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Title
Environmental Revolution: The Confront for Communal Health
Abstract
Environmental revolution, or “global warming,” increasingly is a front-line
environmental policy issue worldwide. Progressing rapidly over recent years,
momentum has grown to address climate change and related energy security issues
in many parts of the world. It is believed that climate change is a serious economic,
social and environmental challenge that warrants an equally serious societal and
policy response.
Country
Swaziland
Author Details
AUTHOR
DR
Title of author
YASMIN
Surname
Hena
First Name
Mantech Training and Development Institute
Name of Institution
Mbabane, Swaziland
Address of Institution
[email protected]
E-mail address of author
Author biography
Lecturer, involved in an academic, research and developmental task, nationally and
internationally. Presented and published several papers. Review committee member
of several International journals and sub-editor of IFHE journal. Engaged in
community works related with infants, children, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, rural health
and income generation. E mail: [email protected]
Category
-Consumer
-Other -Health
Theme
UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Environment
Health promotion
UN Millennium Development Goals
Ensure environmental sustainability
Type of Contribution
Discussion paper
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Environmental Revolution: The Confront for Communal Health
Introduction
Climate will always change due to the natural forcing of eccentricity. Climate changes occurring
over time scales shorter than those associated with the orbital forcing frequencies are defined as
short term. Climate fluctuations on time scales of less than 100 years are usually considered as
climate variability. “There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over
the last 50 years in attributable to human activities” ( Third Assessment Report (2001), the
United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)). It was concluded that:
overall climate change is projected to increase threats to human health, particularly in lower
income populations, predominantly within tropical/subtropical countries. Climate change is the
biggest threat to nature and humanity in the 21st century. Today we start seeing impacts of
climate change appearing in many places around the globe - be it melting glaciers, rising sea
levels, stronger storms, higher floods, less snow in the north and more drought in the south.
Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change. Change challenges
were highlighted in Climate Change 2001, the Third Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report established how human activity
(burning fossil fuels and changes in land-use) is modifying the global climate, with temperature
rises projected for the next 100 years that could affect human welfare and the environment. The
historical climate record for Africa shows warming of approximately 0.7°C over most of the
continent during the twentieth century; a decrease in rainfall over large portions of the Sahel (the
semi-arid region south of the Sahara); and an increase in rainfall in east central Africa. It has
been considered that the major potential mechanism of climate change over the next few hundred
years will be anthropogenic green house gas warming up. A number of gases that occur naturally
in the atmosphere in small quantities are known as “green house gases”. Water vapour (H2O),
carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone, methane and nitrous oxide trap solar energy in much the same way
as do the glass panels of a green house or a closed automobile. This natural green house gases
effect has kept the earth’s atmosphere some 30 degree Celsius hotter than it would otherwise be,
making it possible for humans and other living things to exist on earth. Human activities,
however, are now raising the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere and thus increasing
their ability to trap energy. Carbon dioxide levels have risen from 280 ppm by volume since
before the industrial revolution to about 360 ppm by 1990 (IPCC 2001). Man made carbon
dioxide which, is the most important contributor to the enhanced greenhouse gases effect, comes
mainly from the use of coal, Oil and natural gas. It is also released by the destruction of forests
and other natural sinks and reservoirs that absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
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The global green house gas emissions due to anthropogenic activities have increased since preindustrial times with increase of about 70% between 1970 and 2004 (IPCC 2007). The major
effect of the increase of anthropogenic green house gas emissions in the atmosphere is global
warming. It has been established that the climate change in the next 100 years will be due to
anthropogenic activities (IPCC 2007). According to the IPCC, 2007 if countries around the
world do not reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by the end of this century:
 Temperature globally is expected to increase by 7.4 degree Celsius, depending on
population and economic growth.
 Global average sea level has risen since 1961 at a rate of 1.8 mm per year and since 1993
at 3.1 mm per year with contributions from thermal expansion, melting glaciers and icecaps, and the polar ice sheets. Therefore, using the current rate, the sea level is expected
to rise to 31 cm by the end of the century.
 Mortality and illness will have risen as the intensity and duration of heat waves increased
and as the tropical habitat of mosquitoes that carry malaria and fever crept northward.
 Precipitation has increased significantly in eastern parts of north and South America,
northern Europe and northern and central Asia but declined in the Sahel, the
Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia. In summary precipitation is
expected to increase in high latitudes and decrease in most subtropical land regions. This
will significantly reduce food crop yields in developing countries as a whole.
