Climate Change: Urgent need and ways to stay below 1.5 degree Celsius (°C) of warming!


[img]https:///a/img922/2016/7BYPXG.jpg[/img]
Different scenarios of disasters


Disasters caused by Climate change have hit nearly every continent of the world: the massive floods that dislodged over 100,000 individuals in Nigeria, the drought in Cape Town South Africa, recorded death of over 117 people in Zimbabwe due to severe rains, the August landslide that slaughtered 174 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, forest wildfires in Portugal, the major 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico among others are examples of climate change disasters that occurred in the year 2017.

These disasters strikingly show that we have to redouble our efforts to lessen the impact of such events in the future. Robert Glasser, a United Nations disasters risk official, said in a statement September 8. “If we do not succeed in understanding what it takes to make our societies more resilient to disasters, then we will pay an increasingly high price in terms of loss of lives and livelihoods.”

What is climate change?

Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. A mind-boggling scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, which releases carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (such as water vapor and methane) into the air. These gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of negative consequences on our immediate environment.

How real is climate change?

There is wide based understanding of mainstream researchers that climate change is genuine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree that climate change is to be sure happening and is more likely than not because of human actions.

The Paris climate agreement by 195 countries of the world is an indication that climate change is genuine; it is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020. The Agreement expects to react to the worldwide environmental change danger by keeping a worldwide temperature rise this century well beneath 2 degrees Celsius above pre-mechanical levels and to seek after endeavors to constrain the temperature increment significantly further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As of February 2018, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, and 175 have become a party to it.

Additionally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); a logical and intergovernmental body was set up with the errand of giving the world a target, logical perspective of environmental change and its political and financial effects. The IPCC produces reports that help the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the fundamental universal arrangement on climate change.

What are the causes of climate change?

Studies have it that the essential driver of climate change is human activities like the consumption of petroleum products, for example, oil and coal, which emanates ozone-depleting substances (greenhouse gasses) into the air—basically carbon dioxide (CO2). Other human activities, for example, farming and deforestation (Cutting down of trees and clearing of woodlands), additionally add to the expansion of ozone-depleting substances that causes climate change.

While a few amounts of these gases are a normally happening as the basic piece of Earth's temperature control framework, the climatic convergence of CO2 did not exceed 300 parts per million (ppm) between the coming of human development approximately 10,000 years back. Today it is at around 400 ppm, a level not reached in more than 400,000 years.

What are the effects of climate change? (Nigeria in view)

Climate change has led to the increase in natural disasters and bio-diversity (variety of plant and animal life) loss. Rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice tops (again, caused by climate change) contribute to greater storm damage; warming ocean temperatures are associated with stronger and more frequent storms; additional rainfall, particularly during severe weather events, leads to flooding and other damage; increase and severity of wildfires threatens habitats, homes, and lives; and heat waves contribute to human deaths and other consequences.

Nigeria is encountering unfavorable atmosphere conditions with adverse effects on the welfare of a great many individuals. Constant dry seasons and flooding, off-season rains and droughts have sent developing seasons out of the circle, on a nation reliant on a rain fell farming. Alerts are ringing with lakes becoming scarce and a lessening in river flow in the bone-dry and semi-bone-dry areas. There has been a gigantic increment in the normal temperature with some everyday temperature as high as 40 degrees.

Some indirect impacts of climate change in Nigeria is the killing of hundreds and thousands of people by Fulani herdsmen. States in Nigeria’s middle belt have been shaken by assaults from suspected Fulani herdsmen in a new wave of violence which primarily stems from disputes over grazing areas for cattle. Attacks in villages in Benue state since the start of January have left over 73 people dead, with communities razed and buildings destroyed; the state emergency agency says 40,000 people have been displaced by the attacks.

“They come to our land with their cattle, eat and destroy our crops and when we try to stop them, they attack and kill us” were the words of Mr. Joseph from Benue state Nigeria.

