Kenya Drought: East Africa In Crisis

Heard about it? Probably not. East Africa is climate change ground zero. If it was a richer developed country it would be all over the news. This is the real human impact of climate change the western media doesn’t show you.

Pic: http://animalnewyork.com/

Kenya has a delicate climate. Already so hot, that further increase in temperature can throw whole ecosystems out of balance. An epic drought has been cast upon countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. This in turn has caused a further life threatening humanitarian crisis. The severe drought, that now occurs year on year, has lead to severe shortages of not only water, but food and livestock too. It is estimated that 23 Million people are threatened by the crisis.

Kenya drought has been especially damaging.  In some regions lack of rain has destroyed whole harvests. Many people depending on livestock have also struggled to keep them alive with no water to feed them. Kenya drought and the food shortage has forced the price of food beyond that of what most families can afford.

If the drought continues we will not be able to raise any animals as there will be no pasture or water. So we will have no money to send our children to school. If we can’t get money from raising animals we don’t know what else we can do.

UK based Charity Oxfam have launched and emergency appeal for £9.5 million in donations to help those suffering from Kenya drought and the food crisis in East Africa. The charity have made themselves synonymous with helping those impacted by climate change throughout this year with there “Here and Now” campaign, aimed to highlight the fact that poorer countries are already suffering at the hands of climate change and the need to act here and now.

Climate Change Aid: Copenhagen Calling

Here is a key issue that will cause big discussion at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen this December. Will the EU and other developed nations fund poor countries to help protect themselves from the impacts of climate change?

Money. You would think we would have run out of it by now after the dreadful year we have had. But the truth is the developed world has lots of it. In most cases it’s because of one thing. Fuel. Fossil fuels to be exact. The economic powerhouses of the last century became so because of their discovery, cultivation, use and export of oil, gas and coal.

Towards the end of the century it became apparent that the earth was warming. Gas emitted from burning these fuels, such as carbon dioxide, have a “greenhouse effect” on our atmosphere, trapping heat and causing “global warming”. The Industrial age, fueled by these fossil fuels, developed wealthy nations in North America and Western Europe. A new civilisation was born and a new quality of life reigned, whilst poorer third world countries were left in the dark.

Only over the past decades has poorer nations began to catch up with the developed world. These developing nations relying as their developed counterparts did on fossil fuels to power their industry, and build their future. But the last decade has seen them face new challenges.

A warming world is a more dangerous world. Climate change has become a reality in the hotter parts of the world. These already warm climates are home mostly to these developing nations. As climate change is a result of emissions from the use of fossil fuels, that surely means the nations that got rich from using them are responsible for the outcome. It is therefor unfortunate and unjust that as climate change begins to effect our world, the first countries to suffer are the poorer developing nations that have not reaped the benefits of the fuels that caused it.

2009 sets the stage for the most important meeting on climate change in history. Already an estimated 300,000 people are loosing there lives every year in climate changes related disasters, and nearly 300 Million are directly effected. 20 Million people are threatened yearly by Bangladesh floods alone. The Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen must reach a decision on how to deal with the issue of the impact of climate change on poorer nations.

The UN estimates that poor nations will need around $100 Billion (£60 Billion) to adapt to climate change. This should come from developed nations. 40% of the money is aimed to come from a carbon trading scheme that is supposed to emerge from the summit.

The European Commission believes $2 Billion – $15 Billion each year is a fair share for the EU to give to poorer nations. The commission believes that “industrialised nations and economically more advanced developing countries” will have to provide $22-50bn per year.

Will these countries step up and put the lives of other people before their own economies? After all the USA managed to fund their own banks with over $1 trillion in the last year, more than enough to end world hunger.

In all failure to reach a fair deal for aid to developing nations hit by climate change would be a sad day for humanity. For too long politicians have prioritised their economies over human lives and well, just about everything. It’s time for developed nations to accept their responsibility for climate change, and remember that people come first.

