What is the simple meaning of climate change?

The earth's climate is generally defined as the average weather over a long period of time. A place or region's climate is determined by both natural and anthropogenic (human-made) factors. The natural elements include the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, while the human factors can include land and resource uses. Changes in any of these factors can cause local, regional, or even global changes in the climate.This process is explained as “climatechange”

A student essay for Climatechange

The term climate change can be explained by dividing it into two words climate and change. Climate is the condition of the weather of earth that lasts for long time period. climatechange simply means the change in climate of the earth .In other word climatechange is the undesirable change in the current climatical situation of the earth due to several human activities.

            The main  human activities responsible for climatechange is more emissions of green house gases from old vehicles ,industries etc which cause the global warming. Other  factors responsible for climate change are unmanaged urbanization, industrialization etc.

            There are lots of effect of climate change .One of the main effect of climate change is the meltdown of melt down of Himalayas,Artics ,rising level of sea water which may drown the island countries as Maldives,Srilanka etc.Besides untimely rainfall, no rainfall and drought are also due to climate change.

      Thus for minimizing the effect of climatechange,several actions should be taken .Afforestation,managed industrialization, urbanization and planned development are some of them.Beside this use of clean enrgy also helps for minimizing the climate change. last but not least, for controlling the increasing change in climate; sustainable development and use of clean energy is most essential 

Rabin
Nepalese Forum Against Climatechange(N F A C)

rbnbrl15@gmail.com

rabinbrl15@gail.com

Effect of climate change

Over 100 years ago, people worldwide began burning more coal and oil for homes, factories, and transportation. Burning these fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These added greenhouses gases have caused Earth to warm more quickly than it has in the past.

How much warming has happened? Scientists from around the world with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tell us that during the past 100 years, the world's surface air temperature increased an average of 0.6° Celsius (1.1°F). This may not sound like very much change, but even one degree can affect the Earth. Below are some effects of climate change that we see happening now.

• Sea level is rising. During the 20th century, sea level rose about 15 cm (6 inches) due to melting glacier ice and expansion of warmer seawater. Models predict that sea level may rise as much as 59 cm (23 inches) during the 21st Century, threatening coastal communities, wetlands, and coral reefs.
• Arctic sea ice is melting. The summer thickness of sea ice is about half of what it was in 1950. Melting ice may lead to changes in ocean circulation. Plus melting sea ice is speeding up warming in the Arctic.
• Glaciers and permafrost are melting. Over the past 100 years, mountain glaciers in all areas of the world have decreased in size and so has the amount of permafrost in the Arctic. Greenland's ice sheet is melting faster too.
• Sea-surface temperatures are warming. Warmer waters in the shallow oceans have contributed to the death of about a quarter of the world's coral reefs in the last few decades. Many of the coral animals died after weakened by bleaching, a process tied to warmed waters.
• Heavier rainfall cause flooding in many regions. Warmer temperatures have led to more intense rainfall events in some areas. This can cause flooding.
• Extreme drought is increasing. Higher temperatures cause a higher rate of evaporation and more drought in some areas of the world.
• Ecosystems are changing. As temperatures warm, species may either move to a cooler habitat or die. Species that are particularly vulnerable include endangered species, coral reefs, and polar animals. Warming has also caused changes in the timing of spring events and the length of the growing season.
• Hurricanes have changed in frequency and strength. There is evidence that the number of intense hurricanes has increased in the Atlantic since 1970. Scientists continue to study whether climate is the cause.
• More frequent heat waves. It is likely that heat waves have become more common in more areas of the world.
• Warmer temperatures affect human health. There have been more deaths due to heat waves and more allergy attacks as the pollen season grows longer. There have also been some changes in the ranges of animals that carry disease like mosquitoes.
• Seawater is becoming more acidic. Carbon dioxide dissolving into the oceans, is making seawater more acidic. There could be impacts on coral reefs and other marine life.
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Climatechange: Think over the impacts

Climate change is principally due to increase in temperature caused mainly by the combustion of fossil fuels to yield energy. With the rapid industrialization powered by fossil fuels, developed countries are the ones mainly responsible for global warming. Although developing countries have a less direct impact on global warming, in the last few decades, climate change has tremendously impacted the glacier retreat. Continued climate change will cause major changes in freshwater flows with dramatic and adverse impacts on biodiversity, people, and livelihoods.

