Scientists urge the Middle East to quickly switch to renewable energy

A sort of climate change The meeting will emphasize to decision makers middle East And the Eastern Mediterranean region urgently needs to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, because greenhouse gas emissions are helping to push up the region temperature Faster than many other inhabited areas of the world.

George Chitis, a scientist at the Climatic and Atmospheric Research Center of the Cyprus Institute, said that although the region is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for energy production, this “cannot happen overnight”, but the government must make changes in the next two decades. Avoid potential “irreversible effects” such as desertification.

“We need to completely decarbonize greenhouse gas emissions, even negative emissions,” Chitis said in an interview with the Associated Press on Monday before the second international conference this week, which focuses on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Together, these two regions are considered global. “Climate Change Hotspot.”

The conference was organized by the Cyprus government and brought together 65 top scientists, diplomats and policy makers from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Greece, and presented the results of a two-year study compiled by 220 experts’ contributions. And to the countries in the region.

Former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius, Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, Jeffrey Sachs, Chairman of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and Nicos Anas, President of Cyprus Taciades will speak at the conference.

Chitis said that local governments should pay attention to and speed up the transition to renewable energy, because accelerated warming coupled with reduced precipitation may mean prolonged heat waves, which will increase the demand for desalination plants and power-consuming air-conditioning units that emit greenhouse gases. Energy costs.

Zitis said that natural gas is a cleaner-burning fossil fuel that can be used as a transitional energy source in the region until renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power come online on a large scale.

Hotter areas also mean that there is less water in the soil-this is a key factor in keeping the air temperature low after the water evaporates. The development of cities in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean also means less arable land that can retain this moisture. Zitis said that the temperature in the urban environment is on average 2 to 4 degrees Celsius higher than the temperature outside the city.

Zitis said that the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East now emit almost as many greenhouse gases as the entire European Union. Scientists will also urge policymakers to ensure that new houses, buildings and vehicle engines are as energy-efficient as possible.

Experts also need to propose strategies on how countries need to adapt to the changing climate in order to cope with the resulting higher expenditures. Zitis also said that scientists have warned that as water resources become more scarce and temperatures rise, Middle Eastern countries may migrate on a large scale.