Climate Change
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Summary
They are various issues affecting our world today with some being priority while others are being left out, while most people do not recognize climate change as a priority this has changed especially with the current voters. Climate change is said to be one issue that if it is not addressed it will affect so many generations to come. We are looking at climate change with a particular interest in the Paris agreement that is geared to reduce climate change while shedding right on what US withdrawal from the agreement means and its implications.
Introduction
Climate change is a global issue that has in recent years got global attention since most of the disasters in today’s society are attributed to this change. According to recent studies the temperature is becoming warmer and has risen one degree Fahrenheit in the last 100 years, they have been various rallies to protest on the need of the world leaders to do something about this change with most of the protestors being young people. The issue is a global one that requires wider attention especially in developing countries who are mostly experiencing the effects of this change despite them being the least responsible.
The Paris Agreement
The Paris agreement is a new agreement that was adopted to fight climate change in December 2015 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement required countries to submit their plans that outline the actions they sought to take to avoid, cope and adapt to climate change after 2020 with plans on how to reduce the greenhouse gas being one of the main issues. The objective of this agreement is to ensure economic development and sustainable food production while preventing interference with the climate system. The objective led to the main goal of the agreement which is that the global temperature increase to be below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while limiting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level (Rogelj et al., 2016).
Withdrawal of US from the Paris Agreement
While this agreement required all hands on deck since its effects cannot be combated with any army or resources, the withdrawal of Trump in 2017 caused a stir considering the US and China have been referred to as the highest emitters of Carbon dioxide. Some made inferences of this action to be history repeating itself since during George Bush Presidency he withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol (Meyer, 2019).
They are various reasons why Trump resorted to leaving the agreement, one is the ties that his administration has with the fossil fuel industry and that the actions to regulate climate change will seek to benefit these companies. Also, the decision of Trump going for reelection played a part since especially for his constituency which seemed to be glad when he withdrew from the agreement and the fact that various senators in his administration campaigns are funded by the industries. Trump to have never acknowledged that climate change is an issue caused by the people and he blamed that the agreement was intended to punish the US by comparing its responsibility with those of other countries neglecting the fact that the more emissions by a country the greater the responsibility accorded. The American first viewpoint from Trump also was a factor since he believes that the agreement undermined the country’s competitive edge while affecting the energy and employment sectors. Lastly, Trump’s reign seems to want to destroy Obama’s legacies and policies that he enacted while he was in power and the Paris agreement was one among his political legacies.
Implications of US Withdrawal
While Trump’s withdrawal according to him is not a major issue, it affects the compliance of the agreement in various ways. First, the agreement was seen as the backbone of the regime of global climate that facilitated the climate governance effectiveness and the US withdrawal undermines its universality where is involved both developing and developed countries, unlike the Kyoto Protocol. Secondly, the US withdrawal affected the leadership required for the governance of the action, US, China, and EU are the leadership and the Brexit negotiations and crises affecting EU leaves only China; this deficit affects the agreement implementation. Thirdly, while other countries reaffirmed their commitment even after the US withdrawal, the exit might affect other countries’ initiatives towards climate change leading to the target set by the agreement unachievable. Also, the US exit reduces the emission space of other countries while increasing their mitigations while increasing its emissions space and lower mitigation cost this eventually will not only make the agreement target more difficult to achieve but also expensive. The US too was supposed to help finance the developing countries in the common but differentiated agreement responsibility so they can achieve the target while adapting to climate change. The country too played a big part in donating climate financing to the developing countries but since Trump’s presidency, the country’s donations have decreased. Additionally, the US withdrawal will affect the opportunity window of mitigating climate since the 10 years after it was put in action are essential in achieving the targets as the anthropogenic emissions are expected to improve without reliance on the advancement in technology. Lastly, the decreased funding in climate research by the US will not only undermine the negotiations for future climate but also compromise the future quality of IPCC reports (Zhang et al., 2017).
However, while Trump seems to justify his action towards moving out of the agreement insisting that it places stress on the country with minimal gains the exit is expected to cause more implications. One of the mains implication is on the gender equality, climate change is unjust since it affects people who hardly play a role in its causes and the climate action should address this inequality while respecting all human rights. With most of the majority world population of poor people being women, the impacts of climate change will continue to increase the levels hence they should play a role in addressing the change (Schramek & Harmeling, 2001).
Additionally, in various areas in the US climate change which has been said to getting warmer is believed to be decreasing the air quality and increasing heat-related deaths with the elderly and children being at the most risk. The pollen season has also been reported to be lengthening which may extend the habitat for mosquitoes and ticks increasing the exposure of people to vector-borne diseases. Unfortunately, the temperature is only bound to increase in the North East areas as indicated in the diagram (“Climate Impacts in the Northeast | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA”, 2020).
Lastly, according to the report by the National Climate Assessment, the effects of climate change are being felt especially by the low-income earners and the few marginalized communities who hardly have any capacity to cope with the problem. Moreover, the people who rely on the climate, farmers, tourism, and fisheries are vulnerable to the effects and while the countries past our borders are affected the trade among us will be affected. Lastly, the riding temperature is changing the precipitation and reducing the snowpack which in turn affects the water quality we rely on (“Fourth National Climate Assessment”, 2018).
Conclusion
From the discussion below it is clear that climate change is a global challenge from the 195 countries that joined together to mitigate its risks under the Paris agreement. Unfortunately, while the US exit from the agreement insists that is what is best for the country the effects will not only affect the developing countries that relied on its financing but also on the people in the country. Just recently, the Australian fire that started late last year was finally put odd after not only destroying a lot of vegetation and killing very many animals but led to the migration of some animals, this is the impacts of climate change that we should expect if nothing is to be done. While Trump seeks to recognize that his voters will support him because of his voters’ continued bid of withdrawal from the agreement it is time he recognizes that the effects of climate change have no borders and will end up affecting the same. There is no tomorrow for climate change it is time to act now and hope that the landslides, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquake being experienced all over the world becomes a story of the past.
References
Climate Impacts in the Northeast | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA. 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov. (2020). Retrieved 3 March 2020, from https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-northeast_.html.
Fourth National Climate Assessment. Nca2018.globalchange.gov. (2018). Retrieved 3 March 2020, from https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/.
Meyer, R. (2019). The Indoor Man in the White House. The Atlantic. Retrieved 3 March 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/trump-withdraws-paris-agreement/579733/.
Rogelj, J., den Elzen, M., Höhne, N., Fransen, T., Fekete, H., & Winkler, H. et al. (2016). Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C. Nature, 534(7609), 631-639. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18307Schramek, C., & Harmeling, S. (2001). G20 and climate change [Ebook] (p. 12). CARE Climate. Retrieved 3 March 2020, from http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/G20-REPORT.pdf.
Zhang, H., Dai, H., Lai, H., & Wang, W. (2017). U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Reasons, impacts, and China’s response. Advances In Climate Change Research, 8(4), 220-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accre.2017.09.002
