Lea Mina | Staff Writer
Source: UNESCO
Extreme weather events such as floods, drought, heat waves, wildfires, and more, are now common occurrences one hears about every night, in front of their television. While watching the news and sipping on their evening tea, many fail to realize that the world is slowly crumbling around them.
Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, human activities have gradually released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, throwing the natural balance out of whack. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped, and the warmer it gets; warmer it gets, the more the climate changes. Today, climate change is fueling natural disasters around the globe at a highly increasing rate. It contributed to massive flooding, drought, and wildfires in many parts of the world, now ranked among the costliest climate disasters of 2022.
For example, in the summer of 2022, flash floods hit several Chinese provinces leaving thousands of injuries and dozens of deaths. “In the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi, rainfall between early May and mid-June reached its highest average since 1961”, according to China’s National Meteorological Center. The damage amount by the flooding in China was estimated at more than $12.3 billion, according to the World Economic Forum.
That same summer, flooding in Pakistan “killed nearly 1,500 people, devoured 1.7 million homes, and impacted more than 33 million people”, writes the study author. The immediate causes of the floods were unusual heavy rains and melting glaciers that followed a severe heatwave, all of which are linked to climate change. The damage amount of this flooding was estimated at more than $5.6 billion, according to the World Economic Forum.
In Europe, drought tightened its grip on the continent throughout the whole summer of 2022. France suffered more than four heatwaves and several municipalities had no drinking water. “Sixty percent of land in the EU and UK was under a drought warning alert in mid-July”, according to the European Drought Observatory. These conditions erupted wildfires across the continent and obstructed agriculture in most regions. According to the World Economic Forum, more than $20 million in damage costs was needed to recover from the European drought. There have been several other climate disasters that are also ranked among the costliest of 2022 such as flooding in South Africa, drought in China and in Brazil, storm Eunice in Europe and in the UK, and more.
The last year alone was a series of climate disasters in various parts of the world. They have become more common, are costing more, and are hurting more people. Despite our current knowledge and technology, we can’t stop natural disasters from happening if our Earth keeps deteriorating. This understanding forces us to adopt more sustainable long-term strategies in order to help limit climate change and disaster-related losses for future generations. As a result, 198 countries from around the world gather annually to review progress and decide on the path forward concerning the environment. Their congregation is called the “Conference of the Parties” (COP) and is now known as the global decision-making body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As climate impacts became rapid, widespread, and intensified in 2022, it was crucial for the Conference of the Parties to meet in November of that year. Egypt hosted its 27th session of COP in Sharm el-Sheikh and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) focused on three main areas: climate adaptation, climate finance, and the support of the countries most affected by the climate crisis. The COP 27 concluded with five principal outcomes:
– The establishment of a dedicated fund for loss and damage in order to financially help vulnerable countries cope with the impacts of floods, drought, and other weather extreme events
– The maintenance of a clear intention to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach and limit warming to that temperature
– Holding businesses and institutions accountable for their contribution to global warming
– Increase financial support for developing countries in order to provide them with climate technology, mitigation, and adaptation methods
– Accelerating the implementation of climate objectives
We hope that the coming years will see an acceleration in climate action and that countries will exert more effort toward addressing climate change, especially the ones that contribute the most to greenhouse gas emissions. Let’s save the Earth together!
References
– https://www.ecowatch.com/china-flooding.html
– https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/10-costliest-climate-disasters-of-2022/
– https://www.ecowatch.com/pakistan-flooding-climate-change-2.html
– https://www.ecowatch.com/drought-europe-climate-change.html