 The frequency of extreme events (droughts, heat waves, cyclones, floods) is expected to
increase. In north Atlantic an increase in intense tropical cyclone activity has been
observed since 1970. Heat waves have become more frequent over most land areas and
the frequency of heavy precipitation and thus floods has increased over most areas.
Average global temperatures are expected to raise 1.4-5.8ºC by the end of the 21st century.
Simulations project that a 4ºC rise in temperature would eliminate nearly all of the world’s
glaciers (the melt-down of the Greenland ice sheets could be triggered at a temperature increase
of 2 to 3ºC). Even in the least damaging scenario – a 1ºC rise along with an increase in rain and
snow – glaciers will continue to lose volume over the coming century. Although only a small
fraction of the planet’s permanent ice is stored outside of Greenland and Antarctica, these
glaciers are extremely important because they respond rapidly to climate change and their loss
directly affects human populations and ecosystems.
Regions at risk
• Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia – where shrinking glaciers supply water year-round, and are often
the sole source of water for major cities during dry seasons.
• The Himalayas – where the danger of catastrophic flooding is severe, and glacier-fed rivers
supply water to one third of the world’s population.
• Small island nations such as Tuvalu and some of the Solomon Islands – where sea level rise is
submerging low-lying land and saltwater is inundating vital groundwater reserves.
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Nature at risk
• Royal Bengal tiger – endangered tigers that will lose a large portion of their worldwide habitat
as the Sundarbans succumb to sea level rise.
• Kittlitz’s murrelet – rare birds specialized to hunt in cloudy glacier water and nest on top of
ice (Hockey, 2000).
• Coral reefs – unique organisms that can be starved of energy from the sun when sea levels rise
(Gibbs, 2001; Spalding, 2001).
Contaminants
Although persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are transported in the air from their source to
cooler areas where they condense and are deposited in glacial ice. Until recently, these
compounds had remained trapped in the ice, but rapid melting has begun to release them back
into the environment. For example, in one Canadian lake, glacial melt water is the source of 5097% of the various POPs entering the lake. At least 10% of this glacial melt is from ice that was
deposited between the 1950s and 1970s, as shown by the presence of tritium, a by-product of
nuclear bomb tests conducted during this era.
Africa’s changing climate
Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region of the world that has become poorer in the last generation
(Ravallion and Chen 2004). The continent makes up just 13% of the world’s population
(Population Reference Bureau 2005) but constitutes 28% of the world’s poverty (World Bank
2005) and is home to 32 of the 38 heavily indebted poor countries (World Bank and IMF 2005).
Numerous factors have worked in concert to create this situation of poverty and
underdevelopment, and among those is the difficulty of coping with climate variability in a
continent subjects to frequent droughts, floods, high temperatures, and land degradation. In the
past 30 years, Africa has experienced at least one major episode in each decade. In eastern Africa
there were serious droughts in 1974-74, 1984-85, 1987, 1992-94, and in 1999-2000. The last
drought in the Sahelian persisted for decades, from 1972-73 to 1983-84 and in West Africa.
Southern Africa where weather patterns recently have been erratic has experienced sever
droughts as recorded in 1967-73, 1981-83, 1986/87, 1991/92, 1993/94, 2001/02, 2003, 2005/06,
and in Mozambique in 2007. Floods have also ravaged the continent such as the flood of 19992000 in Nigeria, South Africa and Mozambique. East Africa has also experienced flood in 2003
and 2006 and currently the floods in southern Africa.
The devastating floods from tropical cyclones in 2000, for example, reduced Mozambique’s
annual growth rate from 8% to 2.1% (World Bank 2001). East African drought, also in 2000,
drastically reduced Kenyan hydroelectric power output, leading to a $72 million emergency loan
from the World Bank (World Bank 2000). Droughts in southern Africa during the 1990 have
resulted in billions of dollars of cereal crop losses (Clay et al. 2003).
While the exact nature of the changes in temperature, precipitation and extreme events is not
known, there is agreement about the following general trends:
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■ Global mean surface temperature is projected to increase between 1.5 °C (2.7°F) and 6 °C
(10.8°F) by 2100.
■ Sea levels are projected to rise by 15 to 95 centimeters (6 to 37 inches) by 2100.
