Integrated Journal of Social Sciences
Integr. J. Soc. Sci., 2020, 7(1), 14-23 14
Integr. J. Soc Sci., 2020, 7(1), 14-23 . Insight .
INTEGRATED JOURNAL OF
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Global Climate change and its effects
Indu Nashier,
1*
Poonam Lakra
2
1
Department of Biology,
2
Department of Home Science, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, University of Delhi, Bawana, Delhi-110039. India.
Received: 05-Mar-2020, Accepted and Published on: 09-Apr-2020.
ABSTRACT
An increase in the average global temperature and an overall change in the climate is referred to as Global Warming.
Natural processes and anthropogenic activities are the main contributors to such an increase in the world’s average
temperature.0ver the years, scientists and environmentalists have achieved a common consensus that the global warming
scenario is being aggravated by the Green House Gases (released during the combustion of fossil fuels, which in turn
causes pollution as well). These Green House Gases have given rise to an increased rate of global warming. This wouldn’t
have been the case if fossil fuels were not used. Scientists have come to another conclusion that the effects of global
warming will be very long lasting and that they will not only affect the climate conditions but also will lead to erratic
temperature changes, increase in the losses due to floods and storms, melting of ice caps, rising sea levels, damage to the
biodiversity, increased mortality and frequent outbreak of diseases. Climatic change is the most dangerous environmental
issue faced by the world today. It is one of the biggest challenges that the world is currently struggling to fight in the best
way possible. The effect of global warming is prevalent in every part of the globe, affecting all types of societies, cultures,
and geographies. This paper is aimed to review the climate changes and their impacts and implications on the world.
Some of the possible remedies to minimize the further impact of global warming have been investigated and suggested.
Keywords: Climate, Global warming, Green House impact, ozone depletion, environment
Introduction
Climatic changes can lead to a variety of potential
environmental, social, and economic impacts. In most of the
scenarios these impacts will always be towards the negative
side and in some rare cases they can also be favorable
(increase in crop yield of a certain type). The severity of the
impact will only increase with the rise in the average global
temperature. Even if global warming is regulated to keep
within the 2 degree Celsius range, relative to pre- industrial
levels, adverse impacts will still be most likely to be visible
and that would also call for measures to adopt to new climatic
changes and new conditions. If this 2-degree Celsius threshold
is overstepped, it has been analyzed that the consequences will
be far more severe, more widespread, and eventually be
irreversible. Climate changes bring with them extreme weather
incidents, like heat waves, acute rainfalls, floods, storms,
drought, and forest fires to begin with. In 1979, at the World
Climate Conference, a scientific gathering, it was said that the
climatic change is a problem and plans were endorsed to
establish a world climate programme under the joint
responsibility of the WMO (World Meteorological
Organization), UNEP (United Nations Environment
Programme) and the ICSU(International Council of Scientific
Unions). In1988, IPCC was established by the WMO and the
UNEP. The IPCC is a scientific establishment that is
responsible to oversee the reviews and assess the most recent
scientific, and socio-economic information produced at a
global scale, relevant to the topic of climate change. In 1990,
the IPCC released the first assessment report stating that the
“emission resulting from human activities are substantially
increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse
gases, which in turn called for a global climate treaty”. In
1992, a United Nations Framework Convention on climate
change was adopted across 196 countries. The countries and
parties of this organization meet on an annual basis at the
Conference of Parties to negotiate multilateral responses to
climate change. The conventions stated the ultimate goals to
stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere to a level enough to prevent dangerous
anthropogenic activities that harm the climate. In 1997, the
Kyoto Protocol was adopted; making it the world's first Green
House Gases Emissions Reduction Treaty based on the
principle of commons but differentiated responsibilities. In
Copenhagen (2009), it was formally accepted that the
optimum change (increase) in the temperature around the
globe must be kept within a 2 degree Celsius range. Currently,
a very huge proportion of the energy need of the world is
fulfilled by Fossil Fuels. To keep the Global Warming Levels
within the regulated boundary of 2-degreeCelsius, sincere
efforts need to be made in the direction of generating power
supply using renewable sources of energy. Inflicting a cost on
Carbon will be one of the most impactful ways to make sure
that the world moves towards a lower carbon era and
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Indu Nashier Gahlawat
Associate Professor, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, University of Delhi,
Bawana-110039, Delhi, India.
Tel: 9811241935
Email: induingahlawat@gmail.com
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Cite as: Integr. J. Soc. Sci., 2020, 7(1), 14-23.
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