CLIMATE CHANGE IN AFRICA

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN AFRICA
by J-P Thompson


Climate change is a global crisis now and for the foreseeable future. Africa is impacted disproportionately and this situation will only deteriorate without immediate and comprehensive solutions. Figure 1 illustrates some of the key elements of climate change, including deforestation, desertification and coastal erosion. In addition, the average temperature rise in Africa is estimated to double the global average over the next 70 years.1 This alone will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Africa, impacting negatively on crop yields, biodiversity, water availability, land degradation and health outcomes. Another estimate predicts that over 180 million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die of diseases directly linked to climate change by the end of the century.2 The fuse to these ecological time-bombs is carbon dioxide emissions. Industrialized and industrializing nations are principally responsible for these emissions.
http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=19552

Notes and Links:

1. Valleley, P. “Climate change will be catastrophe for Africa”. The Independent, 16th May, 2006; http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-will-be-catastrophe-for-africa-478375.html.

2. Christian Aid, “Facts and Figures”. 2007; http://www.christianaid.org.uk/issues/climatechange/facts/index.aspx.

3. Climate change vulnerability in Africa. (2002, updated 2004, 2005). In UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. Retrieved 19:20, October 26, 2008 from http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/climate_change_vulnerability_in_africa.

4. Data.org, “Climate Change in Africa”. 24th January, 2008; http://www.data.org/issues/climate_change_and_africa_012408.html.

5. Click here to see ad published in the Financial Times, 8th July, 2008 by www.avaaz.org.

6. Monbiot, G. “This crisis demands a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means”. The Guardian, 4th December, 2007; http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/dec/04/comment.politics.

7. Stockholm Environment Institute, “Sweden’s leadership in a climate constrained world”. October, 2008; http://www.sei.se/editable/pages/news/Sweden%20GDRs%20Final.pdf.

8. Valleley, P. “Climate change will be catastrophe for Africa”. The Independent, 16th May, 2006; http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-will-be-catastrophe-for-africa-478375.html.

9. Jowit, J., “Drought land will be abandonded”. 2nd November, 2008; http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/02/climate-change-desertification-water-drought.

10. Patz, J., et al. “Impact of regional climate change on human health”. Nature, 17th November, 2005; http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7066/abs/nature04188.html.

11. Desanker, P.V. and Magadza, C. et al. “Africa. Chapter 10 of the IPCC Working Group II, Third Assessment Report”, p. 509, 2001; http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.htm.

12. IPCC cited in: Forestsforever.org, “Forests and climate change”. http://www.forestsforever.org/climate2.html.

13. Howden, D. “Deforestation: The hidden cause of global warming”. The Independent, 14th May, 2007; http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/deforestation-the-hidden-cause-of-global-warming-448734.html.

14.Hennig, R. “Forests and deforestation in Africa”. Afrol News. http://www.afrol.com/features/10278.

16. Food and Agriculture Organization (UN), Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005.

17. UNEP “Africa: Atlas of our Changing Environment”. Chapter 1, p.18, 2008. http://www.unep.org/dewa/africa/AfricaAtlas/PDF/en/Chapter1.pdf.

18. FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005.

19.UNEP cited in: Environmental News Network, “Africa's deforestation twice world rate, says atlas”. 11th June, 2008; http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/37370.

20.The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) cited in: Rainforestinfo.org, “The Causes of Rainforest Destruction”. http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/background/causes.htm.

21. Harrison Ngau cited in: Ibid.

22. Globaltimber.org.uk, “Exports by, and imports from, Africa”, http://www.globaltimber.org.uk/africa.htm. Individual country data is available here: http://www.globaltimber.org.uk/info.htm.

23. Mongabay.com, “Afrotropical realm”.

24. FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005. Despite much smaller areas of forest, Seychelles is 1st with 88.9% forest cover and Guinea-Bissau is 3rd with 73.7% forest cover.

25. Rainforestfoundationuk.org, “Gabon”. http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/Gabon.

26. Mongabay.com, “Country profile – Gabon”. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20gabon.htm.

27. Trangonews.com, “Gabon among fourteen states chosen for anti-deforestation scheme”. 30th July, 2008; http://www.trangonews.com/n/Gabon_among_fourteen_states_chosen...

28. Mongabay.com, “Country profile – Gabon”.

29. NTFPs are important commodities for local population groups as a food or fuel source and in making medicines, tools and building materials. NTFPs include: bark, tubers, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, resins, honey, fungi and animal products.

30. WRM, “The problems faced by Gabon’s forests and the communities that depend on them: a menu of logging, dams, oil, mining, parks, railways, roads, ports”. WRM bulletin #133, August 2008; http://wrmbulletin.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/the-problems-faced-by-gabons-forests-and-the-communities-that-depend-on-them-a-menu-of-logging-dams-oil-mining-parks-railways-roads-ports/.

31.World Bank Carbon Finance Unit, “State and Trends of the Carbon Market, 2008”. p.7, May 2008; http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NEWS/Resources/...

32. Bond, P., Dada, R., and Erion, G., eds., “Introduction- Climate change, carbon trading and civil society”. Chapter 1, p. 5, 2007. The initial GHGs emissions reduction targets were 5% from 1990 levels, to be achieved by 2012.

33. Bachram, H., “Climate fraud and carbon colonialism”. Chapter 6, p.110, 2007. (In Bond, P., et al.)

34. Vidal, J., “Billions wasted on UN climate programme”. The Guardian, 26th May, 2008; http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/26/climatechange.greenpolitics.

35. Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), “Forests are more than just Carbon”, August 2008; http://www.redd-monitor.org/2008/10/29/foei-forests-are-more-than-carbon/.

36. Toulmin, C., “Africa make climate change history”. Open Democracy, 16th May, 2005; http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-africa_democracy/article_2513.jsp.

37. Faris, S., “The other side of carbon trading”. Mongabay.com, 29th August, 2007; http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0829-fortune.html.


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