In truth, the threat of violent herdsmen is not new: in 2016, pastoral conflicts accounted for more deaths in Nigeria than Boko Haram.

The escalation of pastoral conflicts in recent years has been triggered by the effects of climate change in Nigeria’s north with lower rainfall and increased desertification of grazing land forcing herdsmen to look farther south to farmlands in a region often described as Nigeria’s food basket.

[img]https:///a/img923/3928/oQinh4.png[/img]
source: SMB Intelligence



Why stay below 1.5 degree celcius (°C)? - key message

The world is as of now encountering extreme impacts from the rise in temperature because of climate change, and it will keep on being on the expansion if efforts are not desperately made collectively to live beneath 1.5°C.

According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC,2007) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013); the last century finished with an increase in global temperature by 0.74 °C and the atmospheric CO2 concentration of 379 parts per million(ppm). Furthermore, atmospheric carbon dioxide would be doubled by 2050 if the current rate of increase continues and will lead to the global temperature rise of up to 2–4 °C (IPCC, 2013). A projection by IPCC (2013) revealed that by the end of the 21st century the global sea level will rise by 28–98 cm due to melting of polar ice caused by global warming, which would badly alter low-lying coastal (lands near the sea) countries existence and livelihoods pattern.

Is Staying below 1.5 degree Celsius (°C) achievable? - key message

Remaining underneath 1.5 degrees is achievable if nations act in an aggregate, fast and goal-oriented way. We require a fast decline in ozone-harming substance emanations by executing 100% renewable energy and other natural solutions.

Many of the reports and national and international climate plans are relying on technology and geoengineering (deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth's natural systems to neutralize climate change) to achieve staying below 1.5 degrees of warming. New technologies such as Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) are being tried out with the promise of a quick fix to the issue of limiting our emissions by actively extracting them from the air, but none of them have proved to work on a large-scale and there are many doubts about their feasibility.

Our best option is 100% renewable energy (doing without fossil fuel burning such as oil and coal) and natural climate solutions, meaning protecting and restoring the natural systems that take up and store carbon for us, such as restoring our forests, wetlands and peatlands, as well as making our agricultural land-use more sustainable.

What are the ways of achieving below 1.5°C? - key message


[img]https:///a/img924/489/oCad60.png[/img]


Outstanding amongst other ways and basic methodology to remaining beneath 1.5°C is by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels and putting resources into renewable energy without relying on geoengineering. There are other natural solutions accessible to handle environmental change, for example, decreasing farming emanations, changing destructive and out of line food systems, expanding the security of land rights for local communities and indigenous people groups, and reestablishing forests and wetlands. All these natural solutions have turned out to be compelling measures to restrain global warming.

Transitioning to 100% renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat ( heat in the interior of the earth). Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

The argument that renewable energy would be a risky investment has long been invalid: last year, the installed capacity of renewable energy set a record of 161 gigawatts; in 2015, investment levels already reached $286 billion worldwide, more than 6 times that in 2004. Even more importantly: over half of that investment in renewable energy was for projects in developing and emerging economies.

Like the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said in New York last month: “The sustainability train has left the station.” The fossil-free economy is already profitable and is creating jobs. A report this year by the International Renewable Energy Agency even showed how efforts to stop climate change would actually boost the global economy by $19 trillion. What are we then waiting for?

In 2016, 66% of China's 5.4% additional interest for electricity was provided via carbon-free energy sources, mostly hydropower and wind. In the European Union, wind and solar made up more than seventy-five percent of new energy capacity installed; coal request was decreased by 10%. In the United States, right around 66% of the electricity-generating capacity installed by utility companies was based on renewable.

England's CO2 emissions have fallen to levels last seen in 1890. Driven by a quick decrease in coal use (fossil fuel), the United Kingdom's greenhouse gas emissions fell to 388 million tons of CO2 in 2017 — a level last observed in 1890, when the nation's populace was almost a large portion of the size it is presently, according to an analysis of energy use figures by Carbon Brief.

