Climate Change: Issues and Strategy to Mitigate It

Climate change is a serious global environmental issue. This is mainly due to the generation of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG). It collects greenhouse gases and contributes to warming. The global increase in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is mainly caused by fossil fuel use and land-use change, while methane and nitrous oxide are mainly due to agriculture. Global warming is a specific example of the wider term "climate change", which means that the average surface temperature of the Earth's surface and the ocean has increased over recent decades. The impact on developing countries in particular is not desirable because of the limited ability and resources to cope with challenges.

Climate change mitigation activities should be sensitive to poor countries. Today, one out of every seven people in the world is still in poverty, all in developing countries. The number of poor people in the world is more than twice the population of Europe. Adaptation is a central and important priority for developing countries to address climate change. The global effort to develop new conventions after 2020 in accordance with the UNFCCC, which took effect in 1994, has grown in size because it is the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2020. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize the greenhouse gas concentration at a level that can prevent human harmful interference to the climate system within a limited time.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty linked to the UNFCCC, which delegates to the Parties by establishing internationally binding emission reduction targets. The Protocol places more burden on developed countries in accordance with the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibility'. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is 2008-2012. The second commitment period is 2013-2020.

Since the new 2020, the Convention must ensure a balance between mitigation and adaptation. The term mitigation means efforts to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions that limit the size of future warming. It may also include attempts to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Mitigation can require new technologies, use of clean energy sources, change people's behaviors, or use older technologies more energy-efficient. Mitigation is different from climate change adaptation, which refers to actions taken to manage the inevitable impacts of climate change.