Adaptation and Mitigation to climate change

Two interesting examples of how the Ugandan government is trying to prepare to adapt to future impacts of climate change, one of them is that they are trying to develop drought resistant species of crops, so that when the climate changes, the people will be able to survive on these drought resistant crops. The other preparedness to adapt technique is that they are trying to reduce pollution by implementing the polluter pays principle.

Click to access uganc1.pdf

An interesting adaptation technique was that they are trying to improve communication and road networks in Africa. This is because both the communication and the road network are not at an up to scale standard. These improvements will help for the better exchange of knowledge and information.

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch9s9-5-1.html

Uganda is accessing the Kyoto protocol. It has not signed the protocol to reduce carbon emissions yet. My country doesn’t play a significant role in the Kyoto protocol since they barely produce any significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Uganda was not required to reduce carbon emissions. the protocol was signed, but the country did not have to reduce its carbon emissions.

https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/status_of_ratification/items/2613.php

My country is making efforts towards mitigation of climate change. The country is trying to get people more sensitized on climate change and how they can help to limit the effects that are going to come from the climate changing. The alternative energy sources that are being used in Uganda include solar power. This seems to be the country’s resort  to using the hydro electric power, and this is because the country always has sunshine to charge the solar panels. The country is also providing research for farmers so as to be able to grow modified crops that can withstand pests and the climate changes.  The social mitigation s to improve climate change in this country are that they are having more people in the country plant trees and some people are holding protests against the government selling the countries forests to investors. Culturally the country’s population is learning the effects of climate change and they are learning how to adapt to the issue at hand. They are adjusting their planting and harvesting season for their food and crops that they are growing, they are learning howto survive. The country doesn’t have any economic incentives fro mitigation, but the plans to do and give these economic incentives are underway.

I personally believe my country should mitigate to climate change, as the rising temperatures are already affecting them and we as Ugandans need to be best prepared for the changes. The sooner we can adapt to the climate changes, the better for us as a nation.

http://pelumuganda.org/enhancing-smallholder-farmers-adaptation-to-climate-change-through-sustainable-agriculture/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ipcc.ch/activities/activities.shtml

Climate Change Impacts

There has been a noted increase in the amount of green house gases being produced in Africa, and this factor is mainly attributed to the change in land use. An increase in the intensity of the rainy seasons in the southern Africa is also noted in the IPCC report. There is an increase in the anomalies with extremely wet and extremely dry seasons. This is all seeming to be caused by the warming of the atmosphere. The wet season is seen from the east part of Africa extending down to the southern art of Africa.

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch11s11-2-3-2.html

Africa is said to be one of the lowest and most vulnerable continents that is going to be affected by the climate change. This is shown ranging from the rising sea levels to the growing of food. This is mainly because the ares that grow the food are going to be exposed to longer dry seasons, and the yielding potential will definitely go down as well will affect the food security and in turn cause high numbers of malnutrition.  Some adaptation is taking place as regards the climate, however this is not sufficient nor coming along any faster.

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/spmsspm-c-7-africa.html

African ecosystems are already being affected by the climate change.  Climate change will go along with non climatic factors to affect food availability.  National governments are initiating governance systems to help with the climatic adaption process. Although the adoption process is said to be low. Highland areas ie East Africa is going to face an increase in malaria due to the climate changes.

Click to access WGIIAR5-Chap22_FGDall.pdf

The most interesting threat to my region which is East Africa seems to be to the agricultural sector. The land use is going to affect us greatly. The over fishing that is already a problem will affect my area in the long run. The climate change will affect the ecosystem in my region. The malaria increase is also another threat that cannot be ignored while talking about the impacts of the climate change.

Below is an image that shows the major impacts of the climate change on Africa as a whole.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0670e/i0670e03.htm

Uganda’s contribution to climate change

For my country the carbon emissions were really low.  the highest source of the carbon emissions seems to be liquid with the cement industry increasing its carbon emissions.  This actually came as a surprise to me, because having lived there i see a lot of pollution going on. This is mainly from the industrialization that is going on in the country. A couple of industries are expanding, there have been threats by the government to sell one of the forest so as to give room to entrepreneurs. However, there are a couple of projects being brought up by the non government organizations to support tree planting. This by itself doesn’t seem to make sense as the trees that have already matured and are sucking in some of the carbon emissions, are being deforested.

My country began emitting significant amounts of carbon emissions in 1970. In the country’s history this is about the time that they gained independence and hence i can assume that as a country, they ventured into industrialization and trying to sustain the country’s economy.

For my country the most recent per capita number is 0.03. This is shockingly low compared to that of the united states which happens to be 4.7. The comparison is that Uganda has 0.6% carbon emissions compared to the US. The rank of Uganda on the website provided in carbon emissions is 202. the US seems to rank at 12 on the cdiac.ornl website. i feel like as  a Ugandan, we should be at the bottom of the list in carbon emission, because i know we have the land to plant the trees and can also sensitize the population.

From the total carbon emissions graph below, i can tell that China is the leading emitter of carbon dioxide. Uganda is really down on the total emissions by country graph down.

A Chinese citizen is more at fault for emitting carbon dioxide than an american citizen.

Total fossil fuel emissions for some countries from the year 1900 to the present( in thousand metric tonnes).

US = 97072700.6

China = 41257833.5

India = 11407871.3

Uganda since 1950 = 17262

From the totals that i worked out, it showed me that the US was responsible for the most carbon dioxide emissions. China as a country is only responsible for 42.5% of the carbon emissions that the United states as a whole have emitted. The carbon emissions that have occurred in China can count for less than 50% of the carbon emissions in the US. For another country like India, it only emits about 11.8% of carbon emissions that the US has emitted over the course of time. this number is seen as relatively low when compared to the US and China.

In the keeling curve and the emissions graph, there seems to be a resemblance, as both these graphs are showing an upward trend.

Concentrations are what the gas is made up of like the density of a gas while emissions are gases and other particles released into the atmosphere by at times human activities like burning fossil fuels.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-emissions.htm