UNITED NATIONS: Climate change is an important issue today and Climate Crisis is a term used to describe global warming and climate change, and their consequences. If scientists are to be believed, the climate crisis has arrived and the world now needs to immensely scale up efforts to conserve the biosphere further suffering due to the climate crisis.
The world was forcibly shut down last year in March amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 saw never-ending nose-diving events one after the other. Yes, 2020 will forever be remembered as a story of COVID-19: a story of the lives lost, the heroic commitments of medical professionals, essential workers, and vaccine researchers, the deep crises of unemployment and hunger, the months of isolation from friends and family, the loss of normalcy, the failure of governments to stanch the spread of this deadly virus, etc.
Climate change also was one of the most important issues deeply woven into the story of 2020 and the world did experience impacts on the climate, both positive and negative.
The world had positive impacts like lower levels of pollution, cleaning up of beaches and forests, resurfacing of wildlife not seen for ages, an unusual blossoming of flowers in hills, emissions reductions, etc.
The world also saw a parade of extreme events like wildfires and hurricanes around the world, extreme heatwaves, locust swarms, typhoons, and countless other climate-related events, which made it clear that climate change is staring us in the face.
Looking at these events, it is obvious climate change is already affecting everyday lives in ways big and small. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, this year’s climate extremes exposed the many ways in which climate change intersects with the mental status of the civilisation, their lifestyle, health care, and countless other issues.
The issue of climate change also was a major concern in U.S. voters’ minds along with many other challenges the country faces. President Biden has recently affirmed his commitment to climate action in announcing an exciting slate of nominees and appointees who have long focused on issues of climate change.
UNDP Survey – People’s Climate Vote
Recently a climate survey, the “People’s Climate Vote”, claimed to be the biggest climate survey in history, was conducted by UN Development Programme (UNDP). The survey was conducted as a preparation to COP26, the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)m scheduled for November 2021.
The survey highlighted 18 key climate policies across six action areas: economy, energy, transport, food and farms, nature, and protecting people, and covered 50 countries with over half the world’s population participating.
The poll showed that people supported more comprehensive climate policies to respond to the challenges. Two-thirds of over 1.2 million people surveyed worldwide said that climate change is a global emergency, urging greater action to address the crisis.
“The results of the survey clearly illustrate that urgent climate action has broad support amongst people around the globe, across nationalities, age, gender, and education level,” Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator said in a news release.
“From climate-friendly farming to protecting nature, and investing in a green recovery from COVID-19, the survey brings the voice of the people to the forefront of the climate debate. It signals ways in which countries can move forward with public support as we work together to tackle this enormous challenge,” Mr. Steiner added.
Read Also: Watch: Bill Gates Discusses The State Of The Pandemic, And Climate Change
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