Social work, climate change and global cooperation

Abstract

Climate change and environmental disasters are destabilising communities across the world. In a challenging address to the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Doha in 2012, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon urged the global community to respond with conscientious foresight. This article discusses how social work might respond to this challenge. It outlines the social implications, social work theorists’ reconceptualisation of the environmental space as a domain of practice and ways that the global social work community can act to address these significant global challenges.