Climate change impacts in Africa
Africa has been dealing with the impacts of climate change since the 1970s. The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the African continent as the one that will be most affected.
Africa is set to experience:
Significant increases in temperature by 2010, particularly in the Sahel and part of southern Africa;
Dramatic decreases in precipitation, declining by more than 20% compared to levels 20 years ago; and
More frequent and intense tropical storms—parts of the continent will see a 20% increase in cyclone activity.
The projected impacts for human security include:
Between 75-250 million people exposed to water stress in the next 10 years, and as many as 1.8 billion by the end of this century.
Agriculture fed by rain could drop 50% in some African countries by 2020. The IPCC report predicts that wheat may disappear from Africa by 2080, and that maize—a staple—will fall significantly in southern Africa.
Arid and semi-arid lands are likely to increase by up to 8%, with severe ramifications for livelihoods, poverty eradication and meeting and maintaining the Millennium Development Goals.
These facts and figures underline the direct ramifications climate change is set to have on the social fabric of Africa.
Many African leaders expressed their concerns about the impact of climate change at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) held in Yokohama on 28-30 May 2008.Climate change in Tanzania is affecting the natural environment and residents of Tanzania. Temperatures in Tanzania are rising with a higher likelihood of intense rainfall events (resulting in flooding) and of dry spells (resulting in droughts), (UNCCN, 2020).
Tanzanian rice farmer - agricultural activities will be affected by climate change.
Water scarcity has become an increasing problem and many major water bodies have had extreme drops in water levels, including Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika Lake Jipe, and Lake Rukwa.Tanzania's agricultural sector, which employs over half of the population is particularly vulnerable as farmers are predominantly dependent on rainfed agriculture, (Benjamini k, 2011).
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