LOCAL WISDOM IN RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

Earth’s climate is changing, with the global temperature now rising at a rate unprecedented in the experience of modern human society. These climate changes, including increases in ultraviolet radiation, are being experienced particularly intensely in the Arctic. Because the Arctic plays a special role in global climate, these changes in the Arctic will also affect the rest of the world. It is thus essential that decision makers have the latest and best information available regarding ongoing changes in the Arctic and their global implications. There are so many ways how to understand climate change problem in the world from a peripheral interest to a central concern within the discipline of environmental sciences. This article offers a new way to understand the climate change problem and is concerned with problems of modernity, postmodernity and local wisdom in the context of contemporary environmental thought. Focusing on the international politics surrounding the UN agreement on climate change, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, the author examines this important issue using the key aspects of climate change science, global environmental politics, and global environmental management.