1. GLOBAL
WARMING
AND
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
OMOWOLE DORCAS
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
FIRST ANNUAL LECTURE
INSTITUTE OF ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF IFE
2008

2. ABSTRACT
This paper examines the influence of carbon emissions on sustainable development. Carbon is an important greenhouse
gas and its presence in the atmosphere in recent times has led to an increase in the earth’s atmosphere; a phenomenon
called global warming. This paper considers how far global warming would take us farther away from sustainable
development and the alternatives that we can make use of to halt global warming in the course of its destructive
mission. The choice, as always, is ours.
INTRODUCTION: WHAT ARE THE LINKAGES?
Sustainable development is now an important policy priority for the world. The most commonly used definition of the
term sustainable development is one that originated with the 1987 report, “Our Common Future” by the World
Commission on Environment and Development [known as the Brundtland Commission]. It states that, “Humanity has
the ability to make development sustainable – to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Development refers to some set of desirable goals for society. These goals include the basic aim securing a rising level of
real income per capita [standard of living], with an increasing emphasis now being placed on the ‘quality of life’, on the
health of the population, on educational standards and general social well-being. Sustainable development, therefore,
involves coming up with a social and economic system which ensures that these goals are sustained – that real incomes
rise, educational standards rise, the health of the nation improves, and the ‘quality of life’ improves.
Fundamental to an understanding of Sustainable development is the fact that the economy is not separate from the
environment in which we live. There is interdependence because the way we manage the economy impacts on the
environment and because environmental quality impacts on the performance of the economy. The indiscriminate use of
chlorofluorocarbons had to be curtailed because of its negative influence on the ozone layer and in effect on human
health and economic productivity. Our use of fossil fuels is driven by the goals of economic growth and that process is
and will continue to affect global climate. In turn, climate warming and sea level rise will affect the performance of
economies. Furthermore, economic systems impact on the environment by using up resources, by emitting waste
products to receiving environmental media attention, by changing the aesthetic function of natural and built
environment, and constituting the ‘new’ environmental challenge for the twenty-first century – by altering the global life
support on which we all depend.
Sustainable development is feasible. It requires a shift in the balance of the way economic progress is pursued.
Environmental concerns must be properly integrated into economic policy at all levels. The environment must be seen
as a valuable and essential input to human well-being. In addition to which guidelines must be laid down as to how
environmental considerations might be embraced. This would be evidenced as change in our consumption pattern
towards more environmentally friendly products and a change in investment pattern towards augmenting
environmental capital, such that we leave the next generation a stock of ‘quality of life’ assets no less than those we
have inherited.
“Development and Conservation are equally necessary for the discharge of our responsibilities as trustees of natural
resources for the generations to come.” [World Conservation Strategy [IUCN], 1980].

3. GLOBAL WARMING
In recent years, scientists noticed that the average temperature of the Earth was increasing and looked for causes of the
change. It is clear that the Earth has had changes in its average temperature many times in the geologic past before
humans were present. So scientists initially tried to determine if the warming was a natural phenomenon or the result of
human activity. Several gases such as carbon dioxide [from the burning of fossil fuels, from power houses, industry,
transport, burning rainforests and respiration], methane [from decaying vegetation [peat and in swamps],farming
[fermenting animal dung and from rice paddies, sewage disposal and landfill sites], nitrous oxides [from vehicle
exhausts, fertilizers, nylon manufacture and power stations], chlorofluorocarbons [from refrigerators, aerosol, sprays,
solvents and foams] are known as greenhouse gases because they let sunshine enter the atmosphere but slow the loss
of heat from the Earth’s surface.
Evidence of past climate going back as far as 160,000 years, indicate a close correlation between the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and global temperatures. Computer simulations of climate indicate that global
temperatures will rise as atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases increase, and there are many other effects
predicted by an increase in temperature. Computer models have predicted a potential rise in temperature of between
1.5 and 4.5 degree Celsius by 2050.
Because major disagreements arose over the significance of global warming, the United Nations Environmental
Programme established an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] to study the issue and make
recommendations. Its First Assessment was published in 1990. The IPCC published its Second Assessment and concluded
that climate change is occurring and that it is highly probable that human activity is an important cause of the damage.
The IPCC has reached several important conclusions:
1. The average temperature of the Earth has increased 0.3 to 0.6 degree Celsius in the past 100 years. 1998 was
the warmest year on record. 2002 was the second warmest and 2003 was the third warmest. During that same period,
sea level has risen 10 to 25 centimetres [4-10 inches].
2. A strong correlation exists between the increase in temperature and the concentration of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere.
3. Human activity greatly increases the amount of these greenhouse gases.
Carbon constitutes 60 per cent of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. If carbon emissions are
curtailed, it will have a massive impact on global warming
The greenhouse gases absorb the radiation from the Sun heating up the lower atmosphere. These gases initially made to
make earth habitable may end up making earth inhabitable. Climate change and variability are the result. Computer
models suggest that rising temperature will lead to increased incidences of severe weather changes in rainfall patterns
that would result in more rain in some areas and drought in others. These models suggest that the magnitude and rate
of change will differ from region to region.
A warmer Earth would result in rising sea levels for two different reasons. When water increases in temperature, it
expands and takes up more space. In addition, a warming of the Earth would result in the melting of glaciers, which
would add more water to the oceans. Rising sea level erodes beaches and coastal wetlands, inundates low-lying areas,
and increases the vulnerability of coastal areas to flooding from storm surges and intense rainfall. By 2100, sea level is
expected to rise by 15 to 90 centimeters [ 6-35 inches]. A 50-centimeter [20-inch] sea level rise will result in substantial
loss of coastal land in North America, especially along the Southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts, which are subsiding and are

