Challenge of Climate Change

Causes and effects of climate change

In this era of climate change, it is primarily humans' activity that is shaping the environment, and the challenges created will also impact human security.

In particular, a report from The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)¹ tells us that the current human-caused global warming of 1.1°C is impacting people’s lives by causing extreme events such as intense droughts, rising sea levels, heat waves, storms, flooding, worsening air quality, damage to agriculture, melting glaciers, dying ecosystems, and displacement.

Furthermore, one of the biggest problems with climate change is that it is now affecting areas that lack the resources to adapt to such changes and natural catastrophes.

With human-caused global warming, we refer to the effects that industrial development has had on the planet. A perfect example is CO² Emissions.

By now, you should know that climate change is a global challenge and that, even if, at the moment, it majorly impacts the poorest areas of the world, ecosystems, resources, and infrastructure will be affected all around the globe.

Fig. 1 Burning coal and oil creates CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.

Climate change politics and policies

To respond to these challenges, the politics of climate change are a crucial part of states’ politics today, both nationally and internationally. We will focus on international climate change politics.

Policies have two main aims: mitigating climate change and adapting to climate change.

Some of the most effective policies of climate change are a set of regulations, laws, protocols, etc., put in place by experts to respond to the climate change challenge on a global scale.

Fig. 2 Deforestation is also responsible for climate change.

The role of government in the climate change challenge

With the above facts in mind, you should now hope that the response to climate change challenges would be globally coordinated and that higher-polluting countries such as the USA would respond effectively.

However, democracies are failing to address the issue for two main reasons:

1. Private corporations that exploit natural resources have the power to influence state decisions.

2. State leaders align with non-scientific-based arguments of climate change not being challenging and focus on economic growth through natural resources exploitation. This is a form of short-term political thinking that does not consider action for future generations.

Climate change challenges and solutions

By now, you know that the most effective way to respond to the climate change challenge is on a global scale. In particular, we looked in detail at some of the politics and policies that have been proposed.

However, many people are sceptical that such policies can respond to the urgency of the problem. Many students like you have been protesting and demanding a more impactful response from state leaders.

Many ask for Climate Justice and believe that responding to the climate change challenge is interlinked with addressing social issues. Let's delve deeper.

Climate Justice is Social Justice

As you have read, climate change challenges nature but also humans. Therefore, the climate change challenge is an environmental concern as well as a social concern.

Fig. 3 Signs from a protest asking for a change in how we respond to the climate change challenge.

The IPCC 2022 Report tells us that, yes, climate change is a global challenge, but also that it does not affect us all equally. Some parts of the world have less capacity to respond due to socio-economic factors, geographic location, and governance.

Therefore, social justice, such as equal distribution of resources, must be central to climate justice and responses to climate change challenges. In other words, we cannot develop responses that help just a few of us.

Future challenges of climate change

From what you have read about the challenge of climate change, you now know that climate change is a global challenge, that it impacts people as much as nature, and many ask for a higher engagement with the issue.

So what should Climate Justice look like?

An excellent example for understanding some solutions to climate change is Nature 2030³, a programme by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The programme connects areas where actions must be taken, also by focusing on people. This means that fighting climate change goes hand in hand with fighting for better social rights: distributing natural resources more equally, having an environmental rule of law that protects both natural and human rights (e.g., access to food), and fighting for gender equality (e.g., centralising women in sustainable development action).

Climate Migration

Fighting for social justice and preparing ourselves for the future challenges of climate change requires us to see how the impact is disproportionate worldwide. Migration is a consequence of this.

Indeed, according to the United Nations Development Programme⁴, the ten largest displacements in 2016 were climate-related, all occurring in South, South-East, and East Asia. Therefore, climate change affects us globally, while some regions of the world are more fragile. This is because climate change changes people's exposure to natural catastrophes, and sometimes migrating is the only solution.

The main takeaway of this aspect is that solutions must be developed through international cooperation and consider the safety of everyone on our planet.