At a time when the world is engrossed with updates on Covid-19 vaccine arrival, a set of warnings regarding global warming have arrived. The report prepared  by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that came on Wednesday said Greenhouse gas emissions touched a new high last year giving rise to the prospect that it’s not far when the world is going to get hotter by an average temperature of 3 degrees Celsius. This development, as per scientists, implies that extreme climatic features such as storms, floods  and droughts are going to rise in the near future and all the preceding treaties and talks on minimising the Greenhouse effect have actually been fruitless. Meanwhile, the other report that came from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), an India-based but globally engaged research think-tank analysing and advising on critical issues concerning energy, environment and water has specifically pointed out the danger India is going to face due to the rise in temperature that is fundamental to the concept of global warming. The twin warnings need to be taken seriously and only rapid actions extended over a prolonged period may bring some minimising effects. The world as a single entity must react, which, unfortunately is still not visible.
The UNEP report has captured how silently and shameless the nations, mostly the big ones are failing in their zero carbon emissions commitments. While global emissions have grown by an average 1.4 % per year since 2010, in 2019 alone it has been devastatingly large with a near-double increase of 2.6 %, a major contributing factor being the forest fires of the likes of Amazon and others. In comparison, the CEEW report carries a greater level of warning since it has anticipated that even with an average of 0.6 degree C rise in temperature over the past century, India’s future  is much insecure. The main takeaway from it is that more than 75% of the country’s  districts are hot spots of extreme climate events such as floods, droughts and cyclones. While there were 250 of such  between 1970 and 2005,  after  2005 and till now, 310 have taken place resulting in irreversible loss of lives, properties and  livelihoods. One can thus  understand the actual cause of the recurring floods in Assam and the ones that devastated various parts of Arunachal Pradesh this year or the cyclone Amphan that wreaked havoc in the coastal plains of Bengal a few months back.
Global warming and the interlinked factor of climate change and the severe after-effects seem uncontrollable now. They will be degrees more if all nations don’t wake up. A citizen might ponder- if there was a vaccine for global warming!

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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