The global concern over climate change originated from the growing scientific understanding of human impact on the Earth’s climate, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. In the late 19th century, scientists like Svante Arrhenius theorized about the relationship between carbon dioxide and the greenhouse effect. By the latter half of the 20th century, climate change emerged as a significant issue.

In 1979, the First World Climate Conference in Geneva marked the beginning of international discussions on climate change, leading to the establishment of the World Climate Program. The 1988 creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by UNEP and the WMO further solidified global attention on the issue.

Key global meetings addressing climate change include the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where the UNFCCC was adopted to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first legally binding agreement, required developed countries to reduce emissions. The 2015 Paris Agreement saw 196 countries commit to limiting global warming to well below 2°C. The 2018 Katowice Climate Change Conference adopted the Katowice Rulebook for implementing the Paris Agreement. The 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact aimed to accelerate action towards the Paris goals with new pledges on emissions reductions and climate finance. These meetings highlight the need for international cooperation and comprehensive policies to tackle climate change.

Convection is the process by which heat is transferred by movement of a heated fluid such as air or water. Types of convection are:

1)Natural convection: this results from the tendency of most fluids to expand when heated i.e., to become less dense and to rise as a result of the increased buoyancy. Circulation caused by this effect accounts for the uniform heating of water in a kettle or air in a heated room. The heated molecules expand the space they move in through increased speed against one another, rise, then cool and come closer together again, with increase in density and a resultant sinking.

2)Forced convection: this involves the transport of fluid by methods other than that resulting from variation of density with temperature. Movement of air by a fan or of water by a pump are examples of forced convection.

3)Atmospheric convection: the currents can be set up by local heating effects such as solar radiation (heating and rising) or contact with cold surface masses (cooling and sinking). Such convection currents primarily move vertically and account for many atmospheric phenomena, such as clouds and thunderstorms.