Information Booklet V4.0

Introduction

The Global Assembly is a gathering of world citizens to discuss the pressing climate and ecological emergency.

What is a citizens’ assembly?

A citizens’ assembly is a group of people from all different walks of life, who come together to learn about a certain topic, to deliberate on possible action and to make recommendations to governments and leaders. Members of a citizens’ assembly represent a miniature version of the place in question (say, a country or city) based on demographic criteria such as gender, age, income and education level.

What is the Global Assembly?

Later this year, there will be United Nations conferences of world leaders in Scotland and China to discuss what to do about climate change and ecological collapse. In the lead up to these COP (Conference of the Parties) climate negotiations, the Global Assembly is bringing together a group of 100 people, representing a snapshot of the population of the entire planet to learn about the climate and ecological crisis, to deliberate and make recommendations at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

Introduction to the learning materials

The climate and ecological emergency is a complex topic and the result of many interconnected historical, social, economic and political factors. Although it can sometimes seem like a very modern problem, the roots of it go back many generations and at least two centuries.

This booklet is an introduction to some of the most important themes related to the climate and ecological emergency. To create these materials, we asked a committee of experts and leaders in the field to contribute their knowledge, wisdom and feedback. There are so many windows into the climate and ecological crisis and we have done the best we can to give a snapshot into the dominant themes, facts, and figures in a way that is concise and readable.

There is no pressure to read it all in one go. It is intended as a reference guide, and we hope it will be useful for you in your engagement with the Global Assembly.

More detailed meanings for the words highlighted in bold can be found in the “Glossary” section at the back of the booklet. Throughout this booklet temperature is given in the measurement of degrees Celsius (°C). Please refer to the glossary for translations to Fahrenheit (°F).

Executive Summary

What will the world be like for future generations in the year 2050?

Every child being born today will face the profound consequences of human-induced climate change and loss of biodiversity (degradation of nature). It’s no longer a question of “if”, but “how much”. The extent to which future generations will be affected depends on what we do now. Although a certain amount of warming and biodiversity loss are “locked in” for the future, there is still time to work together and limit further changes in climate and the loss of biodiversity.

Our Planet Earth is in crisis. The causes of this climate and ecological crisis are rooted in history, to the worldviews that shaped the way that many of the economically “richest” societies operate today. Many people alive today see nature as something separate from themselves, when in fact humans are extremely dependent on nature to survive.

Climate change, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, and air and water pollution are highly interconnected. The quality of life of future generations will depend on the action that current generations take today to address these issues. Switching to renewable energy systems, conserving and restoring ecosystems and finding new, and better, ways to relate to nature will all be extremely important steps in the years to come. A recent survey found that a majority of people in all regions of the world support action against climate change, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect daily life.

The challenge of the next decade will be to continue to exert pressure on governments and decision makers to act on this sentiment, build solidarity between people and the planet, mitigate and adapt to climate change and transition to more sustainable ways of living.

Key Messages

• Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, are causing the world’s temperature to rise. Rising global temperatures are affecting our climate and weather patterns in ways that are “inevitable and irreversible’.
• As a result of pollution, climate change, destruction of natural habitats and exploitation, one million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction.
• Climate change and the loss of biodiversity threaten food and water security and human health.

Climate change is mostly being driven by an excess of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the most important human-produced greenhouse gas, is produced when humans burn fossil fuels for energy and transport, and when forests are destroyed. In the past two centuries this has caused the planet to warm by 1.2 degrees Celsius (°C) or 34.16 degrees Fahrenheit (°F). Scientists say that global warming of 2°C (35.6°F) will be exceeded during the 21st century, unless there are significant reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. Although it doesn’t sound like a lot, this means the loss of lives and livelihoods for millions.

Rising temperatures means the Earth is now experiencing more frequent and intense heat waves, forest fires and crop failures. It also means big changes to rainfall, with much more rain in some places and less in others, leading to drought and flooding.

Human activities on Earth are having a devastating impact on plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. As a result of pollution, climate change, destruction of natural habitats and exploitation, one million out of the Earth’s eight million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction.

A lack of species diversity weakens ecosystems, making them more vulnerable to diseases and extreme weather and less capable of providing for the needs and wellbeing of humans.

• Biodiversity loss is less severe on land that is managed or run by indigenous and original people.

Much of the world’s biodiversity exists on the traditional and ancestral lands of indigenous and original people. Indigenous cultures have managed to live in harmony with nature for millennia, and possess valuable knowledge for conserving and restoring ecosystems and cultivating biodiversity. However, a long history of colonisation and marginalisation means that many of these communities have been forced or impelled to leave their livelihoods and ancestral lands, or become climate refugees due to climate change related disasters. As a result these unique cultures, knowledge systems, languages and identities are also under threat.

• Climate change and loss of biodiversity is influenced by philosophies and worldviews that developed many centuries ago in the world’s richest countries, but continue to be influential today.

At the roots of the climate and ecological crisis is the dominant worldview in rich countries that humans are essentially separate from nature, and not dependent on it for life and livelihood. Today ‘economic growth’ is often used as a marker of progress and development. However, economics, and specifically the idea of economic growth, is based on the idea that humans can, and should, dominate and exploit nature. This worldview has its roots in European history and philosophy, when influential thinkers of the time wrote about how mankind was superior to nature, and how it was the right of humans to dominate over nature. The ideas that were first spread around this time were extremely influential over the following centuries, and helped to inform the laws, technologies and ways of life that are at the foundation of many rich societies today.

• Not all countries are equally responsible for climate change, rich countries have contributed the most overtime.

Burning fossil fuels is linked to economic development. As a result of this, rich countries like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the countries in the European Union have produced the largest amount of greenhouse gases over time. Now, as the world population grows and countries like China and India follow the same path as rich countries, more and more people are burning fossil fuels every year.

• Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we will not be able to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (35.6°F). This will have significant impacts on human well-being.

Living with climate change means living with uncertainty. One of these uncertainties is around the idea of a ‘tipping point’. Climate tipping points are a ‘point of no return’, when the combined effects of climate change result in irreversible damages that would ‘cascade’ across the world, like dominos. Once a tipping point is reached, a series of events is triggered, leading towards the creation of a planet that is inhospitable for many people and other lifeforms. Science cannot predict with any certainty when a tipping point might be reached.

• In 2015, world leaders met in Paris and agreed to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably 1.5 degrees celsius.

• If all the current goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are met - and we don’t know yet if they will - this is likely to result in at least 3°C (37.4°F) of global warming, despite the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to well below 2°C.

• Many of the commitments of the Paris Agreement by poorer countries may not be implemented because they are dependent on financial support from abroad. So far little international support has materialised.

Countries are expected to increase their commitment every five years. Since Paris, some progress has already been achieved. However things are not moving fast enough. At the current rate, warming will reach 1.5°C by around 2030 and continue to increase if action is not taken now.

• Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of people in 50 countries across the world now believe that climate change is a global emergency.

• To keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C within reach, the 2020s need to be the decade of significantly reducing emissions globally.

World leaders will meet in Glasgow later this year to talk about what to do about the climate emergency, and in China to talk about the ecological emergency. It is vital that Governments start to recognise the interactions between these two issues, and develop mutually compatible goals, targets and actions.

Now that the goals of the Paris Agreement have been set, the Glasgow CO26 should be about creating a more detailed roadmap of how to achieve them. Some important questions for the conference will include how to agree on more effective near-term emission reductions, e.g. by transitioning away from fossil fuels this decade, limiting deforestation, and how to convert net-zero pledges into action.