EGS1003: Section on International Environmental Justice and the Climate
Change Challenge
Mary Lawhon (marylawhon@gmail.com)
This work by Mary Lawhon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
 The earth has always experienced natural
variability of different degrees
 Ice ages
 Extinctions
 Current challenge
 Rate of change
 Potential tipping point?
http://mmazroui.kau.edu.sa/Files/0003580/Galleries/450/earth.jpg
 Water resources
 Agriculture
 Disease
Social,
Economic,
 Industry, transport
Political and
 Urban issues
Biophysical costs
 Tourism
 Biodiversity
 Development and poverty alleviation
 Temperatures are very likely to increase by between
1.4 and 5.8 deg C by 2100
 Sea levels are very likely to rise by between 0.1 and 0.9
m
 Extreme events are very likely to increase (such as
droughts and floods)
 Vulnerable people will be impacted most
http://panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories/witness_st
ories/
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories/witne
ss_stories/?200208/Nosy-Hara-Madagascar
Mugaaju Asman, Uganda
- biophysical impacts
- socio-economic impacts
Mitigation
 Decreasing emissions
 Protocols for decreasing emissions are in place
 More efficient energy use is possible
Adaptation
 Adaptation to climate change is possible
 Humans can adapt in anticipation
 Natural system can only adapt in response to change
http://panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories
/witness_stories/
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_st
ories/witness_stories/?200208/Nosy-Hara-Madagascar
All web links were checked in November 2011
Acknowledgements
Some of the slide material in this presentation is from Gina Ziervogel and Bruce
Hewitson.