Friday, November 15, 2013

Introducing the World of "Permanent Emergency"

"Permanent emergency" or, as I like to call it, constant chronic chaos, is the new normal in the most vulnerable corners of our world.   For many poor nations the future looks like just one damn thing after another.

Worsening extreme weather around the world, due to a lack of action to curb climate change, means that a growing number of countries will face "permanent emergencies" that hinder development efforts and leave them unable to cope, aid organisation experts warned.
  
With efforts to cut climate-changing emissions failing and inadequate funds to help particularly vulnerable countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, the world now faces increasingly serious "losses and damage" from climate change that cannot be dealt with by traditional humanitarian aid, said Harjeet Singh, a disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation expert at ActionAid.


The problem is that "adaptation has a limit" and in some cases, "the limit has been crossed", said Sandeep Chamling Rai, a senior advisor for adaptation policy with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
  
In particular, the failure of countries to act quickly and effectively to limit climate change, combined with a lack of sufficient funding and transfer of technology to help poorer countries adapt to the changes, means losses are growing.
  
"You can hardly find any country in the world that will not have to face these challenges," he said.
  
Singh noted that climate-vulnerable countries at the talks are being urged to focus on improving their disaster risk reduction and adaptation efforts, but that will not be enough.
 
"We are trying hard, but it’s not really working," he said. "We are just unable to cope."


Fortunately Canada has a plan to put a lot of these people out of their misery fairly quickly by constantly subverting every effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.   When it comes to making a bad situation infinitely worse, Canada is certainly punching above its weight.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why oh why is it Mr. Harper doesn't get it?....silly question right...he knows.