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Chapter Title Climate Change and Sustainable Development
Copyright Year 2019
Copyright Holder Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Corresponding Author Family Name Inogwabini
Particle
Given Name Bila-Isia
Suffix
Division/Department Center for Research and
Communication in Sustainable
Development (CERED), Faculty of
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Organization/University The Jesuit Loyola University of Congo
City Kinshasa
Country Congo AU1
Email bi4@kentforlife.net
1C
2Climate Change and
3Sustainable Development
4Bila-Isia Inogwabini
5Center for Research and Communication in
6Sustainable Development (CERED),
7Faculty of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences,
8The Jesuit Loyola University of Congo,
9Kinshasa, CongoAU1
10 Introduction
11 Despite being a natural occurrence, climate
12 change is, certainly, one of the phenomena
13 that humanityAU2 will continue to face throughout
14 the centuries to come. Its emergence, as a
15 response of nature to human activities, is among
16 historical singular moments that challenge the
17 very ideas people have of their own worldwidely.
18 Dealing with climate change poses not only
19 the question of how nature will respond to its
20 major effects but also what would happen if its
21 effects go beyond projected consequences of
22 these effects economically, socially, and, in
23 many ways, existentially. Saying so equates to
24 stating that climate change is to be viewed as
25 an important impediment to sustainability. This
26 essay is a discussion of how climate change will
27 impact the possibilities of sustaining development
28 on earth. Methodologically, this means that the
29 essay will have two major lines of ideas. Firstly,
30 it will present the core ideas of what climate
31change stands for and, secondly, what these
32ideas imply for sustainability and sustainable
33development. The essay does not include heavy
34scientific data; these are available on the United
35Nations Commission on Climate Change and
36can be viewed by any interested party. In this
37sense AU3, the aim of the essay is to try to convey its
38simplified and ready-to-use message of what
39most of these hard-core scientific data tell us as
40laypeople. Of course, simplification does not
41mean lack of technicality, which would be neces-
42sary in some contexts of this essay.
43Climate Change: Time Scale, History,
44and Current Issues
45Climate change is not a new natural phenomenon
46(Mathez and Smerdon 2018), which is how
47most people often think of it. Climate change is
48part of the natural geological history of the world
49(Uitto et al. 2017; Mathez and Smerdon 2018).
50It has been appearing mainly in two ways
51throughout the world’s geological history.
52There have always been eras of wet, humid, and
53hot, which were followed by arid, dry, and
54cold times throughout the world history at a
55geological time scale. Wet, humid, and hot times
56are known, in the jargon of the climate change,
57as deglaciation periods, whereas arid, dry, and
58cold times are called glaciations (Berger et al.
591993). To clarify why these times bear these
60names, it is good to know that deglaciations are
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
W. Leal Filho (ed.), Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_462-1
61 times when ice crust disappears from most
62 of the surface of the earth because of hot
63 temperatures (Berger et al. 1993). Glaciations,
64 obviously, areAU4 the opposite times when the ice
65 increased on the surface of the earth due to the
66 global cooling (Berger et al. 1993). Reading from
67 available records (White 2001; Peters et al. 2010),
68 the Precambrian era (up to 600 Million Years
69 Before Present (MYBP)) had known two
70 hot periods (deglaciations) intercepted by two
71 glaciations (Walker 1990); the Paleozoic era
72 (approximately between 542 and 251 MYBP)
73 witnessed two deglaciations and two glaciations,
74 while a third deglaciation starting at the end of
75 Paleozoic would continue through Mesozoic era
76 (approximately between 252 and 66 MYBP),
77 which remained almost entirely hot. Even the
78 Cenozoic era (between 65 Million Years Before
79 Present and now), which is our own geological
80 era, had seen climatic fluctuations. It began with
81 a hot period through the Pleistocene epoch at
82 which point it began cooling down to make up a
83 glaciation, which would have ended with the
84 end that period when, in early Holocene,
85 current deglaciation began. Pleistocene (between
86 2.6 million and approximately 12,000 Years
87 Before Present) and Holocene (approximately
88 between 11,700 years ago and now) are epochs
89 that belong the era geologically known as
90 quaternary (Schwartz 1992).
91 As has been noticed above, geological times
92 are of magnitude of million years; so personal
93 memories can hardly, if not simply impossibly,
94 have records of climate change over the recent
95 past. Acknowledging this fact has significant
96 implications on how we perceive climate change.
