Assignment on Global Climate Change

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GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
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INTRODUCTION
This research paper focuses on global climate change and the regional efforts directed towards
the mitigation of climate change. Climate change occurs when the variations in the climate
system of the earth result in new patterns of weather which remains in an area for a duration. The
major consequences of global climate change include mass extinctions of plant and animal lives,
deterioration of human health, changes in sea levels. The change in global climate is a major
issue recently affecting the world and the major causes of climate change include plate tectonics,
volcanism, solar output, orbital variation, and greenhouse gases. The United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are the
major regional efforts directed towards mitigation of climate change which has been discussed in
this paper.
GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CHANGES
The major aim of the UNFCCC 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris was to establish
a new global climate change agreement that seeks to limit the global temperature changes to
below 1.5oC or 2oC warming in 2100 [1]. The importance of limiting global changes in
temperature to below 2oC warming include:
Effect on Plant Development and Growth
Temperature is a major factor affecting the growth and development of plants since warmer
temperatures affect the productivity of the plant. Pollution is greatly affected by extreme
temperatures across all species hence affecting the development stage of the plant. The viability
of maize pollen decreases with the temperature exposure above 35oC [2]. The vegetative
development such as leaf and node appearance increases as the temperature increases until the

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optimum level of the species. The projected increase in air temperature shows that the yield of
grains will continue decreasing for major crops due to the temperature stress increase for major
grain crops [3]. The higher temperature of air affects the reproductive, pollination, and plant
growth adversely.
Figure 1: Trends in global surface temperatures [4]
Changes in Extreme River Flows
The global changes in temperature to above 2oC warming affect the flow peaks and runoff
catchment areas that are snow-dominated. It has been projected that high temperatures increase
the frequency of flood and high flow in eastern Africa and Southeast Asia hence resulting in
monetary loss, low social-economic development, and loss of human lives. Some areas show an
initial rise in frequency of occurrence of historical high flows at 1.5oC and increase progressively
to 2oC [5]. These regions include Siberian catchments, central Asia, the south of the US, and
South America. There are also areas in which there is a decrease in the high flow frequency
between 2oC or 1.5oC and the present day such as some parts of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia,
South Africa, Canada, and the northern part of South America.

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Drought and Heat Waves
Extreme temperatures can increase the risk of other types of disasters. Heat can cause drought
and hot dry conditions which may result in wildfire conditions as recently witnessed in Australia.
The heatwaves and drought are also some of the major effects of high global temperature in
some parts of the world [4]. High-temperature effects the growth of plants and drying of water
sources hence leading to drought. There are regions in which droughts occur seasonally during
short rains while there are other regions where no rain is experienced in the area hence not plants
can grow due to lack of soil moisture [6]. High temperatures also result in exacerbates heat
waves as projected in central and western US during summer. Elevated nighttime temperatures
and high humidity are major causes of heat-related illness and death.
Sea Level
The increase in global temperature results in the rise in the sea level because of the tidal
processes. The rise in temperature causes thermal expansion of seawater and melting ice caps
and glaciers. The sea level is rising at approximately 3mm yearly around the world and research
shows that the sea level will be less or more as the temperature increases further [7]. Thermal
expansion of seawater also affects the movement of cold and hot oceanic currents around the
world, and even a small shift in the temperature and current of any major current can have a huge
impact on the sea level [8].