We have twelve years to limit the affects of climate change, by limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5C. Fears that the final text of the landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – released last week – would be watered down have proven to be untrue. But it has left us with little room for optimism. The report warns us that we are on our way towards our doom. We can do something about it but we are too stubborn to change. The myth that our species has a rational superiority to others is set to be put to the test. But the first tragedies in this test are unlikely to be our own species. Insects, animals and marine life are already bearing the brunt of the impact of climate change. The 1.5C limit that the world’s leading climate change scientists have presented is less than the 2C limit agreed upon in the Paris climate change accord. But scientists have not shied away from presenting the facts that politicians are unwilling to take head on.
The warning is simple: if the world’s temperature increases by 2C, the risk of drought, floods, extreme heat and extreme suffering for hundreds of millions will increase. The essential message is that the world needs ‘urgent’ and ‘unprecedented’ changes. Scientists believe that the changes are affordable and feasible, but the reluctance of politicians to do the needful is visible. The study has been approved by all 195 countries in the world, which should tell us one simple fact: we cannot plead ignorance for whatever befalls us next. Since the Paris climate change, the gap between science and politics has increased. After the withdrawal of the US from the accord, Brazil could be the next to withdraw from the accord and open up the Amazon rainforest to agribusiness. The threat of politicians backed by business interests is real. There is a need to work together, or we face dying together. There are three key challenges ahead. First, to bring those outside the ambit of the Paris accord back within it. Second, to implement the changes needed to fight climate change. And, third, to readjust the target from a 2C increase to 1.5C. The readjustment alone would lead to 50 percent lower water and food stress. The rise in sea level too would likely affect 10 million less people in case of readjustment. The reality is that time is running out. We are doomed if we do not act together now.