Climate Change and Social Impact

Social Change
Civilisation goes back 6,000 years
If we picture the total presence of man on
earth as one single day then agriculture
would have appeared at 11:56 and
civilisation at 11:57. The development of
modern societies would have started start at
11:59 and 30 seconds.
In these last few seconds of human life,
there was so much social change that equals
all the rest of the history of humans.
What is social change ? 1

Heracletus: everything flows and no one moment is the

same as the previous one in our lives.
Social change is defined by the subjective structure of
an object or a situation at one single time period.
Modern social change is defined by
Changes in culture (e.g. forms of communication,
religion, education)
Economic Influences (e.g. development of industry
technology and science)
Political Influences (e.g. Hitler and fascism,
communism)
Cultural influences (e.g. tradition, norms and values)

1 Anthony Giddens (2002) Sociology Greek Edition

Gutenberg, Athens
Natural environment
Humans develop their lifestyles according to
the climatic conditions of their habitat
Urban and rural areas lead different lifestyles
There are still hunters and food-collectors in
some areas of the planet
Development in industry and technology has
allowed societies to develop cultivations even
in non-hospitable environments
Humans try to overpower their natural
surrounding and circumstances instead of
accepting it as given circumstances
Current changes and future prospects
Post-industrialist society:
society of information technology
society of services
society of knowledge
Development of services at the cost of the
development of labour that produces goods
Major strategic resource: coded knowledge
Effects of Industrialism and Post-
industrialism on natural environment
Industrial revolution has led to the
Greenhouse gas phenomenon
Melting of the ice in the arctic
regions
Rising of temperatures & global
warming
Extreme weather conditions like
flooding, tycoons, droughts etc.
These phenomena affect the lives of people
especially the poorest and the most vulnerable
 GREENHOUSE
EFFECT
Sunlight heats the
earth
To maintain an
equilibrium, Earth
GHG reradiates the
GHG GHG energy to space
Greenhouse gases
absorb this energy
GHGs reradiate
some escaping energy
back towards the
surface, making the
temperature warmer

Source: Murray ca. 2005

 Human sources
of Greenhouse
Gases
~50% of CO2
emissions to
atmosphere are
currently from humans

Fossil fuel burning

represents 81% of
human sources of
GHGs

Source: Earth Trends 2008

 U.S. Total CO 2 emissions
186.1
since 1950 in billions of tons
European
Union Time , 2001
127.8
Russia
68.4
Ukraine
21.7 China
Poland
Canada 14.4 Kazakhstan 57.6 Japan
14.9 10.1
31.2
India
Mexico 15.5
7.8 Kuwait
Trinidad and
Tobago
United Australia
Arab
Emirat
7.6
South Africa
es
8.5
 Ecological Impacts
Living things are intimately connected to their physical
surroundings.

Ecosystems are affected by changes in:

temperature salinity (saltiness)
rainfall/moisture activities & distribution of other species
pH many other factors
Why climate change is a social issue
Small farmers will feel the effects
Rural and urban poor are the hardest hit
Unequal capacity for adaptation
Women, children, and the elderly will
become even more vulnerable
Communities will be forced to relocate

11
Impacts in the Southeast
Coral Reefs: Multiple Changes
Climate change is compounding other factors
affecting reefs (coastal development,
pollution, overfishing)
Heat stress causes coral bleaching: corals
expel symbiotic algae, leaving white bones
behind (deadly to coral if long-lasting)
Ocean acidification affects marine organisms
ability to build shells and skeletons: likely to
slow or stop the growth of coral by 2100

Coral bleaching
Effect on developing countries
Millions of the worlds poorest people are
already being forced to cope with the
impacts of climate change
These social & cultural impacts go unnoticed
in financial markets and in the measurement
of world GDP (gross domestic product)
Increased exposure to drought, to more
intense storms, to floods and environmental
stress is holding back the efforts of the
worlds poor to build a better life for
themselves and for their children
Who is responsible and who suffers?

