Page 12 - aruba-today-20201203

A12 SCIENCE
Thursday 3 december 2020

U.N. calls on humanity to end ‘war on nature,’ go carbon-free

By SETH BORENSTEIN and thing you can” to get their
FRANK JORDANS governments to curb emis-
Associated Press sions more quickly.
As an extreme year for hur- One of the new reports
ricanes, wildfires and heat found countries would
waves comes to an end, need to cut production of
the head of the United oil, coal and natural gas by
Nations challenged world 6% each year by 2030 to
leaders to make 2021 the keep global temperatures
year that humanity ends from rising more than 1.5
its “war on nature” and degrees Celsius. Instead,
commits to a future free a review of eight major
of planet-warming carbon fossil-fuel producing na-
pollution. tions showed they plan to
With new reports highlight- increase production by 2%
ing 2020’s record-breaking annually. That means twice
weather and growing fos- the amount of carbon-
sil fuels extraction that trig- based fuel would come
gers global warming, U.N. onto the market than fea-
Secretary-General Anto- sible to keep the Paris goal
nio Guterres delivered yet within reach.
another urgent appeal to Governments in the Group
curb climate change. It was of 20 major and emerg-
tinged with optimism but In this Wednesday, July 8, 2020 file photo, residents swim to a riverside pavilion submerged by the ing economies have so far
delivered dire warnings, as flooded Yangtze River in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province. Associated Press committed more money to
the UN gears up for a Dec. prop up fossil fuel sectors
12 virtual climate summit in ing of coal, oil and natural them said public commit- But he said the two U.N. than to boost the rollout of
France on the 5th anniver- gas. ments to emission cuts, if reports Wednesday “spell renewable energy, the re-
sary of the landmark 2015 Most trapped heat goes kept, would limit warming out how close we are to cli- port found.
Paris climate agreement. into the world’s seas, and to about 2.6 degrees Cel- mate catastrophe.” Co-author Ivetta Gerasim-
“The state of the planet is ocean temperatures now sius (4.7 degrees Fahren- When countries spend tril- chuk of the International
broken,” Guterres said in a are at record levels. It also heit) and possibly as low as lions of dollars to recover Institute for Sustainable De-
speech at Columbia Uni- means 2020 will go down 2.1 degrees Celsius. from the pandemic-trig- velopment said investing in
versity. “Humanity is wag- as one of the three hottest Guterres saw hope in gered economic slow- oil, coal and gas no longer
ing war on nature. This is years on record. promises by more than 100 down, Guterres said they makes economic sense be-
suicidal.” “There is at least a one-in- countries that by mid-cen- must to do so in a way that cause renewable energy is
“Apocalyptic fires and five chance of it temporar- tury they will not be adding emphasizes clean energy. becoming cheaper than
floods, cyclones and hurri- ily exceeding 1.5 degrees more heat-trapping gases Nations should stop funding fossil fuels. But, she said,
canes are increasingly the Celsius by 2024,” WMO to the atmosphere than and subsidizing fossil fuels, “We see that instead of
new normal,” he said. Secretary-General Petteri trees and technology can he said. And countries need governments letting these
In a report, the World Me- Taalas said. The Paris cli- remove, along with shorter to fulfill their Paris promise to fossil fuel projects die they
teorological Organization mate accord set a goal of term pollution cuts. China spend $100 billion annually resurrect them from the
said this year is set to end not exceeding 1.5-degree and U.S. President-elect to help poorer countries dead.”
about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) Joe Biden have pledged develop cleaner energy. The WMO’s report found
(2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warming since pre-industri- net zero carbon emissions. Guterres said there’s no global warming is worsen-
warmer than the last half of al times. “I firmly believe that 2021 way the world can curb ing in all seven key climate
the 1800s, which scientists A new analysis by Climate can be a new kind of leap the climate change “with- indicators, but the problem
use as a baseline for warm- Action Tracker scientists year — the year of a quan- out U.S. leadership” and is increasing human suf-
ing caused by heat-trap- who monitor carbon pol- tum leap towards carbon urged students and other fering in an already bad
ping gases from the burn- lution and pledges to cut neutrality,” Guterres said. Americans to do “every- year.q

U.N. agency removes cannabis from strictest drug category

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. it was listed with heroin and galize marijuana under the
Commission on Narcotic several other opioids. international drug control
Drugs voted Wednesday to The drugs that are on system. Canada and Uru-
remove cannabis and can- Schedule IV are a subset of guay have legalized the
nabis resin from a category those on Schedule I of the sale and use of cannabis
of the world’s most dan- convention, which already for recreational purposes,
gerous drugs, which could requires the highest levels but many countries around
impact the global medical of international control. the world have decriminal-
marijuana industry. The agency voted to leave ized marijuana possession.
The Vienna-based U.N. cannabis and cannabis The schedules weigh a
agency said in a statement resin on the list of Schedule drug’s medical utility ver-
that it had voted 27-25, with I drugs, which also include sus the possible harm that
one abstention, to follow cocaine, Fentanyl, mor- it might cause, and experts
the World Health Organiza- phine, Methadone, opium say that taking cannabis
tion’s recommendation to and oxycodone, the opi- off the strictest schedule
remove cannabis and can- ate painkiller sold as Oxy- could lead, however, to
nabis resin from Schedule Contin, Wednesday’s vote the loosening of interna-
In this Aug. 15, 2019 file photo, marijuana grows at an indoor
cannabis farm in Gardena, Calif. IV of the 1961 Convention therefore does not clear tional controls on medical
Associated Press on Narcotic Drugs, where U.N. member nations to le- marijuana.q