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Human Development Report 2007/2008

Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world

verfasst von: United Nations Development Programme

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Buchreihe : Human Development Report

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This year's Human Development Report explains why we have less than a decade to change course and start living within our global carbon budget, and how climate change will create long-run low human development traps, pushing vulnerable people into a downward spiral of deprivation.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world

Abstract

Delivered in a sermon on social justice four decades ago, Martin Luther King’s words retain a powerful resonance. At the start of the 21_st Century, we too are confronted with the “fierce urgency” of a crisis that links today and tomorrow. Th at crisis is climate change. It is still a preventable crisis—but only just. Th e world has less than a decade to change course. No issue merits more urgent attention—or more immediate action.

United Nations Development Programme

Chapter 1. The 21st century climate challenge

Abstract

Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean is one of the most remote locations on Earth. The gigantic stone statues located in the Rono Raraku volcanic crater are all that remain of what was a complex civilization. Th at civilization disappeared because of the over-exploitation of environmental resources. Competition between rival clans led to rapid deforestation, soil erosion and the destruction of bird populations, undermining the food and agricultural systems that sustained human life.¹ The warning signs of impending destruction were picked up too late to avert collapse.

United Nations Development Programme

Chapter 2. Climate shocks: Risk and vulnerability in an unequal world

Abstract

Climate science deals in measurement. Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are weighed in tonnes and gigatonnes. Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are monitored in parts per million (ppm). Confronted with the data, it is easy to lose sight of the human face of the people who are most vulnerable to climate change—people such as those quoted above.

United Nations Development Programme

Chapter 3. Avoiding dangerous climate change: Strategies for mitigation

Abstract

Climate change is an immense, long-term and global challenge that raises difficult questions about justice and human rights, both within and across generations. Humanity’s ability to address these questions is a test of our capacity to manage the consequences of our own actions. Dangerous climate change is a threat, not a pre-ordained fact of life. We can choose to confront and eliminate that threat, or we can choose to let it evolve into a fully fledged crisis for poverty reduction and for future generations.

United Nations Development Programme

Chapter 4. Adapting to the inevitable: National action and international cooperation

Abstract

The village of Maasbommel on the banks of the River Maas in Zeeland, southern Netherlands, is preparing for climate change. Like most of the Netherlands, this is a low-lying area at risk from rising sea levels and rivers swollen by rain. The landscape is dominated by water—and by the networks of dykes that regulate its flow. Located on the Maasbommel waterfront are 37 homes with a distinctive feature: they can float on water. Fixed to large steel stilts that are sunk into the river bed, the hollow foundations of the homes act like the hull of a ship, buoying the structure above water in the event of a flood. The floating homes of Maasbommel offer a case study in how one part of the developed world is adapting to the increased risks of flooding that will come with climate change.

United Nations Development Programme

Backmatter

Titel: Human Development Report 2007/2008
verfasst von: United Nations Development Programme
Copyright-Jahr: 2007
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-0-230-59850-8
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-54704-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598508

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