Understanding Climate change

CLIMATE CHANGE is the long-term change of temperature and typical weather patterns in a particular region or the planet as a whole. This may cause weather patterns to be unpredictable.

UNPREDICTABLE weather patterns mean expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on and this makes it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming. People in poorer countries will suffer the most as they do not have the money to adapt to climate change. Many farmers in developing countries already have to contend with climates that are too hot.

CLIMATE CHANGE has been connected with damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours and winter storms than usual. If nothing is done, scientists think global warming could exceed 4°C, leading to problems from devastating heatwaves, millions losing their homes to rising sea levels and irreversible loss of plant and animal species. With further warming, some regions could become uninhabitable, as farmland turns into desert. In other regions, the opposite is happening, with extreme rainfall causing historic flooding – as seen recently in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the US and China.

IN POLAR REGIONS, rising global temperatures associated with climate change mean ice sheets and glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate from season to season. This contributes to sea levels rising in certain regions of the planet. Exacerbated by expanding ocean waters due to increasing temperatures, the rise in sea levels has begun to damage coastlines with increased flooding and erosion.

IN A WARMER world, animals will find it harder to find the food and water they need to live. For example, polar bears could die out as the ice they rely on melts away and elephants will struggle to find the 150 to 300 litres of water a day they need. Scientists believe at least 550 species could be lost this century if action is not taken.

THE CAUSE of climate change is largely human activities, for example burning fossil fuels, such as gas, oil and coal. Burning these materials releases what is known as greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. This rise is called global warming. The warming of the planet has an impact on climate.

THROUGHOUT Earth’s history, climate has continually changed. When occurring naturally, this is a slow process taking place over hundreds and even thousands of years. The human-influenced climate change that is happening now is occurring at a much faster rate. Temperature rises must slow down if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, scientists say. They say global warming needs to be kept to 1.5°C by 2100. However, unless further action is taken, the planet could warm by more than 2°C by the end of this century.