Dire new climate warning
The world has crossed into a new “danger zone” where the children and grandchildren of the current adult generation will have to survive much hotter temperatures and unpredictable climate patterns, the head of the UN climate change treaty system warned on Monday.
Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was commenting on news that the volume of carbon dioxide in atmosphere had risen to 400 parts per million (ppm) – the highest levels recorded since Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory began measurements in 1958.
“With 400 ppm carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we have crossed an historic threshold,” she said in a statement.
“The world must wake up and take note of what this means for security, welfare and economic development. We need a policy response which truly rises to the challenge.
“We still have a chance to stave off the worst effects of climate change, but this will require a greatly stepped-up response across all three central pillars of action, by the international community, government at all levels, and business and finance,” she said.
The environmental group Earthlife Africa has also issued a strongly worded statement, criticising the government for continuing to burn fossil fuels in the face of mounting scientific evidence that the world was heading into an era of intense heat caused by high levels of greenhouse gases.
“The crossing of the 400ppm threshold is one of the last wake-up calls we will get,” said spokesman Tristen Taylor.
“This threshold is quite sobering as we are more and more facing the fact that climate change will not be restricted to a rise in temperatures of 2°C (before the end of the century).”
As South Africa was currently generating most of its electricity from burning coal, it was a major emitter of CO2 and contributing heavily to global climate change.
Taylor said the Department for Environmental Affairs had acknowledged that average global temperatures should not rise above 2°C.
Earthlife said the poor would be hardest hit by, among others, disrupted rainfall patterns, flash floods, longer, more intense heat waves and negative health impacts on jobs and food security.
“Instead of moving forward combining South Africa’s development agenda with the mitigation of climate change, the government still tries to address these as unassociated issues. Job creation and poverty eradication need to result from the mitigation of climate change – as green jobs in a sustainable and developing country. The costs of adapting to climate change are far greater than the costs of mitigating it,” Taylor said.
Many scientists suggest average temperatures could rise by 3ºC-5ºC, with higher rises in some regions of the world.
Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, was commenting on news that the volume of carbon dioxide in atmosphere had risen to 400 parts per million (ppm) – the highest levels recorded since Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory began measurements in 1958.
“With 400 ppm carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we have crossed an historic threshold,” she said in a statement.
“The world must wake up and take note of what this means for security, welfare and economic development. We need a policy response which truly rises to the challenge.
“We still have a chance to stave off the worst effects of climate change, but this will require a greatly stepped-up response across all three central pillars of action, by the international community, government at all levels, and business and finance,” she said.
The environmental group Earthlife Africa has also issued a strongly worded statement, criticising the government for continuing to burn fossil fuels in the face of mounting scientific evidence that the world was heading into an era of intense heat caused by high levels of greenhouse gases.
“The crossing of the 400ppm threshold is one of the last wake-up calls we will get,” said spokesman Tristen Taylor.
“This threshold is quite sobering as we are more and more facing the fact that climate change will not be restricted to a rise in temperatures of 2°C (before the end of the century).”
As South Africa was currently generating most of its electricity from burning coal, it was a major emitter of CO2 and contributing heavily to global climate change.
Taylor said the Department for Environmental Affairs had acknowledged that average global temperatures should not rise above 2°C.
Earthlife said the poor would be hardest hit by, among others, disrupted rainfall patterns, flash floods, longer, more intense heat waves and negative health impacts on jobs and food security.
“Instead of moving forward combining South Africa’s development agenda with the mitigation of climate change, the government still tries to address these as unassociated issues. Job creation and poverty eradication need to result from the mitigation of climate change – as green jobs in a sustainable and developing country. The costs of adapting to climate change are far greater than the costs of mitigating it,” Taylor said.
Many scientists suggest average temperatures could rise by 3ºC-5ºC, with higher rises in some regions of the world.
You can return to the main Market News page, or press the Back button on your browser.
