A farmer plants rice in Cambodia, where drought affected thousands of hectares of rice paddy. Photo: AP
via CAAI News Media
By RAYMOND C. OFFENHEISER & MARK TERCEK
3/24/10
The Senate is due to unveil a bipartisan climate and energy package soon. As lawmakers consider it, they must not lose sight of the vital connection between people and nature.
Numerous studies — including last month’s Quadrennial Defense Review by the Penatgon — have detailed how the changing climate could affect people around the world, wreaking havoc on developing nations and punishing the poorest communities.
But why should Americans care about these far-off communities and the climate threats they face? The fact is, their plight is our plight.
Already, more frequent droughts, floods and other climate-related disasters in the most vulnerable countries are forcing entire communities to flee their homes. Military experts predict that conflicts over shrinking food and water supplies will destabilize already shaky governments and economies around the world.
In an age of globalization, these seemingly remote challenges directly affect Americans, from the prices we pay for coffee or cotton clothing to the families who send sons and daughters overseas to serve in war-torn nations.
Our two organizations have different missions — one aimed at supporting communities, the other at protecting nature. But as we increasingly see the effect climate change is having on our work around the world, we share the goal of protecting the communities, both natural and human, we have pledged to help.
In the South American Andes, for example, decreased rainfall is threatening local communities and their greatest source of income — alpaca wool production. “There is no snow, so there is no water,” Cayetano Huanca, a farmer in Peru, told us. “The springs, wetlands, are not the same as they were.”
We hear similar stories elsewhere. In western Zambia, the rainy season now arrives much earlier, causing floods that leave villagers homeless, hungry and vulnerable to disease. In Cambodia, droughts kill rice fields, pressing thousands of farmers and their families to migrate to already crowded cities.
Tackling climate change is not just about lowering carbon dioxide emissions. It is also about helping people and nature survive its inevitable effects.
The reality is that even if we stopped greenhouse gas pollution today, the fallout from 200 years of industrialization would be felt for generations to come.
To shield Americans from the full effects, U.S. leaders should not only take action within U.S. borders but also invest in communities abroad — and the ecosystems they depend on — so that they, too, can overcome the impact of climate change. These investments are as critical as reducing our own carbon footprint.
There is no magic bullet. But in partnerships with hard-hit communities, we are already using a range of successful strategies — from developing better irrigation systems on drought-stricken land, to planting natural buffers like mangroves to protect coastal communities against storm surges, to strengthening food security by keeping coral reefs strong enough to survive warming sea temperatures.
For the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations, these actions can literally mean the difference between life and death. For Americans, money invested around the world to help communities deal with the impact of climate change contributes directly to our security and our way of life. Studies have shown that we save at least $7 in disaster relief for every $1 invested in disaster prevention.
Bold adaptation measures and reliable funding are needed immediately to deal with the effects of climate change today, as well as those that will be felt for decades to come.
The short-term cost will not be cheap. But if we don’t act now, we will pay a far greater cost in the future — in dollars and lives.
In his budget, President Barack Obama requested $334 million to help protect food, water and other natural resources threatened worldwide. This is a good start, but more will be needed.
Senators now working on bipartisan legislation to reduce greenhouse gas pollution should also ensure funding is available to protect people and nature from climate change.
As Congress grinds through the appropriations season and continues to debate clean energy and climate legislation, our elected leaders have the opportunity to demonstrate, once again, America’s leadership as a defender of global economic health and political stability.
By investing in healthy communities and ecosystems around the world, not only can we help those who are most vulnerable, we can also keep America’s communities and way of life strong and secure here at home.
Raymond C. Offenheiser is the president of Oxfam America. Mark Tercek is the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy.
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