{"id":998,"date":"2014-09-19T00:39:33","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iccinet.org\/?page_id=998"},"modified":"2019-02-14T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T21:04:17","slug":"cryosphere-2015-the-paris-agreement-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iccinet.org\/sv\/cryosphere-2015-the-paris-agreement-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"Kriosf\u00e4ren 2015: Parisavtalsf\u00f6rhandlingarna"},"content":{"rendered":"

The earth\u2019s cryosphere \u2013 regions of snow and ice \u2013 is approaching\nthresholds that may tip the balance between successfully addressing climate\nchange; or slipping into a cascade of catastrophic and near-irreversible\nchanges for many ecosystems and human communities.   Cryosphere\nscientists share increasing alarm that global leaders and the public lack real\nknowledge of the scope and immediacy of this threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICCI\u2019s Cryosphere 2015 effort united these scientists with some of\nthe most respected climate ambassadors across the globe to dialogue with key\npolicy makers; contribute to negotiations; and freely provide accurate,\ncompelling, accessible information to public interest organizations and\ncampaigns.  Most importantly, just prior to Paris ICCI released the\n\u201cThresholds\u201d Report (iccinet\/thresholds), which outlined some of these key\nrisks.  ICCI also brought several leading\ncryosphere scientists to Paris and the COP for seminars and presentations,\nincluding an exhibit booth and side event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background:<\/strong>  Parts of Antarctica\nand the Arctic already have warmed three times faster than the rest of the\nplanet; and almost all polar and alpine regions have warmed by at least twice\nthe global average.  If this rate of cryosphere temperature rise\ncontinues, projected from 4 to 10 C\u00b0 (7 to 18\u00b0F) by 2100, destructive impacts\nwill result all over the globe.  Cryosphere-caused effects include sea\nlevel rise; permafrost melt that releases substantial additional greenhouse\ngases; and loss of snow and ice that otherwise cool the planet by reflecting the\nsun\u2019s rays. Most seriously, yet least appreciated by political leaders, we are\nalready in the process of crossing certain thresholds that cryosphere\nscientists increasingly categorize as irreversible, especially on Antarctica\nand Greenland.  Should we allow these processes to begin in earnest, to\nreverse them appears to require temperatures and CO2 levels well below<\/em> those of today, and would take\nseveral thousands of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such cryosphere thresholds bring a new imperative to 2020-30\ncommitment levels for the Paris 2015 Agreement.  A cryosphere\nscience-based response means far more aggressive measures than anything being\nconsidered in even the most ambitious international climate goals. \nAddressing such a level of risk \u2013 a \u201ccryosphere imperative\u201d \u2013 may finally bring\npolitical leaders to take needed (and ultimately, inevitable) levels of action\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key cryosphere researchers from the IPCC\u2019s Fifth Assessment\nparticipated in an ICCI-organized Day of the Cryosphere in November 2014 at\nCOP-19 to release P\u00e5 tunn is<\/em>, a\nsurvey of cryosphere climate change and near-term mitigation produced by ICCI\nwith the support of the World Bank.  These leading IPCC scientists\nexpressed alarm at the lack of understanding of the scope and immediacy of the\nthreats they had outlined in the Assessment, blaming in part the obscure and\nqualified messages the process favored.  They expressed a desire to speak\nmore directly and bluntly to the policy world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cryosphere 2015 was the result.  Its steering committee\nincluded a number of former climate ambassadors from around the world, as well\nas a \u201cscience pool\u201d of eminent cryosphere scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This group identified five key global and immediate threats from\ncryosphere climate change:  irreversible\nsea-level rise related to Antarctic and Greenland instability; loss of water\nresources due to land glacier melt; accelerated warming from Arctic permafrost\nand seabed hydrate collapse; fisheries loss from polar ocean acidification; and\naccelerated warming from loss of reflective Arctic sea ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simultaneously, the project is developed informational material\naccessible both to busy policy makers, and the general public.  It was in\ncontact with a number of leading non-profit organizations, who used these\nmaterials in their own international and domestic public campaigns leading up\nto COP-21 in Paris.  Cryosphere 2015\/ICCI also held more public seminars\nin connection with major environmental meetings, such as COP-20 in Lima and the\nannual Bonn negotiations, and participated in the UNSYG\u2019s Climate Summit in New\nYork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the decades of negotiating experience at its disposal, the\nproject further worked to shape potential new provisions for the 2015 Agreement\nallowing ongoing strengthening of commitments as the scale of the cryosphere\nthreat, and level of necessary response becomes even more clear due to\nanticipated research results in the next two years, especially as regards the\nfuture of Antarctica and methane deposits in the Arctic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n