{"id":4577,"date":"2019-09-28T20:10:53","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T14:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=4577"},"modified":"2019-09-28T20:10:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T14:40:53","slug":"rising-oceans-sinking-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/rising-oceans-sinking-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Oceans, Sinking Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oceans act as a sponge for the ill effects of climate change. They absorb the heat and CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0generated by greenhouse gas emissions. However, the same oceans are today likely to unleash their wrath on a global scale.<\/p>\n<p>According to a draft report of the United Nations\u00a0<strong>Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/strong>\u00a0(IPCC), destructive changes have already been set into motion. By the year 2050, many low-lying megacities and small island nations will experience extreme sea-level events every year. The final report is yet to be released in September after a thorough discussion with all the stakeholders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Climate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Earth&#8217;s climate has changed throughout history. In the last 650,000 years, there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the\u00a0<strong>abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago<\/strong>\u00a0marking the beginning of the modern climate era, and of human civilization.<\/li>\n<li>The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (almost greater than 95%) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0century and is proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>oceans<\/strong>\u00a0have\u00a0<strong>absorbed<\/strong>\u00a0much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.<\/li>\n<li>Global\u00a0<strong>sea level rose<\/strong>\u00a0about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Current Scenario<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the draft report of the IPCC, the events that were expected to happen in the future such as increased number of\u00a0<strong>cyclones,<\/strong>\u00a0enhanced\u00a0<strong>melting of glaciers<\/strong>, changed\u00a0<strong>rainfall &amp; wind flow<\/strong>\u00a0pattern, changed chemistry of oceans, inter alia, are faced today itself by mankind.<\/li>\n<li>The volume of water has also increased significantly in recent years due to\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Melting of ice-<\/strong>\u00a0presently almost 400 million tonnes of ice is melting every year, and<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermal expansion<\/strong>\u00a0of water (expansion due to the heating of water caused by global warming).<\/li>\n<li>This poses a grave danger to the low-lying areas located throughout the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The number of\u00a0<strong>Heatwaves<\/strong>\u00a0(whereby the surface temperature of the oceans remains above normal for 2-5 consecutive days) &amp; their intensity has increased significantly in the recent past. Their number is going to increase enormously in the times to come.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Findings From the Report<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The report states that the\u00a0<strong>big four<\/strong>\u00a0namely, the United States of America, China, India, and the\u00a0<strong>European Union<\/strong>\u00a0will face the most devastating fall out of the ocean and ice-related impacts of climate change.<\/li>\n<li>Although three of them\u00a0<strong>(except India)<\/strong>\u00a0have been the major contributors to this man-made problem, yet the biggest sufferers from climate change would be the smaller island nations &amp; countries.\n<ul>\n<li>For e.g,\u00a0<strong>Kiribati<\/strong>\u00a0is expected to wipe out &amp; Kiribas are looking for land in other places.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Indonesia recently changed its capital<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0<strong>Jakarta to Borneo<\/strong>\u00a0due to the fear of submergence of the world\u2019s fastest sinking city, i.e, Jakarta.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s emissions are peaking at an extremely high rate.\n<ul>\n<li>Its gross emissions are\u00a0<strong>twice<\/strong>\u00a0as that of the US (the second-largest emitter) &amp; per-capita emissions of China are touching the average per-capita emissions of OECD countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>According to the draft report, even if\u00a0<strong>Paris agreement targets<\/strong>\u00a0are met on time, global emissions will reach up to 3\u00b0C.\n<ul>\n<li>Paris agreement just ended the\u00a0<strong>capping &amp; fixed target system<\/strong>\u00a0that was adopted during the Kyoto protocol, &amp; introduced a new system known as the<strong>\u00a0\u2018Pledge &amp; Review system.\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Kyoto Protocol<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 and entered into force in 2005.<\/li>\n<li>The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at\u00a0<strong>COP-7<\/strong>\u00a0in Marrakesh, in 2001, and are referred to as the\u00a0<strong>Marrakesh Accords.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Its first commitment period started in the year 2008 and ended in 2012.<\/li>\n<li>Kyoto Protocol Phase-1\u00a0<strong>(2005-12)<\/strong>\u00a0gave the target of cutting down emissions by 5%.