Slow to change

A scientific body known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, which was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme, seeks to inform governments about the latest climate science, and explain what impacts climate change will likely have on the world in the coming decades. IPCC reported that climate change is already affecting every region on Earth. Changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, a warming ocean, and more frequent and intense extreme weather events are just some of the changes already impacting millions of people. Climate change affects human health and affects growth of agricultural crops and plants and the rise in sea levels cause water intrusion to islands and forcing people to relocate. In the future, the number people displaced by climate change is expected to rise. Climate changes which result in melting of glaciers and causing sea levels to rise affects every species which are irreversible for hundreds and even thousands of years. Multiple independent studies over the past 19 years have found that between 90 and 100 per cent of scientists agree that humans are responsible for climate change, with most of the studies finding a 97 per cent consensus. The Synthesis Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in March 2023, categorically confirmed that human activity is the overwhelming cause of climate change. The IPCC’s comprehensive assessments are written by hundreds of leading scientists from around the globe, with contributions from thousands of experts, and endorsed by the governments of every country in the world. A UN unit, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) is tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. To add more meaning to the concerns on climate change, the Conference of the Parties(COP) is held every year by countries that signed the UNFCCC. COPs are where Parties (governments) assess global efforts to advance the key Paris Agreement aim of limiting global warming to as close as possible to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. At COPs, world leaders gather to work together on solutions to tackle climate change.This year, the COP28 ( or 28th Conference of Parties), held at Dubai from November 30 to December 12, was the biggest climate conference ever held with some 97,000 politicians, diplomats, journalists and campaigners registered for the meeting. Outside of negotiations, organizations set up pavilions to house panel discussions on climate and create gathering places to network. At the conference, negotiators debated on how fast fossil fuels should be reduced and how a major transition to green energy would be paid for, raising the possibility of a historic agreement. Previous summits have ended with funds established to help developing countries transition to green energies, pledges to slash pollution and promises to keep people most vulnerable at the center of policy discussions. The agreement at COP28 signals the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance. The best news from COP28 was that nearly 200 Parties in Dubai resolved to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade- with the overarching aim to keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach.