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“There’s scientific consensus that the impacts of climate change are going to be devastating, even this century, but that’s still not getting through,” says Neville Ash, Programme Manager at IUCN. With the current trend in the price of oil that may soon change. Perhaps the current food and energy crisis is also the first time so much of the world’s population is truly and simultaneously feeling the bite climate change is able to deliver. Humanity is grossly out of balance with the natural world, and though we may often be able to loosen them, we cannot break the bonds that tie us to nature. Soon, they will choke us. “We are nearing collapse,” says Gonzalo Oviedo bluntly. According to this Senior Social Policy Advisor for the IUCN, it is no longer a question of if, but rather to what extent, we will be able to prevent disaster. “There is consensus as to what must be done about climate change,” says Ash. “We need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions and we need to adapt to the changes already in the system. The World Conservation Congress in Barcelona will bring together all walks of life, from governments and village councils to big philanthropists and private sector magnates, to discuss how to achieve this as quickly and as comprehensively as possible. Time is running out. “This whole ship is sinking,” says Ninni Ikkala, Climate Change Officer at the IUCN. “Must we really wait until we’re treading water until we take action?”. |
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There is no doubt that most of the world has woken up to the fact climate change is a problem and one that’s here to stay unless we act now. So how will the world judge our actions in 200 years? Will we be criticized for knowing everything there was to know about the problem and still doing nothing? Or will we be praised for our fast thinking and action that averted disaster? Here, we take a look at life beyond climate change mitigation, examine where the solutions to our rapidly over-heating planet lie, and reflect on what our world will look like 50 years on, with a population of some 9 billion people. |
 Multimedia Image gallery Full article  Facts |
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 It makes economic sense to curb climate change. According to the 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change the impacts of climate change could cost the world up to 20 per cent of GDP per year if concrete action isn’t taken soon. © IUCN Photo Library © IUCN / Marco Calvo  A third of all the world’s species could go extinct by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change and habitat loss. © IUCN Photo Library © IUCN / David Sheppard  Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is one of the UN Millennium goals directly threatened by the impacts of climate change. © IUCN Photo Library © Philippe Tous  Rivers are simply drying up in many parts of the world, leaving sad sunsets over abandoned homesteads that once fed local stomachs and foreign eyes. © IUCN Photo Library © Phaivanh Phiapalath |
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