■ Climate change scenarios for Africa indicate future warming across the continent ranging from
0.2°C (0.36°F) per decade 0.5°C (0.9°F) per decade (high scenario) (Hulme et al. 2001;
Desanker and Magadza 2001).
This warming will be greatest over the interior of semiarid margins of the Sahara and central
southern Africa. Climate change in Africa presents many challenges (Hlume et al. 2001;
Desanker and Magadza 2001; Hulme et al. 2005), the solutions to which must accommodate the
culture and needs of African societies, as well as provide mechanisms that will deal with the
constraints limiting progress in climate science, and more broadly those in development overall.
Tropical glaciers in Africa have decreased in area by 60-70% on average since the early 1900s.
The ice fields atop Mt. Kilimanjaro have lost 80% of their area during this century and despite
persisting for over 10,000 years, they are likely to disappear by 2020. On Mt. Kenya, 7 of the 18
glaciers present in 1900 had disappeared by 1993, and four glaciers (Lewis, Tyndall, Gregory
and Cesar) had lost between 60% and 92% of their area. The remaining glaciers in the
Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also melting
rapidly, with area losses during the 20th century ranging from 53% (Speke) to 90% (Moore)
(WWF, 2007)..
Antarctica
Antarctica is blanketed by ice sheets that contain about 95% of the planets freshwater. Cold
temperatures prevent significant surface melting, but recent work shows that bottom melting
underneath glaciers at the junction between land and sea is rapid and widespread throughout
Antarctica, possibly due to increased ocean temperatures. Warmer seas have also contributed to
the rapid thinning and breakup of many large, floating ice shelves. These shelves may buttress
and slow the glaciers flowing into them; although there was no change in glacier velocity after
the loss of the Wordier Ice Shelf, several major ice streams that nourished the Larsen a shelf are
flowing as much as 2-3 times faster towards the sea since its breakup in 1995 (Stacey et al,
2008).
The arctic
Over recent decades, Arctic glaciers have generally been shrinking, with the exception of
Scandinavia and Iceland, where increased precipitation has resulted in a positive balance. Arctic
melting appears to have accelerated in the late 1990s; estimates of combined annual melting rose
from 100 sq km per year from 1980-89 to 320 sq km in 1997 and 540 sq km in 1998. Greenland
alone contains 12% of the world’s ice. While portions of the interior are gaining mass, there has
been significant thinning and ice loss around the periphery. This loss is not simply due to melting
at the edges; entire portions of the Greenland ice sheet appear to be sliding towards the sea.
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Because this sliding accelerates when surface melting is most intense, it is believed that surface
melt water may be trickling down to the glacial bed and lubricating ice sheet movement. This
recent discovery provides a mechanism for rapid response of ice sheets to climate change, a
process that was previously believed to require hundreds or thousands of years (Johns et al,
2003).
Asia
The vast majority of all Himalayan glaciers have been retreating and thinning over the past 30
years, with accelerated losses in the last decade. For example, glaciers in the Bhutan Himalayas
are now retreating at an average rate of 30-40 m per year. In Central Asia, glaciers are wasting at
exceptionally high rates. In the northern Tien Shan (Kazakhstan), glaciers have been collectively
losing 2 sq km of ice (0.7% of their total mass) per year since 1955, and Tuyuksu glacier has
receded nearly a kilometer since 1923. Glaciers in the Ak-shirak Range (Kyrgyzstan) have lost
23% of their area since 1977, similar to area losses in the northern Tien Shan (29% from 19551990) and the Pamirs (16% from 1957-1980). In the Chinese Tien Shan, Urumqihe Glacier lost
the equivalent of 4 m ice thickness from 1979-1995, and the Chinese Meteorological
Administration predicts that China’s northwestern mountains will lose over a quarter of their
current glacier coverage by 2050. These glaciers supply 15-20% of the water to over 20 million
people in the Xinjiang and Qinghai Provinces alone (Kremen et al, 2000).
Europe
In the past four decades, the majority of glaciers in the Alps have experienced considerable mass
losses; this is illustrated by the Hintereisferner (Austria), Gries (Switzerland), and Sarennes
(France), each of which lost the equivalent of 14 m ice thickness since the 1960s. Glacier melting
has accelerated since 1980, and 10-20% of glacier ice in the Alps was lost in less than two
decades. The discovery of a 5300-year old ice man in a melting glacier in Italy demonstrates that
many glaciers are now smaller than they have been for thousands of years. The World
Meteorological Organization reports that summer 2003 temperatures, which triggered floods,
land slides, and the rapid formation of glacial lakes, were the hottest ever recorded in northern
and central Europe; if current trends continue, the European Alps will lose major parts of their
glacier coverage within the next few decades (Martinez et al, 2004).
