Earth is heading for a disaster – UNEP boss

Human beings and other species are being pushed beyond their limit to adapt to the ravages of climate change, with human activity warming the earth at a pace not seen in the past 2,000 years, with one expert declaring that the earth is already in an emergency heading for a disaster.

That was just one of the dire warnings issued by all the experts who addressed Monday’s Inter-Government Panel on Climate Change virtual press conference on the findings of its report on Climate ‘Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ and collectively sent the same warning – planet Earth is in such a parlous state, it’s teetering on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe.

Executive director of the United Nations Environmental Programme, Inger Anderson, said a sign of the times was the fact that as a result of dangerous disruptions across the world, species are migrating in search of more liveable conditions. At the same time, over the past decade deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher than those in resilient countries.

“The message this report sends is clear, climate change isn’t lurking around the corner waiting to pounce, it’s already upon us, raining down blows on billions of people. Even if we limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius degrees, the blows will come harder and faster. As things stand, we are heading to closer to three degrees Celsius. We are in an emergency heading for a disaster. We can’t keep taking these hits and treating the wounds. Soon those wounds would be too deep, too catastrophic to heal. We need to soften and slow the blows.”

ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

The best way to do this, Andersen posited, is to let nature do the job it spent millions of years perfecting – absorbing and channelling rainwater and surging waves, maintaining biodiversity and balancing the soils so that diverse plants can grow, providing cooling shade and the leafy canopies. We need large-scale ecosystem restorations from ocean to mountaintop, including though agreeing to start negotiations on the global plastic pollution in Nairobi, she added.

“Backing nature is the best way to adapt, to slow climate change, while providing jobs and boosting the economies. We must start dedicating thought and funding to transformational adaptation programmes with nature at their heart. Humanity has spent centuries treating nature like its worst enemy. The truth is that nature can be our saviour but only if we save it first.”

Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Professor Petteri Taalas, described the atmosphere today as one of steroids, doped with fossil fuels, which are already leading to stronger and more frequent extreme weather events and climate change-induced disasters. These come with high human and economic impact with more than four in 10 people in the world living in countries which are highly vulnerable to climate change. Global hotspots, he explained, are found in parts of Africa, Southern Asia, small island developing states (SIDS) and Central and South America.

In many of those countries, population growth, urbanisation and unsustainable development practices are boosting the exposure of people and ecosystems to climate change, but all countries are affected as we have seen in Germany, USA and Canada last year, he added.

Professor Taalas also drew attention to the looming water crisis and sea level rise, adding that one way to adapt is to invest in early-warning services, but the basic weather observing networks in Africa and several island states have severe gaps.

Meanwhile, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Hoesung Lee, said the stakes for our planet have never been greater as the report shows unequivocally that human activity has warmed the planet at a rate not seen in at least the past 2,000 years, putting in jeopardy the global goal of keeping greenhouse gases at 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next decade.

“Severe climate change impacts are already happening. Vulnerable people, those marginalised socially and economically, are the most exposed to climate change impacts and have the least resources to adapt. Beyond certain temperatures adaptation is no longer possible for some species. Our report is a blueprint for our future of this planet. It recognises the interdependence of climate, ecosystem, biodiversity and people.

“Critically, this report highlights the importance of including and using diverse forms of knowledge, such as indigenous and local knowledge, but most importantly, it emphasises the urgency of immediate and ambitious action to address climate risks. Half-measures are no longer an option,” he declared.