97 The first implication is that to talk of climate
98 change, one has to think of very long-term and
99 durable modifications of weather conditions.
100 Equally significant is to think of large spatial
101 scales (Xenopoulos et al. 2005; Peters et al.
102 2010; Mathez and Smerdon 2018), at least
103 regionally. Finally, one should also view things
104 in terms of multiple weather variables being
105 involved in the processes that lead to forecasted
106 and observed changes. Indeed, climate change,
107 as it is actually known, cannot be reduced to
108 local events and to temperature alone.
109Explanations for the global climate swinging
110over geological times have several geophysical
111origins. The first category of these geophysical
112events includes changes in earth orbital parame-
113ters such as earth’s orbital eccentricity, earth
114obliquity, and terrestrial precession (Spiegel
115et al. 2010; Campisano 2012). Earth’s orbital
116eccentricity simply says how much the orbit of
117earth deviates from a perfect circle, while earth
118obliquity is a measure of the tilt of the earth’s
119axis from the plane of its orbit around the sun.
120This inclination changes over a cycle of
121approximately 40,000 years, and it is currently
122about 23.5. Precession is simply factoring the
123fact that the orientation of earth’s axis waves
124cyclically during earth’s rotation about itself.
125All these geophysical parameters can impact the
126amount of solar energy received on the surface of
127earth (Spiegel et al. 2010). The amount of energy
128received plays a key role in the weather and
129earth climate. The second group of geophysical
130events that impacts on climate on earth is made of
131phenomenon such as volcanism and orogenesis
132(Ramstein et al. 1997; Whipple and Mead 2006),
133while the third category is made of cosmic events
134(Crowley 2000). Volcanism refers to AU5activities of
135volcanoes: when volcanoes outburst magmas out
136to the space. Magmas contain different materials
137such as volcanic gases that can be suspended over
138the space as screen of glass that can prevent
139solar rays to reach through the surface of earth
140and capture the rays that should, in normal
141conditions, be reflected back to the outer space
142by the earth as in a greenhouse construction
143(Crowley 2000). Orogenesis is made of global
144processes affecting shifts in tectonic plates.
145Shifts in earth tectonic plates can affect the global
146distribution of water across the earth, which then
147would have somewhat grandiloquent effects on
148global weather and climatic patterns. The third
149category of phenomenon that influences climates
150on earth, or at least the weather patterns, is made
151of astrophysical consisting of the emergence of
152solar faculae and sunspots on the surface of
153the sun. Solar faculae are made of brighter
154yet short-lived spots that sometimes appear on
155the surface of the sun resulting from concentra-
156tions of magnetic field lines (Crowley 2000).
2 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
157 The contrary of solar faculae are sunspots,
158 temporary darker spots on the sun. Solar faculae
159 increase the amount of energy emitted by the sun,
160 whereas sunspots reduce its temperature; their
161 influence on the climate of earth is rather meager
162 but appears, respectively, in opposite manners.
163 Fourthly, some cosmic events such as possible
164 collisions between earth and asteroids (Barash
165 2008) and earth going through cosmic dusts con-
166 stitute events that can significantly impact the
167 climate on earth and, indeed, in other planets.
168 In the recent geological history of earth, it has
169 been discovered that a 10-km-wide meteor col-
170 luded with earth about 66 MYBP, which coin-
171 cided with the end of Cretaceous and the
172 beginning of Paleocene. A mega eventAU6 such as
173 the one that happens when the earth collides
174 with an asteroid raises soil dusts up to the atmo-
175 sphere (Barash 2008), which constitute, once
176 more, a screen of greenhouse gases on the earth’s
177 atmosphere preventing the then normal fluxes
178 of energy between the sun and the earth
179 (Crowley 2000). Also, when earth and its galaxy
180 go throughcosmic dusts, these latter can also cre-
181 ate a similar situation, which would act exactly
182 in the same ways.
