Putin calls for action against natural disasters of “unprecedented” scale

Russian President Vladimir Poutin, generally not very talkative on the climate issue, expressed concern on Saturday about natural disasters of “unprecedented” magnitude in Russia.

The country faces devastating forest fires in Siberia and floods in the south.

“The scale and nature of natural disasters in some areas is unprecedented,” he told a televised meeting, calling on the government “to act quickly and effectively” on environmental problems.

In the south of the country, “the monthly precipitation level now falls within a few hours,” warns Vladimir Putin. At the same time, forest fires devastated Siberia and the Far East, exacerbated by drought and spread by strong winds.

“All this shows once again how important it is to participate in a deep and systematic way in the future in the climate and environmental agenda,” concluded the Russian president.

Forest fires in Siberia have already devastated more than 16.6 million hectares, especially in Yakutia, a vast but sparsely populated territory. Smoky cities have caused higher-than-normal levels of hydrogen sulfide as far as Chelyabinsk, 3,800 km to the southwest. NASA reported a week ago that this smoke had also reached the North Pole. The situation prompted authorities to declare a holiday on Friday.

In southern Russia and the Crimea, torrential rains led to flooding and the evacuation of hundreds of people. On Saturday, nearly 100,000 homes were without power.

In early August, IPCC experts once again sounded the alarm at accelerating climate change, underscoring that humanity had no choice but to slash greenhouse gas emissions if it wanted to limit the damage.

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