2010 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Applications (ICEEA 2010)
CLIMATE CHANGE: FORESTRY, A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Adio, A. F., Ojo, A. Rand Asinwa, 1. 0
Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria
FRIN
Ibadan, Nigeria
ronkeadio@yahoo.com
Abstract--Global warming which is a natural phenomenon has
II.
given rise to climate change as a result of man's contribution to
this phenomenon. The roles of humans to global warming in
A. Influences of Human Activities on Climate
Anthropogenic factors are human activities that change
the environment and influence climate. In some cases the
chain of causality is direct and unambiguous (e.g., by the
effects of irrigation on temperature and humidity), while in
others it is less clear. Various hypotheses for human-induced
climate change have been debated for many years, though it
is important to note that the scientific debate has moved on
from skepticism, as there is scientific consensus on climate
change that human activity is beyond reasonable doubt. The
main explanation for the current rapid changes in the world's
climate, the debate on the current rapid changes has largely
shifted onto ways to reduce human impact and adapt to
change that is already in the system.
two-fold: Firstly, through industrial activities which have
caused increase in the concentration of CO2 and other green
house gases thereby exacerbating the degree of global warming
of the Earth's atmosphere to dangerous levels. The second
concern is the denuding of Earth's of the Earth's forest;
thereby reducing the Earth's potential to absorb the increase
in CO2• Other effects are loss of biodiversity, desertification,
genetic erosion, loss of soil fertility and flooding. The way out
of the challenge is basically through adaptation and mitigation.
Impacts of climate change are now inevitable hence the need to
develop stress and drought tolerant species/varieties.
Afforestation programs,
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Community forestry, Agroforestry
practices would serve as mitigation strategies for this harmful
global phenomenon.
Fossil Fuel
The biggest factor of present concern is the increase in
CO2 levels due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion,
followed by aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere),
which exert a cooling effect. Other factors include land use,
ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation.
It is known that carbon dioxide levels are substantially
higher now than at any time in the last 750,000 years.
Beginning with the industrial revolution in the 1880s and
accelerating ever since, the human consumption of fossil
fuels has elevated CO2 levels from a concentration of
�280ppm to �387ppm today. The concentrations are
increasing at a rate of 2-3ppmlyear. If current rates of
emission continue, these increasing concentrations are
projected to reach a range of between 535 to 983ppm by the
end of the 21st century. Along with rising methane levels, it
is suggested that these changes may possibly cause an
increase of 1.4-5.6°C between 1990 and 2100.
B.
This paper therefore highlights some negative effects of climate
change on food security, health, biodiversity and the threats
they pose on Nigeria. It also looked into likely causes of climate
change and the role of forest trees on how they mitigate the
effects of climate change.
Keywords-climate change; global warming; greenhouse
gases; forest
1.
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is seen as a result of man's contribution
to global warming and has been identified as a global threat.
The role of humans in contributing to global warming is two­
fold. Firstly, industrial activities have caused an increase in
the concentration of CO2 and other GHGs, exacerbating the
degree of global warming of Earth's atmosphere to
dangerous levels. The second concern is the denuding of the
Earth's forests, reducing the Earth's potential to absorb the
increase in CO2
Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate
change; 75-250 million people across Africa could face
more severe water shortages by 2020. Agricultural
production and access to food will be severely compromised
in many African countries, agricultural land will be lost, and
there wi\l be shorter growing seasons and lower yields. In
some countries, yields from rain-fed crops could be halved
by 2020. Rising water temperatures will decrease fish stocks
in large lakes, already depleted by over fishing. (IPCC, 2007)
978-1-4244-8621-2110/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
III.
CEMENT MANUFACTURE
Cement manufacture contributes CO2 when calcium
carbonate is heated, producing lime and carbon dioxide. The
cement industry produces 5% of global man-made CO2
emissions, of which 50% is from the chemical process, and
40% from burning fuel. The amount of CO2 emitted by the
cement industry is nearly 900 kg of CO2 for every 1000 kg of
cement produced (Wikipedia, 2009).
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2010 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Applications(ICEEA 2010)
IV.
human-induced nitrous oxide (which has 296 times the
global warming potential of COz) and 37% of human­
induced methane (which has 23 times the global warming
potential of COz) (Akke, 2009).
Therefore, the proportion with which the major green
house gases cause global warming is given as Carbon
dioxide (COz) causes about 9-26%, Methane (CH4) causes
about 4-9%, Ozone (03) causes about 3-7% and water
vapour causes about 36-70%. (Wikipedia, 2009)
These gases act as a sort of insulating blanket, trapping
heat from the sun and keeping the Earth's average surface
temperature. But it's not just the presence of greenhouse
gases that is critical, it is also the amount.
