Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Climate change and its impact to our lives

Climate change is a reality affecting millions of people across the world. It is one of the most complex concerns we are facing today. It is a global problem felt on both local and international scale that has been around for years. The greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases among other gases are the primary driver of global warming. These gases occur naturally, however, human activities led to increasing their concentrations in the atmosphere causing global warming. The amount of continuous emission and how exactly climate responds to those emissions determines the rate of climate change. These heat trapping gases linger in the atmosphere for thousands of years, but Earth took a while to respond to this. Therefore, even if we stopped emitting all greenhouse gases now, global warming and climate change will continue to impact our lives and our future generations. Because humanity has contributed greatly to the emissions of these greenhouse gases, we are also committed at some level to counter climate change through mitigation and adaptation.

 

Mitigation

Actions taken to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and stabilizing its levels in the atmosphere is called mitigation. It aims at tackling the causes and minimizing the future impact of climate change. It involves reducing the flow of heat trapping gases either by reducing the sources, enhancing those that accumulate, and storing these gases in the oceans, forests and soil. The goal of mitigation is to avoid significant human interference with the Earth’s climate and stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt, naturally ensuring that food production is not threatened, thus enabling economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

Climate change is an uphill battle, but with our combined efforts and suitable mitigation actions, we can minimize the damage it causes. These are some of the mitigation measures that can be taken to avoid the increase of pollutant emissions:

  • Improving energy efficiency and opting for renewable energy over fossil fuels.
  • Promoting public transport and sustainable mobility by increasing the numbers of journeys in towns by bicycle, reducing the number of flights and taking more trips by train or in shared cars.
  • Promoting ecological industry, agriculture, fishing and livestock farming, food sustainability, responsible consumption and the 3Rs rule (reduce, reuse, recycle).
  • By imposing taxes in the use of fossil fuels and CO2emissions markets.
  • Help conserve and restore forests.
  • Reduce greenhouse gas emission through food choices.
  • Consume less.

Alongside mitigation measures to stem global warming, measures for adapting to climate change is also needed to combat climate change.

 

Adaptation

It is defined as measures taken in order to adapt to the climate change already in the pipeline. The goal of adaptation is to reduce the risks from the harmful effects of climate change such as sea-level rise, more intense extreme weather events or food insecurity. People and societies have adjusted to and coped with changes in climate extremes with varying degrees of success. Earth’s climate has been relatively stable for the past 10,000 years, and this stability has allowed for the development of our modern civilization and agriculture.

As our climate changes, we will need to adapt. The faster the climate changes, the more problematic it will be. While climate change is a global issue, it is also felt on a local level. Local governments are therefore at the frontline of adaptation in addressing this issue.  Cities and local communities around the world have been focusing in solving their own climate problems. They are working to build flood defenses, plan for heat waves and higher temperatures, install better-draining pavements to deal with floods and storm water, and improve water storage and use.  Moreover, according to the 2014 report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, governments at various levels are also getting better at adaptation. In fact, climate change is being included into development plans: how to manage the gradually extreme calamities, how to shelter coastlines and deal with sea-level rise, how to best manage land and forests, how to deal with and plan for drought, how to develop new crop varieties, and how to protect energy and public infrastructure. In addition, adaptation looks at how to reduce the negative effects of climate change and how to take advantage of any opportunities that arise. When mitigation strategies fail to reach emission control targets, climate resilience will be key to lessen the effects of climate change and pave the way for our survival, along with the rest of the Earth’s inhabitants.

 

These are some of the actions taken all over the world in order to adapt to our constantly changing climate.

  • Establishing buildings and infrastructures in more secure facility locations that is safer and more sustainable.
  • Replanting forests and restoring landscape and damaged ecosystems.
  • Flexible and diverse cultivation of crops so that they are better able to adapt to changing climates.
  • Continuous research, investigating and developing innovative solutions to prevent and manage natural catastrophes and temperature behavior.
  • Developing preventive and precautionary action plans for climate emergencies such as evacuation plans, health issues, etc.

 

The most recent Conference of the Parties (COP28) held this November 2023 in Dubai gathered members from different sectors for the World Climate Action Summit (WCAS), signaling a new era of climate action on the road to 2030. This provided an opportunity to unite behind a shared commitment for more extensive and deliver urgent action in response to climate change. One of the priorities of COP28 is the first global stocktake on climate action progress. In addition, speeding the energy transition is also discussed.  The latest draft agreement has demanded nations to swiftly transition away from using fossil fuels. This draft agreement denotes a more forceful assertion of commitment to reduce GHG emission rather than an option that countries could take. It called countries to start transitioning away from fossil fuels in our energy system beginning in this decade in a just, orderly and equitable manner. It also required countries to rapidly phase down unabated coal where emissions from its use are not captured. It urged nations to limit the permitting of new and unabated coal power generation. The draft also emphasized the need for finance technology transfer as critical enablers of climate actions. Leaders had emphasized on the need to make climate finance more available accessible and affordable. They stress on the need to transform the climate finance architecture to accelerate the transition in an equitable and inclusive way that leaves no one behind in order to meet the Paris agreement goals. Moreover, COP28 prioritizes putting people at the heart of climate action. It gives a clear signal to prioritize protecting natures, lives and livelihoods and ensuring sustainable development for all. Several countries committed to innovative drive on food systems transformation within their national climate plans. Lastly, inclusion and mobilization were highly reiterated during the COP28 summit where leaders accentuated the need to come together in unity.

 

In the end, climate change may be one of the most complicated and challenging issue to humanity now. It needs immediate actions and responses from all members of the community in order to save our planet and be able to provide a better home to live for the next generations. Many adaptation and mitigation options can help address climate change, but no single option is sufficient by itself. Diverse efforts in promoting mitigation and adaptation polices can help to reduce the effects of this phenomenon and its consequences that are already being experienced and seen across the globe. Effective implementation depends on policies and cooperation from all sectors of the society and can be enhanced through integrated responses that link mitigation and adaptation with other general purposes. Both strategies complement each other, and although they present different challenges, the end goal is the same and that is to bequeath a better world to the future generations.

 

As we journey towards 2030, both mitigation and adaptation to climate change are essential in order to save our planet but it is in our daily choices and actions that will create the difference.

Genevieve Rikah Dimacuta
Contributor

Sources:

https://www.activesustainability.com/climate-change/mitigation-adaptation-climate   change/?_adin=02021864894\Accessed. 7 November 2023