Putting the Pieces Together

Putting the pieces together, this paper gives information about the climate change and the water use on the African continent, being the basis for the following chapters. Addressing the impacts and hence the consequences entailed by the impact of climate change on the very water use in Africa is most crucial, as the threats and imminence of danger are incontrovertible conditions which the continent’s society is going to be facing in the future.    

Increased Vulnerability through Climate Change

The Future Consequences Compelled by Climate Change

As the previous chapters discussed the impact of climate change on several aspects of water use in Africa, this concluding chapter aims to illustrate the possible consequences entailed by the same. Since there are various natural disasters in terms of water, the following will be divided into subchapters. The central theme, however, will always concern the compelled altered climate conditions due to climate change in association of water, thus the upcoming challenges which societies in Africa are going to be facing in the future.

The chapter is approaching the topic consequences of the climate change by examining the increased vulnerability, due to the latter, in detail. As the situation in terms of water, especially water scarcity, is quite tense and disastrous in this day and age, the situation will be more threatening in the future, by far (Leichenko & O’Brien, 2002). Furthermore, for clarifying vulnerability itself, the term encompasses the exposition of a society towards a natural hazard, such as floods, and the society’s capacity to react and adapt to the emergency situation (Vincent, 2004). The vulnerability in terms of the climate change or already existing hazards does, of course, vary throughout the whole continent of Africa. As a consequence, this chapter will, due to the limited word count of the paper, only discuss the impact of climate change in general. Nevertheless, I will point out differences in the impact if possible.

Droughts

            Despite that the term drought is very detailed on a meteorological scale, this subchapter discusses the socioeconomic impacts emerged by droughts. As droughts are to be found in both Sahel region of western and northern Africa as well as in Southern Africa, the extent of the same could not be vaster and comprehensive (Urama & Ozor, 2010). The continent is already one of the most drought-vulnerable regions worldwide, whereas the most drought-prone areas are to be located in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia (Leichenko & O’Brien, 2002).

            As the mentioned countries are one of the most arid ones on the whole continent, they are much more likely to grow more vulnerable due to the climate change: There may be more severe droughts (speaking of which, two severe droughts occurred in Africa in the 1990s, exstinguishing half and one-third of the total cereal production of the whole continent), and the frequency of droughts is going to be increased in comparison to today (Leichenko & O’Brien, 2002). Subsequently as well as being a reason for the foregone explained, the rainfall and the frequency distributions of temperature will change, compelled by the climate change (Leichenko & O’Brien, 2002). The consequences on an economic scale are disastrous, leading to water shortages, crop loss, loss of cattle etc. (Urama & Ozor, 2010). Since the climate change is said to be steered by human actions, or at least exacerbated, the authors furthermore state that it is up to humans as well to adapt to that, for example by using drought resistant seeds (in terms of agriculture). Not every region will be affected in the same way, of course, for example more humid countries as Zambia or Tanzania, but the consequences in the concerned regions will be threatening: As there already is a lack of water quality in regions affected by water scarcity, this issue will get worse, leading to a spread of diseases among people. This issue is addressed in the upcoming chapter.

Water Quality

            The temperature is very likely to increase up to 4° Celsius, especially in region in northern Africa, whilst reducing precipitation up to 10% (Boko et al., 2007). According to the authors, and by speaking on an annual basis, even just 1% decrease in temperature would reduce the precipitation that much that the loss of water would be the same as when loosing one large dam. Thus, the situation of water scarcity is going to be exacerbated. Entailed by the increase of temperature is the changes in the content of the water, say concentration of pesticides, pH balance etc. (Urama & Ozor, 2010). Not only will this affect the economic of a region, since the freshwater may be polluted, thus affecting fisheries and aquaculture; it is also going to concern the people (Urama & Ozor, 2010). The authors further state that Africa itself would further on not be able to meet the demand for water of its people, and as the climate change is going to worsen this issue, this is very likely going to be one of the key issues in the future.

Agricultural Sector & Human Health

            As mentioned in the foregone chapters, resp. blog posts, the agricultural sector is by far Africa’s most water consuming sector of water usage, with 83%. Imagining there is likely going to be less water, much more polluted water, this is going to have a huge impact on the continent’s most important economic sector. Given the situation that there will be an actual change in precipitation, say water availability, that will influence the productivity of agricultural, fisheries and forestry systems (Urama & Ozor, 2010). Furthermore, countries already facing arid or semi-arid conditions will find themselves being more challenged and threatened by the climate change, as the latter might come along with reducing the length of a growing season for plants as consequences (Boko et al., 2007). According to the authors, the crop net revenue may be decreased up to 90% in some regions by the year 2100, thus affecting the continent’s food security. If one pursues this thought, the human health is going to be affected, most definitely. Since it is very likely that climate change is going to alter the conditions, as shown in the foregone subchapters, this is a dangerous issue which has to be addressed and mitigated.