Climate Change and Food Supply

Climate Change and Food Supply

Introduction

“Earth's climate system is complex, comprising multiple interacting parts and subsystems in a state of dynamic equilibrium”. Like an intricate puzzle, scientists have been able to use numerous stand-in measures of climate (ice core samples, layered sediments, frozen pollen spores, glacier deposits, as well as studying Earth's orbital changes around the sun) to 'piece together' a picture of the Earth's climate dating back anywhere from recent decades to many as a million years ago.

The definition of climate change and the debate about the main cause of climate change have been explored in this essay. In order to achieve sustainable development, the government of Kenya has proposed a series of policies. There are opposite arguments about the main cause of climate change. IPCC suggests that climate change should be mainly explained by human activity while this claim is disputed by NIPCC. As a developing country, is able to mitigate the bad effects of climate change if both short-term and long-term strategies are implemented continually (Stroud 2006).

The climate change has been defined as a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity, which alters the composition of the global atmosphere, as well as natural climate variability observed over comparable time period. Moreover, changes in vegetation are attracting the attention of environmentalists and socio-economists. Such changes have been occurring rapidly especially in developing countries and their influence on environmental conditions may be as large as the effect of climatic change. Causes and concepts of climate change divided the theories that explain climate change phenomenon into three categories: extraterrestrial, terrestrial and oceanic changes and atmospheric changes (Campbell 2009).

Discussion

Nowadays, climate changes have become the most critical environmental problems worldwide and most of environmental changes are related to the climate factors. To date, only limited studies have been performed to address this global problem. Agricultural activities are directly affecting the proportion of forest resources because any change in agricultural leads to unfair exploitation of the forests. During the last four decades progressive changes in the environment occurred as a consequence of forest and grassland conversion into agriculture. The phenomenon is defined as deforestation and forests degradation; both have their impact on forest and grassland cover (Artner 2010). Dynamic change can be followed by use of remote sensing to evaluate extent and impacts in the form of forest and grassland biomass changes and species composition alteration and their reflection on range and nomadic coping system (Burke 2009).

The vegetation cover is part of the ecosystem and as such it is affected by any change in the environment. It includes certain zone and species vulnerable to these changes, which might lead to their loss in productivity. Therefore, it is of high priority to assess the status of the vegetation cover changes over time in different ecosystems in selected dry lands, and is very essential and useful in planning processes for conservation land management.

Past researchers showed that more than 600 species of fishes are expected ...