2023 became the warmest in the history of observations. Once again, records were broken by the volume of greenhouse gases, coil temperatures, heat supply and acidification of the ocean, an increase in sea level, sea ice cover in the Antarctic and the retreat of glaciers. This is stated in the new report of the World Meteorological Organization (VMO), submitted by the General Secretary of the VMO Celeste Saulo.
Heat waves, floods, droughts, forest fires and increasing tropical cyclones caused suffering and chaos. Economic damage from extreme weather phenomena and natural disasters is estimated at billions of dollars, the report says.
In WMO, they also report that the average global squat temperature in 2023 by 1.45 degrees Celsius exceeded the pre -industrial indicator, while the last decade has become the warmest in the history of observations.
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“We have never been so close yet, albeit on a temporary basis, to the lower threshold of [warming] at 1.5 degrees Celsius, established by the Paris Agreement on the change in the climate,” said the head of VMO. “The VMO community gives the whole world a red alarm,” she added.
Saulo noted that climate change is not only an increase in temperature. Other phenomena observed in 2023 are particularly concerned: the unprecedented warming of the ocean, the retreat of glaciers and the loss of Antarctic sea ice. On the average day in 2023, almost a third of the world ocean was in the power of heat waves, which caused the most important environmental and food systems. By the end of 2023, more than 90 percent of the ocean surface were exposed to heat waves.
“The climatic crisis is a decisive problem that humanity has encountered, and it is closely intertwined with the crisis of inequality, as evidenced by the deterioration of the situation with food security, the movement of the population and the loss of biodiversity,” said Saulo.
In turn, UN Secretary General Antoniu Guterrish said that all indicators are caused by anxiety.
“Some meanings do not just beat the records, they crush them. And the changes occur faster,” said the UN Secretary General.
The number of people experiencing an acute lack of food in 2023 increased more than doubled to 333 million people. Extreme weather and climatic conditions may not be the root cause of the problems in the field of food, but they act as aggravating factors, the report says.
