UN climate discussions begin in Peru as temperature continue to rise

The 20^th session of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) began in Lima, Peru on Monday. Representatives from nearly 200 nations across the globe met in order to discuss how to slow, and potentially reverse, man-made global warming with the goal of producing a blueprint that can be formed into a new global climate agreement by 2015, according to Mashable.

“Never before have the risks of climate change been so obvious and the impacts so visible,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC as quoted by International Business Times. “Never before have we seen such a desire at all levels of society to take climate action. Never before has society had all the smart policy and technology resources to curb greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience.”

“2014 is threatening to be the hottest year in history and emissions continue to rise, we need to act urgently,” said Figueres, as quoted by BBC . “We should be able to lay the foundations for a strong agreement in Paris and raise the level of our ambitions so that gradually over the long term we are able to achieve climate neutrality, this is the only way to truly achieve sustainable development for all.”

Scientists from across the globe have expressed growing concerns that the world’s wealthiest nations seem to be a long way reducing emissions at a level that would effectively combat global warming. Although the process was significantly boosted by the recent carbon-cutting agreement that the United States and China reached, it’s still not enough.

“There is growing evidence, that even with very ambitious mitigation action, warming close to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by mid-century is already locked-in to the Earth’s atmospheric system and climate change impacts such as extreme heat events may now be unavoidable,” stated a report from World Bank in November.

The post UN climate discussions begin in Peru as temperature continue to rise appeared first on WeHeartWorld.

via WeHeartWorld http://ift.tt/1HUnXyC