Desafíos del siglo XXIcambio climático y género

Resumen

Climate change is the most serious and complex environmental, social, and economic problem ever faced by humankind. The impacts of climate change are no longer a potential threat; they are an unequivocal reality. For the past 10 000 years, global temperatures have been relatively stable, allowing human civilizations to develop. Since the Industrial Revolution, however, the earth¿s surface has been warming. An overall temperature rise of 0.74¿C has been documented, and incremental rates of increase have accelerated beyond natural oscillations. The rate of climatic warming, also known as planet warming or global warming, is increasing. There is indisputable scientific evidence showing a close link between climatic warming and the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the earth¿s atmosphere. These gases absorb solar heat and warm the earth¿s surface. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) has established a threshold of 2¿C above the pre-industrial era temperature level in order to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere (ipcc, 2007a). That level would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system (World Bank, 2010). CO2 released into the atmosphere remains there for centuries. CO2 levels have increased from 280 ppm at the outset of the industrial revolution to 380 ppm in 2005 (Stern, 2007). Immediate action is needed if we are to start reducing emissions at the yearly rate of 1.5% that is required for warming to be stabilized within a range that comes as close as possible to reaching the prescribed threshold of 2¿C above the pre-industrial era temperature. The reality, however, is that ¿Emissions from many high-income countries have increased over the two past decades, since the initiation of climate negotiations¿ (World Bank, 2010).