Climate Change, Sea Level Dynamics, and Mitigation

Small island developing countries (SIDS) have higher prospects of growth due to their geographic location and trade openness, but survival challenges may be insurmountable in the face of climate change, natural hazards, and sea level rise. Besides international cooperation and lobbying by SIDS as net importers of goods produced elsewhere and as climate victims, the emerging channels to reduce the extent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are by shifting to green energy sources and defensive expenditure to restore environmental productivity. Other strategies include carbon capture from air and emission locations and storage in carbon sinks as well as geoengineering or carbon engineering to generate artificial volcanic eruptions to whiten the earth’s surface and drift away the sunshine to atmosphere thereby reducing the warming. The chapter also discusses the suitability of production- and consumption-based CO2 emissions as a yardstick for fixing the enhanced responsibility of developed countries in global emissions.