According to the environmental and energy study institute, climate change can be termed as the rise in the average global temperature due to an increase in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouses, resulting in numerous climatic shifts and impact around the globe. Climate change can be caused many factors such as solar radiation, volcanic eruptions and human activities such as deforestation. These factors can eventually impact the earth which sometimes leads to heavy precipitation, ocean acidification and sea-level rise. This research article will focus on the impact of high temperature due to climate change in Switzerland.
In between latitude 45 degrees and 48 degrees North, and longitudes 5 degrees and 11 degrees East, the country of Switzerland can be found in the mountainous central part of Europe. There are three major regions in Switzerland, the Swiss Alps, the Swiss or Central plateau and the Jura mountains. The Swiss Alps are high mountains that can be found from the central to southern part of Switzerland. The mountains cover approximately 60% of the land. The highest peak of Alps can be found in this country and they ‘re Monte Rosa which is about (4634 m), the Dom (4,545 m), the Liskamm (4,527 m) and Mont Blanc (4,897m). Within the Alps, glaciers cover an area of approximately 1,100 square kilometers. The Swiss plateau can be found in between the Swiss Alps and the Jura mountains. It covers roughly 30% of the country’s surface area. 50% of the Swiss Plateau is used for agricultural use, 25% is used for forests and woodlands and 17% is used for infrastructure and residential areas. It is made up of hilly areas, large lakes such as (Lake Geneva) and major rives including Aare. The Jura mountains of Switzerland is a huge plateau of about 160 meters long and 40 meters wide. Its range is built in a way that that decreases in size laterally. It is known for tourists site attraction.
With Climate changing over time it can have many impact on the environment and living things. In the research article Climate change and modelling of extreme temperatures in Switzerland, (Siliverstovs et al., 2010) conducted an experiment to monitor the annual maxima of monthly mean temperatures in Switzerland to determine the possibility of heat wave occurring. The researchers used the Bayesian method in order to adequately predict compared to using the classical methodology. Firstly, Siliverstovs et al., (2010) analyzed the average temperate recorded by the Swiss Office of Meteorology comparing a heat wave that occurred in 2003. And then they chose four parameters that would enable them to estimate using the Bayesian method. After the experiment, the researchers concluded that the heat wave of 2003 caused the glaciers in the Alps to melt which also lead to avalanches and flash floods.
The European heat wave of 2003 caused some significant amount of causality. It was one of the hottest summer on record and it led to other effects such as drought and fires. Ragetti et al., (2017) conducted an environmental research to explore the association between heat and mortality in Switzerland between the year of 1995 and 2013. Researchers selected eight Swiss cities that were approximately 200 and 700 meters above sea level and also used different temperature indicators to evaluate variations of the heatwave after 2003.After completing the experiment, Ragetti et al., (2017) found out that there was a correlation between significant high temperatures and mortality rates. The researchers concluded that high temperature is still relevant in Switzerland and it continues to be a high risk for human health.
With rising temperatures in the Swiss alps and death toll rising, climate change is also causing drought as well. Pannatier et al., (2003) performed an analysis to determine the response of carbon fluxes to the 2003 heat wave and drought in three mature forests in Switzerland, Voldemwald, Beatenberg and Schänis. The researches obtained soil from three the forests in different elevations of approximately 480 meters to 1500meters. They used an infrared analyzer to measure the soil’s respiration as well as observe the change in carbon dioxide concentration over time in the gas analyzer. After completing the experiment Pannatier et al., (2003) noticed that the mean temperature of the soil was warmer in 2003. According to Pannatier et al., (2003), soil respiration to the drought depended on the water availability and soil temperature. In Schänis and Beatenberg, there was a high soil carbon dioxide efflux and also high DOC concentration. This occurred as result of low soil water content due to the drought by the heat wave.
Climate change doesn’t affect humans only it can also affect other living organisms. Pearman et al (2011) performed a research about the impacts of climate change on Swiss biodiversity. According to Pearman et al., (2011), they used an indicator species approach and data from the Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring program to predict the impact of climate change on the species richness of birds, butter flies, and vascular plants in Switzerland. After selecting the species, they produced a habitat classification to capture variation in land cover that is likely relevant to the composition of natural communities and the resulting species (Pearman et al., 2011). The researches also chose five variables that is likely to affect the natural communities and they were “degree-days above zero degrees Celsius, yearly average precipitation and moisture index. After completing the experiment, their result suggested that climate change does have an impact on species richness across Switzerland.
With Climate change occurring, it can also have other impacts as well. Schmucki et al., examined the impact of climate change in Switzerland on Socioeconomic snow indices. Schmucki et al. (2017) mainly focused their research on the evolution of certain snow indices under future climatic conditions. According to Schmucki et al., (2017), they obtained data from eleven automatic meterological stations from the Federal Office of meteorology MeteoSwiss. After the analyzing the results, Schmucki et al (2017) stated that there was a decrease of mean values of snow indices, the range of the mean relative reduction of the snow indices between individual GCM-RCMs is high. The impact of this snow indices reduction can affect forest manage or cause flooding.
Perez el al., (2015) performed an experiment to access the health impacts of locally relevant transport- related climate change policies in Basel, Switzerland. Perez et al (2015) compared the differences in health impacts between current conditions, assumed status quo until 2020 and year 2020 under different GHG transport related policy by targeting population of individuals from Canton of Basel-Stadt, and the administrative Unit for the City of Basel. According to the Perez et al. (2015), a strict particle emissions standard in diesel cars and all planned transport measures 3% of premature deaths could be prevented from projected PM2.5 exposure reduction. Perez et al., (2015) concluded that the planned local transport related GHG emissions reduction polices in Basel are sensible for mitigating climate change and improving public health.
Zurich (2012) conducted a scientific on climate change mitigation in Swiss Agriculture. The thesis of this research is that lay people’s perspective of climate change can provide helpful information to decide on taking political action to reduce anthropogenic HHG emissions (Zurich 2012). The researcher incorporated three research steps in determining this climate change mitigation 1. The definition of suitable options- policy instruments as well as on farm strategies to mitigate GHG emissions, (2) identification of behavioral determinants of Swiss farmers and 3) a depend examination of motives for and barriers to the support for. After completing the experiment, the researcher concluded that five recommendations can be implicated to help the Swiss farmers. Overall with the continuous rise in temperature due to climate change there can be some risk involved such as flooding, health impacts, degradation of soil and damage to the ecosystem. However, there can be some benefits as well such as increase yields for some agricultural produce, and less energy.