Taking Urgent Actions to Combat Climate Change Impacts

This paper proposes some principles for urgent adaptation strategies against the impacts of climate change, which can reconfigure development and economic growth.

Adaptation is building resilience and reducing vulnerability; it is not simply a matter of designing projects or putting together lists of measures to reduce the impacts of climate change. National policy responses should be anticipatory, not reactive; and should be anchored in a country’s framework for economic growth and sustainable development. They need to be integrated with its poverty reduction strategies. Poverty and climate change/adaptations are linked in low-income countries where the economy heavily depends on weather-sensitive suppliers, such as agriculture. Many poor people in developing countries are at risk of extreme weather conditions, and climate change impacts.

Therefore, short-term actions and long-term planning can both be necessary to combat the effects of climate change. While national governments have a duty to take long and short-term urgent actions, international communities also have responsibilities for long-term actions. Thus, this paper discusses urgent adaptation actions (short-term) and long-term adaptation actions, separately. The results of this study shows that both natural and human system can effect on urgent actions and for each extreme event, different adaptation actions are necessary.

Keywords: Climate change impacts; climate change adaptation; international communities; national governments; urgent action.