United Nations Environment Programme
environment for development
Climate Change
Introduction
Climate change has long-since ceased to be a scientific curiosity, and is no longerjust one of many environmental and regulatory concerns.
As the United Nations Secretary General has said, it is the major, overriding environmental issue of our time, and the single greatest
challenge facing environmental regulators. It is a growing crisis with economic, health and safety, food production, security, and other
dimensions.
Shifting weather patterns, for example, 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.
The news to date is bad and getting worse. Ice-loss from glaciers and ice sheets has continued, leading, for example, to the
second straight year 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.
Objective
To strengthen the ability of countries, in particular developing countries, to integrate climate change responses into national development processes.
There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the planetary
climate system, may already have been reached or passed. Ecosystems as diverse as the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic tundra, for example,
may be approaching thresholds of dramatic change through warming and drying. Mountain glaciers are in alarming retreat and the downstream
effects of reduced water supply in the driest months will have repercussions that transcend generations. Climate feedback systems and
environmental cumulative effects are building across Earth systems demonstrating behaviours we cannot anticipate.
The potential for runaway greenhouse warming is real and has never been more present. The most dangerous climate changes may still be
avoided if we transform our hydrocarbon based energy systems and if we initiate rational and adequately financed adaptation programmes to
forestall disasters and migrations at unprecedented scales. The tools are available, but they must be applied immediately and aggressively.
Related Newsletters
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Emissions and Adaptation Gaps: Can we bridge the cracks in climate policy?
The emissions gap and the adaptation gap are increasing. In order to bridge these gaps, it is critical to fill holes in funding, knowledge, technology, capacity and trust.
The future of the Aral Sea lies in transboundary co-operation
Diversion of water sources has caused the Aral Sea in Central Asia to decline significantly over the past five decades. It has broken into several smaller seas, leaving behind a vast desert and a multitude of environmental, economic and social problems.
Saving the Great Migrations: declining wildebeest in East Africa?
The iconic wildebeest migrations of East Africa are an important ecological phenomenon and massive tourist attraction. However, many wildebeest populations are in drastic decline across the region.
Where will the water go? Impacts of accelerated glacier melt in the Tropical Andes
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Mangrove forest cover fading fast
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From Hotspots to Hopespots: Connecting local changes to global audiences
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Measuring Glacier Change in the Himalayas
A serious lack of reliable and consistent data severely hampers scientific knowledge about the state of Himalayan glaciers. As a result, the contribution of glacial melt to the Himalayan river basins remains uncertain.
Africa without glaciers
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Green Economy Vulnerable to Rare Earth Minerals Shortages
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Largest Fire in Israel's History Consistent with Climate Change Predictions
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Sea-level Rise in the Indian Ocean Differs by Region and Low-lying Pacific Reef Islands can Grow or Shrink in Size Depending on Conditions
Over the past few decades, sea levels worldwide have risen because of three primary phenomena related to climate change: the expansion of warming oceans, the input of fresh water from melting ice sheets and the loss of ice mass from Greenland and Antarctica (see the Near Real-Time Environmental Even...
Huge Iceberg Breaks off Greenland's Petermann Glacier
Glaciers are naturally dynamic, slowly changing in shape and size as they move. When a glacier enters the sea, new icebergs form as pieces break off, or calve, from the glacier. How much calving occurs depends on the glacier's growth rate, determined by the amount of new snow and the speed at which ...
Greening Cement Production has a Big Role to Play in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Next to water, concrete is the second-most consumed substance on earth; on average, each person uses nearly three tonnes a year. Portland cement, the major component of concrete, is used to bind the materials that make up concrete. The concrete industry uses about 1.6 billion tonnes of portland ceme...
Global Mangrove Extent Much Smaller than Previously Estimated
As confirmed by the impacts of the December 2004 Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, intact mangroves help stabilize shorelines and thus protect lives and property from such natural disasters. They also provide other ecosystem services, such as breeding and nursing grounds for marine specie...
Plant Growth Declined Over the Past Decade
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