September is a month to get ourselves ready for natural disasters. Amid a series of intense weather events that happen around the world, a UN body, the IPCC (= the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), raises the alarm over climate change, telling for the first time explicitly that global warming is ‘without doubt’ attributable to human activities.
THE EARTH IS APPROACHING TO TIPPING POINTS
Report says about the critical situation
The IPCC has issued the Sixth Assessment Report: it analyzes that in 2030 the average surface temperature of the Earth will rise by 1.5 degree Celsius compared with that of the years of industrial revolution. The Fifth Assessment Report, released in September 2013, says that, concerning each item, ‘changes in the past will be accelerated’ and that ‘foreseeable changes’ will be more serious.
The 6th report comprehensively addresses that human impacts have definitely caused warming in the atmosphere, oceans and lands. Changes take place rapidly in the broader areas, including the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere and biosphere. Looking at the greenhouse gases, surface temperature and rainfall, we see the current situation is going to tipping points.
Frequent and severe disasters
Ahead of the release of the 6th report people had seen lots of extreme natural catastrophes, not only in Japan but also in the rest of the world. Last August we witnessed heavy rainfall in Kyushu and the western region of the country. The 2020 White Paper on Prevention of Natural Disasters describes on climate change and severe natural disasters as:
‘The typhoons which hit the Boso Peninsula and the Japan’s eastern region in 2019, the downpours in the Kanto and Tohoku regions in September 2015, the typhoons which struck consecutively the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions in August 2016, the rainstorm in the northern Kyushu region in July 2017, and the deluging rain in July 2018 – they have triggered extraordinary flooding and land-sliding due to precipitation and tropical storms. (….) In Japan the number of days per year increases when it rains over 200 mm on a single day.’
The Paper adds that the main reason for the fatalities is attributed to global warming.
A conflict between the developed and developing blocs
The IPCC warns the world about the current and future global warming. Its counter-measures are entrusted to the COP, or the Conference of the Parties of United Nation Conventions, which was established in 1994.
In 1997 the COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol and in 2015 the COP21 did the Paris Agreement. These accords set targets to reduce greenhouse gases among the parties.
The Paris Agreements stipulates that industrially advanced countries, which have emitted the bigger amount of gases, owe heavier responsibilities to reduce them. Simultaneously these nations are imposed a duty to help developing nations financially. Herein found is a conflict between the developed and developing blocs of nations. Reaching an agreement is not easy.
In November 2020 the Trump Administration of the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement (later returned), which showed an attitude of Big Powers that serve multinational corporations. We cannot overlook their behaviors.
An NGO awarded Fossil prize to Japan
In coming November a meeting of COP26 will be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom. In the COP25 in 2019 Japan was awarded a Fossil prize, a trophy given to a nation that does not work honestly against global warming. Dishonor must be evaded.
