More than 11,000 scientists declare the "climate emergency"

• Climate: The Mediterranean will suffer 20% more climate change than the rest of the world
• Environment: This is how Spain is transforming climate change

"Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat." Thus begins a new report on climate change that has reviewed the scientific literature available for 40 years and has sought the support of more than 11,000 researchers around the world to declare "the climate emergency."

The study, in addition to giving the alarm, specifies the six measures that, according to its authors, are necessary to address the threat of climate change. The problem concerns, they warn, various scientific, social and political areas. It is not only about rising temperatures, but about a wide range of "real dangers arising from global warming," says the report, published today in the journal BioScience .

David Vieites, a researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) and one of the researchers who seconded the statement, explains that "these six points are reduced to one: a massive social change is necessary." Achieving the objectives requires, according to this expert, "that society consumes in another way, that it understands that resources are limited." A change of mentality and customs that, Vieites understands, "is very difficult to achieve." Although, he warns, also urgently: "We are reaching a point of no return."

The value of the new study, which has reviewed publicly available data, is not in the novelty, but in the general perspective that offers both the problem and its possible solutions. "It is an alert about what is already known, a synthesis," explains Vieites, one of the 11,333 signatories who support the climate emergency declaration.

Pablo Acebes, an ecologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), who has also supported the climate emergency declaration, agrees that the six points should be considered as intimately linked and interdependent problems. "One of the big mistakes is precisely to consider the different areas related to climate change as isolated compartments, when, in fact, they are interrelated." In the end, everything leads to the same fundamental idea: "The planet is finite, resources are limited."

1) Energy:

The change in the energy model is the first of the six points proposed by the report to deal with the climate crisis. Within it, the researchers propose several measures, all aimed at the same objective: reduce and eliminate fossil resources. "Implement mass conservation practices; replace fuels with clean renewables; abandon oil fields that remain underground; eliminate subsidies to fuel companies; and impose carbon fees that are high enough to restrict the use of fossils" , are the proposals to achieve a future without fossil energies.

"There are resources that are unlimited, such as the energy of the Sun. The problem is that we are not using them enough," Vieites denounces. The change in the energy model is urgent, experts remember, because it affects several of the environmental problems we face in a scenario of climate change.

"The global surface temperature, ocean heat, extreme weather events and their costs or sea level are all rising," summarizes William Ripple, co-author of the report from Oregon State University (USA) and first signatory of the statement.

2) Short life contaminants:

In addition to carbon dioxide, the study draws attention to the so-called short-lived pollutants, such as black carbon, tropospheric ozone, methane or hydrofluorocarbons, which are used worldwide and endanger both human health like that of ecosystems.

Vieites has no doubt about the seriousness of the problem: "We are getting poisoned. It is not conceivable that there are 11-year-old girls with lung cancer in China," he laments.

3) Nature:

The report proposes "to restrict the massive clearing of land. Restore and protect ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and mangroves, which would contribute greatly to sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide."

In short, it is about assimilating that "we cannot overexploit the planet," Vieites says.

4) Food:

Consuming less meat and more vegetables would be a change that "would significantly reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases and free agricultural land to grow human food," says the study, which also highlights the importance of reducing food waste, whose Current level has skyrocketed. "At least one third of all food produced ends up in the trash," the report warns.

Acebes agrees on the need to change dietary habits, but clarifies that it is necessary to differentiate between intensive or industrial and extensive livestock. "Intensive livestock, which in the last decade is multiplying mainly through poultry or pig farms, produces an immense amount of waste (slurry), is associated with diseases such as crazy cows, avian or swine flu, excessive consumption of antibiotics and the production of large quantities of feed for animal consumption, rather than for people, "according to this expert. On the contrary, extensive cattle ranching, which for a good part of the year feeds "tooth" on pastures of the Peninsula for millennia, contributes to maintaining traditional or cultural ecosystems and landscapes that house a great biodiversity, in addition to having "a great cultural and landscape value ".

The difference is clear: "Traditional livestock typical of the Mediterranean region in Europe is not the same as deforesting the Amazon to feed livestock," summarizes Acebes. In fact, dispensing with traditional extensive livestock would lead to additional problems, since this activity contributes to "keeping the mountain open". That is, without it, there would be more scrub, more plant biomass and, therefore, "the intensity and recurrence of the fires would be greater."

5) Economy:

The economic transformation proposed by Newsome and his colleagues is summed up in three points, one of which is more commonly accepted - the change of the energy model -, although not implemented, and another without doubt more controversial, since it brings about a profound paradigm shift. , referring to the way in which economic growth is measured and pursued.

The proposals are: "Transform the dependence on carbon fuels, taking into account the human dependence on the biosphere. Redirect the objectives of growth of the gross national product and search for wealth. Reduce the extraction of materials and the exploitation of ecosystems, with in order to maintain the sustainability of the biosphere in the long term. "

On the first point, Vieites points out that the energy model would be "easy to reverse", so it is "a shame" that has not been done with much greater intensity. "We have clean energy," he insists. The challenge is to extract the maximum benefit from them, to the detriment of fossils, which are nothing more than "another way of overexploiting the planet".

6) Demography:

The last point that scientists propose is demographic control, an issue that is not as present today in the international community's agenda as it was decades ago. In fact, it is one of the points where they admit that there have been "hopeful signs," because global birth rates have fallen. However, they also emphasize that, in the last 20 years, the decrease in birth rates has slowed. Therefore, they argue, it is necessary to "stabilize the global population, which is increasing by more than 200,000 people a day." They ask for this to "use approaches that ensure social and economic justice."

Vieites, on the other hand, recognizes that "it is hard to say", but insists that the problem is real and its perspective, if not solved, dramatic: "We are too many. There will come a point where we will fight for resources. If we do not know controls growth and there are no resources for everyone, the population will burst. "

Demography is another point where, Acebes recalls, "simplification can lead to misinterpretation." The demographic challenges of developed countries, including Spain, are different from those that must be addressed in other emerging nations, such as Brazil, China or Southeast Asia, where excessive population growth could cause serious problems. On the contrary, Europe faces an aging population, pressing in our country. "In Spain we have serious demographic problems; if it weren't for the immigrant population, the situation would be disastrous," says Acebes.

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