2nd warmest year recorded in 2007

Temperatures around the world climbed last year, registering an average of 14.73 degrees Celcius (58.5 degrees Fahrenheit). It was the second warmest year on record, falling 0.03 degrees Celcius short of the 2005 numbers.

January 2007 was also the hottest January ever measured at 0.23 degrees Celcius warmer than the previous high. A new record was likewise set for the month of August last year.

Since 1990, mean global temperature has risen by 0.33 degree, a rate of increase faster than scientists had predicted. Studies also suggest that the northern hemisphere is now warmer than at any time in at least 1,200 years.

With this in mind, the Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP) is calling on the Philippine government to take constructive steps to mitigate climate change now.

“Global warming is affecting all biodiversity and life in the planet,” ESP president Antonio M. Claparols said. “And it will get worse if we fail to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and to protect our forests.”

According to scientists at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in  Bali, Indonesia last month, forests help reduce global warming because they naturally absorb harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The other solution, scientists in Bali are suggesting is to reduce by at least 25 percent by 2020 the emission of global-warming gases worldwide.

“We must slow down what the west calls development. We should protect our natural capital and even enhance it,” Claparols added. “If not we will all suffer the catastrophe. Let us not wait for it to his us before we make our move.”