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According to IPCC’s 6th report, human-induced climate change hits hardest on people and ecosystems that are least able to cope. There is grave danger in inaction! Even well prepared countries will be hit by the unavoidable effects of global warming to come. How much more the vulnerable countries.
Weather extremes are occurring as we speak. Heat-waves, droughts and floods are at an all-time high, and expected to increase in severity and frequency. We cannot run away from the effects that are happening and those that are to come. Climate change is a long game. It took a long time for climate to change, it will take a long time for it to stabilize as well. What we’re doing and preaching now, will soften the blow that is to come. Otherwise, extreme action needs to be taken for extreme change.
Countries need to invest in risk assessment and decreasing their vulnerability to natural events. At the current state, progress on adaptation is uneven with the least adapted countries being low-income populations. These people have no infrastructure. When flooding hits, they lose their livelihoods and possibly lives. These people have no decent working medical centres. When effects of flooding happen, such as diarrhea, they will lose their children. These people have no road access or technological advances. When drought occurs, little to no help from the outside can reach them. Adaptation starts from having all human beings acquiring the same basic needs.
“Fact is: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of this planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future” – Hans-Otto Portner.
