CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL
(Posted 17th December 2015)
The effects of climate change in Uganda have been a key point of reference at the just-ended United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris, France, dubbed COP21.
The summit, which started on November 30 and ended on December 11, had moments of shifting attention to live images of the receding snowline at two peaks of Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains: Margherita and Edward.
The images, beamed into the summit by a team of seasoned mountaineers on location atop the Rwenzoris, helped show the manifestation of climate change around the world, aiding delegates from 195 countries in deliberations that resulted into the global Climate Change Accord.
The accord, a document of lasting solutions to the much-dreaded problem, will see every nation, rich or poor, take action from now on by lowering tremendously the human activities that warm the planet and emit greenhouse gasses.
Among the images streamed through at the summit included an expanse of the mountains’ vegetation that was razed by a wild fire late 2014 that lasted almost a week, following a spell of close to a month without rainfall on the mountains that are also a UNESCO heritage site.
“The Rwenzoris are known to experience heavy rainfall at least twice every week, and long spells without rain on the mountains are a stark indicator of the effects of climate change,” says Tim Jarvis, the ambassador of World Wide Fund for Nature, Australia, and leader of the four-man crew of mountaineers who have been streaming live to the summit from the Rwenzoris.
The four have just completed their Ugandan leg of a worldwide mountaineering expedition tagged 25Zero, which saw colleagues elsewhere climb and stream to the summit images of the only 25 mountains at the equator left with glaciers.
“As we climbed the Rwenzoris, other teams concurrently climbed the other mountains in five countries, including Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Chimborazo in Equador, and Carstensz Pyramid in West Papua,” says German mountaineer Heidi Sand, whose husband Arne Sand was the third mountaineer on the expedition backed by their cameraman Ed Wardle.
The worldwide expedition, which in Uganda was backed by the Rwenzori Trekking Services, World Wide Fund for Nature and Uganda Wildlife Authority, was initiated by Tim Jarvis under his brainchild 25Zero.
It is estimated that within a quarter of a century or sooner in some cases, the glaciers on the 25 mountains will all be gone if the entire world does not wake up and take environmental conservation seriously.
“We want to bring to the attention of world leaders and everyone else who cares that the only remaining 25 mountains with glaciers at the equator are endangered as a result of human activities, and that leads to climate change. Within about 25 years and no change in the way we are treating our environment, there will be no more 25 mountains along the equator with glaciers, hence 25Zero. Everyone needs to act, so let’s act now, and let’s have the Climate Change Accord guide us,” says Jarvis, also known for his commitment to finding pragmatic solutions to major issues related to climate change and biodiversity loss.
The just-ended UN Climate Change Summit, which was also attended by delegates from Uganda, has in a landmark slam of a gavel instilled in the world a sense of urgency about climate change, and nations’ laws will soon adopt the outcome Accord in ensuring that we all live by its provisions in our day-to-day activities.
Some of the solutions include tree planting, reforestation, recycling, having fewer children to reduce the strain on the environment, and little reliance on construction using cement, whose production involves huge emissions of the dangerous CO2 into the environment.
