Page 41 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1

Mehmet Emin Birpınar

The Start of the International Fight

Scientists had actually become aware of climate change much earlier. From
the 19th century on, certain scientists such as French Joseph Fourier and Swiss
1
chemist, Svante August Arrhenius , realized the overconsumption of fossil
2
fuels, and the resulting carbon concentration in the atmosphere, noticing that
the nature cannot deal with this, and suggesting the rapid mitigation of these
emissions. However, especially Europe in particular, the world did not heed
the advice, and rather than mitigate emissions, increased them even more,
causing a rise in carbon emissions from 5-6 billion tons at the time to 40 billion
tons today (Rictchie and Roser, 2020b). ,
The globally increasing greenhouse gases drew attention to climate change.
Thus, the first ever World Climate Change Conference (WMO, 1979) was held
in 1979. The ozone-depletion especially over Antarctica, required immediate
action on restricting the use of chemicals. Within this framework, the Vieanna
Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layers (UN, 1985) was signed in 1985.
The convention was considered the first successful global agreement in the
field of environment and climate.
During the ensuing process, a protocol was prepared to limit the use and
production of substances that cause a depletion in the ozone layer, and to
establish a healthy monitoring system to this end. Finally, in 1987, the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone (UN, 1987) was signed.
Efforts by the international community to fight global climate change
took a different turn with The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) formed by the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 in order
3
to provide technical infrastructure to develop climate policies. With the UN
decision in 1990 to build an framework contract on global climate change,
the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was founded, and after
15 months of work, The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) , considered the constitution for climate change, was prepared.
4
Open for signature as of 1992, the agreement aimed to mitigate greenhouse
gas emissions, collaboration on technology and preservation of greenhouse
gas sink areas (such as forests, oceans, etc.). To meet this end, taking the
level of development, historical responsibilities, developmental priorities

1 James R. Fleming, (1999) Joseph Fourier the ‘greenhouse effect’, and the quest for a universal
theory of terrestrial temperatures, Endeavour, 23(2), p. 72-75.
2 Biography of Mr. Svante August Arrhenius, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Svante-Arr-
henius
3 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, https://www.ipcc.ch/about/history/
4 A Brief Introduction to the Climate Change Convention, https://unfccc.int/resource/ccsites/tan-
zania/conven/text/intro.htm

26 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,