Africa: Climate Change Impact Report
There is evidence that climate is modifying natural mountain ecosystems via complex interactions and feedbacks including, for example, solar radiation
(Washington, DC)
ANALYSIS
2 December 2007
Posted to the web 3 December 2007
Washington, DC
"Climate disasters are heavily concentrated in poor countries. Some 262 million people were affected by climate disasters annually from 2000 to 2004, over 98 percent of them in the developing world. ...
In [rich] countries one in 1,500 people was affected by climate disaster. The comparable figure for developing countries was one in 19." - UNDP Human Development Report
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This global inequality cited by the UNDP report (excerpted in another AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out today). is echoed in the extensively documented Africa chapter of latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), excerpted below, and available in full at http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.htm
Both reports were released last month in time for the UN Climate Change Conference, scheduled for Bali, Indonesia, 3-14 December 2007. The climate change crisis, both reports stress, is not just an issue for the future. The changes are already adding to the impact of other stresses to increase risks to survival in areas and population groups that are already vulnerable.
The changes include dramatically visible ones, such as the rapid drop in the snow and ice cover on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, as well as others with effects that show up in statistical studies.
See http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/kilimanjaro_20021216/ for photos of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the extensive documentation in the IPCC chapter on a wide range of effects.
Previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on climate change issues include:
Africa: Neglecting Agriculture, 2
http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/ag0710b.php
Sahel: Beyond Any Drought?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/sah0709.php
Africa: Up in Smoke?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/clim0611.php
Africa: Economics of Climate Change
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/ster0611.php
Africa: Environmental Threats/Opportunities
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/unep0609.php
Africa: Africa's Lakes
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/lake0609.php
East Africa: Dams and Lake Victoria
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/vic0602.php
PCC Fourth Assessment Report
Working Group II Report "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability"
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