- Only with cooperation can we tackle this
By: Sumeera Asghar Roy and Rehan Saeed
The industrial revolution has helped humankind live a comfortable life, but it has also brought many challenges, one being climate change. Humankind has been living on this planet for five to seven million years, always struggling for survival and to improve standards of living. This has led to several challenges. Seeing stadiums’ view of matches played in the 1990s, we see that many birds would embrace stadiums, and sometimes even disturb games. Why don’t we see those birds now in stadiums? Climate change?
Incidents like a forest fire in Brazil and Australia were triggered by climate change, which not only resulted in emitting a heap of carbon but also putting many species at risk of extinction. Twenty-five thousand koalas and almost 100,000 sheep died in Australia. Also, the fire cut swathes through the bush of an estimated 18 million hectares– an area more significant than the average European country and over five times the size of the blazes in the Amazon. External, as well as internal, factors cause climate change. External factors are linked to nature like floods, droughts, cyclones, and radiation from the sun, whereas internal factors may include industrial effluents and most devastating, carbon emission. It is not the only environment that is hit by climate change and global warming but also the economy, health, and the social setup.
When rainfall is less or more than requirement, it will eventually affect the agriculture sector. Droughts and floods may not only lead to famines only but also give birth to the chaos of refugees and Internally Dislaced Persons. This in turn may cause inflation and unemployment. Lower production due to floods and droughts may become the reason for food insecurity. Less food to eat eventually leads to several diseases. Investment in the health sector shoots up. A useful contributor to the state’s economy turns into a burden on the country as well as on the family.
Overpopulation is also connected with climate change, which is commonly not considered one of its factors. When there is a bulk of the people, the more industries are to get installed to meet their requirements. Henceforth, there will be more emission of carbon. Gases in the atmosphere, such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), are the most significant sources of global warming. The more greenhouse gases emitted, the more temperature rises.
To live with climate change, we may have to change our lifestyles; for example, we may use public transport instead of private. This earth does not belong to a single nation or state, and each individual is responsible for it. All of us will have to play our role to make our planet clean, healthy, and conducive
The emission of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, has become a primary challenge for environmentalists. The amount of carbon dioxide in the environment is continuously jumping up since the industrial revolution. Therefore we will have to think ahead of carbon neutrality programmes to balance emission and absorption. For that sake, we may have to plant as many trees as we can, which may absorb plenty of carbon present in the environment. But we are cutting trees and forests to establish new colonies and tracks.
We may switch our energy resources from non-renewable to renewable energy resources as the latter produce relatively less carbon. We may rely more on solar and wind power.
United Nations is playing its role to overcome carbon emission, with conferences are held on a yearly basis in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which began in 1995. In December 2015, the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21/CMP1) summoned in Paris, France, and endorsed the Paris Agreement. This universal agreement aims to keep a global temperature rise for this century well below 2°C, intending to drive efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. But despite these meetings and conferences, nothing is being done. The emission of carbon is increasing every single day.
In June 1992, a world summit was held at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to discuss the common threat posed to humanity owing to climate change, and to find ways to get rid of this curse. The cost for reversal effect was estimated $125 billion, which was to be borne by countries which were responsible for imbalance or disturbance in the composition of gases. The USA was the only country who refused to cooperate. Eventually, the conference failed to kick off.
Another conference helped to manage in 1995 in Kyoto, Japan. Delegate from 168 countries were there. The unique aspect of this conference was that the base year for the pollution index was set in 1990 rather than the beginning of the industrial revolution. It gained success compared to the 1992 world summit in that it helped to convince country like the USA to reduce greenhouse gas emissions seven percent. But it gave birth to questions like; does it draw a roadmap for the fulfilment of its commitment if a country undertakes to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases within a fixed time? Who is there to assess and evaluate their efforts?
The fundamental hindrance in the course of reforms and rehabilitation of planet earth are those developed countries whose economy is industry-based, like the USA. Had it been sincere with the rejuvenation process of earth, efforts would have started even before 1992. But their economy may collapse if they start implementing SOPs. That applies to other countries as no country help to live without an industrial sector.
Existence of 15 islands is at risk due to climate change. Rising global temperature will speed up the process of melting of glaciers and ice caps. Studies have shown that polar ice caps are melting at a rate of 9 percent per decade. The ice shelf area has shrunk by 40 percent since 1995. The Maldives may vanish from the world’s map if climate change is not addressed.
US President Donald Trump has pointed out that air in China, Russia and India is filthy, unquestionably it is. But what role has been played by his country to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases? Efforts of previous leaders are an open secret. He bluntly defended the industrial sector by proclaiming that it might give birth to the problem of unemployment. This is true, but can’t we use the same labour to reverse the effects of climate change?
Pakistan is no more exception to climate change as two of its cities were among the top five most polluted cities which were among top polluted cities of the world, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. The smog season of smog is upon us. Authorities are not making any effort except advertisements in newspapers and TV channels. You can’t stop waves, but you may learn to surf. Man has reached a stage where it has become quite challenging for him to reverse the effects. Man is not ready to spend his rest of life primitively, without electricity, fuel, and natural gas; but he is not taking enough safety measures to meet the consequences.
To live with climate change, we may have to change our lifestyles; for example, we may use public transport instead of private. Joseph Curtin, Senior Fellow at the Institute of International and European Affairs, was of the view that pricing carbon is the most economically efficient approach in reducing emissions. Awareness to the young students can be provided by adding some chapters related to climate change in the syllabus to make them realize consequences they may have to face. This earth does not belong to a single nation or state, and each individual is responsible for it. All of us will have to play our role to make our planet clean, healthy, and conducive.
Sumeera Asghar Roy is a PhD candidate at the National key laboratory of Fruit Sciences, Beijing, China. Her areas of interest are agriculture and plant biotechnology, She holds a master’s degree from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
Rehan Saeed is a postgraduate student at the College of Agricultural Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
