A damning new UN report published Sunday said the world is failing badly behind in the race to avert climate disaster as a result of runaway warming, with the five-year period ending 2019 set to be the hottest ever. The report comes ahead of a major UN climate summit on Monday that will be attended by more than sixty world leaders, as Secretary General Antonio Gueterres pushes for countries to increase their greenhouse gas reduction targets. The UN report also highlights the urgent need for the development of concrete actions that halt global warming and the worst effects of climate change. The past four years were already the hottest since record keeping began in 1850.
Climate change, indeed, is a global phenomenon and being dubbed as more dangerous than the menace of terrorism, hence it warrants urgent attention than any other issue at the global level. Every country is affected by the climate change either it is a less or major contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions. For instance Pakistan only contributes less than one percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, yet its over 200 million people are amongst the most vulnerable victims of the growing consequences of climate change. It is time that the governments fulfil their commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement rather the current levels of ambitions need to be tripled to save our peoples from the future disasters. Heavy responsibility rests with the developed world to lead the efforts and fully support and assist developing countries such as Pakistan to build adaptable, resilient communities, institutions and businesses. We expect that the climate moot in New York will move beyond the lip service and come up with practical solutions and commitments aimed at leaving a save and securer world for our future generations. We must recognize that apart from building adaptability to climate change, reducing the emissions or what we call ‘mitigation’ is of paramount importance just like the prevention of any disease. We should pass regulations that set minimum energy efficiency standards for cars or appliances or that prohibit the use of inefficient products. Then policies should encourage conservation of energy and forests through public awareness campaigns. Governments must also consider funding the creation and deployment of low emitting technologies like wind and solar energy.