LAND USE
Tropical deforestation is responsible for almost one­
fourth of annual global carbon dioxide emission (Unasylva,
2005). Deforestation and forest degradation contribute 24%
of all anthropogenic carbon emission and 18% of all green
house gas emission combined (lPCC, 2000; Baumert, et ai,
2005).
Prior to widespread fossil fuel use, humanity's largest
effect on local climate is likely to have resulted from land
use. Irrigation, deforestation, and agriculture fundamentally
change the environment. For example, they change the
amount of water going into and out of a given location. They
also may change the local albedo by influencing the ground
cover and altering the amount of sunlight that is absorbed.
B.
A. Livestock
According to Akke (2009), livestock is responsible for 18%
of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in COz
equivalents. This however includes land usage change,
meaning deforestation in order to create grazing land, as well
as livestock natural gas emissions. In the Amazon Rainforest
70% of deforestation is to make way for grazing land, so thi�
is the major factor in the 2006 UN FAO report, which was
the first agricultural report to include land usage change. In
addition to COz emissions, livestock produces 65% of
Evidence ofclimate
The warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is
.
n?w eVIdent from observations of increases in global average
aIr and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and
ice, and rising global mean sea level. The Earth's average
surface temperature has risen by 0.76° C since 1850 (IPCC,
2007). Most of the warming that has occurred over the last
50 years is very likely to have been caused by human
activities. (IPCC, 2007). The global average surface
temperature is likely to rise by a further 1.8-4.0°C this
century and by up to 6.4°C in the worst case scenario.
(
)
TABLE 1: AGROMETROLOGICAL WEATHER DATA BETWEEN 1970-2007 AT THE FORESTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF NIGERIA FRIN HEADQUARTERS,
JERICHO IBADAN
Rainfall (mm)
No. of rainy days Max temp (0C)
Min temp (0C)
1970-79
1444.0
�2
�6.9
iJ1.6
1980-89
1408.0
86
�1.6
23.4
1990-99
1373.0
100
�2.2
23.6
�OOO
1178.4
72
[23.7
�001
1133.6
54
p 2.7
p 2.9
�002
1196.4
73
�2.8
�3.9
2003
1304.0
79
�2.5
23.3
2004
1006.6
62
�2.4
24.2
b005
1314.0
�2
pO.5
D5.5
�006
1198.5
56
�2.5
�3.7
Year
D3.3
Source: Aluko, 2008
TABLE 2 AGROMETROLOGlCAL WEATHER DATA BETWEEN 1980-2006 AT THE FORESTRY RESEARCH STA nON SAPOBA EDO STATE.
Rainfall (mm)
No. of rainy days Max temp «OC) Min
Year
ltemp(OC)
1980-89
1983
132
31. 3
�3.1
1990-99
�369
136
32.3
�7.3
2000
2529
133
32.6
24.1
69
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2010 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Applications (ICEEA 2010)
�OOI
�382.4
120
32.3
�5.9
�002
�503.7
142
31.6
�4.7
�003
�806.5
126
29.8
�7
�004
�399.2
123
31.7
�7.1
�005
�094.2
108
31.1
�5.1
�006
�226
116
31
�5
Source: Aluko, 2008
V.
VI.
EFFECTS OF CHANGE IN CLIMATE
Climate change is forcing plant scientists to rethink of
priorities and focus on stress-tolerant species rather than just
high yielding varieties crops only. Researchers at the
International Crop Research Institutes for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT) are working to develop pearl millet,
sorghum, chickpea, pigeon pea and ground nut to grow in a
warmer world. To date, they have produced varieties tolerant
to heat, high soil temperatures, low and variable rainfall and
diseases. At the International Rice Research Institute (IRR!)
Scientists are making important advances in providing
varieties that can withstand drought and salinity. They made
a breakthrough in the discovery of a gene that allows rice to
survive up to 2 weeks' flooding
It is therefore believed that genetic modification is the
key to developing climate change on forest ecosystems
A. Effects ofclimate change on food security
Climate change poses a grave threat to the livelihoods
and food security of poor farmers of the tropics. Scientists
have recently mapped the impacts of climate change in
Africa and Latin America on maize yields five decades from
now. This assessment, carried out at high resolution to
disclose impacts at the household level, indicates profound
changes for tens of millions of smallholder crop-and­
livestock farmers who rely on rain fed maize production to
feed their families and livestock. (ILRI and CIAT, 2009)
Effects ofclimate change on biodiversity
The life cycles of many wild plants and animals are
closely linked to the passing of the seasons; climatic changes
can lead to interdependent pairs of species (e.g. a wild flower
and its pollinating insect) losing synchronization, if, for
example, one has a cycle dependent on day length and the
other on temperature or precipitation. In principle, at least,
this could lead to extinction or changes in the distribution
and abundance of species.
B.
VII.
