No one is spared when the nature decides to take its toll as a revenge, to the fury caused to it by the inhumane activities.
The recently concluded United Nations climate summit in Madrid also known as COP25, is the 25th United Nations Climate Change conference. ‘’Even though It did not result in an overall consensus, but “we must not lose hope”, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said on Sunday (Dec 15).
The summit was attended by nearly 27,000 delegates from around the world, with the aim to finalise the ‘rulebook’ of the Paris Agreement- the operating manual required for its application in 2020.
Climate change is a common global cause and would work with the collaborative efforts and multilateral approach of all the countries together.
As pressure inside and outside the talks mounts, old differences between rich polluters and developing nations have re-emerged over who should slash greenhouse gas emissions by how much, and how to pay the trillions needed to live in a climate-addled world.
The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was at the UN conference on Wednesday, urging participants to focus on the science behind climate change. She explained it was important to keep to the 1.5-degree threshold “because even at one degree, people are dying from the climate crisis.”
“Because that is what the united science calls for, to avoid destabilizing the climate so that we have the best possible chance to avoid setting off irreversible chain reactions such as melting glaciers, polar ice and thawing arctic permafrost. Every fraction of a degree matters.”
The UN Secretary-General has welcomed this acknowledgement of young people’s role in climate action, his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists in New York. “As I understand it, this is a recognition of the effect that youth have been having on this debate, and the Secretary‑General has been very clear about the need for the world’s leaders to listen to youth. It is their world that we are currently damaging through our inaction and our delayed action. One day, they will be the inheritors of the world that we have left for them, and we need to make sure that we have done right by them. And it’s good to see recognition, both of the powerful role they can have when they make their voices heard and of the importance of listening to them,” he said.
The summit was not concluded well, because of consequential differences of consensus. UN secretary general António Guterres is expressed his “disappointed” with the results of COP25 and said that “the international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis.”
The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) own emissions gap report, released just prior to the COP, showed the stretch 1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement is “slipping out of reach”. Even if existing climate pledges – countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs – are met, emissions in 2030 will be 38% higher than required to meet that target, the report concluded.
Focus on ambition:
The first and foremost point of focus in COP25 remained ‘the need for ambition’. This year’s COP intended to bridge the gap between the former pledges and unattained goals with yawning gaps.
The hashtag #TimeForAction was emblazoned across the conference centre and the presidency launched a “climate ambition alliance” to accelerate progress towards the Paris goals.
The current Nationally Determined contributions or NDCs are nowhere near enough to limit warming to 1.5C, there have been efforts at successive COPs to agree text calling for greater ambition from all parties. At COP24 in December 2018, some parties tried, but ultimately failed to insert strong language on raising ambition.
As it stands, according to the World Resources Institute NDC tracker, just 80 countries – primarily, small and developing nations – have stated their intention to enhance their NDCs by 2020, representing just 10.5% of world emissions. All the biggest emitters are absent from this list.
UNFCCC executive secretary Patricia Espinosa reminded delegates that “ambition” was not officially on the agenda for COP25, but that many saw it as essential to send a clear message to the world.
Health related risks:
More heat can mean longer allergy seasons and more respiratory disease. More rain increases mold, fungi, and indoor air pollutants. The ever rising extremities in temperatures also means a potentially catastrophic risk to human health that could undo 50 years of global health gains.
Hotter days, more rain, and higher humidity will produce more ticks, which spread infectious diseases like Lyme disease. Ticks could be in much of the eastern U.S. by 2080, as per a report published by National Geographic.
The health is mostly affected with the kind of food we consume and crop declines could not only to undernutrition, hunger, and higher food prices but excessive CO2 in the air could make staple crops like barley and soy less nutritious.
Occupational hazards such as risk of heatstroke will rise, especially among farmers and construction workers. Labor could shift to dawn and dusk, times when more disease-carrying insects are out.
The post traumatic issues resulting from floods, droughts, and heat waves can lead to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and suicide.
Maternal risks include premature deliveries, abnormalities in infants and post-partum depressions are only few to be mentioned. In addition to all the above even now pregnancies are due two weeks in advance and that is global warming and it is very concerned issue in the health industry and it brings many issues to the mothers post delivery as anxiety, depression, post delivery body hormones changes etc.
Not losing hope definitely works but the time has come to put words and thoughts into action.
There is a need to trigger human brains in the right direction in order to save and get saved.
It is a result of collective ignorance and thus need to be handled collectively. The ambition need to visualized well and practically with achievable goals and optimistic approach.