North America
Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains and Western Coastal Ranges have experienced considerable
losses during this century, and melting is accelerating rapidly in southern Alaska. Since Glacier
National Park (Montana, USA) was established in 1910, more than two thirds of its glaciers and
about 75% of its glacier area have disappeared; if the present rate of warming continues, there
will be no glaciers left in the Park by 2030. In Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks in the
Canadian Rockies, glacier cover has decreased by at least 25% during the 20th century. South
Cascade Glacier in coastal Washington (USA) lost 19 m of ice thickness between 1976 and
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1995, ten times more than during the previous 18 years. Nearly all glaciers surveyed in Alaska
are melting, and thinning rates in the last 5-7 years are more than twice those seen in previous
decades (Mace et al, 2005).
South America
The northern Andes contain the largest concentration of glaciers in the tropics, but these glaciers
are receding rapidly and losses have accelerated during the 1990s. In Peru, Yanamarey Glacier
lost a quarter of its area during the last fifty years25, and Uruashraju and Broggi Glaciers lost 4050% of their length from 1948-1990. In Ecuador, Antizana Glacier shrank 7-8 times faster during
the 1990s than in previous decades. Similarly, Glacier Chacaltaya (Bolivia) lost nearly half of its
area and two thirds of its volume during the mid- 1990s alone, and could disappear by 2010. In
the sub-tropical wet Andes, the large ice masses of the North Patagonia Icefield (Chile) and
South Patagonia Icefield (Chile and Argentina) had lost only 4-6% of their 1945 area by the mid
1990s, but thinning has accelerated recently. Parts of the southern icefield experienced thinning
rates from 1995-2000 that were over twice as fast as their average rates during the previous three
decades (Siegfried, 2003).
South pacific
The tropical Carstensz Glaciers in Papua Province (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia are melting
rapidly; 80% of their collective area was lost between 1942 and 2000. The West Meren Glacier
receded 2600 m since it was first surveyed in 1936, before melting away sometime between 1997
and 1999. In Papua New Guinea, three summit ice domes that were known to exist in the Central
Cordillera Range disappeared in the 1960s. In temperate New Zealand, 127 glaciers surveyed in
the Southern Alps have shortened by 38% and lost 25% of their area since the mid 1850s;
however, many of these glaciers have advanced in recent decades, presumably due to increased
precipitation (Wheeler et al, 2005).
Impacts on humans
It is estimated that climate change contributes to 150,000 deaths and 5 million illnesses each
year, and the World Health Organization estimates that a quarter of the world's disease burden is
due to the contamination of air, water, soil and food. The major brunt of global climate change in
terms of adverse health impact will be mostly borne by poor and developing countries, even
though rich and industrialized countries account for maximum green house gas emission (WHO,
2005 & Smith, 2006). Some of climate change’s impacts on health include: Increased
frequencies of heat waves; more variable precipitation patterns compromising the supply of
freshwater, higher risks of water-borne diseases; and a rise in coastal flooding due to rising sea
levels, etc. During the past two decades, the prevalence of asthma in the United States has
quadrupled, in part because of climate-related factors. For Caribbean islanders, respiratory
irritants come in dust clouds that emanate from Africa's expanding deserts and are then swept
across the Atlantic by trade winds, which have accelerated due to warmer ocean temperatures.
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Increased levels of plant pollen and soil fungi may also be involved. When ragweed is grown in
conditions with twice the ambient level of carbon dioxide, the stalks sprout 10% taller than
controls and produce 60% more pollen (Davidson,2003).
Some of the health effects may lie ahead if the increase in very extreme weather events
continues. Abrupt change of temperatures leading to heat waves or cold spells have become
widespread, causing indirectly fatal illnesses, such as heat stress or hypothermia, as well as
increasing death rates from heart and respiratory diseases. Statistics on mortality and hospital
admissions show that death rates increase during extremely hot days, particularly among very old
and very young people living in cities (Gauci, 2005).
