The world is at risk - International Conference on Climate Change points out

The International Conference on Climate Change, which was organised by the University of Colombo in collaboration with The International Institute of Knowledge Management. News 1st graced the event. TCMOL's Dinesh Abeywickrama and Keshala Dias were resource persons at the event. The following possibilities were addressed at the event:

What might happen in a world where water and food are luxuries?

The answer is that the majority of the world's population will die of hunger or without water as not all will be able to afford these basic needs. As a result, the economies will fall and countries will find it had to prosper. This situation is a reality we should look forward to in another ten to fifteen years, considering the current rate of global warming. Global warming is one of the biggest problems prevailing in the world as the production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are having a heating effect on the atmosphere, which could be very dangerous for human life. The 'global average temperature' should ideally be at 2° C, but at the current level it has passed 1° C. China stands as the country which emits the highest number of emissions while USA, India and Russia stand in line.Due to this situation, climate has started to change in severe ways. The situation is such that we never know how the climate might change the next minute. In the year 2016, in Sri Lanka,  a severe drought prevailed during the first six months of the year which was followed by severe floods and landslides. In the wake of these happenings, the stark effect is on agriculture, water resources, human health and forestry. For instance, during the drought and floods  last year, the prices of agricultural products increased drastically. Water became a scarce resource, trees died and people lost lives, while many were displaced. However, certain organisations have taken steps to help mitigate climate change. The Paris Agreement which is within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one such agreement which looks forward to mitigate climate change. The agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a ceremony in New York. As of December 2016, 194 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty, 132 of which have ratified it. After several European Union states ratified the agreement in October 2016, there were enough countries that had ratified the agreement that produce enough of the world's greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force. The agreement went into effect on 4 November 2016. What might be the future of climate change? As for Dr. A. Scott Denning, the future of climate change is hard to predict for three reasons; 1) People - People will remain uncertain, therefore one cannot predict what the people in future will do. 2) Physics - One cannot predict as to how much carbon emissions the people will plan to put in to the climate. 3) Bio-geochemistry - The dynamic nature of chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment. Meanwhile, according Dr. Hennig's findings, the water and biodiversity risk is relatively high for developing nations. However, with the technological advantages the developed nations have somehow avoided the risk. Please refer to the Map (Hennig, 2015). Finally, considering all the factors it is important that we think bout sustainable development and work to reduce global warming. [caption id="attachment_209679" align="aligncenter" width="657"] Dr. Hennig's findings[/caption]