Perspectives in Global Development: Speaker: V. Ram RamanathanClimate Change has already reached unprecedented levels with record breaking weather extremes. Over the last two decades when the mean warming was around 0.9 C, about 606000 people perished and 4.1 billion displaced due to weather extremes. In about eight to eleven years, global warming will cross the dangerous threshold of 1.5 C warming. As we recover from the COVID crisis by 2025, the evidence for the oncoming 1.5 C warming will be prevalent worldwide. I will show, how due to two way human-natural systems interactions, there is very little that society can do to avoid crossing the threshold of 1.5 C.The world's poorest three billion, whose contributions to the global warming emissions is about 5% or less, are likely to suffer the worst consequences of the more than 50% amplification of the warming within a decade. I will explore, with mathematical models and practical field studies in rural areas of India, the actions the rest of society can take in response to this huge ethical dilemma and build resilience among the poorest three billion. In so doing, it is remarkable that the wealthiest one billion can also bend the warming curve well below 2 C within the next 25 years.About the speaker:Ramanathan is Distinguished Research Professor of climate sustainability at the University of California at San Diego and Cornell Climate Solutions Scholar, Cornell University. He discovered the greenhouse effect of chlorofulorocarbons and other heat trapping pollutants gases. His findings on Non-CO2 global warming pollutants have led to several successful climate mitigation actions worldwide. He is the recipient of the prestigious 2021 Blue Planet Prize and the 2018 Tang Prize. He was Listed as Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2014 and named 2013 Champion of the Earth Laureate for the Science and Innovation category, by the United Nations Environment Program. He served as the science advis
