Suzanne Abou Said Daou

Among all enemies that humanity has fought, climate change remains the enemy for all, it’s just like the COVID-19 pandemic, that it doesn’t differentiate between ethnicities, nationalities, genders, rankings in society or any divisions we humans classify people to, on the other hand, COVID-19 affects human beings only, climate change is bringing havoc to all species including us, by affecting the natural habitats with irreversible damage in most cases, climate change remains an enemy with no face for all creatures, and one can’t fight against with regular arms.

The problem is that climate change is not only affecting every aspect of our lives, but that we don’t have the luxury of time to postpone the measurements of effective climate action any longer, we need to start acting now and preparing for a different world, since climate change, global warming and related global environmental degradation, will not only affect food security, but national and international security, our wellbeing and prosperity.

Climate change is already killing people, destabilizing societies, bringing havoc to lands, landscapes and almost every ecosystem, contributing to the extinction of species, food shortages, to the melting of ancient ice in the arctic, to the increase catastrophic floodings’ incidence we’re witnessing,  and many effects that drawn many major studies, while the real enemy could be fought by arms, climate change is an invisible enemy, a conflict inducer, leading to wars, as seen in Middle East –an example of many, because of scarcity of water and the Renaissance Dam lead to raising the tension between Ethiopia and Egypt- as well as in many parts of the world, there’s a threat of climate wars, and specifically water wars.

Many climate organizations, movements and experts are voicing their concerns, such as youth movements, one of these is Greta Thunberg’s school strike for climate, Extinction Rebellion, is another and these movements and many others have drawn young people mainly as well as supporters of all ages, on the other hand international organizations, such as  UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Climate Change especially the yearly United Nations Climate Change Conference since 1995 (COP1 held in Berlin, till COP25 held in Madrid) and while there was hope in the COP 21 historical Paris Agreement, signed by 197 countries and ratified by 187 aiming at fighting climate change by achieving yearly progress in  Nationally Determined Contributions, so as that each country’s commitments toward agreement could be followed, studied and possibly reached, however USA on 4^th of November 2019 the United States notified the UNFCCC of its withdrawal from the agreement, which will be effective 4^th of November 2020, while many changes that are contrary to the Paris Agreement have already been implemented in United States policy,  since American president Donald Trump has come to power.

By contrast, while the COVID-19 pandemic may have saved the environment more than all the conferences of climate change held up till the end of last year, as noticed from satellite images where reduction of pollution in China, USA, among many others is the most evident in years, many reports have been documented of animals in the wild enjoying their freedom while human beings are confined in their homes, and many other aspects related to climate change have been followed by experts, and while waiting for more data, we may consider this pandemic a hard lesson and a wakeup call for humanity, to consider our actions against nature and our only home the planet earth.

Main Photo by NASA