CLIMATE CHANGE

           CLIMATE CHANGE

           “ CHANGE IS THE LAW OF NATURE”

                          Climate change is a reality. It has changed in past, is changing in present and will change in future. Atmosphere is always in a state of instability leading to variation in weather and climatic conditions. Thus the variation and shifts in weather conditions over space and time of different scales and magnitude resulting into changes of climatic type is defined as climate change. For example, from warm and moist climate to warm and dry climate.

                       The rate of climatic changes depends on the nature of casual factors, this may be gradually or rapidly , partly or drastically , short term or long term, local, regional, global scale. The great incident of rapid and instantaneous climate change which were occurred during    Jurrassic period leading to mass extinction of Dinosaurs.

                       There are various factors affecting climate change.  But we can classify them in mainly to groups as Natural factors and Anthropogenic (human caused) factors.

            Natural factors include mainly as follows :

*Continental drift : This drift also had an impact on the climate because it changed physical features of the landmass, their position and the position of water bodies like changed the flow of ocean currents and winds, which affected the climate. The drift process is continued till today , the Himalayan range is rising by 1mm every year because the Indian land mass is moving towards the Asian land mass, slowly but steadily.

*Variation in Earth’s orbit : The seasonal distribution of sunlight reaching the earth’s surface is directly related  to earth’s orbit and a slight variation in earth’s orbit leads to variation in distribution across the globe.  

*Tectonic plates : Due to temp. variation in the core of earth , the mantle plumes and convection currents force the plates of earth to adjust which cause the reconfiguration of the earth plate. This can affect both global and local patterns of climate and atmosphere. The recent example of tectonic control on ocean circulation is the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 5 million years ago, which shut off direct mixing between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

*Volcanic activities :  When volcano erupts , the outburst of gases and dust particles partially block the incoming rays of sun which lead to the cooling of the weather.

*Ocean currents : these are the major components of climate system which is driven by the horizontal wind forces causing the displacement of the water against the sea surface. Dur to temp. variation of the water , the climate of the region is largely influenced.

           Where as Anthropogenic factors incudes mainly :

*Greenhouse gases : The earth is endowed with a natural greenhouse effect where certaion gases like GSG in the atmosphere permit the sunlight to enter but absorb the heat radiation. The main GHG includes water vapour, carbon dioxide(CO2) , methan, nitrous oxide, chloroflouro carbons(CFCs). As human activities has increased due to onset of industrial revoluation , the emission of huge amount of Green House Gases is also increased which led to more absorption of heat being retained in the atmosphere in global temp.

Atmospheric aerosols : The atmospheric aerosols affect climate in two important ways such they cause scattering and absorbing the solar and infrared radiation. And second is they change the microphysical and chemical properties of clouds and possibly their lifetime and extent.

*Land use change : Cutting down forst to create farmland led to changes in the amount of sunlight reflected from the ground back into space. About half of the land use changes sre estimated to have occurred during the industrial era, much of it due to replacement of forests by agricultural cropping and grazing ands over Eurasai and North America.

               After the factors affecting on climate the next term comes is the impact of climate change. :

*Rise in temperature

*Changing landscapes

*Wildlife / ecosystem at risk

*Ocean acidification / rising sea’s level

*Increased risk of drought , fire & floods

*Intensified storms and increased storm damages

*Illness & diseases

*Economic losses

*Agriculture productivity / food security

                   How will climate change effect us, there are many factors that will be affected by climate change including rising sea levels, drought and loss of agricultural land.Increasing temperatures caused by climate change will make the water of the oceans expand; ice melting in the Antarctic and Greenland will also contribute to the sea level. Sea levels could rise by as much as 25 to 50 cm, by 2100. Greater sea levels will threaten the low-lying coastal areas such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, millions of areas of land will be at danger from flooding; causing people to leave their homes. Low lying areas in cities will be hugely affected by the rising sea.Changes in weather will affect many crops grown around world. Crops such as wheat and rice grow well in high temperatures, while plants such as maize and sugarcane prefer cooler climates. Changes in rainfall patterns will also affect how well plants and crops grow. The effect of a change in the weather on plant growth may lead to some countries not having enough food. Brazil, parts of Africa, south-east Asia and China will be affected the most and many people could be affected by hunger.All across the world, there is a big demand for water and in many regions, such as the central and eastern Africa there is not enough water for the people. Changes in the climate will change the weather patterns and will bring more rain in some countries, but others will have less rain, generally dry areas will become drier and wet areas could become wetter.As climate change takes place, our daily weather and normal temperatures will change, the homes of plants and animals will be affected all over the world. Polar bears and seals are a good example of animals that will be affected by climate change, they will have to find new land for hunting and living, if the ice in the Arctic melts, but the fact is more real that these species could become extinct.Climate changes will affect everyone, but some populations will be at greater risk. Countries whose coastal regions have a large population, such as Egypt and China, may have to move whole populations inland to avoid flooding. The effect on people will depend on how well we can adapt to the changes and how much we can do to reduce climate change in the world.

                   International efforts to counter climate change. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is, by its very nature, a global issue. A common strategy and binding targets must therefore be defined on a planetary scale. This is the aim of the international climate change conferences held in Rio, Copenhagen and, in December 2015, Paris. The solutions then need to be implemented locally. November 1988 – Creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):Starting in the 1970s, climate science matured, building on advances in numerical modeling and satellite imaging. But to understand and prepare for the challenges of climate change, we needed to share scientific knowledge beyond borders. That's why, at the G7’s request, the United Nations set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in November 1988. The IPCC’s role is to publish reports that provide a clear and up-to-date picture of the current state of scientific knowledge relating to climate change.

 June 1992 – Rio Earth Summit:The international community kicked off the fight against climate change in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the second Earth Summit. Following the conference, 166 countries signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which acknowledges humanity’s role in global warming. Every year, a Conference of the Parties (COP) brings together all of the countries that have ratified the Convention, which now total 195. The next COP will take place in Paris, in December 2015. December 1997 – Kyoto Protocol:This international emission reduction production sharing contract (or agreement) was adopted on December 11, 1997, at the third Conference of the Parties, in Kyoto, Japan. However, it didn’t come into effect until February 2005, because it needed to be ratified by at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55% of the world’s emissions. The goal was to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2% between 2008 and 2012, based on 1990 levels. An international carbon market was established to help achieve this goal . The kyoto protocol has not been ratified by the United States. January 2005 – Launch of the European Union Emissions Trading System :In January 2005, the European Union set up its own emissions trading scheme (. Then, in December 2008, the European Union adopted a series of legislative measures, known as the Energy and Climate Package, which sets three targets for 2020: reduce greenhouse emissions by 20%, increase the share of renewable energies in the energy mix to 20% and improve energy efficiency by 20%. This is referred to as the “3 x 20” objective. December 2009 – Copenhagen Climate Change Conference:The parties to the UNFCCC met in Copenhagen in December 2009 to forge a new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Although often considered a failure, the Copenhagen conference can be credited with officially defining the maximum acceptable increase in global temperature as 2°C above pre-industrial levels. However, the participants were unable to reach a binding agreement on greenhouse gas (ghg) emission reduction targets to keep global warming below this threshold.