Scientists, economists, and policy makers all agree the world is facing threat from climate warming. Climate warming is caused by excess greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide which are heat trapping gasses. Human use of fossil fuels is a significant source of these gasses. When we drive our cars, heat our homes with oil or natural gas, or use electricity from coal fired power plants, we contribute to global warming. Including any loss of trees or forests also contributes, considering trees convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. Global warming will have a worldwide effect but the problem is expected to be most severe in Africa, where the people are poor, temperatures are high, precipitation is low, technological change is slow, and where agriculture drives the economy. Climate changes in Africa will ultimately affect their habitats, native and non-native species, agriculture, weather, health, and energy use.
First, across Africa the landscape is changing, the snowy caps of Mount Kilimanjaro are melting and the shorelines of Lake Chad are receding. The once enormous Lake Chad has nearly vanished, it is now half the size it was thirty five years ago (Offor, 2008). The town of Burundi is on Lake Tanganyika, which is still a vast expanse of water, but the shoreline has retreated 50 feet in the last 4 years, and ships can no longer reach the port. Lake Victoria, the biggest of Africa's great lakes, dripped by a vertical inch a day for much of last year. The receding of these lakes along with a change in temperature of the water will now deplete the fish stock. As the fish sources decrease, this limits the amount of fish caught and sold by fisherman. When the regular food source is strained, Africans may turn to hunting wil...
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In recent decades, the contentious issues surrounding climate change and the corresponding effects it likely exerts upon contemporary civilization has developed to become one of the most pressing areas of concern afflicting humanity (Armstrong, 1). Currently, climate change has started to demonstrate its potentially calamitous consequences upon human subsistence practices, and has even begun to alter the very environments that entire societies reside in, theoretically endangering them in both instances (Armstrong, 1). Though the hindrances inherent in climate change are potentially devastating to the preservation of modern society, the problem of climate change itself is not one that is exclusive to the contemporary era. Rather, the harmful
Climate change is a relatively new phenomenon in regards to its relevance towards the human population. This is because over the last several decades, negative consequences of climate change are just now starting to infringe upon the human life. Africa, a country made up of mostly periphery countries due to their topography and climate, experiences tremendous amounts of setbacks due to climate change. Therefore, this research will be centered on the consequences humans may face in Africa due to climate change and possible recommendations to combat this phenomenon. Africa is only second to Asia in landmass between all of the continents; therefore the research will be broken down into the different geographic locations of Africa
In order to get a comprehensive picture of these issues, this chapter reviews literature on climate change and vulnerability. It begins by defining climate change and analyzing global climate change in general and its impacts on local smallholder farmer’s livelihoods in a developing country such as Zimbabwe. Lastly the chapter also assesses the measures of adaptation which smallholder farmers can use to increase their coping capacity and resilience to climate change and variability.
Newmarch’s thesis is: “The country also urgently needs to deal with acid mine drainage and invest in renewable energy, which does not pollute as much” (NewMarch, 2010). She discusses how Southern Africa must find a way to maximize its capacity for water as the situation has continued to become more and more desperate. To make matters worse temperatures in Southern Africa are expected to rise by 2050 which will result in more precious drops of water being evaporated. This information is extremely important and anyone who has control over water conservation in Africa needs to be aware of. This information would be beneficial for organizations attempting to right the crisis to be aware of as they can attempt to plan with accordance to this
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
Although it is often a topic for contention in politics, global warming over the span of several decades, has led to climate change, which has had an alarming impact globally. Climate change needs to ...
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Although systems have been looked at, South Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because, amongst other things, a large proportion of the population live in abundance to poverty and have low resilience to extreme weather. With already a low and variable rainfall pattern, predictions testify that by 2050 areas will be experiencing extremely high temperatures in Spring, Summer and some parts of Autumn with Winter experiencing rapidly decreasing temperatures below -65 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also become drier and hotter affecting agricultural production and biodiversity distribution. Saving and conserving fresh water now will ensure that in times of drought and extreme weather, people will have other alternatives to turn to especially with the amount of rainfall to be expected in the adjoining future.
The evidence of climate change in Kenya is undeniable, while its effects on economic growth are no more mysterious; rather, they are rapidly unfolding to a startling reality and concern for humankind. Accelerated emissions of green house gases (GHGs) globally, from combustion of fossil fuels and unsustainable land use practices is the key driver of anthropogenic climate change.
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Climate change has been an extremely controversial topic in recent history and continues to create much debate today. Many questions concerning climate change’s origins and its potential affect on the globe are not fully understood and remain unanswered. What is climate change? Is climate change happening? Is it a natural cycle of the world or are there other catalysts involved such as human activity? What proof is there? What data correlations show climate change is accelerated by humans? How serious is climate change and how will it affect the future of our globe? What are we doing to address climate change? Should we really be concerned about climate change? Questions such as these have made climate change a very serious issue in today’s world and created the ideology of climatism. The issue of climate change has affected many different aspects of our lives and the world we live in. Policymaking, human activism, technologies, emission control, global warming, alternative energy sources and many other things have been greatly affected by the mania of climate change. This research report will present climate change in a light of common sense and rationality that will take a grounded discussion of the science behind climate change, global warming, human activity, and how the ideology of climatism has corrupted and driven the actions to combat climate change.
Climate change is an inevitable phenomenon that is being experienced globally in various forms such as temperature rise. Sea level rise, droughts, floods, hurricanes, landslides, etc. According to the forth assessment report of the IPCC project even with immediate implementation of mitigation strategies global climate change will continue for decades. Climate change is inflicting serious consequences on human wellbeing and will continue to inflict damages in the future. It is estimated that mean global temperature will rise by 1.8 ºC - 4.0 ºC by end of the 21st century (Izaurraade, 2009). A new global climate model predicts that in the coming decade the surface air temperature is likely to exceed existing records (Smith et al., 2007). Growing season temperatures in the tropics and subtropics by end of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperature recorded in the history (Battistic and Rosamond, 2009).