In 2017, the world caught a glimpse of the future reality of climate change. In August, Hurricane Irma was the most powerful storm in recorded history to make landfall, with winds of over 185mph. Over 100 people were killed and island communities were devastated, including the island of Barbuda which was almost completely destroyed.
Weather or climate change?
At the same time, in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, up to 40 million people were being displaced by monsoon floods. Over 1,000 people are thought to have died in the worst floods to strike the region for years.
Both events are one-off weather events, and cannot be directly attributed to climate change. However many scientists agree that events such as these are becoming more extreme as a result of a warming climate.
“The world’s poorest people tend to be the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have fewest resources with which to adapt – despite having done least to cause the problem.”
Resilience and adaptability
Christian Aid works with many communities who are being affected by climate change, helping to increase their resilience and their adaptability to the current unpredictable nature of the climate. Climate change and global poverty are closely linked. The world’s poorest people tend to be the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have fewest resources with which to adapt – despite having done least to cause the problem. We believe that this is a justice issue.
Climate change impacts a community’s ability to grow and cook food, to stay safe and warm, to access clean water. In a disaster situation, often many lives are lost because the local infrastructure cannot withstand the strength of storms or floods. Christian Aid’s new climate justice photo resource offers pupils an insight into three countries where we work to increase climate change resilience. It prompts learners to consider how we respond to climate change in the UK, where much of our work takes the form of lobbying the UK government about climate change legislation.
“Climate change impacts a community’s ability to grow and cook food, to stay safe and warm, to access clean water.”
International cooperation
In November, the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), presided over by Fiji, met in Bonn. This was a historic meeting as it was the first to be led by a small, vulnerable island state. Significantly, it recognised the impacts, already felt by many island nations, of the increasing effects of climate change, and the responsibility of developed countries to accept their historical (and continuing) contribution to climate change.
Progress has been made to keep global warming below the 2 degree rise agreed in the Paris Agreement. There has been a shift away from fossil fuel power stations and towards renewable energy and a big push by car manufacturers towards electric vehicles.
“Scotland has been at the forefront of tackling climate change in recent years and has been described by senior UN officials as a great international example.”
Scotland has been at the forefront of tackling climate change in recent years and has been described by senior UN officials as a great international example. In 2018, a new Climate Bill will be passed by the Scottish Parliament which will re-set Scotland’s ambitious targets until at least 2050. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (a coalition of organisations who campaign together on climate change) is asking for zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Find out more and keep up to date with the campaign
