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Planet's future in balance: World must unite, 'bring forth radical action' to reverse warming trend
FRANCE 24 English
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11/8/2023
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00:00
Well for more on this story we can cross to James Kirkham, Chief Scientific Advisor at
00:04
the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.
00:07
Thank you for speaking with us here on France 24.
00:12
What to expect from this first summit of its kind?
00:15
Well today and tomorrow we're hearing from scientists about their priorities to address
00:22
the uncertainties about what's going to happen to the cryosphere.
00:26
So how much ice we're going to lose and how fast.
00:29
And this will then inform policy makers on the Friday about what we need to do to respond
00:35
to the changes that are coming because of global warming.
00:38
Now I never thought we'd be in a position where we could link what you're working on
00:43
to the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
00:47
But fact is we've seen recently that at the UN, because you need the whole planet to agree
00:52
on what happens at the polls, there has been no agreement because the Russians, the Chinese
01:00
have been balking at it.
01:02
So how do you advance if you don't have the five permanent members of the Security Council
01:08
singing from the same hymn sheet?
01:09
You're right.
01:10
So there needs to be consensus over how we address these problems because they are global
01:16
issues and they touch every single country in the world, even nations that don't have
01:21
any ice in them.
01:22
In fact, some of the smallest countries, such as small island states, which have no ice
01:27
at all, are most affected by the losses in the polar regions.
01:32
The world has to come together to address this crisis and we need to put aside our differences
01:39
between countries and really bring forward radical action for the future of the whole
01:47
planet and put these aside for now because this is really going to define the future
01:52
of our children and the children of children in future generations.
01:57
Concretely, radical action, what's the low hanging fruit?
01:59
What's the first thing you would like to see?
02:02
Well, immediately we need to have radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
02:08
So the 1.5 degree target, which we know for the cryosphere has to be a red line because
02:14
of changes which will be initiated above that value, it's still achievable.
02:19
It's still scientifically achievable.
02:21
And going past that 1.5 degree limit is a political choice, not a scientific choice.
02:29
And so we need to see groundbreaking reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the major
02:35
emitters.
02:36
We also need to see measures to adapt to the changes that are now locked in because many
02:41
of the changes from the cryosphere are already locked in by decades of emissions before now.
02:48
And we also need to be working on a mechanism to compensate countries that will experience
02:53
loss and damage because of effects like sea level rise, which are now locked in from cryosphere
02:58
loss that we can't avoid by future emissions reductions.
03:02
However, by acting now, we can still limit the worst of the damage.
03:06
Very briefly, James Kirkham, just because we've been talking a lot about Greenland,
03:10
we have a report on our website about it.
03:13
How much has it changed just in the past 10 years and how much will it change just in
03:16
the next 10 years?
03:18
So Greenland is changing extremely rapidly.
03:21
In fact, it's really surprising many of the researchers how quickly it's changing there.
03:27
It's currently tracking at the same level as the upper worst case predictions of the
03:31
IPCC.
03:33
And it's set to contribute substantially to sea level rise in the future.
03:37
So currently, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets contribute about a third to global
03:41
sea level rise.
03:42
The other two thirds are from mountain glacier loss and the thermal expansion of the ocean.
03:48
We're looking by the end of this century at sea level rise from these three sources, between
03:51
about half a metre to a metre, depending on our actions today.
03:56
And so these ice sheets are only just waking up to the changes, though.
04:00
And we're really concerned that if we continue to push the planet to ever warmer levels,
04:06
we'll cross into thresholds and tipping points, which will then make the loss of ice from
04:10
these ice sheets inevitable, which will play out for centuries to come.
04:14
A startling scenario.
04:15
James Kirkham, many thanks for joining us.
04:18
Thank you.
04:19
Stay with us.
04:20
More to come.
04:21
More news, plus today's business and sports.
04:22
You're watching France 24.
04:26
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