The report, Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world, provides a stark account of the threat posed by
global warming. It warns that the world should focus on the development impact of climate change.
The Human Development Report 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not just a future scenario. But one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, and it is the world’s most vulnerable populations who are most immediately at risk. The report provides evidence of the mechanisms through with the ecological impacts of climate change will be transmitted to the poor and reverse poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.
There is a window of opportunity for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts, but that window is closing: the world has less than a decade to change course.
The Report calls for a “twin track” approach that combines stringent mitigation to limit 21st Century warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F), with strengthened international cooperation on adaptation. The developed countries should demonstrate leadership in taking particular measures in these areas, says the Report:
- Cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels by 2050 through a mix of carbon taxation, more stringent cap-and-trade programmes, energy regulation, and international cooperation on financing for low-carbon technology transfer.
- Putting climate change adaptation at the centre of international partnerships on poverty reduction, because the inequalities to cope with it emerges as an increasingly powerful driver of wider inequalities between and within countries.
The report comes at a key moment in negotiations to forge a multilateral agreement for the period after 2012 — the expiry date for the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol with governments preparing to gather in Bali, Indonesia to forge a multilateral agreement for the period after 2012.
