Climate Change

Sebastien: "What a strange drowsiness possesses them!"

Antonio: "It is the quality of the climate". (Shakespeare, 1986)

Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious problems facing the world today. It is one of the more serious threats to the sustainability of the world's environment, the health and well-being of its people and the global economy (HSD Linkages, 2001). Increasing scientific evidence of the impact of human interference with the climate system, coupled with growing public concern over global environmental issues, began to push climate change onto the political agenda in the mid-1980s (UNFCCC, 2001). One of the results of this was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was a framework for action set up to combat the major issues of climate change. The processes highest on the agenda were those of reducing greenhouse gasses (GHG’s), developing a ‘renewables industry’, assisting third world village development and creating greater international concern.

The UNFCCC and it’s subsequent agreements and protocols

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Each of the former are designed to help the participating countries and states reduce the costs of meeting their emissions targets by achieving or acquiring reductions more cheaply in other countries than at home. Processes undertaken to reduce or halt the changing climate need to be conducted worldwide or they will have little effect.

To put these measures into actions they must be coupled with providing the villages with education, information and research. Protection Strategies are such things as changes in crop variety, irrigation, fertilisers and management; the defence of vulnerable areas and natural resources; planting trees; carbon trading; sustainable development; urban greening; and fostering growth in plantation forestry and revegetation to act as a sink for GHG (Commonwealth of Australia, 1997). The question is, "Are they succeeding?"

The UNFCCC is an ongoing process, dealing with such vital issues as the submission of information about national actions (including the transfer of financial support to developing countries) (IUC, 2000).

Developing a renewables industry is a topic of immediate importance. With their withdrawal from the UNFCCC what future does the UNFCCC have ?

. The North is encouraged to invest in emission reduction strategies in the South if this is less costly than doing it in the North. But they are not being driven hard enough. Education, information and research aims to increase the villages public awareness and knowledge of the problem of climate change and how best to avoid it. There is however, one major drawback. The groups or parties are commonly referred to as subsidiary bodies (UNEP, 2000).

Introducing education programs and including relevant curricula within schools are very important steps towards educating the young about the problems. Assisting third world village development is being driven primarily through adaptive measures and information, education and research. In the first COP (Berlin, 1995) the ‘Berlin Mandate’ was established to begin a process toward appropriate action for the period beyond 2000 (Jepma et al, 1998).

Approximate Word count = 5529
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page double spaced)

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