Annie Ela
South Africa
The Economics of Global Warming
The economics of global warming is a very important issue. Global warming is life
threatening and dangerous, but fixing it is expensive. Some of the main threats of global
warming include rising food prices due to loss of land from rising oceans, storm damage that is
expensive to both prevent and fix, loss of wildlife, and over population due to evacuation of
cities. These problems would not only affect the way we live, they would also affect the
economy.
Now global warming is worse than ever. The amount of CO2 raised 30% in the past 300
years. This has caused 30% of Mount Kilimanjaro to melt since 1912. Another affect is that sea
levels have risen 120 meters in the past 18,000 years. Also, glaciers are melting on five
continents.
But where does South Africa stand? It is also being hit hard with the crisis of global
warming. Some scientists say that less rain will fall annually in parts of Africa in the next fifty
years due to global warming. This would leave Cape Town, a big town in South Africa, with only
42% of its river water. To stand against global warming, Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk
attended a weeklong meeting to discuss the Kyoto Protocol as well as global warming. The Kyoto
protocols goal is “for most of the developed world to make significant reductions in carbon emissions by
2012.”
It is vitally important to fight against global warming starting now. South Africa supports getting
15% of energy from renewable resources by 2020. We also support more efficient water use and
demand. This can be achieved through educating rural communities on the affect of climate change and
sustainable growing techniques. We also value conservation and plan to maintain natural ecosystems to
prevent soil erosion, water shortages and floods. If these main ideas are followed, not just by South
Africa but by the rest of the world, there can be a big impact on global warming.
It is vitally important to South Africa that there is action on the topic of global warming. Without
this, there will be severe economic issues for them. It would destroy their economy due to lack of food
from the draughts. It would also starve the country and deprive all of the ecosystems from vital survival
necessities. Something must be done to stop this problem.
Works Cited
(1)Bond, Patrick. "Green Left - SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa: In the dark about global warming."
Green Left - Australia's radical weekly newspaper. Green Left, 21 Feb. 2008. Web. 24
Feb. 2010. <http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/741/38326>.
(2)"Global Warming & Rising Oceans (ActionBioscience)." ActionBioscience - promoting
bioscience literacy. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/chanton.html>.
(3)"Global Warming Timeline." The American Institute of Physics -- Physics Publications and
Resources. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. <http://www.aip.org/history/climate/timeline.htm>.
(4)Pettinger, T. "Economics Essays: Economics of Global Warming." Economics Help - Helping to
Simplify Economics. 11 Jan. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.economicshelp.org/2008/01/economics-of-global-warming.html>.
(5)"SA faces up to global warming - SouthAfrica.info." South Africa's official gateway investment, travel, country information - SouthAfrica.info. 19 Aug. 2005. Web. 24 Feb.
2010. <http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/sustainable/update/climate190805.htm>.
(6)South African Climate Action Network - Home. SACAN Position Paper: Policy Development
Summit, 21 Oct. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. <http://www.sacan.org.za/>.