Confirmed: 2024 was the hottest year on record, says UN weather agency
UN weather experts from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Friday that 2024 was the hottest year on record, at 1.55 degrees Celsius (℃) above pre-industrial temperatures.
The 1.5 degree marker is significant because it was a key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to ensure that global temperature change does not rise more than this above pre-industrial levels, while striving to hold the overall increase to well below two degrees.
With more on weather extremes in 2024, here’s WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis:
“We saw extraordinary land, sea surface temperatures, extraordinary ocean heat accompanied by very extreme weather affecting many countries around the world, destroying lives, livelihoods, hopes and dreams. We saw many climate change impacts: retreating sea ice glaciers. It was an extraordinary year.”
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo insisted that “climate history” was “playing out before our eyes” after 10 years of record-breaking heat.
“It is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters,” she said, adding that “every additional increment of global warming increases the impacts on our lives, economies and our planet”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the WMO’s findings as further proof of global warming and urged all governments to deliver new national climate action plans this year to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees – and support those most vulnerable.
It’s not censorship to stop hateful online content, insists UN rights chief
Social media posts inciting hate and division have “real world consequences” and there is a responsibility to regulate such content, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, insisted on Friday, following Meta’s decision to end its fact-checking programme in the United States.
On X, Volker Türk wrote that “allowing hate speech and harmful content online has real world consequences. Regulating this content is not censorship.”
On LinkedIn, Mr. Türk maintained that labelling efforts to create safe online spaces as “censorship”…ignore[d] the fact that unregulated space means some people are silenced – in particular those whose voices are often marginalized.
At the same time, allowing hatred online limits free expression, which could “result in real world harms.”
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced last Tuesday that the online giant would end its fact-checking programme in the United States, claiming that the appearance of political bias was eroding people’s trust.
Mr. Türk insisted that social media platforms have tremendous potential to shape society positively by connecting people. But they can also fuel conflict, incite hate and threaten people’s safety, he said.
The UN human rights chief noted that he would continue to call for “accountability and governance in the digital space, in line with human rights” which “safeguards public discourse, builds trust, and protects the dignity of all.”
Lebanon: $30 million from UN fund to help victims of the war
To Lebanon, where the UN’s top aid official there has allocated $30 million to help communities uprooted by the recent conflict.
Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza said that in addition to the “devastating human toll, heavy fighting between Hezbollah armed forces and the Israeli military who are now largely respecting a ceasefire, had destroyed civilian infrastructure and crippled basic services.
This included “healthcare, water and sanitation…leaving countless communities in urgent need of assistance,” Mr. Riza said.
He added that the money from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund will enable the UN and its local NGO and community-based partners “to deliver targeted assistance in food security, shelter, nutrition, protection, healthcare, water and sanitation – and education. It will also prioritize localized, community-driven responses to ensure the most vulnerable populations are reached,” he said.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved
Source of original article: United Nations (news.un.org). Photo credit: UN. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Global Diaspora News (www.globaldiasporanews.com).
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