Climate Change Effects
According to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, Africa has seen an increase in temperature by 0.5 °C or more during the last 50 to 100 years. The temperature changes in East Africa are in line with UNDP Climate Change Country Profiles, which indicate that both Tanzania and Kenya have had an increase in temperature of 1.0 °C between 1960 and 2003, while Uganda and Ethiopia have seen an increase of 1.3 °C over the same period (McSweeny et al., 2012 a, b, c, d). Data from weather stations east of the Rwenzori Mountains, located between 960 and 1,869 metres above sea level, indicate an increase in temperature of 0.5 °C per decade since the 1960s (Taylor et al., 2006). Similarly, an increase in temperature of 0.27 °C per decade has been recorded near Mount Kilimanjaro (Buytaert et al., 2011). In the northern part of the Ethiopian Highlands, the average annual minimum temperature has increased by 0.76 °C between 1954 and 2008, while average annual maximum temperatures have increased by 0.36 °C over the same period. This is significantly higher than the national average of 0.25 °C and 0.10 °C, respectively (Gebrehiwot and van der Veen, 2013).
Year: 2016
From collection: Sustainable Mountain Development in East Africa in a Changing Climate
Cartographer: Nieves Lopez Izquierdo