The worlds poor suffer the earliest and

the most damaging impacts
Rich nations and their citizens account
for the overwhelming bulk of the
greenhouse gases locked in the Earths
atmosphere
Poor countries and their citizens pay
the highest price for climate change
Cities like Los Angeles and London may
face flooding risks as sea levels rise,
but their inhabitants are protected by
elaborate flood defense systems
Risks in developing countries
High levels of poverty and low levels of
human development limit the capacity of
households to manage climate risks
With limited access to formal insurance, low
incomes and meager assets, poor
households have to deal with climate-related
shocks under highly constrained conditions
Result: millions of people face displacement
Migration is rising in developed countries
which receive millions of migrants from
poor vulnerable populations
Human development reversed with
climate change
Agriculture production and food security: losses in
agricultural production undermine efforts to
cut human poverty
Water stress and water insecurity: glacial melt
compromises flows of water for irrigation and
human settlements. It is estimated that the
melt and consequent flooding will be followed
by water scarcity
Ecosystems and biodiversity: global warming is
resulting to the possible 20-30% extinction of
land species because of the warming seas and
the acidity of the oceans
Human health: Poverty and limited capacity of
public health systems to respond are resulting
to the expansion of diseases (e.g. malaria)
Gender
The above mentioned has an even greater impact on
women as a social group rather than men1 as
They form the majority of the farmers in poor
countries
They have less access to environmental
resources
Gender inequalities exist in terms of access to
land, control over resources, ability to
command and access paid labour
It is usually the men who migrate and women
are left behind
Women do not participate in political decision
making
1 Denton Fatma, Climate change vulnerability, impacts and adaptation: why does gender matter? Gender and
Development Vol.10, No. 2, July 1992
 The Role of Human Beings
Causes of Climate Change
It is very likely that most of the climate
change in the current era is the result
of human activities.
Human activities have increased
concentrations of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere.
These gases trap heat and cause the
Earth to warm.

Figure adapted from Climate Change 2007: The Physical

Science Basis. Working Group 1 Contribution to the 4th
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. Figure SPM.5. Cambridge University Press.
 The Role of Human Beings
Rate of Climate Change
Climate change in the current era is expected to be extremely rapid
compared to transitions in and out of past ice ages.

Ecosystems are more vulnerable to changes that happen rapidly.

A scientist holding an ice

corea sample taken
from polar ice caps or
mountain glaciers.
Ice cores reveal clues
about climate changes in
Earths past.

Image courtesy USGS National Ice Core Laboratory.

 The Role of Human Beings
Compounding Factors
Human activities have many other effects on ecosystems.
These effects compound the effects of climate change, making it more
difficult for ecosystems to adapt.

Pollution Overfishing
Habitat fragmentation Manipulation of water sources
Invasive species and much more
 The Role of Human Beings
Improving the Outlook
Changes in activities at the personal, community, and national levels can
affect the rate of future climate change and species abilities to adapt.
Some of the areas where changes in human activities could help species
adapt include:
Approaches to agriculture
Water management practices
Energy sources and use
Transportation
Pollution remediation
Biological conservation
and much more
 The climate challenge is large and complex.
But it is very likely that many people, working from many
angles, can help address climate change and its
ecological consequences.
Conclusion
Humanity in the past two centuries has
managed a great industrial and
technological development
Heavy industrialisation with no respect
to the environment has led to
environmental stress resulting to the
change in climate
The most serious impact of climate
change is faced by the most vulnerable
people living in developing countries
Conclusion
Inequality among the rich and the poor means
that poor populations suffer the injustice of the
impact of the environmental stress caused by the
rich populations living in the rich developed
countries
Additionally, climate change poses a barrier
towards human development and the cut of
poverty in developing countries
Poor populations in the developing world are not
in a position to combat the consequences of
extreme weather conditions and phenomena such
as drought and flooding; thus they are forced to
displacement
Climate change impact affects gender differently,
with women suffering the most, because of their
lack of access to resources
TERIMA KASIH / THANK YOU
www.upm.edu.my