Ramblings of a 70-year old: Sharm el Sheikh

Thursday, November 3, 2022

UNESCO predicts the world famous glaciers might disappear by 2050 due to global warming

The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO monitors more than 18,000 glaciers across 50 of its World Heritage sites. It mentions Mount Kilimanjaro apart from the Dolomites in Italy and the Yosemite and Yellowstone parks in the US. The prediction of UNESCO could have serious repercussion. It predicts that around 50 percent of World Heritage glaciers could almost entirely disappear unless the world takes corrective action. It may be possible to preserve them by keeping global temperature rise below 1.5C. UNESCO says World Heritage glaciers make up around 10 percent of the world's glacier areas overall. The worst part is that the world's best-known glaciers are gradually disappearing. That would be a major loss for global tourism. The report's lead author is Tales Carvalho. He estimates that World Heritage glaciers lose around 58 billion tonnes of ice every year on an average. In other words, the loss is equivalent to the total annual volume of water used in France and Spain together. It contributes to almost 5 percent of the global observed sea-level rise. Major glaciers including Mount Kilimanjaro and Dolomites to disappear by 2050, UN report says.

He adds that in order to prevent major glacier retreat worldwide it is necessary to reduce carbon emissions. UNESCO wants local authorities to make glaciers a focus of policy. They can achieve this by improving monitoring and research. They can also implement different measures of risk reduction. Tales Carvalho cautions - "As glacier lakes fill up, they can burst and can cause catastrophic floods downstream.” The timing of the report coincides with the COP27 event in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. It would be Africa's first UN climate conference in six years. Incidentally, a recent study found that glaciers in Switzerland lost half of their volume in less than a century. Moreover, the rate of retreat of ice is on the rise. This is a matter of concern.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Greta Thunberg will not join the COP27 summit in Egypt

Climate activist Greta Thunberg will not be a part of COP27 summit at Sharm el Sheikh tourist spot in Egypt. She disapproves of the country’s human rights record. In fact, she accused the forthcoming UN conference of being "held in a tourist paradise in a country that violates many basic human rights." She attended the earlier 2019 COP25 summit in Madrid when she was just 16. Later, she was there in the 2021 COP26 event in Glasgow. There was no conference in 2020 because of the pandemic. However, she has indicated she will not be attending this year’s COP27. She denounced it as an opportunity for "greenwashing, lying and cheating." In her words - "I'm not going to COP27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited.” She revealed this while promoting her new book ‘The Climate Book’ at the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre. She minced no words when she said - "It's important to leave space for those who need to be there. It will be difficult for activists to make their voices heard.” COP27: Greta Thunberg to boycott UN summit due to 'human rights abuses' in Egypt.

Incidentally, the venue of the conference this year is Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. This is a country where there are nearly 60,000 political prisoners. Greta condemned Egypt's treatment of the prisoners. She took to Twitter and said - “We stand in solidarity with prisoners of conscience in Egypt & joined @copcivicspace petition urging Egypt to open civic space and release everyone arbitrarily detained ahead of #COP27." She also came to a protest in London outside the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She stood in solidarity with a British-Egyptian free speech activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. He has been imprisoned in the country for the past 10 years. Greta held a placard that read "Free Alaa before #COP27." COP is the Conference of the Parties – an annual UN-organised conference usually attended by world leaders and climate experts. Its aim is to discuss and take much needed action against the looming threat of climate change. However, the targets set at these summits are far off track. This is frustrating to people like Greta.