Climate change is forcing companies of all sizes to rethink the way they do business.. to find ways to sustain growth in a low, rather than high, carbon economy.
Popular Articles
View interview - Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, International Telecommunications Union (ITU - 24 Jun 2008
ICT’s smart answer to climate change - 02 Jul 2008
ITU Symposium on ICTs and climate change - 02 Jul 2008
Telecom solutions to energy and climate change - 08 Jul 2008
Leading market providers back new registry system for the Voluntary Carbon Standard - 02 Jul 2008
Dr Atiq Rahman, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS)
The IPCC Fourth Assessment report demonstrates evidence of human induced global climate change. The poor are the worst victims of a global problem that has been created mainly by the rich and industrialised countries. Climate change is a harsh reality now for many of us, and this is demonstrated through various recent extreme climatic events around the world. These include: prolonged and devastating floods in Bangladesh, India, China and in the UK in 2007; severe droughts in Africa and Asia, extreme heatwaves in central Europe, devastating cyclones and tidal surges across the coasts. We live in an unequal world economically, politically and socially, and climate change impacts will increase poverty, food insecurity, hungers, inequity and social conflict in the coming decades if we don’t take urgent action now before it escapes our control.
Climate change is the result of global inequity. It is the result of unsustainable production, wasteful consumption and burning of fossil fuel in both developed and developing countries. The rich have created the problem while the poor are taking most of the burden. This burden is in the form of food insecurity and hunger, water stress and health risks, increasing poverty and greater disaster risks.
Rising sea levels and natural disasters may displace millions of people from their homes and livelihoods. In Bangladesh, 35 million people from the coastal districts may be displaced if there is 45cm sea level rise by 2050, which may result in rural to urban migration and put tremendous pressure on scarce resources in the country. The poor in Bangladesh and India, in Asia and Africa are not responsible for this. Climate change will also increase both intragenerational and intergenerational inequity. We are borrowing the environment, atmosphere and resources from our children and next generations. They will have to pay higher costs for environmental regeneration and climate change adaptation in the future.
COST OF DELAYED ADAPTATION
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the recent Nairobi Work Programme (NWP) on adaptation have enshrined the simultaneous actions of mitigation and adaptation. But scientists and development practitioners strongly suggest that mitigation is the best form of adaptation. But adaptation is not a substitute for mitigation. The primary commitment of the industrialised (Annex-1) countries is to mitigate, ie reduce greenhouse gas emission. Any delay in emission reduction will only increase the need and cost of adaptation.
Any delay in mitigation increases the risk of runaway global climate change with severe regional impacts. The primary responsibility of UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and all its member states and signatories and non-signatories is to reduce emission today and now. Industrialised countries must take the lead; the developing countries must do their utmost to reduce their emissions and seek a path of development with a lower GHG emission.
Isolated US
In this rapidly globalising world it is neither desirable nor helpful to leave the greatest economy out of the Kyoto process as the US is not only the greatest GHG emitter, it also can play a key role in solving the problem of climate change with its scientific and financial capabilities.
If the US Administration is serious about freedom across the world, then freedom from the increasing threat of climate change, particularly for the poor and vulnerable countries and communities, must be part of the equation. Just as the US would not like to see a free rider in the global trade regime, it must not be allowed to be a free rider in a climate regime.
PROGRESS AND BARRIERS TO ADAPTATION
People always take action to adapt to the variability in weather and climate and try to reduce their risks and vulnerability based on their resources, own knowledge and experiences accumulated through generations. Sometimes vulnerable communities are also forced to react to and recover from weather and climatic extremes, such as floods, drought, salinity and cyclones. Existing practices and patterns of adapting to such events would not be effective in the context of devastating and long term climate change impacts. Planned and informed coping and anticipatory adaptation is needed, with greater resistance and diversity in human, social and natural systems to reduce risks and vulnerability as well as to protect lives, livelihoods, wealth and well being from climatic disasters.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides the moral, ethical and scientific basis as well as the structure for advancing adaptation. Parts of the UNFCCC clearly indicate the need and importance of adaptation to climate change to ensure food and water security, disaster risk reduction and promotion of sustainable development. Article 4.4 of the Convention calls for actions and resources from developed countries to assist the developing country parties that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting the costs of adaptation.
The Nairobi Work Programme (NWP) on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change aims to assist particular developing countries, including those least developed countries and small island states, to improve their understanding and actions on climate adaptations. The main objective is to promote informed decisions on practical adaptation actions and measures to respond to climate change on a sound scientific, technical and socioeconomic basis taking into account current and future climate change and variability.
