Climate Change

Climate change refers to the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. It could be limited to a specific region, or it could reach across the whole planet. Climate change is primarily caused by factors such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial activities that increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, notably carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Causes

The primary driver of contemporary climate change is human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, which increases the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere. These activities include:

• Burning of coal, oil, and gas for electricity, heat, and transportation
• Deforestation for agriculture, which releases carbon dioxide when trees are cut down
• Industrial processes and waste management, which emit various greenhouse gases

Natural processes, such as volcanic eruptions and solar radiation, also contribute to climate changes, but their impact is generally short-lived and less significant compared to human activities.

Effects

Climate change has a wide range of effects on the environment and life on Earth, including:

• Global warming, leading to higher temperatures and heatwaves
• Changes in precipitation patterns, causing more floods and droughts
• Rising sea levels due to the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers
• Increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events like hurricanes and typhoons
• Shifts in ecosystems and wildlife populations, leading to biodiversity loss

Mitigation and Adaptation

Efforts to address climate change fall into two categories: mitigation and adaptation.

• Mitigation involves reducing the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, either by reducing sources of these gases (e.g., the use of fossil fuels) or enhancing the "sinks" that accumulate and store these gases (such as the oceans, forests, and soil). The goal of mitigation is to avoid significant human interference with the climate system, and stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.
• Adaptation refers to adjusting to actual or expected future climate. This involves making adjustments to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts. Adaptation might include building flood defenses, creating water reservoirs in anticipation of droughts, adjusting agricultural practices, and developing heat-tolerant crops.

International Response

The international political response to climate change began at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the ‘’United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’’ (UNFCCC) was adopted. The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997, set legally binding emission reduction targets for countries. In 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted, enhancing the implementation of the UNFCCC through commitments by 196 countries to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees.

See also

• Effects of global warming
• Renewable energy
• Sustainable development