Climate change

On this website you will find the latest scientific findings on climate change, risk assessment for Slovenia, and data on how the climate is changing on the global as well as the local scale. Here you will also find some of the most important links to other international websites.

Never before has humankind had such resources and possibilities to adapt to even the most severe climatic conditions as it has now in the modern world; but nevertheless the damage that humankind suffers because of extreme weather and climate conditions increases dramatically each year. What is the reason? Is it too much arrogance and a careless attitude towards natural resources such as our environment, or is it a false sense of superiority over nature offered by modern technology and the rapid development of science in the last decades?

And it is precisely that same modern technology that has allowed us to emit more and more gases into the air which ensure the thermal balance of the atmosphere in nature. Greenhouse gases allow us to live relatively comfortably on the Earth’s surface, but in the last decades, humans have significantly increased their concentration in the atmosphere, particularly by using fossil fuels. To this they have added certain chemical compounds that do not exist in nature but have a long life and deplete the Earth’s ozone layer, which protects us from harmful UV solar radiation – the phenomenon known as the ozone hole.

Researches of climate change have become one of the most important modern applications of data on climate, the greatest challenge in this context being how to distinguish between climate change resulting from human activity and natural climate change. Scientists, politicians and the public have suddenly become aware of the fact that wasteful energy spending and environmental pollution can have unforeseen consequences.

The World Meteorological Organisation was the first to initiate a scientific debate and take organised steps towards raising the awareness of world politicians and the public. The result of these efforts was the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Under its auspices, leading world scientists estimate climatic conditions and foresee their changes, impact and negative consequences. They also try to explain many complex connections between individual parts of the climatic system.

Slovenia is also taking part in these international efforts: political actions are being organised at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, and the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia is closely monitoring climate change in Slovenia and around the world, the type of change which is occurring and consequences it may have for our climate. Most of the activities of the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia are directly or indirectly related to climate and climate change.

Until recently, most attention was given to the limitation of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, but now we are becoming increasingly aware that we need a strategy of adaptation to climate change. The countries that adapt effectively and in good time will have the advantage over countries that are not successful in doing so.