Climate Change -The Technology Challenge

AuthorElizabeth March
PositionWIPO Magazine Editorial Team, Communications and Public Outreach Division

Tuvalu, South Pacific. A tropical island dream of perfect blue seas, coral reefs and waving coconut palms? Or the beginning of a nightmare? With its highest point just 4.5 meters above sea level, tiny Tuvalu is one of the world's most low-lying countries. And as global sea levels rise, its inhabitants face the grim prospect of their land gradually disappearing beneath the waves. Climate change, caused by the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, is already taking its toll on the life of the Tuvalu islanders. The underground rainwater tanks from which they draw their drinking water are contaminated by flooding. And salt water seeping into farmland has destroyed crops, making the islanders dependent on canned imports.

Tip of the iceberg

"Climate change is one of the most complex, multifaceted and serious threats the world faces. The response to this threat is fundamentally linked to pressing concerns of sustainable development and global fairness; of economy, poverty reduction and society; and of the world we want to hand down to our children." - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Tuvalu is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Delivering their latest report in November, the world's scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared climate change to be "unequivocal." Few any longer question the reality of global warming, nor the potential consequences if it continues unchecked. Experts forecast melting icecaps, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, hurricanes, leading to crop failures, conflicts, famine, disease. Describing this as "one of the most complex, multifaceted and serious threats the world faces," UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has called for a massive mobilization by governments, the private sector and civil society.

To this end, over 11,000 participants gathered in Bali, Indonesia, for the UN Climate Change Conference in December. Government representatives rubbed shoulders with environmentalists, industry groups with development lobbyists, human rights activists with carbon traders. Temperatures rose inside and outside the conference rooms as delegates differed over questions such as targets for reductions in carbon emissions. But all were agreed on one thing: that innovation and new technologies will play a crucial role in meeting the challenge.

Innovation to save the planet

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