For developing countries like Nepal, climate change is not just an environmental phenomenon but also an economic, social and political issue. Nepal is among vulnerable countries on the Earth with regard to climate change, yet the level of understanding and awareness on the issue is very limited.

Within a year, cop-15 was held on December in Denmark. It became unable to develop a new and concrete project to identify specific threats posed by rapidly retreating glaciers to vulnerable communities, ecosystems, and economic sectors. And fail to initiate a community driven management response. With this in mind, least developing countries must be able to bring realities of climate change impacts closer to the public, policy makers and supporters. LDCs like Nepal must be able to raise voice to tackle future risks. According to WWF data Nepal make up less than 0.4% of the world population and are responsible for about 0.025% of annual greenhouse gas emission. Unfortunately, while Nepal contributes least to the cause of climate change, we are among those at the highest risk from its impact.

Nepal has fragile geological condition, with great elevation differences and steep sloping terrain. Agricultural and tourism dominates the Nepali economy and both sectors will be affected by changes in the climate. Nepal has a low level of awareness and lacks planning and management regarding climate change impacts. All these are the reasons why we are in so vulnerable condition? Different reports say, almost 67% of the glaciers in the Himalayas have retreated, in Nepal as rapid 10 meter a year, Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) and Kangchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) have already experienced five GLACIER Lake Outburst Floods. Similarly, The United Nation Environmental programme (UNEP), International Centre for Integrated Mountain and Development (ICMOID) say more than 20 Himalayan glacier lakes are at the risk of bursting because of rapidly melting glaciers. This will lead to major changes in freshwater flow with a dramatic impact on biodiversity, people, and livelihoods. Floods, droughts, and lack of safe drinking water are all going to be affected. Nepal’s wealth in biodiversity earned its recognition as a natural showroom and Natural Biological Laboratory by the world. Climate largely determines the distribution of species, ecosystems, and flora. Any climatic change will shift these distributions, which will be hampered by extinction for some species and ecosystems. Decrease in forest cover lead to increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and its will be more difficult to balance GHGS in the atmosphere and minimize the impact of climate change. Similarly, forests are unable to adopt the rapidly changing conditions caused by climate change, making trees more vulnerable and fragmentation. Over two-third of Nepal’s population depends on agriculture for a livelihood. Farmers follow a traditional set- planning pattern, relying on rainwater and the seasons. Now, the rhythms are upset by losing major water Towers because of climate change. Apart from this, developing countries like Nepal are the most vulnerable natural disasters that have serious economic impacts. Thus, we are among those at the highest risk from its negative impact. Unless the country leaves to adopt then people will suffer greatly. Government must think about the local programmes to tackle the serious impact of climate change. It is necessary to teach people to grow new crops, introducing drip irrigation, and water storage schemes, trying to minimize deforestation and renewable energy programmes. Government only should not aspect help from the donor as it should have new ideas or programmes to lead in COP-15 from LDCs side. It should not be like beggars but should have the local programmes suitable to all and easily practicable. Different LDCs are exposing their impacts through cabinet meeting in different manner like cabinet meeting inside water in Maldives and cabinet meeting at the base camp of Sagarmatha. This may be the interesting side to expose their vulnerable impacts of climate change to the world but this type of meeting must be able to plan sustainable type of programmes for LDCs and should formulate the ideas to convince developed countries in controlling the GHGs emissions. It’s not easy enough as we think but Nepal must be able to raise its voice about the impacts on Sagarmatha (the highest peak of the world), as it is the glory of not of our country but of the world.

Different personals from different NGOS, INGOS, and itself Government participated in COP-15. It had been heard that there was high pressure from different politicians to participate in this programme. So, government became unable to appoint the participants. All participated without internal homework’s. So; we loosed things that are in vulnerable condition. It played like visiting the new places for the participants. Now it’s time to tackle our problems ourselves rather than remembering our past events.