Infectious diseases
Climate-sensitive diseases are among the largest global killers. Diarrhoea, malaria and proteinenergy malnutrition alone caused more than 3.3 million deaths globally in 2007, with 29% of
these deaths occurring in the Region of Africa (Morse et al, 2008).Deadly diseases often
associated with hot weather, like the West Nile virus, Cholera and Lyme disease, are spreading
rapidly throughout North America and Europe because increased temperatures in these areas
allow disease carriers like mosquitoes, ticks, and mice to thrive. Floods spread bacteria, viruses,
and chemical contaminants, foster the growth of fungi, and contribute to the breeding of insects.
Prolonged droughts interrupted by heavy rains, favor population explosions of both insects and
rodents. Extreme weather events have been accompanied by new appearances of harmful algal
blooms in Asia and North America, and--in Latin America and Asia by outbreaks of malaria and
various water-borne diseases, such as typhoid, hepatitis A, bacillary dysentery, and cholera
(Vanackeret al, 2005).
Vector–borne Diseases
Vector-borne diseases (VBD) are infections transmitted by the bite of infected arthropod species,
such as mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies and blackflies. Mosquitoes and the diseases
they carry—including malaria, dengue fever, Ross River virus, and West Nile virus—are
especially sensitive to temperature changes and land elevation. Rates of insect biting and the
maturation of microorganisms within them are temperature-dependent, and both rates increase
when the air warms, enhancing the chances for disease transmission.
In highland regions, as permafrost thaws and glaciers retreat, mosquitoes and plant communities
are migrating to higher ground. Both insects and insect-borne diseases (including malaria and
dengue fever) are today being reported at higher elevations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Highland malaria is becoming a problem for rural areas in Papua New Guinea and for the
highlands of Central Africa. Disease-carrying mosquitoes are spreading as climate shifts allow
them to survive in formerly inhospitable areas.
Mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever viruses were previously limited to elevations of 3,300
feet but recently appeared at 7,200 feet in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. Malaria has been
detected in new higher-elevation areas in Indonesia. Mosquito populations, for example, are
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naturally controlled by reptiles, birds, spiders, ladybugs, and bats--as well as by pond fish that
feed on mosquito larvae. Mosquitoes provide nourishment for these animals, but some carry
malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and several types of encephalitis (Morse et al, 2005).
In the marine environment, fish, shellfish, and sea mammals consume algae that form the base of
the marine food web. A reduction in these plankton feeders as a result of overfishing or disease
may thus contribute to blooms of harmful algae. Plankton blooms can also harbor cholera and
other bacteria, and threaten the health of swimmers, or those who consume affected fish and
shellfish. Some examples: Dengue fever (the world’s most important vector-borne viral disease)
Cholera: its transmission occurs through the process of ingesting contaminated water or food.
The last outbreak was reported in Iraq (August 2007)
Chikungunya: Discovered in India in 1963, the virus caused the death of 237 people in la
Reunion Island where 1/3 of the island's population were infected.
Urban yellow fever: Found only in part of Africa and South America (Hemon et al, 2004)
Rodent-borne Diseases
Rodent-borne disease are carried by rats, mice, bats, or other rodents. There is good evidence
that diseases transmitted by rodents sometimes increase during heavy rainfall and flooding
because of altered patterns of human–pathogen–rodent contact. Floods are frequently followed
by disease clusters: downpours can drive rodents from burrows, deposit mosquito-breeding sites,
foster fungus growth in houses, and flush pathogens, nutrients, and chemicals into waterways.
Some examples: Weil's syndrome, Plague, Hantaviruses, Lyme disease.
Table 1 the occurrence of various infectious diseases in humans due to diverse
environmental changes
Environmental changes
Diseases
Way of upshot
Dams, canals, irrigation
Schistosomiasis, malaria,
Snail host habitat, human
helminthiasies, river blindness
contact, breeding sites for
mosquitoes, larval contact due
to moist soil, black fly
breeding and diseases.
