This week CNN Chile featured a conversation about one of the most important issue facing the world. Climate Change.
Senior advisor from UNEP DTU Partnership Dr Fernando Farias was invited to explain which consequences face not only Chile but the entire world because of the changing climate as well as to give his view on the last IPCC report.
The message from Dr Farias, based on the latest climate and UNEP DTU Partnership research, was very clear.
Global temperatures will rise, and they will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. The issue facing the world right now is limiting the rise as much as possible.
Global inaction is, according to Dr Farias, harming the human race and has harmed it by not having responded to climate change soon and effectively enough.
Watch the entire interview in the video below:
Climate friendly development needed
The world is still emitting more and more CO2 each year, pushing closer to the day, where we hit a rise in temperature of 2.0 degrees Celsius, the limit set in the Paris Agreement.
In the Tomás Masciatti interview segment on CNN Chile, Dr Farias pointed to both positive and negative current trends, such as the US intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and the surge in attention and willingness for climate action by non-state actors.
It is important for countries to look at the long term, said the UNEP DTU Senior Advisor during the interview. This means that countries, that might benefit from carbon intensive development right now, need to factor into their decisions, the consequences this will have on not only their own development, but the entire world.
UNEP DTU Partnership works with developing countries all over the world, to help them achieve greener and more sustainable paths to development. In the case of Chile, UNEP DTU Partnership has contributed with several projects in the last few years. The most current is helping the country to meet the transparency requirements of the Paris Agreement.
Focusing on Chile, a climate vulnerable country
Climate change is here and is happening around the world.
However, some countries will feel the effects more severely than others will, and Chile looks to be one of them.
Out of the nine climate vulnerabilities that exist according to the UN, Chile’s geography means that seven are present in the country: Deserts, forests, coastline, mountain ranges, polluted cities, extreme events and droughts.
According to Dr Farias, who previously worked for the Chilean Ministry of the Environment for 5 years as Head of the Climate Change Division, temperatures will rise all over the country, resulting, among other things, in less water where it is needed the most.
There is a real risk that Santiago, Chile’s capital and home to more than 5.5 million people, will end up located in a very dry desert-like landscape.
Chile, along with most countries of the world, needs to be more ambitious when it comes to climate action, Dr Farias said during the interview. He mentioned as an example, how Chile should drastically reduce its dependence and use of coal as soon as possible, and the good signals in that regard showed in the country in the last couple of years.
As we are seeing the consequences of climate change unfold, we need to start adjusting our societies.
For a world that will change, we need to know how to adapt properly.