A Somewhat Convenient Truth

A Somewhat Convenient Truth

The global temperature has risen 0.45 degrees centigrade since the late 19th century and recent years recorded the warmest winters since 1891. The United Nations’ top expert forum on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), concluded on its Fourth Assessment Report that the Earth’s surface temperature could possibly rise by up to 4.6 degrees centigrade or even higher if carbon dioxide levels double over pre-industrial levels, and that it would lead to a sea level rise of 7 meters were the temperature rise to be sustained over thousands of years. In addition, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey announced that there had been an enormous fracture on the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf which is located in on the western edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, indicating that warming of Earth’s surface is occurring much faster than previously expected.

Amid the constant rise in temperature in tandem with the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) in November last year at Copenhagen to settle a post-2012 regime, concerns for global warming have never been felt so acutely within the international community. Indeed, ever since climate change and the prospective problems that would subsequently follow were raised, several developed nations of the EU have managed to take the initiative in alleviating the circumstances. However, tangible plans that could bring about substantial amelioration are yet to be sought.

The Kyoto Protocol, one of the most comprehensive amendments to the international treaty on climate change which is to expire in 2012, has disappointed the global society as its effectiveness in reducing greenhouse gas emissions was not sufficiently proven. Many analysts argue that despite commitment of several industrialized countries, the concrete fact that the major greenhouse gas producers