The loser in the war will be the entire planet

While tension following Russia's occupation of Ukraine gripped the world, another report on the global crisis went unnoticed. Releasing the latest report from the United Nations' IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "Today's IPCC report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership." The report backed by facts, describes the signs of climate crisis getting out of hand. It was compiled by 270 researchers from 67 countries. Although this picture of the entire earth's crisis is more important than the war in Europe, we do not see it even in the headlines. This also tells us about the wrong priorities that have brought us already into such a crisis. This is because the new report is more serious than all the previous climate reports. Signed by 195 countries, the document argues with reasoning that there is very little time left for efforts for mitigation, and that if this is ignored, everything will be irreversibly beyond control by the time of the next report. The repercussions experienced so far are already greater than previously predicted. The number and intensity of natural disasters are higher than previously estimated. The increase is discernible in all fallouts of climate change such poverty, famine, disease and extinction of species. Food shortages will be exacerbated by the loss of up to eight percent of the world's arable land. About 40 percent of the world's population (350 crore people) live in areas directly affected by climate change. Habitats of living species are falling into irreversible collapse.

What is man doing on the sidelines of this disaster? The biggest industry causing environmental degradation is war. There is no dearth of the pastime of dropping bombs in one place or another; only that it has moved from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. This not only creates environmental degradation, but also the world, which has not yet been able to divert the attention or resources needed to address the climate crisis, has had to devote its wherewithal on another war. It is an accepted fact that those most responsible for the pollution are the rich countries and the victims are the poorest countries. It is a decade since an agreement was signed that rich countries would provide ten thousand crore dollars in aid to poor countries each year to compensate for and overcome environmental degradation. But not even once have poor countries received the full promised amount. But every year, tens of thousands of dollars are deducted from the due. All the same, the biggest environmental killers have not significantly mitigated pollution levels. During the release of the new climate report, Guterres reminded us: 'Pollution giants have set fire to our only home, Earth.' It is those who should find the funds and resources for the treatment of earth's disease that are now waging another war. The fight including attacks on nuclear plants is happening when even the goal of reducing global warming to one and a half degrees Celsius by 2030 is difficult to achieve. Even if there is no other reason to stop wars of terror immediately, the climate crisis alone should be the cause. Shouldn't the military allies, including NATO, and the occupiers, including Russia, be aware of the state of the earth? It is said that if a war happens between nuclear powers, that would be the last war. But the fact is that a diseased earth is unable to bear even small wars. The decision not to fight a war is as crucial as the switch to alternative fuels. We feel the consequences of the failure of the United Nations, which is releasing the IPCC report and trying to convince the world of its importance, to accomplish its primary goal of maintaining peace. What the United Nations can now explore is whether it can employ climate scientists in the picture to save the earth from politicians.