Urbanization and urban
Cholera, dengue, cutaneous
Sanitation, hygiene, water
crowding
leishmaniasis
contamination, water
collecting trash, aedes aegytpti
mosquitoes breeding sites
Agricultural intensification
Malaria, Venezuelan,
Crop insecticides, vector
haemorraghic fever
resistance, rodent abundance
Ocean warming
Red tide
Toxic algal blooms
Elevated precipitation
Rift valley fever, hantavirus,
Pools of mosquito breeding,
pulmonary syndrome.
rodent food, habitat
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Deforestation
Malaria, oropouche, visceral
leishmaniasis
Reforestation
Lyme disease
Breeding sites and vectors,
immigration of susceptible
people, contact breeding of
vectors, contact with sandfly
vectors
Tick hosts, outdoor exposure
Biodiversity loss
Biodiversity is an important resource for African people. Uses are consumptive (food, fiber, fuel,
shelter, medicine, wildlife trade) and nonconsumptive (ecosystem services and the economically
important tourism industry). Given the heavy dependence on natural resources in Africa, many
communities are vulnerable to the biodiversity loss that could result from climate change.
Agriculture.
Most of Africa relies on rain-fed agriculture. As a result, it is highly vulnerable to changes in
climate variability, seasonal shifts, and precipitation patterns. Any amount of warming will result
in increased water stress. Roughly 70 percent of the population lives by farming, and 40 percent
of all exports are agricultural products (WRI 1996). One-third of the income in Africa is
generated by agriculture. Crop production and livestock husbandry account for about half of
household income. The poorest members of society are those who are most dependent on
agriculture for jobs and income. (Odingo 1990; FAO 1999).
Human migration
Semi-arid areas of the Sahel, the Kalahari, and the Karoo historically have supported nomadic
societies that migrate in response to annual and seasonal rainfall variations. Nomadic pastoral
systems are intrinsically able to adapt to fluctuating and extreme climates —provided they have
sufficient scope for movement and other necessary elements in the system remain in place.
However, the prolonged drying trend in the Sahel since the 1970s has demonstrated the
vulnerability of such groups to climate change: they cannot simply move their axis of migration
when the wetter end already is densely occupied and permanent water points fail at the drier end.
The result has been widespread loss of human life and livestock, and substantial changes to the
social system.
Impacts of natural disasters
Over the period of 1995-2004, a total of 2,500 million people were affected by disasters, with
losses of 890,000 dead and costs of US$ 570 billion. Most disasters (75%) are related to weather
extremes that climate change is expected to exacerbate. A massive increase in the frequency of
occurrence of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires have been
observed in last decades and have a direct impact in human health. Approximately 600, 000
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deaths occurred worldwide as a result of weather-related natural disasters in the 1990s; some
95% of these were in poor countries. According to the Oxfam report (November 2007), the
average number of natural disasters per year during early 1980s was about 120. Now, the number
has increased to nearly 500. Some examples: In October 1999, a cyclone in Orissa, India, caused
10,000 deaths. The total number of people affected was estimated at 10-15 million.
In December 1999, floods in and around Caracas, Venezuela, killed approximately 30,000
people, many in shanty towns on exposed slopes. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch stalled over Central
America and released six feet of rain, causing massive mudslides and claiming 11,000 lives
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina left most of New Orleans under water. In 2006, Sichuan Province,
China experienced its worst drought in modern times, with nearly 8 million people and over 7
million cattle facing water shortages
Solutions
Worldwide, accelerating glacier loss provides independent and startling evidence that global
warming is occurring1. It is now clear that the Earth is warming rapidly due to man-made
emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, which blanket the planet and cause
temperatures to rise2. Climate change is already happening, but we can strive to keep global
warming within tolerable limits if we act now. Based on scenarios of projected damage to
ecosystems and human communities, we have to limit global warming to a maximum of 2ºC
over pre-industrial levels. Although a warming of 1-2ºC will clearly threaten human health,
water supplies and vulnerable ecosystems, a warming of at least 1ºC appears unavoidable.
Warming beyond 2ºC is likely to result in rapidly escalating damages, with severe threats to
human populations and the loss of unique and irreplaceable ecosystems. It is therefore imperative
that emissions of the main heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), are significantly reduced, in
order to avoid exceeding this 2ºC threshold. The majority of CO2 pollution is released when
fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burned for transportation, heating, or the
production of electricity. Coal is particularly damaging, as it produces 70% more CO2 emissions
than natural gas for the same energy output. Electricity generation is the single largest source of
manmade CO2, amounting to 37% of worldwide emissions. WWF Germany is challenging the
electric power sector to become CO2-free by the middle of this century in industrialized
countries, and to make a significant shift towards that goal in developing countries. A number of
power companies have already signed on to WWF’s vision, but in order to reduce emissions
significantly, power utilities, financial institutions, consumers, and policy makers must all play a
role:
• With developing countries such as India, China and Brazil, we seek ways to significantly
reduce greenhouse gas emissions while pursuing local development goals - providing clean
energy to those without any energy services. Utilities can support meaningful global warming
legislation, improve the energy efficiency of power plants, increase their use of renewable
energy sources, and halt investment in new coal plants and coal mining.
