The Earth is warming. NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, takes the view that the scientific data on climate change are conclusive. The polar ice caps are melting, their white reflective surface replaced by the ocean’s blue which absorbs more heat, setting up a feedback loop that accelerates the warming process. In the coming decades, the rising sea level could inundate and sink low lying coastal regions around the world.

More droughts, heat waves, stronger hurricanes and other extreme climate events are expected. Effects from climate change are being felt across the planet and without urgent action, runaway climate change could result in extreme climate events becoming the norm. In spite of the looming crisis, there has been great reluctance to address the problem, and in extreme cases, even to acknowledge that it is a problem.

…Kalicharan Veera Singam is a Research Analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.