Advances in Science

 

In December 2015, from Paris came some of the most positive news for the health of the planet and all living things that we have ever heard: the representatives of 196 nations reached a historic agreement binding them to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with the purpose of “limiting the global temperature rise to levels far below 2°C and striving to reach 1.5°C.”

The UN Secretary General at that time, Ban Ki-moon, stated in excitement during an interview that “this is a key moment. For the first time, we have a truly universal agreement on climate change, one of the world’s most crucial problems.”

 

The Paris Agreement was signed at the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The former U.S. President Barack Obama then declared that the agreement “was a powerful signal that the planet was truly committed to a low-carbon future.” It was indeed a signal. A great signal that this was finally happening.

In November 2016, among many other disastrous decisions made in plebiscites and elections around the world in that fatal year for democracy, Americans proclaimed Donald Trump as the president based on the electoral slogan of pulling their country out of the Paris Agreement as soon as he became the president. He did as promised: on June 1, 2017, the United States officially exited the Paris Agreement.

Fortunately, four years later, under a new president (Joe Biden), that country is back on the world stage of a dialog to achieve a transformation of the planet’s productive model and try to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda by the member states of the United Nations, “the plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity” proposed by the UN, which serve as a roadmap in the fight against climate change, must now also be considered.

Colombia made the same commitment: to comply with what was signed in Paris, to work toward the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, and to take on the challenge of becoming a carbon-neutral nation by 2050. Further, it signed the Escazú Agreement, although not yet ratified, leaving the millions of the country’s residents with no protection, without access to information, and without any possibility of participating in environmental decision-making. Although we are not a “world power” in terms of GHG emissions, we have the responsibility to perform many actions to fulfill our part of the agreement. Our situation, production model, energy matrix, culture, and resources restrict what we can do and, likewise, the role we can play in the global scenario. But above all, it allows us to implement the initiatives that are highly adapted to our environment and, as many special ists say, to find solutions that will enable us to develop sustainably.

 

This article features the stories of scientists from Universidad del Rosario, from different areas of science, who are devoting their efforts to study and understand the actions being conducted in Colombia to fight against the effects produced by climate change. When we talk about climate change in the country, we must make explicit reference to the consequences that are already visible and recognized by everyone

Climate change will not occur on a specific day at a specific time nor will it be the result of a single event. It is happening right now, while you are reading this text, and it is being caused by many human actions that Colombians must work hard to change.