Aside from the under performing economies of most African countries resulting from poor development planning and execution, nature’s turn of tide, that is, temperature, rainfall patterns and other climatic factors have worked against a struggling continent.
Incidentally, man has negatively tampered with nature’s balance and the consequences leave our climate worse for it.
Over the years, there have been a number of global climate change meetings in several cities. They seek to draw attention to the effect of increased warming affecting different aspects of human existence.
Global increase in temperature leads to melting of ice in places where water is released and causes rise in the sea level.
Narrowing it down to Africa, south of the Equator, studies indicate that there is threat to South Africa and her beaches.
Rising sea levels in South Africa means that the tourism sector will ultimately come under hammer.
Places of interest for tourists like along the False Bay, V&A Waterfront, Cape Point and Robben Island are steadily pushed by rising water and its consequent erosion effect.
A recent report in 2020 shows that there is continual water action, attack through erosion on these tourist spots.
Already there are fluctuations in South Africa’s tourism receipts over the last five years; there is a fall from $10 billion in 2018 to $9 billion in 2019.
With the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a sharp fall of 70 per cent to $2 billion got into the kitty.
The drop in tourism revenue is by no means attributed to changing tourist demands alone. However, unmitigated challenges of climate change will further drive down one of the bright sectors of South Africa’s economy.
This is only a tip of the iceberg of the negative influence of global climate change and specifically as it affects South Africa.
With a rising sea level, more water comes to the beaches that leads to flooding. Water tends to flow inland and can redefine its boundary. Sometimes, this is not normally the case as beaches are confined between the water surge and building/road infrastructure.
In effect, the shape of beaches is not constant. They are shaped by forces of erosion like wind, waves and sand moved from their original position to another.
For a larger proportion of Africa vulnerability varies, but it is most likely to affect Lagos (Nigeria), Cape Town and Durban (South Africa), and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) in the coastal parts.
These areas suffer greater flooding than other areas in the Continent as a result of changing rainfall patterns.
Whether in the cities or rural areas, floods affect the livelihood of the people. There is steady displacement of the inhabitants of the various regions resulting in homelessness, destruction of farmlands and crops, scarcity of food and a sharp rise in the price of available stuff.
Invariably, more people are driven into poverty to swell the pitiable number already existing in Africa.
The challenge of climate change
Human activities in parts of the world kick-started industrial production and pollution. There are also processes in the agriculture sector that have increased the factors leading to climate change.
But what are the root causes of climate change and why has it turned into a global crisis? Largely climate change refers to changing patterns of the climate in different parts of the world.
This phenomenon can be traced to the mid-90s and the increased use of fossil fuels that generate higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Other gasses include methane, nitrous oxide and the like.
These gasses are referred to as ‘greenhouse gasses’ such as those produced by fossil fuels – automotive gas oil, low pour fuel oil, and other petroleum products and coal. These are non-renewable energy.
They throw a blanket around the earth and in turn trap the heat of the sun. This leads to increase in temperatures or a warming effect that translates to more rain or drier regions depending on the interplay of climatic factors.
This also triggers a number of adverse climatic conditions. Principal actors in the production of greenhouse gasses are the industrialized West, China, India as well as the Soviet Bloc.
A projection of 350 million more people or at least 4 percent per annum is expected to be added to Africa’s cities.
However, according to the Brookings Institution, a billion more people will populate the continent by 2063.
The challenges posed include the number of mouths to feed, creating employment for the people and the changing pattern of the demographics needed for national planning.
Africa’s contribution to the challenges of climate change is minimal. It would rather receive compensation from the larger culprits of industrial and climate pollution.
The inconsistencies of Nations agreeing to keep to terms that will help climate change positively continues to be a worrying issue.