183 The above natural causes have been at the
184 origins of climate change throughout the history,
185 as indicated above. With that in mind, the question
186 that is often asked is why humans are being so
187 vocal about climate change now if the phenomena
188have been cyclical in the world geological
189history? This question is a major contributor to
190reasons why climate skeptics around the world
191doubt about potential effects of the current climate
192change. Yes, climate change is historically
193documented, and global warming is of a “com-
194mon”occurrence throughout geological times,
195but to understand the current occurrence, its pro-
196jected potential effects, and why we should care
197about it, one must scrutinize how the greenhouse
198gases have been behaving throughout the recent
199human history (Dryzek et al. 2011). That story is
200what the graph gathered by experts of the United
201Nations Commission on Climate Change (Fig. 1)
202is telling us. Clearly, the graph says that all the
203greenhouse gases have been fluctuating bellow
204300 ppm (or ppb) between Year 0 and 1800 of
205our era.
206What should strike the minds is how the con-
207centrations of each of these greenhouse gases
208have been peaking in the atmosphere since the
2091800s. Industrial civilization began in 1800,
210which gives a strong correlation between indus-
211trial activities and the increase of the concentra-
212tions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
213This is to say that the current climate change
214event is no longer similar to the past climate
215change occurrences; while previously climate
216change events were caused by natural factors
217described above, the ongoing climate change inci-
218dent is principally caused by industrial human
0
250
300
350
400
CO
2
CH
4
N
2
O
500 1000
Years
1500 2000
Beginning of the industrial era
600
800
1000
1200
1400
CH
4
(ppb)
CO
2
(ppm), N
2
O (ppb)
1600
1800
2000
Climate Change and
Sustainable
Development,
Fig. 1 Evolution of
greenhouse gases over the
last 2000 years
Climate Change and Sustainable Development 3
219 activities (Etheridge et al. 1998; Uitto et al. 2017).
220 In this sense, it is far from being irrational to
221 infer that the current climate change is a fact of
222 modern civilization; it is the way humans have
223 been living over the last two centuries. A similar
224 question is often raised about why talk too much
225 of CO
2
than of any other greenhouse gas.
226 The answer to it also comes from looking at the
227 physical composition of gases in the earth’s
228 atmosphere; indeed, CO
2
has a relatively longer
229 time of residence in the atmosphere and is clearly
230 the most abundant greenhouse gas. Additionally,
231 CO
2
is emitted by almost any current human
232 activity (transport, food production, reading,
233 working, etc.) (Dryzek et al. 2011). This means
234 without dramatic changes in ways people live,
235 dealing with climate change will be a very daunt-
236 ing endeavor. Current climate change, it needs
237 to be hammered again, is an issue of the modern
238 civilization, and curbing its effects will demand a
239 major shift in the type of the civilization humans
240 want to live in: it is an interrogation on human
241 desires, redefining what it is that we mean when
242 we think of prosperity and happiness. Beyond
243 these philosophical questions, there are clear
244 links between climate change and sustainable
245 development, which are discussed below.
246 Climate Change and Sustainable
247 Development
248 Brundtland Commission (1987) defined sustain-
249 able development as a development which
250 meets the needs of current generations without
251 compromising the ability of future generations
252 to meet their own needs. Yet, development, per
253 se, is a function of the natural capital, which is
254 constituted of the natural assets (Constanza and
255 Daly 1992). Natural assets supply humans with
256 raw materials that they use for development.
257 The very idea of sustainability means that actions
258 needed for development should be carried out in
259 such a way that the current natural capital is
260 maintained constant or increases over time
261 (Constanza and Daly 1992). This capital is made
262 of biodiversity (aquatic, oceanic, and terrestrial)
263 and elements of physical environment such as
264 soil, water, etc. So, to look at the links between
265climate change and the sustainability of develop-
266ment, one should be really looking at the
267interlinkages between climate change and
268biodiversity and elements of physical environ-
269ment. While doing so, it is better to avoid broad
270generalizations, which are often made and render
271the understanding of what is likely to happen
272should current predictions happen difficult to
273grasp. Generalizations are not easier to make
274because one of the major characteristics of effects
275of climate change is that they are variable
276across latitudes and longitudes; they are not to
277be applied wall-to-wall from one point of earth
278to another. Despite that requalification, however,
279there are general trends that can be said to likely
280hamper sustainability. The paragraphs below dis-
281cuss some of these general issues while noting
282particularities of some contexts whenever and
283wherever necessary. Because they have been
284described to be directly impacted by climate
285change and the role they play in development,
286I will begin with items listed under the generic
287name of elements of physical environment and
288then move to biodiversity.
