Oxfam Education Climate Change: The Human Impact Presentation. Outline. Learning Objectives. Resources.

Transcription

1 Climate Change: The Human Impact Presentation Oxfam Education Age range: Time: minutes Outline The presentation provides an overview of climate change.it explores what climate change is and how it is having an impact on the worlds poorest communities. It also highlights Oxfam s GROW campaign, and opportunities for young people to take action and make a difference. Extension activities are available at /resources/november_climate/ Learning Objectives Find out: o What Climate Change is o How Climate Change has an impact on the worlds poorest people Begin to discover what can be done by us, and our government. Consider what they may be able to do to help Resources PowerPoint Presentation Curricular links Geography Citizenship Keywords Climate Change Page 1

2 Presentation Script Slide 1 Climate Change: The Human Impact Slide 2 Sea What ice? do Sea you ice think about when you think about climate change? Introduce yourself. Our message to you here today is that climate change is having an impact on some of the poorest communities around the world, and we have an opportunity to make a difference by raising awareness and influencing global decision makers. Please listen carefully and we hope you enjoy our presentation. What do you think about when they think about climate change? Well many people, 26% 1, say that they don t know. 13% 2 of people, say they think about the melting ice caps 3. And the same percentage of people 4 think about the affects climate change on the weather. 1,2,4: YouGov Poll, August 2009, Q: In your opinion who or what is currently being MOST affected by climate change? Base: 2126 Adults. 3. Picture from* decline.htm Page 2

3 Slide 3 Only 3% 1 of the UK public associate people in developing countries with climate change.but the reality is that its the people in the poorest parts of the world that are already feeling its full force. They are experiencing floods, droughts, food and water shortages and having to cope with worsening disasters. This is a picture of Anna who is 26 and lives in Bangladesh. She cooks food on a banana raft in front of her kitchen, after the region was heavily affected by floods. Bangladesh is set to lose up to 17% of its land by 2050 because of rising sea levels due to global warming. Please just take a moment to consider the same situation in this country. How would it affect your life? How would you feel? Slide 4 Global impacts of climate change 1: YouGov Poll, August 2009, Q: In your opinion who or what is currently being MOST affected by climate change? Climate change is happening because of man made pollution. Every time we do things such as drive cars, burn coal to make electricity or fly off on holiday, we emit CO2, a gas which is gradually making the world warmer. This image shows that people around the world are already struggling to adapt to the changing climate. The countries coloured in orange and red are experiencing the highest number of climate change related deaths 1. Ask the audience: What are the similarities between the red orange and yellow countries? The answers are - They are the worst affected by climate change, they tend to be in hotter countries, they are the poorer countries. 1: McMichael, JJ, Campbell-Lendrum D, Kovats RS, et al. Global Climate Change. In comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease due to Selected Major Risk Factors. M, Ezzati, Lopez, AD, Rodgers A., Murray CJL. Page 3

4 Slide 5 Are the numbers of people affected by disasters increasing? Climate change means more people are affected by climate change. In 1980 about 70 million people per year were affected by natural disasters. By 2015 this figure is set to have risen to 350 million people affected. Ask the audience: Can you guess what percentage of people affected by natural disasters live in developing countries? Well, between 1990 and % of all the World s natural disasters occurred in developing countries. Slide 6 Image from: The Right to Survive. The humanitarian challenge for the twenty-first century Oxfam International In response to this people from all over the world are saying should save humans too! Climate change is a global problem needing global solutions, so the world need to act together. World leaders meet every December at a big United Nations (UN) conference, to discuss, and attempt to agree on how they can work together to tackle climate change. This December they are meeting in Durban, South Africa, and Oxfam believes these talks are critical to protected the world s poorest people from the worst impacts of climate change, and help them deal with the effects they are already facing. Now we will show you some true stories about people living with climate change Page 4

5 Slide 7 As shown, the number of people affected by natural disasters is on the increase. In this picture Bernadette Henri, 41, sits where her fish shop used to be in Haiti. It was destroyed by Hurricane Dean in Increased natural disasters Slide 8 She says "I don't have a husband and I have four children to take care of. I am the only person in the family who provides for everyone. I will do my best to get my shop back but at this moment I have no idea how I will do that. I have never witnessed a hurricane like this. I ve noticed when it rains it rains harder and the hurricanes are stronger." By 2050 one billion people will be forced to move from their homes 1. Increased population and movement In this picture more than one thousand climate refugees are crammed together in makeshift shelters in the grounds of a primary school in Tala, in Bangladesh. They sleep in basic bamboo structures with only a plastic sheet as a roof. They were forced to move here in September 2008, when heavy flooding destroyed their homes. Slide 9 Food and Water shortages 1: Christian Aid (2007) Human Tide: the Real Migration Crisis, London: Christian Aid, (last accessed November 2008). A major human development agency 1 says that if we do nothing about climate change an extra 600 million people will be malnourished by climate change by In this picture: A farmer sits on his parched paddy field during the worst drought that has affected Tezpur in India. Farmers in northeast India are having tough time due to less rainfall and extreme heat this year. In Assam state alone a total of 800,000 farmers have been affected. 1. UNDP: United Nations Development Programme 2. Human Development Report 2007/2008 Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world Page 5

6 Slide 10 Adapting to climate change But the situation is not hopeless. People can be helped to help themselves in the struggle against climate change. Organisations like Oxfam are helping people to adapt to climate change by assisting them with crops that can deal with the changing climate and by making sure these communities are better prepared for extreme weather events in the future, too. That means things like raising homes up on stilts, or providing early warning systems for when disasters strike. This is a picture of Sufia who is 32, and lost her 5 year old son during the last floods. Oxfam s partner has helped her raise her home above the flood level. She says Now, my house has been raised. I can stay with my children on a dry place during flood. I feel very happy about it. So this is how organisations such as Oxfam are helping people directly.but how can you help? (Ask the audience) Note to presenters: When you ask people how they can help they are likely to talk about fundraising or environmentally friendly actions like switching off lights and driving less. In the next slide point out that YES, you can do that thing but it needs to be emphasised how important it is to take action which tackles this issue at a global level. In December 2012 we have an opportunity to do just this by urging world leaders to tackle this issue at the UN conference in Durban. Slide 11 Join Oxfam s GROW campaign! Climate Change is one of the reasons why 1 in 7 people around the world don t have enough food to eat. Oxfam s GROW campaign aims to address this, and challenges world governments agree a deal which reduces global carbon emissions, and helps the worlds poorest people adapt to the impact of climate change. There is no better time to take campaigning action then now in the run up to the annual UN Climate Change conference that we ve already mentioned taking place in Durban, South Africa at the beginning of December. Page 6

7 Campaigning is about making your voice heard by, raising awareness of an issue and influencing people in power to change things for the better. You can do this by putting on a show or organising an event, learning and performing a song to raise awareness, speaking to friends and family about the issue, getting in touch with your MP... the possibilities are endless If you d like to take this further then come and speak to me at the end and I can give you more information about how you can take this forward. NOTE FOR PRESENTER: What to do if young people come forward: Please discuss with them what they d be interested in doing, and help them find way s to take this forward. You could give them a copy of Oxfam s youth climate change action guide, available online at Slide 12 Thank you! Or put them in touch with their nearest Oxfam Youth & Schools coordinator for support - Thank you for your time. Oxfam your GROW campaign action on youthteam@oxfam.org.uk Page 7