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Climate change: Causes, effects and mitigation measures- A review
Abstract
The Intergovernmental Panels on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have identified climate change as the greatest threat of the century and reported that the earth’s average temperature has risen by 0.740 C. Furthermore, the present atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is 385 ppm (parts per million) far more than at any time in the last 650,000 years resulting in climate change or global warming. Both natural and human causes of climate change including the earth’s orbital changes,
solar variations, ocean currents, volcanic eruptions et cetera were reviewed. These various causes have resulted in rising sea levels, melting of ice at the world’s poles and on its mountains and violent downpours resulting in over flooding and submerging of coastal areas and consequent migration of animal species; heat waves leading to desertification, depletion of water availability, reduced animal metabolism and agricultural food production, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, decreased animal health et cetera. Some measures identified to have potentials to bring about climate change mitigation including the use of carbon capture & storage (CCS) technology and trading plants for carbon as carbon tracking devises; breeding of fuzzy-leaved crops and irrigation as techniques for cooling the
atmosphere. Strategies for climate change adaptation through a multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral approach have become imperative as a result of inequalities between the developed and the developing nations in terms of limited capital resources and expertise. The successes recorded so far through these efforts are encouraging but they have not been able to drastically reduce the rise in atmospheric temperature, hence the consequences abound, especially in the developing countries like Nigeria. Several scholarly articles were scoured and presented and the paper
concludes by positing that atmospheric rise in temperature should be brought below 20C by 2050 in tandem with Copenhagen and Kyoto Summits accord.
solar variations, ocean currents, volcanic eruptions et cetera were reviewed. These various causes have resulted in rising sea levels, melting of ice at the world’s poles and on its mountains and violent downpours resulting in over flooding and submerging of coastal areas and consequent migration of animal species; heat waves leading to desertification, depletion of water availability, reduced animal metabolism and agricultural food production, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, decreased animal health et cetera. Some measures identified to have potentials to bring about climate change mitigation including the use of carbon capture & storage (CCS) technology and trading plants for carbon as carbon tracking devises; breeding of fuzzy-leaved crops and irrigation as techniques for cooling the
atmosphere. Strategies for climate change adaptation through a multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral approach have become imperative as a result of inequalities between the developed and the developing nations in terms of limited capital resources and expertise. The successes recorded so far through these efforts are encouraging but they have not been able to drastically reduce the rise in atmospheric temperature, hence the consequences abound, especially in the developing countries like Nigeria. Several scholarly articles were scoured and presented and the paper
concludes by positing that atmospheric rise in temperature should be brought below 20C by 2050 in tandem with Copenhagen and Kyoto Summits accord.
