The Director of the International Center for Climate Change, based in Bangladesh, spoke exclusively to SKAI and Korina Georgiou about the future of the planet
By Korina Georgiou
He is among the top five environmental scientists worldwide, the scientific journal Nature ranked him among the top 10 scientists of 2022, and thanks to his scientific contribution, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
The great Salimal Haq, Director of the Bangladesh-based International Center for Climate Change, spoke exclusively to SKAI and Corina Georgiou about the future of the planet:
KG: Winter high temperature records were broken across Europe. Eight European countries recorded record temperatures already at the beginning of the new year. At the same time, the United States experienced an unprecedented blizzard with polar temperatures. So will we be faced with more and more extreme weather events in the future?
SALIMAL HACK: Unfortunately, the answer to your question is yes. We have now entered what I call the “era of human-induced climate change” and that means summers will get warmer, winters colder or even warmer, and both may happen. At the same time, we will see in parts of the planet too much water and floods on the one hand, and too little water and droughts on the other. Unfortunately, this is how things will go from here on out.
KG: We see, for example, the Alps without snow and at the same time we see Spain, Greece, Poland, Lithuania having very warm weather. Is this normal? Have we seen this again in parathlon?
SALIMAL HACK: It was not normal in the previous era, but now it is about to become the new normal. So we have to get used to it. Based on my experience in my own country, Bangladesh, we have been experiencing the effects of climate change for many years. In Europe you are just starting to experience them and you are worried about it. For us this has already been happening for the last 10 years and we have survived.
KG: Is there a tipping point beyond which there will be no return to a sustainable planet?
SALIMAL HAK: Unfortunately this is true, but we haven’t reached that point yet. We have all collectively agreed globally to keep the planet’s temperature below 1.5 degrees. We can still achieve it, but it will be very difficult. We will have to take even more decisive action. If we manage to keep the temperature increase below 1.5 degrees or even 2 degrees, then the consequences will be manageable, we will be able to prepare for them. But if it goes well above 2 degrees which is what we’re heading towards, we’re heading towards 2 to 3 degrees based on current data, then we’ll cross the threshold that will make it impossible for us to survive in many parts of the world.
KG: Do you think the planet has some “self-healing” mechanism to avoid destruction?
SALIMAL HAQ: The planet will take care of itself. The planet has survived many billions of years without the human species and will continue to survive without humans. The question is, can we, as human beings, deal with the consequences we are causing now? And the answer is, I’m not sure…
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