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Climate Change Taking Toll on Developing Nations    [

    Climate Change Seen as Threat to the Poorest
    By Mark Stevenson
    The Associated Press

    Tuesday 21 March 2006

Global forum cites dangers.

    Mexico City - Droughts, floods, changing rain patterns, and rising sea levels are threatening development in the world's poorest countries, specialists and aid workers said yesterday at an international water forum.

    Regions including Africa and South Asia - home to most of the 1.1 billion people who live without clean water - will be among the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, specialists at the Fourth World Water Forum said. They blamed the threats largely on changes in the global climate.

    "Droughts will worsen. We will see deforestation, forest fires, a loss of biodiversity, and degradation of the environment," said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization. "The least developed countries are the most affected. Often, developing countries don't have the resources to mitigate the impact."

    Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide have been increasing in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, raising fears they are warming the planet's climate by trapping heat from the sun.

    Scientists worry that overall warming will melt glaciers and the polar ice caps, raising sea levels enough to damage many low-lying islands and cities around the world. In addition, a warmer climate could lead to changes in weather patterns, agriculture, and even allow some diseases to expand into new areas.

    Gana Unnayan Sangstha, an aid worker who helps install community water systems in Bangladesh's poor coastal province of Satkhira, has already seen the effects of global warming.

    "Bangladesh is the lowest-lying country in the world. There are salinity intrusions into larger areas due to climate change, and a rise in seawater levels," Unnayan Sangstha said. When salt gets into ground water - such as in the wells used in many Bangladesh projects - it becomes useless for drinking or irrigation.

    Increasing salinity is also a problem in areas around Karachi, Pakistan, where Tanveer Arif works on a rural-aid project aimed at building ponds that collect water in an arid environment.

    He does not blame the increased salinity on global warming, but has noted less rain for his ponds to capture. "Since about two decades ago, there is some climate change, and the rains are moving to the east," Arif said.

    Joe Madiath, of the India-based rural development organization Gram Vikas, said climate change is devastating Orissa, one of the country's poorest states which he calls "the disaster capital of India."

    "Floods, typhoons - you name it, we have it," said Madiath, who installs community water tanks and toilets.

    While the amount of rainfall remains constant from previous years, it comes all at once, a problem he said is getting worse.

    The head of Mexico's national weather service said much of his country's Yucatan coast could eventually be flooded by rising sea levels. Jamie Pittock, executive director of the World Wildlife Fund, said major rivers could be affected by global warming. "Rivers like the Indus and Ganges could see reduced flow," he said. "At the moment, they have a steady base flow from melting glaciers, but when those glacier flows are reduced, the rivers will become more flashy, with greater flows in the wet season and lower flows in the dry season."

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    Climate Change Taking Toll on Developing Nations
    By Peter Tindwa
    The Guardian, United Republic of Tanzania

    Tuesday 21 March 2006

    Climate change is increasingly becoming real with its consequences negatively impacting on developing countries, including Tanzania.

    Opening a three-day Capacity Building Negotiations meeting held in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Minister for Environment, Professor Mark Mwandosya, regretted that climate change has been causing extreme weather events.

    "The current drought being experienced in the entire eastern region of Africa, is a clear evidence that things are no longer normal," said Prof Mwandosya.

    He underscored the immediate need for capacity building on climate change preparedness and on specific interventions to address the current vulnerabilities.

    According to Prof. Mwandosya, Tanzania has accomplished her Technological Needs Assessment (TNA) and has now embarked on the process of assessing National Capacity Needs.

    "There is a paramount importance of having concrete capacity building activities in the area of technology transfer and building strong climate change institutions at national level," he said.

    He also explained that there was a need for having strong meteorology and early warning institutions and centres with strong research institutions.

    "We need a strong monitoring regime in order to address the increasing climate change challenges," he said.

    At least 30 participants are taking part in the meeting.

    They are drawn from Tanzania, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines and Samoa.