[img]https:///a/img923/5371/LfGgQY.jpg[/img]
Annual UK carbon emissions from all sources between 1858 and 2017. CHART BY CARBON BRIEF USING HIGHCHARTS.


This denotes a 2.6 percent decrease in household outflows from 2016 and a 19 percent decrease in coal use. The UK's emissions are presently 38 percent below 1990s levels. It is additionally the 6th year consecutively that the nation's outflows have dropped. As a major aspect of its vow to the Paris Climate Agreement, Britain aims to diminish emissions 80 percent underneath 1990 levels by 2050.
The UK's emissions decline is to a great extent because of its fast change from coal to other energy sources, including petroleum gas, oil, and renewable energy. Coal represented only 5.3 percent of the nation's energy use a year ago, down from 22 percent in 1995, as per Carbon Brief. The British government has sworn to shutter all its coal-terminated power stations by 2025.

“The data highlights the dramatic impact that the rapid decline of coal-fired power plants is having on the UK’s emissions,” Leo Hickman, editor of Carbon Brief, told BBC News. “If the UK is to meet its climate targets over the next few decades, this rate of decline will need to be maintained, even accelerated. Action will need to be focused on the transport and building sectors, where emission reductions remain elusive.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has anticipated that, by 2020, renewable energy could deliver to a fourth of the world's electricity needs, compared with 23.7% of electric power at the end of 2015. Development in electric vehicles alone could uproot 2 million barrels of oil for each day by 2025. Also, sunlight based power (solar power) alone could supply 29% of worldwide electricity generation by 2050. This would remove the need for coal and leave flammable gas with just a 1% piece of the overall industry.

Natural Climate Solutions

Bringing down the amount of carbon we pump into the air does not just mean consuming fewer fossil fuels, it likewise implies ensuring and reestablishing the natural systems that take up and store carbon for us. Securing and reestablishing our forest, wetlands, and peatlands, as well as making our agricultural land-use more maintainable, help to lessen emanations and increase climate flexibility.

Besides, natural solutions have enormous 'co-benefits': while tending to climate change they additionally help in practical advancement: they diminish food waste and meat consumption; they help secure land rights; reestablish degraded landscapes and replant forests – these are all actions that enhance our health and quality of life, and add to the security of our communities and food supply.

Here are the absolute most vital natural solutions for climate change:


Reforestation

Forests are the lungs of the world, catching CO2 and transforming it into oxygen. However numerous deforested lands are corrupted and are a great possibility for reforestation. Research reveals to us that reforestation is the single biggest nature-based climate moderation opportunity we have. Also, reforestation gives cleaner water, cleaner air, surge control, and more fertile soils, also wood items and tree crops. Some incredible reforestation and afforestation efforts are right now going on, like Plant for The Planet, Trump Forest, or the Great Green Wall.

Forest Protection

Every year, in excess of 7 million hectares of forest are lost – a region bigger than Sierra Leone. Avoiding most of the deforestation would prevent the release of many millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. Forests are cleared in order to create other land uses, including urban advancement, croplands, grazing lands, and tree plantations. In the process, the majority of the natural carbon stored in the trees is lost to the atmosphere. Most deforestation is driven by business farming; there are lots of opportunities to improve production on existing agricultural lands so that we can avoid unsustainable forest conversion. Forest protection is especially critical in the tropics (like Nigeria), which have the most noteworthy rates of woods misfortune.

Sustainable Agriculture

Making farming practices (and the way we use lands to produce food) more manageable is a critical natural solution to climate change.

Agriculture is responsible for about 13 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, making the agricultural sector the world’s second-largest emitter, after the energy sector. As populations grow and the demand for food increases, grasslands, and shrublands around the world continue to be cleared for agriculture. When natural grasslands are tilled for planting, nearly half of the carbon stored in the soil surface is lost to the atmosphere.

