ATLANTA− Climate change has drastically affected all aspects of life for those living in coastal cities across the world. Rising ocean temperatures are resulting in declining fish populations, which affect the agriculture industry.
In Lagos, Nigeria, much of the once farmable land has become desert. This effect has prompted cattle herders to move in search of land to feed the livestock, but this has caused a clash with existing farmers. Agriculture is one of the most important industries in coastal cities and its decline poses a great financial threat for these areas.
While most Nigerians don’t have a scientific understanding of climate change, they have witnessed their climate change. Periods of great rainfall causing flooding to lack thereof causing extreme droughts. Citizens comment on the increase in deforestation, pollution, and growing deserts.
Climate change has also affected the health of the residents living on the coast. In Miami, FL the heat is ideal for mosquitoes and therefore transmission of diseases spread by them has increased. Hotter ocean temperatures have also increased a certain bacteria found in shellfish, which make Americans sick when consumed. “The oceans are sending us so many warning signals that we need to get emissions under control,” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, a marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and a lead author of the report. “Ecosystems are changing, food webs are changing, fish stocks are changing, and this turmoil is affecting humans” (Plumer).
Not only do rising ocean temperatures pose a threat to the agriculture economy, they affect public health as well. “We are an ocean world, run and regulated by a single ocean, and we are pushing that life support system to its very limits through heating,deoxygenation, and acidification,” said Dan Laffoley. These coastal cities will not be able to maintain without drastic changes to our environment.
While Miami and Lagos experience different weather patterns, both cities have a tropical climate, with their wettest month of the year being June. Both cities have experienced increased rainfall and flooding due to the changing climate. According to the Miami Herald, “New Research from NOAA suggests this kind of flooding could happen every day by 2070 under most climate models.”
Despite extended research discussing the effects of climate change, many government officials still deny its existence. The only way to truly combat climate change is through reducing carbon emissions. However, the city of Miami is working to adapt to climate changes instead. The city plans to raise roads and seawalls due to the sea level rise. But without reducing carbon emissions these changes are in vain. The multimillion-dollar changes would inflict great financial burden on the U.S economy.
Across the globe in Nigeria, thousands have died as a result of land conflict caused by climate change. Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa, with an estimated population of 120 million people. According to Time Magazine, 60% of Nigeria’s land has become barren desert due to droughts. Northern cattle herders have moved further south in search of land for grazing livestock. This has caused conflict with settled farmers of the area and Islamist terrorist causing over 10,000 to be killed and even more to lose their home.
Many people in Nigeria depend on natural resources in order to make a living. Because these resources are threatened due to a suffering climate, some citizens have begun to experience poverty or have fled from their homes.
Similarly, in Louisiana some coastal cities have begun to be abandoned despite the money poured in to help these communities. “Retreat will become an unavoidable option in some areas of the U.S. coastline,” (Harris).
The climate change adaptation has created several initiatives to help the climate change affecting Nigeria. Nigeria will extend its protected areas to conserve ecosystems that are the most vulnerable to climate change as well as sea level rise. The climate change adaptation also works to reduce pressure on existing ecosystems and population control.
Ultimately, climate change affects us all, but our coastal cities have felt the effects harder. It is imperative that we reduce our carbon emissions in hopes of saving our planet.