Day: October 31, 2021

The past seven years are on track to be the warmest on record, with the global sea level rise accelerating since 2013 to a new high in 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s latest report revealed on Sunday.

The WMO released its provisional report on the State of the Global Climate 2021 on the opening day of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, until Nov. 12.

Combining input from multiple UN agencies, national meteorological and hydrological services, and scientific experts, the report said this year witnessed an early temporary cooling event, but this did not negate or reverse the long-term trend of rising temperatures.

“The report draws from the latest scientific evidence to show how our planet is changing before our eyes. From the ocean depths to mountain tops, from melting glaciers to relentless extreme weather events, ecosystems and communities around the globe are being devastated,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report. “COP26 must be a turning point for people and the planet.”

He said the scientists are clear on the facts. “Now leaders need to be just as clear in their actions. The door is open and the solutions are there. COP26 must be a turning point. We must act now with ambition and solidarity to safeguard our future and save humanity,” he urged.

Greenhouse gas concentrations reached new highs in 2020, the WMO report revealed.

Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) were 413.2 parts per million (ppm) by increasing 149% compared to the pre-industrial (1,750) levels.

The levels of methane (CH4) were at 1,889 parts per billion (ppb) and nitrous oxide (N2O) at 333.2 ppb, 262% and 123% higher than pre-industrial levels, respectively.

The global mean temperature for 2021 was about 1.09 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average based on data from January to September, indicating that the trend has continued, according to the report.

The six datasets used by the WMO in the report placed 2021 as the sixth or seventh warmest year on record globally. However, the report said, the ranking may change at the end of the year.

The year 2016 remained the warmest year on record in most of the datasets analyzed.

“Extreme events are the new norm. There is mounting scientific evidence that some of these bear the footprint of human-induced climate change,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said.

He warned that the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions would result in a temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, exceeding the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“COP26 is a make-or-break opportunity to put us back on track,” Taalas said.

Malnutrition, conflict, economic shocks increase

According to the report, around 90% of the earth’s accumulated heat is stored in the ocean, and the upper 2,000 meters depth of the ocean continued to warm in 2019, reaching a new record high, however, 2020 exceeded it.

“All datasets agree that ocean warming rates show a particularly strong increase in the past two decades, and it is expected that the ocean will continue to warm in the future,” it said.

Much of the ocean experienced at least one strong marine heatwave at some point in 2021, the WMO said.

The ocean absorbs around 23% of the annual emissions of anthropogenic CO2 to the atmosphere.

Global sea-level rise averaged 2.1 millimeters per year between 1993 and 2002, and 4.4 millimeters per year between 2013 and 2021, the report found.

The WMO said the increase is mostly due to the accelerated loss of ice mass from glaciers and ice sheets.

The mass loss from North American glaciers has accelerated in the last 20 years by almost doubling between 2015 and 2019 compared to 2000-2004.

“An exceptionally warm, dry summer in 2021 in western North America took a brutal toll on the region’s mountain glaciers,” the report stated.

From extreme rainfall to significant drought in many parts of the world this year, the report said the extreme weather conditions led to deaths, caused flooding and landslides, damaged coffee growing regions, increased agricultural losses.

A malnutrition crisis associated with drought gripped parts of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, the WMO said.

The report also highlighted the socioeconomic impacts of rising temperatures, citing the increasing frequency and intensity of conflict, extreme weather events, and economic shocks.

“The compounded effects of these perils, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to a rise in hunger and, consequently, undermined decades of progress towards improving food security,” the report said.

Undernourishment reached a peak of 768 million people in 2020 with projections indicating that world hunger will fall to around 710 million this year.

However, the report said, the numbers in many countries are already higher than in 2020.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday met with leaders of France, Germany, and the European Council on the sidelines of the G20 Rome summit.

Erdogan and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held a 50-minute closed-door meeting at the La Nuvola Convention Center, which hosts the 2021 summit in Italy, the first in-person summit since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, the Turkish president hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for 30 minutes behind closed doors.

