The climate change crisis is here to stay – David Thake

On August 9, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its climate report in anticipation of the 26th Conference of Parties in Glasgow (COP26).

This publication is also in support of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report due in 2022. The report seeks to incorporate the latest climate science to date. The results are terrifying.

The IPCC has declared that time is running out. Unequivocally, humans are to blame for the climate crisis. Temperatures will keep rising until at least mid-century regardless of whether we implement policies that seek to keep our planet within an increase of “only” 1.5°C or not.

Indeed, the IPCC notes that we are now “unlikely” to manage to keep the earth’s temperature increase within 1.5°C and the planet will breach the 2°C threshold by 2030 if we do not immediately pursue deep emissions cuts.

Make no mistake, much of our planet’s biodiversity, our country’s viability and the lives we enjoy are literally at stake.

In the Mediterranean region, we are already living within an evolving climate crisis. As I write this piece, there are huge fires raging in Turkey, Italy and Greece. We are seeing the loss of Mediterranean woodlands, forests and livelihoods.

We are witnessing the loss of our marine biodiversity due to invasive species, marine heatwaves and increased sea acidity. This has decimated crucial value chains for communities and the stability of ecosystems we depend on for food, natural cooling and tourism.

The list of climate-related events is exhaustive and the problems and drivers have been clear for decades. Bold and urgent action is needed and indeed has been needed for a while now.

Times of Malta posted an important take from Climate Action Ambassador Simone Borg’s, with her views on what a 2°C to 4°C plus Malta would look like. Malta would be well-nigh uninhabitable in summer.

According to the IPCC, extreme heatwaves will become more likely and also last longer, with such events being four times more likely to occur in a 1.5°C world and around 5.6 times in a 2°C world.

Malta has already experienced a few heatwaves this summer, with the ensuing chaos in our grid and our productivity. As the earth’s temperature rises, the frequency of these heatwaves will increase exponentially and they will become even harsher.

This will lead to the rapid extinction of our natural habitat, wildlife and trees. The heatwaves we have just experienced have already played havoc on the agriculture produce sector in Malta. The future that the IPCC forecasts points to an even worse situation.

The climate crisis seems remote... until it burns our house down, forces us to stay indoors and reduces our living standards- David Thake

But government inaction, lack of imagination and indifference are now more serious issues that we, the people, must take stock of and consider carefully.

Malta’s carbon footprint is minor on a global scale and any mitigation projects will only have local effects. While buying an electric car will make you feel good about your daily commute, you won’t save the planet with your single purchase.

Yet, we all have to do our little bit. We, as individual global citizens, must all do our part to reduce our consumption and bring our own lives and households to a status of carbon neutrality.

Following the publication of the IPCC 2021 Climate Report, the silence from the Maltese government was deafening.

Where are the plans that should already be in place and activated for far-reaching climate adaptation policies? Where are the plans to cool our country down with better afforestation of our neighbourhoods so that trees can replace concrete before our electricity grids fail due to the impossible heat and before all our potable water for agriculture and consumption dries up.

Instead, the government has remained mute after the report’s release. Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia has not called an urgent press conference to outline how the Maltese government intends to step up mitigation efforts while reaching its targets to achieve carbon neutrality. There has been no commitment by the government to stop plundering our country’s natural resources and beauty for the greed of a few in order to preserve the future of us all.

None of that. The intention is to continue considering this issue as “someone else’s problem”.

Unfortunately, the damage has been done. Many of the adaptation measures have been eroded thanks to policies on transport and infrastructure, not to mention the blatant issues of corruption that continue to weaken affirmative climate adaptation policies.

Road-widening projects, lack of proper feed-in tariffs for individual solar energy providers, lack of support for development regulations that protect solar rights, lack of large-scale renewable energy projects that don’t consume more of our countryside, lack of proper urban planning initiatives on a state-wide scale, the destruction of trees and green spaces in ODZ land and urban areas… all will undoubtedly allow the increased heat to amplify an already grievous climate problem.

It is not too late to prepare and adapt. The government must take its head out of the sand. Only the Maltese, by ballot and by dialogue, can remove this blindfold.

We must hold them to their word and be vigilant about the gap between what our government ministers are saying and what they are actually doing.

The climate crisis seems remote and we still imagine that this is a problem that doesn’t concern our day-to-day, until it burns our house down, forces us to stay indoors and reduces our living standards markedly.

The Nationalist Party will be organising a national conference on climate change in the coming weeks. If you would like to be a part of this vision, get in touch.