GEO 350 (AFRICA) CLIMATE CHANGE Causes, Effects and Solutions Submission date 10/15/2018 Name: AJIBOLA ABDUL-RAHMAN AKINTOMIWA; Matric number: 200644; Department: PSYCHOLOGY CLIMATE CHANGE The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties (principally its mean and spread) of the climate system when considered over long periods of time, regardless of cause. It is important to note that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC], uses “Climate change” for human induced change, with the term “Variability” for changes due to natural phenomenon [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC] CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change is caused both by natural occurrences, and mainly by human actions on the environment. The natural causes of climate change is, as a result of variations in earth’s orbit, variation in ocean circulation, variation in albedo of the continents, as well as variation in solar radiation. The human causes are, however, results of deforestation, air pollution, and poor agricultural practices such as bush burning, excess and wrong application of inorganic fertilizer, burning of fossil fuels, urbanization, industralisation, inefficient transport system, among others. Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" — warming that result when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Certain gases in the atmosphere block heat from escaping. Long-lived gases that remain semipermanently in the atmosphere and do not respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are described as "forcing" climate change. Gases, such as water vapor, which respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature, are seen as "feedbacks." Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include: Water vapor. The most abundant greenhouse gas, but importantly, it acts as a feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the Earth's atmosphere warms, but so does the possibility of clouds and precipitation, making these some of the most important feedback mechanisms to the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2). A minor but very important component of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived "forcing" of climate change. Methane. A hydrocarbon gas produced both through natural sources and human activities, including the decomposition of wastes in landfills, agriculture, and especially rice cultivation, as 1 well as ruminant digestion and manure management associated with domestic livestock. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, methane is a far more active greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but also one which is much less abundant in the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide. A powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices, especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Synthetic compounds entirely of industrial origin used in a number of applications, but now largely regulated in production and release to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute to destruction of the ozone layer. They are also greenhouse gases. On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE The consequences of changing the natural atmospheric greenhouse are difficult to predict, but certain effects seem likely: On average, Earth will become warmer. Some regions may welcome warmer temperatures, but others may not. Warmer conditions will probably lead to more evaporation and precipitation overall, but individual regions will vary, some becoming wetter and others dryer. A stronger greenhouse effect will warm the oceans and partially melt glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level. Ocean water also will expand if it warms, contributing further to sea level rise. Meanwhile, some crops and other plants may respond favorably to increased atmospheric CO2, growing more vigorously and using water more efficiently. At the same time, higher temperatures and shifting climate patterns may change the areas where crops grow best and affect the makeup of natural plant communities. Specifically in Nigeria, the year 2017 witnessed series of climate-related disasters in Nigeria, ranging from the increased health risk, declining agricultural productivity, biodiversity loss, drying lakes, famine, conflicts or social unrest, poverty, worsening food insecurity situation, heat stress, declining soil capacity for agricultural production, increased natural disaster, extreme weather events, among others. 2 One of the major country-specific effects of climate change in Nigeria is declining agricultural productivity, which is due to the irregular and unpredictable farming calendar. The usual AprilOctober rainy season and the October-March dry season is no longer a constant as it has been for some decades now. Farmers now plant in the midst of great uncertainties, thus resulting in untold losses, for their investment waste away from lack of rainfall at the right time. Consequently, this result in decline in productivity, and the income of Nigerian farmers, as well as a likely fall in the agriculture share of GDP, which stands at 29.15% of Q3-2017 GDP figure [NBS] and employment. Another [indirect] effect of climate change is the issue of clashes between herdsmen and farmers, which is a serious and prevailing social problem in Nigeria. Due to the problem of rainfall variability, caused by climate change, herdsmen in the core North, now push down South more frequently, in order to feed their cattle on farmers’ cultivation. This has mutated over time in the destruction of investments and efforts, while also attacking outspoken farmers, a situation for which hundreds of lives have been brutally lost in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Ogun and several other states, a stat corroborated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Decades ago, pastures were arguably available at reasonable level in both the North and South of Nigeria, and these clashes were almost non-existent. Evidence is seen from the changing nature of the nation’s ecological zones. Hence, we see serious clashes result, because these nomadic herdsmen want to satisfactorily feed their cattle, often at the expense of farmers’ cultivation. This issue needs urgent unbiased action in Nigeria now. The support of the international community at this point will be valued, as the Nigerian government has not been able to give satisfactory, non-ethnical and proactive solutions, while lives are wasting away. There is also an increasing rate of natural disasters and extreme weather events. Northern Nigeria is becoming more of a drought-prone area, with an advancing desert, already encroaching southward, thus making the few cultivable lands of the north, almost uncultivable. Flooding is no small issue in Nigeria, with hundreds of thousands of people, agribusiness and property lost in 2017, in Benue State, Kano, Lagos and other states [according to NEMA]. It is now a robust mechanism for numerous diseases to breed, especially vector-borne diseases like Malaria [WHO puts Nigeria as the nation with the highest Malaria casualties worldwide]. And because of drought, children, especially in the North, now stand at risk of malnutrition. