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How Secure is the Future? The Dangers of Selective Climate Policies

Although decision makers at the policy level as well as in industry and civil society paint an almost rosy picture of climate protection activities in Germany and Europe, they must increasingly face up to the need for adaptation to – now inevitable – climate change. This was one of the key conclusions of the panel discussion on "How secure is the future? Climate change and Risk Prevention," organized in Berlin this September by the Netzwerk des Stiftungskollegs für internationale Aufgaben e.V. as part of a new series of seminars on "Future Global Issues". A debate on these issues has become imperative in view of the rapid pace of climate change currently being recorded almost every week by the climate sciences as well as by socio-economic research, which reveals that preventive policies are threatening to exacerbate social disparities.

Professor Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) explained that global climatic changes are evident not just from satellite images and comparative climate studies. One compelling sign is the increase in unusual weather phenomena, for instance the increased occurrence of hurricanes in regions, which had formerly been spared such extreme events. Floods, desertification, and glacial melting are other unmistakable warning signs with disastrous social and economic consequences.

Against this backdrop, environmental sociologist Professor Anita Engels from the University of Hamburg presented the case of Senegal to illustrate the impact of climate change on less developed countries. Adaptation policies for global environmental changes therefore run the risk of being selectively directed towards specific, mostly urban areas. Areas that are economically less important tend to be overlooked because the regional populations are often under-represented within the political system. The key message consequently was that policymakers must consider the interests of different societal groups. They must also demonstrate a high capacity for learning as they did during the creation of the emissions trading regime, notwithstanding all the teething troubles that still exist in applying this instrument.(by Dennis Taenzler)

For more information on the Netzwerk des Stiftungskollegs für internationale Aufgaben e.V. and the seminars on "Future Global Issues", please see here

 

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, October 2006