Governments 'not on track' to cap temperatures at below 2 degrees – UN

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Governments are not on track to meet a goal of the 2015 Paris agreement of capping temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before the end of the century, a United Nations official said on Sunday ahead of climate change talks in Bangkok this week.

Patricia Espinosa, head of the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which steers the climate talks, said both the public and private sector need to act with urgency to avoid “catastrophic effects”.

The Paris climate agreement, adopted by almost 200 nations in 2015, set a goal of limiting warming to “well below”

BANGKOK (AFP) – As Bangkok prepares to host climate change talks, the sprawling city of more than 10 million is itself under siege from the environment, with dire forecasts warning it could be partially submerged in just over a decade.

A preparatory meeting begins Tuesday in Thailand's capital for the next UN climate conference, a crunch summit in Poland at the end of 2018 to set rules on reducing greenhouse emissions and providing aid to vulnerable countries.

As temperatures rise, abnormal weather patterns – like more powerful cyclones, erratic rainfall, and intense droughts and floods – are predicted to worsen over time, adding pressure on governments tasked with bringing the 2015 Paris climate treaty to life.

Bangkok, built on once-marshy land about 1.5 meters (five feet) above sea level, is projected to be one of the world's hardest hit urban areas, alongside fellow Southeast Asian behemoths Jakarta and Manila.

''Nearly 40 percent'' of Bangkok will be inundated by as early as 2030 due to extreme rainfall and changes in weather patterns, according to a World Bank report.

Currently, the capital ''is sinking one to two centimeters a year and there is a risk of massive flooding in the near future,'' said Tara Buakamsri of Greenpeace.

Seas in the nearby Gulf of Thailand are rising by four millimeters a year, above the global average.

The city ''is already largely under sea level'', said Buakamsri.

In 2011, when the monsoon season a rise of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial times while “pursuing efforts” for the tougher goal of 1.5 degrees C.

“1.5 is the goal that is needed for many islands and many countries that are particularly vulnerable to avoid catastrophic effects. In many cases it means the survival of those countries. With the pledges we have on the table now we are not on track to achieve those goals,” Espinosa told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday in Bangkok.

A Europe-wide heat wave this summer and bush fires in Australia, among other things, should give new impetus to the talks, said Espinosa.

“It really does make the evidence clear that climate change is having an brought the worst floods in decades, a fifth of the city was under water. The business district was spared thanks to hastily constructed dikes.

But the rest of Thailand was not so fortunate and the death toll passed 500 by the end of the season.

Experts say unchecked urbanization and eroding shorelines will leave Bangkok and its residents in a critical situation.

With the weight of skyscrapers contributing to the city's gradual descent into water, Bangkok has become a victim of its own frenetic development.

Making things worse, the canals which used to traverse the city have now been replaced by intricate road impact on the daily lives of people,” Espinosa said.

“I do believe that this will create a bigger sense of urgency.”

The Bangkok talks come ahead of a December meeting in Katowice, Poland, where government ministers will meet to agree rules for the 2015 Paris climate accord.

That accord set a sweeping goal of ending the fossil fuel era this century, but the text was vague on details.

Espinosa said she hopes that a draft text for negotiation on the “rule book” of the 2015 agreement will emerge at the end of the week-long Bangkok talks.

“These draft texts that we hope can emerge from these talks here in Bangkok are something that we need networks, said Suppakorn Chinvanno, a climate expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

''They had contributed to a natural drainage system,'' he said, adding that the water pathways earned the city the nickname 'Venice of the East'.

This means that Bangkok could be penned in by flooding from the sea in the south and monsoon floods from the north, said Chinvanno.

Today, the government is scrambling to mitigate the effects of climate change, constructing a municipal canal network of up to 2,600 kilometers with pumping stations and eight underground tunnels to evacuate water if disaster strikes. to build on from the talks in Paris 2015. This is a process that has been ongoing for some time. One of the reasons why this is so complex is because we are talking about... many different areas. One of those areas that countries need to take action on is to reduce their emissions,” she said.

A promise by rich nations to provide developing nations with $100 billion a year to tackle climate change is only one part of the huge transformation needed, she added.

“There is a clear view that the $100 billion is only one part of the broad transformation of our societies that we are talking about... There is also a need to mobilize private financing,” said Espinosa.