Livestock is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, however, enhanced proficiency can control those outflows. Reducing the total number of livestock needed to meet the demand for meat and dairy products will reduce the amount of carbon released from cattle farming and ranching without affecting market supply. Beef is the most carbon-intensive source of protein on the planet.

Coastal Wetland Restoration & Protection

Coastal wetlands, also known as ‘blue carbon’ biological communities, include mangroves, tidal salt marshes, and seagrass meadows which are able to store large amounts of carbon as they grow, and much of this is later transferred into the rich natural soils held by their roots. The carbon can remain in the soil for thousands of years, making it one of the longest-term climate mitigation solutions.

Additional to storing carbon, wetlands form important protection from coastal floods or typhoons, making the coastal communities that live near them more resilient to extreme climatic events.

There are 13.8 million hectares of mangroves, but there are still gaps in the data for mapping the extent of salt marshes and seagrasses: the estimated total cover of these three ecosystems is between 35 and 120 million hectares globally – less than 1% of the world’s total land area.

Peatlands

Although they have a limited worldwide surface, peatlands form an important storage for carbon by storing 30% of worldwide carbon. They are characterized by soils that are continuously or occasionally immersed in water. The waterlogged soils prevent the breakdown of leaves, wood, roots and other natural material in the soil, allowing carbon to stay trapped underground. Peatlands can be found in no less than 175 nations.

Conclusion

Taking everything into account, climate change is a genuine danger to our reality and if not urgently and collectively tackled can result in extreme negative conditions the world won't have the capacity to endure.

Governments and decision makers must realize that beyond building a great economy; we can and must stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. The Paris Agreement has already helped to create some much-needed momentum to make sure we can all live in a world with average global temperature rise well below 2˚C, with efforts to achieve a 1.5˚C limit above pre-industrial levels.

We need a transition to 100% renewable energy and also foster natural climate solutions, like reforestation and forest protection.
Guy McPherson said and I quote “If you think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.”

The world must act now!

Mode! this is very educative and I think it should grace front page. Thanks and God bless

odebbs:
Climate Change: Urgent need and ways to stay below 1.5 degree Celsius (°C) of warming!


[img]https:///a/img922/2016/7BYPXG.jpg[/img]
Different scenarios of disasters


Disasters caused by Climate change have hit nearly every continent of the world: the massive floods that dislodged over 100,000 individuals in Nigeria, the drought in Cape Town South Africa, recorded death of over 117 people in Zimbabwe due to severe rains, the August landslide that slaughtered 174 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, forest wildfires in Portugal, the major 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico among others are examples of climate change disasters that occurred in the year 2017.

These disasters strikingly show that we have to redouble our efforts to lessen the impact of such events in the future. Robert Glasser, a United Nations disasters risk official, said in a statement September 8. “If we do not succeed in understanding what it takes to make our societies more resilient to disasters, then we will pay an increasingly high price in terms of loss of lives and livelihoods.”

What is climate change?

Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. A mind-boggling scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, which releases carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (such as water vapor and methane) into the air. These gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of negative consequences on our immediate environment.

How real is climate change?

There is wide based understanding of mainstream researchers that climate change is genuine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree that climate change is to be sure happening and is more likely than not because of human actions.

The Paris climate agreement by 195 countries of the world is an indication that climate change is genuine; it is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance starting in the year 2020. The Agreement expects to react to the worldwide environmental change danger by keeping a worldwide temperature rise this century well beneath 2 degrees Celsius above pre-mechanical levels and to seek after endeavors to constrain the temperature increment significantly further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As of February 2018, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, and 175 have become a party to it.

Additionally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); a logical and intergovernmental body was set up with the errand of giving the world a target, logical perspective of environmental change and its political and financial effects. The IPCC produces reports that help the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the fundamental universal arrangement on climate change.

What are the causes of climate change?

Studies have it that the essential driver of climate change is human activities like the consumption of petroleum products, for example, oil and coal, which emanates ozone-depleting substances (greenhouse gasses) into the air—basically carbon dioxide (CO2). Other human activities, for example, farming and deforestation (Cutting down of trees and clearing of woodlands), additionally add to the expansion of ozone-depleting substances that causes climate change.

