Global Warming: Issues, Policies, and Implementation
What will the future be?
The ramification of global warming is a slew of grave, far-reaching changes on our planet and our lives. If nothing is done to alleviate global warming, we will face.
Warmer temperatures
Average temperatures will rise, as will the frequency of heat waves during the warm season will increase. We will see an increase in average surface air temperature of about 2.5°C by the year 2100. This increases deadly heat waves and the spread of disease as well.
Further melting of glaciers and early ice thaw
Melting of the Arctic Ice Caps could be sufficient to turn off the ocean currents that drive the Gulf Stream. This will keep many areas warmer than it would otherwise be; for example, Britain would be up to 6°C warmer.
Sea-levels Rise
Sea-levels will rise by approximately 49 centimetres over the next 100 years, which will not only lead to increased coastal flooding but also an increase in the base for storm surges, allowing flooding of larger areas and higher elevations.
Climate extremities and irregularities
The climate will be distorted as chances of extreme weather occurring will increase. There will be more drought, wildfire, intense rainstorms and more powerful and dangerous hurricanes. As a result, ecosystem would shift and transform, leaving many species dying off because such changes are too rapid and drastic for them to adapt.
Detrimental effects on our environment will inevitably change our lives. In many parts of the world, people’s lives are already affected. Agriculture and husbandry are the first to take the blunt of the sweeping weather changes; farmers in certain areas are struggling with the poor harvest, dying plants and livestock, and low production of crops and staples. This will be the first sector that falls victim to global warming and researcher predict that more would follow.
What have been done?
Although climate change is not a new issue; in as early as the early 1980s it was deemed by the scientific community as a critical global issue. Governments established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to help them understand and build some international consensus on the nature of the problem. Since then, carbon emission has increased at an alarmingly rate within the past decade and has been predicted to continue at such rate with the rising industrial, highly populous countries such as Brazil, India and China. In response, the international community’s efforts in combating carbon emission have also gained great momentum. More and more countries have pledged to fight what might be the greatest catastrophe the planet and human kind would face. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is established in 1992 to organize the fight against and monitor global warming. What has been the centre of attention is the Kyoto Protocol under UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol assigns mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the signatory nations. To date, 169 countries and other governmental entities have ratified the agreement, representing over 61.6% of emissions. Notable absence are the United States and Australia. The European Community signed the Kyoto Protocol on 29th April 1998. Under the Protocol, the 15 European states had been assigned a single emissions reduction target of 8% on average over 2008-2012 from 1990 baseline. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is one of the key instruments to help achieve emission reductions across Europe, which started on 1st Jan 2005.
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