Climate change is a global common problem that requires the integration of all nations. International cooperation is a prerequisite to significantly mitigate the impact of climate change and it is the only way to combat this severe and menace threat. The Paris Agreement, signed on April 22, 2016, was the first universal, legally binding global climate accord under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The agreement makes it obligatory for the responsible countries, particularly those countries which are immersed in the emission of the bulk of greenhouse gases, to make efforts to keep the temperature below the pre-industrial level and to provide financial resources to the developing countries to grapple with the consequences of global warming. Earlier, world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 meet, discussing ways on how to tackle the climate change threat.

In 2021 Australia was the leading country to adopt various strategies to mitigate the threat of climate change. Australia joined the Global Ocean Alliance, which commits to protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030, the impacts of climate change. Australia launched the International Partnership for Blue Carbon at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference and it has now grown to almost 50 members. The Partnership’s main aims are to build awareness, share knowledge and accelerate practical action to protect and restore mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses. This contributes to climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration as well as other co-benefits including enhancing biodiversity, food security, sustainable livelihoods, increasing resilience and contributing to climate adaptation.

The Government of Maldives has agreed to address the herculean task of climate change which has been devastated and rattle the dilapidated situation across the world. The Maldives committed to phasing out single-use plastics by 2023 and net zero emissions by 2030 and is also actively supporting children and young people’s direct involvement in climate negotiations and decisions.

Samrat Sengupta, Director for Climate Change and Energy at the Centre for Science and Environment Think Tank, said that India needed enough carbon space in the atmosphere for its developmental needs to coexist with the global ambition of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

In this regard, China is ahead of all others in clean energy investment followed by the US, Germany, Japan and the UK.

In a nutshell, there is a dire need for renewable energy investment.

Henceforth, what is required is for all nations to collectively adopt a “Covid” like approach to counter the harms of climate change. Thus, both at the state level and individually, we must curtail CO2 emissions by planting trees and using the least amount of fuel in our homes, transport and industries.

ZAKIR ULLAH,

Mardan.