<\/li>\n<li>Kyoto Round- 2 gave the target of reducing emissions by at least 18% by the industrialized countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The situation is extremely serious today, &amp; the currently adopted\u00a0<strong>Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)<\/strong>\u00a0pledges are leading the world towards a higher rise in temperature than expected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Global Actions Aggravating Climate Change<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Paris agreement is losing its force today.\n<ul>\n<li>The US has withdrawn from the Paris agreements, and the US President was absent at the recently held\u00a0<strong>G7<\/strong>\u00a0summit.<\/li>\n<li>Even China is opening new coal mines because of its\u00a0<strong>trade war<\/strong>\u00a0with the US, thereby reducing its pollution control measures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Brazil is ignoring the repercussions of \u2018development\u2019 on the environment. The recent example of which is the deadly\u00a0<strong>amazon forest fires.<\/strong>\u00a0The same is the case with\u00a0<strong>Canada, Bolivia,\u00a0<\/strong>&amp;<strong>\u00a0Australia.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Sustainable Development Goals are difficult to achieve if similar situations prevail.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Actions Required<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Globally:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>There is a closed relationship between water, land &amp; cryosphere.<\/strong>\u00a0There is a need to adequately address and appreciate that relationship globally.<\/li>\n<li>Oceans cover\u00a0<strong>three-fourths<\/strong>\u00a0of the globe. A large number of fishermen &amp; the economy of various countries are dependent upon the oceans.\n<ul>\n<li>Because of global warming, pollution, oil spills, etc. oceans are badly abused. Hence, there is a need for aggressive cuts &amp; a reduction in the abuse of oceans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Costs of adaptation of mitigation measures are highly uncertain<\/strong>\u00a0&amp; no country in the world is prepared today to face climate change. Hence, both developed &amp; developing economies need to take a dramatic shift &amp; percolate down the efforts through societies on a war-footing level.<\/li>\n<li>If serious actions are taken immediately, it is possible to restrict the temperature rise to 1.5\u00b0 C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>At India\u2019s level:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Apart from adaptation, the need of the hour is to avert &amp; delay the calamity by\u00a0<strong>promoting the non-fossil fuels. I<\/strong>ndia has already achieved its reduction targets, &amp; is now raising the targets, focussing on\u00a0<strong>renewable energies.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>For e.g, India has met its Solar capacity installation targets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India needs to calibrate its developmental programs to ensure that it performs better than industrialized nations. Such areas include\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Road transport-<\/strong>\u00a0that is given considerable importance today. But we need to look at the environmental costs it raises for the nation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Railways<\/strong>\u00a0network can be upgraded much more cheaply in a more eco-friendly manner to complement the road network.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India is doing well as compared to other countries on the basis of its Paris targets. Diplomatically, India needs to look at its actions that can be matched abroad like\n<ul>\n<li>India in collaboration with France launched the\u00a0<strong>International Solar Alliance.<\/strong>\u00a0The need is to take the leadership &amp; pressurize other countries in terms of diplomacy on the issue of reducing their emission targets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The challenges of droughts, shrinking &amp; sinking cities, high temperatures that we face today demand much more aggressive efforts. The time for action has come.<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s resolve to prepone &amp; fulfill its NDC targets from 2030 to 2025 is a welcome step in mitigating climate change.<\/li>\n<li>There are certain sectors &amp; industries which are harmful to the environment. Because of the fear of loss of jobs in such industries (e.g automobile sector), nations have to keep them alive &amp; sustaining. There is a need to identify viable alternatives for such industries.<\/li>\n<li>Oceans are going to increase further. There is a need to plan and prepare for the suitable\u00a0<strong>rehabilitation program<\/strong>\u00a0for the affected people (also known as\u00a0<strong>Ecological Refugees)<\/strong>. Nations need to appropriately identify the required efforts to relocate them properly, &amp; the associated costs with their rehabilitation.\n<ul>\n<li>This issue gains much significance in the Indian context which has 7500 km long coastline, on which many megacities are situated.<\/li>\n<li>The need is to avoid any forced eviction of people, and\u00a0<strong>empower &amp; invest<\/strong>\u00a0in local coastal communities, so as to avert similar situations in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Environment Oceans act as a sponge for the ill effects of climate change. They absorb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-4577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-bio-diversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4578,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions\/4578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}