20 Million at Risk from Bangladesh Floods

New research shows a bleak future for Bangladesh, claiming up to 20 million people are at risk from rising sea levels and monsoon floods.

The research by the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services in Bangladesh predicts that sea water could reach far inland, as many rivers are surrounded by low lying flood plains. As well as displacing those living in these areas, it would make it hard to cultivate such basic foods as rice.

The research comes as the Bangladesh Government appeals for £3 billion in aid over the next five years to combat climate change in the region. The study suggest that a surprisingly small amount of land will be permanently lost to rising sea levels, but perhaps the bigger threat is repeated Bangladesh floods every monsoon season, especially in the south west region.

A senior scientist on the study claims sea water could cause havoc for rice production in Bangladesh’s poorest regions.

“These are very poor people, and vulnerable. For four months they’ll have nowhere to work, So people will migrate to the cities for jobs, because of the uncomfortable situation with sea level rise. We are talking about 20 million people.”

According to Bangladesh monitoring stations, there has been an average of 5mm sea level rise per year for the past 30 years. Nearly half of the rice produced in Bangladesh is so call “monsoon” rice, much of which is grown in the areas most vulnerable to Bangladesh floods.

Bangladesh has been listed as one of the countries vulnerable to “extreme risk” from climate change over the next 100 years.

Here is a video from BBC News on possible solutions to Bangladesh floods, and how the people could adapt to climate change. Britain’s Department for International Development is sponsoring farmers with new ideas such as gardens that float, and cultivating crabs and ducks instead of crops and chickens.

Antarctic Glacier Melt Like “Nothing in the Natural World”

Climate change studies of the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica have worried scientists after revealing that the ice is now thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago.

Satellite data shows that the glacier in west Antarctica is now loosing 16 meters of surface ice per year. Worse still, measurements show that the glacier has lowered by as much as 90 meters since 1994, which has serious implications for sea-level rise.

Calculations based on the rate of melting 15 years ago had suggested the glacier would last for 600 years. But the new data based on current levels of climate change points to a lifespan for the vast ice stream of only another 100 years. This will likely have a knock on effect, causing further climate change around the globe.

The ice is melting fastest in the centre of the glacier, which is sparking fears in scientists that the glacier may break up and effect the ice sheet further inland. Professor Andrew Shepherd of Leeds University claims that melted water from the centre alone would increase global sea levels by 3cm.

“But the ice trapped behind it is about 20-30cm of sea level rise and as soon as we destabilise or remove the middle of the glacier we don’t know really know what’s going to happen to the ice behind it. This is unprecedented in this area of Antarctica. We’ve known that it’s been out of balance for some time, but nothing in the natural world is lost at an accelerating exponential rate like this glacier.”

The news comes as research in the Arctic is finding evidence of dramatic climate changes. Researchers on board a Greenpeace vessel have been studying the northwestern part of Greenland.

“The science community has been surprised by how sensitive these large glaciers are to climate warming. First it was the glaciers in south Greenland and now as we move further north in Greenland we find retreat at major glaciers. It’s like removing a cork from a bottle.” Claims Professor Jason Box of the study.

India’s ‘Unsustainable’ Water

NASA research has yielded some worrying information about India’s use of water.

Scientists have found that groundwater levels in northern India have been declining by as much as one foot per year over the past decade. Researchers concluded the loss is almost entirely due to human activity. The findings were published two days after an Indian government report warning of a potential water crisis.

About a quarter of India is experiencing drought conditions, as the monsoon rains have been weaker and later than usual. A welcome change for those usually victims of Bangladesh floods but the lack of water is set to effect more people. However, NASA say more than 26 cubic miles of groundwater disappeared between 2002 and 2008, and that the loss is “almost entirely due to human activity”.

The finding is based on data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a pair of satellites that sense changes in Earth’s gravity field and associated mass distribution, including water masses stored above or below Earth’s surface.

“Using GRACE satellite observations, we can observe and monitor water storage changes in critical areas of the world, from one month to the next, without leaving our desks” Isabella Velicogna of NASA