Responding to Global Climate Change

Flashcards on Responding to Global Climate Change

Vulnerability to Climate Change

The effects of climate change will vary due to location, wealth, age, gender, and education.

Groups More Vulnerable to Climate Change

Mothers and babies, infants and toddlers, school-age and older children, the elderly, people with disabilities, the poor, members of minority groups, refugees, and Indigenous people

Why Indigenous Populations are Vulnerable

They usually live, and have already adapted to, fragile areas, have restricted resource access and low incomes, and any change to their environment places them at greater risk

How Climate Change Affects Middle- and Upper-Income People

Increased food prices, increases in food scarcity, increased insurance premiums, reduced water availability, but increased costs, etc.

Bangladesh's Flood Action Plan Measures

Monitoring of flood levels, effective flood warning systems, construction of levees and embankments, building 200 flood shelters on stilts, creating flood water storage systems, diverting flood water with drainage channels, and reducing deforestation.

Reasons Why the Bangladesh Flood Action Plan Was Not Considered a Success

Inadequate funding and corruption, recognition that some flooding was necessary to maintain agriculture, forced relocation of 8 million people, downstream areas suffering more, and unaffordable maintenance costs.

Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture in Ghana

Increased loss and failure of crops, shorter growing seasons, loss of fertile land and desertification, and increased pest and crop diseases.

Climate Change Impacts on Fisheries in Ghana

Reduced productivity, reduced fish stocks, loss of food source, and loss of income.

Climate Change Impacts on Energy in Ghana

Reduced hydropower production and increased costs and price rises.

Ghana's National Adaptation Plan (NAP)

The NAP aims to address climate change impacts in an "integrated, coordinated and sustainable manner."

Mitigation

Actions that reduce emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change

Adaptation

Actions that minimize or prevent the negative impacts of global warming and climate change

Earth Summit, Rio 1992

Set out aims to stabilise greenhouse gas levels

Kyoto Protocol 1997

Delegates from 150 countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; industrialised countries would reduce emissions to below the levels in 1990; developing countries like China and India were exempt; the USA did not sign up; Canada withdrew in 2011.

Paris Agreement 2015

Global agreement to limit global warming to 2°C (preferably 1.5°C) above pre-industrial levels and includes reducing CO2 emissions by at least 60% by 2050; signed by 196 countries including the USA and China.

Managing Water Supplies (Adaptation)

Use of water-efficient appliances, desalinisation, water storage facilities, and improved irrigation systems.

Reducing Risks from Rising Sea Levels (Adaptation)

Construction of sea walls, mangrove forest restoration, raised homes on stilts, artificial islands, and flood barriers.

Mitigation Methods for Climate Change

International agreements, carbon offsetting, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), carbon taxes, carbon trading, technology and geo-engineering.

Carbon Offsetting

Reducing, avoiding, or removing CO2 emissions in one part of the world to compensate for emissions in another.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)

The use of technology to capture, remove, and store CO2 from industrial facilities, power plants, and other large-scale sources.

Captured at the Site (CCS Method)

Capturing CO2 before atmospheric release, compressing it, and storing it underground or utilizing it for industrial purposes.

Pre-combustion (CO2 Removal)

CO2 is scrubbed before burning the fossil fuel.

Post-combustion (CO2 Removal)

CO2 is removed after burning the fossil fuel.

Oxyfuel Combustion (CO2 Removal)

Fossil fuel is burned in oxygen instead of air, and the exhaust gas is mainly CO2 and water vapor.

Direct Air Carbon Capture (DASC)

CO2 is allowed to enter the atmosphere, but is then captured using specially designed removal processes.

Carbon Taxes

A tax paid by businesses and industries that produce excessive GHG emissions through burning fossil fuels.

Carbon Trading

A way of monetizing GHG emissions through buying and selling 'credits or permits,' which allow the owner to emit a certain amount of GHGs.

Geo-Engineering

Schemes that aim to alter natural processes, such as using sulphate aerosols, giant mirrors in space, and cloud seeding.

Accessible Geo-Engineering Strategies

Reforesting large areas, painting rooftops white, and fertilizing the ocean.

Civil Societies

Not-for-profit, voluntary community-based groups, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Strategies of Groups Like WWF

They urge people to adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle, pressure developed and developing countries to cut their CO2 emissions, and encourage 100% reliance on renewable energy sources.

WWF and the UK One-in-Five Challenge

To reduce business travel and improve their environmental impact by saving time and money, improving productivity, and improving work-life balance.

US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP)

The USCAP has pressed the government to make legally binding agreements that reduce CO2 emissions of 80% by 2050

Business for Innovation, Climate, and Energy Policy (BICEP)

Proposes a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050

Climate Positive (IKEA & WWF Project)

Identifies and maps opportunities where IKEA can make positive climate impacts in its own emissions and how it can improve its impacts on others.

Promoting A Sustainable Life at Home (IKEA & WWF Project)

Aims to help customers change their behaviour through smart products that encourage a sustainable home lifestyle which reduces their own CO2 emissions.

Improving the IKEA Food Range (IKEA & WWF Project)

The project's goal is to develop ways to reduce CO2 emissions from the food IKEA sells in its restaurants and food markets.

Closing the Loops (IKEA & WWF Project)

This looks at the impacts of full recycling and how the systems can save resources, reduce CO2 emissions, and positively impact the environment.

Sustainable Transportation of People (SToP) - IKEA & WWF Project

Looks at ways to reduce the carbon footprint of customers and employees traveling to and from stores and the delivery of purchased products.

Developing Climate Positive Opportunities for Suppliers (IKEA & WWF Project)

Aim is to improve energy efficiency at IKEA stores and its suppliers by removing barriers and promoting a low carbon supply chain.