Earth Day: coronavirus is real and so is climate change

The air is cleaner and the birds are back but what Covid-19 has delivered in environment terms is a temporary reprieve

'Trash' by Sebnem Coskun (Turkey, Istanbul): Underwater cleaning in the Bosphorus as part of the Zero Waste Blue project. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Water Scarcity' by Frederick Dharshie (Kakamega, Kenya): A young boy drinking dirty water due to lack of water points in the area due to deforestation thus this leading to health risks to the boy. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Invisible' by Valerie Leonard (Sisdol, Nepal): In the Sisdol landfill in Nepal waste pickers rummage through garbage all day long looking for materials or valuables to sell. This temporary landfill located near Kathmandu has been in operation since 2005. Today it is running out of its capacity. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Tuvalu Beneath the Rising Tide' by Sean Gallagher (Tuvalu): Fallen trees in the shallows of Funafuti atoll, Tuvalu. Erosion of land is an problem for coral atoll nations, as sea levels rise and increased threats from storm surges and extreme weather events occur, the land of Tuvalu will increasingly become fragile and prone to erosion. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Sleep Fatigue' by Amdad Hossain (Dhaka, Bangladesh): A woman sleeps on a dirty riverbank in Dhaka. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Hightide Enters Home' by S L Shanth Kumar (Mumbai, India). Victims of climate change, a huge wave lashes at a shanty throwing a fisherman out of his home in Bandra, in the western suburbs of Mumbai. He is pulled in by the strong currents but was rescued by fellow fishermen before the sea could have swallowed him. The reclaimed city of Mumbai is facing the risk of coastal flooding, a fallout of the climate change. The city's land and sea temperatures have been rising causing an corresponding impact on the sea level. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Desperate Measures' by Neville Kgaugelo Ngomane (Limpopo, South Africa): A last ditch attempt to keep rhinos safe from poaching. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Polluted New Year' by Eliud Gil Samaniego (Mexicali, Baja California): On January 1, 2018 Mexicali was one of the most contaminated cities in the world due to fireworks, climate change, location, industry and cars. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Lungs of the Earth' by Ian Wade (Somerset, United Kingdom): Photographing trees at night with a long shutter speed and four LED spotlights isn't easy, the smallest amount of wind will blur the canopy. It took the photographer five nights to capture this image. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'The Plastic Quarry' by Aragon Renuncio Antonio (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa): A boy plays with a plastic bag. About 380 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year. Production increased exponentially from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Sweet Dreams' by Aragon Renuncio Antonio Burkina Faso, West Africa): A girl sleeps on a desk inside her schoolroom. Extreme rains have tripled in the Sahel in the last 35 years due to global warming. Climate change has caused 70 episodes of torrential rains in the last decade although the region suffers severe episodes of drought. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Remains of the Forest' by J Henry Fair (Niederzier, Germany): Hambach Forest was nearly 12,000 years old when it was bought by a power company to dig for the brown coal buried underneath. The ancient forest was once the size of Manhattan; now only 10 per cent of it remains. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Sewing Net' by Tran Tuan Viet (Phu Yen, Vietnam): As fish stocks decrease fishing methods become increasingly extreme. Destructive fishing with small-hole nets devastate the marine environment. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

'Daily Labor' by M Yousuf Tushar (Dhaka, Bangladesh): Thousands of poor people go to Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka to find work every year. Courtesy CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Unfortunately, there is little to celebrate as the world undergoes an unprecedented crisis.

In the run-up to this Earth Day, we find that we may not have done enough as global citizens to celebrate.

We have polluted oceans, destroyed forests, depleted wetlands, suffocated our blue planet with polluted air, introduced more invasive species, overconsumed natural resources and, most importantly, have not done enough to change our behaviour.

As we have impoverished Mother Earth to a great extent, there is little to celebrate and much more to commiserate.

We continue to impoverish our planet and steal the future of our children and many generations to come.

If we continue business as usual, we will see more droughts, heatwaves, land degradation and wildfires, like the ones that happened recently in Australia.

A World Weather Attribution study shows that the likelihood of fires like those in Australia could increase by 30 per cent due to climate change.

The increasing intensity and abruptness of floods, ocean acidification and drought would disrupt ecosystems and result in more frequent freak weather and climate patterns.

Some areas would get cooler, and others warmer. If predictions from climate modelling are to be believed, much of the Arctic Ocean will be free of ice by the middle of the century.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate data centre showed that 2014 was the hottest year on record across the globe since 1880. However, the following five years have been even warmer.

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We are witnessing one of the biggest challenges of our times in the form of Covid-19, but in the context of climate change, it brings temporary reprieve.

The air is cleaner, the water is clearer and less polluted, and animals and birds are exploring new areas of which they were previously – albeit temporarily – deprived.

Covid-19 has shown our vulnerabilities and may force us to take environmental issues more seriously

Our own data at the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi shows a 50 per cent decline in nitrogen oxide levels as a result of measures taken in response to the pandemic.

The whole climate debate is split between those who believe in climate change and those who categorically deny it.

If the 2°F rise in global surface temperature in the past century, increasing droughts, frequency and increased intensity of hurricanes and heightened melting of glaciers are not enough to convince doubters, then we need greater introspection.

Conscious of this fact and the implications of climate change on humanity, in 1988 an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established by the United Nations Environment Programme. Today, it has 195 countries agreeing to work towards credible climate science. But is it not credible enough to prove that climate change is happening before our eyes?

Leaving global politics aside, we continue to make progress. Our third greenhouse gas inventory for Abu Dhabi addresses direct and indirect emissions, updates figures and estimates future emissions to 2030.

A man removes weed from the algae-covered Anchar Lake, amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus, Srinagar April 21, India. Danish Ismail/ Reuters

The report revealed that the year-on-year increase in emissions has been in line with growing demand for water and energy, coinciding with population growth and economic development.

Our mitigation measures continued growth consistent with the government’s aspirations to provide a better environment and better health for all.

Appropriate mitigation measures can achieve a 50 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per capita by 2030. We also envisage an overall 37 per cent expected reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector.

These figures appear ambitious. However, we are fully committed to achieving them, especially by integrating the targets into our five-year strategy for 2021-2025.

We are making steady progress to contribute to the UAE’s ‘nationally determined contributions’ as part of the Paris Agreement.

The Manila bay on the eve of World Earth day, Philippines, 21 April. Francis R. Malasig/ EPA

Some of the major initiatives to combat climate change include the Urban Infrastructure Framework Plan 2030 for the city of Abu Dhabi; the development of a railway network; and increasing the amount of clean energy in the total energy mix to 24 per cent by 2021.

Unfortunately, these efforts alone would not be enough. We need more champions for climate change from all strata of society and beyond our borders.

We need to change our behaviour and our resource-consumption patterns. We also need to take stock of our carbon footprints to lessen our burden on the planet.

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The 24 hours of Earth Day 2020 make a powerful statement, but the work of protecting the environment needs more than just one day of our time to truly make a difference.

It also requires much greater commitment from nations and leaderships.Our actions must be sustained. This requires generations to come together and decades of action and new ideas.

We need a manifold increase in expenditure on climate change adaptation measures, rather than focusing spending on disaster relief and management in the aftermath.

We may now think we are doing our best, but it is still not good enough for the earth. Covid-19 has shown our vulnerabilities and may force us to take environmental issues more seriously.

Failing to understand and address climate change will make us more vulnerable still. It is time to be prepared and to foresee and invest in understanding disruptive forces, whether they are infectious diseases or climate change.

Only then would we have served humanity well and done our bit for the planet. Only then can we truly celebrate Earth Day.

Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri is secretary-general of Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi