| Climate
Change
Climate change is one of the major challenges
of our time and adds considerable stress to our societies
and to the environment. From shifting weather patterns
that threaten food production, to rising sea levels
that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the
impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented
in scale. Without drastic action
today, adapting to these impacts in the future will
be more difficult and costly.
Climate change is a serious risk to
poverty reduction and could undo decades of development
efforts. While climate change is global, its negative
impacts are more
severely felt by poor people and poor countries. They
are more vulnerable because of their high dependence
on natural resources and limited capacity to cope with
climate variability and extremes. Restoring and maintaining
key ecosystems can help communities in their adaptation
efforts and support livelihoods that depend upon the
services of these
ecosystems. Moving towards low-carbon societies can
help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improving human
health and well-being and creating green jobs.
Effects
of climate change
Ice-loss from glaciers and ice sheets are
continuing with an ice-free passage through Canada’s
Arctic islands, and accelerating rates of ice-loss from
ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Combined with
thermal expansion—warm water occupies more volume than
cold—the melting of ice sheets and glaciers around the
world is contributing to rates and an ultimate extent
of sea-level rise that could far outstrip those anticipated
in the most recent global scientific assessment.
Shifting weather patterns threaten
food production through increased unpredictability of
precipitation, rising sea levels contaminate coastal
freshwater reserves and increase the risk of catastrophic
flooding, and a warming atmosphere aids the pole-ward
spread of pests and diseases once limited to the tropics.
Six Things
Companies Need to Know About Climate Change Adaptation
Businesses worldwide are beginning to see the
risks and economic impacts of more frequent and intense
storms, water scarcity, declining agricultural productivity
and poor health. In a survey of global businesses, 86%
described responding to climate risks or investing in
adaptation as a business opportunity. A new study -
by the UN Global Compact, UNEP, Oxfam and WRI - makes
the business case for private sector adaptation to climate
change in ways that build the resilience of vulnerable
communities in developing countries.
Read
Adapting
to Climate Change In Bangladesh.
WRI's Aarjan Dixit recently attended
the 5th Annual Community Based Adaptation to Climate
Change Conference in Bangladesh. As part of the conference,
participants visited local communities to see how adaptation
projects were working. Many of the activities people
say would help them adapt to weather challenges are
often the same development-focused activities that would
help increase resilience to a host of other economic
and natural shocks.
Read
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