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Mozambique
UN has said Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change due to widespread poverty and drought. This could affect water availability, spread of disease, sea level rise and Mozambiques primary industry.
Climate change can cause: -dry spells -unpredictable rainfall -flooding -drought These can all have a huge impact on agriculture and already 54% of the population live in poverty [4].
ATTIYA REHMAN Climate change could have a huge variety of effects on Mozambique e.g. increase in natural hazards drought, flood and tropical storms which are expected to become more intense, frequent and unpredictable [4] effecting agriculture, infrastructure and the countrys economy. The country has a high vulnerability to climatic hazards as shown by the El Nino in 1998 which led to drought and flooding triggering a national food emergency. The country may be able to deal with such problems in the short term however due to its weak infrastructure an increase in climatic hazards may prevent it from developing as it should. As Mozambique is an LEDC, it depends largely on agriculture and therefore changes in the environment may cause an increase in poverty and can lead to degradation of natural resources, leading to setbacks in development and infrastructure. Climate change can cause sea levels to rise due to global warming melting ice caps. Research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) predicts sea levels will rise by 96cms by 2100 and as 2/3s of the population live along the coastline [4] this would have an impact on many social and economic levels. Many of the countrys infrastructure (large cities, fertile land, industry, tourist destination) are situated along the coast and rise in sea level could mean many floods and more tropical storms. Climate change in Mozambique can trigger many economical and social struggles. By temperatures increasing agriculture will most likely decline due to the heat and crops not being able to grow properly, this also effecting many people socially as they may not have enough food to feed themselves and their families. Also as it is an LEDC it grows all crops itself and cant rely on exports as can MEDCs when climatic disasters occur. The impact climate change will have on Mozambique will be more than anywhere else in the world as it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Although it has been developing economically well by exporting natural resources, as a result of climate change this could start to decline effecting many lives. It has an exponentially rising population and due to the climate changes it may not be able to cope. The people of Mozambique are hardly responsible for the effects of global warming and unpredictable rainfall since it is still going through development it doesnt burn as much fossil fuels as MEDCs do.
Mozambique hardly produces any CO2 emissions however is receiving the most severe impacts of climate change due the widespread poverty and its lack of development.
Overall I think the countries who do contribute largely to climate change need to take into account the effects on LEDCs and their lack of equipment and economy to deal with the impacts climate change brings. Climate change will cause a major increase in poverty and decline in economy as agriculture contributes largely to the GDP of the country and according to the IPCC, there has already been an increase in temperature showing how much of a threat climate change really is and is unfair on the Mozambican people to have to deal with such consequences.
ATTIYA REHMAN
Bibliography
Figure 1: http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/ [1] http://climatechange.worldbank.org/content/mozambique-economics-adaptation-climatechange-study [2] http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Thewiderenvironment/Climatechange/ DG_072920 [3] http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/ [4] http://www.care.dk/multimedia/pdf/web_english/Climate%20Change%20and%20Poverty%20in%20 Mozambique-Country%20Profile.pdf