How Can We Balance Temperature and Precipitation? Climate change impacts are vivid all over the world. It is no longer a matter of convincing anybody as living and non-living things feel it on all levels. Cumulatively, the responses of components of our planet have reshaped and deformed every aspect of our life on Earth.
Perhaps even other planets in the universe, which are unaccounted for when discussing matters on planet Earth, may be badly under the same threats. In a strict sense, all lives are inherently affected, and worse is yet to come if the business-as-usual scenario continues as it stands now.
We, the humankind who are wiser, have somehow somewhere played a bad card and are likely bound to lose the game unceremoniously. The only thing we are left with is the fact that we are the judge of ourselves and our actions. We can pronounce victory anyway. But honestly, we are not observing the rules of the game but utilizing the game of rules unwisely.
Anyway, browsing web pages the other day, I came across a striking reality. I found it worth sharing and pondering about as it’s a matter of life and death if it remains unmonitored, which seems so to date. There are several calls from nature as many disturbances have wrangled over many of the environmental components.
Since the environmental component is humble but reacts so hush if ignored, it may cause wranglings noted all over. Why do I argue that way, and what is the main point of saying all these? To justify these, I want to highlight a few things driving climate change and its impacts.
Basically, there are two sets of causes of climate change. The first and most prominent cause is human-induced, i.e. anthropogenic cause. It accounts for all actions and activities caused by human beings who are also the trusted guardians of the planet Earth. They have altered some components of the earth by intention or scientific curiosity. They have ended up causing some misery to our planet.
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However, some goods have come from the same science, contributing significantly. There was no way human beings would have lived on the earth and left it intact anyway; therefore, conservation won over preservation. Besides science, curiosity also stands for our natural demands, such as food and shelter, which force human beings to extract resources from nature. These are also inevitable and will continue to put more pressure on the balance between our needs and the optimum harnessing of these resources.
The second cause is natural causes, which involve some uncontrolled actions by Mother Nature. These happen outside of our human consciousness, events such as volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate movements, solar radiation intensity, changes, and warming and cooling across the globe.
These all with our good science. They are documented and can be vividly seen across time and space. They have reacted, and some are in pause mode, and in no time to alert, they can react less. We prepared more devastations. We know little about their time of reaction, and the fact we know is that they are likely to react at some point.
Fast forward, we are here now; we are devastated and panic-stricken by the loss. Where is the science to lean on? What is wrong with our mother nature’s hash reaction? Why now and not before or later? While these questions blow up in our minds, here are some recent facts;
Two antagonistic balances require our attention: temperature and precipitation (rainfall). In the very recently, we have seen results of these in different parts of the world. Herein is the account of the few incidences;
For example, in the Sahel region, the heatwave in early April 2024 caused temperatures to soar in Mali and Burkina Faso to above 45 degrees Celsius, with minimum temperatures remaining around 32 degrees Celsius overnight. As reported by World Weather Attribution (WWA), this critical event was recorded and said to be a lethal event as a result of human-induced causes.
The region is now at the top point in terms of temperature, which has increased twofold from 1.5 centigrade in the pre-industrial era, increasing it to about 3 centigrade. This is shocking news but a reality we should live with while figuring out the exit strategy. This is one side of the extremes in terms of temperature soaring to put records clear, as we just went through recently.
Recently, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) experienced unprecedented flooding due to intense rainfall. It has been reported that this rainfall was up to 40% more intense due to climate change, as warmer air can hold more water, leading to more disastrous storms. The rainfall received was more than 14cm of rain in 24 hours, equivalent to a year and a half’s rain for the region.
This amount of rainfall is the most the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seen since records began 75 years ago. The devastation is beyond what words can tell, but eyewitnesses can supplement what happened due to this incident, which cut across the entire region of UAE.
The East Africa region (Tanzania, Kenya) has been severely affected by heavy rains and flooding, resulting in tragic loss of life and widespread displacement. El Niño, one of the strongest ever recorded, has exacerbated the heavy rainfall in East Africa.
Also, read The Rare and Fascinating Hailstorms in Tanzania; a Misery or Delight?
The region has seen at least 155 deaths due to the flooding, with Tanzania reporting the highest number of fatalities. In Kenya, at least 13 people have died because of the torrential rains. This event is again linked to increased global temperature, which has increased across the country. This makes another side of the extreme in terms of precipitation.
What Does this Mean for Our Living Environment on Country, Regional and Global Scales?
As clarified earlier here, the two extremes are the responsible cause of the recorded lethal events recently; it is,, therefore,, a call to keep us aware and get prepared to reduce the impacts or avoid them where possible. Again, the roles of mankind as a guardian and controller are welcomed, and the following are some key areas to keep in perspective;
Climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives: There is a need to join efforts towards addressing climate change impacts through mitigation and adaptation strategies in place. As climate sciences advance, implementation mechanisms try to put structures and systems in place to address the problem.
Although these affected areas spotlighted here are also part of the initiative, further integration is required to combine efforts to address climate change and its impacts, as seen above.
Besides that, international corporations can be utilised to provide a wide room for corporations to not only support the recovery but also continue exploring the best sciences across. There is always a winning gesture when science and corporations are crafted to address the challenges facing the community, as in isolation comes weakness.
Urban planning and infrastructure development adhere to both extreme conditions. For example, their structures in Dubai were not susceptible to heavy precipitations but higher temperature. Therefore, the other side of extremes was not considered; this time, they were caught off guard. Planning needs to integrate and consider the extremes of temperature and precipitation.
Finally, public awareness of the likely impacts, on-set of the disaster, and preparedness strategy to escape the scene exists. In most of the incidences, the public was stranded, unaware of the strategy to escape and ended up sustaining rampant loss. There is a need to have a stringent and functional early warning system.
This would enable quick information flow and immediate rescue or evacuation from risky zones in an emergency. Development of an early warning system, especially along the disaster-prone zones, is a mandatory strategy to have in place.
Now that we are in the post-disaster phase and yet more is expected, according to the weather experts’ advice, these key areas need to be spotlighted. The role of government and civilians is not ignored; they are the core of the entire process. There are also policy-based instruments which require the government and citizens, respectively. When there is enough investment during the disaster phase, it will give easy navigation through disaster to post-disaster phases, bearing in mind that some disasters are likely to happen.
Considering the two extremes’ events of temperature and precipitations, we need to combine both in planning even when one is more prominent in our spheres. Importantly, these extremes are either positive or negative in reactions, and either postulation is likely to impact. The planning should also consider the population projections and urban sprawl exacerbating the situation.
We have an increased population and urban sprawl, which calls for proactive planning to align with the development speed while containing the likely impacts.
