Emerging Global Climate Change

Challenges
 Objectives
The objectives are to find:
The causes of the global climate change
Challenges faced due to increasing climate change
Analysing the impact of climate change
Suggesting strategies to curb the effects
 Global Climate Change
Transition in average weather conditions in a
statistical pattern for an extended period of time
(more than 10 years) is termed as global climate
change.
On an average the temperature of Earth rises by 3
degree celsius every year, thereby causing various
factors such as melting of glaciers of Greenland
and Antarctica, drastic sea-level rise and more
extreme heat waves and droughts; thus causing
severe natural hazards.
 Drivers of The Change
Major climate changes are caused by factors such as :
1. Solar energy Changes- Sunspot activity raises global
temperature
2. Volcanic Eruptions- Large amount of volcanic dust in the
atmosphere shield the Earth from incoming insolation
3. Changing oceanic circulations such as periodic warming (El
Nino) and cooling (La Nina) of the areas of the tropical
Pacific Ocean
4. Human activities responsible for these changes include
increasing industrialization, traffic pollution, car exhausts
and nitrogen fertilizers, activities causing increased
production of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere etc.
 Human causes
The burning of fossil fuels for transport, industry and power, producing
carbon dioxide
Worldwide deforestation, sometimes involving rainforest burning, which also
produces carbon dioxide
Car exhausts and nitrogen fertilisers, producing nitrous oxide
CFCs found in fridges, air conditioning and aerosols
Methane, produced from rice fields, landfill sites and from both ends of
cattle
Atom bomb testing
Increasing industrialisation leading to air pollution
Traffic pollution
Rubbish dumps
 Challenges Faced
Carbon Sinks, Forests and Climate Change- The
forests and oceans act as regulators of the carbon-dioxide (a
green house gas) content in the atmosphere. If the forests are
increasingly being cut down, gradually there will be nothing
left to soak up the increasing content of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere
Biodiversity- Warming temperature, more frequent
extreme weather events and changing patterns of rainfall and
drought have a significant impact on the biodiversity.
 Oceans and Coral Reefs- Most of the Global
Warming goes into the oceans because of which a lot of
ecosystem changes are occurring. As the green house
gas concentrations are rapidly rising, they are driving the
ocean system towards associated risks of fundamental
and irreversible ecological transformations such as death,
extinction and habitat loss.
Population Growth- With the increasing population of
world, especially Indian and China, along with the economic
growth, the demand for energy and materials is increasing.
This has resulted in outstripping of resources. This has
resulted in green house gases to accumulate in the
atmosphere and be persistent throughout. The per-capita
emission of such gases is on a rise. This rise in the green
house gas in the atmosphere is a major reason for the climate
change conditions.
 Global Dimming- The production of fossil fuels as
well as greenhouse gases creates other by products.
These by-products such as sulphur dioxide, soot and ash
also contribute to pollution. These pollutants change the
properties of cloud and atmosphere. Therefore polluted
clouds are formed. This makes the cloud more reflective.
More of suns heat and energy is reflected back into the
space and doesnt reach the earth. The reduction of heat
reaching the earth is known as Global Dimming.
 Key Findings
The number of recorded disasters has doubled from approximately
200 to over 400 per year over the past two decades (CRED).
Over 97 percent of disaster deaths occur in developing countries
(World Bank).
175 million children will suffer from climate-related disasters in the
next ten years (UNICEF).
Nearly 634 million people one tenth of the global population
live in at-risk coastal areas just a few meters above existing sea
levels. Three quarters are located in Asian flood-prone densely
populated river deltas or in low-lying small island states.
By 2050, 2.4 billion people may be living in regions of high water-
stress in South Asia (IPCC).
 In Africa, higher temperatures and lesser and
more seasonal rainfall will also place up to 250
million
more Africans under severe water stress by 2020
(IPPR).
Drought, and climate unpredictability is already
impacting agricultural yields. Agricultural
production fed by rainfall is projected to halve in
some African countries by 2020 with the most
populated regions of the Sahel and Southern
Africa among the worst affected. 93 percent of
farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa is rain fed
(IISD).
 Climatesensitive risk factors and illnesses are
currently among the most important contributors to
the global burden of disease; these include under-
nutrition (which causes over 3.7 million deaths per
year), diarrhoeal diseases, (which kill over 1.9 million
annually) and malaria (which kills almost 1 million)
(WHO).
The number of seriously affected people by climate
change is expected to increase more than double
within 20 years, and lives lost every year are expected
to increase by at least two thirds (ISDR & CRED).
The average economic losses due to weather-related
disasters amounted to around $115 billion per year
between 2004 and 2008 (Munich Re).
 Suggested Steps to Curb the effects
Aid reforestation
Implementing a carbon tax and let polluters
pay
To build low-carbon, resilient cities
Support those utility companies that
generates at least half of their power from
renewable sources (solar and wind)
Investing in energy-efficient appliances
 Paris Agreement
Under the Paris agreement, nearly every
country submitted a voluntary pledge for
constraining its emissions
Trumps administration vowed to withdraw
the United States from the Paris agreement by
2020
We need more action, more ambition, and
we need it now said Patricia Espinosa
 Remarks
The world has committed to global action on
climate change.
By reducing its own emissions, the UK is
supporting wider international efforts
However, the biggest unknown is whether this
whole process will translate into meaningful
further action to cut emissions or not.
Thank You!