Unit 1: The Impacts of Global Warming

Question 1

What are the 2 case studies needed for impacts of GLOBAL WARMING?

Answer 1

Arctic

Africa

Question 2

How has global warming affected the Arctic directly?

Answer 2

• Area of Arctic ice is shrinking - some scientists say there may be no ice left by 2030 :(
• Permafrost boundary is moving north, and area is also shrinking
• Greenland ice sheet is melting - rate has increased in recent years
• The treeline is moving North and areas where trees can’t grow is shrinking

Question 3

What are the Environmental impacts of global warming on the Arctic?

Answer 3

1) melting ice sheets (eg greenland) will mean injection of fresh water into the sea - changing the density of the water, disrupting ocean currents.
2) Thawing of permafrost releases CO2 and methane - permafrost is a natural sink.

Question 4

What are the Ecological impacts of global warming on the Arctic?

Answer 4

1) change in climatic regions = habitats of some species is reduced or lost (eg polar bears use sea ice to hunt)
2) Arctic have very sensitive ecosystems. There are few species so the loss of one may have devastating impacts on on other species that rely on them
3) Number and diversity of species may increase in other parts of the arctic as sea ice coverage is reduced and temperatures increase.

Question 5

What are the socio-economic impacts of global warming on the arctic?

Answer 5

1) shrinking ice sheets could open up new shipping routes
2) New natural resources exploited - eg less ice means more fishing grounds.
3) Undiscovered oil and gas resources in greenland that can’t be reached due to the ice sheet.
4) Access to new resources may cause conflict over which countries own them.
5) Warmer soils mean more agriculture or forestry opportunities.
6) Thawing of permafrost can result in collapsed buildings and broken pipelines where the ground has become less stable.

Question 6

Name 3 examples of why the relative costs of the global warming of Africa is so high.

Answer 6

1) Poor - these people have reduced capacity to cope - eg farmers who grow just to meet the needs of their family with no longer have income and risk starvation
2) Less able to prepare for and respond to the impacts
3) Political turmoil can mean the appropriate responses aren’t made, making impacts worse.

Question 7

What is the impact of global warming causing desertification in Africa?

Answer 7

1) Fertile land becomes unsuitable for agriculture
Major problem in the Sahel Region
Causes a decrease in agricultural production, leads to more poverty , unemployment, malnourishment and starvation

Question 8

What is the impact of improved conditions for mosquitoes in Africa?

Answer 8

Mosquitoes spread Malaria
Costs of healthcare and the reduction in productivity mean that the economies are put under strain and prevented from growing as more cases of malaria must be treated.

Question 9

What is the impact of reduced growing periods in Africa?

Answer 9

Decreases agricultural production. Sahel Region - agriculture forms 70% of employment - so any reduction leads to unemployment, poverty, malnourishment and starvation.

Question 10

What is the impact of more erratic climate in Africa?

Answer 10

Mozambique - drought in 1995 for 5 years - caused widespread major crop failure then they had major flooding in 2000. Displacing many people.
Homes and infrastructure are destroyed in areas where people are unable to rebuild and recover.

Question 11

What is the impact of global warming in the tropical area of Africa?

Answer 11

Longer growing periods. Financial benefits from better agricultural conditions.

Question 12

Sea level rise is an indirect impact of global warming, which areas are most vulnerable to this?

Answer 12

Coastal areas - low lying eg bangladesh
Small islands eg maldives
River deltas eg Bangladesh
Areas built on reclaimed land eg Netherlands.

Question 13

What are emissions scenarios used for?

Answer 13

Used to predict impacts of global warming

Question 14

What scenarios have the IPCC produced to show predictions of how human CO2 emissions will change up until 2100

Answer 14

5 scenarios ranging from emissions not increasing much more to emissions increasing by a lot.

Question 15

Why is it difficult to predict the impacts of changes in the climate?

Answer 15

• We don’t know how much emissions will increase by.
• We dont know how much of the emissions will be absorbed by natural CO2 sinks
• We don’t know what climate change affect each emissions scenario will have.
• We can predict climate change due to natural causes
• We don’t know what will be attempted to manage climate change and how successful these will be.

Question 16

What is the climate change “tipping point”?

Answer 16

.Climate change could reach a point that combined impacts could lead to catastrophic, irreversible and contribute to a more hazardous world

Question 17

What is eustatic change?

Answer 17

Global change in sea level, it is caused by thermal expansion and melting ice sheets.

Question 18

What is isostatic change?

Answer 18

Localised movement of land in response to loss or gain of weight eg melting ice sheets

Question 19

What are the 3 areas that rising sea levels are affecting and why they are vulnerable

Answer 19

BANGLADESH - 80% is low lying land . Very high population density . LIC - low capacity to cope
THE MALDIVES - Low lying islands . MIC - not poor but economy is reliant on tourism which will suffer due to sea level rise.
THE NETHERLANDS - Low lying land, prone to coastal flooding. 1/8th of the country is below sea level. HIC so has defences put in place.

Question 20

What are some strategies named areas have put in place to cope with sea level rise?

Answer 20

NETHERLANDS - 33 km enclosure dike. Levees. Pumping water out to reclaim land - regained 20% of country’s land doing this.
BANGLADESH - Houses being built on stilts. Schools on boats. Moving to Dhaka, away from coastal flooding. Living on chars in the river
MALDIVES - Building new islands. Moving locals to mainland. Finding other sources of income