Climate Change
 Climate change should be assessed on the basis of change over long periods of
time. It should not be assessed on a single unusual weather event, nor even on several years of anomalous
weather. However, for the last decade or so it has become increasingly obvious that the environment is
extremely stressed.
Climate change has already had a measurable impact on many natural and human systems. This is true of changes
we are seeing in flora and fauna and the diminishing availability of good quality drinking water. Effects are
projected to increase in the future and to be more severe with greater increases in temperature.
Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today.
Rising global temperatures will bring changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency
and intensity of extreme weather.
Climate change will hit the poorest first and hardest. The wealthy nations buy and consume products
contributing to the emissions, and the poor are unable to adapt to the consequences. Climate change already
contributes to the global burden of disease, and this contribution is expected to grow in the future.
Climate change is expected to have an uneven impact on food production. Moderate temperature increases will see
a rise in productivity at the global level, but at lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical
regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases increasing risk
of hunger
The causes of climate change and its impact on the environment and human
health are becoming increasingly understood, and increasingly problematic.
Until the world starts to treat the problem as a whole, and not purely as a
political, economic or moral problem, we are putting at risk the very foundations of life itself.
Climate change solutions require leadership from all sectors of society.
Climate change is the result of a great many factors including the dynamic
processes of the earth, external forces including variations in sunlight intensity, and more recently by human
activities.
External factors that can shape climate are often called climate forcings and
include such processes as variations in solar radiation , deviations in the earth's orbit , and the level of
greenhouse gas concentrations. Climate change is one of the great global challenges of our time, affecting each and
every nation.
Climate change adaptation means communities, supported by governments, taking
early action to reduce the damaging impact that climate change will have on their lives.
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