1 Climate Change has a severe impact on natural hazards and human well-being.
The number, frequency and intensity of weather and climate related natural hazards and extreme events are significantly increasing as a direct consequence of global climate change. Climate change is very likely to harm economies and the lives and health of millions of people particularly in the poor regions, but no country will be spared.
2 Climate change is a humanitarian crisis.
Climate change with its related extreme weather events affects human health and socio-economic well-being and jeopardizes the sustainability of the global development process, the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and undermines any progress made in poverty reduction. Climate change thus is not just of environmental but equally of serious humanitarian concern for the world’s poorest.
3 Climate change affects humans disproportionally and calls for global solidarity and climate justice.
Climate change is having a disproportionate and adverse impact on the world’s poor and most vulnerable populations, who contribute significantly less to greenhouse gas emissions than advanced economies. They require support to adapt to climate change and to reduce emissions associated with new or continued development in the sense of climate justice.
4 Climate change adaptation prevents conflict triggered by environmental migration.
Consequences of climate change such as failed harvest, destroyed homes or social unrest, etc. force people, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa and large parts of Asia, to leave their homelands. The IOM estimates that by the year 2050 over 200 million people will be environmentally induced migrants or “environmental refugees” without the legal status of refugees. Empowering these worst affected and most vulnerable populations to adapt to climate change is therefore an investment in human security and conflict prevention.
5 Climate change necessitates a redefinition of the MDGs.
Climate change has become a serious threat to almost the entire spectrum of development targets and any progress made so far. Therefore, human development can only be sustainable if it is climate-proofed. To cope with the impacts of climate change, a redefinition of the MDGs is needed to fully reflect the interwoven nature of these issues.
6 Climate change mitigation and adaptation have to be harmonized with integrative disaster risk reduction.
As climate change increases weather and climate related natural hazards, conventional disaster management and risk reduction strategies need to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and vice versa in order to approach truly integrative disaster risk reduction.
7 Climate change calls for new investments for green and clean technology.
Green and clean technology has to become the future standard for the production and distribution of goods and services, and has to be made accessible for developing countries, as the lack of modern forms of energy for some 1.6 billion people is a major impediment to the development progress. Clearly, an environmentally friendly energy supply will be an additional positive contribution to resolving the climate problem.
8 Climate change requires action-driven leadership, global stakeholder engagement and the empowerment of people.
In combatting climate change leadership has to move from science to practice, and from the status of scientific understanding of the process of climate change toward problem driven options and solutions. Both mitigation and adaptation measures ask for participative solutions where many different stakeholder groups and citizens have to contribute.
