The ICPD and climate protection – Mastering megatrends: The ICPD action programme for a sustainable future – World

Since the ICPD in 1994, what was then called “climate change” has evolved into today’s “climate crisis” and is now recognized as an existential threat of our time. The recent increase in global warming is unprecedented in human history, leading to melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, warming and acidification of the oceans, and increasing frequency, duration and intensity of adverse weather events. Scientists agree that we have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which humans are the main driver of changes in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Current estimates show that we will reach 3.2°C of warming by the end of the century unless fossil fuel burning and associated carbon emissions are drastically reduced. About 50 to 75 percent of the world’s population could face life-threatening climatic conditions at times due to extreme heat and humidity.

The climate crisis is already disrupting social, economic and natural systems, putting pressure on water availability, food production, transport and urban infrastructure, as well as biodiversity and human health. Examples of devastating impacts have already been recorded in various climate hotspots. In West and Central Africa, global warming continues to exacerbate droughts, desertification, floods, food shortages, displacement, social unrest and insecurity. The impacts of climate change on large semi-arid agricultural systems are making it difficult to sustain livelihoods, especially for those directly dependent on agriculture. Increasing drought has led to escalating competition for pastureland, leading to increased water stress and food shortages, all of which are risk factors for conflict; in fact, the region currently hosts 7 out of 13 countries with medium-intensity conflict. Other critical climate hotspots include many small island developing States, as rising sea levels and extreme weather events such as cyclones pose existential risks to these island states. The impacts of the climate crisis are exacerbating inequalities, such as between genders, and contributing to social trauma that increases vulnerability and violence, including against women and girls.

The climate crisis will impact every person, everywhere, affecting both present and future generations, to whom people have a moral obligation today. While no individual, no country, no system, and no sector is completely spared from the consequences of the climate crisis, the impacts of climate change are highly unequal within and across countries. Low- and middle-income countries, which have contributed the least to carbon dioxide emissions, are most vulnerable to the climate crisis and are least able to afford and implement the necessary adaptation and resilience strategies to prevent and recover from loss and damage. Among populations, poor women and marginalized populations bear the brunt. Around the world, individuals are being deprived of their “human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, of which a safe and stable climate is a key element.” The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasizes that rights-based approaches to climate action are critical to achieving both effective and sustainable outcomes.