Climate change is a phrase we use to describe changing climate patterns that:
- can be attributed to human activity that alters the earth’s atmosphere;
- are beyond natural climate variations observed over comparable time periods.
The effects of global warming and climate change are already measurable. Aotearoa’s climate is changing, largely because of the build-up in the earth’s atmosphere of greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
The effects of climate change are seen in global warming, rise in sea levels and the increase in extreme weather events worldwide.