Climate change and biodiversity loss
in 2006
the scientist stephen hawking was
concerned about the future of
humanity he posed a question on the web
with the world facing political
economical environmental and
socio-economic crisis how can the human
race
sustain another 100 years many replies
then he replied as well he didn’t know
the answer
he just wanted to make the people
concerned about this challenge as he was
today we are facing two global
challenges
climate change and the biodiversity
loss and ecosystem degradation
even a small change in climate system
can have a strong effect on our
ecosystem
my generation has failed to respond
properly
to this global challenge this is felt
deeply from the young people
no wonder they are angry they’ve been
sending strong message to the policy
maker
act now stop the climate emergencies
save the planet save our future
as a scientist as a citizen
and the father i’m deeply concerned
about this
years ago i founded with some other
friends
the italian climate network it is a a
non-profit organization of young people
to address the climate problem
climate change is a global challenge
it’s an emergency we need to listen to
the science
already the global scientific community
involving climate science
warned us about the climate emergency
we’re facing
the world is heating up the global
surface temperature
in the last decade are about one degree
warmer than the pre-industrial level
the and europe what about europe europe
climate is not doing well the european
land temperature
have increased faster than the global
ones in the same period
of about almost 2 degrees centigrade
the global fossil fuel
co2 emission have increased steadily in
the last decade
they show no sign of peaks the global
co2 emission in 2019 the last year
are about 60 percent higher than 1990.
climate change in europe what does it
mean a stronger climate change
means stronger source economic impacts
in europe
we can have more intense heatwaves
eating europe
we can face a drop in crop production
south europe will be the first one to
feel the most of this damage
about climate change we should keep in
mind some important numbers
3.2 degrees 56 gigatons by 2030
with the present policy commitment in
the paris agreement
the global temperature most likely will
reach 3.2 degrees
this century with these commitments
in the paris agreement the global
emission
will reach 56 gigatons
of co2 by 2030
1.5 degrees 25 gigatons
7.6
the objective of the paris agreement is
to keep the increase
of the global temperature well below 2
degrees
comparing with pre-industrial level and
to make
effort to limit this increase to 1.5
degrees
to do this science tell us something
we must drop the global co2 emission
rapidly
to reach 25 gigatonnes of co2
by 2030. the 7.6
this last number is our global solution
to do this
we must reduce our global emission
of 7.6 percent every year from now
up to 20 30.
nature and biodiversity sustain life on
earth
the biodiversity loss and the
degradation of ecosystem
can have fundamental consequence
on our society the economy the human
health and the well-being
europe is facing a dramatic degradation
of ecosystem
and the rapid loss of biodiversity
we are facing a decline in population
of common birds and butterflies balls
and butterflies
are sensitive to the environmental
change in the ecosystem in europe
butterflies are also a good proxy for
all pollinators these trends in
population can be
strong indicators of the health of the
ecosystem in europe
so we have these two challenge climate
change
and biodiversity laws we need to address
this challenge together not in a
separate way
if we fail in one we fail in both
the window for action is closing if we
want to avoid
avoid the reversible change in the
climate and in the ecosystem
what we learn from the covet 19 crisis
we know very clear the damage we
produced to nature
in the past we learn that we need to
listen to science
we learn we need to invest more in risk
prevention
and resilience
what next we have the opportunity to set
a new course
in 2021 all the governments
the private sector the civil society
the local authorities the international
organization
must develop and adopt global solutions
more ambition to address these two
global challenges
we need to think better
sustainability should be our guiding
principle
we must think differently we need to
transform
our economy we need to foster
technology through the society we need
to build opportunities
to go to a transitional to transition to
ecological
uh to ecological transition
europe european union has a new ambition
for a healthy planet europe
has developed a new transformative
policy framework
this framework is the european green
deal
the objective is to have by 2050
a climate neutral and resilient europe
it is a road map it means change in
european policy
plans and action new strategy
new plans new action for bio
diversity for climate change for
pollution
for industrial development for many
socio-economic sectors of the european
society
natural based solution and green
infrastructure
are among the solution to make this
european green deal
real they work with nature
they preserve the nature and they fight
climate change
they fight climate change through
climate change adaptation and mitigation
they also provide multiple benefits
ecological
source economic benefits the
natural-based solution benefit
the biodiversity and they support the
delivery
of many ecosystem services
so today i present you
evidence of these two global challenges
the challenge of climate change and the
challenge of biodiversity loss
i show you some european solution
which will take place in the next years
let me remind you something the planet
earth
is not ours we are only
the guardians of this planet
it was delivered to us in a certain
state
we have a duty we have a responsibility
to deliver to the future generation in a
good quality
the future generation must not pay
for our mistake and our ambition
today we have all the knowledge
let us share it with you let’s fight
climate change
let’s preserve and foster biodiversity
let’s reverse the countdown
we can do it all together thank you
[Applause]