Wildlife is a source of national pride, contributing 10 per cent of the GDP.
Kenya's optimistic blue print Vision 2030 recognizes wildlife-based tourism as one of six primary sectors expected to achieve an annual growth rate of 10 per cent.
However, as Mildred Aduma observes in her research work, significant weather anomalies are likely to occur more regularly, triggering more drastic shifts in vegetation and altering the migration and reproduction of major herbivores owing to global land surface warming
Kenya‘s tourism industry is largely nature-based and depends on wildlife, the beach and scenic features. And here is where climate change is likely to impact on: Low-lying coastal areas, islands, arid and semi-arid areas, forests, areas prone to natural disasters and liable to drought and desertification, and those with fragile ecosystems, including mountainous ecosystems.
Kenya‘s geography, substantial arid and semi-arid area, coastal tourism resources and unique biodiversity and natural heritage mean the country is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
Approximately 80 per cent of Kenya‘s land is classified as arid and semiarid land. The country‘s economic and livelihood systems are highly dependent on natural resources, which are very sensitive to changes in climatic conditions. This makes the country very vulnerable to climate change.
Climate change is to blame for rivers drying up and species migrating to new habitats, causing changes in ecosystems. This has led to animals such as lions killing domestic animals like sheep and goats in villages near the animal parks.
Mitigation measures should be developed to reduce the long-term impacts of human-produced greenhouse gases on the Earth's climate, whilst a wide range of 'sectors' are considering how they might adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change in the shorter term.
There is already clear evidence to show wildlife from the poles to the tropics is being affected by climate change. Species migrations, extinctions and changes in populations, range and seasonal and reproductive behavior are among a plethora of responses that have been recorded, and these are likely to continue apace as climate continues to change in decades to come.
Many attributes of individual animal species, their size, shape and colour, and their feeding and sexual behaviors, are adapted to the climatic conditions in which they live.
Changes in climate influence the size of populations, which in turn affects the distribution and abundance of species, and ultimately ecosystem structure and function. Consequently, long-term climatic trends have enormous impacts on shaping the tapestry of life in the wild.
For many organisms, we can infer the impacts of changes in climate from basic physiological and biogeographic research. A recurring theme is that many biological processes undergo sudden shifts at particular thresholds for temperature or precipitation. In particular, plant and animal range boundaries are often determined by freeze tolerance, or by minimum levels of yearly precipitation.
Extreme weather events often bring about sudden changes in population status. Single drought years have caused drastic crashes in some insect species on a continental scale, while leading to population booms in other species. It is likely, then, that changes in proportions of days exceeding species-specific temperature thresholds, or changes in frequency of droughts or extreme seasonal precipitation, will lead to physical and behavioural changes in a few species, and dramatic changes in the distributions of many species.
Rising temperatures affect vegetation, food sources, access to water and much more. Ecosystems may become uninhabitable for certain animals, forcing wildlife to migrate outside of their usual patterns in search of food and livable conditions, while causing other animals to die off.
In a new analysis, authors found that nearly half of the mammals and nearly a quarter of the birds on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species are negatively impacted by climate change, with nearly 700 species affected.
Previous assessments said only seven percent of mammals and four percent of birds on the Red List were impacted. Climate change leaves the animals at risk of drought, disease and death as the heat causes freshwater supplies to dwindle, infectious diseases to spread faster and brings with it one of the biggest killers of elephants in Myanmar – heat stroke.
Elephants thrive at an optimum temperature of 230 C, and deviations from this leave them more vulnerable. A seemingly small change in temperature could wipe out the entire elephant population. Elephants as very resilient animals, very robust, but then we see at the same time there is a very narrow range at which they are at their optimal survival. If the climate changes by even a few degrees it can substantially reduce survival.
It can be noted that the youngest elephants, the calves, are quite susceptible to extremes. Once we move out of their optimal to their maximum temperature, it doubles their mortality risk’.
The discovery that calves are particularly threatened by rising temperatures is important, since these offspring are integral for the survival of the species. Elephants, like humans, reproduce later in life and if the calves die before they can mate then the species will be unable to survive. The higher the rainfall, the better the chance of survival is for the elephants; dryer hotter months could prove to be fatal.
Policymakers should consider the broad, long-term consequences of the climate change mitigation policies they choose. While allocating research and development funding and setting the criteria for Clean Development Mechanism projects, they must look beyond the simple question of whether a particular form of alternative energy or carbon absorption technique can provide a short-term reduction in greenhouse gases.
They should also consider the long-term sustainability of any mitigation policy they choose. There is need for substantial reductions of heat-trapping gas emissions in developed countries and adaptation strategies are crucial.
For example, biodiversity must be managed to ensure that ensure that conservation is occurring both inside and outside of parks and reserves, and that adequate habitat is preserved to enable species plants, animals and humans to migrate
Secretary, National Environmental Complaints Committee [email protected]
