Public talk at Neapolis University on global climate emergency and its implications for Cyprus and the region

On the 10 April 2019, the Economics, Business and Management School under the coordination of Associate Professor Andreas Hadjixenophontos, invited UN advisor on climate change and advanced materials Lakis Kaounides to give a public talk on the global climate emergency and its implications for Cyprus and the region.

Mr Kaounides used the findings in a series of UN reports to explain and demonstrate how the world economic and political order, and the planet are facing very serious threats which in combination will affect every country and its citizens. It is beginning to be recognised internationally that these threats pose an existential threat to humanity and we must urgently respond to them.

According to the UN findings, these dangers and threats include the ever-increasing generation and disposal of waste, including e-waste, plastics pollution of rivers, the sea and microplastics entering the food chain, the deadly increases of air pollution, and the arrival of Dangerous Climate Change which may lead to Catastrophic Runaway Climate Change which will make many parts of the planet uninhabitable. It is equally clear that the world community cannot continue with business as usual along this disastrous, indeed suicidal, path. It is imperative that we must understand fully the causes, nature and predicted impacts of these forces and trends at work, and begin to respond strategically, effectively and systematically to them.