International Day against Climate Change: progress and pending tasks

Although there are still climate change deniers, there is a consensus among scientists and the vast majority of governments that there are long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns that have been caused by human activity. Deforestation, the use of fossil fuels, and the exponential growth of industrialization, among other human activities, have produced an abnormal amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that have increased the Earth's temperature at an accelerated rate.

Climate change translates into irreversible damage to ecosystems and biodiversity, but also to human economic activities and society in general. With climate change, meteorological phenomena such as forest fires, droughts, floods, among others, will increase in frequency and severity, and as a consequence, transmission of vector-borne diseases, scarcity of drinking water, increased famine, and loss of arable land for agriculture may increase. The more exposed and vulnerable communities will experience greater impacts on their health and well-being, and poverty and inequality will increase. 

Among the main priorities are: reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, the use of renewable energies, preserve water resources, and investing in effective adaptation in the most unprotected areas and where the population is most vulnerable to the effects of climate change live.

Since the 19th century, scientists have been considering human activity in the increase of GHGs, but only in 1972 the United Nations Conference on Human Environment took place, and only in 1988 did the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) qualify climate change as urgent. That same year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Thanks to the IPCC's scientific reports and its recommendations for decision-makers in the different regions of the world, multilateral actions have been defined to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and to raise awareness among the population and the international community. Other important global actions against climate change include the annual meetings of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.

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