African Mountains in a Changing Climate: Trends, Impacts, and Adaptation Solutions

Nsengiyumva, Philbert

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-19-00062.1

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The rich biodiversity and ecosystem services of our mountains lend themselves to ecosystem-based adaptation [16] and nature-based solutions that encompass conservation, sustainable development, and restoration to reduce social and environmental vulnerabilities. Such approaches are critical as we foresee a greater demand for natural resources from our mountain regions [17], as well as greater competition for these resources amongst sectors of society [18]; such increasing pressures on mountain people and natural resources are typical of the developing world [19][20][21][22]. However, interventions aimed at balancing sustainable management of mountain-derived resources and human well-being should have a sound scientific basis in both the natural and social sciences [23,24].…”

Section: Aims Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountain Watch: How LT(S)ER Is Safeguarding Southern Africa’s People and Biodiversity for a Sustainable Mountain Future

Carbutt

Thompson

2021

Land

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Southern Africa is an exceptionally diverse region with an ancient geologic and climatic history. Its mountains are located in the southern hemisphere mid-latitudes at a tropical–temperate interface, offering a rare opportunity to contextualise and frame our research from an austral perspective so as to balance the global narrative around sustainable mountain futures for people and biodiversity. Limited Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) was initiated more than a century ago in South Africa to optimise catchment management through sound water policy. The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) has resurrected many government LTER programmes and added observatories representative of the country’s heterogeneous zonobiomes, including its mountain regions. LTER in other southern African mountains is largely absent. The current rollout of the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network (EFTEON) and the Southern African chapters of international programmes such as the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), RangeX, and the Global Soil Biodiversity Observation Network (Soil BON), as well as the expansion of the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN), is ushering in a renaissance period of global change research in the region, which takes greater cognisance of its social context. This diversity of initiatives will generate a more robust knowledge base from which to draw conclusions about how to better safeguard the well-being of people and biodiversity in the region and to balance livelihoods and environmental sustainability in our complex, third-world socio-ecological mountain systems.

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Section: Aims Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountain Watch: How LT(S)ER Is Safeguarding Southern Africa’s People and Biodiversity for a Sustainable Mountain Future

Carbutt

Thompson

2021

Land

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“…In addition, the Bale Mountain massif and surrounding lowlands, similar to other parts of East Africa 40 , are inhabited by hundreds of thousands of poor small-scale subsistence farmers. Nsengiyumva 41 reviewed the last 60 years' anthropogenic temperature increase across eastern tropical Africa and estimated it has increased from 0.278 to 0.72 °C per decade. IPCC 42 estimated approximately 1.0 °C of global average above pre-industrial levels, likely ranging from 0.8 to 1.2 °C.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ericaceous vegetation of the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia will prevail in the face of climate change

Kidane

Hoffmann

Jaeschke

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Climate change impacts the structure, functioning, and distribution of species and ecosystems. It will shift ecosystem boundaries, potentially affecting vulnerable ecosystems, such as tropical Africa's high mountain ecosystems, i.e., afroalpine ecosystems, and their highly susceptible uniquely adapted species. However, ecosystems along these mountains are not expected to respond similarly to the change. The ericaceous woody vegetation, located between the low-elevation broadleaf forests and high-elevation afroalpine vegetation, are anticipated to be affected differently. We hypothesize that projected climate change will result in an upward expansion and increasing dominance of ericaceous vegetation, which will negatively impact the endemic rich afroalpine ecosystems of the extensive Sanetti plateau. Hence, we modeled the impact of future climate change on the distribution of ericaceous vegetation and discussed its effect on bordering ecosystems in the Bale Mountains. We applied four familiar correlative modeling approaches: bioclim, domain, generalized linear methods, and support vector machines. We used WorldClim’s bioclimatic variables as environmental predictors and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report climate change scenarios, namely RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for future climate projection. The results indicate increased ericaceous vegetation cover on the midaltitude of northwestern and northern parts of the massif, and the Sanetti plateau. We observed upward range expansion and increase of close ericaceous vegetation in midaltitudes, while receding from the lower range across the massif. Moreover, the current ericaceous vegetation range correlates to the temperature and precipitation trends, reaffirming the critical role of temperature and precipitation in determining species distributions along elevational gradients. The results indicate the high likelihood of considerable changes in this biodiversity hotspot in Eastern Africa.

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“…Regional climate models have indicated that Africa's Northern and Southern regions are predicted to have the worst impacts to climate change impacts associated with rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and freshwater runoff, in regions that are already considerably warm and largely dry most parts of the year (Lawal et al, 2019). In addition, the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts are also in these regions, and these desert environments predominantly dictate weather patterns (Nsengiyumva, 2019). Rainfall occurs in small areas within these two sub-regions, primarily along with narrow coastal shorelines in South Africa and the land locked regions in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Malawi (du Plessis et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the different situations exist in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt. Brief seasonal snow cover is confined to a few major mountain chains in both regions (Nsengiyumva, 2019). However, Africa's Central, Eastern, and Western regions have different climatic characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Threats of Climate Change on Water and Food Security in South Africa

Kwame

Danny

Reid

2022

Am. J. Environ. Clim.

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Globally, water and food crises are exacerbated by climate change, population growth and changing lifestyles. These phenomena have resulted in escalating cycles of civil unrest and conflicts. In South Africa, climate change has led to increased temperatures resulting in numerous deadly heat waves and varying rainfall patterns contributing to deadly flooding in most provinces and droughts in others. These extreme climatic conditions significantly impact agricultural production and water insecurity nationally. Despite the strong impact of climate change on water and food resources in the country, there is less education and inadequate data to address the impacts of climate change, especially at local levels; information is seldom used in planning and decision-making while there is a lack of actionable planning to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Using a mixed method approach of data collection and related literatures, this paper explored the weaknesses in the current climate change mitigation programmes in South Africa in the context of water and food security. The finding established that while multiple policies, regulations, and programmes are designed to minimise climate change's impact on water and food resources, the policies lack coherency at the formulation and implementation stages and are fragmented across various departments and institutions. This paper recommends a coordinated approach to tackling climate change and investment in research that will better understand the country's climate programmes in addressing water and food security.

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African Mountains in a Changing Climate: Trends, Impacts, and Adaptation Solutions

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Mountain Watch: How LT(S)ER Is Safeguarding Southern Africa’s People and Biodiversity for a Sustainable Mountain Future

Mountain Watch: How LT(S)ER Is Safeguarding Southern Africa’s People and Biodiversity for a Sustainable Mountain Future

Ericaceous vegetation of the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia will prevail in the face of climate change

The Threats of Climate Change on Water and Food Security in South Africa

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