Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity in the 21st century. As global patterns of temperature, rainfall and weather events change, the delicate balance of climate and life on earth is disrupted. The imbalance in climatic patterns poses serious threats to human health, biodiversity, human livelihoods, global economy, water resources and agriculture. Developing countries especially in Africa are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than countries in the developed world. According to Osborn (2015), the world’s poorest people are the most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change.
The vulnerability of the poor especially in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has led to a decrease in agricultural production …show more content…
The global warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to anthropogenic activities. The magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades depends primarily on the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally and how sensitive the earth’s climate is to those emissions (Sango, 2013). According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2007), climate change refers to, “a change of climate that is directly or indirectly attributed to human activities by altering the composition of the global atmosphere, in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” Climate change is also defined by a number of factors which include: temperature, precipitation, air pressure, humidity, wind and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods (Sango, …show more content…
Temperatures in the sub region have risen by over 0.500C over the last 100 years. Between 1950 and 2000, Namibia for example, experienced warming at a rate of 0.02300C per year. The Indian Ocean has also experienced warming of more than 100C since 1950. In South Africa, the mean annual temperatures have increased by at least 1.5 times the observed average of 0.650C over the past 50 years and extreme rainfall events have increased frequently. The region has also experienced a downward trend in rainfall (National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 2005.) for example, between 1988 and 1992; SSA experienced over 15 drought
The vulnerability of the poor especially in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has led to a decrease in agricultural production …show more content…
The global warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to anthropogenic activities. The magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades depends primarily on the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally and how sensitive the earth’s climate is to those emissions (Sango, 2013). According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2007), climate change refers to, “a change of climate that is directly or indirectly attributed to human activities by altering the composition of the global atmosphere, in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” Climate change is also defined by a number of factors which include: temperature, precipitation, air pressure, humidity, wind and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods (Sango, …show more content…
Temperatures in the sub region have risen by over 0.500C over the last 100 years. Between 1950 and 2000, Namibia for example, experienced warming at a rate of 0.02300C per year. The Indian Ocean has also experienced warming of more than 100C since 1950. In South Africa, the mean annual temperatures have increased by at least 1.5 times the observed average of 0.650C over the past 50 years and extreme rainfall events have increased frequently. The region has also experienced a downward trend in rainfall (National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 2005.) for example, between 1988 and 1992; SSA experienced over 15 drought