climate Conference to evaluate existing knowledge of how higher meteorological greenhouse emitting gas concentration levels could drive an increase in average temperature. The Conference didn’t turn out any well because, from a political viewpoint, anthropogenic climate change was in those days mainly deemed as a theoretical possibility, incompletely supported by scientific proofs and surrounded by relatively large uncertainties.
- In 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted and opened for signatures in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to stabilize “greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would deter dangerous interference with the climate system.
- The first Conference of the Parties (COP 1) to the UNFCCC was held in Berlin, Germany towards a protocol with quantified emission reduction targets to be achieved within a certain timeframe.
- 1997— the process resulted in the formation of the Kyoto Protocol at COP 3, in Kyoto, Japan. The Protocol proposed legally binding emissions targets for developed country Parties for the six major GHGs, which are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Nevertheless, negotiations towards the Kyoto Protocol had been slow.
- 2005— COP 11 were held in Montreal, Canada. This conference was the first to take place after the long-pending Kyoto Protocol took force. The parties discussed issues such as “transfer of technologies, development and various financial and budget-related issues, the opposing effects of climate change on developing and least developed countries, comprising guidelines to the Global Environment Facility (GEF).”
- 2007— parties agreed to an action plan to assign GHG mitigation actions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 at COP 13 held in Bali.
- 2009— Developed nations pledged $100 billion for climate aid to developing countries.
- 2011— Parties agreed to the enhanced Action which is a structure to build a new international emissions abatement protocol at COP 17 was held in Durban, South Africa. The EU also agreed to stretch their Kyoto Protocol targets, which were scheduled to expire at the end of 2012, into a 2nd duty period from 2013-2017.
- 2012— COP 18 was held in Doha, Qatar. Parties failed to set a roadmap to provide $100B per year by 2020 for developing countries to support climate change adaptation, as agreed upon at COP 15 in Copenhagen. The concept of “loss and damage” was introduced as developed countries promised to help developing countries and small island nations pay for the losses and damages from climate change that they are already experiencing.
- On 12 December 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a historical agreement at COP 21 in Paris. The Paris Agreement was focussed to encourage the global acknowledgement to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to try efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- In December 2017, One Planet Summit Results in Finance Commitments world leaders gather in Paris to illustrate how billions of dollars could be shifted towards a low-carbon future. Financial flows are crucial for countries’ national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement.
Impact of coronavirus on the environment:
Apart from the negative part, coronavirus has some positive effects on the environment. One of the main impacts of the coronavirus outbreak is a significant drop in air pollution which has been noted in many parts of the world. Many countries around the world have implemented lockdown and quarantine to slow down the spread of the virus and due to this flights have cancelled, many regions have experienced a drop in air pollution and fewer greenhouse gases being emitted and air quality have improved significantly and the earth’s ozone layer is also recovering. Slowing economic activities also bring down emissions as countries ordered closedown of schools, factories, industries and emissions are expected to fall. A study by specialist outlet Carbon Brief discovered that in China, GHG emissions have fallen by around 25%. A drop in air pollution was first observed by NASA in China’s Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December 2019, Marshall Burke, a researcher at Stanford University, calculated the improvements in air quality recorded in China may have saved the lives of 4,000 children under 5 years old and 73,000 adults over 70.
India’s capital is one of the world’s most polluted cities, but its skies have turned blue and many people can see the Himalaya Mountains for the first time. Another surprising impact on the atmosphere from the coronavirus has been observed in Venice, Italy. With tourists numbers declined because of the virus, the waters in Venice’s canals are cleaner than they have been, so much so, in fact, that fish can be seen once again in the canals. One example is New York. Researchers have discovered that there has been a 5- to 10% fall in air pollutants like carbon dioxide in New York. Methane emissions have also dropped significantly. And a similar effect has been seen in northern Italy as well. All this is an unexpected upside of the coronavirus crisis that has proved global air quality can be dramatically improved – and fast. The change has been created by lockdowns that have grounded flights and shut factories. But environmentalists warn it could be temporary.
Conclusion
Using the information from published research and news websites I’ve tried to conclude what climate change may lead to if not treated properly. The unprecedented change in climate has already affected the environment in the most severe ways and will keep continuing which is quite known to everyone, if we individually don’t adapt to essential changes in our lifestyle then the situation will go further worse only and the future doesn’t look brighter for the upcoming generation because nature knows its ways to control and prevent detoriation of environment.
References:
- Alessi, M., & Gaast, W. van der. (n.d.). Climate Policy Info Hub. Retrieved from https://climatepolicyinfohub.eu/history-un-climate-negotiations-part-1-1980s-2010
- The Effects of Climate Change. (2019, September 30). Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/
- Piccirilli Dorsey, Inc. (n.d.). Timeline of Major UN Climate Negotiations. Retrieved from https://www.eesi.org/policy/international
- What is the Paris Agreement? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement
- Alkozay, M. (2020, April 2). Coronavirus Impact on Environment. Retrieved from https://www.khaama.com/coronavirus-impact-on-environment-8760986/
