Topic of the day – “Developed countries, especially the U.S., need to commit funds to limit climate change”
The conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok last week, that was to draft a rulebook for the Paris Agreement ahead of a crucial international conference in Poland in December, ran into predictable difficulties over the issue of raising funds to help poorer nations. Some developed countries led by the U.S. — which, under the Trump administration, has rejected the agreement — are unwilling to commit to sound rules on raising climate finance. Under the pact concluded in Paris, rich countries pledged to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and aid populations to cope with extreme events such as floods, droughts and storms.Obstructing the transition to a carbon-neutral pathway and preserving the status quo is short-sighted, simply because the losses caused by weather events are proving severely detrimental to all economies. By trying to stall climate justice to millions of poor people in vulnerable countries, the developed nations are refusing to accept their responsibility for historical emissions of GHGs. Those emissions raised living standards for their citizens but contributed heavily to the accumulated carbon dioxide burden, now measured at about 410 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, up from 280 ppm before the industrial revolution.
There is international pressure on China and India to cut GHG emissions. Both countries have committed themselves to a cleaner growth path. India, which reported an annual CO2 equivalent emissions of 2.136 billion tonnes in 2010 to the UNFCCC two years ago, estimates that the GHG emissions intensity of its GDP has declined by 12% for the 2005-2010 period. As members committed to the Paris Agreement, China and India have the responsibility of climate leadership in the developing world, and have to green their growth. What developing countries need is a supportive framework in the form of a rulebook that binds the developed countries to their funding pledges, provides support for capacity building and transfer of green technologies on liberal terms. If scientific estimates are correct, the damage already done to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is set to raise sea levels; a 2° Celsius rise will also destabilise the Greenland Ice Sheet. Failed agriculture in populous countries will drive more mass migrations of people, creating conflict. A deeper insight on all this will be available in October when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its scientific report on the impact of a 1.5° C rise in global average temperature. This is the time for the world’s leaders to demonstrate that they are ready to go beyond expediency and take the actions needed to avert long-term catastrophe.
WORDS AND MEANINGS –
Convention
Meaning : a way in which something is usually done.
Synonym : meeting
Antonyms : discord
Example : “to attract the best patrons the movie houses had to ape the conventions and the standards of theatres”
predictable
Meaning : able to be predicted.
Synonym : certain
Antonyms : improbable
Example : “the market is volatile and never predictable”
pledge
Meaning : commit (a person or organization) by a solemn promise.
Synonym : agreement
Antonyms : breach
Example : “the government pledged itself to deal with environmental problems”
cope
Meaning : (of a person) deal effectively with something difficult.
Synonym : handle
Antonyms : keep
Example : “his ability to cope with stress”
Obstructing
Meaning : block (an opening, path, road, etc.); be or get in the way of.
Synonym : inhibiting
Antonyms : facilitating
Example : “she was obstructing the entrance”
detrimental
Meaning : tending to cause harm.
Synonym : adverse
Antonyms : aiding
Example : “recent policies have been detrimental to the interests of many old people”
accumulate
Meaning : gather together or acquire an increasing number or quantity of.
Synonym : accrue
Antonyms : contract
Example : “investigators have yet to accumulate enough evidence”
binds
Meaning : tie or fasten (something) tightly together.
Synonym : crunch , dilemma
Antonyms : solution
Example : “logs bound together with ropes”
liberal
Meaning : willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.
Synonym : flexible
Antonyms : intolerant
Example : “liberal views towards divorce”
destabilise
Synonym : Undermine
Antonyms : stabilize
Example : “the accused were charged with conspiracy to destabilize the country”
catastrophe.
Meaning : an event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster.
Synonym : adversity
Antonyms : aid
Example : “an environmental catastrophe”
expediency
Meaning : the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral; convenience.
Synonym : practicality
Antonyms : detriment
Example : “an act of political expediency”
transition
Meaning : the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.
Synonym : conversion
Antonyms : decrease
Example : “students in transition from one programme to another”
reconfiguration
Meaning : the arrangement of parts or elements in a different form, figure, or combination.
Synonym : affect
Example : “software reconfiguration”
strategic
Meaning : relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them.
Synonym : critical
Antonyms : trivial
Example : “strategic planning for the organization is the responsibility of top management”
offshore
Meaning : move (some of a company’s processes or services) overseas.
Tamil Meaning :
Synonym : seaward
Antonyms : onshore
Example : “he predicts that 750,000 UK jobs will be offshored in the next 10 years”
deny
Meaning : state that one refuses to admit the truth or existence of.
Synonym : ban
Antonyms : accept
Example : “both firms deny any responsibility for the tragedy”
conflict
Meaning : be incompatible or at variance; clash.
Synonym : battle
Antonyms : truce
Example : “parents’ and children’s interests sometimes conflict”
optimally
Meaning : in the best or most favourable way.
Synonym : ideally
Example : “to function optimally, the body requires a large range of nutrients”
deference
Meaning : polite submission and respect.
Synonym : yielding
Antonyms : dishonor
Example : “he addressed her with the deference due to age”
