Some of the Key Areas for Mitigation Actions in South Africa

In the last 100 years, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased, causing the Earth to warm by an average of 0.6 degrees celsius, largely a result of burning fossil fuels for energy, transportation, and land use changes increased for food production. The basic science is straightforward and climate researchers have shown that gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and others can trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Human activities such as industry, transport, energy generation and deforestation all produce these greenhouse gases. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that global warming is inevitable and now considered most probably caused by man-made increases in

An urgent issue, climate change is undoubtedly a sweeping global dilemma of paramount importance. Though most people are aware of this fact, many either choose to ignore it, or acknowledge it, but take no action against it. Those who do choose to take action usually attempt to combat climate change by using the methods that are most commonly discussed: becoming more energy efficient, recycling, and reducing emissions through using more sustainable transportation. Though these actions are helpful, they are not the most efficient way to counter climate change.

In 2013, the Obama Administration issued the Climate Action Plan to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 % reduction below 2005 levels by 2020. This plan’s three objectives were carbon reduction, strengthening capacity for climate change response, and leading international cooperation for climate change crisis (White House, 2013). To reduce the

Global warming is the environmental and social changes caused by emissions of greenhouse gases. Human activities have been the primary cause of this significant change, resulting with extreme weather conditions, increasing sea levels, and climate changes. In this paper I will compare and contrast natural versus anthropogenic climate changes of global warming, mitigation strategies, mitigation effectiveness, policy implications, costs, and address some policy changes to help stabilize global climate.

Global warming and climate change attributed to increased emission of greenhouse gases have continued to be pressing issues in today’s society since they threaten the stability of the climate, population, and economy of the world (“Meeting the Energy Challenge”, 2007). The challenges associated with global warming and climate change is attributed to the fact that 75 percent of world’s carbon dioxide

Global climate change has been an unresolved issue since the 1970’s. Despite the facts presented by scientists, the governments refuses to take action. It has been estimated that the global mean temperatures have already risen by 0.8°C and the current amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will cause the temperature to rise by another 0.8°C, whereas 2°C is considered the maximum rise which the earth will be able cope without any major catastrophes (Mckibben, 2012). At the present rate of climate change we are already experiencing a shift in seasonal patterns. The governments’ inability to make strict laws regarding reduction in emission, therefore, stirs the controversy that what is stopping them and why do they refuse to do anything about it.

The book is also helpful because it assists with spreading awareness that we are unlikely to solve global warming using todays methods thus preventing us from wasting more time on it. Renewable energy sources, and Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) are common propositions as solutions. However, they have their own problems. Renewable energy sources’ have problems that revolve around how they are not cheap or reliable.

At this point in time our possible solutions to the global warming are few; our technologies aren’t advanced enough to take the brunt of energy production and wean away from fossil fuel, and we have been too passive for too long regarding our CO2 emissions that’s it’s not feasible to either use cap and trade, or a flat out reduction of CO2. At our current rate of growth, energy from alternative energy sources will be around 8% of the total energy usage by 2025 (Butler 3). This is not nearly enough to be used as a feasible solution to combat our rising CO2 production, and by the time this is feasible, sever climate changes may have

Although most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are either underdeveloped, or are politically unstable, this does not mean that they are exempt from damages of greenhouse emissions. Sub-Saharan Africa produces about 746,186 kilotons of CO2 emissions. Compared to China’s whooping 9,019,518 kilotons of emissions, it may not seem like a lot but Sub-Saharan Africa is still the producer of 2.15% of the world’s global emissions. The Middle East is a different story. Most countries are developed and have a strong economy based on oil, the biggest CO2 producer when burned. Still the Middle East only produces 1,704,418 kilotons of CO2 emissions, or 4.92% of the world’s emissions. One country in Sub-Saharan Africa produces 36% of the total; South Africa.

Global warming has been a controversial topic for years and some have even denied its existence; however, as more studies are being published every day in regards to our changing climate, it is hard to ignore this growing issue and how humans contribute to it. The term greenhouse gases refers to the group of gases that are primarily responsible for global warming and chief among these gases is carbon dioxide. Rising carbon dioxide levels can be attributed to a combination of burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum as well as deforestation in general ( Source A). To slow the effects of global warming, it is important for leaders in our society to consider their greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, and make

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

Prior to the Paris Agreement, participating countries have submitted national plans that addressed their intentions for combatting the climate change after 2020 (Dimitrov 2016). These nationally determined contributions outlined a number of issues – all being relevant to adapting and coping with climate change challenge. Although these contributions are not final, they are representative of the intended climate actions that countries will pursue after 2020.

The current challenge that the country faces relates to the problem areas of growth, jobs, and poverty reduction. The high levels of unemployment and inequality are considered by the government and most South Africans to be the most prominent economic problems facing the country. Particularly, South

Emergency managers in the United States have it easy compared to individuals who work in the developing world. Although challenges like limited budgets or political will may be universal problems, in places like Uganda, they are magnified. These areas are home to the most vulnerable populations. Where poverty, little to no infrastructure or government services, and a lack of access to education, create the potential for a disaster to inflict deviating damage. Mitigation programs have the greatest potential for reducing the impact of such events. However, unlike the United States, these countries often times don’t have the resources to establish and maintain many types of mitigation programs. As the world has started to become a globalized community, many industrialized nations have recognized this need, and want to provide aid to these countries. Because of the reality that this aid has its limits, and that every aid dollar is precious, it is important to be able to maximize the return on this investment. This Research project will identify key factors of successful mitigation projects throughout the developing world in order to establish a set of guidelines for future projects. With these guidelines, valuable time and resources will be saved and mitigation projects will have maximum impact on the communities they serve. This is not only a way of developing low cost projects to developing nations, but it is a way of insuring that investors in these types

According to the Country Report in 2013, South Africa has come along way in terms of achieving the Millennium Development Goals for 2015. When looking at goal one, which has to do with eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, they have almost completed all of the targets. As of 2013, South Africa has achieved the proportion of population below $1.00 per day and the proportion of population below $1.25 per day. They are likely to achieve the proportion of population below $2.00 per day. They have achieved the poverty gap ratio of $1.00, $1.25, and $2.00 per day. They are likely to achieve the poverty gap ratio of $2.50 per day. They are likely to achieve the percentage of employed people living below $1.00 per day. Although they have achieved and are likely to achieve many of these targets for goal one which has to do with poverty, they are unlikely to reach the share of the poorest quintile in national consumption, the percentage growth rate of GDP per person employed, employment-to-population ratio, and the percentage of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment. In terms of hunger they are likely to achieve the percent of prevalence of underweight children less than five years of age. They have also achieved the percentage of people who report experiencing hunger. Goal two is just as accomplished as goal one.