Essay from the year 2008 in the subject African Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Summer Academy 2008), course: Energy& Environment, language: English, abstract: Climate change has emerged as the most critical challenge to sustained global economic growth, social well-being, quality of life, and political stability in the 21st century. In the last two years, two landmark reports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 report, and the Stern Review have provided highly persuasive empirical evidence, analytical explanations of observed trends, and simulation model projections drawing stronger cause-and-effect linkages between human socio-economic activities and greenhouse gases (GHGs), and between the latter and climate change.