Seriously protecting the environment, transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energies, investing in basic and applied science, as well as advancing in adapting to the transformations produced by climate change, are public policies that the country must implement to face a problem. global, with important repercussions on the local scale, warned researchers from the UNAM.
A scenario of inaction can drastically reduce our nation’s agricultural production capacity, with yields declining from five to 20 percent over the next two decades, and reaching 80 percent by the end of the century for some crops and states, anticipated the coordinator of the Climate Change Research Program (PINCC), Francisco Estrada Porrúa.
The also researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Change of the UNAM, said that the risks of flooding in the national territory are high and would increase substantially, he warned.
“Currently, the expected annual damage in Mexico from river flooding is seven billion dollars and from coastal flooding is 130 million dollars. Tamaulipas, Veracruz and San Luis Potosí will have the highest risk levels due to river flooding, as well as the center of the country ”, he commented.
This Thursday, during the conference held remotely “Conclusions and agreements of COP 26, What next to eradicate climate change?”, The researcher at the Institute of Engineering, Ruth Cerezo Mota, considered that the meeting in Glasgow had positive aspects and negative, such as advances in the rule book of the Paris Agreement that had not been achieved in previous events, although limitations in mitigation and the Mechanism of Loss and Damage, which is the repair by the countries that historically pollute more towards the nations that have done the least.
Cerezo Mota recalled that the talks on deforestation and the environment, signed by 103 countries, were supported, hence improvements in this sector are expected.
The specialist regretted that voluntary and non-mandatory actions still prevail in the agreements, which could affect their compliance.
Among the positive agreements, he highlighted two: the burning of coal in the world, regarding which COP 26 committed to gradually reduce the use of that fossil fuel and reduce methane consumption by 30% by 2050.
“There was no progress regarding mitigation, they fell very short and in the end the negotiations were very strong. It is part of climate justice, the debt that certain countries have in terms of pollution ”, he highlighted.
Francisco Estrada Porrúa insisted that the effects of this phenomenon on our country are numerous. It is not an acute problem, but it is long-lasting and growing; We are going to have significant damage to agricultural capacity, the possibility that new diseases appear, through zoonosis, that vector diseases (which are transmitted by mosquitoes) reach places where they were not before, and we will have a serious problem in labor productivity by overcoming certain levels of warming, he detailed.
The expert highlighted the work of the UNAM on this issue, where the PINCC offers free access software to generate models and future scenarios of climate change, which contributes to generating knowledge and awareness of the problem.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx