Radio România Internațional

Tag: global

  • Climate change impacts Romania

    Climate change impacts Romania

    2022 was the
    third warmest year in recorded history, with an average temperature of 11.7
    degrees Celsius and a 1.55-degree difference against the average temperature measured
    between 1981 and 2010, a survey of the National Meteorological Administration
    shows.

     

    The warmest five years between 1900 and 2022
    were: 2019, 2020, 2022, 2015 and 2007, and the period between 2012 and 2022 proved
    to be the warmest 11 years in a row, which confirms the tendency of weather
    warming in Romania as well.

     

    Furthermore, this year saw the warmest
    January day in recorded history when 22.5 degrees Celsius were reported in
    southern Romania.

     

    So, statistics prove what we all
    have seen for many years now that climate change affects the entire planet. And
    we can no longer speak about a local or national problem says Environment
    Minister, Barna Tanczos. This opinion is also shared by climatologist Roxana
    Bojariu, who in the following minutes will be explaining how Romania’s weather
    has changed in the past two decades.

     

    Roxana
    Bojariu: It didn’t happen all of a sudden, you know.
    We have witnessed the global warming for quite some time now, but the problem
    is that this is an accelerating process. It has been doing so in the past years
    but unfortunately the process continues and is getting worse as more greenhouse
    gases are accumulating in the atmosphere. We are feeling this here in Romania
    as well. And even if we had warm winters and periods with temperatures higher
    than usual before, the weather this year was very strange for the cold season
    and that was not only in Romania but in the entire Europe. So, if we draw the
    line and compare the temperatures in the northern hemisphere, we’ll clearly see
    they are higher than usual, which confirms the idea of accelerated climate
    change. And this isn’t visible only in winter. If you remember last summer
    proved to be the hottest in Europe in recorded history and the drought
    affecting the continent was the severest in the past 500 years.

     

    Last year’s drought also affected Romania but
    the Environment Ministry has given assurances they have resources to fight
    climate change. According to him, the section Forests and Biodiversity
    Protection, part of the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, includes a
    total budget of roughly 1.2 billion euros, which can be used to increase the
    surface of forests. Barna Tanczos has underlined that forests are the most
    resilient when it comes to climate change effects. He recalled that the
    National Forestry Strategy was endorsed last autumn with a view to setting
    mandatory norms on afforestation and reforestation as well as on forests and
    forested surfaces located in areas that are vulnerable to climate change.

     

    At the same time, owners of forests
    and plots of land are being given incentives to preserve and capitalize on the
    true potential of these surfaces. They will benefit from 456 Euros per year per
    hectare for 20 years, in order to turn these areas into real forests. The
    forestry carbon reward is a measure through which we stimulate the
    transformation of as many plots of land as possible into future forests,
    Minister Tanczos explains. Roxana Bojariu tells us more about the future of the
    climate change and what we should expect next.

     

    Roxana
    Bojariu: The weather is not going to remain like that of course and even in the
    optimistic scenario when we have succeeded in limiting the rise of the global
    temperature to 1.5 Celsius under the Paris Agreement, we are still going to see
    higher temperatures. However, they will not be as high as in the worst case
    scenarios, where we haven’t managed to impose a limit. And this means not only
    a uniform warming in space and time but also extreme phenomena like those we
    have already witnessed. Suchlike phenomena will be affecting Romania as well, and
    the situation will worsen with the growing greenhouse gas emissions. Every
    tenth degree in the global average translates into hotter heatwaves and Romania
    will be in for more intense, more frequent and more persistent heatwaves. These
    will also cause wildfires although not like those affecting the Mediterranean
    countries, Greece, southern France or Portugal.

     

    The statistics of the meteorological
    alerts between 2017 and 2022 in Romania highlight the intensity, frequency and wider
    area covered by the dangerous phenomena with an impact over the social-economic
    activity. In 2022 alone, 130 weather alerts were issued, out of which five were
    Code Red. Roughly three thousand Nowcasting alerts were issued out of which 95 Code
    Red. At the same time, the 2021-2022 drought was a longer one, which
    intensified from one month to the other and eventually affected almost all the
    country’s agricultural regions.

