Climate Change
Climate change
"The average temperature of the earth's surface has risen by 0.6 degrees C since the late 1800s. It is expected to increase by another 1.4 to 5.8 degrees C by the year 2100 -- a rapid and profound change" UNFCCC. According to UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre the temperature at the earth's surface is likely to increase significantly over the 21st century and ecosystems will experience the most rapid period of climate change since the end of the last ice age. "Evidence is getting stronger that most of the global warming that has occurred over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. This global temperature increase is likely to trigger serious consequences for humanity and other life forms alike..." European Commission DG Environment.
Increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to increased temperatures, changes in precipitation and sea level rise. The first expected symptoms of a climate change-generated biodiversity crisis are range contractions and extinctions at lower elevational and latitudinal limits to species distributions. Robert J. Wilson et al. (2005) , Changes to the elevational limits and extent of species ranges associated with climate change - results of this research suggest that many species have already suffered climate-mediated habitat losses, threatening their long-term chances of survival.
Overview of international policy
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) established already in 1988 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its working groups comprise: WG I - The Science of Climate Change, WG II - Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, WG III - Mitigation of climate change and a Task Force on Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which entered into force on 21 March 1994 sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Convention enjoys near universal membership, with 189 countries having ratified.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol commits Annex I Parties to individual, legally-binding targets to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Only Parties to the UNFCCC that have also become Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (i.e by ratifying, accepting, approving, or acceding to it) are bound by the Protocol’s commitments. 164 countries have ratified the Protocol. Of these, 35 countries and the EEC are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below levels specified for each of them in the treaty. The individual targets for Annex I Parties are listed in the Kyoto Protocol’s Annex B. These add up to a total cut in greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 5% from 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008-2012.
The EU is also taking serious steps to address its own greenhouse gas emissions. In March 2000 the Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP). The ECCP led to the adoption of a range of new policies and measures, among which the Emissions Trading Scheme, which started its operation in January 2005.
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