Paris Climate Agreement
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Introduction
Dear Friends, I hope you are doing fine. Today I have come up with my another blog on the subject of "Paris Climate Agreement". Dear Friends, as the name implies, Paris Climate Agreement is a kind of treaty between many Developed and Developing countries. There are 175 parties or participating countries in this international agreement. There was a great demand for this kind of agreement because with the development of human kind, the environment of the whole world has paid a huge price as its mechanism and working has been disturbed by the humans themselves as they adopted many factors and technological methods which are assumed to be very essential in terms of making development and technological advancement. Those factors have contributed towards development of many countries but at the same time has also caused natural catastrophe such as pollution, over population and emission of gases like "Greenhouse Gases" (combination of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) which are unhealthy and lethal for human beings and are rising the global temperatures which is a matter of great concern because future of humankind is in great danger if environmental friendly attitude is not adopted by human beings.
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The evolution of human beings is at its peak now. There is a boom in technology and we are enjoying all kinds of facilities due to more and more scientific inventions on almost daily basis. Scientists are making the best use of Earth's natural resources like oil, gas and gold etc but too much use is not good for humans and for the Earth as well. Humans are crossing all boundaries that kept them confined to earth only and have now stepped deeper into the space exploring newer horizons using earth's natural resources and by producing Greenhouse gases. Technological advancement, on one hand has brought happiness and easiness in life but on the other hand it is also destroying the natural balance. It's raising the Earth's temperature which is going to be a big hurdle to maintain healthy life in future. Too much use of Fossil Fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas has disturbed the Earth's balance. Although Fossil Fuel is preferred because it has higher energy density (it produces more energy) but now the time has come that World Leaders changed their preferences from Fossil Fuel to Renewable Energy Resources such as Solar Energy, Wind Energy and other nature friendly energy resources.
What is Paris Climate Agreement ?
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The Paris Climate Agreement was previously known as "The Conference Of Parties (CoP21)". CoP21 is the name because it says that 21 meetings of Conference of Parties had taken place till the beginning of 2016. CoP21 is known as protocol on combating climate change. It is the first effort of the countries in the world to control climate change and COP works under United Nations with the name of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change abbreviated as UNFCC. The history behind its formation is so that in 1992, United Nations held an International Conference with the name of "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to discuss the international development issues and subsequent cooperation between its member countries. The UNFCC came into existence in 1994 and since then, the participating members in this agreement have been meeting in different places to discuss issues related to technological advancements and its effects on global environment. In addition, Kyoto Protocol also functions under the guidance of United Nations and works parallel to UNFCC. It was adopted in 1997 and started its implementation in 2005. Furthermore, Paris was the place where UNFCC's 21st meeting was held in December 2015. The formation of such Climate Change Agreement was in the minds of its members since 2009 when its "CoP15 Meeting" took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. In Paris Climate Agreement, all the participating nations have submitted their comprehensive "National Climate Action Plans" which they will adopt to curb this problem of climate change. The aim is to keep the global average temperature within 2 Degrees Centigrade. The aim of Paris Climate Agreement is to encourage nations to adopt right policies to control their emissions.
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What Is The Purpose Of Paris Climate Agreement ?
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Scientists believe that our earth is millions of years old and the world in which we are living was not the same just 200 years ago. In the 18th Century, the scientific inventions had started to appear and the start of modern era had started which got further momentum in 19th century and the world saw "Industrial Revolution" which gave more pace to the technological development of the world. Now in 21th century we hear terms as Gobal Warming, Emission of Greenhouse Gases, Severe Droughts, Floods and Storms more often than normal. These are important Factors in the "Climate Change" and some nations have already started to feel the severity of this climate change because it is affecting daily lives of their people. For instance, just a few years ago in the heat wave called "Lucifer", the temperature in Europe rose above 40 Degrees Celsius and it was so hard to bear for the people that many people died because of this heat wave. Europe is not used to such high temperatures and circumstances such as this force the policy makers of different countries to adopt environment friendly measures while managing the pace of their development. Let's have a look at different factors which have devastating effects on global environment and which form the agenda of Paris Climate Agreement.
The aim of the convention is described in Article 2, "enhancing the implementation" of the UNFCCC through:
"(a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;
(b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production;
(c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."
Countries furthermore aim to reach "global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible". The agreement has been described as an incentive for and driver of fossil fuel divestment.The Paris deal is the world's first comprehensive climate agreement.
Information Source: wikipedia
Global Warming
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There are many factors such as constant emission of dense smoke and waste from the industries, deforestation of jungles, cutting trees in urban and rural areas for residential or industrial purposes are important factors behind rising problem of "Global Warming". Scientists believe that just in previous century the climate has become warmer now and overall global temperature has risen to almost 2 Degrees Centigrade. If it continues like that, Earth will become so warm that it will be difficult for human beings to live on this planet. Heavy monsoon rains that are projected to fall in 100 years will fall in 10 years causing heavy flooding. On the other hand, Dry season will also increase its duration which will have its own worse effects like less crops causing food and water shortages. Due to this global warming, it is expected that unusual and unprecedented spells of hot weather will happen more frequently and this trend will cover more and more areas in the future. Agriculture industry of the world will be the most affected by this global warming. So far, 17 warmest years have been recorded in the recent known history of this plant and 16 of them have been after the year 2000. This shows the severity of global warming. Earth naturally creates its own temperature balance in its atmosphere which is called "Atmosphere of Earth" and there is a fair amount of greenhouse gases controlled by earth itself. As the humans' industrial activities disturb this balance, the overall temperature of earth becomes warmer. According to Paris Climate Agreement, the European Union and other developed countries will continue to support climate actions to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts in the developing countries.
