Mitigation and adaptation for climate change

Question 1

What does it mean to mitigate?

Answer 1

to prevent something i.e., rebalance the carbon cycle and reduce any impacts of climate change

Question 2

How might climate change be mitigated?

Answer 2

Afforestation
Recycling
Renewables
CCS
Efficient tech
Carbon tax

Question 3

How does afforestation mitigate climate change?

Answer 3

Increase the carbon store

Question 4

How does recycling mitigate climate change?

Answer 4

Paper= fewer trees deforested
Cans= less mining/ reduced deforestation
Plastic= less oil used/ reduction in GHGs

Question 5

How will using renewables mitigate climate change?

Answer 5

Reduction in GHGs

Question 6

How much carbon will be saved per year by reducing house temp by 1*C?

Answer 6

1/3 of a tonne

Question 7

How does CCS prevent climate change?

Answer 7

Prevents CO2 entering atmospheric store

Question 8

How can efficiency help mitigate climate change?

Answer 8

efficient appliances reduces GHGs

Question 9

What is adaptation? (Climate change)

Answer 9

passive, adopt new ways of doing things in order to live with the likely outcomes of climate change

Question 10

What does the IPCC say are the main 2 ways of dealing with climate change?

Answer 10

Adaptation
Mitigation

Question 11

What are some adaptation examples?

Answer 11

Land use planning
Solar radiation management
Water conservation and management
Resilient agricultural systems

Question 12

What are the players in mitigating climate change?

Answer 12

Government
Business
Individual

Question 13

How are the government a player in mitigating climate change?

Answer 13

Sign up to agreements
Join IGO’s
Make decisions (Trump and Bush pulled out of agreements)
Taxation on pollution (clean air zones)

Question 14

What is an example of a business mitigating its climate impact?

Answer 14

Google

Question 15

How do google mitigate climate change?

Answer 15

electric cars for staff (solar charged)
Biodiesel shuttles
Campus covered in 9200 panels of solar (30% of load)
Encourage cycling (charity credits)

Question 16

How can the individual help mitigate climate change?

Answer 16

Vote for governments with greener policies
Lobby governments
Subscribe to charities (Donate)
Veto businesses who aren’t green

Question 17

What is the role of charities and environmental groups to mitigate climate chnage?

Answer 17

Greenpeace
Lobby/ pressure government into making change
Not very powerful unless combined

Question 18

When was the Kyoto protocol signed?

Answer 18

December 11th 1997

Question 19

What was the point of the Kyoto protocol?

Answer 19

making industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets.

Question 20

What was the main part of the Kyoto protocol?

Answer 20

Carbon credits that developing to sell to developed nations so the developed nations could release more carbon

Question 21

How much carbon is one carbon credit worth?

Answer 21

1 ton

Question 22

Was the Kyoto protocol successful?

Answer 22

No developed nations were able to get around emissions by buying lots of carbon credits

Question 23

What was the main reason the Kyoto protocol wasn’t successful?

Answer 23

China and India never signed
USA left in 2001these are the 3 biggest polluters

Question 24

What was the replacement for the Kyoto protocol?

Answer 24

the Paris agreement 2016

Question 25

What was the aim of the Paris agreement?

Answer 25

not to go above 1.5*c pre-industrial average as anything above 2*c rise is thought to be harmful Net 0 emissions by 2065

Question 26

What is the rise in average temperature thought to be by 2100?

Answer 26

2.1*c

Question 27

What was the reason for America leaving Paris agreement?

Answer 27

Trump being a climate change denier

Question 28

How much did rich nations pledge to poor nations in the Paris agreement?

Answer 28

US$ 100 billion

Question 29

Why is the Paris agreement not successful?

Answer 29

No force to meet targets and reporting may be inaccurate USA pulled out under trump

Question 30

What might make the most polluting countries more likely to follow the Paris agreement?

Answer 30

Bottom-up internal pressures as the population is affect by climate change

Question 31

How much will it cost to take carbon out of the atmosphere in 2030?

Answer 31

US$ 16.5 trillion

Question 32

What 2 types of adaptation strategies are there?

Answer 32

Hard- using tech Soft- legislation (building on flood plains)

Question 33

Which type of adaptation strategy is used by countries?

Answer 33

varies between countries Democracies may encounter more delays than authoritarian led countries (China) because of public debate and changed in policy following election

Question 34

Is adaptation a short or long term solution?

Answer 34

Short term

Question 35

What is solar radiation mangement?

Answer 35

managing intensity if solar radiation through geo-engineering

Question 36

What is an example of solar radiation management?

Answer 36

Adding sulphur particles to the stratosphere: aerosol particles formed would reflect suns energy back into space

Question 37

What are the problems with using sulphur to manage solar radiation?

Answer 37

May cause unpredictable weather changes (reduce evaporation) May effect stability of the ozone layer Increase acid rain risk over a large area

Question 38

What is an example of a river that requires water conservation and management?

Answer 38

The Lower Mekong river basin ( Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam)

Question 39

How many people rely upon the lower Mekong?

Answer 39

60 million for rice and fish

Question 40

What problem has the lower Mekong faced?

Answer 40

In 2016 there were no transboundary agreements for its use and only 11% of national plans considered it

Question 41

What is a example of adaptation by resilient agriculture systems?

Answer 41

North China plants crops early or late to match climate change (crops designed to withstand higher temps)

Question 42

How much could Chinas maize yield increase by 2050 due to resilient agriculture?

Answer 42

15.2%

Question 43

How can land use planning be a climate adaptation strategy?

Answer 43

Areas of increased risk from coastal or river flooding can be zoned through urban planning and laws so that people and valuable property are not in them

Question 44

What is an example of an area that is taking flood risk management very seriously?

Answer 44

Australia

Question 45

What is Australia doing to manage its flood risk?

Answer 45

Making all housing on flood plains more flood resilient with raised floors, stronger pile foundations and water resilient material Where possible people relocated Wetlands become overspill

Question 46

what are the problems with Australia's flood management?

Answer 46

High cost of relocation Reduced property value in redzone areas Locals contesting changes