African Climes

This report was requested in 2015 at COP21, agreed upon in 2016 and published in 2018. It starts by noting that human activities have already caused a mean temperature rise of 1.0 degrees above preindustrial times with temperatures oscillating between 0.8 degrees to 1.2 degrees. With the current rate of emissions, the first temperature threshold of the Paris agreement which is 1.5 degrees, will be attained between 2030 and 2052. In fact, the emissions trajectory means a rise of 0.2 degrees per decade. The report further states that warming is taking place throughout the globe, and that higher than normal averages have been reported in multiple places and in various seasons. Warming is greater over land than the sea. It is twice to thrice higher in the Arctic. In fact studies are attributing higher temperatures and weather extremes to climate change. Warming will take place for centuries to millennia to come because of greenhouse gases from preindustrial times to now. However, these a...

Wastewater refers to water that is used to carry municipal waste flows from domestic, commercial and industrial flows. It is largely an under-regarded and under-regulated area in relation to climate change. However, mounting evidence shows that it is an important part of both climate change mitigation and adaptation, contributing to and being affected by the phenomenon. Let us start with mitigation. Only about 20% of water globally is treated, while the rest is discharged in its raw form vastly polluting the environment and releasing climate warming emissions. Wastewater contributes to 5% of worldwide emissions. Wastewater uses a lot of energy in collection from source, transport and treatment of influent (incoming sewage). This energy is mostly electricity or vehicular transport of which the system is powered by fossil fuels which are the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. WWTP works at Ruai, Nairobi (Picture:Edison Mutumba) When the was...

Freshwater systems are an indispensable part of climate action, because mitigation, which is the cutting avoidance or absorption of carbon emissions, is not possible without water. Water therefore forms the central focus of climate action. Only 3% of the world’s water resources is freshwater in both solid (frozen) and liquid (water) form while the rest is saline sea water in the oceans. With a growing world population, higher energy demand and the effects of climate change, the demand for freshwater will spike against a limited supply. Moreover, as it becomes ever more important to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the role of freshwater in climate mitigation will come to the fore. A serene natural landscape. Source(Emmanuel/iwaria) Safe and clean water is a human right and is one of the sustainable development goals. Freshwater itself is a natural resource that plays many roles in mitigation. The first is in nature based solutions like forests. Forests mitigate climate change becaus...