Combating Climate Change through the Kyoto Protocol's Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emissions Agreement

Essay aus dem Jahr 2015 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Klima- und Umweltpolitik, Note: 70%, Murdoch University (Murdoch University), Veranstaltung: Ethical Challenges of Contemporary Societies, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Climate Change is one of the greatest challenges that threaten the wellbeing of the current and the future generations. It occurs as a result of the variations of moisture and energy levels in the climatic system, with the addition of greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide and Methane, leading to alterations in the way radiation is transferred in the atmosphere.

This results in the rising of the sea level, alterations in storm paths, repeated floods emanating from substantial rainfall and also severe droughts. This case study discusses the current international efforts in combating global climate change. It focuses on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol's reduction of greenhouse gases emission agreement, which places an obligation on developed countries to reduce anthropologically induced greenhouse gases emission that have a negative effect on the natural climatic processes of the earth's atmosphere and results in global warming.

The case study draws on three philosophical concepts to explain the global efforts in tackling climate change, in particular the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol's greenhouse gases reduction agreement. The three philosophical concepts that will be used to analyse the climate change challenge are the tragedy of the commons, the prisoner's dilemma and the perfect moral storm. The case study argues that the current challenges and disagreements in the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol (1997) by state parties is a clear demonstration of the extent to which climate change can be understood as a problem of the commons that are sharing a common resource, which is the earth's atmosphere. Since its adoption and enforcement in 2005, the actioning of the Kyoto Proto