FAQs about Environment

6. How does climate change affect the environment?

Climate change manifests itself with the increase in the intensity of meteorological phenomena, such as heat waves, droughts, forest fires, melting of the poles and glaciers, floods, hurricanes, deterioration of the coral reef, shortage of drinking water, food, etc.

All these changes are taking place in a dizzying way, in seconds, if we compare them with the age of the Earth or the geological eras. This speed is the cause of unexpected imbalances in the environment and faster than our ability to react.

Climate change is affecting essential processes for many organisms, such as growth, reproduction, and survival of the first vital phases of some species, it could even compromise the continuity of some populations.

The main cause of climate change comes from human activities, especially from the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, followed by livestock and the deforestation of large areas of forests and jungles.

Wetlands are systems that are in danger of disappearing, and species such as the brown bear or cork oak are in danger of becoming extinct in some countries.

Other sections of Environment

Articles

June 5 was established as World Environment Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. On that date, the Stockholm Conference “First Earth Summit” was held at the initiative of Sweden and in conjunction with the UN.
This year’s World Environment Day will be hosted by Pakistan. The theme of the year is “Restoration of ecosystems”, and the motto is “Reimagine, recreate, restore.” It will be in this environment that the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is launched.

World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5 of each year. In 2020 the venue of the event will be Colombia. Topics to be discussed will be the Amazon, air quality, health, circular economy, and climate change. The central theme is  “Conservation of biodiversity” and the motto “Time for Nature”. The environment is the space that sustains biodiversity and therefore life on Earth. By its definition, an environment cannot exist on a planet devoid of life since its statement implies the relationship of living beings with their environment.

Beat Air Polution

World Environment Day is celebrated on June 5, dedicated this year to the fight against air pollution with the moto “Beat Air pollution”. Established by the UN in 1972, during the Stockholm Conference, whose central theme was the normalization of human relations with the environment. China will be the global host of the 2019 World Environment Day. The country’s government has committed that day to organizing celebrations in many cities, with a main event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. In the north of China there are several cities where the air is practically unbreathable due to pollution.

Environmental pollution, in the classical concept, occurs when certain elements that cause harmful effects accumulate in quantities that nature cannot recycle. A contaminant is a substance that is found in a medium to which it does not belong or that does so at levels that can cause adverse effects. A species is in danger of extinction when its existence is globally compromised. Humans, in a short time, we have turned the Earth into a kind of supermarket where we are supplied with everything we need, including the spaces to build our towns, cities, mining camps, agricultural and livestock lands. We have wrested huge areas that recently belonged to the other species, without much regard to the damage we have caused them.

Infographics

Photo Gallery

Video Gallery