     

  • Hăbări ditu bana românească şi internaţională

    Hăbări ditu bana românească şi internaţională

    CĂRCIUN Criștiñilli ortodocși tru stil nou și criștiñilli greco și romano-catolici ditu lumea tută sărbăturisescu adză a doua zi di Cărciun. Tru creștinismul ditu apirită, aestă dzuuă easti ahărdzită ali Marie, mama a Dumidzălui. Tru slujba ti Amintarea a Hristolui ditu 25 andreu, Daniel, Patriarahul ali Românie zbură ti simasia-a dhoarăloru durusiti di aţelli 3 ăsilleadz a natlui Iisus: malăma easti pistea-a noastră, thimñeama easti un simbol a plăcăriillei, iara mirlu simbolizeadză bana kiskină. La Vatican, Papa Francisc feaţi timbihi că lumea easti ahătu di insensibilă la crize și trăñipseri, di itia că aestea agiungu s’hibă nividzuti. Papa Francisc, cari căftă, tutunăoară, ca vaccinlu Covid s’hibă disponibil și tru văsiliili cama oarfăni, spusi că pandemia submineadză gaereţli di ceairipseari a conflictelor internaționale. Pitimeñilli ortodocși tru stil veclliu ditu Rusia, Ucraina, Serbia și Georgia sărbăturisescu Cărciunlu tu 7 di yinaru.



    COVID-19. La un an di anda fu lansatu vaccinlu Covid tru România, aproapea 7,8 miliuni di români sunt acutottalui vaccinați, iara aproapea 2 miliuni au și doza di rapel. Aestu lucru spuni că intereslu tră vaccinare nu fu mari, cu excepția a ndauă şcurti perioadi di entuziasm ică frixi declanșati di dăldzăli ună dupu alantă ali pandemie. Tru 24 săhăţ ditu soni fură raportate până la 349 di noi cazuri di infecție cu SARS-CoV-2, deadunu cu 15 di morţă asociati, dimăndă dumănică Grupul di Comunicari Strategică. Aproapea 450 di pacienți sunt la tearapie intensivă, cama di 90% ditu elli hiinda nivaccinaț.



    STRATEGIE. UE are ună nauă strategie ţi easti tru practico tră concurenţă cu China-Global Getaway easti ună apandisi la Năili Călliuri a Sirmăllei” ditu 2013 ali China, pi thimellilu a curi s-feaţiră investiții di 140 di miliaradi di euro până tora. Cu naua hălati, UE mutreaşti s’anvărtuşeadză sectorlu digital, transporturile și sistemele di sănătate, educație și cercetare ditu lumea tută. Investițiile planificate până tru 2027 agiungu la 300 di miliaradi di euro. UE acaţă tu isapi, tutunăoară, opțiunea ta s’bagă un mecanism european di mpărmutu la export tra s’agiută ti asigurarea a născăntoru condiții di concurență ma echitabile tră companiile ditu UE pi a treia păzari. Tru aistu kiro, 165 di văsilii au borgi di nai pțănu 385 di miliaradi di dolari SUA andicra di China tră proiecte ditu cadrul a inițiativăllei Năili Călliuri a Sirmăllei”, kiro tu cari 42 di stati cu amintatiţi ñiţ și di mesi au borgi andicra di China di pisti 10% ditu PIB.



    UCRAINA Germania și Rusia s’akicăsiră s’ndreagă ună andamusi tu ahurhita-a meslui yinaru, ca parte a gaereţloru di ceareipseari a crizăllei ruso-ascăpitata di la sinurlu cu Ucraina, dimăndară izvuri guvernamentale germane aleapti di AFP. Andamusea va s’hibă organizată di consilierlu tră politică externă și di securitate a cancelarlui german Olaf Scholz, Jens Ploetner, și di negociatorlu a Kremlinului tră Ucraina, Dmitri Kozak. Cama di unu mesu, Europa di Vest stipseaştiu Rusia că a disvărti cama di 100.000 di militari la sinurlu cu Ucraina tră ună posibilă intervenție militară și feaţi timbihi ma multi ori arada a Kremlinul pi aestă temă. Rusia spune că armata a llei nu easti ună fuvirseari tră vărnu și caftă garanții di securitate” di partea a Occidentului, maxusu tru aţea ti mutreaşti tindearea NATO tu apirită.



    Autoru: Udălu a hăbărlor


    Armânipsearea: Taşcu Lala




  • December 26, 2021

    December 26, 2021

    CHRISTMAS New Style Orthodox Christians, and Greek and Roman Catholic Christians
    around the world today celebrate the second day of Christmas. In Eastern
    Christianity, this day is devoted to Mary, mother of God. In his Nativity
    service on the 25th December, Daniel, Patriarch of Romania spoke about the
    meaning of the gifts presented by the 3 kings to the newborn Jesus: the gold
    means our belief, the incense is a symbol of prayer and the myrrh symbolises a
    clean life. At the Vatican, Pope Francis warned
    that the world is growing so insensitive to crises and suffering that these now
    go unnoticed. Pope Francis, who also called for the Covid vaccine to be made
    available in poorer countries as well, said the pandemic undermines the
    efforts to settle international conflicts. Old Style Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine,
    Serbia, and Georgia celebrate Christmas on 7th January.


