Climate change difficult to solve – Schlettwein
Cause remains unaddressed, minister says
Schlettwein said the nexus between water, food and the environment needs to be highlighted to address climate change.
The solutions to curb climate change and avoid loss of life and livelihood and biodiversity are difficult to achieve in current circumstances.
This according to agriculture, water and land reform minister Calle Schlettwein, who was speaking at the Cairo Water Week in Egypt last week.
The world is subjected to an economic system which requires growth based on consumption, he said.
“Gross domestic product is used as a measure for success. This implies that the very cause of climate change - excessive consumption - is still unaddressed and the consequences will remain.”
Schlettwein added that the political model of dominance in the world is very prevalent.
“Might is right and with that comes the unfortunate fact that much-needed resources are diverted to maintain dominance and fund wars.”
He said success in addressing climate change will directly depend on whether these two matters continue to be perpetuated.
The minister added that the nexus between water, food and the environment needs to be highlighted to address climate change.
He said unsustainably high carbon emissions can be mitigated through the agreed transformation of energy generation, moving away from coal, oil and gas towards alternative clean sources.
Water crisis
“The immediate impact of climate change, however, is predominantly on the water cycle as 90% of the impacts of climate change are water-related and the water cycle is already out of crisis. We are in a water crisis.”
Schlettwein said mitigation which concentrates on energy transformation is not sufficient to survive the climate crisis.
Adaptation and the funding thereof must be equally important, he said.
According to him, solutions have been found for the energy transformation, because it was seen as important and was appropriately funded and resourced, but less has been done for water.
A similar urgency must therefore be given to actions that bring the water cycle back into balance, Schlettwein stressed.
“It is clear that there would be no agriculture and no food production without water.”
Desalination, reclamation, sanitation and pollution avoidance, efficiency improvements, resource management, research, data collection, analysis, capacity building and the free transfer of water-wise technologies are some of the key points that must be considered, he said.
“The conundrum of a needing more water for a growing population to produce more food with less water is at the core. Water scarcity may become a much more common phenomenon.”
However, there is a silver lining - the rapid development of efficiency gains through water-wise technologies and the technological progress made in desalination, the minister said.
This according to agriculture, water and land reform minister Calle Schlettwein, who was speaking at the Cairo Water Week in Egypt last week.
The world is subjected to an economic system which requires growth based on consumption, he said.
“Gross domestic product is used as a measure for success. This implies that the very cause of climate change - excessive consumption - is still unaddressed and the consequences will remain.”
Schlettwein added that the political model of dominance in the world is very prevalent.
“Might is right and with that comes the unfortunate fact that much-needed resources are diverted to maintain dominance and fund wars.”
He said success in addressing climate change will directly depend on whether these two matters continue to be perpetuated.
The minister added that the nexus between water, food and the environment needs to be highlighted to address climate change.
He said unsustainably high carbon emissions can be mitigated through the agreed transformation of energy generation, moving away from coal, oil and gas towards alternative clean sources.
Water crisis
“The immediate impact of climate change, however, is predominantly on the water cycle as 90% of the impacts of climate change are water-related and the water cycle is already out of crisis. We are in a water crisis.”
Schlettwein said mitigation which concentrates on energy transformation is not sufficient to survive the climate crisis.
Adaptation and the funding thereof must be equally important, he said.
According to him, solutions have been found for the energy transformation, because it was seen as important and was appropriately funded and resourced, but less has been done for water.
A similar urgency must therefore be given to actions that bring the water cycle back into balance, Schlettwein stressed.
“It is clear that there would be no agriculture and no food production without water.”
Desalination, reclamation, sanitation and pollution avoidance, efficiency improvements, resource management, research, data collection, analysis, capacity building and the free transfer of water-wise technologies are some of the key points that must be considered, he said.
“The conundrum of a needing more water for a growing population to produce more food with less water is at the core. Water scarcity may become a much more common phenomenon.”
However, there is a silver lining - the rapid development of efficiency gains through water-wise technologies and the technological progress made in desalination, the minister said.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article