Climate change and poverty
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Edition Summary:
We are at a strange and dangerous point where most politicians want to look like they are “doing something” on climate change, but very few have the clarity and courage to do what actually needs to be done.
The problem is that it is not just any old “something” that needs to be done. Something very particular needs to be done to avert disaster: to have about a 50% chance of keeping warming below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, rich countries must reduce their emissions by around 25–40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and the biggest developing country emitters need to reduce their emissions below business-as-usual levels.
Several writers in this edition of Global Future discuss the implications of our current path.
Unless decisive action is taken following Copenhagen, by 2100 our grandchildren are likely to know first-hand what the opposite of an ice age looks like. We do not choose the times into which we are born. But we do choose how we will respond. How will our children and grandchildren remember us, if our generation proves incapable of rising to this challenge?
Contributing writers include:
- Ms Lydia Baker, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Officer, Save the Children UK
- Dr h.c. Bill Hare, Climate Scientist, a Lead Author for the IPCC’s Fourth assessment report, and a Visiting Scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany
- Dr Alex Evans, Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University, where he heads CIC’s work on climate change and resource scarcity
- Professor Will Steffen, Director of the Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute
- His Excellency Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Republic of the Maldives
- Ms Margareta Wahlström, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction
- Dr Saleemul Huq, Senior Fellow, Climate Change, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a Lead Author for the IPCC’s Third and Fourth assessment reports
- Dr Muyeye Chambwera, Researcher, Environmental Economics and Climate Change, with IIED
- Rev Dr Jim Ball, Senior Director, Climate Campaign, Evangelical Environment Network, USA
PLUS World Vision staff contributors...
- Dr Brett Parris, Chief Economist, World Vision Australia
- Mr Christopher Shore, Climate Change Response Initiative, World Vision International
and "Voices of life" case studies from Ethiopia and Vietnam
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