k | ltlaDa
Nature reflects our nature
blatantly advocate instant and myopic economic reforms rather than slow and steady sustainability and therefore , ultimately deny climate change impacts ; the very reason why America withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change .
One thing that we need to understand is predicting and modeling natural hazards are two completely different things . No one can predict when the hazard will occur with hundred percent confidence level ; we can only know the likelihood of its occurrence . Because of the uncertainty of hazards , people often tend to ignore and fail to perceive any risks and think that the government is solely responsible for disaster mitigation .
As a result , either because of ignorance or compulsion , people live in sensitive areas and become highly vulnerable to disaster . Another conflict in values and facts occur between politicians and scientists . In most countries , there is always a competition for long-term investments in disaster risk reduction and immediate needs such as urban transformations . Politicians favor the latter . Healy & Malhotra ( 2009 ) proclaims that the politicians are awarded by the voters for disaster relief funding rather than investment in disaster preparedness . Thornton ( 2015 ) even advised excluding politics in decision making which is quite a fancy dream . Therefore , decision-makers should be smart enough to allocate resources to mitigate any natural disaster rather than to brainwash the citizens to vote for particular propaganda .
Fig : H . V McKay Massey Harris , Factory Flood , Sunshine , Victoria , 1946
Relation between the global challenges :
Global warming is undeniably increasing disaster risks in natural and human systems . Rapid melting the ice sheets in the polar regions is resulting in sea level rise . Sea level is expected to rise approximately 0.1 m lower with global warming of 1.5 ° C compared to 2 ° C by 2100 and will continue to rise depending upon the actions taken ( Masson-Delmotte et al ., 2018 ). Sea level rise is increasing the risks of floods in coastal areas and some island countries such as Maldives and Tuvalu are on the verge of complete sinking . Glacier retreats due to temperature rise in the Himalayas are increasing the risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood ( GLOF ) in lower lying settlement areas . Likewise , climatic variability is influencing unpredictable weather phenomena such as cyclones , droughts and wildfires in many parts of the world . Extreme heat waves and cold waves are more prominent than ever . Additionally , melting of permafrost release methane gas stored underneath it ( Whiteman , Hope , & Wadhams , 2013 ) and wildfires release carbon dioxide hence , contributing back enormous greenhouse gases to the atmosphere enhancing the greenhouse effect . Masson- Delmotte et al . ( 2018 ) mentioned that the disaster risks vary , depending upon the magnitude and rate of warming , vulnerability , coping capacity , geographic location , mitigation , and adaptation measures adopted by the nations . However , the resources and fund to tackle climate change-induced disasters will increase significantly , mounting severe political and economic pressure to all countries . Therefore , every nation must come to a consensus to minimize global carbon emission and adopt or invest in climate-smart innovative technologies sooner because the more time we spend debating , the global consequences are getting more complicated . Global leaders must be aware that the policies such as Sendai framework for disaster reduction , SDGs , Paris Agreement should not be limited within papers but rather execute them with great conviction to find a solution that leads to the common good .
Anish Ratna Shakya Alumni of Kathmandu University ,
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering Batch : 2012
26 Year Book of Environmental Science