Biggest global problem catalyst for great technological revolution

Climate change, which experts describe as one of the biggest collective problems of our times, is set to become the primary catalyst for great technological innovation in the 21st century if existing signs are anything to go by.

“Climate change is the biggest problem that the world has ever had to face up to collectively”, says Allan Watson a leading scientist.

“About 150,000 global deaths annually can be attributed to climate change,” says United Nation’s health agency World Health Organisation. Yet increasing mortality is not the only problem this global phenomenon has been dealing. Other problems include reduced access to surface water, erratic climate and food insecurity.

Scientists project that as much as 90 per cent of near surface permafrost area in the arctic could disappear by 2012. Africa’s highest mountain – Kilimanjaro – is also visibly losing some of its signature ice cups while the Canadian tundra is thawing.

Experts say climate change is already occurring and all must adapt to these changes.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) presentation ‘Alternatives to Kyoto’ in November 2007, communities living on the sea front in Bangladesh and their counterparts along Lake Chad are adapting in various ways top changes in water levels. In Bangladesh communities are grappling with rise in sea levels as the river systems in the Himalayas drain larger volumes of water into the bay of Bangal and changes in climatic patterns cause huge cyclones.

Cyclone Sidr that unleashed its power on the people of Bangladesh mid November 2007 is an example of what the combination of erratic weather and rising sea levels can do to a seaside community. Having claimed hundreds of lives, the tidal waves also damaged crops and infrastructure and decimated livestock.

This comes “at a time when more than one billion people lack access to improved water sources and more than 2.6 billion have no adequate sanitation” says a leading relief agency, CARE, that recently launched an initiative to address the declining state of the worlds fresh water supply.

Around Lake Chad in northern Africa, fishermen are adapting their livelihood by turning to farming on the exposed rich soils as the lake’s water volume reduces according to the BBC. The Nigerian desert is also expanding according to a report by Don McKinnon the outgoing Commonwealth Secretary General.

Adapting to climate change will possibly lead to a period of great technological advancements and discovery that can be likened to the turning point in human social history that was the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century. The need for and / or discovery of machinery, higher agricultural yields and improved infrastructure in Britain and later throughout the world influenced the human society and aspects of daily life.

Climate change will cause changes in energy sourcing and farming practices.
This is why the leaders of many blocks of countries including the European Union and the Commonwealth are taking a stand.

“Responsiveness to challenges should see us (the Commonwealth) taking a stand on climate change, which is happening before our eyes, on the eve of the United Nations Summit in Bali”, says McKinnon.

Romosh