Jana Kenya, effects of climate change on regions (1c)

Environment   Jul 31, 2017 by jana

Fiji:

Fiji was colonized by Britain in the year 1874 and they gained their independence in 1970. Colonization affected Fiji both in a good way and bad way. Unfortunately the country did not progress since most of the colonized nations were raped of their resources, development etc. Fiji remains one of the poor nations in the world.

Fiji gained lots of advantages because of the colonization. First and foremost, Cannibalism was eradicated through the Christian missionaries. Secondly, most of the advancements and transportation development were because of the British. They could establish lots of trade relations with other nations courtesy of the British. Talking about the negative effects, lots of Fijians have been forgetting their culture and getting attracted towards Western society, mainly because they brought many people from the outside world. This has negatively impacted the youngsters. Fijians have also been quarreling about the ownership of the land. There is also no stable government and the Commonwealth of Nations is not doing benefit at all to Fiji.

Home to over 870,000 people in the central South Pacific Ocean, Fiji’s 300 volcanic islands include low-lying atolls, that are highly susceptible to cyclones and floods. Thus Fiji is no stranger to the devastation wrought by climate change. Climate change has made Fiji very vulnerable the rising sea levels caused by global warming have already begun displacing coastal villagers in Fiji, and scientists predict that low-lying island nations like Kiribati could be entirely underwater by century's end. On February 20th 2016, Cyclone Winston ended up killing about 29 people in the country and entire villages had to be re-built after enduring a direct hit from the Category 5 tropical cyclone. The cyclone destroyed homes, knocked out electricity, closed schools, and inflicted untold damages on the country's sugar crop—one of the cornerstones of Fiji's economy.

However over the last five years, the country's democratic government has taken big steps to brace for the impacts of climate change, from investing in resilient food crops to building desalination plants that increase the supply of potable water. The government has also stepped in to help the displaced villagers of Vunidogoloa reportedly spending $879,000 to build houses, fish ponds, and farms in the new community.

Meanwhile, despite Fiji's small size and minuscule contribution to global carbon emissions, the country has taken the global lead on fighting carbon emissions. As the first nation to formally ratify the Paris climate accord, Fiji has pledged to produce 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, contingent in part on foreign aid, and it has adopted a progressive reforestation policy that aims to sequester carbon in newly planted trees. With ambitious strategies for both climate resilience and clean energy.

BRAZIL:

In 1500, Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvaras Cabral was the first person to discover Brazil. Brazil then became colonised by Portuguese settlers. Slavery fueled the Brazilian economy and was essential in their sugar cane production and mining. Brazil remained a colony of Portugal until 1822 when Brazil declared it’s independence from Portugal.

Colonialism delayed economic development .During colonialism all profits from the export of Brazil’s natural resources went to Portugal. Brazil was unable to develop its own industries while it was colonised so the economic development of Brazil was hindered.

Colonialism affected exports .During colonialism Brazil’s main exports were timber, sugar cane and coffee beans. After independence, Brazil remained dependent on the export of unprocessed raw materials for its wealth which meant that its manufacturing and service industries were underdeveloped.

Colonialism affected trading partners .Colonialism badly affected the pattern of trade in Brazil. While it was a Portuguese colony most of its exports went to just three main markets: Portugal, other European countries and the U.S. This prevented economic growth in Brazil.

Climate change has resulted into very severe droughts and climate scientists now warn that the droughts are getting worse and could lead to the desertification of the region, making it impossible to sustain agriculture.

The latest drought, which began in 2012 and has lasted five years, is the worst for over a century.

Crops have withered, cattle are dying, and over 700 cities and towns have declared states of emergency. Besides agriculture, industry and hydroelectric power generation are also affected as evaporation lowers the water levels in the reservoirs and lakes

Moreover, climate is a factor of utmost relevance in determining the distribution of biomes, so that climate alterations would deeply affect them. Brazil has the most important biodiversity on Earth, in great part due to the Amazonian and the Atlantic Rainforests, the latter following the shoreline. Forests represent a large store of carbon, and deforestation releases enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere: it is estimated that the country produces approximately 3.5% of world carbon emissions, with a large participation in deforestation (70% of CO2 emissions) through burning forests (Marengo, 2006). Further, as underlined by Houghton (2003), trees are long-lived and take a long time to reproduce, so that some changes could occur much faster than the time required by these ecosystems to adapt to the new environment as a result of climatic changes. Additionally, deforestation reduces the water retention capacity of the soil, increasing continental runoff and precipitation recycling through evapotranspiration; it also contributes to biodiversity losses and makes lowland areas more vulnerable to flooding.

But now, Brazil seems to be taking steps to reduce their impact on the climate. The study, published in the journal Science, showed that Brazil was able to save more than 33,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest since 2004 while still being able increase beef and soy production. Saving those forests amounted to a 70 percent decline in deforestation, putting an enormous brake on greenhouse gas emissions. According to National Geographic, the cuts are more than three times bigger than the effect of taking all the cars in the U.S. off the road for a year.

A number of policies and campaigns are credited with motivating Brazil to reduce its deforestation, including campaigns by Greenpeace and others to put pressure on companies that buy products that come from Amazon deforestation. Brazil’s forest code was also updated in 2012, requiring landowners to preserve 80 percent of the Amazon’s virgin forest.

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