Societies and the test of climate
p. 174-175
Texte intégral
Farmwork in Ecuador: a potato field.

© IRD/O. Dangles
1Although the climate risk has sometimes been considered to be the ultimate environmental problem, taking precedence over other questions such as decreasing biodiversity, desertification, pollution, etc., it should now be seen more within the framework of social, economic and political realities. The setting of the climate question will thus be one of the major issues at COP 21, in particular for better taking into account of the position and role of the populations in the South. The scientific community—all disciplines and especially health and social sciences—will participate in this broadening of the question alongside numerous political and civil society stakeholders. The questions of governance and the orientation of the framework of the international negotiations will be in the forefront and must be rethought in such a way as to achieve better integration of climate issues in public and social policy realities, international trade and energy policies.
2The effect of climate change on human health is mentioned several times in the second part of this book and in Part 3 a chapter is devoted to this subject that is indeed at the heart of the climate question. Paradoxically, research on the consequences for health of climate change is still lacking in countries in the South. Health sciences have hardly anticipated the potential effects of global environmental changes. After concentrating research efforts on detailed levels of understanding (molecules, cells, etc.), they have difficulty in taking positions on more global questions. The lack of long-term monitoring of the population also makes it impossible to draw conclusions based on scientific proof. Certain experts consider that if nothing is done, the measures to be taken to strengthen the resilience and health adaptation of African populations will cost several hundred billion euros. The health and well-being of the inhabitants of the tropics should in the future form a ’rampart’ in the face of climate change and be an essential international political priority to compensate the fact that the populations in the South, that are the most vulnerable and the poorest, are often those that make the smallest contribution of greenhouse gas emissions.
3 Agriculture will also have a leading position in negotiations concerning climate policies. Indeed, how can this sector reduce its emissions and feed a planet with a steadily increasing population? What agricultural models might respond to the scale of the food and environmental issues? The capacity for carbon sequestration in the ground is one of the keys but the accurate measurement of the quantities stored is still the subject of much research for assessing the potential role of farming in emission mitigation policies.
4While mitigation was the main approach used to limit global emissions until the end of the 2000s, it has since shown its limits. In the face of warming that now seems inevitable, the themes ’resilience’ and ’adaptation’ are gradually gaining weight. Furthermore, the mobilisation of civil society and its participation in the development of new solutions are becoming unavoidable. This opening up is all the more necessary because the populations in the South have not waited for decisions by experts to adjust their subsistence strategies in response to changes that they are able to perceive and anticipate. Much work is thus devoted to the adaptation capacities of rural populations in the South in relation to their environment and to the legitimacy of local knowledge to guide social dynamics. The adaptive capacity of systems and populations is now better integrated. Communities of researchers in social sciences have played an important role in this dynamics and some of the original work carried out in the South is described here.
5The main themes addressed in Part 3 are international governance, health challenges, agricultural policy issues, local naturalist knowledge and the resilience and adaptation of populations. They are focused on the effects of climate change on societies in the South and also draw on the solutions adopted by the latter to meet them. Human and societal dimensions are thus placed at the heart of the debate on climate.
Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence Licence OpenEdition Books. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.
Changement climatique
Quels défis pour le Sud ?
Serge Janicot, Catherine Aubertin, Martial Bernoux et al. (dir.)
2015
Climate change
What challenges for the South?
Serge Janicot, Catherine Aubertin, Martial Bernoux et al. (dir.)
2015
Hommes et natures. People and natures. Seres humanos y naturalezas
Elisabeth Motte-Florac, Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas et Edmond Dounias
2012
50 ans de recherche pour le développement en Polynésie
Philippe Lacombe, Fabrice Charleux, Corinne Ollier et al. (dir.)
2013