The meeting was also attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, and Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman Omer Celik.

Meanwhile, Olaf Scholz, the likely successor of Merkel, also joined her in the meeting with Erdogan.

Later, Erdogan met with European Council head Charles Michel for a 40-minute talk. The closed-door meeting was also attended by Kalin.

Commenting on the meeting, Michel on Twitter said the two officials addressed the “EU-Turkey relations. Discussed developments in Afghanistan, Libya and the wider region. Dialogue is key for regional stability and security.”

The 2021 G20 summit has convened the leaders of the world’s 20 leading economies and representatives of international organizations. The two-day summit will wrap up on Sunday.

*Writing and contributions by Merve Aydogan in Ankara

Source: Anadolu Agency

US President Joe Biden showed a “positive attitude” about the sale of the F-16 fighter jets, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference at the G20 summit in Rome on Sunday.

“The issue of modernizing the F-16s we have or giving new F-16s came to the fore (during the meeting with Biden). Our defense ministers are following the process,” Erdogan told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish and US leaders held a closed-door meeting which lasted over an hour.

Responding to a question about his meeting with Biden, Erdogan said he had conveyed Turkey’s “regret” over the support that “terrorist groups such as the PKK, PYD, YPG are receiving, especially from the US.”

“As (two) NATO allies, we have expressed the regret that this support (for terror groups) has brought upon us,” he added.

Such support for terror groups “harms” the solidarity between two countries, Erdogan said, adding, he “believes” that the US arms support for terror groups in Syria will not continue in the future.

Erdogan also commented on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.

“Though the global economy has begun to recover in 2021, our economies still face serious challenges.

“Institutions controlling the global financial system should not become a tool of political manipulations, which has no reasonable economic justification,” he added.

On climate change, the Turkish president criticized some countries without mentioning names.

He said: “The amount that the world’s most polluting countries spend on combating irregular migration is about twice as much as the amount they allocate to combating climate change. This distorted picture before us is truly embarrassing.”

In response to a question regarding the EU’s proposal to create a collective armed force of its own, Erdogan said it is “not possible.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met on Sunday to discuss the hot-button issue of fishing rights in the English Channel that has plagued the two countries over the past few weeks.

The 30-minute meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome had the two leaders vowing that “practical and operational measures are taken as quickly as possible to avoid a rise in tension” and that they would bring forth a “de-escalation” in the situation, according to a statement by the Elysee Palace.

The leaders promised to address the issue in “the very next few days.”

At the heart of the issue is France’s objection to the UK’s recent rejecting dozens of licenses for French fisherman to fish in the territorial waters — those 6 to 12 nautical miles off England’s coast — as well as those closer to Jersey, both of which are the most bountiful.

EU fishermen wanting to fish there had to apply for new licenses, but prove they had previously worked in the waters as well.

An official statement put out by Downing Street said that Johnson had “reiterated his deep concern over the rhetoric emanating from the French government in recent days, including the suggestion by the French prime minister that the UK should be punished for leaving the EU.”

The statement went on to say that the British premier hoped that the French government would de-escalate this rhetoric and withdraw its threats.

According to French news outlet franceinfo, Johnson is holding firm.

“Our position has not changed,” said a spokesman for the prime minister. “If the French government wants to come forward with proposals for a de-escalation of the threats they have formulated, they will be welcome.”

The issue had reached a stalemate Wednesday when France said it would disrupt trade as well as increase customs checks starting Nov. 2 if the UK continued to withhold the granting of licenses to more French fishermen.

Possible new protocols would include systematic customs and sanitary checks on products brought to France and a ban on landing seafood.

The fish industry accounts for only 0.5% of the UK economy.

This past week’s row was only the latest the two powers have had in the past few months, with their relationship souring.

France has insisted that Britain has not adhered to the agreement signed during Brexit over the rights to fish in the waters. The latest figures from the beginning of October show that for the territorial waters, London has issued 100 licenses to French boats while rejecting 75, and in Jersey, 111 permanent licenses and 31 provisional licenses have been issued, with 75 boats being rejected.

