SP 255: CLIMATE CHANGE AND

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

The Science of Climate Change

By:
Prof. Clifford Amoako
Dr. Akosua B.K. Amaka-Otchere 1
07/23/2024
Ms. Irene-Nora Dinye
Presentation Outline
 Explaining the science of Climate Change

 The Scientific Debates and Causes of Climate Change

 The Global Trends of a Changing Climate

 Exploring the Intensity and Impacts of Climate Change

 Responding to Climate Change

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 Explaining the science of
Climate Change

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 Definition of Climate Change

 The definition of the phenomenon however goes beyond consensus

 Climate Change - The alteration of the world’s climate that we humans are
causing, through fossil fuel burning, clearing forests and other practices that increase
the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere (United Nations
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, 2008)

 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) – Defines CC to be attributed:
“directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over
comparable time periods” .

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Definition of Climate Change
 IPCC which defines “climate change” as:
“a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. using statistical
tests) by changes in the mean temperature and / or the variability of its properties,
and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer” (IPCC, 2007).

 “Climate Change 2007 Synthesis Report” (IPCC-SREX), refers to CC as any

change in global climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a
result of human activity.

 Give your personal definition of Climate Change – Write it Out in Your Note
Book

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 What is climate change?
 Climate change is a change in the pattern of
weather, and related changes in oceans, land
surfaces and ice sheets, that have come to
define Earth’s local, regional and global
climates and occurring over time scales of
decades or longer.

 Human activities, especially emissions of

heat-trapping greenhouse gases from fossil
fuel combustion, deforestation, and land-use
change, are the primary driver of the climate
changes observed in the industrial era.
  Some meteorological variables that are
Climate variables commonly measured are as follows:

Temperature Cloudiness

Humidity Atmospheric
pressure

Precipitation Wind
 The Scientific Debates and
Causes of Climate Change

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Climate change causes

You can edit this text

You can edit this text

Natural cause
Climate Change.
Earth

Anthropogenic
causes

Global temperature
Climate Change – A Predicted Future ?
 Over the last 3 decades or so (1990 – 2023)…. International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) has published 6 Comprehensive Assessment
Reports on the changing climate….
 In summary, the reports can be captured as follows…

IPCC Secretariat (1990) -“a rate of increase of global mean temperatures during
the next century … will be greater than seen over the past 10,000 years”

IPCC Secretariat (1995) – Human activities as cause of the changing global

climate leading to a major paradigm shift in the policy debate that contributed to
the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol
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 Climate Change – A Predicted Future ?
 IPCC (2001) – The third Assessment Report focused attention on the impacts of climate
change and the need for adaptation.

 IPCC (2007) - The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) (2007) laid the ground work for a post-
Kyoto agreement, focusing on limiting warming to 2°C.

 IPCC (2013)- Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic
emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had
widespread impacts on human and natural systems

 IPCC (2021) - The IPCC's 6th Assessment outlines that climate changes will increase in all
regions of the globe over the coming decades and that even with 1.5°C of global warming,
there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons, and shorter cold seasons – which
will become more intense at 2ºC of warming.
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What does it mean?
 The summary for policymakers has been that: warming of the climate system is
'unequivocal' with changes unprecedented over decades to millennia, including
warming of the atmosphere and oceans, loss of snow and ice, and sea level rise.

 What does this mean for those who will be alive?

 An understanding of:

Causes of this change

Intensity and impacts/effects of the change

Time, spatial scale and targets of the impacts and when

What can be done to predict, prevent, mitigate or adapt to the impacts

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Causes of Climate Change I
 The natural causes/factors of Global Climate Change include
The Sun - The amount of energy coming off the Sun is not constant but keeps
changing
Slow changes in the Earth's distance from the Sun affect the amount of energy
received from the Sun.
Volcanoes - when a volcano erupts it throws out large amounts of sulphur dioxide
(SO2), water vapour, dust, and ash into the atmosphere.
The climate system is made up of many components that all affect climate: this
includes ocean currents, atmospheric circulation, sea ice and land covers (trees,
grass…)
Contributions of the Greenhouse Effect – Can you explain this phenomenon?

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Causes of Climate Change II
 Contributions of the Greenhouse Effect
 Human activities send gases (for example methane, carbon dioxide CO2) into the
atmosphere that enhance the greenhouse effect.

