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Climate Change: Countdown to Disaster

Many islanders need no statistics to tell them that all is not well. The effects of climate change are already being seen in many small island developing states, in the form of coastal erosion, changing rainfall patterns, severe droughts and an increase in extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and cyclones. Biodiversity is seriously threatened by global warming, with impacts already observed including changes in reproduction cycles, growing seasons and the frequency of pest and disease outbreaks. Coral reefs have seen devastating losses as a result of increased water temperatures.
Agriculture, fisheries and forestry have traditionally provided the main source of food and income for ACP islands. But these livelihoods are increasingly threatened by climate change, mostly caused by emissions on the other side of the globe.
As a matter of fact, people living in ACP small island states could be forgiven for feeling a sense of injustice. There is a cruel irony in the fact that although many of these remote communities produce little pollution, they will suffer some of the earliest and most severe consequences of climate change. Take the Pacific Island countries. They account for just 0.03 % of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, with the average islander producing one-quarter of the emission of the average person worldwide.
Most climate change experts agree that the response needs to be two-pronged-mitigating risks from climate variability and optimising food security by adapting to what most now see as inevitable. There is also a need for renewable energy projects, help with installing proper drainage -and watersheds, seeds for drought-resistant crops, water tanks to catch rainfall, alternative pest management systems and reforestation.

Information for Agricultural Development in ACP Countries, Number 117, June 2005

Vocabulary:
two-pronged-mitigating risks : reduire les risques sur un double front.