• Call-in Numbers: 917-633-8191 / 201-880-5508

  • Now Playing

    Title

    Artist

    The coming year is the “last chance” to bring the world together to tackle climate change to protect communities and nature, the heads of two key environmental bodies have warned.

    Climate change and damage to nature are already having “dire consequences”, the leaders of the government agencies Natural England and the Environment Agency have said.

    In an article, Natural England chair Tony Juniper and the Environment Agency’s Emma Howard Boyd have pointed to the recent flooding which saw hundreds of people evacuated from Fishlake, Doncaster, with some still out of their homes.

    A report in October on the state of nature in the UK found two-fifths (41 per cent) of the country’s wildlife species had declined over the past 50 years and 13 per cent of the species tracked were threatened with extinction in England.

    The warning comes after little progress at UN climate talks in Madrid and ahead of a series of international meetings in 2020, including on protecting nature in China in October and crucial climate talks in Glasgow in November.

    1/20 Athens, Greece

    In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore

    AFP/Getty

    2/20 California

    Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world

    Getty

    3/20 Redding, California

    Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season

    AP

    4/20 Athens, Greece

    While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives

    AFP/Getty

    5/20 Carlisle, England

    In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet

    AFP/Getty

    6/20 Hebden Bridge, England

    Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change."

    Getty

    7/20 Somerset, England

    Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks

    Getty

    8/20 Dumfries, Scotland

    "In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals

    Getty

    9/20 London, England

    Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day

    PA

    10/20 London, England

    Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks

    AFP/Getty

    11/20 New South Wales, Australia

    Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood

    Reuters

    12/20 Tonle Sap, Cambodia

    Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level

    Carlo Frem/Amazon

    13/20 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day

    AFP/Getty

    14/20 Morocco

    Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco

    AFP/Getty

    15/20 London, England

    Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate

    AFP/Getty

    16/20 Purmerend, The Netherlands

    Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people

    Jeroen Much/Andras Schuh

    17/20 Xiamen, China

    Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles

    Ma Weiwei

    18/20 Chennai, India

    Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010

    AFP/Getty

    19/20 Amazon rainforest, Brazil

    More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture

    AFP/Getty

    20/20 California

    This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue

    Getty

    1/20 Athens, Greece

    In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore

    AFP/Getty

    2/20 California

    Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world

    Getty

    3/20 Redding, California

    Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season

    AP

    4/20 Athens, Greece

    While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives

    AFP/Getty

    5/20 Carlisle, England

    In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet

    AFP/Getty

    6/20 Hebden Bridge, England

    Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change."

    Getty

    7/20 Somerset, England

    Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks

    Getty

    8/20 Dumfries, Scotland

    "In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals

    Getty

    9/20 London, England

    Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day

    PA

    10/20 London, England

    Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks

    AFP/Getty

    11/20 New South Wales, Australia

    Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood

    Reuters

    12/20 Tonle Sap, Cambodia

    Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level

    Carlo Frem/Amazon

    13/20 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day

    AFP/Getty

    14/20 Morocco

    Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco

    AFP/Getty

    15/20 London, England

    Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate

    AFP/Getty

    16/20 Purmerend, The Netherlands

    Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people

    Jeroen Much/Andras Schuh

    17/20 Xiamen, China

    Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles

    Ma Weiwei

    18/20 Chennai, India

    Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010

    AFP/Getty

    19/20 Amazon rainforest, Brazil

    More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture

    AFP/Getty

    20/20 California

    This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue

    Getty

    “It’s clear that 2020 is our last chance to bring the world together to take decisive action on climate change in order to protect our communities and reverse the alarming loss of wildlife we have witnessed in recent years,” Mr Juniper and Ms Howard Boyd said.

    They said the environmental challenges of climate change and nature losses are fundamentally connected to each other.

    “Climate change is causing damage to ecosystems, such as the droughts which are wrecking chalk rivers and wetlands, while the degradation of the natural environment, such as deforestation and drainage of peatlands, is leading to the emissions causing climate change,” the two leaders said.

    “If we are to adapt to what are now inevitable climatic shifts, including the effects of extreme weather, then restoring the natural environment must be at the heart of our response.”

    They said there would be “every opportunity to raise the tempo of action here in the UK” in 2020, with a new environment bill expected to be presented to parliament with provisions for an ambitious national nature recovery network.

    The two environmental bodies have plans for large-scale woodland regeneration to store carbon, improve wildlife habitat, clean up rivers and reduce flood risk.

    And they said the government’s commitment for a new £640m nature for climate fund in the Conservative election manifesto is one way national efforts could be delivered.

    Projects such as the efforts to prevent dozens of species being lost from the UK, or creating and restoring large areas of habitat, are helping adapt to climate change, protect wildlife and capture and store carbon.

    But they warned that the ambition to cut greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050 was “only as good as its delivery”.

    Alongside policies and initiatives, substantial financial investments in environmental recovery would be vital – including properly resourced government agencies.

    “Our government has the opportunity to lift plans for clean, green, healthy and resilient communities at home towards action for the whole world,” Mr Juniper and Ms Howard Boyd said.

    “In that programme it will have our full support, for if we walk the talk, we might just persuade others to share our vision.”

    Read More


    Reader's opinions

    Leave a Reply