Research Paper on the Climate Change

There have been calls from every corner of the world on the need to conserve the environment. As environmentalists research on the adverse effects of climate change across the globe, they have been concentrating much on conservation measures that should be taken. The international bodies have set the policies to ensure that the environment is guarded by each and every nation in the globe. The underdeveloped and the developing nations have had a retarded growth due to the climate change. The nations fight to stabilize the food shortage issues with their development goals. On the contrary, the nations motive to conserve the environment as required by the international bodies undermine their development strategies. From that contingent issue, this study aims to study the development strategies employed by the developing nations of Asia and assess them if they are environmental friendly. The project aims at providing the possible mitigation and adaptive measures that the developing nations in Asia will balance national development and environmental conservation. With very voluminous information pertaining environmental conservation, this article will review the relevant literature. The project will concentrate on information on climate change, mitigation and adaptation to the changes. Concentrating on Asian continent, the project will quote scholarly articles and books to support the work. The project will source the data from secondary sources for analysing. Ricardian analysis will be utilised to gauge the adaption to climate change by farmers as the climate shifts. The analyzed data will be used to draw conclusions on mitigation and adaptation measures that the developing nations in Asia should employ as they thrive to develop economically. A cost/benefit analysis will be done on the measures to ensure that the policies formulated on environmental conservation has positive outcomes and promotes economic growth.

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Introduction

Background information

Climate change is one of the most complex global problems that has always been felt in every part of the world. Climate change in itself is the change in global or regional climate patterns. The climate of a region can be considered to have changed if there has been a significant change of weather patterns of a particular region over a specified period of time, usually more than a decade. Climate change is usually caused by biotic factors and variation of solar radiations to the earth. This change in weather patterns observed has been majorly linked to the increase in the amount of solar radiations to the earth. Scientist notes that there is increase in the intensity of the radiations of the sun in the earths surface. The intensity of solar radiations is increasing due to increase in the amount of greenhouse gasses mainly generated by human activities to the atmosphere. These human activities include the use of fossil fuels, degradation of the forests and other natural resources.

There are very many international research bodies concentrating on the climate patterns their changes. However, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the trusted body in the study of climate change and weather patterns in the whole world since it has all the necessary resources. The body gathers the scientific data needed in analyzing the climate patterns, analyses them and avails them to the public. This information is also given to the policy-makers to help in making the right policies and decisions towards environmental conservation and natural resource management. NASA also develop environmental models for better understanding of the patterns by the people. The body has generated models into the distant past and also predicts the future climate changes. With the different models and prediction, the scientists can now make comparisons and come up with measures that should be taken to ensure reduced harsh effects of climate change.

The effects of climate change have been felt in all disciplines of life which include; politics, economics, and science. This is to mean that climate change affects every sector in one way or the other across the world. The adverse impacts of climate change in the world include the prolonged droughts with short periods of heavy downpour and floods in most regions of the world. The droughts observed to be spreading are caused by lessening volumes of water in water bodies and the reducing density of forests. These prolonged droughts have caused food shortages in most nations, especially the developing nations. This is because the developing nations do not have the necessary resources to generate food in the time of drought. The nations have always depended on the natural rains and the little technology they have. The developed nations, on the other hand, are straining much to feed its citizens too. It has therefore been evident that climate change will change everyone in one way or the other across the globe. Other fatal effects of climate change are the occurrence of natural calamities like hurricanes, and landslides witnessed in most countries. From research, hurricanes and landslides cases have increased and its frequency of happenings are also alarming.

Developing countries are the most affected by the climate change. As the countries try to uplift the nation's economy, they are faced with the hostile climate changes. Lifting the nation out of poverty while conserving the environment is proving hard due to large volumes of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere by industries. Climate change, therefore, becomes a serious risk to the development of these nations. The nations face a threat towards development since they depend on firewood and fossil fuels in industries, the sources of energy receiving criticism by the environmental experts. The climate change is even threatening the nations' development strategies as they have to address food shortages and leave development projects aside. The approach employed by these nations should, therefore, involve mitigation and adaptation. The nation should adjust to the new conditions of climate change, which is an adaptation. The nations should also mitigate, that is, reduce the number of greenhouse gasses emitted to the environment.

