Seite - (000023) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

unequivocally that therehasbeenanunprecedentedwarmingof theglobal climate systemsince the1950sandthat thiswarminghasbeeninfluencedbyhumanactions (IPCC 2015). The anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases have increased constantlysince thepre-industrial level,driven largelybyeconomicandpopulation growth, and are now at the highest historical peak. The impacts of the climate changewill affect – and are already affecting – all people and parts of theworld often in negative and sometimesunexpectedways.Urgent and concerted action is required toaddressclimatechallenges throughmitigationeffortsaswell as through improving theways inwhichsocietiesand theglobaleconomicsystemadapt to the effects of climate change.Actions have been initiated onmultiple fronts.What is needed is evidence-informed understanding of the effectiveness and efficiency of such actions. Therefore, robust evaluation is a must. That is what this book focuses on. Theyear 2015was ahistoric turningpoint for global actiononclimate change. The Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)wasadoptedbytheConferenceofParties in its21stSession.1TheParis Agreement is a binding commitment intended to set theworldonapath towards a zero-carbon, resilient, prosperous and fair future. In2015, theplanof actioncalled the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was also adopted by member States of the United Nations.2The seventeenSDGsare universal and share a commonglobal visionof progress towards a safe, just and sustainable space for all human beings. They reflect themoralprinciples thatnooneandnocountryshouldbeleftbehindandthat everyone and every country should share a common responsibility for delivering the global vision. Specifically goal 13 calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, recognizing the key linkages of climate change to devel- opment and humanwellbeing. Goal 13 also refers to theUNFCCC as the global forumtotackleclimatechange.Also in2015, theThirdUNConferenceonDisaster Reduction in the Japanese city of Sendai adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction 2015–2030which also identifies climate change as one of the drivers of increased disaster risk.3 All these political commitments at the global leveldemonstrate theurgentconcernof the internationalcommunityandindividual governments forclimatechangeand itsdirect impactsonsustainabledevelopment. Impacts of changing climate express themselves in a multitude of ways.4 Alreadynowmeltingsnowand ice,andchangingprecipitationpatternsarealtering hydrological systemsaffectingwater resources quantity, quality andcontinuity, as 1Adoption of the Paris Agreement. Conference of the Parties Twenty-first session, Paris, 30 November to 11 December 2015. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1. (https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01. pdf, downloaded8April 2016). 2https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs (downloaded8April 2016). 3http://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf(downloaded8April2016). 4Unless otherwise indicated, this section is basedon IPCC2015. 2 J.I.Uitto et al.