Is there a limit to adapting to climate change? COP27 in Egypt

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

At the COP27 climate talks here in Egypt, a key focus is how to help poorer, more vulnerable nations cope with increasingly extreme weather events that threaten their homes, their jobs and the food they grow. Adapting to climate impacts has become an urgent need for billions of people around the globe, yet the money to help them is a fraction of what's needed.

Wealthy nations are under pressure at COP27 to give more climate cash since they are most responsible for the emissions that are making the world's weather more dangerous. And few places are more vulnerable to climate impacts than Africa.

In this episode, ST's climate change editor David Fogarty speaks with Dr Debra Roberts, a leading scientist with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and a global expert on adaptation and urban resilience. Dr Roberts is also head of the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit in Durban, South Africa.

Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

1:43 Why has adapting to climate change become so important?

3:19 “Africa’s biggest adaptation need is basic development”

6:09 Why is it important to also look at how nature is being affected by climate change?

11:58 Is it possible to make cities climate-proof?

14:39 Is there a limit to adapting to climate change?

Produced by: David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg) & Audrey Tan, Ernest Luis and Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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