Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Culture
    Home / Culture / Art

    Action taken as climate and biodiversity threats mount

    By LIU XUAN | China Daily | Updated: 2022-02-05 09:15
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A worker clears debris in front of a building destroyed in Laach, Germany, in July after heavy rain and flooding caused major damage. [Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP]

    Cold snap, heat wave

    High temperatures and snow were also part of the climate change story in 2021.

    In February last year, a cold snap and winter storm hit many northwest, central and eastern states in the US, causing damage put at $24 billion.

    Texas and other southern states experienced widespread power outages, with temperatures below freezing recorded for many days. At the peak of the outages, nearly 10 million people were without power, according to the NCEI.

    Europe and the Middle East experienced heavy snowfall, which blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient landmarks in Athens, the Greek capital, and halted many public services in Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

    Will Steffen, a spokesman for the Climate Council in Australia and an expert on climate change, said cold air is usually held in check by the jet stream-a narrow variable band of extremely strong predominantly westerly air currents encircling the globe at an altitude of several kilometers.

    However, the so-called gradient between the equator and North Pole is now weakening, with cold air breaking through as warm air is dragged up, Steffen said.

    According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, satellite measurements showed that last year was one of the warmest on record, with the annual average temperature 1.1 C to 1.2 C higher than during the preindustrial period from 1850 to 1900.

    In summer, a vast area of the western US and Canada experienced a heat wave on a scale thought to occur only once in 1,000 years.

    In the US, a temperature of 46.7 C was recorded in Portland, Oregon state, while a high of 42.2 C was reported in Seattle, Washington state. In Canada, the mercury rose far above 30 C in Vancouver, where summer temperatures average about 20 C.

    The extreme temperatures caused hundreds of direct and indirect heat-related fatalities and also triggered wildfires and droughts in the two neighbors, severely threatening humans and wildlife.

    In October, the UN's COP 15 Biodiversity Conference, held in Kunming, Yunnan province, made clear that the world is experiencing species loss at an alarmingly high rate and that ecosystem collapse will spell disaster for humans and the planet. As a result, urgent action must be taken.

    The gathering aimed to set a global framework for biodiversity post-2020 and to give biodiversity the same level of protection as the climate.

    Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, said:"Climate change and biodiversity loss have sounded the alarm for humankind and forced us to think deeply about the relationship between man and nature."

    The Kunming Declaration was adopted on Oct 13, committing parties to the convention to ensuring the development, adoption and implementation of an effective post-2020 global framework to reverse biodiversity loss and ensure that biodiversity is put on the road to recovery by 2030 at the latest.

    Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said:"With the conclusion of the first part of COP 15, we have taken a critical step toward writing a new chapter for our planet and for our societies.

    "Adoption of the Kunming Declaration, and the strong political direction provided by many ministers, has put us firmly on the path to the adoption of an effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework that will engage the entire world in the task of putting nature on a path to recovery by 2030."

    The declaration also noted calls made by many countries to protect and conserve, by 2030, some 30 percent of the world's land and sea areas through well-connected systems of protected zones and other effective area-based conservation measures.

    At the gathering, the Kunming Biodiversity Fund was established to support biodiversity protection in developing countries, with China taking the lead by investing 1.5 billion yuan ($233 million).

    Most Popular
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    亚洲AV综合色区无码一区| 国产成人无码一区二区在线观看| 国产在线精品无码二区| 亚洲AV日韩AV永久无码绿巨人| 精品多人p群无码| 一本一道av中文字幕无码| 中文字幕亚洲乱码熟女一区二区| 午夜福利无码不卡在线观看| 欧美日韩中文字幕久久久不卡| 中文字幕视频在线| 亚洲欧美在线一区中文字幕| 亚洲AV永久无码精品一百度影院| 欧美麻豆久久久久久中文| 国产在线精品一区二区中文| 亚洲AV无码片一区二区三区| 久久五月精品中文字幕| 中文亚洲AV片不卡在线观看| 国产乱子伦精品无码专区| 激情欧美一区二区三区中文字幕| 日韩精品无码人成视频手机| 无码精品国产VA在线观看DVD| 亚洲精品97久久中文字幕无码| 色多多国产中文字幕在线| 无码人妻黑人中文字幕| 中文国产成人精品久久亚洲精品AⅤ无码精品 | 亚洲最大激情中文字幕| 亚洲精品无码成人片在线观看| 2021国产毛片无码视频| 天堂网www中文天堂在线| 91视频中文字幕| 中文字幕一区二区人妻| 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久| 亚洲中文字幕在线乱码| 亚洲日韩中文无码久久| 99久久超碰中文字幕伊人| 精品一区二区三区中文字幕| 最近2019免费中文字幕视频三| 台湾佬中文娱乐网22| 久久亚洲AV无码精品色午夜麻豆| 一本加勒比HEZYO无码资源网| 欧美 亚洲 日韩 中文2019|