At no time has the world been closer to the tipping point in climate change than now, leading scientists have warned. They have, therefore, called for urgent and unprecedented measures to pull it from the precipice. The ominous message is a recent report of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. By 2030, global warming will reach the decisive threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is pre-industrial level.
The report has been tagged the “last warning” by some concerned groups. “Every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5 degrees C, or higher, increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of ecosystems,” says Hans-Otto Portner, a co-chair of IPCC Working Group II. The planet, according to CNN, is already two-thirds of the way there, with global temperatures having warmed about 1 degree Celsius.
With the present climate 1C warmer than pre-industrial level, unprecedented droughts have occurred in Cape Town, South Africa and wild forest fires in the Arctic. And in the United States, hurricanes Harvey, Florence and Hurricane Michael, storms in North Carolina and massive flooding have inflicted maximum havoc on human population and the environment. In Indonesian’s coastal city of Palu, a tsunami recently left 1,944 persons dead; and 5,000 others missing. In 2017, 16 weather disorders in the US, which included hurricanes Irma, Maria and Harvey, caused damage worth $300 billion.
The IPCC report, a synthesis of 6,000 published works, was commissioned by policymakers at the 2016 Paris Climate conference. Since 1994, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has aimed at stabilising greenhouse gas concentration at a level that would prevent dangerous consequences.
Across the world, sea levels are rising as a result of warmer water and melting ice. The two largest ice sheets from Greenland and Antarctica, also contribute the most to this phenomenon. With ocean levels expected to rise some feet in the twilight of the century, this could affect 150 million humans who live at three feet of present levels.
To halt this drift is by no means easy. In fact, some experts doubt its possibility going by high levels of industrial and other human activities; and lack of care for the environment in many parts of the world. However, success is “possible within the laws of chemistry and physics,” as Jim Skea, a member of the IPCC put it. This means that governments globally should take the matter seriously by formulating policies that will mitigate the identified dangers.
Critical to the success of such a plan will be reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, which should fall by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030. In 2050, it is expected to reach zero level, to ensure that global warming is around 1.5C. But it would require the adoption of large-scale carbon-scrubbing technologies that will reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the instrument is at different stages of production.
However, Keith Shine, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, the United Kingdom, says that “limiting human-induced warming will be tough, given where we’re starting from.” He said, “National pledges made as part of the Paris Agreement still mean we are on course for warming of about 3C by 2100, meaning four of the five ‘reasons for concern’ would then be in the high to the very-high risk category.”
For Third World countries, including Nigeria, this picture is a lachrymal matter as a majority of them are already ravaged by food crisis, lack of potable water, poor healthcare delivery and poverty-related diseases. In Nigeria for instance, communities in Kebbi, Niger, Benue, Kogi, Anambra and Delta states, at the banks of the Rivers Niger and Benue, affected by the 2012 and present flooding, do not get adequate government attention. Environmental protection laws are observed in the breach.
While many countries in the West have strict environmental protectionist laws and provide good healthcare for all, Germany, Norway, France and the UK have between 2030 and 2040 targets for stopping the use of fossil fuel-based cars. Already, efficient public transport systems have been put in place in these areas as part of the strategy to reduce the number of cars on the road.
But in Nigeria, gas flaring by international oil companies has been condoned for over five decades. There is no plan to control carbon emission with rickety vehicles running riot on the highways, billowing noxious fumes. From every home and industry, emissions from generators add to this fatal mix.
Largely, industrialised nations have key roles to play in the climate change control campaign. China, regarded as the leading culprit, being responsible for more than one-third of human-induced global warming gases, should be pressured to ramp up its clean-up project.
But the headwind in President Donald Trump of the United States should be stopped. Americans, currently at the receiving end of climate change hazards, should knock and nudge him to change his cynical position on the issue. In Australia, it has become an election campaign issue. Despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s promise of 26 per cent emission cut by 2030, he is being bashed by environmental activists and Pacific Island leaders, who are demanding an increase, amid the opposition Labour party’s promise of 45 per cent.
With the World Health Organisation’s declaration of Onitsha in 2017, as the most polluted city globally, the cruel realities of global warming are already here. The situation demands decisive public policy response: embracing tree planting, with the 2030 target for ending gas flaring remaining sacrosanct. An improved public transportation system has become a decideratum to reduce the number of carbon monoxide-belching vehicles on the roads.
END
Be the first to comment