一層深刻化と報告
ＩＰＣＣの第６次評価報告書は、産業革命前後に比べて２０３０年には地球の平均気温が１・５度上昇と分析。13年９月公表の第５次評価報告書の各項目の評価は「これまでの変化」が加速、「予想される変化」も一層深刻化するとした。
６次報告は総論的に「人間の影響が大気、海洋及び陸域を温暖化させてきたことには疑う余地がない。広範囲にわたる急速な変化が、大気、海洋、雪氷圏及び生物圏に起きている」と指摘。「温室効果ガス・気温・降水」など各項目の変化を見れば、回復不能点に近付きつつある。
大規模災害が多発
第６次評価を待つまでもなく、全世界、日本の大規模災害は激化しており、８月も九州・西日本で豪雨災害があった。20年の防災白書は、気候変動と大規模災害についてこう記す。
「令和元年の房総半島台風や東日本台風、平成27年９月関東・東北豪雨、平成28年８月に北海道・東北地方で相次いだ台風、平成29年７月の九州北部豪雨、平成30年７月豪雨など、近年、豪雨や台風による激甚な洪水氾濫、土砂災害が頻発（中略）わが国の日降水量２００㎜以上の大雨の年間発生日数は増加」とし、その要因は地球温暖化とする。
｢経済発展｣で対立
ＩＰＣＣは地球温暖化の現状と将来に警告を発し、その対策は１９９４年に発足した国連気候変動枠組み条約締約国会議（ＣＯＰ）に委ねられている。
97年のＣＯＰ３は京都議定書、さらに15年のＣＯＰ21では「パリ協定」を採択、締約国の温室効果ガスの削減目標を合意した。
協定では過去から排出量が多い先進国は削減義務の多くの責任を負う。同時に途上国に資金援助も課せられる。ここに先進国と途上国の対立が生じ、合意は容易ではない。
米国のトランプ前政権が20年11月に「パリ協定」から離脱する（その後復帰）など、多国籍企業の意を受けた大国の動きも看過できない。
日本は化石賞の愚
11月にはＣＯＰ26が英国グラスゴーで開かれる。19年のＣＯＰ25で日本は、温暖化対策に消極的な国に与えられる不名誉な化石賞をＮＧＯのネットワークから受賞した。不名誉な賞の愚を繰り返してはならぬ。
英訳版↓
No. 1226 Global Warming and IPCC Report
September is a month to get ourselves ready for natural disasters. Amid a series of intense weather events that happen around the world, a UN body, the IPCC (= the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), raises the alarm over climate change, telling for the first time explicitly that global warming is ‘without doubt’ attributable to human activities.
THE EARTH IS APPROACHING TO TIPPING POINTS
Report says about the critical situation
The IPCC has issued the Sixth Assessment Report: it analyzes that in 2030 the average surface temperature of the Earth will rise by 1.5 degree Celsius compared with that of the years of industrial revolution. The Fifth Assessment Report, released in September 2013, says that, concerning each item, ‘changes in the past will be accelerated’ and that ‘foreseeable changes’ will be more serious.
The 6th report comprehensively addresses that human impacts have definitely caused warming in the atmosphere, oceans and lands. Changes take place rapidly in the broader areas, including the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere and biosphere. Looking at the greenhouse gases, surface temperature and rainfall, we see the current situation is going to tipping points.
Frequent and severe disasters
Ahead of the release of the 6th report people had seen lots of extreme natural catastrophes, not only in Japan but also in the rest of the world. Last August we witnessed heavy rainfall in Kyushu and the western region of the country. The 2020 White Paper on Prevention of Natural Disasters describes on climate change and severe natural disasters as:
‘The typhoons which hit the Boso Peninsula and the Japan’s eastern region in 2019, the downpours in the Kanto and Tohoku regions in September 2015, the typhoons which struck consecutively the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions in August 2016, the rainstorm in the northern Kyushu region in July 2017, and the deluging rain in July 2018 – they have triggered extraordinary flooding and land-sliding due to precipitation and tropical storms. (….) In Japan the number of days per year increases when it rains over 200 mm on a single day.’
The Paper adds that the main reason for the fatalities is attributed to global warming.
A conflict between the developed and developing blocs
The IPCC warns the world about the current and future global warming. Its counter-measures are entrusted to the COP, or the Conference of the Parties of United Nation Conventions, which was established in 1994.
In 1997 the COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol and in 2015 the COP21 did the Paris Agreement. These accords set targets to reduce greenhouse gases among the parties.
The Paris Agreements stipulates that industrially advanced countries, which have emitted the bigger amount of gases, owe heavier responsibilities to reduce them. Simultaneously these nations are imposed a duty to help developing nations financially. Herein found is a conflict between the developed and developing blocs of nations. Reaching an agreement is not easy.
In November 2020 the Trump Administration of the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement (later returned), which showed an attitude of Big Powers that serve multinational corporations. We cannot overlook their behaviors.
An NGO awarded Fossil prize to Japan
In coming November a meeting of COP26 will be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom. In the COP25 in 2019 Japan was awarded a Fossil prize, a trophy given to a nation that does not work honestly against global warming. Dishonor must be evaded.
September 21, 2021