High temperatures in the southern hemisphere are a wake-up call for climate change

Recently, the heat wave of the southern hemisphere in the summer has been rolling. Argentina, Australia, Uruguay and other countries have experienced extreme high temperature weather, the maximum temperature rose to nearly 50 °C, and the high temperature record in many places was broken, once again sounding the global climate change alarm bell.

Extreme heat poses multiple challenges

According to Argentina's National Meteorological Service, on January 11, 11 of Argentina's high temperature records were broken. Five major cities saw the highest temperatures recorded in January and the highest temperatures in nearly 50 years. According to the Washington Post, on January 13, local time, the western coastal town of Onslow in Australia experienced a high temperature of 50.7 ° C, which leveled the highest temperature record in the southern hemisphere set 60 years ago, and was more than 10 ° C higher than the local temperature in the same period of the year. The World Meteorological Organization is verifying this record.

According to local media reports in Argentina, the Argentine capital Buenos Aires and its satellite city experienced a large-scale power outage during the hot weather, affecting the power supply of about 700,000 users. It is reported that the Argentine government has announced that the national public administration will adopt a remote work method to reduce the consumption of water and electricity in the office space. Local businesses are also being asked to reduce capacity during the hottest hours of each afternoon, leaving power to residential areas.

"Extreme heat will bring multiple negative effects to economic and social operations." Chao Qingchen, director of the National Climate Center of the China Meteorological Administration, pointed out in an interview with this newspaper that for example, water, electricity and other resources are consumed in large quantities, which is bound to affect the process of economic recovery; it may lead to deformation and collapse of the road surface, overheating of the vehicle engine, etc., which will easily lead to traffic accidents; it will significantly increase the risk of systemic diseases such as human breathing, circulation, and urinary, and in the situation of repeated delays and recurrence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, medical resources will face greater pressure. Under multiple challenges, government governance will become more difficult, and social stability may be impacted.

The climate change crisis is getting worse

In fact, extreme heat weather similar to that of the Southern Hemisphere also appeared in the Northern Hemisphere in the summer of 2021. In the past year, extreme weather has occurred frequently in many parts of the world. The temperature of Death Valley National Park in the southeast of California once reached 81 °C; heavy rains in many countries in the central and western parts of Europe caused severe floods; large-scale fires occurred in California, British Columbia, Russia, Siberia and the Amazon rainforest in South America...

"Affected by global warming, the occurrence of extreme weather events has become the norm." "According to a report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global climate system has undergone unprecedented changes, with the 50 years since 1970 the warmest 50 years since 2000," Chao said. ”

In September 2021, the World Meteorological Organization released the Atlas of Deaths and Economic Losses Caused by Weather, Climate and Water Extreme Events (1970-2019) showing that in the past 50 years, the number of weather, climate and flood-related disaster events has increased 5 times globally, and the reported economic losses have increased 7 times, seriously affecting sustainable economic and social development and people's well-being and well-being.

The Financial Times website recently said that extreme weather events in 2021 led to a surge in agricultural prices, and food prices may remain high in 2022. At the end of 2021, la Niña emerged for the second consecutive year, raising concerns about damage to crops.

Nest dust analysis, in the context of climate change, some complex extreme events are also increasing, such as heat waves and droughts at the same time or continuously; wildland fires occur more and more frequently; floods, typhoons (hurricanes), storm surges in coastal and estuarine areas are frequent. Various "gray rhinoceros" events remind people that the climate change crisis is in front of us, and the urgency of addressing the risks of climate change and extreme events cannot be ignored.

Climate governance calls for pragmatic cooperation

As a non-traditional security issue, the issue of climate change is a common challenge facing all mankind. In November 2021, the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Glasgow, England, and negotiators from more than 190 countries around the world signed the Glasgow UnFCCC, reaffirming the urgency of addressing climate change and further emphasizing the need for rapid, in-depth and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the temperature rise within 2°C set by the Paris Agreement and strive to achieve the target of 1.5°C to save the world from catastrophic climate change. The conference opened a new journey in the global response to climate change.

"Human activities are the 'culprits' responsible for the frequent and intense occurrence of global warming and extreme weather." The analysis of Nest Dust pointed out that in the short term, mitigating the negative impact of natural disasters is an urgent task facing all countries. Countries need to strengthen cooperation, improve early warning capabilities for climate disasters, strengthen monitoring and risk assessment of extreme weather events, focus on the intensification of agricultural and water resource risks, escalation of ecological security risks, and increased health and safety risks related to extreme events in the process of economic construction and regional development, so as to achieve scientific planning, advance layout, and strive to improve adaptive capacity. In the long run, reducing emissions is the fundamental way to combat climate change. Building a fair, reasonable, pragmatic and effective global climate governance system with win-win cooperation requires all parties to work together and implement actions.

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition