UN Weather Agency issues Red Alert on Climate Crisis
As climate conditions tend to worsen, every year sets a new record for a life-threatening event that the environment undergoes. The UN issued a report that pressed a ‘red alert’ to nations all over the world, recording a deadly increase in greenhouse gases, a temperature rise of land and water, melting glaciers, etc. These factors have posed an ultimatum on human lives, further connotating that all human efforts that were made to reduce the impact of global warming have gone in vain.
This statement was issued after witnessing a terrible record of climate heat in 2023 when the World Meteorological Organization stated that there could be a “high probability” of 2024 being yet another hot year. Its report titled “State of the Global Climate” issued by the Geneva-based agency of the UN on Tuesday heated the tensions rising from the alarming damage rate of climate. It said that the global community can unite and take action to curb the universal temperature from rising not more than 1,5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
The planet is in a huge crisis. As the levels of fossil fuel pollution increase, climate conditions show deterioration, indicating chaos that is beyond measure. Amidst concerns surfacing on the brink, it cannot be fully assured whether 2024 is going to be the warmest or not. Omar Baddour, WMO’s chief of climate monitoring stated “There is a high probability that 2024 will again break the record of 2023, but let’s wait and see.” January recorded the warmest temperature, therefore every new temperature record is surpassing the previous one.
Glaciers have lost the maximum amount of ice, those that have been under observation since 1950. The ice of the Antarctic Sea went low on its lowest level of ice surprisingly. Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability expressed his worries over the situation of global warming. He said, “Topping all the bad news, what worries me the most is that the planet is now in a meltdown phase — literally and figuratively given the warming and mass loss from our polar ice sheets.”
2023 was a tough year for everybody worldwide, so much so that the consequences of natural disasters such as floods, droughts, forest fires, and tropical cyclones have affected the lives of people across all continents. Governments and officials are set to meet up at the Danish capital of Copenhagen on Thursday and Friday to discuss the necessary measures for preserving the climate. This meeting may also include actions to fight global warming.
Climate Conditions in 2023
It is a clear record that 2023 was the warmest year, notably because of ocean heat and acidification, rise in sea level, greenhouse gases, and melting glaciers. The global average near-surface temperature was 1.45 Celsius above pre-industrial baseline. The ecosystems and food systems were a stake due to one-third of the oceans being gripped by marine heatwaves in the previous year.
Celeste Saulo, Joint Secretary of WMO said, “The climate crisis is the defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis- as witnessed by growing food insecurity and population displacement, and biodiversity loss.”