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CN (Carbon Neutrality): Status and Limitations


Abnormal climate of the global village
If the current abnormal climate continues, human kind will soon be doomed.


The abnormal climate (extreme heat and drought, heavy snowfall, heavy rain, etc.) is caused by a rise in earth's temperature: Since industrialization, the earth's average temperature has risen by 1.5ᴼC.

The reason for global warming is that greenhouse gases (gases that absorb and reflect heat given off by the earth)
cover the earth.

90% of greenhouse gases are 
carbon dioxide (CO2).

 




Carbon Neutrality (Carbon Net Zero)


It means reducing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, absorbing the remaining

 greenhouse gas (by forests, etc.), and removing (by capturing, storing, utilizing), 

resulting in actual emission of zero (net zero).


UN
SOUTH KOREA

1997 Kyoto Protocol: Obligations for developed countries

2015 Paris Agreement: Adopted by developed and developing countries, entered into force on November 4, 2016

2016.11.3 Ratification of the Paris Agreement

Each country agreed to submit Long-term low greenhouse gas Emission

Development Strategies (LEDS) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).


Paris Agreement: "Keep the global average temperature rise well below 2ᴼC

compared to pre-industrial levels and strive to limit it to 1.5ᴼC."


To curb the global temperature rise within 1.5ᴼC, a transition to a Carbon Neutrality society

with zero carbon emission by 2050 is needed.



Current status of the global village:
It has experienced difficulties in realizing the global village agreement.



National egoism and heterogeneity were manifested.


Greenhouse gas emissions increased again due to increased

 production activities of U.S during the Trump presidency

 and China amid the recent ’With COVID-19 era’


“We have to choose between a joint response to climate change through GHG reduction or mass suicide”

2022.7.11 Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary General)


"Our response to climate change is the same as the 400 police officers who stood outside the unlocked doors of a Texas elementary school the other day, hearing gunshots and screams from inside the classroom, and no one did anything. Time is running out."

2022.7.24 Al Gore (Former US Vice President, environmental activist)





Land Degradation Neutrality and UNCCD


Land Degradation Neutrality


Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is a concept of restoring degraded forests or land to solve desertification, forests, and land degradation of the earth and setting the net increase rate of land degradation to zero as a whole by preventing additional land degradation.




Current situation and problems


Already 70% of the earth's unglaciated land area has been modified by humans,

 and (according to a 2016 study by IFPRI) 29% of the earth's soil is already degraded,

with an additional 2 billion hectares of soil being degraded every year. 


If this trend continues, the planet's environment will eventually become more volatile 

(causing unprecedented droughts, floods, etc.) and soon become uninhabitable.


Rapid Increase of LDN Domain:

Problem in ice-covered land: Massive eruption of methane gas from Siberian

permafrost due to the increase of earth's temperature.




UNCCD and LDN



The UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), one of the UN's three major environmental conventions (UNCCD, UNFCCC, and UNCBD), was adopted in 1994 to prevent land degradation, and currently, a total of 197 countries participate. The first Conference of the Parties (COP) was held in Rome, Italy, in 1997;
the 10th was held in Changwon, South Korea, in 2011 (the Changwon Initiative played a key role in establishing the mission and identity of the UNCCD, which was launched to combat desertification, with Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) as a key concept); and the 16th COP is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
At the 26th UNFCCC (COP 26) held in 2021, heads of state announced the ‘Glasgow Summit Declaration on Forests and Land Use’, which expressed their commitment to preventing forest loss and land degradation and restoring them. As land-based solutions are emphasized as natural-based solutions to respond to climate change effectively, the role and importance of UNCCD in charge of LDN are being highlighted.


Byong Hyon Kwon, UNCCD’s Land Ambassador, said,
“CN (Carbon Neutrality) has spread as a global challenge under the supervision of UNFCCC, 

but in the future, LDN will be rather more problematic and important than CN.”


CN(Carbon Neutrality):

Status and Limitations

Abnormal climate of the global village

If the current abnormal climate continues,

human kind will soon be doomed.


The abnormal climate (extreme heat and

drought, heavy snowfall, heavy rain, etc.) 

is caused by a rise in earth's temperature:

Since industrialization, the earth's average 

temperature has risen by 1.5ᴼC.


The reason for global warming is that
greenhouse gases (gases that absorb and 
reflect heat given off by the earth)
cover the earth.
90% of greenhouse gases are 
carbon dioxide (CO2).


Carbon Neutrality

(Carbon Net Zero)


It means reducing greenhouse gas emissions

as much as possible, absorbing the remaining

 greenhouse gas (by forests, etc.), and removing

(by capturing, storing, utilizing), 

resulting in actual emission of zero (net zero).


UN Global

South Korea

1997 Kyoto Protocol: 

Obligations for 

developed countries


2015 Paris Agreement: Adopted by developed 

and developing 

countries, entered 

into force on 

November 4, 2016

2016.11.3 Ratification 

of the Paris Agreement

Each country agreed to submit Long-term

low greenhouse gas Emission

Development Strategies (LEDS) and

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).



Paris Agreement: "Keep the global average

temperature rise well below 2ᴼC

compared to pre-industrial levels and

strive to limit it to 1.5ᴼC."


To curb the global temperature rise within 1.5ᴼC,

 a transition to a Carbon Neutrality society

with zero carbon emission by 2050 is needed.





Current status of

the global village:


It has experienced difficulties in realizing

the global village agreement.

National egoism and 
heterogeneity were
manifested.

Greenhouse gas 

emissions increased

again due to increased

 production activities of U.S during the Trump

presidency and China 

amid the recent 

’With COVID-19 era’


“We have to choose between a joint response 

to climate change through GHG reduction 

or mass suicide”

2022.7.11 Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary General)


"Our response to climate change is the same as 

the 400 police officers who stood outside the 

unlocked doors of a Texas elementary school 

the other day, hearing gunshots and screams 

from inside the classroom, and no one did 

anything. Time is running out."


2022.7.24 Al Gore (Former US 

Vice President, environmental activist)




Land Degradation

Neutrality and UNCCD

Land Degradation Neutrality

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is a concept of restoring degraded forests or land to solve desertification, forests, and land degradation of the earth and setting the net increase rate of land degradation to zero as a whole by preventing additional land degradation.


Current situation and problems

Already 70% of the earth's unglaciated land area has been modified by humans, and (according to a 2016 study by IFPRI) 29% of the earth's soil is already degraded, with an additional 2 billion hectares of soil

being degraded every year. If this trend continues, the planet's environment will eventually become more volatile  (causing unprecedented droughts, floods, etc.)

and soon become uninhabitable.


Rapid Increase of LDN Domain:

Problem in ice-covered land: Massive eruption of methane gas from Siberian permafrost due to the increase of earth's temperature.



UNCCD and LDN


The UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), one of the UN's three major environmental conventions (UNCCD, UNFCCC, and UNCBD), was adopted in 1994 to prevent land degradation, and currently, a total of 197 countries participate. The first Conference of the Parties (COP) was held in Rome, Italy, in 1997;


the 10th was held in Changwon, South Korea, in 2011 (the Changwon Initiative played a key role in establishing the mission and identity of the UNCCD, which was launched to combat desertification, with Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) as a key concept); and the 16th COP is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2024.


At the 26th UNFCCC (COP 26) held in 2021, heads of state announced the ‘Glasgow Summit Declaration on Forests and Land Use’, which expressed their commitment to preventing forest loss and land degradation and restoring them. As land-based solutions are emphasized as natural-based solutions to respond to climate change effectively, the role and importance of UNCCD in charge of LDN are being highlighted.