‘Beyond School Books’ – a podcast series on education in emergencies

Podcast #17: Turning the tide of global warming

© Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Nobel Proze winner and Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.

By Pi James

NEW YORK, USA, 17 June 2009 – In 2007, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, along with former US Vice President Al Gore.

At the time, the Nobel Committee said it was "seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind."

The committee went on to say: "Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control."

Youth and education

Two years on, Dr. Pachauri spoke with UNICEF Radio's Amy Costello about the role of youth and education in reducing the impact of climate change.

"I think this is a very unequal world and my concern is largely centred on children who are in poor countries or in poor homes even in rich countries.... It’s the poorest sections of society who are the worst affected, and children are the ones who are likely to suffer the most," said Dr. Pachauri.

He added that children and education are central to addressing the impacts of climate change.

'Urgent and effective action'

"Children must understand how human actions have influenced the climate of this planet," said Dr. Pachauri. "They must understand the terrible impacts that are likely to take place if we don't do anything. And finally they must understand what can be done to solve the problem.

"If we don’t do anything about climate change and we don’t take urgent and effective action to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gasses," he continued, "then in the future, the impact of climate change will be much worse – and that clearly is going affect the future of children."

Click here (Real player) to listen to the UNICEF Radio podcast discussion with Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.