Climate Change is Upon Us

How many more disasters can we take? Just a few days ago, Typhoon Haiyan claimed the lives of thousands of people and damaged property running into millions of dollars. A World Bank report released yesterday attributes three-fourths of annual damages from global disasters to extreme weather conditions. For 2012, it estimates annual damages attributable to global disasters at $200 billion. Yet, some still believe that climate change is a hoax or perhaps the urgency being given to climate change mitigation is overemphasized.

At the same time, tensions and fears are mounting at the nineteenth Conference of Parties (COP 19) in Warsaw, Poland as the aim to forge a legally binding global climate treaty to cut carbon emissions appears challenging due to the differing interests of developed and developing countries. Hopefully, these talks will provide some direction for addressing climate change post 2020. If not, should African countries develop a framework for addressing climate change outside the United Nation Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) considering the evidence that the continent may be more vulnerable to climate change? See more...... http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/19/2968161/global-disaster-damage-200-billion/