The United Nations (UN) recently published a report on the progression of climate change. The biggest difference between this report and those that preceded it is the attitude toward climate change within the report itself. This newest report accepts climate change as a real, worldwide problem that requires a solution, as opposed to a problem that may happen.
This is important for governments and environmental agencies everywhere. By viewing climate change as something that now needs a solution instead of preventative measures, it becomes solidified within the public mind as a real issue that can no longer be ignored.
The report’s wording is important. The panel responsible for writing and publishing the report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), defines two ways of combatting climate change.
The first is mitigation, or trying to solve the problem head on. This has included measures such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions for governments, like the Kyoto Protocol.
The second is adaptation, or learning to live with the problem and adapting our lives to the new environment.
This year’s report is important because it stresses adaptation over mitigation for the first time.
In the past, there were several attempts to mitigate climate change that didn’t work for a number of reasons. There have been co-operation issues—such as Canada’s lack of compliance with the aforementioned Kyoto Protocol—and monetary challenges on behalf of developing countries that cannot afford to accommodate expensive climate change mitigation measures.
However, despite these concerns, mitigation was the UN and IPCC’s main course of action to combat climate change until recently. Water stress and scarcity are two of the concerns listed within the report.
“In many regions, changing precipitation or melting snow and ice are altering hydrological systems, affecting water resources in terms of quantity and quality. Glaciers continue to shrink almost worldwide due to climate change affecting runoff and water resources downstream,” states the report.
Water stress and desertification are caused by these changing climate patterns. Water stress conditions means annual water supplies drop below 1,700 metres cubed per person. Water scarcity means that level drops below 1,000 metres cubed, and “absolute scarcity” means less than 500 metres cubed per person.
Global water stress has been a growing concern for the UN, which started the Water for Life International Decade for Action in 2005.
The idea of the initiative was to spread awareness about water scarcity and try to combat some of its effects. Now nearing the end of that decade, the statistics are not promising.
By 2025, two-thirds of the entire world will live under water stressed conditions. With these figures in mind, and this being the tip of the ever-melting iceberg, adaptation becomes necessary.
The report explained that now it is up to ordinary citizens as much as governments to do their part to adapt to climate change. It then becomes the responsibility of each person to do their part to adapt their own lifestyle to the changing climate. This is possible in a number of ways.
Continuing to recycle and compost to reduce garbage will help decrease greenhouse emissions.
Monitoring daily water usage is also important. Pay attention to how much you use to wash dishes and clothes, and take shorter showers. These are great base measures, but we may need to step it up in the future.
Consider planting a tree or a rooftop garden this summer to increase oxygenation. The city of Baltimore in the United States has resolved to plant enough trees to increase their urban tree canopy by 40 per cent by 2037 to increase oxygenation and decrease urban heat.
The UN’s new approach to adaptation may prove to be the most successful in the long run, if everyone does their part.
