Climate Change: The world cannot afford a delayed action

We should mark the year 2015. Hardly a day or a week goes by without the distressing news of cyclones, tornadoes, floods, wildfires and more calamitous occurrences. Scientists, ecologists and philanthropists have repeatedly cautioned the international community against tolerating the artificial aspects of global warming that imperil human lives and properties. At present, catastrophic events in many parts of the world like India and Pakistan seem to corroborate the incessant concerns - more than 1,200 people recently died in Pakistan due to heatstroke and dehydration caused by an unusual heatwave soaring above 40 degrees celsius; 2,500 people are reported to have died last June in India due to the deadliest heat wave in the history of the country. Last January, tropical rainstorms caused disastrous floods in Africa's southern region killing 176 people in Malawi, 86 in Mozambique and 46 in Madagascar. More than 250,000 people left their homes and hundreds more went missing.
Globally, political leaders and scientists have concurred that a 'safe level' of climate change becomes sustainable once global warming has been tolerated within 2 degrees Celsius at pre-industrial temperature. According to a discussion paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics published by European Geophysical Union (EGU), this new finding indicates something else - 2 degrees Celsius of warming leads to runaway ice-melting at the two polar regions causing sea-level rise and changes in oceanic circulation by 2050 that are more extreme than current projections. No swift action plans are visible around the industrialised countries, although politicians decided to keep global warming within such temperature. Their sluggish commitment has caused havoc to billions of lives in the least developed countries (LDCs) making them scapegoats for global warming.
Moreover, several other countries such as Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and India are likely to face droughts whereas parts of South America and United States experience floods and torrential rains. The recent BBC surveys on global warming reported that it can create stronger typhoons in the Asia-Pacific but stimulate harsh winters in Europe leading to several deaths. Additionally, El Nino's effect on global harvests has the potential to start price-hikes for essential foodstuffs like rice, coffee and sugar. It is feared that climate change is leading to deadlier heat-waves, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes everywhere. The recent wildfires and dwindling rainfalls in Australia reminds its politicians to take immediate measures to prevent climate change. The country has undertaken a lengthy plan to reduce 26 per cent of global warming by 2030, although ordinary Australians and rest of the world have to pay a heavy price for such delayed actions.
Both the middle-income countries and LDCs - Bangladesh, India, China and other densely-populated ones in particular - come under an immediate and direct threat from global warming. Monsoon in Bangladesh shows radical change in weather and rainfalls. Southern parts of the country have plenty of rainfalls and floods while the northern area experiences scanty or no rainfall and semi-arid weather. Similarly, both India and China have been suffering from the severe effects of climate change. Political authorities of such countries should ensure the protection of their citizens from the wrath of global warming. Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) should be implemented without further delay.
US President Obama initiated a vigorous campaign on climate change in June, 2013 and announced the Climate Action Plan to tackle the crisis but the action plan seems to move at a snail's pace.
The World Climate Summit, scheduled to be held in Paris in December this year, will hopefully raise political momentum for a meaningful universal climate agreement, galvanise transformative action in all countries for reducing emissions, and build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. The summit will likely adopt a global vision for low-carbon economic growth and propose climate action on five fronts - cutting emissions; mobilising money and markets; pricing carbon emissions; strengthening resilience; and mobilising new coalitions of the willing.
Besides, world leaders like Ban Ki-moon, Pope Francis and many ecologists and scientists have echoed their voices for a radical measure on climate change. In 2014, the UN Secretary-General said that the year 2015 would be perfect for climate change action. While slamming a slew of modern trends, the heedless worship of technology, and our addiction to fossil-fuels and compulsive consumerism, the Pope has declared that humanity's 'reckless' behaviour has pushed the planet to a perilous "breaking point." Further, the Pope has warned: "Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain."
Furthermore, the world and its population, threatened as they are by climate change, can delay no longer the implementation of the action plans to tackle climate change. Countries and their leaders must agree to finalise an ambitious legal agreement on climate change by 2015. The cost of inaction will rise gradually - ice caps are melting, sea-levels are rising and the oceans are becoming more acidic; greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise while we are the first people ever to breathe air with 400 parts per million of carbon-dioxide. Extreme weather events like heat-waves, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones are more recurrent and unembellished. A global survey finds that more than a third of the world's adults have never heard of the term 'climate change'. Education is regarded as the strongest predictor of public awareness of climate change - improving basic education and public understanding regarding climate change are vital to gain support for climate action. The most disastrous events in 2015 suggest that contemporary world and its leaders have no time and scope of delaying the actions for combating global warming and climate change effects. They should minimise fossil-fuel energy and increase the use of renewable energy - solar power, wind, sea-waves, biomass, geothermal and hydro-electric power - while stopping deforestation and starting feasible plans for reforestation.

The writer is the CFO of a private group of companies.
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