Britain has granted 1,700 licenses to French boats to fish in their exclusive economic zone, or the waters 12-200 miles off the English coast. Although self-governing, the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey are dependent on London for navigation in the areas of foreign affairs and defense.

For his part, France’s President Macron said on Sunday that Johnson needs to “respect commitments” taken by the UK and EU as part of Brexit.

“We made precise demands regarding licenses to be granted to a precise number of ships,” an official imparted on behalf of the president. “We expect them to respect the rules of the game.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

A woman in the mountainous Hindu Kush province in central Afghanistan is forced to sell her two granddaughters for the sake of her family’s survival and her son’s treatment.

Ruhsana Samimi, 56, has contacted her village elders in Dara-i-Kazim, Tolak district of Ghor province, and expressed her intention to sell her two granddaughters – six-year-old Zenet and four-year-old Ziba.

She has put Zenet up for sale for 200,000 Afghanis (approximately $2,200) and Ziba for 100,000 Afghanis (approximately $1,100) to meet the family’s daily food requirements and pay for her son Sibghatullah’s treatment, who was the family’s sole breadwinner.

She put them up for sale two weeks ago, Samimi told Anadolu Agency on Sunday, adding that no buyer has come forward.

“We are starving and have received no help, not even from our relatives. If someone had helped us, I would not have put my granddaughter up for sale,” she argued.

The Taliban’s takeover of the country in August and the subsequent halt of international aid exacerbated the country’s already-existing poverty and starvation and is one of the major causes of this state of affairs.

The cash-strapped country, which has been ravaged by 20 years of war, is now in a catastrophic economic crisis, with people selling assets and begging for bread to stay alive.

On Aug. 17, two days after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the US government froze about $9.5 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank assets. Many donors and international organizations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have stopped making payments to the interim Taliban regime.

The UN forecasts that around 22.8 million people or over half of Afghanistan’s population, will face severe food problems.

According to information from various places, some families want to sell their children to relatives, while others intend to sell to anyone who might be interested in buying ahead of the harsh winter, which is set to begin in the coming weeks.

Samimi stated that the family is facing poverty as a result of his son’s illness, and there is no one in the family to supply daily requirements, forcing her to sell her granddaughter with the approval of the girls’ parents.

She said she lost her husband 20 years ago to an illness and has struggled since then to raise her children and now grandchildren while also caring for her ailing son and his family.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Even as France and the UK attempted to de-escalate tensions over fishing rights on Sunday, France’s junior minister for European affairs contended that Britain’s denial of licenses to French fishers was a “political choice” and Paris will respond against it with proportionate retaliatory measures from Nov. 2.

Clement Beaune made the statement in reaction to the UK’s Brexit Secretary David Frost’s Twitter thread that threats issued by France against the UK constituted a breach by the EU of its treaty obligations. Frost said that London will lodge a legal case if the threats are implemented.

France has announced tightening of customs controls and banning entry to British trawlers from unloading their cargo in French ports from Nov. 2 if the UK continues to deny issuing licenses.

Countering Frost’s claims that the UK has delivered on the obligations of the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement and granted 98% of applications, Beaune said that a majority of the missing licenses were of the French fishers.

After 10 months of negotiations, when a significant amount of licenses, targeting one country, is missing, it is not a technical issue, it is a political choice and a breach of the agreement, Beaune rebutted.

In a series of tweets, the minister asserted that the UK has dismissed over 40% of requests by French fishers who have traditionally fished in the English Channel. Around 90% of the EU fishers’ requests were granted, but the ones refuted were all French, he claimed.

He added that France will go ahead and impose “proportionate and reversible measures” within the framework of the post-Brexit agreement from Tuesday, Nov. 2.

The verbal spat in the online realm continued even as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. Johnson has urged France to de-escalate the rhetoric and withdraw its threats, according to a statement from his office.

Source: Anadolu Agency