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Namibia feels effects of climate change

Namibia feels effects of climate change

IS climate change real? It is true that the world is much warmer now? Naturally, the earth’s climate changes.

So why is it a worry now? Some scientists say the effects of climate change are already being felt. With Namibia having been singled out as one of the countries set to be vulnerable to climate change due to its arid environment, recurrent drought and desertification, have Namibians noticed any changes in their environment which could be due to global warming? Michael Heita from the Ohangwena Region strongly believes climate change is real.Heita, who is the spokesperson of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, told The Namibian that many years ago in the North, winters used to be very cold but now it only gets cold for a short while and then gets warmer again.”This means that it is warmer today than before.It is clear there are changes in the atmosphere,” said Heita.He said he has also noticed that when it rains today and oshanas are filled with water, they dry up quickly whereas they used to hold water longer in the past.But Keith Wearne of the Coastal Environment Trust of Namibia says he has yet to see changes in the coastal areas that he can say are caused by climate change.Wearne said some bird species at the coast such as the Red Knots have left sites where they used to be seen in large numbers, but this was due to disturbance of their site caused by new developments there.Like Heita, Vilho Hamunyela, a farmer from the North, believes Namibia is getting hotter.He says it used to rain much more in the past.”Those years, it used to rain too much,” he said.Hamunyela said the cutting down of trees, especially in rural areas, has also contributed to this problem.”Because trees bring rain,” he said.Dr Neville Sweijd of the Benguela Environment Fisheries Interaction Training (Benefit) programme says climate has been changing over a long period of time and these changes are inevitable.He says it is likely that climate change is being caused by human activities as well as natural variability.But Sweijd said the cause of climate change was less important than the actual consequences, especially if climate changed suddenly.”It is the scale and the rate that are important.If, suddenly, the sea level rises and waves wash everything away, that will be very threatening as we cannot adapt,” he said.Albi Bruckner, who came up with the idea of establishing the NamibRand private nature reserve south of Sossusvlei, says the only thing that he has noticed which might be an effect of climate change is the decline in rainfall in Namibia.At the moment, the world is concerned about climate change and efforts are being made to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – one of the greenhouse gases blamed as the major cause of climate change.Anticipated climate effects will be extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves.With Namibia having been singled out as one of the countries set to be vulnerable to climate change due to its arid environment, recurrent drought and desertification, have Namibians noticed any changes in their environment which could be due to global warming? Michael Heita from the Ohangwena Region strongly believes climate change is real.Heita, who is the spokesperson of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, told The Namibian that many years ago in the North, winters used to be very cold but now it only gets cold for a short while and then gets warmer again.”This means that it is warmer today than before.It is clear there are changes in the atmosphere,” said Heita.He said he has also noticed that when it rains today and oshanas are filled with water, they dry up quickly whereas they used to hold water longer in the past.But Keith Wearne of the Coastal Environment Trust of Namibia says he has yet to see changes in the coastal areas that he can say are caused by climate change.Wearne said some bird species at the coast such as the Red Knots have left sites where they used to be seen in large numbers, but this was due to disturbance of their site caused by new developments there.Like Heita, Vilho Hamunyela, a farmer from the North, believes Namibia is getting hotter.He says it used to rain much more in the past.”Those years, it used to rain too much,” he said.Hamunyela said the cutting down of trees, especially in rural areas, has also contributed to this problem.”Because trees bring rain,” he said.Dr Neville Sweijd of the Benguela Environment Fisheries Interaction Training (Benefit) programme says climate has been changing over a long period of time and these changes are inevitable.He says it is likely that climate change is being caused by human activities as well as natural variability.But Sweijd said the cause of climate change was less important than the actual consequences, especially if climate changed suddenly.”It is the scale and the rate that are important.If, suddenly, the sea level rises and waves wash everything away, that will be very threatening as we cannot adapt,” he said.Albi Bruckner, who came up with the idea of establishing the NamibRand private nature reserve south of Sossusvlei, says the only thing that he has noticed which might be an effect of climate change is the decline in rainfall in Namibia.At the moment, the world is concerned about climate change and efforts are being made to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – one of the greenhouse gases blamed as the major cause of climate change.Anticipated climate effects will be extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves.

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