The United Nations General Assembly opens on Monday in New York, with a special summit on climate. The message is clear: we need to do a lot more. A report released Sunday by a UN advisory group tells us that the 2015-2019 period will be considered in a few weeks as the hottest ever recorded since the pre-industrial era (+1.1 ° C). We also experienced an increase of 0.2 ° C over the 2011-2015 period, according to the report. And inevitably, it is not without consequence.
Global warming implies the development of more intense and regular heat waves. The report reveals that these scorching periods were the most deadly meteorological hazard of the 2015-2019 period, affecting all the continents of the planet. The loss of glaciers is also the highest ever recorded for a period of five years. This has led to a significant rise in sea level (5 mm per year compared to 3 mm per year in the 1997-2006 season).
You have to do (a lot) more
In light of these observations, the report underlines the “urgent need to develop concrete actions to put an end to global warming”.
The measures defined by the main leaders following the Paris agreements of 2015 – which aimed to limit the increase in temperature by 2 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels – are indeed no longer sufficient. If everyone respects its objectives, the temperatures could still increase by 3.4 ° C by 2100, can read. In other words, the fight against global warming is a fight that we are losing.
“The causes and impacts of climate change are increasing rather than slowing down,” WMO Director, Times Petteri Taalas said recently. As we have seen this year with tragic effects in the Bahamas and Mozambique, rising sea levels and intense tropical storms have resulted in humanitarian and economic disasters. Sea level rise has also accelerated and we fear a sharp decline in the Antarctic and Greenland icecaps. ”
Also, the means of struggle put in place by the main leaders of the planet will have to be multiplied by five if we really want to make a difference. Hoping that more concrete commitments will be made during this summit.