 Many of the gases come from fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas to run
vehicles, and generate electricity for industries or households.

 When the atmosphere contains too much of those gases, the whole atmosphere and
the Earth becomes hotter, like it does in a greenhouse. The atmosphere holds on to
too much heat, instead of letting it escape into space.

 Scientists believe that every year, 2 to 5 billion tonnes of CO2 are released into the
air from forests being cut down and burned.
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Causes of Climate Change III
 the intensity of “direct and indirect” human activities in the “urbanisation”
process has be sighted as a major contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases
(GHGs)

 UN Habitat (2006) reported that, cities contribute up to 80percent of carbon

dioxide emissions globally

 Anand and Seetharam (2010) further attribute these to changes in urban lifestyles,
increased energy demand, transportation, infrastructure and industrial activities.

 changing of natural vegetation/vegetative cover due to poor agricultural practices

etc
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 Causes of Climate Change IV
 Land Use Changes
There are over 7 billion people on Earth. Humans continue replacing
forests and natural vegetation with agricultural lands.

More and more people move into cities, therefore more houses are built.
All this has an impact on climate.

For example, it affects the evaporation of water and therefore the rain
cycle.

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 Essentially, the causes include
 Changes in the atmosphere
 Natural processes
 Volcanoes
 Tectonic plate movement
 Changes in the sun
 Shifts in Earth’s orbit
 Human activities – any activity that releases
“greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere

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 More Illustrations of
Causes of Climate Change

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Natural Causes – Internal Variability of the Planet
 Please read about the 2 natural causes of Climate Change in the circles and illustrated in the photos
below

Ocean
circulation

Ocean-
atmosphere
Life
2 exchange 3

Illustration by Jayne Doucette,

Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution
 Natural causes-External forcing
 Can you explain the processes listed below
Solar output Plate tectonics
Greenhouse gases
Orbital variations Volcanism Other mechanisms

EXTERNAL CLIMATE
FORCING
 Natural causes-Orbital variation
 Shifts and wobbles in the Earth’s orbit can
trigger changes in climate such as the
beginning and end of ice ages.

 More tilt = warmer summers and colder

winters
 Less tilt = cooler summers and milder
winters

 Orbital shifts are so gradual that they can

only be observed over thousands of years
-not decades or centuries.
 Natural causes-solar output
 The Sun is the source of energy for
the Earth’s climate system.

 The Sun’s energy output appears

constant from an everyday point of
view, small changes over an
extended period of time can lead to
climate changes.
Source: Swiss National Science Foundation
Natural causes-solar output
 A decrease in solar activity was thought to have triggered the Little Ice Age
between approximately 1650 and 1850, when Greenland was largely cut off by ice
from 1410 to the 1720s and glaciers advanced in the Alps.

The Frozen Thames, by Abraham Hondius (c.1625–1691) Pompenburg with Hofpoort in winter, by Bartholomeus Johannes van Hove (1790-1880)
Natural causes-volcanism
 Volcanic eruption throws out a
enormous amount of particles
and other gases that effectively
shield us from the Sun to lead
to a period of global cooling.

Source: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/volcanoes-and-climate-change
Anthropogenic causes Coal mining

Deforestation Air pollution

This is a sample text. Insert

your desired text here.

Greenhouse gases Industrial processes

 Greenhouse gases
• Greenhouse gases are those that absorb and emit infrared radiation in the wavelength range
emitted by Earth.

• Solar radiation passes through the • Infrared radiation is emitted from the
clear atmosphere. Earth surface.

• Most radiation is absorbed by the • Some of the infrared radiation passes

Earth surface and warms it. through the atmosphere and some
absorbed and re-emitted in all molecules.
• Some solar radiation is reflected The effect of this is to warm the Earth
surface and the lower atmosphere.
by the Earth and the atmosphere.

The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas for electricity, heat, and transportation
is the primary source of human-generated emissions.
Greenhouse gases

 Human enhanced
greenhouse gases effect
 Greenhouse gases
 CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is
currently 40% higher than it was when 6%
industrialisation began. 13%

 Other greenhouse gases are emitted in 17%

64%
smaller quantities, but they trap heat far
more effectively than CO2, and in some
cases are thousands of times stronger.

