Climate Change Changes More Than Just the Weather

This month, ten underprivileged youth from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in order to draw international attention to climate change in Africa. The U.N. Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace, Wilfred Lemke announced, "This year's climb will highlight-with the melting ice of Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop-how global warming has a direct impact on the living conditions of individuals and communities throughout the world." But the mountain range is not the only region of Africa devastated by climate change.

What does climate change look like in Africa? In 2005, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted in the Economist describing the context of climate change in Africa:

The size of [Africa's] land mass, means that in the middle of the continent, overall rises in temperature will be up to double the global rise, with increased risk of extreme droughts, floods and outbreaks of disease.

Unfortunately, the African coastline has not been spared either. NASA has identified a link between warming of the Indian Ocean and decreasing rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. In fact, rainfall levels have dropped 15% since the 1980s according to the NASA Global Precipitation Climatology Project.

But climate change has had the most profound impact on fishing and aquaculture in Africa. Fishing stocks are particularly vulnerable because of a process known as "oceanic acidification." According to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) in Africa, the oceans operate like "enormous vacuum cleaners," naturally absorbing the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. But the oceans are capturing more CO2 than ever before, making the water more acidic than the ecosystem can handle. The increased acidity impairs fish larvae from growing healthy "shells, skeletons and cell coverings," and developing into adulthood. A similar phenomenon is apparent in lakes and other smaller bodies of water.

Small fishing communities are the most likely to be immediately affected. Overcrowded fishing ports and low yields can have disastrous effects on small-stock fishing villages. And unfortunately, Africa is home to fourteen of the 20 countries whose fishing supply is most vulnerable to climate change. The first full-scale study into the effect of climate change on fisheries, conducted by the WorldFish Center, notes that the least developed countries are often the most dependent on fishing industries.

The study illustrates the need for sustainable development models that are 'climate-proof.' But it also demonstrates that climate change affects more than just the environment and the economy. The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution making climate change a human rights issue.

In Africa, poverty, disease, and violent conflict often consume the attention of policymakers and development workers. New scientific research on the impact of climate change on the continent should cause these policymakers to integrate their solutions. As the youth ascending Mount Kilimanjaro know, there is much more at stake than the melting snow cap.

Comments

[SallyVCrockett]

We are clearly not doing enough to stem the tide of catastrophic climate change. What will it take for people to start paying attention?! Of course, I am encouraged by President Obama and can only hope that the promised climate change/ energy legislation includes a cap on emissions-­-preferabl­y in the form of a transparent and straightforward revenue-neutral carbon tax.

[aBr1t]

Now that is a stupid comment. How very crass.

[wdw505]

as food reduces population will reduce....­...solving mans impact