*[Enwl-eng] The situation on the verge

[ENWL]

The situation on the verge
At the G7 Summit, UN Secretary General António Guterres announced an extreme 
climate situation. Specialists of the Climate Secretariat of the Russian 
Social and Ecological Union believe that it is high time for Russia, which 
is subject to climate change more than other regions, to take more decisive 
measures to implement the Paris Agreement.

For more news on climate and energy please visit rusecounion.ru/eng


Addressing the heads of the G7 states, the UN Secretary General noted that 
the past 5 years were the hottest years in the history of meteorological 
observations. “According to the World Meteorological Organization, the level 
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached the highest level in the history 
of mankind: this level of CO2 concentration existed about 3 to 5 million 
years ago, when the temperature was much higher and the sea level was 10-20 
meters above the presently existing,” said the UN Secretary General.

Specialists of the European atmosphere monitoring service of the Copernicus 
project also accent the extreme degree of aggravation of the climate change 
situation. According to their information, in the Arctic area, besides the 
melting of ice, a record number of continuous forest fires have occurred - 
more than 100 cases during this summer. In June, that led to the release of 
more than 50 megatons of carbon into the atmosphere, more than the past 
eight years’ total. “Forest fires in the Arctic, Alaska and Siberia are 
particularly alarming since solid combustion particles are more frequently 
deposited on ice,” the European Meteorological Service said in its 
statement. “It obstructs the ice, which leads to absorption rather than a 
reflection of sunlight, which could further exacerbate global warming.”

Almost everywhere on the planet, the number of people who have realized that 
climate change is extremely dangerous is growing rapidly. The introduction 
of a special climate regime (climate emergency) was announced by 985 
jurisdictions in 18 countries. The population of the territories declaring 
an extreme climate is more than 200 million people.

The recognition of the territory as a zone of extreme climate situation is 
not merely symbolic. A climate-related emergency announcement is a strong 
signal for both government and local residents. Most “climate emergency 
zones” have the goal of increasing ambition to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions, achieving zero carbon emissions by 2030, and make climate a 
priority when considering all decisions at the local level.

António Guterres emphasized that leaders should “shift taxes from people to 
carbon” (that is, introduce carbon regulation), as well as stop subsidizing 
fossil fuels and stop building coal stations. “All this requires a lot of 
political will,” he added.

In Russia, the climate situation is not recognized an emergency, but 
de-facto, the situation is close to that. For example, recently, Russian 
scientists raised the issue of climate-change risk of contracting infections 
such as fever, which are atypical for northern countries. Advisor to the 
director of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of 
Rospotrebnadzor Viktor Maleyev said that “the West Nile fever has already 
been registered in Voronezh, although previously it had been diagnosed in 
more southern regions of Russia ...”

Climate warming in Russia is going 2.5 times faster than the global average. 
This fact has already been confirmed in real life. Recently, Russian 
scientists and Russian President V. Putin directly linked a natural disaster 
in the Irkutsk region with global climate change.

According  to Associate Professor of the Department of Meteorology and 
Near-Earth Space Physics of the Geography Department of Irkutsk State 
University Inna Latysheva, “the cause of catastrophic floods is the 
anomalous development of atmospheric processes that have manifested 
themselves against the background of observed global and regional climate 
changes.” In the opinion of Siberian scientists, the likelihood of a 
recurrence of natural excesses, both floods and droughts, is “quite high” in 
the future.

President Putin also agreed with that during his visit to Siberia. Later, at 
a meeting with his French colleague Emmanuel Macron, the RF President said 
that he supported France’s efforts against climate change: “Joint work in 
the field of combating climate change is essential ... We are ready for such 
joint work.”

However, previously the media actively cited the skepticism of the Russian 
leader regarding the feasibility of renewable energy sources (RESs), which 
are recognized worldwide as an effective means of combating climate change.

And despite the promised early ratification of the Paris Agreement, not 
everything is going smoothly in this area. The Ministry of Natural Resources 
should submit to the government draft law on ratification of the Paris 
Agreement by September 1, and ratification of the agreement should occur 
before the start of the World Climate Summit, which will be held in New York 
on September 23. Meanwhile, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry of the Russian Federation at the discussion of the position on 
ratification of the Paris Agreement expressed concerns that this would 
entail additional payments and obligations for Russia and proposed to 
postpone ratification.

The Paris Agreement is now almost the only driver for the modernization of 
industrial production in Russia. furthermore, a country where climate change 
goes faster than the global average should not turn a blind eye to the 
obvious risks of climate change. Representatives of the RSEU in their 
Position highlight this and believe that Russia needs to “develop a National 
Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, foresee the mandatory development of 
regional adaptation plans, and motivate regions to interact with the Climate 
Center of Roshydromet in order to assess the effects of climate change and 
develop relevant adaptation measures.”




-- 

RSEU Climate Secretariat
www.rusecounion.ru
Tel.mob: +7 921 9117986, +7 9217444255
e-mail:  rseu.climate at gmail.com



From: RSEU Climate Secretariat
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 12:35 PM
Subject: The situation on the verge


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