The recent IPCC Fourth Assessment Report suggests that adaptation to climate change is taking place across the world in limited scale and adaptive capacity is uneven among various communities and societies.
The report also identifies a number of barriers to adaptation, including physical and ecological barriers, financial, institutional and technological barriers, and information and cognitive barriers. The least developed countries and poor in developing countries need greater support for adaptation.
Though mitigation has been stumbling, there has been some progress in adaptation efforts, particularly in developing countries who are already suffering from various impacts of climate change. Such adaptation has a direct and reinforcing relationship with poverty, food security and health, livelihood promotion of the poor, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development. The Least Developed Countries group and many of its member countries have formulated NAPA (National Adaptation Plan of Action) but need resources and technology support from the developed countries and multilateral development agencies to implement the adaptation activities identified. These NAPAs should adopt a holistic and livelihood approach instead of a sectoral approach. The process, in both planning and implementation, must ensure integration of indigenous knowledge and practices in advancing adaptation that might support sustainable development locally and regionally.
THE POOR NEED GREATER ADAPTATION
Since the poor have the least capacity, they need greater adaptation support. Some southern institutions are very keen to promote adaptation. The Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), an independent research and policy institute in Dhaka, has a great interest in understanding adaptation needs as well as promoting climate change adaptation with various stakeholders and actors including governments, development agencies and community people. BCAS, in association with development partners, has organised a community-based adaptation workshop in Dhaka to enhance understanding among scientists and practitioners. BCAS is also advancing community adaptation with partners under the SSN (South-South-North) initiative through increasing resilience and adaptive capacity of the communities in drought and salinity affected areas of Bangladesh. The project has completed vulnerability and needs assessment and is now developing actions for community adaptation with vulnerable groups, partners and key stakeholders. Project activities may include both adaptation and mitigation measures, such as irrigation with solar energy, afforestation, water security and livelihood promotion. However, there is further need for research and collective action to explore the possibility of blending adaptation and mitigation measures.
BEYOND 2012: COMMITMENT TO EQUITY AND FAIRNESS
During the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the world should have seen an absolute 5.2 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere relative to 1990 level by 2008-12. Unfortunately, what we have seen is a greater increase of GHG emissions. Let us remember the Kyoto target was the first small and inadequate step. It is an absolute priority that the UNFCCC parties achieve deeper GHG cuts to meet the prime objective to save the planet from the threat of runaway climate change. COP-13 in Bali must strive to achieve this goal. The 2007 Conference of the Parties should be a fertile ground for discussing the second commitment period with a focus to follow up the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period with deeper cuts in the North and decarbonised economic development in the South.
CONCLUSION
Freedom from the threat of climate change is one of the key freedoms for which each and every country will have to work and take their responsibility in the 21st century. Freedom from the threats of severe impacts of climate change are as required as the freedom from hunger, injustice, terrorism and dictatorship. If the freedom from climate instability is not ensured, other freedoms such a poverty, food insecurity and hunger, could be equally threatened.
This year the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC for their great efforts and contribution to build awareness and generate scientific knowledge about man-made climate change as well as to lay the foundations for the urgent and long term measures to halt dangerous climate change and address the devastating impacts of global climate change. The Nobel Committee highlighted the potential risk between accelerating climate change and the risk of violent conflicts for various scarce resources including freshwater across the regions, countries and communities. This award encourages us and gives greater responsibilities to the policy and decision makers, development agencies and the actors at global, regional, national and local levels to take bold steps and actions with strong political will and commitment to reduce the threat of dangerous climate change for humankind. Actions are required now from various actors and stakeholders before climate change goes beyond our control.
Any delay in mitigation, increases the risk of runaway global climate change with severe regional impacts.
Author
Dr Atiq Rahman is the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr Rahman is a Visiting Professor of International Diplomacy and Sustainable Development at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, USA. He is the Chairman of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and of the Coalition of Environmental NGOs in Bangladesh and continues to represent this vibrant community as its key decision maker.
Organisation
The Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) is an independent research, policy and implementation institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh established in 1986. BCAS works at the local, national, regional and global levels on: Environment Development Integration; Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Livelihoods; Good Governance and People’s Participation and Economic Growth, Public Private Partnerships and Sustainable Markets.
Enquiries
Tel: (880-2) 8851237, 8852217, 8851986
Fax: (880-2) 8851417
E-mail:
