An Overview of Climate Change

To start this blog off, an overview of the two phrases which are the main components of this blog, 'climate change' and 'water use on the African continent', would come in very handy.

Climate Change. Focus of this particular blog post.

At first, the definition of the term climate itself is necessary. It stands for the the long-range average of a region's weather conditions and events. So what has already been given away by that fact: climate change describes a process which encompasses decades.

According to Islam & Sikka (2010), climate change has always played a key role in the history of our earth. That reflects a fact which is largely unknown or is, respectively, considered very little: there has been such a thing as climate change in the past, there has always been changes in the climate of the earth. The difference to nowadays is the influence of us humans. Through our actions and technologies we are increasing the intensity of the climate change, especially in terms of the greenhouse effect. This anthropogenic influence requires further explanation:

The greenhouse effect 'is the rise in temperature that the earth experiences because certain gases (e.g. water vapor, carbon dioxide [..]) in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun' (Islam & Sikka 2010, p. 386). The effect is also known as 'global warming'.

Figure of climate change in the last 800,000 years, regarding the CO2-concentration in relation to time.
Source: https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-evidence-causes/question-7/

Putting the pieces together, climate change is a phenomenon that had influenced earth before mankind even existed. What the figure shown above illustrates is the fact that we are currently by far at a peak of the CO2-concentration. As you can see, variations in the concentration were always to be found. But the that very peak is repeatedly caused by anthropogenic influence. 

Coming to a conclusion of this introductory blog post, close attention should be paid to climate change, its origin for a better understanding and especially the changing conditions that it entails. So much for this theoretical approach of the term climate change for now. I will soon talk about the water use on the African continent and furthermore illustrate the link to climate change.

References

Islam, A., Sikka, A.K. (2010): 'Climate Change and Water Resources in India: Impact Assessment and Adaption Strategies', Natural and Anthropogenic Disasters, 386-411.