Asia exhibits large precipitation variation and more than half of its region possess is arid and semiarid climate. From geography, more than 70% of the nations possessing the arid and semiarid climates have high levels of poverty. The levels of poverty are attributed to the self-sufficiency that the citizens will have since they cannot adequately provide food for themselves. Also, most of the income generated by individuals is used in the provision of food and other basic needs leaving little to be used in development. This pushes most the nations in the Asian continent to be in the developing category. These countries are fighting to stabilize their growth despite the growing adverse effects of climate change on the continent. From studies, Europe and Asian countries are the most faced with climate change adverse effects. It is, therefore, necessary for adaptation measures to be taken to ensure that the nations cope up with the changing environment as they maintain the human health and environmental health. The nations should also take mitigation measures to ensure that they conserve the environment and the available natural resources from depletion.

Since Asia is the most populous continent in the World, forming more than a third of the worlds population, the chance of voluminous gases to the environment is so high. The coastal cities of Asia countries are very crowded. The effects of climate change on this continent will be felt severely due to a large number of people inhabiting it. Due to the high population of the continent, Asia is facing a very high environmental degradation and deforestation. The developing nations on the continent are being faced with various difficulties as they try to advance their pace of development. The climate change in the developing nations of Asia have affected the following:

Crop yield

The crop yield in the region is drastically decreasing. The average crop production in the whole continent has reduced due to climate change. The developed countries are even affected more since they are using traditional modes of crop production. There is approximately 30% decrease in crop production in the developing countries in Asia. Since the developed countries will have modernized modes of farming like greenhouses, their crop production is still high. The decrease in crop yield in the developing countries of Asia is directly linked to the increasing temperature in the environment. Due to the high concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the heat cannot be reflected back to the outer atmosphere but retained. This absorption of heat of the greenhouse gases will cause an increase in the global temperature. This increase in temperature will cause lesser yields from crops.

Apart from the increasing temperature due to climate change, there have been extreme weather conditions like very heavy rains and floods. The extreme weather conditions have also caused the farmers to lose crops in the farms. The crops have dropped in diversity since only the crops that can withstand these extreme weather conditions have been harvested. Crops like sorghum and millet have been noted to have dropped in production and also reduced in genetic diversity. The farmers have been noted to have low adaptive capability towards the climate change. The farmers, therefore, still hold to the crops that do not do well with the existing weathers. With the existing weather changes, there is a big reduction of arable land Asia. The developing countries should, therefore, work extra harder to ensure the availability of food to its people. This calls for measures to reduce the effects of climate change as they adapt to it.

Availability of water for domestic and industrial use

The relationship between water and climate change is very confusing. In a bid to explain this phenomenon, understanding of the earth's temperature is essential. The earths temperature is the average temperature retained by the planet earth after releasing the heat received from the sun to the atmosphere. From NASA, the earths temperature has always been increasing. Since 1880, the earth's temperature has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The high temperature registered on the earth has affected the snow on the surface. There have been an increased melting of ice in the mountains and during winter periods. This effect has affected the people living in the coastal regions as the water levels will increase. During winters, the snow melts at a high rate. The snows and glaciers melting at a high rate are a threat to marine ecosystems. Similarly, the crops grown on the shores have been affected negatively.

Climate change has also affected the availability of water for use. The temperatures have increased so much that most regions in the developing nations have developed prolonged droughts. The droughts have caused hard times for the people in the developing countries since they have to look for water for domestic uses. Finding water to be used for domestic and industrial purposes is proving to be very hard for the people in developing countries of Asia. It should be noted that the prolonged droughts are followed by very heavy downpours. The people should thence, be educated on how to adapt to the climate changes.

Human health

Adverse climate changes have a huge negative impact on human health. First and foremost, the increase in temperatures causes the human body to undergo stress. The heat which sometimes rises above 300C which can be very high for the human body. Most people feel the heat stress and are facing vario...