Urgent climate action is the way forward to secure liveable future: IPCC report

The hazardous effects of climate change are presently being felt across the globe in the form of forest fires flash floods earthquakes loss of habitat etc In the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC report released on Monday scientists said that there are multiple feasible and effective options to counter the effects of climate change like reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to humancaused climate change and they are available nowMainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people it will also provide wider benefits said IPCC Chair Hoesung LeeThis Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that if we act now we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for allIn 2018 IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 15 degrees Celsius Five years later that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions The pace and scale of what has been done so far and current plans are insufficient to tackle climate changeMore than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use has led to global warming of 11 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the worldEvery increment of warming results in rapidly escalating hazards More intense heatwaves heavier rainfall and other weather extremes further increase risks for human health and ecosystems In every region people are dying from extreme heatClimatedriven food and water insecurity is expected to increase with increased warming When the risks combine with other adverse events such as pandemics or conflicts they become even more difficult to manageThe report approved during a weeklong session in Interlaken brings in to sharp focus the losses and damages we are already experiencing and will continue into the future hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard Taking the right action now could result in the transformational change essential for a sustainable equitable worldClimate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected said Aditi Mukherji one of the 93 authors of this Synthesis Report the closing chapter of the Panels sixth assessmentAlmost half of the worlds population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change In the last decade deaths from floods droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions she addedIn this decade accelerated action to adapt to climate change is essential to close the gap between existing adaptation and what is neededMeanwhile keeping warming to 15 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels requires deep rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectorsEmissions should be decreasing by now and will need to be cut by almost half by 2030 if warming is to be limited to 15 degreesThe solution lies in climate resilient development This involves integrating measures to adapt to climate change with actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in ways that provide wider benefitsFor example access to clean energy and technologies improves health especially for women and children lowcarbon electrification walking cycling and public transport enhance air quality improve health employment opportunities and deliver equityThe economic benefits for peoples health from air quality improvements alone would be roughly the same or possibly even larger than the costs of reducing or avoiding emissionsResponding to the IPCC report Anjal Prakash Research Director Bharti Institute of Public Policy Indian School of Business told IANS The report confirms the earlier findings of the six reports produced by IPCC in the 6th Assessment cycleIt reaffirms that climate hazards are projected to increase in every region in the near term resulting in multiple risks to ecosystems and humans These hazards include heatrelated human mortality and morbidity food and waterborne diseases mental health challenges flooding in coastal and lowlying cities biodiversity loss and decreased food production Cryosphererelated changes in floods and landslides have the potential to lead to severe consequences for people infrastructure and the economy in most mountain regionsIncreased frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation will also result in raingenerated local flooding These projections have medium to high confidence levels depending on the hazard and ecosystem and suggest the urgent need for climate action to mitigate the impacts of climate changeIndia is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate changePolicymakers in India must take these findings seriously and prioritise urgent action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change he saidChristian Aids Chief of Policy Oliver Pearce said The science is clear the world is not on track to deal with the biggest threat posed to humankind If politicians continue to take us down this path we face the prospect of worsening droughts floods and storms with the poorest and most vulnerable people bearing the bruntThat is why its imperative that nations start to provide money following the agreement to create a Loss and Damage Fund last year so that financial support can urgently reach the most vulnerable communitiesHarjeet Singh Head of Global Political Strategy Climate Action Network International told IANS that the new IPCC report shows the writing clearly on the wallGovernments have no excuse to ignore the emphatic warning for this critical decade They must act fast to reject fossil fuels and stop any new expansion of oil gas and coal The blueprint for climate action presented by the IPCC is not short of solutions and infused with enough hopeEvery fraction of a degree of warming puts us closer to breaching the 15 degrees Celsius survival threshold The governments must strengthen efforts to protect communities from worsening and irreversible climate impacts such as sealevel rise and melting of glaciers which pose an existential threat to many communitiesScaling up finance must be the key lever to make the transition to a climate stable future in a just and equitable manner Singh addedAlso Read Mumbai weather update Light rainfall in Mumbai Thane Raigad IMD predicts intense thunderstormsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever