November 11th, 2008 at 11:09 am | posted by Field
Oxfam volunteers and ONE members gathered in downtown Philly on Friday to view “Sisters on the Planet,” a documentary about women in the developing world taking leadership roles to fight climate change. As the film producers put it: “climate change is already having a disproportionate impact on people in developing countries, and it’s hitting women hardest.” After the movie was over, those of us who attended conversation talked about successes and solutions in the film.
With our partner organizations’ grassroots forces behind us, we are continuing to build a growing network in all 50 states fighting for those living in extreme poverty.
-Lauren Conn
June 11th, 2008 at 11:44 am | posted by Nora Coghlan
Yesterday, the United Nation’s Environmental Program (UNEP) launched an atlas with over 300 satellite images from across Africa. An interactive GoogleMap on UNEP”s website allows you to browse through these images and read about how factors like climate change, population growth and conflict have transformed the African landscape over the past thirty years. The images capture well-known environmental hotspots, such as the disappearing glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro and the receding shoreline of Lake Chad and also hundreds of less-known examples such as deforestation in Rwanda’s Gishwati Forest Reserve . Demographic trends are also covered-satellite images of Dakar, Senegal show how rural-to-urban migration since the 1960s has led to a massive expansion of the capital city. By 2005, Senegal’s urban population had surpassed its rural one and by 2030, two-thirds of Senegal’s population is expected to be living in cities.
These images have important implications for development. Many of the photos confirm what we already know: in Africa, climate change is not some future phenomenon slated to impact the next generation - it is happening now. The effects of water scarcity, deforestation and desertification are already being felt across the continent and are only going to increase. For example, 75-250 million more people in Africa are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change by 2020. The atlas also shows how dedicated policy measures can help counteract environmental damage: in the Tahoua Province of Niger, for example, farmer initiatives focused on protection and planting of trees has helped offset deforestation and the area now has 10-20 times the trees it had in the 1970s. UNEP says that this land transformation has reduced drought vulnerability and will help people diversify their livelihoods so as not to rely solely on rain-fed crops.
You can download the full atlas here, and be sure to check out the GoogleMap feature to click through satellite images from around the world.
-Nora Coghlan
April 7th, 2008 at 11:19 am | posted by Nora Coghlan
In commemoration of World Health Day, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director of the World Health Organization, warned that climate change stands to exacerbate health crises in the world’s poorest communities.
Reuters reported:
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that new patterns of global rainfall, droughts and storms could accelerate the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever in some regions, creating serious problems for poor nations.
“The climate change-sensitive diseases and conditions are already creating huge burdens in many countries… The impact of climate change can act as an amplifier,” she told a news conference in Geneva, where the United Nations agency is based.
Confronting the health challenges from global warming will require concerted efforts to forecast changing weather patterns, fight mosquitoes and other disease-spreading bugs, distribute vaccinations and boost medical coverage, Chan said.
In sub-Saharan Africa, projections indicate that changing climate patterns will have serious implications on agricultural productivity, water availability and human health.
-The areas suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and the yield potential of food staples are all projected to decline- some African countries could see agricultural yields decrease by 50% by 2050 and crop net revenues could fall by as much as 90% by 2100.
-Rising temperatures can alter runoff patterns and increase water evaporation rates, which can severely reduce the availability of water. By 2020, an additional 75-250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change.
-Previously malaria-free highland areas in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi could experience modest incursions of malaria by the 2050s, with conditions for transmission becoming highly suitable by the 2080s. In total, an additional 260-320 million people worldwide could be living in malaria infested areas by 2080.
While these trends and events can not be attributed solely to climate change, they are the types of challenges that will become more frequent and intense with increasing climate variation.
Read about World Health Day 2008: Protecting Health from Climate Change
Read more about how climate change will impact sub-Saharan Africa.
-Nora Coghlan
