Climate actions go through all levels, says Artaxo – 24/03/2023 – Environment

Climate actions go through all levels, says Artaxo – 24/03/2023 – Environment


“What’s missing is a government that really cares about the climate emergency and its most needy population”. This is how Paulo Artaxo, a physicist and professor at USP, defines the strategies adopted to prevent extreme weather events, such as the rains that caused landslides and more than 60 deaths in São Sebastião (SP) in February.

Responsibilities for protecting vulnerable populations and preventing disasters must come from the municipal, state and federal levels, he says.

“It’s not a matter of a lack of tools. What’s lacking is better integration between civil defenses, city halls, the state government and the federal government when extreme weather events occur.”

Artaxo is a member of the IPCC, the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, which has been preparing reports on the effects of global warming and climate change in the world for 20 years.

The latest report, released on Monday (20), was emphatic in saying that some of the effects are irreversible, such as rising sea levels and the impact on forests, but also assessed that it is still possible to act to contain —in part— the havoc.

“It is no longer possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C until the end of the century. But it is possible to limit it to 2.5°C. half of the century.”

Graduated in Physics from the University of São Paulo, Artaxo dedicated his life to the study of the Amazon and global climate changes. He claims that more forceful actions by authorities around the world have not occurred so far due to strong pressure from oil companies and the global financial market.

What do you think of the new data from the IPCC report? The report makes it clear that there are processes that are irreversible and emphasizes the urgency of reducing global emissions: it speaks of irreversibility, particularly in terms of rising sea levels, and the destruction of ecosystems, especially tropical forests.

Is reducing emissions and curbing deforestation to lower average global temperatures a realistic goal? There’s no faster, easier, and cheaper way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than to essentially cut back on deforestation in tropical rainforests. That is why countries are investing so much in the Amazon Fund.

As for reducing the burning of fossil fuels, we already have all the necessary technologies, we don’t need to develop anything new, and it is possible to cut the burning of fossil fuels if the industries associated with the burning of oil allow this to happen.

Is it possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C by the end of the century? No. It’s not possible anymore. It is now necessary to work with another panorama. At the current rate of emission, according to scientists, we will reach a temperature of around 3°C in the second half of this century.

That’s the trajectory we’re going on today. If it’s going to change in the next decade, and I hope it will, we can try to limit warming to 2.5°C. But 1.5°C and 2°C is already impossible.

What is important in the last report is that it leaves room for the question of solutions, showing that we already have the solutions to reduce emissions by half.

Now why is this not implemented? Governments only serve the interests of industry, rather than the interests of the populations that elected them. This is going to have to change and the faster we can change this the better for us.

How does Brazil suffer the impacts of climate change? Are there programs studied to try to mitigate its effects? Brazil is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change for a number of reasons: first, because of its tropical location, that is, its high average temperature, far above that found in countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

Our ecosystems naturally already suffer from water and temperature stress. And this is only likely to increase with increasing global warming.

Regarding the programs, several cities, such as Santos (SP) and Rio de Janeiro, have plans to deal with the rise in sea level, because their very survival may be at risk. But these are isolated, municipal initiatives.

Undoubtedly, we need actions at all levels: municipal, state and federal. The new federal climate authority is reactivating the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan [criado em 2016]let’s see what they can do.

What is missing in Brazil to implement these actions? What is really missing is having a government that is concerned with the climate emergency, with its population, particularly with its poorest, most vulnerable population, which unfortunately has not been what we have had over the years.

There is a popular myth that Brazil, despite being a tropical country, is blessed with no hurricanes or earthquakes. What did mr. do you think of this statement? It’s silly. Weather events take place here, we are tired of seeing intense droughts and floods, such as those that hit Bahia, Minas Gerais, and others, as well as the droughts that occur in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

There is no such thing as saying that there are no events here, quite the contrary, Brazil is very strongly susceptible to climate change.

What are the tools used today to monitor extreme events and minimize their effects? Today, climate models are generally able to predict extreme weather events with enough time for the Civil Defense to act to protect the most vulnerable population.

What is missing is better integration between civil defenses, city halls, the state government and the federal government when extreme weather events occur.

For example, in the case of Barra do Sahy [em São Sebastião, no litoral norte de SP, em fevereiro], the press itself reported that less than 2% of the resources available for adaptation and prevention were used. This is nonsense.

We already see greater desertification in the North and Northeast of the country, with an increase in droughts, while in the South and Southeast the occurrence of intense rains has increased. However, droughts seem to be a minor concern for governments. As mr. rate it? In fact, the problem of droughts is more complex than that of major floods, so this is the reason why there is less action. Now, both must be faced. The problem is that there is no continuity.

It is possible to trace a relationship between deforestation and the greater occurrence of extreme weather events, such as what happened recently in São Sebastião (SP) and Manaus? Yes. this last report [do IPCC] makes it clear in the question of attribution that global warming is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. And that’s why precipitations occur beyond what is expected.

We are seeing much more intense rains, stronger and longer droughts, caused by the alteration of atmospheric circulation associated with global warming.

Is this knowledge recent or has it been known for decades? The six IPCC reports published over the last 20 years are a clear warning of what we are already seeing, which is an increase in extreme weather events. These are not for the future, these are issues that are taking place today.

The lack of action by governments is basically due to the fact that most of the government’s political interests are aimed at protecting the highest-income population, not targeting the most vulnerable.

This happens because governments are controlled, in the case of Brazil, by the advance of deforestation, and in European countries and the United States, by the oil industry. Without a paradigm shift towards social, economic and environmental sustainability, we have no way out.


X-RAY

Paulo Eduardo Artaxo Netto, 69

Professor at the Institute of Physics at USP, he is also vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo and vice-president of the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science). A member of the IPCC (UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), he developed his career working with the Amazon and global climate change.

The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.



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