289Water is, apart from being among major con-
290stituents of life on earth, one of the most important
291natural assets whose participation in the develop-
292ment processes is vital. Water is used in industrial
293production processes such as cooling, cleaning,
294mining, quarrying, energy production, construc-
295tion, etc. According to Förster (2014), European
296industry alone uses 40% of total water abstrac-
297tions. In the agricultural production, water is one
298of the principal entrants without which the whole
299food production process would collapse. It is in
300this sense that Chen (2017) says that water is a
301fundamental input in all economic activity.
302Yet, all predictions being made suggest that
303water is one of the natural assets that would
304be most affected by effects of climate change.
305Kundzewicz et al. (2008) argued that changes in
306temperature, evaporation, and precipitation being
307predicted as outcomes of climate change will
308affect the distribution of river flows and ground-
309water recharge over space and time. Mapping
310out water-related vulnerability hot spots through
311the use of different climate models, Kundzewicz
312et al. (2008) presented changes in the annual
313runoffs and in flood and drought frequencies and
4 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
314 intensities. Agreeing with the Intergovernmental
315 Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007), they con-
316 cluded that proportions of total rainfall from
317 heavy precipitation events are very likely to
318 increase over most areas; both the frequency and
319 intensity of heavy precipitations would increase in
320 tropical and high latitude. Subsequently, flood
321 frequency and magnitude would increase in
322 these regions. However, predictions were also
323 that droughts would, logically, increase in fre-
324 quencies in regions where precipitations are pro-
325 jected to be reduced as a consequence of climate
326 change. It is based on these projected trends
327 that they concluded that impacts of climate
328 change on freshwater resources would be a
329 threat to the pursuit of sustainable development
330 of the affected regions.
331 Indeed, for areas where rainfall regimes are
332 to increase, there is to be expected destructions
333 of social infrastructures such as roads, dams,
334 and public spaces (hospitals, schools, markets,
335 etc.). These infrastructures have both financial
336 and natural costs. If and when they would be
337 destructed, they will need to be rebuilt, which
338 would take further tolls on the natural capital.
339 Drawing still more water to rebuild these infra-
340 structures means taking more water from
341 nature, which decreases the natural capital that is
342 to be maintained, by the very definition of
343 sustainable development, at least equivalent to
344 quantities that are available now. Also, in areas
345 where frequencies of droughts are expected,
346 scarcity of water would mean reduced agricultural
347 productivity. Alternatively, agricultural produc-
348 tivity would need very highly costly water man-
349 agement schemes and infrastructures or simply
350 changes in agricultural long-tailored experience
351 and expertise. Thus, whether water increases or
352 decreases, the costs on sustainable development
353 issimply high enough to lead to the conclusion
354 that effects of climate change on water would be a
355 serious impediment on sustainable development.
356 Effects of climate change on water will have
357 further consequences on soil. Rather than looking
358 at highly theoretical ideas, suffice it here to be said
359 that humidity in soil is one of the determinants of
360 the soil mechanics and constitutes a major ele-
361 ment for life under soil (Vestergård et al. 2015).
362Obviously, with projected increased precipitations
363in some world’s region, effect of climate change
364will change the water content of soils and impact
365on soil productivity. This is equally true of
366regions where droughts are to be expected.
367In order to ensure sustainable productivity of
368soils, it might be appealing to increase the culti-
369vating areas to cope with current increases in
370human populations. Increasing cultivating land
371areas means deteriorating more lands. Hence,
372effects of climate change will affect agricultural
373productivity and change patterns of cultivation
374across the planet. Soil, it is worth repeating,
375is one of the major natural sinks of carbon (Lal
3762004); its sustainability would not only maintain
377crop production but also contribute to halting
378further increases in CO
2
emission back to the
379atmosphere. Hence, soil participates in the carbon
380cycle and serves to sustain the conditions under
381which sustainable development activities can
382thrive. Finally, for development to be sustainable,
383there is need of modern and renewable energy
384for all. Water offers such a source of energy in
385many areas across the world; changes affecting
386water basins and water flows will hold sustainable
387development back. Water is so important, and it is
388not a surprise that many of the United Nations
389Sustainable Development Goals can be amenable
390to water even when water does not explicitly come
391out in their official statements: (1) end hunger,
392achieve food security and improved nutrition,
393and promote sustainable agriculture; (2) ensure
394access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and
395modern energy for all; and (3) ensure healthy
396lives and promote well-being for all at all ages,
397which can all be linked to water one way or the
398other.