Carbon Dioxide Methane

Chloroflouro Carbones Nitrou soxide

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en
Greenhouse gases- Carbon Dioxide

Sources: Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO 2 record.
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
 Deforestation
 Deforestation is the permanent
removal of trees to make room for
something besides forest.

 This can include clearing the land

for agriculture or grazing, or
using the timber for fuel,
construction or manufacturing.
 Air pollution
 Air pollution is caused by fertiliser use, livestock
production, and certain industrial processes that
release fluorinated gases.
 Pollutants in the air can produce serious
environmental issues and contribute to climate
change. The major concerns include:
o The ability of pollutants to trap too much heat in the atmosphere
o The mixture of gases with moisture in the atmosphere which produces
damaging acid rain
o The increase in unnatural ozone levels
o The presence of particles in the atmosphere that block sunlight
 Mining
 Coal mining releases methane, a
potent greenhouse gas. Methane
emissions from coalmines has a
global warming potential 21 times
greater than that of carbon dioxide
over a 100-year timeline
(Source IPCC).
 Industrial processes
 These total emissions for industrial
process are comprised of:
(Fischedick, Roy et al. 2014)
• Direct energy-related CO2 emissions for industry
• Indirect CO2 emissions from production of
electricity and heat for industry
• Process CO2 emissions
• Non-CO2 GHG emissions
• Direct emissions for waste/wastewater

Source: CO2CRC.com
 The Global Trends of a
Changing Climate

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 What do the data say?
 Researches of International Institutions/Agencies and experts have shown
increases in global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century (UN
Habitat, 2011).

 The evidence of a globally changing climate has been acknowledged,

researched and discussed by various experts, researchers and international
organisations over the last century, with a keen global interest in the last 3
decades or so.

 Thus, scientists across the globe agree on one thing; that is, climate change
is real and happening now and will get worse in future.
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Exploring the Intensity and
Impacts of Climate Change

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 Consequences of climate change
Photo credit UCSUSA
 Changes in…
• Glaciers and ice sheets
• Sea level change
• Sea ice
• Heavy rainfall across the globe
• Extreme Drought Photo credit David Paul Morris, Bloomberg Photo credit AFP

• Decline in Crop productivity

• Changes in ecosystems
• Hurricanes
• Rise in temperature
• Acidification of seawater
Consequences of climate change Source: ESA
Intensity and Impacts of Climate Change in Ghana I
 Average annual temperatures 5 agroecological zones of Ghana
 1° C increase in temperature in the Rainforest Zone over the
past 40years leading to decrease in rainfall by 500mm over the
period
 Impacts of rising temperature and variable rainfall patterns
include:
Transformation of perennial rivers into seasonal rivers
Intensive and unpredictable rainfall
Frequent floods and droughts
Food insecurity in parts of the country
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 Impacts on CC on Agriculture in Ghana
 Reduced crop yields and agriculture productivity
 Increased incidence of pest attacks
 Limited water supply for irrigation etc.
 Extended drought periods
 Reduced soil fertility
 High production cost and low productivity of livestock
 Reduced labour time for agriculture due to health related risks

NB: Find facts and figures to support and/or refute the assertions above

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 Effects of Food Security ….
 Prices of food projected to increase by 60% without climate change
 But with climate change, price of food is expected to increase by 121%
(double the above)
 Prices of maize are expected to increase by 153 with climate change by
2050
 70 of rural people who are dependent on agriculture are rendered
vulnerable and are at risk
 The production of key crops such as cocoa, maize, coconut cashew etc. are
projected to dwindling….

NB: Read more on the impacts of CC on food security in Ghana

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 The Impacts/Effects of
Climate Change on
Human Settlements
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 Climate Change and Human Settlements I
If there are any two words have changed/affected humanity over the last
century, arguably, they should be:
Urbanisation – The rate and presence of humans/populations and their
intensity of activities etc. *which may be seen as the greatest legacy of
humanity and the peak of its civilization*

Climate Change – The continuous and consistent alteration in weather

conditions, recorded over a long period of time, attributable to natural
and/or human factors. *which has also been seen as the greatest adverse
impact humanity is giving to its habitat*

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 Climate Change and Human Settlements
II
 Urbanisation process has built many Towns, Cities and Huge
Metropolises –
Improved quality of life
Access to many technologies and infrastructure
Various investments into human capital development etc.
 But urbanisation have also been the source of untold criminal activities;
wars, famines, natural disasters etc.
Destruction of natural environment
Poor uses of land and other natural resources
Breakdown of social-cultural values and practices of environmental protection

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Climate Change and Human Settlements III
 The contributions of urbanisation and human activities to Climate Change is well-documented
 [Climate Change] have been exacerbated by the rate of urbanisation itself, increasing emission of
greenhouse gases through industrial and other economic activities; and rapidly increasing urban
populations in last years of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century (El Sioufi,
2010).

