Planet could pass a key target on world temperature rise in about a decade, prompting accelerating loss of glaciers, steep declines in water availability, worsening land conflicts and deepening poverty, scientists said.
Last December, 195 had nations agreed to try to hold world temperature rise to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, with an aim of 1.5 degrees Celsius. But the planet is already two-thirds of the way to that lower and safer goal, and could begin to pass it in about a decade, according to Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre.
Need Of The Hour- Behavioral Change
- Remove some carbon pollution from the atmosphere to stabilise the planet.
- By planting forests or by capturing and then pumping underground emissions from power plants.
- Countries could turn to controversial "geoengineering" techniques.
- "Negative emission technologies are likely to be needed, whether we like them or not," said Pete Smith, a plant and soil scientist at the University of Aberdeen.
- Other changes - such as reducing food waste and creating more sustainable diets, with less beef and fewer imported greenhouse vegetables - could also play a big role in meeting the goal, without so many risks, he said.
How To Judge What's Wrong
Any kind of misperception will determine how you cope with the risks, says Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Climate Centre. He elaborated with the example of how officials in the Netherlands failed to issue a heat warning earlier this month, despite a prediction of very hot days, because they assumed - falsely - that lower nighttime temperatures in September would help moderate the problem.
How To Help The Vulnerable
Those who are most vulnerable to climate change, efforts will have to be made to help them not only adapt to changes but also to absorb shocks, van Aalst said. Take a cue from the below countries:
- Ethiopia
Ethiopia's government operates a public works programme that pays poor people cash or food for work on public projects, such as improving water channels or roads. The programme can be quickly scaled up in times of drought to provide a social safety net for those affected, while the work done improves water systems and builds drought resilience.
- Rwanda
Rwanda's push to provide health insurance - 80 percent of people now have coverage - and giving poor people access to savings accounts, as a safer alternative to the tradition of putting cash into disaster-vulnerable livestock.
The Pressing Problems
According to scientists, some of the coming pressures such as competition for land is likely to grow in coming years as it is simultaneously needed to grow food, to protect biodiversity and store carbon in forests, and to grow more climate-friendly biofuel crops. That makes holding down global temperature rise - currently on a path toward at least 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming - more difficult, the scientists said.
According to you, what measures could India adopt as a country to help reduce the global temperatures? Tell us in the comments below