Humanity Is On Thin Ice, & That Ice Is Melting Fast: Antonio Guterres

News Desk

Islamabad: “Without urgent, effective, and equitable mitigation and adaptation actions, climate change increasingly threatens ecosystems, biodiversity, and the livelihoods, health, and well-being of current and future generations,” according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated, “Humanity is on thin ice, and that ice is melting fast. Everything, everywhere, at once, our world requires climate action on all fronts. The research also stated that there were numerous doable and practical choices that were currently available to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.”

The synthesis report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable, sustainable future for all, said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.

Lee further added that mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits.

The synthesis report is the closing chapter of the Panel’s Sixth Assessment. It highlights the scale of the challenge due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.

A century of burning fossil fuels, together with unequal and unsustainable land use, has resulted in temperatures that are already 1.1°C higher than pre-industrial levels. Due to this, extreme weather events have become more frequent and intense, increasing the danger they pose to both nature and people around the world.

With global warming, it is predicted that food and water insecurity would increase. When these risks mix with other unfavourable events, such pandemics or conflicts, they are much more challenging to manage. In order to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, deep, quick, and persistent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will be required in every sector this decade, according to the research.

If this target is to be accomplished, emissions must decrease today and virtually completely decline by 2030. The IPCC’s suggested solution is ‘climate resilient development’, which entails combining steps to combat climate change with those to lessen or prevent greenhouse gas emissions in ways that have wider positive effects.