 Climate Change has been associated with concentration of intensive human activities in urban
areas and emission of greenhouse gases

 While the intensity/impacts of climate change is expected to be more felt in urban areas/human
settlements

 As a result, Urbanisation is seen as a contributory CAUSE and area of IMPACT from Climate
Change
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 Climate Change and Human Settlements IV
 Impacts of climate change on urban areas/cities are as follows:
 Increased costs of water, liquid fuels and electricity as industrial inputs.

 Increased costs of labour linked to food, energy, water and transport costs.

 Direct impacts of weather on construction, electricity generation and

other industries, resulting in loss of productivity.

 Increased risk of lack of water delivery as a result of increased demand

because of higher temperatures and drying conditions.
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Impacts of climate change on urban areas/cities
cont’d
 Increased population size in urban and peri-urban areas, leading to
increased pressure on service delivery and competition for resources, as a
result of migration from rural areas affected by climate change.
 Increased disruptions to transport infrastructure (roads, rails, bridges,
airports, tunnels) as a result of extreme weather events.
 Increased threat to human health through, for example, increased spread of
malaria.
 Increased risk of extreme weather events to already vulnerable informal
settlements, that are often unplanned, and without extensive service or
infrastructure.

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Climate Change and Human Settlements V
For rural settlements….The CC impacts may include:
• Reduced productivity of subsistence farmlands as a result of rising
temperatures, unreliable rainfall, water scarcity and bush encroachment.

• Reduced productivity of rangelands as a result of drought, bush

encroachment, malnutrition and disease.

• Increased vulnerability to water shortages because of increased

evaporation, changes in rainfall, damage to infrastructure from floods
and storm surges, and reduction in groundwater recharge.

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 Climate Change and Human Settlements VI
• Rural Settlements cont’d …
Reduced availability of natural resources on which many rural communities
depend, because of diminished biodiversity in already degraded ecosystems.

Physical isolation of rural communities as a result poor rural roads and

increased flooding and erosion.

Reduced food security, particularly of subsistence farmers, and resultant

increase in malnutrition.

Increased migration from rural settlements to urban and peri-urban

settlements.
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 Measuring the Impacts of
Climate Change

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Why measuring Climate Change?
 We measure climate change to
understand climate, climate variability
and climatic changes at the local,
national, and regional, and global
levels;

 To understand better how climate

change affects our social systems;

 To better plan adaptation measures to

tackle the potential or actual impacts
of climate change.
Source: U.S. Global Change Research Program
How climate change is measured over
time?

 Earth-orbiting satellites, remote meteorological

stations, and ocean buoys are used to monitor present-
day weather and climate.
Source: WMO: https://public.wmo.int/en/programmes/global-observing-system

 Paleoclimatology data from natural sources like ice

cores, tree rings, corals, and ocean and lake sediments

 Scientists use this data as an input into sophisticated

climate models that predict future climate trends with
impressive accuracy.
Photo credit: Ludovic Brucker
 Responding to the
Impacts of Climate
Change

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Climate Change Interventions I
 Climate Change Interventions can be seen from the following viewpoints:
Coping

Responding

Mitigating

Adapting to

Building Adaptive Capacities

Building Resilience

NB: Define and explain the above types of climate change interventions…
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Climate Change Interventions II
 Resilient agricultural systems
 Land-use planning
 Solar radiation management (SRM)
 Wetland restoration
 Afforestation
 Changing agricultural practices
 International agreements – e.g. Kyoto Protocol…
 Carbon Taxation
 Renewable switching
 Energy Efficiency
 Carbon Capture and Storage
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Climate Change Interventions III
 Which of the above Interventions are adopted in Ghana?

 How are these CC Interventions Implemented in Ghana ?

 What are the places of these interventions in Policy?

 What are the future of such interventions?

NB: Discuss the above in your study groups…

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 End Of Presentation
Thank you

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