399Apart from water and soil (discussed above),
400a third physical element that constitutes the
401natural capital on earth is clean air that most living
402organisms breathe and live on. Without clean air,
403the workforce, which is a prerequisite for any
404work on sustainable development, would not be
405available. Increases in temperatures that are
406being projected in some regions of earth will
407mean releasing some pollutants to the air. This
408would impact not only humans but also numerous
409other species, including these on which whole
Climate Change and Sustainable Development 5
410 economic systems were built on. Increased heat
411 and other extreme weather events, where they
412 are being projected, particularly in the tropics,
413 would lead people to diseases of different sorts.
414 These changes will impact disease transmission
415 pathways, the dynamics of disease transmission,
416 social settlements, and the ecology of different
417 diseases and may lead to resistance of vectors,
418 etc. All these facts would increase frequencies
419 and expand the distribution of the waterborne
420 diseases; the whole human health system is
421 expected to be challenged. Berry et al. (2010)
422 had even projected increases in mental health
423 cases. Possibilities that new forms of diseases
424 may emerge from newly adapted vectors are not
425 to be excluded. This cohort of new diseases would
426 decrease the potential workforce, human global
427 reflection, which would have an impact on their
428 overall productivity. If sustainability has to be
429 viewed as correlate of human well-being both
430 physically and mentally, impediments on good
431 health such as those described above, including
432 shifts in social and physical environments, will
433 prevent human biological senses to function
434 properly. This will have a much direr effect on
435 sustainable development.
436 Air pollution and health provide a transition
437 from physical environment to biodiversity,
438 a transition from physical elements such as
439 water, soil, and air to aquatic, oceanic, and
440 terrestrial biodiversity. As water, soil, and air
441 will be affected by climate change, so dearly
442 affected will be aquatic, oceanic, and terrestrial
443 biodiversity, as part of ensemble of natural capital.
444 Biodiversity offers many resources that are used
445 to develop the world. Timbers and fishes extra-
446 cted, respectively, from forests and waters are
447 but the most speaking examples of this statement.
448 A significant percentage of medical products
449 used for human health come from biodiversity.
450 The list would be very long but the above suffices
451 to indicate that sustainable development cannot
452 be separated with biological diversity. Indeed,
453 most of the food humans use to live on is essential
454 one form or the other of biological diversity.
455 An illustration of how the effects of climate
456 change on biodiversity will likely affect sustain-
457 able development is provided by its potential
458effects on fisheries. Fish distribution and circula-
459tion as well as macroinvertebrate assemblages
460throughout rivers and oceans are factors, among
461others, of the water temperatures (Bêche et al.
4622009; Gutierrez-Fonseca et al. 2018). Increased
463temperatures are likely to shift the distribution of
464fishes (Bêche and Resh 2007) that are important
465for fishing industry, which will impact either the
466fishing efforts or fish offtakes. More importantly,
467some, if not simply most, aquatic and/or marine
468life forms are temperature sensitive (Gutierrez-
469Fonseca et al. 2018). Species of shellfishes and
470shrimps, for examples, would hardly resist
471increases in temperatures greater than 2 C;
472this would likely result deaths of some
473numbers, diminishing therefore populations of
474such heat-sensitive species. Decreases in numbers
475of heat-sensitive species would lead to small and
476declining population paradigms (Caughley 1994;
477Perry et al. 2004). Small and declining population
478paradigms (Caughley 1994; Perry et al. 2004)
479and modifications in habitats caused by climate
480change (Keith et al. 2008) ultimately lead to spe-
481cies extinctions. Obviously, extinctions of these
482species will impact not only aquatic and marine
483food chains but also sustainable development.
484Projected effects of increases in temperature,
485changes in rainfall regimes, and increases in
486extreme phenomena on biodiversity are diverse
487and would include physiological effects, pheno-
488logical changes, shifts in species distributions,
489and modifications of biological interactions.
