Whats the article about?
The article is about the recent report of the IPCC and its revelation about climate change.
Syllabus: GS3 Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.
About IPCC:
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change.
- Established by the UNEP and the WMO in 1988.
- To give insight about climate change, its implications and risk and also put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies.
- It came up recently with the Sixth Assessment Report highlighting climate change.
What the report says?
- It says that over 3.5 billion people, over 45% of global population were living in areas of highly vulnerable to climate change.
- It said India as one of the vulnerable hotspots with several regions and important cities facing high risk of climate change disasters.
- For first time it made assessment of regional and sectoral impact of climate change. That included risks to mega-cities like Mumbai and Ahmadabad who faces serious danger of floods and heat-waves.
- Included health impacts, it said the increasing water-borne and vector borne diseases like malaria and dengue in sub-tropical regions like Asia.
- It also notes deaths like circulatory, respiratory, diabetic and infectious diseases as well as infant mortality are likely to increase with rise in temperature.
- Increase in frequency of extreme weather events like heatwaves, flooding and drought and even air pollution was contributing under-nutrition and even mental disorders.
Measures needed:
- Emission Control: IPCC has recommended that countries strive to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
- The developed countries with legacy emissions have to take steps to deep cuts and transfer technology without strings to emerging economies and heavily fund mitigation and adaptation.
- The traditional knowledge of the world’s indigenous peoples can be a vital tool in the fight to mitigate the growing climate crisis.
- There must be no new coal plants built after 2021. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries must phase out existing coal by 2030.
IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report requires world leaders, the private sector, and individuals to act together with urgency and do everything it takes to protect our planet.