While a few amounts of these gases are a normally happening as the basic piece of Earth's temperature control framework, the climatic convergence of CO2 did not exceed 300 parts per million (ppm) between the coming of human development approximately 10,000 years back. Today it is at around 400 ppm, a level not reached in more than 400,000 years.

What are the effects of climate change? (Nigeria in view)

Climate change has led to the increase in natural disasters and bio-diversity (variety of plant and animal life) loss. Rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice tops (again, caused by climate change) contribute to greater storm damage; warming ocean temperatures are associated with stronger and more frequent storms; additional rainfall, particularly during severe weather events, leads to flooding and other damage; increase and severity of wildfires threatens habitats, homes, and lives; and heat waves contribute to human deaths and other consequences.

Nigeria is encountering unfavorable atmosphere conditions with adverse effects on the welfare of a great many individuals. Constant dry seasons and flooding, off-season rains and droughts have sent developing seasons out of the circle, on a nation reliant on a rain fell farming. Alerts are ringing with lakes becoming scarce and a lessening in river flow in the bone-dry and semi-bone-dry areas. There has been a gigantic increment in the normal temperature with some everyday temperature as high as 40 degrees.

Some indirect impacts of climate change in Nigeria is the killing of hundreds and thousands of people by Fulani herdsmen. States in Nigeria’s middle belt have been shaken by assaults from suspected Fulani herdsmen in a new wave of violence which primarily stems from disputes over grazing areas for cattle. Attacks in villages in Benue state since the start of January have left over 73 people dead, with communities razed and buildings destroyed; the state emergency agency says 40,000 people have been displaced by the attacks.

“They come to our land with their cattle, eat and destroy our crops and when we try to stop them, they attack and kill us” were the words of Mr. Joseph from Benue state Nigeria.

In truth, the threat of violent herdsmen is not new: in 2016, pastoral conflicts accounted for more deaths in Nigeria than Boko Haram.

The escalation of pastoral conflicts in recent years has been triggered by the effects of climate change in Nigeria’s north with lower rainfall and increased desertification of grazing land forcing herdsmen to look farther south to farmlands in a region often described as Nigeria’s food basket.

[img]https:///a/img923/3928/oQinh4.png[/img]
source: SMB Intelligence



Why stay below 1.5 degree celcius (°C)? - key message

The world is as of now encountering extreme impacts from the rise in temperature because of climate change, and it will keep on being on the expansion if efforts are not desperately made collectively to live beneath 1.5°C.

According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC,2007) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013); the last century finished with an increase in global temperature by 0.74 °C and the atmospheric CO2 concentration of 379 parts per million(ppm). Furthermore, atmospheric carbon dioxide would be doubled by 2050 if the current rate of increase continues and will lead to the global temperature rise of up to 2–4 °C (IPCC, 2013). A projection by IPCC (2013) revealed that by the end of the 21st century the global sea level will rise by 28–98 cm due to melting of polar ice caused by global warming, which would badly alter low-lying coastal (lands near the sea) countries existence and livelihoods pattern.

Is Staying below 1.5 degree Celsius (°C) achievable? - key message

Remaining underneath 1.5 degrees is achievable if nations act in an aggregate, fast and goal-oriented way. We require a fast decline in ozone-harming substance emanations by executing 100% renewable energy and other natural solutions.

Many of the reports and national and international climate plans are relying on technology and geoengineering (deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth's natural systems to neutralize climate change) to achieve staying below 1.5 degrees of warming. New technologies such as Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) are being tried out with the promise of a quick fix to the issue of limiting our emissions by actively extracting them from the air, but none of them have proved to work on a large-scale and there are many doubts about their feasibility.