490Projected physiological effects include effects
491on respiration, photosynthetic effects, somatic
492growth, tissue composition, and decomposition
493of the litter. Phenologically, biological cycles are
494expected to change (either lengthened or short-
495ened), while shifts in species distributions are
496also expected, particularly if the tropical regions
497heat up to the point of becoming difficult to
498support by some species. With shifts in species
499distributional ranges, it is to be expected that their
500interactions would also change enormously as
501they will have to interact with both new environ-
502ments and new species they encounter in these
503new niches. In this latter case, new patterns of
504predation, parasitism, and mutualism are to be
505seriously envisaged. Overall, these effects would
6 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
506 lead to some species disappearing from the
507 earth surface, while others may have to change
508 their compositional structures and communities.
509 Finally, there is also a possibility of total
510 flipping up of species geographical occurrence.
511 The thought examples on aquatic and marine life
512 forms, i.e., shellfishes and shrimps or other heat-
513 sensitive species above, provide details as to
514 how some species would simply disappear
515 from the earth surface. An iconic and sad case to
516 illustrate the same effect is the predicted high
517 likelihood of seeing the polar bears disappear
518 should the polar cap entirely melt (Ferguson
519 et al. 2000).
520 There are more benefits than just the material
521 ones that people acquire out of biodiversity.
522 These immaterial benefits include the beauty of
523 nature that humans enjoy for their recreation,
524 spiritual happiness that some draw when they
525 directly experience nature, etc. Increases in
526 temperature, changes in rainfall regimes, and
527 increases in extreme weather phenomena
528 caused by climate change are likely to impact
529 on those nonmaterial benefits as well. For exam-
530 ple, increased frequencies of storms and floods
531 cause economic losses, which have greatly
532 increased over the last few years and principally
533 driven by the expanding exposure of assets at
534 risk (Kundzewicz et al. 2013). Storms and
535 floods not only cause economic losses but are
536 also likely to alter the physical environments
537 that provide beautiful sceneries and prevent
538 people for enjoying them. Ecotourism has been
539 praised as one route for some countries to
540 generate financial incomes in sustainable ways.
541 Yet, climate change via storms and floods is likely
542 to impact on natural beautifulness and other rec-
543 reational attribute nature exhibits in some areas.
544 Inferring effects of climate change on ecotourism
545 cannot be thorough without mentioning that cli-
546 mate change is expected to increase levels of
547 oceans. Increasing water levels at the oceans
548 means losing stretches of beaches (Clark et al.
549 1998) where ecotourism has been a prevalent
550 economic activity over years.
551 All the above effects of climate change will
552 significantly affect sustainable development.
553 The single mostAU7 important thing that has to come
554first here is that biodiversity is not only the
555species richness but also all the functions that
556each species, habitats, and other natural services
557naturally play to maintain life on the earth system
558in the format that we currently know. That is the
559very core idea of sustainability: maintaining life
560on earth. Put it in the version of Constanza and
561Daly (1992), current natural capital is to be
562maintained constant or increases over time.
563Clearly, what is described above is rather gloom-
564ier in this perspective. At a much more practical
565level, shifts in fish species’distributional ranges,
566for example, will hammer the efforts of poorest
567communities to live decently. This is because
568if economic fish species have to migrate to areas
569that are far away from their current distribution,
570poorest people will not have means to go else-
571where and fish. This will impact both their
572health in terms of food and their general liveli-
573hoods in terms of generating incomes. Changes in
574phenology of some staple plants would have
575similar effects on human livelihoods because
576men and women of those communities will have
577to take time to adjust to new phonological
578times. This will be much more difficult for them
579especially given the fact that the breadths of the
580knowledge they possess of these species remain,
581mostly, empirical. A more extreme case is that of
582seeing some species going totally extinct. Indeed,
583some species play major roles in keeping the
584natural capital in its full functional state. A nice
585illustration of this statement is that of bees that
586help pollinate some plants and help produce
587honey. Honey is part of food, and it also contrib-
588utes to the economy of many local farmers
589acrossthe world. The current declining trend of
590bees across the world is likely to continue with
591effects of climate change. If bees go extinct, which
592is not of the range of nightmares, effects of their
593extinction would strike through the production
594cycles of many plant species. Examples like shifts AU8
595in forest covers and species changes abound and
596were reported in past climate change events (e.g.,
597Schwartz 1991; Schwartz et al. 1986), and
598interpreting them will all lead to showing that
599effect of climate change will have direr impacts
600on more fragile human communities across the
601earth and particularly those in tropical regions.
