THERE are still some who doubt that the effects of climate change are here in spite of the increasing and overwhelming evidence of this phenomenon as weather-related natural disasters worsen. Australia has been hit by record flooding and many people are being evacuated from the state of Queensland following torrential rains.
An AFP report said: “Military helicopters were called in Tuesday to help evacuate hundreds of Australians stranded by rising floodwaters, as entire towns were inundated by the worst deluges in parts of the region in decades.
Torrential rains following in the wake of tropical cyclone Tasha, which last week crossed into the northeastern state of Queensland before quickly fading, have swollen rivers and flooded scores of farms and homes in the state.
Some towns saw their worst floods in 50 years, including Theodore some 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Brisbane, which has been cut off for two days and whose 350 residents were being evacuated by helicopter.”
Local Banana Shire Council Mayor Maureen Clancy said the town was “just a sea of water”, telling Australian news agency AAP that floodwaters had even reached its evacuation centre.
Last week flights in Europe came to a halt following a severe snowstorm and New York is experiencing unprecedented snowing.
According to news reports, a windy winter storm that dumped nearly two feet of snow on New York City also whipped up criticism about how the city responded to it.
Some New Yorkers in the outer boroughs complained that the city took too long to plough their neighbourhoods, ignoring them in favour of wealthier Manhattan areas.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the fast pace of snowfall — 2 to 3 inches per hour at some periods overnight — and the number of people who abandoned cars in the road delayed the progress of the plows.
The city deployed 1,600 ploughs for a snowstorm that delivered 20.9 inches in February, as measured in Central Park. For this latest winter blast — which dropped 20 inches — 1,700 plows, plus 365 salt spreaders that were converted into ploughs, were working on the streets.
In Latin America, the frequency of mudslides is on the increase and in the tropics there are unpredictably long periods of rain and drought.
Guyana had unprecedented rainfall in 2004-2005 which caused severe flooding.
These are the more recent occurrences but a few years back there were the South Asian tsunami and similar disasters in several parts of the world.
Yet with all the glaring the glaring evidence of the effects of climate change, many of the wealthy countries are still reluctant to adopt measures and policies to mitigate it. What is even more striking is the fact that these are the countries that are primarily responsible for the dilemma facing the planet.
Even in Guyana, there are some who are attempting to tarnish the campaign being waged by President Bharrat Jagdeo to bring greater recognition, awareness and to get the international community galvanised into action to combat climate change.
However, President Jagdeo has earned plaudits and respect at the international level for his work in this area and therefore it was not surprising that he received the Champion of the Earth award this year from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The reality is that scientists have observed that some changes are already occurring. Observed effects include sea level rise, shrinking glaciers, changes in the range and distribution of plants and animals, trees blooming earlier, lengthening of growing seasons, ice on rivers and lakes freezing later and breaking up earlier, and thawing of permafrost. Another key issue being studied is how societies and the Earth’s environment will adapt to or cope with climate change.
According to UNEP, climate change has long since ceased to be a scientific curiosity, and is no longer just one of many environmental and regulatory concerns. As the United Nations Secretary-General has said, it is the major, overriding environmental issue of our time, and the single greatest challenge facing environmental regulators.
It is a growing crisis with economic, health and safety, food production, security, and other dimensions and the more vulnerable countries like Guyana cannot afford to lose time in preparing for the more severe impacts of climate change.