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NewsDay

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Global warming, the signs for global warning

Opinion & Analysis
Global warming has not only affected the environmental landscapes, but also economic growth, industrialisation and human capital development.

By Peter Makwanya

SO much has been said on global warming.

Meetings and conferences continue to be held on how to manage greenhouse gases (GHGs).

As all this unfolds, data and global emission quantifications point towards increases in extreme heat, reduced precipitation, moisture stress, flush floods, droughts and natural disasters, among others.

Therefore, nations need to reminded that it is no longer business as usual. Global warming require nations to be proactive.

Global warming needs not to be handled in isolation and it should be taken seriously instead of taking palliative action and coming up with peace-meal measures which serve to compound the problem.

Global warming has not only affected the environmental landscapes, but also economic growth, industrialisation and human capital development.

These are impacted through, uncertainties, poor agricultural production, lack of smooth energy transitions, low carbon economies and weak adaptive and resilience building capacities.

All these serve as global warnings requiring nations to act. Despite these global warnings, rich and polluting nations continue to ignore and pay lip-service to accelerating global warming activities against the background of greenwashing.

In the background of wide scale ecological degenerations and negative impacts, piecemeal measures pass as mitigation and adaptation, compounding the already dire situation.

As global warming activities continue to translate to full- scale climate change,  the economy goes into the negative. Retardation of the wheels of economic growth also has an impact on policy alignments and mainstreaming.

As high and low temperatures continue to bite, ecosystems failing, causing casualties in humans, livestock and animals, nations are faced with the grim reality of global impacts of climate change. Not all forms of evidence can serve as global warning despite these findings. Time for role-playing and drama is running out and the inaction is more worrying than ever before.

Due to weak adaptive capacities, carbon emission inequality gaps and lacklustre implemention and integration of Sustainable Development Goals, the global climate impacts are on an upward scale and now are a real cause for concern.

As a result of uncertainties, human beings tend to relax and forget about their close relationship with nature, including their underlying stewardship and the need to safeguard the sustainable future that every nation cherishes.

As the global warnings continue to manifest, unravel and impose themselves in the public domain, many nations are experiencing degrowth, thereby sliding into economic abyss.

The human cost of heat continues to increase and become unbearable, casualties are also increasing.

These climate tolls are a result of global warnings ignored or treated with less zeal and motivation, commitment or insufficient financial backup.

There is also pollution, heat’s hidden partner in the warming crisis and many people suffer from undisclosed long-term aliments from contamination and toxins, including issues of mental health, as such, global warming is no longer imagined. There are serious global warnings requiring collective and collaborative efforts.

Unfortunately, small nation States remain vulnerable and exposed to these harsh realities. These groups of weak nations have weak financial bases and their internally adaptive power is affected and also, their dependence on fossil fuels is a reminder and a global warning sign.

A number of these countries are at the epicentre of climate- induced vices like water scarcity, energy poverty, lack of food security and food sovereignty, toxic politics and poor climate governance issues, among others, leading to climate security concerns.

Floods and droughts as the two sides of the catastrophic coin, continue to be reminders of global concerns. As such, excessive rains can result in disastrous floods while too little rains can render landscapes unproductive or uninhabitable, among others.

Climate-induced global warnings act as negative feedback processes, counter-balancing climate change in either direction.

Even the positive feedbacks between carbon dioxide and climate change are being outweighed by the negative ones.

It is against this background that we ignore global warnings firmly entrenched and unfolding in the public domain at our own peril. Global warming, the signs for global warning need serious interrogation worldwide.

  • Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes here in his personal capacity and can be contacted at: [email protected]

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