Climate change and the increase in temperatures at a global level is something that affects every country in the world in one way or another. In Latin America, apart from the great social and technological changes that are continually undergoing, Latinos who are under 30 years old have an important difference in common with the rest: they have not lived a single month of their lives with a temperature below Average temperatures recorded in the XNUMXth century.
The increase in global temperatures is becoming more and more tangible and many people are adapting and others not so much. How does all this affect the inhabitants of Latin America?
Increase in global temperatures
Latinos under 30 have lived on a constantly warming planet since they were born. Monthly temperatures recorded since 1985 have only risen above the XNUMXth-century monthly average. Global warming is becoming more pronounced and imminent due to human activities and the massive greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere every day.
As the months and years pass, the gap between the average monthly temperatures recorded in the 2016th century and the current average continues to widen, breaking records almost every month. In fact, 1880 was one of the hottest years on record since temperature measurements began in XNUMX, underscoring the urgent need to address the reality of climate change.
In an attempt to halt this trend of ever-increasing average temperatures, Latin Americans have signed the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperatures to an average increase of no more than 1,5 degrees Celsius. This is critical for Latin America's adaptation to climate change.
Latin America will experience greater global warming
The Paris Agreement aims to prevent average temperatures from rising. However, even if we tried to maintain them as they are now or reduce them slightly, they would have to adapt to the new climate, the effects of which are already being experienced across the region, with a 0,87 degree increase in the global average seen in May of this year. This situation has led many to question how plants are more exposed to frost due to climate change.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the region has been experiencing droughts throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and Bolivia since 2014, caused by low rainfall and the El Niño phenomenon. In addition, some 3,5 million people are living in food insecurity due to crop losses, highlighting the need for more effective adaptations in agriculture, such as those mentioned in the adaptation of plants to climate change.
As we know, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods. In this case, in Haiti, the equivalent of half of the annual rainfall in April 2016 fell in just three weeks. This caused severe flooding and affected more than 9.000 families. In addition, the floods caused landslides that affected more than 411.000 people in Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
As we can see, Latinos not only face increasingly higher temperatures, but also experience and suffer the atrocities caused by extreme weather events. The loss of property, crop destruction, economic damage, and loss of life, all caused by climate change, underscores the urgency of investing in green infrastructure to better adapt to climate change, as mentioned in investing in green infrastructureThe worst part is that there are still people in the world, like US President Donald Trump, who don't believe climate change exists and that it's a Chinese invention to gain competitiveness.
For World Bank experts, it is clear that Latin America will be one of the regions most affected by climate change, especially if the world fails to keep global warming below an average of 2 degrees. It should also be noted that some 14 million people live in areas close to 5 meters above sea level and, with the consequent rise in sea level, may be affected by flooding and loss of land and homes in the near future, which could lead to millions experiencing the effects of climate change, as can be seen in Floods that will endanger millions of people within 25 years.