The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said that the last decade was the warmest on record due to melting polar and mountain ice and faster sea level rise than in the 20th century.
Glaciers are melting by an ‘extraordinary’ one meter per year, while the Antarctic ice sheet has lost 75% more ice between 2011 and 2020 than between 2001 and 2010.
This means millions of people around the world will have less access to fresh water, while low-lying coastal areas will also face inundation from rising tides.
According to the WMO, global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise despite a slight reduction during the coronavirus pandemic, with each decade getting warmer since the 1990s.
Between 2011 and 2020, global temperatures averaged 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to WMO analysis.
The decade’s warmest years were 2016 and 2020, while the six warmest years on record were combined between 2015 and 2020.
“Each decade since the 1990s has been warmer than the previous decade and we see no sign of this trend changing,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petri Talas.
‘Most countries have reported record high temperatures in any other decade. The ocean is warming very rapidly and the rate of sea level rise has almost doubled in less than a generation.’
“We are losing the battle to save our melting glaciers and ice sheets,” he added.
The Arctic is warming faster than any other region in the world because the sun’s energy is being absorbed by the dark ocean instead of being reflected back into space by the icy white ocean surface. This process is called ‘albedo effect’.
Melting of the Greenland ice sheet led to sea level rise of 4.5 mm per year in the last decade, up from 2.9 mm per year between 2001 and 2010.
The only good news is that the ozone layer over Antarctica is decreasing over the past two decades and early warning systems for any disaster have improved, resulting in fewer injuries and fewer deaths. .
Countries have pledged to limit temperature increases to one and a half degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and are gathering at the COP28 conference in Dubai to discuss progress towards that goal. are
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Last week, the WMO released provisional data indicating that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. Scientists are urging governments around the world to commit to a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use.
“To prevent climate change from spiraling out of control, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a top priority for the planet,” Professor Talas said.
“Our climate is becoming more severe, which is having clear and significant impacts on socio-economic development.”
Droughts, heat waves, floods, tropical cyclones and wildfires are damaging infrastructure, destroying agricultural production, limiting water supplies and causing mass displacement. .’ Several studies show that the risk of extreme heat has increased significantly in the last decade in particular.’
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2024-09-21 08:31:41
