As part of the project "Development of the potential of environmental NGO in implementing legal methods of environmental protection," the Russian World Wildlife Fund WWF has launched a series of online webinars on legal education for environmental non-profit organizations.
On August 12, the online webinar "Complex things in an interesting manner" was held on the ZOOM platform. The speaker of this online meeting was Alexey Kokorin, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for disseminating scientific knowledge on the problem of climate change, as well as director of the Climate and Energy Program of WWF Russia. The expert spoke in a engaging way about the pressing, complex topic - climate change.
The online meeting was dedicated to global climate change, as well as the role of humanity in these changes. Although the meeting was held by the Russian organization WWF, Aleksey Kokorin revealed the topic of climate change in the context of the whole world. Great emphasis was placed on the Arctic processes and the adaptation of wildlife representatives to new conditions.
Alexey Kokorin's speech covered the following topics related to climate change:
· The ratio of natural and anthropogenic factors
· Climate trends of recent decades
· UN Paris Climate Agreement
At the very beginning of the webinar, Aleksey Kokorin presented materials and reports, such as the IPCC Assessment Reports, in which you can find the necessary information about climate change. He also spoke about an interactive map, which enables to track climate changes characteristic of a particular region.
The presentation began with a story about the Earth's radiation balance.
Globally, energy comes from the Sun and is absorbed by the Earth's surface. Then infrared radiation is emitted, which is subsequently absorbed by greenhouse gases.
Thus, it is the greenhouse effect that has a significant impact on climate warming. Without the greenhouse effect, the surface air temperature would be -19 ° C, and with it 13.5 ° C.
Human increased the greenhouse effect insignificantly - only by 5%. However, it significantly swayed the conditions for the aggravation of processes.
Therefore, as Alexei Kokorin says: "The climate becomes not so much warm as nervous, meaning unstable."
The expert spoke about the process of climate change, starting from the period of continental drift, which occurred about 500 million years ago, to the present.
All the natural factors operate both in the past and in the future. The anthropogenic impact is already superimposed on natural factors, which dominates when the effects are averaged over 50-100 years or more.
Although this part of the presentation was largely devoted to Russian climate trends, the expert also touched upon climate changes affecting other world regions.
Using the example of exaggerated images of the American organization NOAA, Alexey Kokorin showed how climate change in the Arctic impacts residents' lives of the Northern Hemisphere's temperate latitudes. According to him, such changes will be associated with an increase in the number and strength of dangerous meteorological phenomena.
The final part of the presentation began with the background of the Paris Agreement.
According to Aleksey Kokorin, “The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, issued in 1994, has taken a big step forward. However, it also has its drawbacks. The convention firmly establishes the division of countries into three groups according to their economic development. And the approach to tackling climate change implies that developed countries should take the initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; meanwhile, developing countries should act as far as possible. This leads to the fact that developing countries will only receive financial assistance, while developed countries will only provide financial support. "
The expert provided data on country dynamics of emissions after the first stage of the Paris Agreement (2008-2012) - the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC, aimed at mandatory emission reductions by developed countries. However, according to the UNFCCC database, greenhouse emissions are now increasing in developing countries. Therefore, the Kyoto Protocol has lost its relevance.
Alexey Kokorin highlighted the main global aspects of fulfilling the conditions of the Paris Agreement:
· Climate finance: likely to fulfill the collective commitment of the most developed countries for 2020 - $ 100 billion / year;
· Adaptation: little funds (25% of total funding, few grants);
· Greenhouse gas emissions: no reduction (except for EU countries and small countries);
· Successful actions at the level of cities and regions, business associations and banks: electric transport, renewable energy sources, reducing investment in coal, etc.
As the expert emphasizes, the basis for action to effectively reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is a reliable forecast of the growth of meteorological events and damage to the largest countries. This will help to quickly start compulsory emission reductions, as well as create economic leverage for all countries.
I would also like to note that there was excellent feedback during the online meeting. In the online chat, viewers asked the expert questions on interesting topics.
At the end of the meeting, the winner was selected from those who asked questions. It was an expert of the Environmental Press Center of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation - Mikhail Vasilyevich Yurchenko, who asked the question about the impact of desertification on southern Russia residents' migration.
As a reward for his interesting question, Mikhail Yurchenko received a book by Pavel Fomenko - "The Kiss of a Tigress."
You also have a great opportunity to listen to the full version of the online webinar and find the answer to the most interesting question of the event on the WWF Youtube channel at the link
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