4. partially vulnerable. The fertile and densely populated Nile Delta in Egypt and the Bengal delta region, which covers 80
per cent of Bangladesh are already subject to violent storms that cause disastrous floods. Forty six million people may
lose their homes and livelihoods in the two deltas alone. Similarly, a rise in sea level could also wipe out entire island
nations such as the Maldives, none of which is more than a meter or two above sea level and the resultant upsurge in
environmental refugees.
Disruptions in the hydrological cycle would also be introduced. Rising temperature is expected to result in increased
evaporation, which will cause some areas to become drier, while the increased moisture in the air would result in
greater rainfall in other areas. This is expected to cause drought in some areas and flooding in others. In those areas,
where evaporation increases more than precipitation, soil will become drier, lake levels will drop and rivers will carry
less water. Lower river flows and lake levels could impair navigation, hydroelectric power generation and water quality,
and reduce the supplies of water available for agricultural, residential, and industrial uses.
Climate change will also aggravate air-quality problems. Higher air temperatures increases the concentration of ozone at
ground levels, which leads to injury of lung issue and intensifies the effects of air borne pollen and spores that cause
respiratory disease, asthma, and allergic disorders – of which children are the most vulnerable. The high levels of asthma
in children in London during the hot summer of 1994 and in Paris in 1995 were linked to traffic pollution. The problem
was so acute that health warnings were broadcast in both countries.
The ozone layer is also thinning out under the influence of the greenhouse gases. Hence, we are loosing our shield
against the damaging effects of the ultraviolet [UV] radiation from the Sun. An increase in ultraviolet radiation means
increases in sunburn and skin cancer, snow blindness, cataracts and eye damage, ageing and the wrinkling of skin.
Finally, the most serious effects of global warming and climate change may not have surfaced yet.
WHAT REALLY LIES WITHIN OUR POWER?
Environmental resources are limited and their use in production and consumption activities may lead to their
deterioration. When the cost of this deterioration is not adequately taken into taken into account in the price system,
the market fails to reflect the scarcity of such resources both at the national and international levels. The basic
mechanisms of making the polluter pay are:
1. By setting standards, the cost of achieving which is essentially borne by the producer
2. By setting charges or taxes on the polluting product or input.
3. By setting a standard, issuing pollution permits in amounts consistent with the standard and allowing those
permits to be traded.
Policy makers may set a goal of no net loss of environmental assets. If an environmental resource is damaged or
depleted in one area, a resource of equal or greater value should be generated elsewhere. Capital assets should be
computed to include manufactured capital and environmental capital. By this, Sustainable development requires that
these overall capital assets not be decreasing and that these overall capital assets not be decreasing and that the correct
measure of sustainable national income is the amount that can be consumed without diminishing the stock. The longer
the delay, the more the world is committed to increased warming and increased damage; because future adjustment is
likely to be expensive. Environmental foresight can preserve the environment for future generations. As steps are taken
now to prevent these problems, the present generation can minimize the environmental and financial debts that its
children will incur.

5. In certain pockets on the earth surface, there have been success stories, such as th Clean Air Act [1990], and the removal
of lead additives from Gasoline in North America and much of Europe.
WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?
The public should be well informed about the environmental threats of carbon emissions and global warming.
Environmental institutions aided by informed public support will play a critical role in devising and implementing
effective national and international responses to emerging issues. An easy to identify solution to this predicament is the
provision of clean energy. According to Klaus Toepfer, director United Nations Environment Programme [2001],
“The potential for rapid technological innovation leading to clean energy is clearly extraordinary, Governments need to
unleash this potential.”
The technology to harness solar and wind energy might still be costly now, but there another workable alternatives
especially for automobiles, such as unleaded petrol, compressed Natural Gas [CNG], methanol, Hydrogen, Propane.
Given the scope, urgency and complexity of the challenges before us, the efforts now underway around the world fall
short of what is needed. An era of unprecedented global co-operation and commitment is essential. The necessary
changes go beyond the capability of any single nation. It is high time national governments, environmental institutes,
and all stakeholders to promote a workable plan to remove all barriers to sustainable development from corruption to
environmental degradation and many others.
“If there must be a war, let it be against environmental contamination, nuclear contamination, chemical contamination;
against the bankruptcy of soil and water systems; against the driving away of people away from the lands as
environmental refugees. If there must be war let it be against those who assault people and other forms of life by
profiteering at the expense of nature’s capacity to support life. If there must be war, let the weapons be your healing
hands, the hands of the world’s youth in defense of the environment.”
- Mustafa Tolba, Former Secretary General, United Nations Environment Programme.

6. REFERENCES
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