Climate change worries the governments of the great powers. As in the case of Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin expressed his concern about the natural disasters that have recently occurred on its territory.
Natural disasters in Russia are becoming more intense
Putin promised to quickly draw up a climate agenda. The cause of the onslaught are natural disasters in Russia, which are unprecedented. The government is particularly concerned about the forest fires in Siberia, which devastated entire forests.
However, an urgent solution is also needed, the south of the country. The heavy rains there cause large floods. Because of this, Putin pledged to commit to a systematic plan to urgently address the problem of climate change.
Forest fires in the Siberian regions of Yakutia and Irkutsk are very intense. According to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, there were 252 active sources in August 2021 alone. The area has a little over 4 million hectares, almost like Swiss territory. Yakutia stated that 1.6 million hectares were destroyed by fire. In Irkutsk, meanwhile, the problem is no less serious. The fire destroyed 116 thousand hectares.
According to government sources, the fires in 2021 will be much worse than in 2020. Environmentalists fear the fires in Siberia could reach unprecedented proportions. Fires in two other Russian regions also led to the declaration of an interregional emergency.
Consequences of these natural disasters
The fires that are generated consume native forests. In addition, there is an intense drought. There is another serious consequence. Smoke and ash from the large burned hectares penetrate the cities and cause poor visibility.
Smoke is so important in cities and affects visibility so badly that the Russian government has declared a day off. The team facing the fires consists of more than 5,000 people fighting to fight the flames. According to NASA sources, it has been confirmed from space that the smoke from the Siberian fires has already reached the North Pole.
On the other hand, the situation in the Russian south is worrying because of a problem opposite to that of the north. Heavy rains lead to large floods. The result is the large number of evacuated citizens. To this day, the heavy rains leave thousands of people without electricity.
At the beginning of August 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a warning. Global warming is getting worse. Drastic measures need to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly.
