Climate change agenda is losing steam just when the scientists warn of the catastrophic and intensifying future. The largest polluters in the world - that have pledged to take stern action – are losing focus as the world grapples with Russia-Ukraine war and the prospects of it spreading further. However, the climate change has never been highlighted so immediate and calamitous before as it is today.
The second part of the sixth assessment report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analyses how the climate change impacts the world and humanity can adapt over and beyond cutting emissions. The report warns of that any further delay in action and adaption by the world to climate change will close the brief window of opportunity that still exists.
Stats from the report show that today 3.5 billion people are extremely vulnerable to climate impacts while 50 percent of the total world population suffers from acute water shortages at some point each year. It shows that 33 percent people are exposed to deadly heat stress, which is expected to increase to 50-75 percent by the end of the century. Over half a million people are reported to be exposed to the risk of serious flooding every year, while one billion living in coastal areas will be exposed by 2050.
The reports highlight how climate change has resulted in irreversible damage to terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems.
It warns that global temperature crossing 1.5 degrees will have cataclysmic impact - which could be irreversible. On progress and action by countries, the scientists opine that while efforts by countries have been visible, the progress has been “unevenly distributed”, “incremental and small”, and “fragmented”. With war abroad and political frenzy are home, climate action is surely not the agenda in Pakistan either!
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