Will we live in a furnace soon? 2017 ranks as the hottest year without el-Niño

Geneva, January 19: Policymakers, Industrialists who still treat Climate change as a myth they should take note of the report which says last three years were the hottest three years since the late 19th century. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) revealed this terrific fact on Thursday in Geneva.

“The long-term temperature trend is far more important than the ranking of individual years, and that trend is an upward one,” Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the WMO said. Climate change can absolutely be now described as an existential threat to the planet.

“We are getting dangerously close to the limit of the 2°C temperature rise set out in the Paris Agreement and the desired goal of 1.5° will be even more difficult to maintain under present levels of greenhouse gas emissions,” WMO Chief said.

The globally averaged temperature in 2017 was about 0.46°C above the 1981-2010 long-term average of 14.3°C – a 30-year baseline used by national meteorological and hydrological services to assess averages and variability of key climate parameters, which are important for climate-sensitive sectors, such as water management, energy, agriculture, and health.

But the temperature rise is only one side of the coin. The warmth in 2017 was accompanied by extreme weather in many countries around the world. A range of disasters like tropical cyclones, floods, and drought hit many countries halting their development work.