The 21st Century climate challenge

OverviewFighting climate change:human solidarity in a divided world“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. We are faced now with thefact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In thisunfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late…We maycry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea andrushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations arewritten the pathetic words: Too late.”Martin Luther King Jr. ‘Where do we go from here: chaos or community’Delivered in a sermon on social justice fourdecades ago, Martin Luther King’s words retaina powerful resonance. At the start of the21 st Century, we too are confronted with the“fierce urgency” of a crisis that links today andtomorrow. That crisis is climate change. It isstill a preventable crisis—but only just. Theworld has less than a decade to change course.No issue merits more urgent attention—ormore immediate action.Climate change is the defining humandevelopment issue of our generation. All developmentis ultimately about expanding humanpotential and enlarging human freedom. It isabout people developing the capabilities thatempower them to make choices and to leadlives that they value. Climate change threatensto erode human freedoms and limit choice. Itcalls into question the Enlightenment principlethat human progress will make the futurelook better than the past.The early warning signs are already visible.Today, we are witnessing at first hand whatcould be the onset of major human developmentreversal in our lifetime. Across developingcountries, millions of the world’s poorestpeople are already being forced to cope withthe impacts of climate change. These impactsdo not register as apocalyptic events in thefull glare of world media attention. They gounnoticed in financial markets and in themeasurement of world gross domestic product(GDP). But increased exposure to drought,to more intense storms, to floods and environmentalstress is holding back the effortsof the world’s poor to build a better life forthemselves and their children.Climate change will undermine internationalefforts to combat poverty. Seven yearsago, political leaders around the world gatheredto set targets for accelerated progress in humandevelopment. The Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) defined a new ambition for 2015.Much has been achieved, though many countriesremain off track. Climate change is hamperingefforts to deliver the MDG promise. Looking tothe future, the danger is that it will stall and thenreverse progress built-up over generations not justin cutting extreme poverty, but in health, nutrition,education and other areas.HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008 1