CLIMATE change has become the talk of the town and has been a serious concern at the global level. Leaders across the globe, including the US Secretary of Defence, major American presidential candidates and the UN Secretary General—have labelled climate change as an existential threat. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns, “We are digging our graves. It is high time that we recognize climate as a public good and shift from unsustainable to a sustainable mode of economic growth.”
According to NASA, Earth’s average temperature has risen about 1 degree Celsius since the late 19th century, with the most significant warming occurring in the past 40 years. Climate scientists attribute this temperature increase to elevated greenhouse gas emissions, projecting a 2.7-degree warmer Earth by 2100. Additionally, human activities such as deforestation and urbanization, along with natural processes like changes in Earth’s orbit and rotation, variations in solar activity, and alterations in Earth’s reflectivity, contribute to climate change. These factors are likely to result in increased occurrences of floods, droughts, storms, landslides, and other natural disasters, imposing a significant toll on the Earth’s ecosystem. Human activities are also a strong catalyst for climate change and global heating. According to the fifth assessment report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human greenhouse expansions are responsible for about 100% of global warming. Since 1750, the industrial activities, on which our modern civilization is based, have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by 50%. Activities like clearing land for agriculture and industry, have increased greenhouse gas concentrations. Between 2015 and 2020, the rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year while the rate of urbanization is estimated at 55% and is expected to rise to 80% by 2050. Rapid urbanization feeds industrialization which will increase the use of fossil fuels. Despite the threat emanating from the burning of fossil fuels, effective market regulation to date has been absent. According to some estimates, fossil fuel subsidies have almost doubled to $700bn in 2021, representing a “roadblock” to tackling the climate crisis. Moreover, the decisions made by big utilities, industries and the government are also affecting climate health. Climate change not only endangers the developed and developing worlds, but it also raises serious human security concerns. Therefore, it is both the domestic and global responsibility to integrate climate security into their security architecture.
There is a need for a stronger global will to set aside their national interests or profits for the sake of humanity’s collective interest. Inequality can be reduced by instituting a carbon tax and efficiently pricing carbon. The developed world must keep its green pledges and provide subsidies to sectors working on clean energy.
Therefore, to minimise the damage in the future, states should adopt effective practical disaster management models/techniques and policies based on the science of climate change and human behaviour. In short, effectively addressing the challenge of climate change necessitates a re-evaluation of the needs, an elevation of demands and a recalibration of priorities.
—The writer is Executive Editor of Pakistan Observer.
views expressed are writer’s own.
