AT the moment climate change is one of the issues most talked about worldwide.
Scientists have concluded that climate change is real and inevitable and people just have to learn to live with it. Climate change has emerged as one of the most important issues facing the global community in the 21st century, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).It poses a serious threat to development and poverty reduction and its effects will be felt strongly by the poorest people in least developed countries, who rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods.Climate change issues can be extremely complicated and expressed in scientific language that many Namibians might not understand.Here are a number of terms and acronyms found in articles about climate change, explained in everyday English: Greenhouse gas and greenhouse effect: This is a process through which gases in the atmosphere absorb heat from the sun’s rays.The greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons.The two terms take their names from the glass greenhouses that have been used to grow plants in for several centuries.Mitigation: This refers to efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that are blamed for causing climate change.Mitigation is the main response to prevent future impacts of climate change and these measures can include switching from using coal or petroleum fuels to natural gases (the least polluting fossil fuel) or to switching to solar or wind-energy sources (which is called ‘green’ energy).Adaptation: This refers to efforts made to cope with the unavoidable impacts of climate change because efforts to reduce its impact have failed.This is mainly important for poor and vulnerable countries, since it has become clear that some impacts are unavoidable in the short to medium term.IPCC: This acronym refers to the UN-funded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a world body of leading scientists responsible for assessing the state of scientific knowledge with respect to emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as well as potential impacts around the world.The IPCC releases periodic reports every five years or so that are highly reliable and credible statements of the state of knowledge on the subject.Its first assessment report was produced in 1990 and the last one was in April this year.UNFCC: This stands for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.This is a world treaty aimed at addressing climate change globally.Nearly all countries in the world, including the United States, have signed and ratified the UNFCC because they have realised that climate change is a global problem that requires a collective action by all countries.Namibia has also signed and ratified this international environmental agreement.CoP: This stands for Conference of Parties to the UNFCC.The CoP is an annually event, where all countries that are parties to the UNFCC meet to review progress made in meeting obligations under the convention and also to agree on any actions needed.The next CoP will be held in Indonesia next month.Kyoto Protocol: This is an agreement that was made at the CoP held in Japan in 1997.At the meeting, rich nations (referred to as Annex-1 countries under UNFCC) agreed on a country-to-country basis to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by a certain percentage (compared to 1990 emission levels) by the end of 2012 (the first commitment period).Generally, the Kyoto protocol strengthens global efforts aimed at addressing climate change.This agreement is called the Kyoto Protocol because it was agreed upon in the Japanese city of Kyoto.Climate change has emerged as one of the most important issues facing the global community in the 21st century, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).It poses a serious threat to development and poverty reduction and its effects will be felt strongly by the poorest people in least developed countries, who rely on the natural environment for their livelihoods.Climate change issues can be extremely complicated and expressed in scientific language that many Namibians might not understand.Here are a number of terms and acronyms found in articles about climate change, explained in everyday English: Greenhouse gas and greenhouse effect: This is a process through which gases in the atmosphere absorb heat from the sun’s rays.The greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons.The two terms take their names from the glass greenhouses that have been used to grow plants in for several centuries.Mitigation: This refers to efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that are blamed for causing climate change.Mitigation is the main response to prevent future impacts of climate change and these measures can include switching from using coal or petroleum fuels to natural gases (the least polluting fossil fuel) or to switching to solar or wind-energy sources (which is called ‘green’ energy).Adaptation: This refers to efforts made to cope with the unavoidable impacts of climate change because efforts to reduce its impact have failed.This is mainly important for poor and vulnerable countries, since it has become clear that some impacts are unavoidable in the short to medium term.IPCC: This acronym refers to the UN-funded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a world body of leading scientists responsible for assessing the state of scientific knowledge with respect to emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as well as potential impacts around the world.The IPCC releases periodic reports every five years or so that are highly reliable and credible statements of the state of knowledge on the subject.Its first assessment report was produced in 1990 and the last one was in April this year.UNFCC: This stands for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.This is a world treaty aimed at addressing climate change globally.Nearly all countries in the world, including the United States, have signed and ratified the UNFCC because they have realised that climate change is a global problem that requires a collective action by all countries.Namibia has also signed and ratified this international environmental agreement.CoP: This stands for Conference of Parties to the UNFCC.The CoP is an annually event, where all countries that are parties to the UNFCC meet to review progress made in meeting obligations under the convention and also to agree on any actions needed.The next CoP will be held in Indonesia next month.Kyoto Protocol: This is an agreement that was made at the CoP held in Japan in 1997.At the meeting, rich nations (referred to as Annex-1 countries under UNFCC) agreed on a country-to-country basis to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by a certain percentage (compared to 1990 emission levels) by the end of 2012 (the first commitment period).Generally, the Kyoto protocol strengthens global efforts aimed at addressing climate change.This agreement is called the Kyoto Protocol because it was agreed upon in the Japanese city of Kyoto.
