Kevin Zajac
10/28/17
ANT_103
Climate Change – West Africa
Climate change has of late become a major talk in many quarters. There are different views that have been directed towards climate change on the developments of societies. To some, climate change limits the ability of societies to develop while to others, societies have the capacities to adapt to the changes that might be brought by the changes in the climate. It is also worthy to note that although climate change has received unprecedented attention in recent times, historical accounts show that climate change has been there before. This essay describes the different perspectives connected to climate change in relation to West Africa.
In my view, there is no doubt that global climate is fast changing and is already impacting negatively on human developments. While the mitigating measures on the human health and welfare have mostly been concentrated on conservation of the local environmental exposures and access to health care ideally, sustained population health should involve the implementation of life supporting mechanisms for all the life’s forms in the biosphere by ensuring that all the divergent kinds of life forms are granted adequate access to food , water and protection from emerging infectious diseases and that the physical security and comfort is not altered by climate change.
Man –induce activities have largely been responsible for this alteration of the global climate change. The increased heat waves being experienced can largely be attributed to atmospheric absorption of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Majorly these gases comprises mostly of petroleum, firewood, and fossil fuel combustions. Climatologists in their studies observe that the major alterations in precipitation and climatic variability are likely to emerge during the coming century and in the subsequent centuries (Johnson, 2009).
Like Betty Meggers and Jared Diamond, I also believe that that climate limits the ability of a society to develop. In other words, sustainable societal development is dependent on the presence of favorable climate. Owing to climatic change, the impacts occasioned by the alteration in climate have been witnessed largely in a number of societies and West Africa is no exception. In consequences of amplification in global temperatures and other climatic changes in the West African region, there have been changes that have affected societal developments in the region. There have been major destructions on the social and economic aspects of the people residing in the West African area.
Because of the climate change in West Africa, one aspect that has been affected is water availability. Many of the rivers which used to supply the various countries in the area with water have seen depletion in the water levels. As a result, countries in the West African area are already feeling the impact of such changes in negative ways. For instance, Ghana has become reliant virtually on the Akosombo dam located in the River Volta and this means the distribution of hydroelectric power which is critical for societal development has been hampered (Mcintosh, 2005). In Mali, there have been shortages of food and water and this is due to the changes observed in River Niger which the nation depends on (Mcintosh, 2005). Almost 50% of Nigerian populations are also experiencing water shortages and this is an indication of the impact of climate change in the area.
The impact of climate change on health has also been seen in the West African area. In the aftermath of the floods that recently occurred in Sierra Leone, lives were lost and damages to homes and other properties occurred. Because of the changes in climate, there have been profound negative impacts on the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever as well as a host of hitherto unknown strains of virus favored by increased climatic variability on a mega scale. All these have negatively impacted on the social and economic lives of the people in these regions. Engagement in any meaningful economic activity and social advancement has greatly been hampered. Moreover the expansion of desertification process continues to be witnessed in many parts of West Africa. Rainfall pattern in these regions continue to be erratic and as a result has already contributed to lack of essential human needs such as food security, energy shortages, and lack of fresh water. Indeed, it is many of these developing nations which have borne the brunt of the climatic changes owing to their inability in putting adequate mitigating measures(Rosen, 2007)
Because of the climatic changes sustainable agriculture as a means of live hood has been impaired greatly and this has resulted in many of the rural folks migrating to urban centers in search of work. This in turn has created disparity in population between the urban centers and the rural settings. In the urban centers most of the people live in squalid conditions. The recent reemergence of cholera and diarrheal outbreaks in a number of countries have been attributed to climatic alterations.
Socially, inequality has largely been exacerbated by the impacts of climatic changes in West Africa. Many ecological conditions and forestry resources have been depleted. This has engendered insecurity in parts of West Africa such as Nigeria, Mali, and Togo to name but a few. Political up-heavals caused by these inequalities in these zones have also given rise to refugee emigrants who are fleeing from political persecution, ethnic cleansing, civil wars and other politically instigated reasons(McIntosh, 2005). To say that climatic change has no impact on social development would be an understatement.
According to McIntosh and company, the model which best shows how the society responded to unstable environments is that which relates to the comprehension of biophysical dimensions. According to this model, when changes become critical to the extent that they exceed the normal ranges, the reaction to the unstable environment will be different(McIntosh et al. 2000). As a result, the population living in the societies will be forced to find innovative ways of dealing with them. This model contends that the instability in the environments have to reach certain limits that are then perceived by the members of the society as unstable and this then leads the society into trying new ways of addressing the unstableness that may be witnessed in the area. The model provides the example of extreme temperatures that were once witnessed in the area of West African region and which then forced the members of the society to adopt new ways of addressing the change in temperature. One of the innovative ways that the society used involved the plantation of trees (McIntosh et al. 2000). With the plantation of trees, there was forestation and this helped in the regulation of temperatures. This model helps to explain how societies will adapt to the changes when they feel it is necessary to address the environmental instability. From this model, it can be gathered that societies adopt changes to address instability in the environments when such changes become threats to the progress of societies. This leads to the integration of new adaptive mechanisms that are not only geared toward survival but also those that are aimed at redressing the balance. Societies can adapt but the benefits of such adaptations depend on their appropriateness and time in which the variability has been established by the society.
In conclusion, climate change is a phenomenon that has been in existence before although it has come to receive much attention in recent times. While there are those who feel societies have the capacities to adapt to the changes in climate, the various changes in climate and the impacts that they have caused in West Africa underpins the view that climate change indeed limits the abilities of societies to develop. Although societies are forced to adapt to the changes, the new adaptations are not guaranteed as success. This means that measures should be taken to ensure that the causes of climate changes as observed in the world are addressed. This will help to mitigate the severe consequences of the climate changes that are seen in the various parts of the world and which include West Africa as well. The first step towards controlling climate change should be the addressing of the causes of the changes.
References
Douguédroit, A. (1997). On Relationships between Climate Variability and Change, and Societies. The GeoJournal Library Climates and Societies — A Climatological Perspective, 21-41. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1055-8_2
Johnson, R. L. (2009). Investigating climate change: scientists search for answers in a warming world. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.
McIntosh, R. J., McIntosh, S. K., & Tainter, J. (2000). The way the wind blows: climate change, history, and human action. New York: Columbia University Press.
McIntosh, R. J. (2005). Ancient Middle Niger: urbanism and the self-organizing landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosen, A. M. (2007). Climates of Change: Perspectives on Past and Future Climate Change and its Impact on Human Societies. Nature and Culture, 2(1). doi:10.3167/nc.2007.020106