The Press Stories
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It has warned that countries vulnerable to climate change are “on the brink of extinction” if they do not take action to avoid it.
A group of developing nations has warned that global warming could make parts of the world uninhabitable, a United Nations report has said.
World leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have described the report as “a warning to the world.”
But some strong reactions to his findings have come from severely affected countries.
“We give our lives for someone else’s carbon,” said Mohammed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, who represents about 50 countries that could be affected by the effects of climate change.
Maldives is the lowest country in the world. Nasheed said the United Nations’ international government’s predictions on climate change would “wreak havoc” on the country, which is “on the brink of extinction.”
According to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, heat waves, heavy rainfall and droughts are becoming more common and severe. The UN Secretary-General described it as a “red alert for humanity.”
The report says there is “solid” evidence that humans are responsible for global warming. Over the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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Countries like the Maldives are the most vulnerable to climate change
It could raise sea level to half a meter, but it cannot be ruled out that by the end of the century it will have risen to two meters.
Diane Blackline, ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda and leading climate negotiator for the Federation of Small Island States, said it would wreak havoc on low-lying coastal countries.
“This is our future,” Blackline said.
The report comes three months ahead of a major climate summit in Glasgow called COP26.
Boris Johnson, who hosted the conference, said the report showed the need to help countries affected by climate change.
“Today’s report makes the reading realistic and makes it clear that the next decade will be crucial in securing the future of our planet,” he said.
“We know what needs to be done to reduce global warming – to make coal history and switch to clean energy sources, to conserve nature and to provide climate funding to frontline countries.”
Image released, Guy Smallman
The report comes three months before the major climate summit in Glasgow
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, more than 190 governments agreed to reduce global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above pre-industrial levels.
But the new report says that under all circumstances, both goals will not be achieved in this century unless deep carbon cuts are made.
To achieve these goals, US Climate Ambassador John Kerry said countries need to change their economies urgently.
“This is an important decade for action, and the Glasgow Climate Summit should be a turning point in this crisis,” Kerry said.
Climate activist Greta Dunberg, who confirmed attending the Glasgow summit on Monday, said the report “confirms what we already know … we are in a state of emergency.”
“We can avoid even worse consequences, but not if we continue to do what we do today, not without considering the crisis as a crisis,” he said on Twitter.
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