Running head: CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change and International Policy Souleymane Coulibaly Purdue University

CLIMATE CHANGE Climate Change and International Policy

Research and observations over the last many decades have shown that human-related activities are indeed playing an important role in the global climate change. In addition, the temperature of Earth's surface has increased by more than 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past century and by about 0.6 degrees Celsius in the past three decades (Campbell-Lendrum, Corvalan, & Neira, 2008). The effects of these changesmainly due the buildup of greenhouse gases--could have devastating consequences for human life. Many governments across the globe have tried to understand the potential effects of climate change and some have taken good steps in mitigating these effects. However, strong disagreements over the Kyoto Protocol and the recent failures of the world community to agree on specific cuts to greenhouse gases emissions have made it difficult for the world to act as a united front. To help mitigate the effects of climate change developed and developing countries can find agreements on international policies that are built on shared interests and are fairly compatible with existing programs. One common ground that can help bridge the differing national interests is the sphere of public health. Campbell-Lendrum, Corvalan, and Neira (2008) argued that many of the global health risks, particularly infectious diseases, will exasperate with a warming and changing climate. Therefore, a rethinking of global health issues in a changing climate is something they saw as a no-regrets strategy. The World Health Organization (WHO) already has programs in place to deal with health risks such as malaria and protein-energy malnutrition. Strengthening these and similar programs will help bring developing countries, which are disproportionately impacted by those health risks while contributing the least to climate change, to the negotiating table thinking that the more developed countries are being fair. In particular, such good faith measures will help persuade developing countries to enact and enforce regulatory measures for the safe use of water resources and the burning of fossil-fuels. A warming planet is also likely to worsen human conditions with a higher frequency of civil conflicts. A study conducted by researchers at University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, New York University, and Harvard University, provided clear evidence linking climate change and the risk of civil wars. With most African countries having experienced civil upheavals during the past decades, and the large majority of poor Africans relying on agriculture for the livelihoods, a deteriorating climate could lead to even more frequent civil strife. For example in the Democratic Republic of Congo's, the International Rescue Committee estimated that at least 5 million people have died from fighting, hunger and, disease during that country's civil war (University of California Berkeley , 2009). The study also suggested that occurrence of African civil wars could 55 percent by 2020 (University of California Berkeley, para. 6). Because developed countries have already shown an interest in preventing and ending such conflictsmainly through the UN--helping African countries adapt to climate change will accomplish two important objectives. This can be done by helping emerging countries develop crop categories less sensitive to a warmer climate and promoting new ways of insuring farmers against the severe effects associated with extreme heat (University of California Berkeley, para. 11). Finally, convincing developing countries of the links between a hotter climate and civil wars will make them more willing to adopt policies aiming at combating climate change, including gradual but substantial reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases. Human-induced climate change is a great threat that demands international solutions born out of global agreements. Although the effects of a warming planet will be felt globally, one of the best ways of finding an international common ground is for the developed countries to motivate their developing counter-parts by making the later understand the grave dangers that a warming planet represents for

CLIMATE CHANGE emerging nations and for these rich countries to commit themselves as partners in the alleviation of those hardships. The solutions outlined in this essay would certainly face obstacles since countries differ with regard to interests and priorities but as Heller (2011) argued, our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren will pay the price for our profligate ways (para. 1), if the world community cannot find a way to come together.

CLIMATE CHANGE References Campbell-Lendrum, D., Corvalan, C., & Neira, M. (2008). Global climate change: implications for international public health policy. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 85. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/3/06-039503/en/ Heller, N., & Fischer, D. (2011). Economics of climate change. Daily Climate. Retrieved from http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2011/01/climate-impact-discount-rate

University of California - Berkeley (2009, November 23). Climate change could boost incidence of civil war in Africa. Science Daily. Retrieved March 1, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123152224.htm