Global weather change

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For decades now, scientists and weather experts have reached the conclusion that observable global weather changes have been caused by human activity. Science that arrived at that conclusion is simple. It focuses on the burning of fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide which gets trapped in upper atmosphere and prevents world weather from becoming part of the global system.

The burning of coal, gas and oil are not the only sources of emissions of climate-altering gases. They are also produced by the burning of fuel by motor vehicles and aircrafts. The development of artificial intelligence needs a lot of energy; supplying it would add further strain on global weather system.

The United Nations system is now involved in studying and preventing global weather change. On July 22, the International Court of Justice based in The Hague issued a strongly worded opinion saying that states must protect their citizens from the "urgent and existential threat of climate change". This statement constituted a major contribution for the global environmental movement and for the countries at the greatest risk of harm. This was the first time that the court, which is the United Nations highest judicial body, has pronounced a judgement on climate change.

The court's unanimous decision held that the failure of nations to take action to protect the climate system may constitute an "internationally wrongful act". It also found that protection of the environment is "a precondition for ensuring human rights and cited government support of fossil-fuel production as a violation of these principles".

Judge Iwasawa Yuji, president of the court, said: "The environment is the foundation for human life, upon which the health and well-being of future depends." The United Nations General Assembly requested the court to look into this matter. The court's 15 members were asked to speak to two main questions: what are countries obliged to do, under existing international laws and treaties to protect the climate system and environment from greenhouse gases? And what are the legal consequences if they have caused considerable harm?

Poor nations, especially those that border rising oceans, argued for financial and technical help from the nations that were primarily responsible for producing global warming . Ralph Regenvannu, the climate envoy from Vanuatu, addressed the country in December 2024 saying that his country was on "the frontline of a crisis we did not create." He asked the court for recognition that the conduct is "unlawful, that it must cease and that its consequences must be repaired".

Vanuatu is one of the several small nations in eastern Pacific that are seriously impacted by global climate change. Rises in the level of the ocean in which they are located is causing them serious economic harm. The main livelihood of Tuvalu, a country with a population of 10,000, is tuna. "It's ironic that the ocean, which has been the sustainer of our livelihood and economy, suddenly poses all these threats to us," Feleti Teo, the tiny country's prime minister, said in an interview with the reporters covering The Hague event. The court's opinion went well beyond many lawyers had expected. The judges ruled that all states have the obligation to limit global warming to1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, a threshold adopted in the 2015 Paris Accord.

The next big international conference on climate change will be held in the Brazilian resort of Belem in November 2025. This would be 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP30. One problem the Brazilian authorities are facing is to turn what is known as the "lovers' resort" into an international conference centre. The local hoteliers have increased the price of rooms; what they would like to charge is well beyond the capacity to pay for the conferees from poor countries. Seeking to calm jitters, Brazil said this month it had struck a deal with two cruise ships to provide some 6,000 additional beds which will be offered to developing countries.

Large and powerful fossil fuel producers such as the United States and Saudi Arabia argued before the court that the 2015 Paris Accord, in which nearly all countries agreed to limit greenhouse gases, was sufficient to address climate change. While this argument was presented by the administration headed by President Joe Biden, his successor Donald Trump withdrew from the accord. The Trump administration has adopted policies to end the federal government's ability to fight global warming by regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The American president is in favour of continuing to burn fossil fuel for generating energy.

Experts who are studying how human activity is acting on global climate have plenty of evidence to work on. Some of that comes from the sub-continent of South Asia where unprecedented climate events have begun to occur. These have occurred in all South Asian countries. One example of climate change is heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan in recent years. The country is also facing larger than normal water flows in the rivers because of the faster ice-melt in the mountains from which most of the country's rivers draw water. On July 20, 2025, a report in The New York Times was filed by John Zoon, Ziaur Rehman and Salman Masood under the title 'Monsoon Rains Cause Flooding, Killing Dozens Around Pakistan'. They wrote: "This is the latest extreme weather to hit Pakistan, which has seen intense heat waves and floods in recent years. Scientists and official have linked these events to climate change.

The monsoon in Pakistan began in late June, and heavy rains have killed at least 80 people and injured hundreds more, the national disaster authority said. More than 80 of the dead were children. Chakwal, around 60 miles of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, was among the hardest hit areas." An emergency public holiday was declared on July 17. Scientists have linked the heavy floods in recent years in Pakistan to climate change.

Computer models have shown that human-caused warming has contributed to intensifying rainfall, which is especially strong during the monsoon season, which typically runs from July to September every year.. The monsoon season in 2022 brought some of the worst flooding ever to hit Pakistan. More than 1,700 died, tens of thousands were left displaced and millions were recovering years later. The floods also took a lot of active agricultural land out of cultivation. Such events are likely to be repeated every year.