Please wait while schedule loads.
The Human dimensions of Climate Change: Perspectives on the impacts of Climate Change in Asia and Pacific region.
Type of Session
Individual Paper Presentation
Abstract
Please read requirements carefully and include all required information to avoid delays in our review of your proposal. To download descriptions or guidelines, visit http://aessconference.org/proposals/
The human civilization faces the global climate crisis as its greatest challenge in the 21st century, as acknowledged in the Paris agreement 0f 2015. The Asia and Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Some regional implications of changes in climate conditions over the Asia and the Pacific will be presented in this report.
These include assessments that ecosystems and some of the land area as well as various socioeconomic sectors will be significantly affected by climate change impacts, even under the Paris consensus scenario in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C to 2°C above preindustrial levels. However, the possibilities for adaptation against the temperature rise are greatly reduced as under the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, the global mean temperature rise of over 4°C by the end of this century. Over some parts of Asian landmass, mean summer temperatures are expected to increase by more than 6°C with unabated climate change, by the end of the 21st century. National and regional integrated economic systems will be vulnerable to climate change disruptions. To adapt with these rapidly emerging new climate vulnerabilities in the Asia and Pacific region, they need to be addressed with strategies and programs involving preparedness and capacity building, urban and rural planning and proactive migration planning, among others. This assessment also underlines that research on the effects of climate change is still lacking for many areas vital to the region’s economy.
Unabated warming could significantly undo the achievements of economic development and improvements of living standards in the region. However, long-term planning, based on the best available data, analysis, and modeling will be the critical preconditions to change the present fossil-fuel based economic development pathway and curb global emissions.