AROUND the same time last year, the world came to hear a noteworthy and deeply moving plea for the adoption of prompt action to save humanity the grave consequences of climate change. It was indeed an especially significant call, issued as it was by as many as 14,000 scientists, warning that “untold suffering” awaits the human race should there be no fast action to tackle global warming head-on. Basing their conclusions on an evaluation of Earth’s vital signs, the scientists updated the earlier projection of a state of climate emergency, according to Live Science website’s report on the paper. Since the issuance of that paper in late July 2021, the world has been experiencing successive waves of climatic hazards and extreme weather conditions as seen in the record low and high temperatures that permeated various regions.
Over the past week, to cite the latest occurrence of climatic hazards, the Greater Horn of Africa and parts of Latin America and the Caribbean were reported to have experienced severe drought conditions that caused losses in human lives and resources. According to an August 2 World Health Organisation (WHO) report, the delay in and scarcity of rainfall have created a state of acute hunger for more than 37 million people, with nearly seven million cases of child malnutrition. In Latin America and the Caribbean, hundreds of lives were lost and crop production was severely stricken as a result of mega droughts. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the mega droughts are part of the hydrometorological hazards that also include extreme temperature waves, tropical cyclones and flooding. The scene of drougt-stricken areas in the Horn of Africa and the ensuing acute malnutrition, ranked by WHO as the region’s worst in seven decades, lead inhabitants to increased migration in search of food and pasture. Simultaneously, hydrometeorological hazards in the Caribbean and South America are reportedly causing human displacement, in addition to damages to crop production and infrastructure, as WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said last week. And there are published accounts indicating that some of South America’s largest crop producing zones are facing prolonged droughts and low river water levels, in effect impacting their economic resources, though with varying degrees.
As increasingly underscored by meteorological experts and agencies, the current scene of drought fosters the growing observation that the world is now witnessing the acceleration, expansion and frequency of climate change-attributed hazards. With the two regions of the Horn of Africa and the Caribbean-South America geographically located more than 12,000 kilometres far apart, the logical deduction should be one that asserts the global character of climate change-caused hydrometeorological hazards; hence the need for countries of the world to speed up and intensify charting the course that climate action is required to follow. The COP27 summit that Egypt will host in Sharm el-Sheikh some three months from now would certainly represent a tangible opportunity to chart such an aspired course of action especially since the extensive consultations that Egypt has conducted in its capacity as the incoming presidency of the world climate summit have sought to develop an accord of views on the implementation of climate commitments and adaptation programmes—admittedly two of the core requirements for the conservation of ecosystems, maintenance of livelihood and protection of the very physical health of our planet.
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