    COVID-19 One year since the start of the Covid vaccine roll-out in Romania,
    nearly 7.8 million Romanians are fully vaccinated, and around 2 million also
    have the booster dose. This indicates that interest in vaccination has not been
    high, except for a few brief periods of enthusiasm or fear triggered by the
    pandemic’s successive waves. As many as 349 new SARS-CoV-2 infection cases have
    been reported for the past 24 hours, along with 15 related fatalities, the
    Strategic Communication Group announced on Sunday. Some 450 patients are in
    intensive care, over 90% of them being unvaccinated.


    STRATEGY The EU has a new
    strategy in place to compete with China-Global Getaway is a response to China’s
    2013 New Silk Roads, under which investments of 140 billion euros have been
    made so far. With the new instrument, the EU seeks to consolidate the digital
    sector, transports and the healthcare, education and research systems around
    the world. The investments planned until 2027 amount to 300 billion euro. The EU is also
    considering the option of introducing a European export credit mechanism to
    help ensure fairer competition conditions for EU
    companies in 3rd markets. At present, 165 countries have debts of at
    least 385 billion US dollars to China for projects under the New Silk Roads
    initiative, while 42 small and medium revenue countries have debts to China in
    excess of 10% of their GDP.


    UKRAINE Germany and Russia have agreed to
    hold a meeting in early January, as part of the efforts to settle the
    Russian-Western crisis over the Ukrainian border, German governmental sources
    quoted by AFP said. The meeting will be held by the German Chancellor Olaf
    Scholz’s foreign and security policy adviser Jens Ploetner, and Kremlin’s
    negotiator for Ukraine, Dmitry Kozak. For over a month now, Western Europe has
    been accusing Russia of deploying more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian
    border for a possible military intervention, and has repeatedly warned Kremlin
    on this topic. Russia claims its military is not a threat to anybody and
    demands security guarantees from the West, especially with respect to NATO’s
    eastwards enlargement. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • A European biodiversity strategy

    A European biodiversity strategy

    The coronavirus pandemic will probably be followed by even more deadly and destructive epidemics, unless we put an end to their root cause—the endemic destruction of the natural world.



    The warning comes from world-famed biodiversity experts, who argue that “the recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity, particularly of our global financial and economic systems, which seek economic growth at all costs. We have a small window of opportunity to overcome the challenges of this crisis, so as to avoid sawing the seeds of future ones”.



    Professors Josef Settele, Sandra Diaz and Eduardo Brondizio coordinated the largest health assessment project ever conducted, whose findings were made public in 2019 by Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Their conclusion is that human society is in danger because of the accelerated decline of Terra’s natural life support systems.



    In an article published recently together with Peter Daszak, Ph.D, who is working on the next health assessment, they warn that “Rampant deforestation, uncontrolled agricultural expansion, intensive farming, mining and the exploitation of wild species have created a ‘perfect storm’ for the spillover of diseases.”



    Researchers say the economic recovery packages in the trillions of US dollars, made available by governments, must be used to strengthen and enforce environment protection and that a global, unified, ‘One Health’ approach is required. Because “Human health is inextricably linked to the health of wild animals, the health of domestic animals and the health of the environment. It is, in fact, one health”.



    “The coronavirus crisis showed us how vulnerable we are and how important it is to recover the balance between human activity and nature, the executive vice-president for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans says in his turn.



    In May, the European Commission adopted 2 new strategies, one focusing on biodiversity and the other on the food system. The new biodiversity strategy stipulates, among other things, that by 2030, 30% of Europe’s land and sea will be turned into efficiently managed protected areas, and at least 10% of the utilised agriculture land will include diverse landscapes such as hedges, trees and ponds that enhance carbon sequestration, prevent soil erosion and water depletion.



    Adopted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategy is a central element of the EU’s recovery plan, essential to preventing future epidemics and strengthening resilience to possible epidemics, Frans Timmermans explains.



    Another strategy adopted by the Commission, “Farm to Fork”, provides for a 50% cut in the use of pesticides, a minimum 20% reduction in the use of fertilisers, a 50% reduction of sales of antimicrobials used in animal farms and fisheries, as well as for 25% of the agriculture land to be farmed organically.