Our best option is 100% renewable energy (doing without fossil fuel burning such as oil and coal) and natural climate solutions, meaning protecting and restoring the natural systems that take up and store carbon for us, such as restoring our forests, wetlands and peatlands, as well as making our agricultural land-use more sustainable.

What are the ways of achieving below 1.5°C? - key message


[img]https:///a/img924/489/oCad60.png[/img]


Outstanding amongst other ways and basic methodology to remaining beneath 1.5°C is by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels and putting resources into renewable energy without relying on geoengineering. There are other natural solutions accessible to handle environmental change, for example, decreasing farming emanations, changing destructive and out of line food systems, expanding the security of land rights for local communities and indigenous people groups, and reestablishing forests and wetlands. All these natural solutions have turned out to be compelling measures to restrain global warming.

Transitioning to 100% renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat ( heat in the interior of the earth). Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

The argument that renewable energy would be a risky investment has long been invalid: last year, the installed capacity of renewable energy set a record of 161 gigawatts; in 2015, investment levels already reached $286 billion worldwide, more than 6 times that in 2004. Even more importantly: over half of that investment in renewable energy was for projects in developing and emerging economies.

Like the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said in New York last month: “The sustainability train has left the station.” The fossil-free economy is already profitable and is creating jobs. A report this year by the International Renewable Energy Agency even showed how efforts to stop climate change would actually boost the global economy by $19 trillion. What are we then waiting for?

In 2016, 66% of China's 5.4% additional interest for electricity was provided via carbon-free energy sources, mostly hydropower and wind. In the European Union, wind and solar made up more than seventy-five percent of new energy capacity installed; coal request was decreased by 10%. In the United States, right around 66% of the electricity-generating capacity installed by utility companies was based on renewable.

England's CO2 emissions have fallen to levels last seen in 1890. Driven by a quick decrease in coal use (fossil fuel), the United Kingdom's greenhouse gas emissions fell to 388 million tons of CO2 in 2017 — a level last observed in 1890, when the nation's populace was almost a large portion of the size it is presently, according to an analysis of energy use figures by Carbon Brief.

[img]https:///a/img923/5371/LfGgQY.jpg[/img]
Annual UK carbon emissions from all sources between 1858 and 2017. CHART BY CARBON BRIEF USING HIGHCHARTS.


This denotes a 2.6 percent decrease in household outflows from 2016 and a 19 percent decrease in coal use. The UK's emissions are presently 38 percent below 1990s levels. It is additionally the 6th year consecutively that the nation's outflows have dropped. As a major aspect of its vow to the Paris Climate Agreement, Britain aims to diminish emissions 80 percent underneath 1990 levels by 2050.
The UK's emissions decline is to a great extent because of its fast change from coal to other energy sources, including petroleum gas, oil, and renewable energy. Coal represented only 5.3 percent of the nation's energy use a year ago, down from 22 percent in 1995, as per Carbon Brief. The British government has sworn to shutter all its coal-terminated power stations by 2025.

“The data highlights the dramatic impact that the rapid decline of coal-fired power plants is having on the UK’s emissions,” Leo Hickman, editor of Carbon Brief, told BBC News. “If the UK is to meet its climate targets over the next few decades, this rate of decline will need to be maintained, even accelerated. Action will need to be focused on the transport and building sectors, where emission reductions remain elusive.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has anticipated that, by 2020, renewable energy could deliver to a fourth of the world's electricity needs, compared with 23.7% of electric power at the end of 2015. Development in electric vehicles alone could uproot 2 million barrels of oil for each day by 2025. Also, sunlight based power (solar power) alone could supply 29% of worldwide electricity generation by 2050. This would remove the need for coal and leave flammable gas with just a 1% piece of the overall industry.

Natural Climate Solutions

Bringing down the amount of carbon we pump into the air does not just mean consuming fewer fossil fuels, it likewise implies ensuring and reestablishing the natural systems that take up and store carbon for us. Securing and reestablishing our forest, wetlands, and peatlands, as well as making our agricultural land-use more maintainable, help to lessen emanations and increase climate flexibility.

