I am writing these words from Marrakech, where the 22nd United Nations summit on climate change is being held. And I do it between the feeling of fortune and privilege, because I believe I am attending one of those historical moments that will mark our future on the planet, and the embarrassment of representing a Community that does little or nothing to fight against global warming.
Just a few figures to illustrate my statement: While in Europe greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have been reduced by 24 percent in the last three decades, Spain has increased them by 15 percent in the same period. In the Canary Islands in 2014, the increase had risen vertiginously to 55 percent compared to the records of 1990.
In addition, and unlike other regions such as Navarra, Andalusia, the Basque Country, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha or Catalonia, our archipelago does not have any body dedicated to this threat, since the Canary Islands Agency for Sustainable Development and Climate Change disappeared in 2012, after a brief existence of three years.
I don't think it is necessary to elaborate on the fact that the advance of the phenomenon of global warming will drastically alter the lives of millions of people and territories in the coming decades throughout the planet. Nor to remember that the main cause of climate change is a consequence of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. At the time we said no to oil, although now many defend the use of the car against other more sustainable modes of transport.
Yesterday, in this environmental forum, the World Meteorological Organization ruled that 2016 will break all temperature records since records began in 1880. Humanitarian crises with millions of climate refugees, the drastic reduction of habitable spaces for agriculture, access to drinking water in the five continents and especially in Africa, new war conflicts, the increase of extreme heat waves, the increase of cyclonic phenomena and torrential rains, desertification and loss of forest masses, the rise of sea level and the disappearance of populated islands are just some of the most visible and immediate consequences that we will suffer.
Do we really want to continue on this path? Will we really sacrifice life on the planet in exchange for some comforts and a poorly understood progress?
I was never a disciple of Rajoy's cousin, the one who downplayed global warming, but today I unreservedly join the legion of people who fight for the future. And I will conscientiously commit myself to ensuring that our Government of the Canary Islands installs a Climate Change Observatory in Lanzarote, which will allow us to exchange experiences with territories similar to ours, carry out awareness campaigns on the seriousness of this threat, assess responses and promote climate actions and projects in the Canary Islands.
By Ariagona González
