Climate change, through both its gradual impacts on ecosystems and extreme weather events, poses an entirely new class of risks for humans, communities and states. Many societal threats, such as hunger, vector-borne diseases and loss of housing and shelter, are “multiplied” by climate change and variability. These  transboundary policy challenges are fiercely debated among researchers and practitioners.

Lisa Dellmuth discusses in the GREAT INSIGHTS Magazine that international policymakers need to decide if and when to address such transboundary policy challenges related to climate change threats. Policymakers depend on scientific evidence and interactions at the science–policy interface for good policy solutions. But scientists seldom have clear answers. Recommendations about how intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations should integrate climate issues into their mandates in areas such as health and migration are often case-specific and are rarely based on generic predictions about the impact of policies on climate-change adaptation. We need to better understand how intergovernmental organizations can effectively address climate change threats.

Read more here: the GREAT INSIGHTS Magazine