    The strategy targets a new, better balance between nature, food systems and biodiversity, to protect the health and welfare of our citizens and at the same time to increase the Union’s competitiveness and resilience, Frans Timmermans also says.



    The 2 strategies reinforce each other, bringing together nature, farmers, enterprises and consumers to create a sustainable and competitive future. According to Brussels, under the European Green Deal, the EU launches ambitious actions and commitments to fight the decline of biodiversity in Europe and worldwide and to turn our food systems into global benchmarks for competitive sustainability, the protection of human and planetary health, as well as for the subsistence means of all stakeholders in the food value chain.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)


  • Historisches Klima-Abkommen wurde in Paris abgeschlossen

    Historisches Klima-Abkommen wurde in Paris abgeschlossen

    Sechs Jahre nach dem Scheitern des Klima-Gipfeltreffens in Kopenhagen wurde bei der UN-Klima-Konferenz an diesem Wochenende in Paris ein historisches Abkommen unterzeichnet. Durch das Paris-Abkommen, das nach jahrelangen Verhandlungen unterzeichnet wurde, sollte die auf Fossilbrennstoffen basierende globale Wirtschaft in den nächsten Jahren von Grund aus geändert und die Klimaänderungen begrenzt werden. Die langwierigen Verhandlungen fanden im Kontext der divergenten Interessen der Industrieländer und der Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländer statt, sowie der Inselstaaten, die mit der Gefahr des steigenden Niveaus der Ozeane infolge der globalen Erwärnmung direkt konfrontiert werden.



    Die UN-Klimakonferenz in Paris 2015 fand als 21. UN-Klimakonferenz und gleichzeitig 11. Treffen zum Kyoto-Protokoll vom 30. November bis 12. Dezember 2015 statt. Dieser Konferenz wurde eine zentrale Bedeutung zugemessen, da hier eine neue internationale Klimaschutz-Vereinbarung in Nachfolge des Kyoto-Protokolls verabschiedet werden sollte. Ursprünglich sollte sie nur bis zum 11. Dezember abgehalten werden; aufgrund mehrerer strittiger Punkte beschloss die Konferenzleitung, die Verhandlungen um einen Tag zu verlängern. Den Vorsitz hatte der französische Außenminister Laurent Fabius. Am Samstag präsentierte Fabius bei der UN-Klima-Konferenz in Paris den gesammelten Vertreter der fast 200 Teilnehmerstaaten die Abkommensvorlage und verwies auf die enorme Verantwortung der Delegierten. Am Abend des 12. Dezember wurde von der Versammlung ein Klima-Abkommen beschlossen das die Begrenzung der globalen Erwärmung auf deutlich unter 2°C, möglichst 1,5°C, vorsieht.



    Neben dem ehrgeizigen Ziel der Begrenzung der globalen Erwärmung auf weniger als 2°C sieht das Paris-Abkommen auch weitere Maßnahmen vor: ein Fonds von 100 Milliarden Dollar für die Finanzierung der Entwicklungsländer nach 2020, die regelmäßige Revidierung der Verpflichtungen alle 5 Jahre, und eine globale Evaluierung der Fortschritte beim Erfüllen der aufgenommenen Verpflichtungen. Weitere Punkte des Abkommens beziehen sich auf den Transfer von Technologien und auf das Steigern der Kapazität der Entwicklungsländer, sich dem Klimwandel anzupassen.



    Politische Würdenträger aus aller Welt und Vertreter internationaler Organisationen, wie der Internationale Währungsfonds, die Weltbank oder die Internationale Agentur für Energie, begrüßten das Unterzeichnen des Paris-Abkommens. EU-Kommisionspräsident Claude Juncker sagte, die Welt sei nun vereint im Kampf gegen den Klimawandel, und der britische Premierminister, David Cameron, erklärte, die heutige Generation habe große Fortschritte zum Sichern der Zukunft unseres Planeten gemacht. Die rumänische Umweltministerin und EU-Vertreterin bei den Gesprächen über Klimawandel, Cristina Pasca, erklärte für den Sender Radio Romania, die Europäische Union habe sich bei den Verhandlungen in Paris für das Klima-Abkommen stark eingesetzt.



    Laut Fachstudien und Angaben, die von UN-Umweltexperten verwendet werden, beziffern sich die Verluste der Wirtschaft infolge der globalen Erwärmung auf mehr als 125 Milliarden Dollar jährlich; 4 Milliarden Menschen leiden unter dem Klimawandel und etwa 500 Millionen Menschen leben in besonders gefährdeten Regionen.