As we enter the last month of the
first quarter of 2015, an alarm was recently raised by scientists from the United
Nations-affiliated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) over the
anticipated effect of climate change in the East African region of the
continent.
IPCC counseled that an estimated millions
of people in East African nations should be ready for intense weather events-related
as a result of climate change.
Defined as a whether due to
natural variability or as a result of human activity, climate change to some
experts means any change in climate over time, which could be ascribed to a
change of climate either directly or indirectly to human activity but alters
the composition of the global atmosphere with an increase in natural climate
variability observed over comparable period of time, according to 2001 impacts,
adaptation and vulnerability Working Group II to the third assessment report of
IPCC.
But
experts at New Mexico Solar Energy Association (NMSEA) pointed out that global
warming is the increase of earth's average surface temperature due to effect of
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels or
from deforestation, which trap heat that would otherwise escape from earth.
Global
warming, NaijaAgroNet reports, will have catastrophic
effects such as accelerating sea level rise, droughts, floods, storms and heat
waves, which invariably impacts on some of the world's poorest and most
vulnerable people, disrupting food production, and threatening essential
important species, habitats and ecosystems.
IPCC experts, NaijaAgroNet reports equally said that global warming is no longer an
issue of argument because since the 1950s a lot of the observed changes have
been dramatic.
An official representing the director, Inter-Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Center
(ICPAC), Guled Artan said the challenges on east Africa due to climate change
are grave.
“The problem in East Africa is serious. When there’s rain,
the rain will be more intense, so there will be floods. The dry spells will be
wider, so there will be more droughts. That’s the risk so, increased likelihood
of floods, increased likelihood of drought; and two extremes: too much
water, too little water,” Artan said.
However, in the bid to create more knowledge base on this
global warming and climate change, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) has
concluded a two-day training on the Global Information System (GIS), a climate
change project (PARCC) at Baobab Hotel, The Gambia, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The aim of the project, NaijaAgroNet
learnt, is to assess the vulnerability of protected areas in West Africa and
impact of climate change in view of enhancing resilience by developing
strategies and tools to improve effectiveness management in climate change.
The training held with the JEF-fund
project was executed by UNEP-WCMC in partnership with (IUCN PACO) and has been
in operation since 2010. This project covers five core countries in West
Africa, namely The Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Chad, Togo, Bukina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire
and Ghana as beneficiaries.
"It is indisputable that conservation is the key in sustainable development, especially in our environment that has not been constantly and properly managed. It is interesting to know that research has shown that more than 13 percent of the global land surface is designated as ‘protected area,’" Minister Jarju stated.
As said by Jarju, governments of ECOWAS are aware that region contains a high level of biodiversity and endemic species across multiple areas, having been projected to experience extreme climate change in the future.
Stressing that the government of The
Gambia, for instance, was fully aware of the achievements that PARCC project
registered in the past year, and these achievements include preparation of a
report on projected impacts of climate change on biodiversity in West Africa
Protected Area in which impact on reptiles, birds, mammal has been highlighted.
California
Governor Mr. Jerry Brown had in the wake of drought bedeviling the state, said
that climate-change deniers should wake up, because with the weather and what
it's happening in California, climate
change is not a deception.
For experts at ‘Building
Nigeria's Response to Climate Change’ a non-governmental organization, noted
that in Nigeria, this means that some stable ecosystems such as the Sahel
Savanna may become vulnerable because warming will reinforce existing patterns
of water scarcity and increasing the risk of drought in Nigeria and indeed most
countries in West Africa. As well, the country’s aquatic ecosystems, wetlands
and other habitats will create overwhelming problems for an already
impoverished populace.
Although
industry observers there are compelling scientific evidences, governments and
businesses have responded very slowly. Despite the fact that even if nations in
the region fulfill live up to their promises and pledges in international
conventions, the world will still face between 2.6 and 4 ºC of warming.
As work at various part of the continent towards reduction of emissions, Africans must simultaneously begin to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
As work at various part of the continent towards reduction of emissions, Africans must simultaneously begin to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.
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