THE ROLE OF FOREST TREES IN COMBATING
CLIMATE CHANGE
FAO (1948), defined forests as Vegetative associations
dominated by trees of any size, capable of producing timber
or other forest products or of exerting an influence on the
climate or the water regime.
Today, it is acknowledged that forests can help mitigate
climate change, need to be adapted to it and may help
humankind in coping with its effects, (Shoene and Netto,
2005). Forest influences can be divided into three practical as
well as scientific groups viz: the influence on climate, the
influence on soil, and the influence on water resources
(Unasylva, 2006). Trees have one big advantage compared to
all other methods of addressing global warming: they
actually remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and
serve as reservoir. In normal years Amazon forest absorbs
nearly 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (Oliver, 2009).
Trees, however, take carbon dioxide from the air and
transform it into living matter branches, trunks, leaves,
flowers, and roots. A large tree can remove and store several
tonnes of greenhouse gases for decades and century
(Schoene and Netto, 2005). At the same time, urban trees
have a second, equally important advantage. Trees help
moderate air temperatures and thereby reduce our need to
bum fossil fuels to produce energy for air conditioning and
heating.
Every tree planted works to sequester greenhouse gases,
but some do more work than others. The best trees for green
Effects ofclimate change on health
The infectious disease transmission to humans occurs
when humans encroach on the disease cycle or when there is
a disruption in the environment, including ecological and
meteorological factors (fPCC, 2001)
C.
TABLE 3: VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES CONSIDERED TO BE SENSITIVE TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
Vector
AOAPTA nON TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Diseases
Malaria. Filariasis, dengue
fever, Yellow fever, West
Nile fever
Sandflies
Leishmaniasis
Triatomines
Ixodes Ticks
Chagas' disease
Lyme disease, Tick-borne
Tsetse flies
Black flies
encephalitis
African trypanosomiasis
Onchocerciasis
Source: WHO, 2003
Mosquitoes
70
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2010 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Applications(ICEEA 2010)
house gas sequestrations are bigger with wide spread leaves
and long leave trees (Ke1aine, 2008)
VIII.
Research Institute of Nigeria Workshop, Ibadan on 07 and 08 Aug,
2008
[6]
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Colombia­
based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), 2009:
Climate Change Threatens Smallholder Rain fed Maize Production in
the Tropics. www.ilri.org
[7]
IPCC (2000): Land Use, Land use change and forestry: Special report.
Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. Available on
www.grida.no/climatelipcc/land_use lindex.htm
[8]
IPCC, (2001) "Human Health", McMicheal, AJ., and Githeko, A, in
McCarthy, J., Canziani, O. F., Leary, N.A., Dokken, D.1., and White,
KS , (eds.), Climate Change (2001): Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability, Contribution of Working Group II to the Third
Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
[9]
IPCC, (2007) Climate Change 2007: Climate Impacts, adaptation and
vulnerability; summary of Policymakers. Working Group II
contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change
Fourth Assessment Report.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Tropical deforestation is responsible for almost one­
fourth of annual global carbon dioxide emissions (Unasylva,
2005). Trees, of course, won't solve all of our climate
change problems, but they are a step in the right direction
that all of us can take as rescue to our environment. The tree
you plant to help reduce global warming will also clean the
air, filter storm water, lower energy bill, provide habitat for
local wildlife, and beautifY your neighbourhoods-that's a
claim no compact fluorescent light bulb can make.
Both the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol
knowing the importance of forest in mitigating climate
change listed general obligations regarding forests that apply
to all member countries. Therefore the following
recommendations are made to member countries that they
should promote sustainable forest management, promote and
cooperate in the conservation and enhancement of forests as
sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases. They should also
promote afforestation and reforestation as well as renewable
energy. Forest should be considered as part of national
inventories of greenhouse gas emission removals, in
technology transfer and in national programmes of
mitigation to climate change.
[10] Kelaine Vargas, (2008) Planting Trees to Fight Global Climate
Change. A publication of California ReLeaf. California Trees. Spring,
2008, vol 17, No 2. www.californiareleaf.org
[II] Obot, I. A, (2010): Global wanning and Climate: Ensuring Nigeria
REDDiness Through Forestry Research. Paper Presented at 2009 In­
house Research Review Meeting of the Forestry Research Institute of
Nigeria. 22 to 25 June, 2010
[12] Unasylva (2006): Forest Influences. Vol 13. No I: SCHUBERT, J.
Der jahrliche Gang der Luft - und Bodentemperatur im Freien und im
Waldungen (YEARLY VARIATIONS OF AIR AND GROUND
TEMPERATURE IN OPEN COUNTRY AND IN FORESTS) - Abh.
des Preuss. Meteorolog. Inst., 1900-190 I
[13] Unasylva (2005): Forests, Climate and Kyoto. Vol 56 (3) 222
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Source: Obot, 2010
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