Answers from Tegeta Secondary School

02. Search the local newspapers of your country for articles about climate change.

Asked by: Fachmittelschule Glarus | Tegeta Secondary School

a) What kind of direct problems have been mentioned?

 

b) What solutions have been proposed?

 

c) What priority have these reports about climate change been given in the newspapers in your country?

 

d) Which headline caught your eye and impressed you the most? Explain the reason why.

 

e) Which headline would you give an article about climat change?

We found an article about the Kilimanjaro:

 

a) Kilimanjaro is a critical humidifier in otherwise dry country, and its forests crucial as a catchment for the water that flows into one of Tanzania’s major rivers, the Pangani. As a result of a increasingly drier and warmer climate, precipitation has decreased on Kilimanjaro by 30% in recent years (Hemp, 2006) and the ice cap is estimated to be non permanent by the year 2020. Kilimanjaro also has an exceptionally varied ecosystem with a range of fauna, mammals and flora; as of 2005, 22% of Tanzania’s vascular plants were in the Kilimanjaro vicinity, and 140 mammalian species reside there along with 179 highland bird species and 88 species of reptiles. All of these species will be at risk due to the changing landscape and distribution pattern which have shifted due to weather patterns, decreased rainfall and population growth.

 

With a shift to a generally drier climate, and a greater human impact, fire has and will continue to play a huge role in promoting a yet drier overall environment. Over the last 100 years, Kilimanjaro has lost 300 km² of high altitude forest and the upper closed forest was lowered by 900m . Over the last 30 years, Kilimanjaro has lost 10% of its forest cover due to fire.

 

And we found another article about Tanzanias reefs:

 

A network of “super-reefs” off East Africa are unusually resilient to climate change and could provide important lessons for coral conservation in other parts of the world, researchers said on Friday.

 

Experts say the planet has lost about a fifth of its corals and warn that many of the remaining reefs could die in the next 20 to 40 years, unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.

 

A study coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society said the Indian Ocean reefs - in a triangle off Tanzania between northern Mozambique, Madagascar and southern Kenya - should be a high priority for future scientific work.

 

“Northern Tanzania’s reefs have exhibited considerable resilience and in some cases improvements in reef conditions despite heavy pressure from climate change impacts and overfishing,” notes Tim McClanahan, the study’s lead author.

 

“This gives cause for considerably more optimism that developing countries, such as Tanzania, can effectively manage their reefs in the face of climate change,” he adds.

 

The experts found that Tanzania’s corals recovered quickly from a 1998 “bleaching” event - when colourful algae in corals die - that wiped out up to 45 per cent of the region’s coral.

 

Researchers attributed the recovery in part to management measures, including closures to commercial fishing. They also found that the reefs’ structure played a major role in their resiliency.

 

Tanzania's reefs are particularly complex, with unusual water current and temperature variations.

 

Scientists warn further coral loss would have alarming consequences for the half billion people who depend on reefs for their livelihood.

 

They cannot say how much of the loss in recent years is due to global warming, but agree that climate change is the biggest threat to reefs.

 

A report last December said the impact on coral from rising sea surface temperatures and seawater acidification were made worse by factors like overfishing, pollution and invasive species.

 

Coral reefs offer economic and environmental benefits to millions of people, including coastal protection from waves and storms and providing sources of food, pharmaceuticals and jobs.

 

b) no solutions really....

 

c) From time to time there is an article but not so often

 

d) Tanzania reefs hold climate change...

 

e) Save Mount Kilimanjaro

 

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