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria currently has the highest number of malnourished children, who are under the age of five. The erosion of low-lying coastal and non-coastal regions of Nigeria is also disaster, which is also causing buildings to collapse, with attendant loss of lives, while also raising construction cost as its implication. Of important concern also are the drying lakes in Nigeria, with the drying Lake Chad, which is at the junction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger as a valid reference point. Andrew Bamford, a British investigative journalist, on 14th April, 2006, reported that the lake is now less than 500 3 square miles of water due to global warming. The consequences of the drying of these lakes include loss of means of livelihood of citizens that borders these lakes, who depend on it for farming, fishing, drinking and animal husbandry, as well as unrest and forced migration which places burden on the new location they are relocating to. Another very important effect of climate change in Nigeria is the declining soil carrying capacity and heat related problems on humans, crops and livestock. Due to deforestation, trees which should serve as cover for soil against the harsh sunshine, are felled indiscriminately, thereby, exposing soils and reducing soils productive capacity, and thus, creating problems for agriculture in Nigeria. Heat-related incidents are on the rise, as well as heat stress (hyperthermia) on both crops and livestock, because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, leading to high losses in crop and livestock production. According to a report compiled in 2010, investigations revealed that over 200 people were killed by meningitis in Nigeria and Niger Republic in one week. There were outbreaks in 76 areas. There were 25,000 suspected cases and 1, 500 deaths in the first quarter of 2009. Although meningitis is a disease caused by an infection of the meanings, which is the thin lining that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord, experts have found a correlation between the weather and this disease. It is generally known that the disease attacks more people during the dry season because of dust, wind and cold nights. There were indications in the past one month that many people were treated for acute pneumonia in some hospitals as a result of the erratic and unpredictable weather. Finally, climate change has cost Nigeria an increasing loss of biodiversity, from which several problems have emerged, such as the destruction of marine ecosystem, loss of nature’s balance, as well as destruction of freshwater resources. This situation currently poses problems for man, as he cannot live in isolation, but in interdependence with his environment. Failure to protect the environment is like a death penalty, hence, we must, as a center of focus, ensure that the protection of the Nigerian ecosystem is not undermined PROTOCOLS TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing us today. It involves many dimensions – science, economics, society, politics and moral and ethical questions – and is a global problem, felt on local scales, that will be around for decades and centuries to come. Carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that has driven recent global warming, lingers in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, and the planet (especially the oceans) takes a while to respond to warming. So even if we stopped emitting all greenhouse gases today, global warming and climate change will continue to affect future generations. In this way, humanity is “committed” to some level of climate change. 4 How much climate change? That will be determined by how our emissions continue and also exactly how our climate system responds to those emissions. Despite increasing awareness of climate change, our emissions of greenhouse gases continue on a relentless rise. In 2013, the daily level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. The last time levels were that high was about three to five million years ago, during the Pliocene era. Because we are already committed to some level of climate change, responding to climate change involves a two-pronged approach: 1. Reducing emissions of and stabilizing the levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (“mitigation”); 2. Adapting to the climate change already in the pipeline (“adaptation”). Mitigation and adaptation Mitigation – reducing climate change – involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, either by reducing sources of these gases (for example, the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat or transport) or enhancing the “sinks” that accumulate and store these gases (such as the oceans, forests and soil). The goal of mitigation is to avoid significant human interference with the climate system, and “stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner” (from the 2014 report on Mitigation of Climate Change from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, page 4). Adaptation – adapting to life in a changing climate – involves adjusting to actual or expected future climate. The goal is to reduce our vulnerability to the harmful effects of climate change (like sea-level encroachment, more intense extreme weather events or food insecurity). It also encompasses making the most of any potential beneficial opportunities associated with climate change (for example, longer growing seasons or increased yields in some regions). Throughout history, people and societies have adjusted to and coped with changes in climate and extremes with varying degrees of success. Climate change (drought in particular) has been at least partly responsible for the rise and fall of civilizations. Earth’s climate has been relatively stable for the past 12,000 years and this stability has been crucial for the development of our modern civilization and life as we know it. Modern life is tailored to the stable climate we have become accustomed to. As our climate changes, we will have to learn to adapt. The faster the climate changes, the harder it could be. While climate change is a global issue, it is felt on a local scale. Cities and municipalities are therefore at the frontline of adaptation. In the absence of national or international climate policy direction, cities and local communities around the world have been focusing on solving their own climate problems. They are working to build flood defenses, plan for heat waves and higher temperatures, install waterpermeable pavements to better deal with floods and storm water and improve water storage and use. 5 According to the 2014 report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (page 8) from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, governments at various levels are also getting better at adaptation. Climate change is starting to be factored into a variety of development plans: how to manage the increasingly extreme disasters we are seeing and their associated risks, how to protect coastlines and deal with sea-level encroachment, how to best manage land and forests, how to deal with and plan for reduced water availability, how to develop resilient crop varieties and how to protect energy and public infrastructure. REFERENCES https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/adaptation-mitigation/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/130019/ http://wearerestless.org/2015/12/10/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-nigeria/ 6