Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Abstract

"Climate has been changing throughout history, and there has been a steady evolution in the climate conditions. But in the past, most of these changes took place as part of natural processes, over which humanity did not have any control or say, even now such changes continue to take place. However, what is really worrying the entire world today is the climate change that is taking place as a result of human intervention of different kind. As a result of human interference during the past 100 year or so, knowingly or unknowingly, the average air temperature near the Earth’s surface has risen by about one degree Celsius or 1.8 degree Fahrenheit. This in turn caused unprecedented increase in storms, floods, forests fires etc. According to experts, an increase of one degree Celsius makes the Earth warmer now than it has been for at least a thousand years. In the immediate past few years (about 13 years) the world has recorded 11 warmest years. The first half of 2010 was the hottest climate ever recorded. Environment degradation has been increasing globally as a serious threat to the entire ecosystem. Increasing population, economic growth, urbanization, increased use of natural resources and deforestation are the main drivers of these changes. Worldwide , as the latest trend, new partnership have been developed between government, NGOs and private sectors for conservation project based on new approaches departing from traditional regulation and cantering on protective strategies. Habitat protection is the fundamental strategy of preserving biodiversity."