CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS

It is no need for us to remind you the emerging issue of global warming and the issues of climate change. You may know and understand the impact on these terms and how it will affect us and our younger generations in particular. The following projections and the impacts are hard to digest.

Climate Change Projections:

• Global average temperature is likely to rise between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius by 2100.
• Sea-level will rise 18-40 centimetres or more by 2100.
• Warming and sea-level rise will continue for centuries. (Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized).
• Snow cover will contract.
• Sea ice will shrink in both the Arctic and Antarctic.
• Hot extremes, heat waves and heavy rainfall events will become more frequent.

Climate Change Impacts:

• By 2010, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change.
• In some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 20% by 2020.
• In Asia, Himalayan glaciers will melt, leading to flooding followed by water shortages as the glaciers vanish forever.
• Asian coastal areas will face increased flooding and potentially big increased in death due to diarrhoeal disease.
• By 2050 crop yields in central and south Asia may decrease by 30%.
• Latin America faces shortages of water for drinking, agriculture and energy generation because of changing rainfall and melting glaciers.
• Part of the Amazon rainforest may turn to semi-arid savannah.

Hence, it our greater responsibility to contribute our collective efforts towards the control of green house gases in the atmosphere and to save our eco-system by our day-to-day activities.