While Donald Trump, president of the United States, has decided to abandon the Paris Agreement, the effects of climate change continue to be felt around the world. In Spain we will have many problems to adapt if the global average temperature continues to increase.
You might think that the rise in the level of evil or the melting of glaciers have nothing to do with the country, but we would be wrong as warned by the report »Facts and figures for a Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition» prepared by he Sustainability Observatory.
Spain is a country very vulnerable Climate change. Its effects are testing a large number of animal and plant species, such as the rock ptarmigan, the chameleon, and the capercaillie, which have limited mobility and are demanding of their ecological niche. To better understand how climate change affects biodiversity, it is interesting to know how birds and mammals cope with these changes and how, in general, changes are occurring in ecosystems.
On the other hand, the country is one of the few territories in the European Union in which scientific evidence offers a reduction of agricultural productivityIf you want to explore how climate change can impact agriculture, you can read more about the adaptation of plants to climate change and its relevance to the sustainability of the sector.
With the increase in temperatures and the melting of glaciers, the rise in sea level is another of the great challenges of the Spanish territory. A report from the Ministry of the Environment foresees that water will invade 8% of the north face of the peninsular coast and the Alboran Sea in the next three decades, which represents a rise of 20 centimeters. To better visualize these projections, you can consult the map of cities that could disappear due to global warming, which illustrates the seriousness of this situation.
Is anything being done to tackle climate change? Not too much. The latest data available from the European Environment Agency reveals that between 1990 and 2014 total carbon dioxide emissions increased by 17,5%, while in the European Union as a whole they fell by 23%. In 2015, 40,4% of total CO2 emissions came from power plants or the oil industry. This increase in emissions is worrying, and ways must be found to address it, as mentioned in the implications of climate change on health and its differential impact on various populations.
Thus, it is the European country that needs to buy more emission rights in proportion to its emissions. At the stroke of the check book, it can "offset" the 65 million tons it sent into the atmosphere in 2015 aloneIt's a shame that it hasn't yet been understood that clean, vibrant nature can't be bought. For a deeper understanding of the differences between climate change and global warming, you can consult This article on the key differences, relevant to understanding the global context of these concepts.
You can see the map by doing click here.
