The global climate change emergency

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday that this year would be second runner-up in the hottest year on record, behind 2016.

The WMO’s State of the Global Climate 2020 outlined several highlights:

• Concentrations of the major greenhouse gases, CO2, CH4, and N2O, continued to increase in 2019 and 2020.
• Global mean temperature in 2020 is on course to be one of the three warmest on record, at around 1.2 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 baseline between January and October this year, placing it second behind 2016.
• Sea level has also risen at a higher rate due partly to increased melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

• Over 80 per cent of the ocean area experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2020 to date.
• Heavy rain and extensive flooding occurred over large parts of Africa and Asia in 2020. Heavy rain and flooding affected much of the Sahel, the Greater Horn of Africa, India subcontinent as well as China, Korea and Japan, and parts of southeast Asia at various times of the year.

• Severe drought affected many parts of interior South America in 2020, with the worst-affected areas being northern Argentina, Paraguay and western border areas of Brazil

• Wildfires have also spread across Australia, Siberia and the United States this year.

More recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has also revealed that a full third of the 252 Unesco-listed natural sites around the globe are severely affected by impacts of climate change.

Overall, 94 of the sites are facing significant or critical risk from factors including tourism, hunting, fire and water pollution

Climate Change Emergency Declaration

With the imminent danger caused by global warming and the rise of global environmental protests demanding governments' actions in addressing climate change, certain countries have declared a climate change emergency.

It is an action taken by governments to acknowledge that climate change is real, and that human activities are the main cause.

Once a declaration has been made, governments must take proactive steps to mitigate the cause of climate change.

• The first declaration was made in December 2016, by a local council located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. In April 2019, Scotland became the first country to do so.
• To date, 1,849 jurisdictions in 33 countries have declared a climate change emergency which includes the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Austria, Spain, and Japan.
• New Zealand is the latest country to declare a climate change emergency, announcing its commitment to a carbon-neutral government by 2025.

“This declaration is an acknowledgement of the next generation. An acknowledgement of the burden that they will carry if we do not get this right and do not take action now,” Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said.

Many criticised the declaration as being only a symbolic gesture and that not enough has been done to meet the target set out by the Paris Agreement.

• The Paris Agreement is a climate pact to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change. It aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C
• To date, there are 194 countries as signatories with the United States under the Trump administration finally withdrawing from the pact just last month.