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• Financial institutions can call upon the companies they invest in to disclose their emissions
policies, and switch their investments to companies that are striving to be more competitive
under future limits on carbon emissions.
• We work with governments in industrialized countries to develop plans to reduce their current
levels of CO2 emissions – the emissions should peak and start to reduce within the next 5 to 8
years. This is especially true for the power sector which is the largest polluting sector (40% of
global climate damaging emissions). Electricity consumers should opt for “green power” where
it is available, demand this choice where it is not, and invest in highly efficient appliances.
• We help communities and conservation areas adapt to a changing climate. Actions such as
restoring damaged forests, wetlands, and other habitats increase their resilience, help protect
nature, and generate income for local people. Without such work, climate change could well be
the final blow to already stress ecosystems and the human populations that depend on them.
Policy makers must ease the transition to a carbon-free energy industry by passing legislation
that creates favorable market conditions, shaping new frameworks for change, and ensuring that
the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s primary legal tool to combat global warming, enters into force as
soon as possible.
10 good ideas for a start
1. Switch to renewable energy: Buy non-polluting green electricity from your electricity
company. If they don't sell it, can you change power companies to one that does? Get your
school, company or community to buy renewable energy, too.
2. Buy energy efficient appliances: If you're buying a washing machine, refrigerator, dish washer
or oven, buy the most energy-efficient model you can afford. They might be more expensive but
they pay for themselves through lower energy bills. The same is true for office equipment like
computers, copiers, printers. Look out for appliances on at http://www.topten.info/ (Austria,
Germany, Switzerland, France, and Belgium) or the Energy Star label (US).
3. Fluorescent lamps are cheaper in the long run: Replace the lights you use most with compact
fluorescent lamps. They cost more than ordinary lamps but you end up saving money because
they use only around one-quarter of the electricity to prove the same light. And they last four
times as long as a normal light bulb!
4. Avoid stand-by and turn off lights: Turn off televisions, videos, stereos and computers when
they are not in use - they can use between 10 and 60% of the power they use when on "stand by".
Turn off lights when you don't need them - it saves energy already after a minute or two. Turn
off computer screens when you take a break.
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5. Wash economically: Use the washing machine or dish washer only when you have a full load.
Use washing powder suitable for low temperature washes and use economy programmes.
6. Fridge: Don't leave fridge doors open for longer than necessary, let food cool down fully
before putting it in the fridge or freezer, defrost regularly and keep at the right temperature.
Where possible don't stand cookers and fridges/freezers next to each other.
7. Getting around and on your way to work and school: When you want to make short journeys,
try walking! Use a bicycle for short trips and local shopping. It keeps you fit too and is fun too!
Make more use of public transport, such as buses and trains, for longer journeys. A share care
journey with work colleagues or friends - up to a third of car mileage is accounted for by the
drive to work.
8. Car: If you have to buy a car, buy a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly one. This will save
you money and keep more CO2 from going into the atmosphere. Make sure that your tires are
inflated correctly - this can save you 5% on the cost of your petrol. Turn off your engine when
waiting in your car.
9. Reduce your air travel: When you travel to your holiday destination by plane you are
contributing to significant emissions of climate change causing carbon dioxide. So take vacations
nearer to home, or get there by other forms of transport such as train, bus or boat. If you have to
fly, consider buying carbon offsets to compensate for the emissions caused by your flight.
10. Enjoy the sun: Fit solar panels on the roof of your home. Turn your own home into a clean
power station.
Conclusion
An immediate challenge in the world is to build the capacity needed to handle climate variability.
Therefore, substantial reductions of heat-trapping gas emissions in developed countries and
adaptation strategies are crucial. For example, biodiversity must be managed to ensure that
ensure that conservation is occurring both inside and outside of parks and reserves, and that
adequate habitat is preserved to enable species—plants, animals and humans—to migrate. The
conservation of the world biodiversity will ensure delivery of ecosystem goods and services
necessary to human life support systems (soil health, water, air, etc…) An integrated approach to
environmental management is needed to ensure sustainable benefits for the world.
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