Adaptation to climate change: causes, impacts, responses
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Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Risk management ( lcshac )
Disaster response and recovery ( lcshac )
Sustainable development ( lcshac )
Climate change ( lcshac )
Genre:
non-fiction ( marcgt )

Notes

Summary:
This document presents the various obstacles to development presented by climate change and related rises in global temperatures and sea levels, along with some solutions being offered by Germany’s Climate Protection Programme for Developing Countries (CaPP). Climate change is a global phenomenon that all societies have to acknowledge as a fact of life and take into account in the process of establishing policies for sustainable development. The long-term climate shifts that have occurred within the past century have been of significant impact. Global surface temperature averages have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius, causing a 20 cm rise in sea levels in the 20th century. These changes have led to significant spikes in the occurrence and force of extreme weather events. It is important to note that climate change has distinct impacts in different regions of the world. In Africa, climate change’s affects often mean the intensification of aridity and drought conditions. In the Indian sub-continent, climate change presents the problem of increased torrential rains resulting in massive floods and mudslides. In some islands of the Pacific this shift in climate has meant that segments of land are disappearing under water as the sea level rises. The impact of natural hazards is likely to increase in the near term and disproportionately affect the developing world, which is least capable of making the changes necessary to adapt. They are calling on industrialized countries, which are disproportionately responsible for the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, to assist them in moving towards adaptation. While the German Federal Government is dedicated to the UN Millennium Development Goals of ending extreme hunger, environmental sustainability, fighting disease, and universal primary education, it has also recognized that these are not possible if the impacts of climate change are not accounted for. It has thus sought to make adaptation to climate change a focal point in its international development cooperation, helping to mainstream adaptation into the development and policy reduction activities of its partners in the developing world. An example is the German Federal Government’s work with the Indian government to adapt its agricultural sector to the vagaries of the climate by developing water-conserving irrigation techniques, helping the supplementation of subsistence agriculture with income-generating activities so as to reduce the vulnerability of local populations, and dissemination of knowledge on how to adapt during droughts.
Subject:
Environment
Citation/Reference:
Adaptation to climate change: causes, impacts, responses. German Agency for Technical Cooperation/Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.
Resource Identifier:
FI13042657

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Aggregations:
Disaster Risk Reduction