Climate Change and Sustainable Development 7
602 A last important climate-induced change is
603 forced human climate migrations. Of course,
604 humans as a species are a wide-migrant species;
605 it started its current development from its African
606 cradle to conquer the rest of the world. Viewed
607 from this perspective migrations are as natural
608 to humans as are other life traits of human
609 nature; they would persist even in the absence of
610 climate change. However, there are currently
611 climate-induced forms of migration. Effects
612 of climate change-induced migration factually
613 mirror environmental problems in different parts
614 of the globe. In fact, changes in weather patterns
615 will impact different milieus in different ways,
616 but many of the expected changes include length-
617 ened droughts and increased intensities of rain-
618 falls. These directly link with drops in agricultural
619 productivity. Agriculture is, in many poor
620 countries, the most important livelihood activities
621 (Oba 2014). Reduced probability to have decent
622 livelihood activities and lacking the possibility
623 to rebuild one’s own resilience when stricken
624 by crises, people would have, as suggested by
625 Reuveny (2007), only three options. They could
626 adapt to these problems by staying in place and
627 doing nothing, staying in place and mitigating
628 the problems, and leaving the affected areas.
629 Because conditions in poor countries are not
630 conducive resilience if natural catastrophes result
631 in extreme casualties, staying in place and miti-
632 gating the problems is far from being an option
633 that most would choose. Therefore, people have
634 the choice between migrating or staying and either
635 starving to death or perishing by other means or
636 migrating to where conditions to sustain life are
637 still prevailing. This single fact will see climate-
638 induced migrations increase over the coming year.
639 One good example of this is migrants moving
640 from the Sahelian region of Africa and looking
641 for waters in the basins of Lake Chad; the same is
642 true of people moving toward the Congo Basin.
643 This trend is likely to persist, particularly as Gould
644 (1994) suggests, the human population growth
645 being sustained with rates that are higher. These
646 movements could, in turn, lead to insecurity and
647 further environmental instability and degradation
648 (Barnett and Adger 2007) in these regions
649where people move if appropriate mechanisms
650of economic, cultural, and social integration are
651not put in place.
652All the examples taken above and many other
653cases that have been described in the existing
654literature (e.g., Afolayan and Adelekan 1999;
655Gleditsch et al. 2007) point toward the
656conclusion that climate change will have negative
657impacts on sustainability globally and sustainable
658development particularly. The discussions around
659mitigation strategies are around how to prevent
660these gloomy projections from happening.
661Yet, despite the general global acknowledgment
662of the potential for climate change to affect
663most of human activities, including the United
664Nations Sustainable Development Goals, action
665lags behind. This is because climate change is not
666only a scientific exercise but rather more of a
667political and philosophical issue. Being political
668and philosophical is not to be taken only nega-
669tively; but this situation places the chances of
670curbing it on the hands of the humanity globally.
671This is why effects of climate change can also be
672viewed as an occasion to increase the conscious-
673ness of humans and foster innovation. Viewed
674from this angle, climate change could also offer
675a stall for the next human leap forward though
676hopes are very low for that to happen.
677Even though paces for the expected changes in
678how humans use the natural capital to happen are
679still slow, this essay would be short-sighted if
680efforts being invested by the international com-
681munity to create a framework through which to
682discuss and identify means for mitigation of and
683adaptation to climate change are not accounted for
684(Nina 2016). The first of these efforts is the very
685existence of the United Nations Commission on
686Climate Change and the Intergovernmental
687Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Both have
688been able to raise the sense of urgency, which
689raised the awareness of most of the people across
690the world. That alone is a major achievement and
691is, in many ways, a great step toward the prepared-
692ness for people to adapt to possible effects of
693climate change and take measures that would
694ultimately mitigate them, if possible. The exis-
695tence of these two important bodies had also
8 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
696 brought the world to craft policies that would
697 help, if implemented throughout the world, pro-
698 mote actions to mitigate and adapt to effects
699 of climate change. An international masterpiece
700 to illustrate this has been the signing of the Paris
701 Agreement that, despite its weaknesses, is the best
702 international instrument we presently have with
703 obligations that countries need to fulfil to prevent
704 temperatures raising too high to point of breaking
705 the life-sustaining system on earth. Of course,
706 before the Paris Agreement, numerous other
707 instruments were made and have played a key
708 role in sensitizing people on their responsibilities
709 in the climate change.
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10 Climate Change and Sustainable Development
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