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Environment
We live in a world in crisis. While many enjoy the upside of development and growth, the environment has paid the price. Already, nations are feeling the heat, coping with floods and droughts. Summers are getting longer and hotter, and glaciers are retreating. For many years, environmental scientists have sounded dire warnings that fell on deaf ears.
Today, the world has to pay attention ignorance would be too expensive. Experts estimate that weather-related catastrophe losses added up to US$17 billion a year over the past decade. Back in the 1970s, that figure was just US$1 billion. The 700- page Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change states that climate change damage, if left unchecked, could risk global gross domestic product (GDP) being up to 20 percent lower a year, but just one percent of GDP is required to be invested in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its series of reports earlier this year, the verdict was even more dire. It warned that immediate action is needed if the average global temperature increase is to be capped at around 2 deg Celsius - generally recognised as the threshold at which some of the most extreme impacts of climate change will be triggered. But even at that level, it could mean up to two billion people facing water shortages by 2050, and could threaten extinction for 20 to 30 percent of the world's species.
The network of 2,000 scientists from more than 110 countries also concluded that it is more than 90 percent likely that human activity is responsible for climate change. It is the relentless release of carbon dioxide that causes the warming of the earth. Now at about 380 parts per million, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has risen by more than one-third since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Among the culprits contributing to the problem is deforestation, which accounts for about 2 percent of global carbon emissions. In Indonesia, where the forests are home to the world's largest number of plants and animal species, deforestation has taken place at pace exceeding all others. Between 2000 and 2005, an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches was destroyed every hour.
But the downward spiral can be stemmed. Some measures the IPCC report suggests include the use of renewable energy and biofuels, incentivising energy efficiency and stepping the search for new large-scale energy options, including pushing for advances in solar and nuclear power. Other options could include a fuel tax or binding limits for carbon dioxide emissions. The race is also on around the world to try and develop, for example, environmentally sound water treatment processes, so that resources can be maximised without causing further damage.
Organisations like the United Nations Environment Programme have, by playing the role of advocate, educator, catalyst and facilitator, tried to help make sense of the issues, and come up with solutions. Regionally, the issue has risen to the top of the agenda. Energy, the environment, climate change and sustainable development, for example, will be the theme of discussions when Singapore hosts the 13th Asean summit and related summits in November. And on the ground level, support and understanding is being rallied. In July, for instance, a 24-hour music marathon spanning seven continents, involving rock stars, tribes, and even a band of scientists at a research station in Antarctica; urged fans to their interest in the Live Earth events into environmental activism. The man in the street is being urged to modify his own consumption habits by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling.
But the question of how to address the environmental problem, its compromises, and its costs as a global community is admittedly complicated, since countries have competing environmental, economic and energy concerns.
The emerging economies of Asia, which will be among the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, argue that their growth and energy usage should not be compromised, especially since the current greenhouse gas problem is the result of past emissions by developed countries. The world's second biggest polluter, the United States, has yet to agree to mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions, also saying it will not compromise economic growth.
It held its ground during June's G8 Summit, when the issue was tabled. Finally though, a compromise decision was reached, in which all the G-8 countries pledged to seek substantial cuts in polluting emissions- though without specifying binding targets. Still, that the United States has budged - after years of denying there was even a problem to begin with - is telling.
It acknowledges that waiting is no longer an option. |
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