Climatechange and Nepal

Least developed countries are the ultimate bearer of the likely impact of climate change albeit they are the less emitter in the world. They are more at risk from climate change because of their dependence on agriculture, especially the subsistence sort with poor irrigation. Climate variability has a more severe impact on the economies in which agriculture is a large share of GDP. Developed as well as few newly emerging developing economies are the major pollutants. They are emitting a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) as they consume unlimited quantity of fossil fuel to sustain their economic growth rate and maintain the their living standard thus giving birth to global warming. Scientists have proved that GHG emission is the sole agent of global warming and climate change. The intensity of the impact of global warming and climate change is more sensitive to the less emitting countries like Nepal.

Nepal is a poor country based on agriculture with low level of per capita income averaging approximately at $ 340 per year. Over 50% of its population lives under absolute poverty having income less than $1.25 a day. Majority of farmers live under this category. They farm such small area of land that at the best of time can barely produce enough food for the family relying on rainfall. Improvement of their living condition depends primarily on agriculture development. Efforts are being placed to achieve higher economic growth through improving agricultural GDP and the progress has been disappointing over the years as it depends on the vagaries of monsoon.

Nepal is extremely vulnerable to climate change like other GHG gas non-emitting countries. Its emission level is lowest in the world measuring only 0.025% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, this ratio is increasing over time. From the last couple of years, Nepal has been experiencing flooding, landslides, drought and variability in the occurrence of the regular course of monsoon. Flooding of the Kosi River in monsoon, over the past two years has displaced millions in Nepal as well as in Bihar (India). On the other hand, a weakened and irregular monsoon is causing drought threatening hundreds of millions of farmers all over India, Bangladesh and Nepal while heavy rains have caused terrible landslides across the Himalayas. The agriculture production particularly paddy in the current year in Nepal will decrease by half due to the late monsoon. Likewise, last year’s drought plagued winter has adversely affected this year’s food production creating deficit of food. Currently up to 3.4 million people are estimated to require food assistance in Nepal due to a combination of natural disasters (particularly winter drought) affecting agricultural production and higher food prices, reducing people’s ability to purchase food. Scientists claim that Nepal is getting warmer. Monsoon changes its regular course in a slow and creeping manner. While none of these natural disasters can be directly attributed to climate change, scientists predict that they will become more frequent and more severe unless we act properly.

Furthermore, scientists claim that increasing warming and changes in the occurrence of monsoon in Nepal are the worst consequences of climate change agriculture sector facing its dire effects with the fall in production and productivity. Most of the arable land remains fallow as its cultivation depends on the rainfall resulting in food supply shortages. The livelihood of the majority of farmers is in danger due to crop failures arising from the uncertainty of monsoon. It is the poorest who are most vulnerable to these natural disasters getting most severely affected by the climate change. The rising trend of warming if allowed to continue will put the Himalayan glacier in danger. Scientists have warned that the fast melting of ice in the Himalayan range will convert the ever flowing river into desert after 30 years. There will be shortage of water that would put livelihood of 1 billion people in danger.

Nepal is being affected by the climate change because of the GHG emissions it did not emit nonetheless Nepal itself has a scope of creating GHG emissions.  It plans to get higher rate of economic growth that needs a large quantity of fossil fuel. The association between fossil fuel consumption and economic growth is robust. In a study conducted by this writer has found that the demand for hydrocarbon in Nepal is sensitively associated with a small change in both income and price. Moreover, the numbers of vehicle are on the rise meaning the consumption of fuel is on the rise as well. Fossil fuel is the sole agent for producing carbon dioxide (CO2). More the consumption of fossil fuel more would be the generation of CO2 in the atmosphere which is the main contributor to GHG emissions. Therefore Nepal needs to place heavy efforts to control GHG emissions in the future because its trend has been rising due to the increased use of fossil fuel.

In this effect, Nepal needs to pursue a low carbon development path to tackle the problem of climate change. Various options can be looked into in order to reduce GHG emissions by developing renewable energy. The first option is to harness immense the largely untapped water resources to generate electricity. The second option is to explore, develop and exploit solar and wind power system. The third option is to encourage installing biogas plant. These options really are viable and possible. They can provide clean energy to the people at large, increase the energy efficiency of its economy and increase forest cover if developed adequately. Nepal can demonstrate carbon savings through these approaches and open room for trading it. Nepal has realized to develop alternative energy sources to put Nepal’s economy onto a low carbon path and recognizes the benefits for its energy security and sustainable development. But political instability, insecurity and lack of commitment are the major impediments that hinder its development in a faster .

(Adopted