Global warming
Global warming to produce famine and poverty in Africa

afrol.com, 21 February - Rising levels of disease, famine and poverty are forecast for Africa as a result of global warming, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned today in Nairobi. Agriculture is bound to decline in an Africa that becomes dryer. The process has already started.

Heavy, monsoon-like rains and higher temperatures will favour the breeding of mosquitoes carrying diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis and haemorrhagic fever, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was launched by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization.

There is also evidence that El Niño - a vast climatic phenomenon that can bring intense floods and droughts in many parts of the globe - is becoming more frequent as a result of global warming and could increase the prevalence of cholera, which is transmitted by water or food. The reports states that during the 1997-1998 El Niño, excessive flooding caused cholera epidemics in Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.

- This latest assessment makes bleak reading for many people across the developing world and in particular for us in Africa, said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the Nairobi-based UNEP. "We must re-start the stalled climate change negotiations as a first step towards the deep cuts in emissions from factories, power stations, cars and homes, needed to curb damaging climate change. But we also need to help vulnerable people to adapt to the impacts and that action needs to be taken now."

While heavy rains will become more frequent, there will also be rising levels of drought and the spread of deserts such as the Sahara, the scientists warn. "In Africa's large catchment basins of Niger, Lake Chad and Senegal, total available water has decreased by 40 to 60 per cent," the report states, noting that, in terms of droughts, southern Africa could be one of the hardest hit areas. 

Last month's report by UNEP's Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed the increasingly strong evidence for humanity's influence on the global climate. It also projected that the globally-averaged temperature of the air above the Earth's surface would rise by 1.4 - 5.8°C over the next 100 years. Sea levels could also rise by tens of centimetres, threatening millions of people in low-lying countries. 

The new report by UNEP's Working Group II analyses how this general warming will affect Africa, Asia, Europe and other regions over the coming decades. While highlighting remaining uncertainties, it details expected changes in weather patterns, water resources, the cycling of the seasons, ecosystems, extreme climate events, and much more. The report is an objective assessment of the most up-to-date, peer-reviewed scientific research available.

In a separate statement issued today in Nairobi, UNEP said the IPCC scientists forecast a thinning of the ice in the Arctic, which would likely have dramatic impacts on the world's weather systems, fisheries, wildlife and people living in the far North. "What happens in the Arctic and the Antarctic have implications for everyone on the planet," Mr. Toepfer said. "The polar regions play a crucial role in driving the circulation of the world's oceans which in turn affect weather systems and the climate on every continent."

Source: Based on UNEP

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