The Challenge
The climate is changing and the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) reports there is high agreement and much evidence that if current development practices continue greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow over the next few decades and if this happens it is very likely that changes in the global climate system this century will be larger than those in the last century.
Many developing countries are located in parts of the world that are already climatically sensitive. In tropical regions, for example, family farmers currently struggle to cope with a changing climate. Further climate change in the form of increased temperatures, less predictable rainfall patterns and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events leading to shocks such as floods and stresses such as drought will aggravate vulnerability and bring higher costs with few benefits.
The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.
The second-best time is now.
African Proverb.