What are the implications of climate change to development?
Climate change is one of the most fundamental challenges ever to confront humanity. Its implication on development is all-encompassing, affecting food security, health and safety, infrastructure, international trade, and the overall economy of a country. It also affects development policies in terms of tradeoffs, short-term actions versus long-term benefits, and individual choices versus global consequences.
According to the 2007/2008 Human Development Report, there are three distinct features of climate change:
1) It has inertia and cumulative outcomes. What we do today will have consequences that will burden future generations. Future political leaders have to solve the problems …show more content…
At present, the Philippines has less than 7,107 islands due to rising sea levels. We are also exposed to more tropical cyclones even during supposedly dry months. Likewise, other countries are experiencing extreme weather conditions such as the recent polar vortex in North America, the sudden snow in Vietnam, and the intense storms in London.
4) Ecosystems and biodiversity. Coral reef systems have suffered bleaching because of warming seas, and oceans have higher acidity. Due to warmer summers in the Arctic, polar bears are coming back to shore earlier and changing their diet to include eggs of snow geese whose migration out is not yet due.
5) Human health. Climate change can increase the exposure to malaria, dengue, diarrhea, and even heat-related illnesses. Not mentioned in the articles are flood-related diseases such as leptospirosis. There is also the loss of life due to malnourishment and natural disasters.
Climate change has also emerged as a human rights issue. The right to food, water, and shelter may be directly influenced by it and the corresponding policy responses. In this perspective, climate change has also become a moral issue as it threatens two constituencies with weak political voice: the world’s poor and the future
Climate change is one of the most fundamental challenges ever to confront humanity. Its implication on development is all-encompassing, affecting food security, health and safety, infrastructure, international trade, and the overall economy of a country. It also affects development policies in terms of tradeoffs, short-term actions versus long-term benefits, and individual choices versus global consequences.
According to the 2007/2008 Human Development Report, there are three distinct features of climate change:
1) It has inertia and cumulative outcomes. What we do today will have consequences that will burden future generations. Future political leaders have to solve the problems …show more content…
At present, the Philippines has less than 7,107 islands due to rising sea levels. We are also exposed to more tropical cyclones even during supposedly dry months. Likewise, other countries are experiencing extreme weather conditions such as the recent polar vortex in North America, the sudden snow in Vietnam, and the intense storms in London.
4) Ecosystems and biodiversity. Coral reef systems have suffered bleaching because of warming seas, and oceans have higher acidity. Due to warmer summers in the Arctic, polar bears are coming back to shore earlier and changing their diet to include eggs of snow geese whose migration out is not yet due.
5) Human health. Climate change can increase the exposure to malaria, dengue, diarrhea, and even heat-related illnesses. Not mentioned in the articles are flood-related diseases such as leptospirosis. There is also the loss of life due to malnourishment and natural disasters.
Climate change has also emerged as a human rights issue. The right to food, water, and shelter may be directly influenced by it and the corresponding policy responses. In this perspective, climate change has also become a moral issue as it threatens two constituencies with weak political voice: the world’s poor and the future