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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Maldives Environment Minister Thoriq Ibrahim has warned that unless the Maldives gets its climate cash before 2020, the 1.5C global warming limit will be breached.
We need bold action before 2020 to hold global warming below 1.5C
Published on 26/04/2018, 9:00am
If rich countries fail to live up to their promises over the next two years, they condemn small islands to catastrophic warming impacts, says Maldives minister
By Thoriq Ibrahim
A recent report found that unless bold climate action is taken in the next couple of years – before 2020 – it may become impossible to hold global warming below 1.5C.
This could prove catastrophic for small island developing states like mine that have already witnessed severe climate change impacts at just the 1C of warming the world has already experienced, including the devastating hurricane season that struck the Caribbean last year.
Next week international climate change negotiators will gather in Bonn, Germany for the first in-person meeting of the “Talanoa Dialogue”, the new UN process designed to track international efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.
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Since the beginning of the UN climate change negotiations and through the Paris Agreement, it has always been understood that developed countries would take the lead in transitioning to low-carbon energy sources because they are responsible for the vast majority of historic emissions.
Time and again they also agreed to provide financial support for developing countries to build their own renewable energy systems.
It has also long been recognised, and is explicitly laid out in the Paris Agreement, that pre-2020 action lays the foundation for a global transition to sustainable energy and, importantly, builds trust among all parties that we will all live up to our commitments in the future.
But many developed countries’ pre-2020 obligations remain unmet and now some seem eager to forego early action altogether.
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Read more: http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/04/26/paris-agreement-starts-2020-will-late/
This call for climate cash echoes a similar demand from African nations a few weeks ago.
I’m not sure how the Maldives reconciles their climate concerns with all their fly-in tourism and their aggressive airport and resort building programmes, but no doubt some of that climate cash will help with the reconciliation if it ever arrives.
“…unless bold climate action is taken in the next couple of years – before 2020”
— Don’t worry, every five years the world gets another five year extension.
Reminds me of the time I went to the doctor. He gave me six months to live. I couldn’t pay the bill so he gave me another six months. (Henny Youngman)
Maybe the US should tell Maldives that we propose banning all air travel and ship travel for tourism. Only sail ships and dirigibles are allowed.
Seems sea level has been higher a few thousand years ago:
“Holocene reef growth in the Maldives: Evidence of a mid-Holocene sea-level highstand in the central Indian Ocean.” P.S. Kench, S.G. Smithers, R.F. McLean, and S.L. Nichol.
ftp://128.171.151.230/coastal/Climate Articles/Kench et al GEOLOGY 2009.pdf
“Radiometrically calibrated ages from three reef cores are used to develop a Holocene reef growth chronostratigraphy and sea-level history in the Maldives, central Indian Ocean.
Massive in situ corals occur throughout the cores and the consistency of the three age-depth plots indicate that the reef grew steadily between 8100 and 6500 cal yr B.P., and at a decreasing rate for the next 2 k.y.
The position of modern sea level was first achieved ca. 4500 cal yr B.P. and sea level reached at least 0.50 ± 1 m higher from 4000 to 2100 cal yr B.P. before falling to present level. Emergent fossil microatolls provide evidence of this higher sea level.”
The full link:
ftp://128.171.151.230/coastal/Climate Articles/Kench et al GEOLOGY 2009.pdf
Still doesn’t work, use the whole link.
https://knoema.com/atlas/Maldives/Land-area.
Link above states that the Maldives total land area has been stable at 300 sq km for the last 50 years.
Maldives? Never heard of it.
I’ve been drunk in many mal-dives.
Maldives? Is that the same as Malvinas? (h/t Barack Obama)
The reality is that the climate change we are experiencing is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Know one noes how to intimidate the sun and the oceans to provide the desirable climate. In infinite amount of money will not serve to change the Earth’s climate one IOTA.