Paris Signing Marks Critical Next Step to Sustainable Future - I -

USPA NEWS - The record number of countries set to sign the Paris Agreement in New York on April 22 signals the next step towards the Agreement coming into force and a critical juncture in a global effort to ensure lasting hopes for secure and peaceful, human development and clearly impossible to end poverty.

CLIMATE IMPACTS EAT AT AWAY POSITIVE HUMAN GOAL--------------------------------------------------------------------  It will clearly be impossible to end poverty in all its forms (Goal #1), if temperatures are allowed to spiral out of control“”emissions need to peak globally in the next decade followed by a rapid decline, ending in a state before 2100 where natural sinks like forests absorb the balance of human emissions.The same is true for sustainable agriculture, water, oceans, biodiversity, human health and well-being, resilient societies and cities (Goals #1,2,3, 6, 9,11 and 15).New investment especially must be directed at priorities which target both climate and sustainability with indicators underpinning all the SDGs in mind including climat. A classic example is investments in land restoration and forests. Forest cover not only absorbs carbon dioxide but stabilizes soils, recycles nutrients, manages and feeds river flows and harbours treasure troves of biodiversity including pollinators - services which are all essential to alleviate poverty, sustain healthy agriculture and protect species.-------------------------THE POOREST AND MOST MARGINALISED ARE BEING HIT BY CLIMATE IMPACTS--  The poorest and most marginalised people and communities, often women and children, are already being hit hardest by climate impacts, which are preventing them from attaining a decent quality of life or enjoying their basic human rights.  Climatic changes are undermining food and nutrition security, keeping poor people in poverty traps, and throwing back entire economies for years. The Philippines, Dominica and Fiji are just some countries which can recently attest to the devastating impact of extreme storms. Impacts on agriculture have a rapid knock-on effect on poverty. Under a scenario with lower crop yields, countries like Bangladesh could experience a 15 percent increase in poverty by 2030. Water resources are also at risk, as many expected climate impacts are water-related, such as floods and droughts. Sanitation and water quality are both threatened as storm run-off adds to sewage and could contaminate water supplies.----------------------------------------------- The global insurance industry has already warned that a world drifting into the temperature spaces above 2 degrees would become, quite literally, uninsurable. Source UNFCCC