African Climes

Climate change affects the environment in various and diverse ways. Natural elements such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind and moisture are controlled by climate. The environment can mean the sphere in which life exists. Dry land (lithosphere), the ocean (hydrosphere) and the atmosphere, the interaction and combination of which forms the biosphere in which life thrives. Climate refers to the average weather conditions of a particular place that have been observed for a minimum of thirty years. Weather on the other hand refers to more short term changes. For example, it can be cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon. That’s weather changes. When aggregated for many years, these expected and predictable weather outcomes is what is known as climate. Climate change in the sense in which it’s normally used refers to the distinct change and alterations of the entire global climate system, meaning that every place in the planet has experienced disruptions of normal clima...

  This synthesis summarizes the findings of the three working groups and the previous three special reports.   It assesses the state of climate knowledge to the present. First, is that global surface temperatures have warmed by 1.09 degrees since 1850-1900 up to 2011-2020. Warming is higher over land (1.59 degrees Celsius) than over the ocean (0.88 degrees). Well mixed greenhouse gases (ghgs) have caused a rise of temperatures by 1.07 degrees from 1850-1900 to 2010-2019. The noted increase in these gases is definitely from human activities. In 2019, the ghg levels were 12% above records in 2010 and 54% higher than 1990. Developed countries have the highest per capita emissions. Human influence on the global climate has led to impacts such as floods and heavy precipitation, droughts and heatwaves, cyclones and sea level rise. In fact the seas have risen by 0.20 meters from 1901-2018. About 3.3-3.6 billion people are directly vulnerable to climate change and many areas lac...

This body of work picks up from the previous working group II report. Its focus is on mitigation. This part of the AR6 series takes place in an environment of new climate policies and agreements, changing international landscape governing climate i.e. the UN Climate Change, Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. There is also a sizeable increase in the role on non-state actors and increasing links between mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development. Notably, this document takes into consideration socio-economic factors in mitigation. Emissions of greenhouse gases have risen since 2010 to 2020, and collectively greenhouse gases amounts have increased in the air since 1850. Carbon dioxide is the highest, followed by methane and fluorinated gases. In fact, all classes of ghgs (greenhouse gases) have recorded increases. The carbon budget left to hit 1.5 degrees of warming is 500GtCo2 equivalent (gigatonnes of carbon dioxide) with 50% probability, from 2020 going forward. The budget...

 This report builds on previous work done by the panel in the fifth assessment cycle (AR5) and all reports since then (land, ocean and cryosphere, 1.5 degrees warming, and the WG1). It is based on a wider and deeper knowledge base accrued since then. It starts by noting the interdependence of the human world and Earth systems (climate, biodiversity and ecosystems). Climate change is occurring simultaneously with challenges such as biodiversity loss, population spikes and shifts, overconsumption and overstretching of the Earth’s natural capacity and resources, socioeconomic phenomena such as inequity, injustice and health concerns. The spotlight is on climate risk in terms of vulnerability, exposure, resilience, adaptation, equity and justice especially climate justice. Notably, efforts by people to respond to climate change can further trigger risk. Adaptation refers to making the best of what happens while maintaining function, or better still evolving (transforming) to bett...

This report continues from the fifth assessment report of 2013 on the same. It has been arrived at using new climate models and methods, increased knowledge of the workings of the climate system, and palaeodata in order to have considerably more accurate results. To start, the notable surge in greenhouse gas concentrations from 1750 to today is from human influence. Measurements puts carbon dioxide at 410 parts per million (ppm) each year, methane at 1866 parts per billion (ppb), nitrous oxide at 332 ppb, perfluorocarbons at 109 parts per trillion (ppt), sulphur hexafluoride at 10 ppt, nitrogen trifluoride at 2 ppt and hydrofluorocarbons at 237 ppt. The natural carbon sinks of land and water remove a continuous 56% of carbon emissions from the air every year for the last sixty years and this depending on the region. For the last 40 years, each 10 years have been warmer than the preceding ten, noted against a baseline of 1850. From 2001-2020 global surface temperatures were 0.99 (0.84...

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...