Climate Smart Societies

Climate Smart Societies

 

A surge in energy demand increased global carbon emission levels to a 7 year high in 2018 (BP, 2019). Global temperatures in 2018 were 0.83°C warmer than mean temperatures between 1951 and 1980, with the past 5 years representing the warmest years since records began (NASA, 2019). The economic impact of natural disasters rose to USD 160 billion in 2018, almost 15% above the inflation-adjusted average over the last 30 years (Low, 2019). Clearly, another landmark year for the continuous intensification of the effects and impact of anthropogenic climate change

India is ranked sixth among the ten most affected countries in the world as per the Global Climate Risk Index 2016, and accounts for about seven per cent of the global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. It is therefore a crucial actor when it comes to dealing with climate change related issues.

Developing climate services and increasing the number of professionals and students trained in meteorology and climatology is one step in creating climate-smart societies. In developing and emerging countries, climate data are often of poor quality and do not meet the prerequisites for the provision of climate services for decision-makers. Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive areas.

Agroclimatologists provide outlooks to farmers on six to eight months ahead and with shorter lead times as the seasons approach then start. Climate-smart farmers use such information to decide what seeds to plant, when best to plant, whether irrigation will be required, when best to harvest and to make other important decisions.

While we are developing climate smart societies our approach should be as follows:

Adapt, inform, reform, transform

• Climate events – the physical impacts of climate change on people, property, the environment and the economy. They’re the visible symptoms of current and future climate change. We seek to reduce the severity of climate events through adaptive resilience, achieved by designing robustness, redundancy, responsiveness and resilience into assets, systems, services and organisations.
• Patterns – the social and economic behaviours and trends that climate change is causing within social, economic and environmental systems. Some of these trends embed or compound vulnerability, contributing to the probability and severity of climate events and cascade effects. We seek to counter harmful patterns and encourage positive ones by understanding the impacts of climate change on society, assets, organisations, the economy and the environment, and the effects on attitudes and behaviours – paving the way for patterns to be changed.
• Root causes – the underlying culture, thinking, assumptions, power structures and policies of governments and companies that expose society, the economy and the environment to climate risks. We seek to develop institutional/organisational understanding and knowledge of climate change, and the capability to define and pursue climate-smart objectives.

As climate change drives more extreme weather and sea level rise, the only way climate events can be prevented from escalating, or even reduced, is by tackling the root causes.

Things to be follow:

1. Get the right people in the room: Bring onboard the private sector companies, government stakeholders, investors and citizens’ groups who are critical to achieving your climate objectives alongside wider social, environmental and economic goals. Work with others to manage shared risks, and pursue common goals, helping available capital go further.

  Understand the climate risks you face: Gather the information you need to make decisions, considering technical and commercial alongside social, environmental and economic factors, and taking account of policy, legislation, regulation and governance.

  Access and benefit from climate finance: Demonstrate the co-benefits of managing climate risks and meeting social and economic development objectives to unlock capital from international funding institutions and donors.

Attract private sector investment: Build investor confidence by being climate-aware during project preparation and managing climate risks effectively throughout project delivery and operation, as part of wider environmental, social and governance risk management.

Develop innovative, affordable and sustainable solutions:  Look at the whole-life performance of projects, designing for a net-zero carbon future and for adaptation to a range of potential climate change scenarios. For environmental and infrastructure projects, consider nature-based solutions alongside or instead of traditional engineering, to gain co-benefits such as carbon reduction, sequestration and resilience, biodiversity and social wellbeing, as well as reduced operational cost.

 

6.      Stay on track and drive progress: Align projects and programmes with national and/or regional carbon reduction and climate resilience strategies – and develop those strategies if required. Monitor and report performance and set improvement targets.

Conclusion: Climate-smart societies encompass infrastructure and urban development, sustainable resource management, farming, the extractive industries, education, health and social care. Droughts, slow onset climate events, have claimed millions of lives. Climate services and climate science form are important components of early warnings systems for famine.

Credit:  Aman Shrivastav  LinkedIn Profile

                   Priyam Shrivastava  LinkedIn Profile

              Rajan Shukla      LinkedIn Profile

              Rahil Siddique   LinkedIn Profile