Climate Change in Africa:
Recent Signs
- Rainfall
- Sahel region: 25% reduction over past 30 years
- Tropical rainforest zone: decrease in precipitation by about 2.4 (± 1.3 percent) per decade since mid-1970s
- Temperature
- Warming of 0.7°C over most of the continent during 20th century
- The 5 warmest years on record in Africa have occurred since 1988 (1995, 1998 are the 2 warmest years).
Source: Third Assessment Report, IPCC, 2001
Kilimanjaro in 1976 and 2006
A satellite image of Kilimanjaro from 1976
The decrease in the glacial area can be seen clearly in this image of Kilimanjaro in 2006
Lake Chad in 1972 and 2007
Lake Chad was once the second-largest wetland in Africa, supporting a rich diversity of endemic animals and plant life. This image is from 1972
Droughts and agricultural irrigation have reduced Lake Chad's extent to one-tenth of its former size over the past 35 years
Somalia, Juba River:
flooding in 2006
A September 2006 image shows part of the Juba River in Somalia before rains believed to have resulted from the an Niño weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean.
By early December 2006, the worst flooding in 10 years - appearing on the image as dark green to black - had displaced about half a million people. In spite of the negative effects, two rainy seasons may have benefitted grain and pastoral farmers.
Source: All satellite images from UNEP
