TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Human induced climate change is inevitable and will take place in the next two to three to four to five decades, the chairman of the intergovernmental panel on climate change R K Pachauri has said.
Speaking at the NIO Foundation Day lecture, Dr Pachauri, whose IPCC had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, warned that both adaptation as well as mitigation are necessary for the human race to survive the onslaught of climate change.
“Neither adaptation nor mitigation along can avoid all climate change impact, however they can complement each other and together can significantly reduce the risks of climate change,” Dr Pachauri said quoting his IPCC report adding that some of the effects of climate change have already.
Pachauri who elaborated on the challenge of climate change and the implications of coastal cities said that it was developing countries and cities in developing countries especially Dhaka, Kolkata and Shanghai that had the most to lose as a result of climate change, whereas the developed world had less to lose.
“95% of fatalities as a result of extreme weather conditions take place in developing countries, whereas developed countries account for just 5% of fatalities,” Pachauri said explaining how cyclones Nargis that struck Myanmar resulted in 138,000 deaths whereas the recent super storm Sandy that struck New York city resulted killed just 253 people even though it caused extensive damage to property.
He said that climate change would bring about effects like water scarcity mainly in Asia leave people living in coastal cities like Dhaka, Kolkata and Shanghai which are built on deltas especially vulnerable to storm surges and other extreme weather events.
He has called that all this would require adaptability as well as mitigation and most importantly preparedness on the part of governments to deal with such disasters.
“We need proper preparedness and information systems that should help communicate between those who decide and those who act. Human induced climate change is a failure of human society to adopt sustainable development,” Pachauri conculuded.
