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Climate Change: Stories From Around the World
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Climate Change: Stories From Around the World
From fishermen in Galicia to Ugandan coffee farmers and disappearing islands in the Pacific, communities around the world are hoping for action at the climate talks in Paris. Here are some of their stories.
Laos
Farmers in Laos are vulnerable to changes in the weather and recent years have seen changing rain patterns and stronger storms, which have played havoc with crops.
Somvang and Bounthit Inthavong, farmers in Tao Than village, have seen their crops including brown rice, bamboo and mangoes affected by the unpredictable conditions.
Mrs Inthavong says: “I’ve been a farmer since I was young. The weather now is much hotter than it used to be. This year we planted the rice in the usual conditions but then the rains didn’t come on time. And in July there was a big storm that damaged the crops. There are more strong storms now.
“The weather is not normal. It has changed. It’s difficult to know what each year will be like. I’m worried about the future because the weather really affects farmers. You plan to plant, you invest, and then if it is too hot or the heavy rains come you lose.”
Uganda
Coffee is the lifeblood of farmers but climate change is blamed for warming the equatorial Kasese region, bringing pests, diseases and intense rain that erodes fertile earth.
Conservation group Pax Arctica said after a 2014 expedition that rapid ice melting linked to climate change in the Rwenzori mountains had reduced the amount of water flowing into the Nyamwamba River, which farmers use to irrigate their crops.
Experts now say the Rwenzori glaciers could disappear altogether in two decades – possibly as early as 2025.
Luka Kinyere has seen his harvest delayed, meaning the beans are too small to fetch a good price on the market. He mulched his two-acre plantation and dug trenches to conserve water when it rains, but such measures are no use when a dry spell stretches out for months.
He also cannot afford to apply herbicides to his crop when diseases invade his estate.
He says: “We are in trouble now – the sun is disturbing the crop.”
Kiribati
A report by the Brookings Institution estimated that between 665,000 and 1.7m people in the Pacific could be displaced or forced to emigrate by 2050 – and Kiribati is on the climate change front line.
Representatives of Kiribati and other low-lying Pacific and Indian Ocean nations met in October to discuss how they might relocate their populations – and where the money would come from to do it.
As a precaution, Kiribati – with a population of 100,000 – has bought land on Fiji, more than 1,000 miles away, for $8m (£5.3m).
“We would hope not to put everyone on one piece of land, but if it became absolutely necessary, yes, we could do it … it’s basically going to be a matter of survival,” Kiribati’s President Anote Tong said last year.
Ioane Teitiota attempted to escape his country’s fate by claiming to be the world’s first climate change refugee – although his claim has so far been rebuffed by New Zealand and he and his family face deportation.
Mr Teitiota’s lawyer Michael Kidd argued: “New Zealand is returning him and his family to a situation where there is danger from a number of things, such as rising sea levels and pollution of fresh water and the possibility of cyclones destroying the place.”
Spain
Jose Agustin Perez has noticed significant changes in the weather and sea temperatures during more than 20 years fishing the Galician coast.
He says fishermen fear the species they depend on for their livelihood could be driven out of their region by tropical fish, which have appeared in increasing numbers as sea temperatures have risen.
He says: “Our biggest problem is the warm sea, there are less fish.
“What we’re noticing is that tropical fish are appearing – mostly triggerfish and ocean sunfish, species that are not from here.
“First, they break our nets, on top of not being a commercial species and second we are afraid they will chase away the commercial varieties we have here.”
Vietnam
People living in Vietnam’s southern Ca Mau province have found their land becoming less productive because of rising sea levels which have increased the salinity of water feeding their land.
Farmer Kum Van Nguyen and his wife Giau Kim Ly have been farming rice in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta for 18 years.
Mr Van Nguyen says: “We’re about 60km from the sea but I’ve noticed that the salinity in the water is growing worse each year.
“About 10 years ago we started shrimp farming to take advantage of the salty water in dry season, along with everyone else in the commune.
“Shrimp farming is more profitable than rice but you can only do one season each year.
“In wet season the rain washes away the salt so we can grow rice in fresh water. I think my rice is poorer quality now because of the increased salinity but we can still grow enough to eat and to sell.
“In the past you could predict the weather but about seven years ago the seasonal patterns changed and now it’s almost impossible to forecast.
“The heat is more intense and the rain is heavier, which can damage production on the farm. I’m concerned that there may be more big storms and cyclones that could hurt the house and farm.”
Honduras
Experts say Honduras is one of the three countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change. Larger and larger swathes of productive land are being lost to soil erosion and more frequent floods and droughts regularly ruin crops.
More than half the region’s coffee plantations have been hit by coffee rust (known as La Roya), with poor farmers hardest hit as they often don’t have the knowhow to combat the rust.
Pedro and Maria Cruz and their four children – one of whom is disabled – are among those left in poverty by the poor farming conditions.
Pedro says: “I worry a lot for my children. That’s why my house is the way it is, we have no toilet, no proper garden for growing.
“I can’t spend time making the house better, I just have to work to get enough money for them to eat. My daughter can’t walk, she is 11 and has something wrong with her legs.
“I once went to the doctors and they told me that if she had an operation she would be able to walk.
“She was offered a free operation by a charity but the bus fare to get her there was 20 lempiras each (59p) and we just didn’t have the money to get her there.”
Austria
Mountain guide Helmut Matzka, 71, says Austria has seen higher than average temperature increases of around 2C since 1880, with half of that coming since 1980 – leading to changes with mountain glaciers.
Researchers from Climate Outreach say weather and climate-related damage is costing Austria some €1bn – which could rise to €5bn by the middle of the 21st century.
Mr Matzka says: “The glaciers are the real witnesses of climate change for me. These age-old natural wonders show climate change in a dramatic way.
“Even 50 years ago, the highest mountains in the Alps were covered with thick snow and ice and the glaciers were in some of the valleys of Tyrol, almost close enough to touch. Nature changes with the retreat of glaciers.
“If the permafrost thaws, rocks will lose their grip and mountaineering will become unsafe.”
By Sky News, 2 days 7 hours ago
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