Climate Change, Famines and Conflicts in Globalized World: Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management

Human development is affected by climate change due to direct and indirect impacts on environmental, social and economic spheres. One of the impacts of climate change is negative effects on crop yields due to uncertain weather pattern, which pose a threat to food security as stated in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This aggravates the condition of people by impacting their livelihood and availability and access to food. A recent study conducted by researchers from the Columbia University established a link between the extreme severity of drought due to climate change and crop failure in Syria. As a consequence of this, food prices increased and many people lost their means of income further deteriorating their situation. This triggered the migration of population from rural to urban areas further stressing the system. Such a situation exacerbated poverty. This effect combined with poor governance sparked violent conflict in Syria further leading to people fleeing the country to escape civil war. The example of Syria highlights interlinked explicit and implicit threats posed by climate change and lack of good governance worsens the problem. Considering the future climate change impacts and risks stated by IPCC, and some parts of the world already experiencing these impacts, it becomes important to discuss the role of governance to address such issues. This paper explains the need for the change in conventional governance systems and planning required to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. It further discusses the kind of new dimensions required in governance systems and the importance of participation of people or various stakeholders in climate adaptation efforts to the build resilience of systems to face these challenges.