Climate Change: A Crisis of the Commons

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Nobody is immune to climate change , regardless of where they live, or whether they contributed to it. In fact, climate change is nothing short of a crisis of the commons, and tackling it effectively will require all the ingenuity and collaborative spirit of the human race. As countries meet in December 2009 in Copenhagen to shape a new international response to climate change, the price of delay or inaction appears very high. WDR 2010 notes that developing countries everywhere from Africa to Asia to Latin America will be disproportionately affected by the climate crisis . The developing world already faces greater climate risks , even as it is preoccupied with trying to help one in four people living in extreme poverty , over a billion hungry, and 1.6 billion without access to electricity. Attaining the Millennium Development Goals and ensuring a safe and sustainable future beyond 2015 become more difficult as the planet warms, rainfall patterns shift, and climate-related natural disasters become more frequent.

  Global warming of 2 ﾰ C above pre-industrial temperatures could result in permanent reductions in annual per capita consumption of 4 to 5 percent for Africa (Nordhaus & Boyer, 2000; Stern, 007). These losses would be driven by impacts on agriculture. WDR 2010 argues that the world must act now, act together, and act differently, before costs go up and avoidable hardships are needlessly endured by poor and vulnerable people.

  Act now
The world has a brief window of time in which to find the technologies and the funds to combat climate change. What we do today shapes tomorrows climate and imposes limits on the choices that are available to future generations. Staying close to 2 ﾰ C likely to be the best that can be  done requires a global energy revolution with an immediate deployment of energy efficiency and available low-carbon technologies, and massive investments in new technologies. Once greenhouse gases are emitted, they remain in the atmosphere for decades or even centuries,  trapping heat and affecting climate patterns for a very long time. Power plants, cities, and reservoirs that we build today will last for at least fifty years. ﾃ .New technologies and climate-resilient crop varieties that are piloted today could determine the energy and food sources of growing populations in many developing countries.  Acting now could help save the 10 to 15 percent of species that will otherwise likely be lost in an Africa that is 2 ﾰ C warmer than pre-industrial levels (Parry and others,2007).

  Act together
Rich countries must take the lead by reducing their own carbon footprints at home and by helping developing countries to finance adaptation to climate change as well as mitigate further global warming . As the graph opposite shows, actions by rich countries to adopt ambitious targets could free up some pollution space for the unmet energy needs of millions of people in developing countries. Strong action by rich countries would stimulate innovation and demand for green technologies that can be rapidly scaled up. This would also help create a sufficiently large and stable carbon market.

National and international support is essential to protect the most vulnerable people through social assistance programs, to develop international risk-sharing arrangements, and to promote the exchange of knowledge. In Africa, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation should largely be managed as one integrated agenda. Africas trans-boundary rivers are an example of why cooperative action is critical to manage the water and food security challenges posed by climate change and population pressures.

  Act differently
 Instead of planning for yesterdays climate, policymakers must heed a variety of climate futures.  Agricultural productivity and water management need to improve to feed millions more people while protecting already stressed ecosystems. Long-term, large-scale integrated  management will help meet increased demands on natural resources while conserving biodiversity and maintaining terrestrial carbon stocks. Infrastructure must withstand new extremes and support more people. Adaptation should be based on new information about changing patterns of temperature, precipitation, and species.

 
Need for climate-smart policies
  As the World Banks World Development Report (WDR)2010: Development and Climate Change says, lives and livelihoods can be preserved and improved if we act immediately and collaboratively to protect past gains; ensure that future development is climate-resilient; help people to adapt to new weather patterns and cope with extreme events; find new economic opportunities in a changing climate; and work toward meeting energy needs sustainably.

 Climate change has made growth and poverty reduction more complicated and difficult, but it also presents tremendous opportunities. Climate-smart policies of the future would, for instance, pay more attention to land and water management and diseases like malaria steps which would be good for growth and prosperity. There is a growing realization that the cost of building climate resilience into existing development programs is far less than the cost of emergency relief, rehabilitation, and recovery associated with disasters.

 
While Africa accounts for only 4 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions , more than 60 percent of the region's emissions are due to deforestation and land degradation . Therefore, with improved land, water and forest management practices , mitigation and adaptation go hand in hand for Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa could leapfrog past outdated technologies and move forward with untapped hydropower, wind power , solar power , and other renewable sources of energy . The region has only utilized 8 percent of its hydroelectric power potential, compared, for example, to 30 percent in Latin America.