More frequent and bigger storms, changing ocean currents, coral bleaching and changes to patterns in food production will have severe consequences for Pacific Islanders and Australia needs to play a role in the fallout.
Credit: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP
New trends in the global climate are increasing the risk of extreme events such as floods, droughts, and heat waves in many parts of the world.
This has enormous consequences for the most vulnerable people of our planet: subsistence farmers, shantytown dwellers and fishing communities around the world are reporting more frequent, more intense, and often more bizarre disasters - and this is increasing the workload of an already overstretched humanitarian sector.
The problem is here to stay - and will accelerate. A collective, global failure to properly address the causes of climate change simply means that we must now prepare for its unavoidable humanitarian consequences.
However aggressively we begin to cut back on fossil-fuel use, the greenhouse gases already emitted stay in the atmosphere for many decades. We have no choice but to cope with the impacts.
Australians have already begun to experience what a new climate may look like: unusual conditions can lead to serious threats to households, communities, public assets, and the natural environment.
The question is how do we respond to the severe events that are the predicted consequence of global climate change? This question is inescapable for many people in the Pacific region, such as the islanders of Pileni.
The community of Pileni, in a remote section of Temotu province in the Solomon Islands, has a strong sense of identity - many traditional practices are still widely used. Less than 300 people inhabit this small island (approximately 200 metres wide x 500 metres long).
The Solomon Islands Red Cross recently invited residents of Pileni to reflect on their perceptions about changing risks. The list of observed changes is striking: beaches are being eroded away and groundwater quality is declining, due in part to rising sea levels.
Coral bleaching is more severe, and ocean currents appear to be stronger and changing directions - the community believes that this is destroying their fish habitats. Low and high tides now seem to follow a different pattern that is still not fully understood by the people.
Traditional methods of weather prediction are no longer reliable: the seasonality of rains and winds is changing. The fruit season used to come three times per year but now comes only once per year. The root crops hardly bear any fruit these days, they only bear flowers. Failure of food crops in the past years have resulted in the community needing food assistance from the government.
Contribution to world knwoledge
Pablo Suarez incidentally makes the point that Australian can (and should) take a lead role in linking knowledge with decisions.
To some extent, having some form of workable emissions trading scheme and promoting research into energy efficiency, can be part of our contribution to that knowledge creation and adoption. We might well be small in terms of emissions in world terms, but we can help make progress towards useful action.
Climate change
It is not at all supervising what the effect man has on climate. I have tried too get several Government people too listen too me about a new Green Energy power plant. But the Coal and the nuclear power people have them so deep in their pockets that the earth will have too suffer until it is too later. It is so simple that the people will have too die before they get smart enough and kick out the Gov as it stands and put new people in their place, This year is the U.S. voting time and it is time too say get out of office if you stay doing the things that you are doing now. And are willing too keep doing them in our future. Make Gov listen this year do not vote for any of the same people that are in ( Get them out) and start a new way of thinking.
Global temperatures held steady for 10 years
Why global temperatures held steady for 10 years
20:00 4 July 2011
Michael Marshall, environment reporter
Global warming temporarily ground to a halt over the last 10 years, thanks to increased pollution from China, the El Niño system in the Pacific, and a slight drop in the energy Earth gets from the sun.
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/07/why-global-temperatures-held-s.html
NASA recent findings RE: CO2 July, 2011
It is my understanding that the latest NASA data shows that CO2 is not the pollutant the warmers have claimed it to be. How about some coverage on the newest NASA data???
Thank you for covering all sides of the issues.
Don Lambert.