Rise Of Sea Levels
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Scientists believe that due to increase in "Thermal Expansion" of water, the sea level is rising on constant basis. The giant snow glaciers are melting in southernmost continent of earth "The Antarctica" which is the main cause of sea level rise. Therefore, the world's land ice is disappearing slowly. It is estimated that in past 100 years only, sea levels have risen to about 6 to 8 inches which is a matter of grave concerns for all the nations. Furthermore, this rise in sea levels is expected to continue for centuries. It is estimated that in next 2000 years, the sea levels will have increased to approximately 8 feet for each degree centigrade increase in temperature. Rise of sea levels is the biggest threat to sea islands across the globe especially Kiribati, Maldives, Solomon Islands and Fiji Islands. In the current scenario, the sea levels are anticipated to rise at more speed than before due to rapid increase in the global temperatures. This is causing a great danger to sea weeds and fish as the fish catch is decreasing globally because of sea warming. It is anticipated that if current trend of rising sea temperature continues then around 50,000 sea species are on the verge of distinction.
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How To Control Effects Of Climate Change
All the nations in the world will have to solidify their measures to ratify Paris Climate Agreement and following are the main factors which must be adopted to control affects in Climate Change:
♦ Use Of Renewable Energy (Non Fossil Fuel). It is mandatory to look for Non-Fossil Fuel to make and use energy resources. Renewable energy such as Solar Energy (energy based on sun's light) and Wind Energy are much better options as these are nature friendly renewable energy resources because these energy resources either do not produce Greenhouse gas emissions at all or produce too little Greenhouse gas emissions. This can greatly help to control the effects of climate change. Other options are Nuclear Energy (because electricity produced through nuclear means is one of the leading low carbon power generation methods of producing electricity) and Biomass Energy (an organic form of energy produced through plants and animals) which are also very much nature friendly. Fossil Fuel such as oil and coal are also known as Non-Renewable Energy resources because earth takes millions of years to form this energy resource and once used, this non-renewable energy resource cannot be renewed.
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♦ Increasing the Forests (Carbon Sink). Now Paris Climate Agreement members must pay attention to increasing greenery in their countries which will help to counter the bad effects of climate change. Trees consume carbon gas and emit oxygen gas, therefore, increasing the forest area in countries can play a significant role to control Greenhouse gases emissions which will save the Earth's environment.
♦ Mobilizing Finance (by Developed Countries and EU etc). The Developed Countries who are participants of Paris Climate Agreement must share this responsibility as other Developing Nations such as India, Brazil and others do not have enough funds to play a vital role in this regards to counter climate change. European Union has shown interest to provide financial assistance to Developing Countries which is an encouraging sign. Furthermore, G7 countries have also announced to provide financial support of around US $420 Million as Climate Risk Insurance.
♦ Sharing of Technology for Capacity Building. The Developed countries must share their technology with other Developing nations in order to get the most out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Even limited sharing of renewable energy resources technology such as nuclear energy and unlimited sharing of other technology resources such as solar energy, wind energy and bio mass energy can be very beneficial in this regard as it will help developing nations in their capacity building.
Conclusion
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Keeping in view the adverse effects of Climate Change, it is the most important duty of Developed Countries to encourage Developing Countries and keep them mobilized to counter the effects of Climate Change and by decreasing their own emissions of greenhouse gases and switching to "Renewable Energy" resources also known as clean energy. The Paris Climate Agreement will be regarded as successful agreement if at least 55 participating countries reduce their emissions by 55%. So far, more than 55 countries have agreed to ratify their actions to reduce emissions which is good but this matter needs more attention. According to Paris Climate Agreement, Developed Countries intend to continue their existing collective goal to generate USD 100 Billion per year by 2020 and to extend this contribution till 2025 in order to make this agreement a successful venture. After 2025, there will be new challenges and new goals with new estimates. The United States has opted out of Paris Climate Agreement which has sparked huge criticism because USA and China alone are responsible for 38% of global emissions and America could have played an important role in order to control adverse effects in the Global Climate Change. However, now it is the duty of other giants to make this world a worth living place for future generations.
Some Useful References
♣ http://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-paris-agreement-on-climate-change
♣ https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiations/paris_en
♣ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/paris-climate-agreement
♣ http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php
♣ http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climatechange/
Thanks for Reading.
This Blog Was Written by Refaquat Noman, a Resident of Saudi Arabia and a Traveler.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of Blog above are that of the author and does not represent his company or agency. The sites, videos, and photos used in this Blog are for information purposes only and links are available for direct access. The author does not receive any monetary benefit from those companies or sites.
