Facing up to Climate Change in the Modern World

The UN has been making the effects of the earth’s changing climate one of its main priorities for over 30 years now, having started it with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The initial aim of MDG 7 was to integrate sustainable development into countries’ policies, reversing the damage being done to the environment, over dependency on its resources and halving the number of the world’s population that has no access to clean water and sanitation.

Specifically, considerations for the earth’s forests, a safety net for the poor, had to be a part of the vision, as they were and still are disappearing at an alarming rate. Desirable was to bring down the net loss of forests from 8.3 million hectares, annually, in 1990 to 5.2 million by 2010. It was not fully met by the deadline but achieved significant, if uneven, progress. Getting safe water and reducing child and maternal mortality to acceptable levels was more of a success.

Next was the Kyoto Protocol put in place in 1997, an international treaty that mandated developed countries to bring down the level of greenhouse emissions. This was deemed to be a major player in the emergence of climate change. Its signatories aimed to cut emissions 5% from the 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

Gases targeted by the protocol were six greenhouse gases, most prominently CO2 and methane. Transportation is considered to be a prime candidate for the reduction of CO2 emissions as it accounts for ¼ of the world’s total figure, with road traffic making up ¾ of this. It is certainly being targeted with electric vehicles, buses and lorries becoming a regular feature in towns and cities.

In the shipping and aviation industries, who face major changes in how to manage issues such as propulsion, it is hoped to bring down the emissions figure by a minimum of 50% by 2050. Awareness and then the installation of the new processes involved in these changes will undeniably change the nature of the maritime careers and those responsible for the design and effectiveness of aircraft engines and fuel for the foreseeable future.

Technological developments in the management of traffic systems being suggested by the likes of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) will hopefully create a safer, greener, more efficient transport network. This is seen also to represent an economic benefit as it supports jobs, economic growth and tax revenues.

ITS and its partners at DigData have instigated a major new skills initiative (Project ROUTE), designed to give the next generation a push into imagining and therefore improving the way transport is organized and managed around the UK.

Project ROUTE is set to reach up to 10,000 students, with 5,000 on-line and in-person work experience opportunities, ultimately targeting 100 high-quality industry placements.

The transport sector is undergoing rapid change, driven by AI, and therefore the demand for data-literate professionals is preeminent. It is called the talent pipeline and the sooner we can raise awareness of the requirements of the digital industries, the sooner we will have a knowledgeable and proficient workforce who can tackle the issues brought to us by climate change.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Bdaily Publishing .