A report by UN scientists concludes that the temperature increase should not be exceeded to more than 1.5 ° C. The consequences that this increase would have would be devastating for the island countries and would aggravate phenomena such as droughts, forest fires and floods. This topic will be discussed and defined during the next COP24 to be held in December in Katowice (Poland).

By José Díaz

Servindi, October 8th, 2018.- A few weeks before the COP24 in Katowice (Poland), the international scientific community has strongly expressed its position on the debate on global warming. This last through a report prepared by the members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that would demonstrate that the global goal of temperature increase in the Paris Agreement should not exceed 1.5 ° Celsius.

In this way, UN scientists demand governments committed to the Paris Agreement to carry out reforms and changes "unprecedented" in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s important to remember that this will be one of the points to discuss in the agenda of the next COP24.

"This report is not about politics, it is a scientific document and we need leaders guided by science. With this scientific evidence on the table, policy makers have nowhere to hide," said Greenpeace Executive Director Jennifer Morgan after the IPCC report was released.

The debate on the goal of global warming in the Paris Agreement emerges because, in the writing of the document, in 2015, it was initially stipulated not to exceed 2° Celsius, a calculation that scientists consider insufficient. It is for this reason that the proposal to establish the 1.5 ° Celsius limit in both the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda becomes increasingly strong.

Negative forecasts

Although the IPCC report will be disseminated in detail this week during the European Union summit of environment ministers, some of its details have already been released. One of the most dramatic data would be the situation of the island countries during the next 10 years, in the face of the unstoppable rise in sea levels.

In fact, according to the World Meteorological Organization, within 30 or 60 years countries such as Kiribati will be uninhabitable due to the sea level that surrounds it. Another devastating scenario would be that the increase of 2° C would mean aggravating natural phenomena such as droughts, heat waves, forest fires and floods.

"Only when environmental, social, economic and gender justice is contemplated in climate policies can we prevent the temperature increase from exceeding 1.5 degrees. Otherwise, the current system takes us headlong into catastrophe. We already have the data that shows, now the action is needed," said Karin Nansen, president of the Friends of the Earth organization.

All these elements make the next COP24, where the goal of global warming will be defined, one of the most important climatic events of recent years. Will there be political support to face the environmental challenges of the future?

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#CambioClimático: ¡Alarmante! Nuevo informe asegura que debemos reducir la temperatura global a 1,5 ºC → https://t.co/AuWZZwcMbZ pic.twitter.com/2clU2Vk6HF

— Servindi (@Servindi) 8 de octubre de 2018