Climate change, code red warning and the follow-through of COP26 - EDITORIAL

During the past few months we have been constantly reminded that the COP26 summit presently being held in Glasgow, Scotland is probably the last chance to save our planet from the grim effects of global warming. The sad reality is while the world’s most vulnerable countries have contributed the least to climate change, they are most at risk from its negative effects and the least equipped to withstand and adapt to it.

In1980 -over six decades ago- ‘The Global 2000 Report’ commissioned by US President Jimmy Carter was published and circulated worldwide. The report concluded that problems such as pollution, overpopulation, global warming, and other environmental issues posed a severe threat to the future of humanity, and called for international co-operation in solving these problems.

The report called for urgent action against environmental destruction, which the report predicted would reach disastrous proportions by the year 2000. However, after Carter’s defeat at the presidential elections of 1980, no follow-up action took place.

Again, in 1988, British PM Thatcher warned that human beings were interfering with the ecosystems of the planet itself and outlined how rising greenhouse gas emissions could trigger dangerous warming of the atmosphere. Scientists too began providing more evidence to support the idea that surging fossil fuel emissions were heating the atmosphere. Unfortunately, greed for short-term material gain out-weighed taking meaningful action to stop the overheating of the Earth
Consider the figures. The world emitted an estimated 784bn tonnes of carbon dioxide from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution until 1990, then, for the next 30 years, a further 831bn tonnes were belched into the atmosphere.
It means despite being fully aware of the climatic peril we faced, we emitted more carbon dioxide than in all the previous centuries combined. 

Burning of oil and gas, depletion of forests, growing piles of plastic waste have continued, unabated for the past decades and resulted in visible consequences of a warming world or climate change. Storms have worsened, heatwaves have increased in number and intensity, floods have increased and droughts have spread, while humanity has, effectively, done nearly everything it could, to make the crisis worse. We have also witnessed an increase in sea temperatures, and glacial melting, leading to the disappearance of a number of wildlife and marine species.

Today Climate change represents a potentially irreversible threat to life on Earth. Climate change and global warming are partially driven by ongoing deforestation. Among measures to combat climate change, COP26 has called for zero deforestation by 2030. Yet the last major rain forests are situated in the less developed countries of Africa, Indonesia and Latin America.

The sad reality, however, is while these countries have contributed least to climate change, they are now being asked to bear the brunt of measures needed to halt climate change.
Indonesia has already criticised the terms of a global deal to end deforestation by 2030, signaling that the country may not abide by it. Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said forcing Indonesia to commit to zero deforestation by 2030 was "clearly inappropriate and unfair.

She argued that the country's vast natural resources must be used for the benefit of its people.
Many other less-developed nations too will face similar problems living up to demands of meeting the targeted 1.5 emission rates and cannot be blamed for the inability to achieve these targets. They are facing the immediate problem of feeding their populations here and now.

The ‘Global Carbon Project’, reveals since the start of the Industrial Revolution, more than 2,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere by human activities. The report adds North America and Europe are responsible for approximately half of that total. Today China and India are reportedly the second and third largest emitters of CO2. But their output amounts to 14% of the global discharge, with 152 other countries contributing to global emission of CO2 gases into the atmosphere.

It is unrealistic and unfair to expect less developed nations, most of whom have but recently thrown off the shackles of colonial rule to pay for the crimes of pollution committed by the developed nations of the world.
The UN, which has taken the lead in the battle to save the planet from the effects of global warming and climate change needs, in conjunction with the developed countries, to come up with a plan to subsidise efforts taken by less developed countries, if we are to prevent life on our planet going extinct.