The Irreversibility of Change in Climate

Global warming resulting from greenhouse gas emissions is an ongoing crisis, causing irreversible damage to the planet. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its sixth assessment report (AR6) makes the most comprehensive assessment of the human and biological impacts of climate change; it points to the grim picture of the global temperature, which is rising by 1.5 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial level by 2050, regardless of all the efforts to control it. The AR6 compared to the previous IPCC reports focuses greatly on solutions. The AR6 prepared by the Working Group II (WGII)—Impacts, Adaptations, and Vulnerabilities—has devoted its attention to sustainable development. It stresses on the interconnection between climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human well-being. The AR6 report assesses climate change in terms of its impact on climate, risks involved, and for mitigating the crisis. It suggests ways to integrate knowledge from natural, ecological, social, and economic sciences. The report vouches for nature-based solutions, also called ecosystem-based adaptations which include simple, cost-effective steps.

The report insists on long-term, comprehensive, local knowledge systems. The integration of knowledge systems for mitigation of crises and adaption to new ways, will avoid the competitive nature of these solutions. And this is warranted by the availability of limited finances. In order to tackle the problem of maladaptation, we should resort to nature-based solutions such as planting mangroves. The IPCC experts suggested the feasible and effective use of economic, technological, institutional, sociocultural, ecological, and geophysical measures for mitigation and adaptation.