Besides, natural solutions have enormous 'co-benefits': while tending to climate change they additionally help in practical advancement: they diminish food waste and meat consumption; they help secure land rights; reestablish degraded landscapes and replant forests – these are all actions that enhance our health and quality of life, and add to the security of our communities and food supply.

Here are the absolute most vital natural solutions for climate change:


Reforestation

Forests are the lungs of the world, catching CO2 and transforming it into oxygen. However numerous deforested lands are corrupted and are a great possibility for reforestation. Research reveals to us that reforestation is the single biggest nature-based climate moderation opportunity we have. Also, reforestation gives cleaner water, cleaner air, surge control, and more fertile soils, also wood items and tree crops. Some incredible reforestation and afforestation efforts are right now going on, like Plant for The Planet, Trump Forest, or the Great Green Wall.

Forest Protection

Every year, in excess of 7 million hectares of forest are lost – a region bigger than Sierra Leone. Avoiding most of the deforestation would prevent the release of many millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. Forests are cleared in order to create other land uses, including urban advancement, croplands, grazing lands, and tree plantations. In the process, the majority of the natural carbon stored in the trees is lost to the atmosphere. Most deforestation is driven by business farming; there are lots of opportunities to improve production on existing agricultural lands so that we can avoid unsustainable forest conversion. Forest protection is especially critical in the tropics (like Nigeria), which have the most noteworthy rates of woods misfortune.

Sustainable Agriculture

Making farming practices (and the way we use lands to produce food) more manageable is a critical natural solution to climate change.

Agriculture is responsible for about 13 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, making the agricultural sector the world’s second-largest emitter, after the energy sector. As populations grow and the demand for food increases, grasslands, and shrublands around the world continue to be cleared for agriculture. When natural grasslands are tilled for planting, nearly half of the carbon stored in the soil surface is lost to the atmosphere.

Livestock is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, however, enhanced proficiency can control those outflows. Reducing the total number of livestock needed to meet the demand for meat and dairy products will reduce the amount of carbon released from cattle farming and ranching without affecting market supply. Beef is the most carbon-intensive source of protein on the planet.

Coastal Wetland Restoration & Protection

Coastal wetlands, also known as ‘blue carbon’ biological communities, include mangroves, tidal salt marshes, and seagrass meadows which are able to store large amounts of carbon as they grow, and much of this is later transferred into the rich natural soils held by their roots. The carbon can remain in the soil for thousands of years, making it one of the longest-term climate mitigation solutions.

Additional to storing carbon, wetlands form important protection from coastal floods or typhoons, making the coastal communities that live near them more resilient to extreme climatic events.

There are 13.8 million hectares of mangroves, but there are still gaps in the data for mapping the extent of salt marshes and seagrasses: the estimated total cover of these three ecosystems is between 35 and 120 million hectares globally – less than 1% of the world’s total land area.

Peatlands

Although they have a limited worldwide surface, peatlands form an important storage for carbon by storing 30% of worldwide carbon. They are characterized by soils that are continuously or occasionally immersed in water. The waterlogged soils prevent the breakdown of leaves, wood, roots and other natural material in the soil, allowing carbon to stay trapped underground. Peatlands can be found in no less than 175 nations.

Conclusion

Taking everything into account, climate change is a genuine danger to our reality and if not urgently and collectively tackled can result in extreme negative conditions the world won't have the capacity to endure.

Governments and decision makers must realize that beyond building a great economy; we can and must stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. The Paris Agreement has already helped to create some much-needed momentum to make sure we can all live in a world with average global temperature rise well below 2˚C, with efforts to achieve a 1.5˚C limit above pre-industrial levels.

We need a transition to 100% renewable energy and also foster natural climate solutions, like reforestation and forest protection.
Guy McPherson said and I quote “If you think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.”

The world must act now!

Lovely to see someone sharing the same concerns as me.Can we talk?How do I send you a private message pls?I.am kinda new here.