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Global warming has exceeded 1.5C , a threat to food security and Biodiversity.


By Raphael Banda

(Journalism Trainer/Journalist

bandaraphael55@gmail)

 

Journalists and other stakeholders need to increase climate change awareness to preserve food security and biodiversity loss globally.

 

In the recent past most parts of the world have witnessed high temperatures, prolonged dry spells and flashfloods, with Zambia not being exception. This is threatening national food security, causing immense damage to infrastructure and impacting economic activities.

 

A week ago , the European Union (EU) Climate Change Service disclosed that for the first time, global warming has exceeded 1.5C across an entire year. The situation calls for increased public sensitization, awareness and doubling of efforts to cut down greenhouse gas emissions to slow down the unfolding climate crisis. It is also crucial that African countries highly impacted by climate change begin to access the loss and damage fund to address their peculiar areas of concern.

 

Zambia and other developing countries  need cushion to deal and recover from the resultant impact of the El Nino climate pattern which has brought high temperatures, drought, floods, loss of food crops, reduced hydro power generation capacities, escalation in disease out breaks, damage to infrastructure, reduced economic growth etc.

 

The EU Climate Service has indicated that global temperatures during the period from February 2023 to January 2024 reached 1.52C of warming Influenced by the El Nino weather partner. Limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5C as per the 2015 Paris agreement is crucial to curtail the most damaging impacts of climate change as seen through floods, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, tropical storms etc.


It is now widely agreed that human activities primarily burning fossil fuels which release planet warming gases like carbon dioxide are behind the rise in global temperatures with scientists stressing that despite this first year-long breach not breaking the 2015 landmark Paris agreement, it does bring the world closer to doing so in the long-term.

Several farmers in Zambia are having their crop fields drying up due to the pro-longed dry spell which the country is experiencing. But this calls for concerted efforts in fighting the hash effects of climate change on the Agriculture, Health, and Infrastructure sectors.

Ends//

 

 

 

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