It's Day 2 of Five Days of Care!! Yesterday, we shared easy ways that you can show love to our environment. Today, we'll explore the link between climate change, floods and droughts.
Floods and droughts are among the most dangerous and costly of all natural disasters. The United Nations estimates that during 1970-2005 over 30% of natural disasters were floods and nearly 15% were droughts or drought-related (wild fires and extreme high temperatures).
Droughts are the also the main cause of agricultural distress due to damage of food crops and less food production. Droughts also lead to loss of wildlife, diseases, desertification, unemployment and wild fires. Floods on the other hand destroy drainage systems of cities, damage property and cause infectious diseases.
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| June 2012 Lagos, Nigeria floods Image source |
A rise in sea level and severe rain are two causes of floods. Long term changes in the hydrological cycle (the flow of water throughout Earth) due to higher temperatures (more evaporation; melting of ice, more intense rain fall) contribute to more floods. More water vapor in the atmosphere, because the atmosphere is heating up can lead to more regular floods.
A rise in sea level will also contribute to more floods. The sea level rises when water warms up and increases in amount, or when glaciers and ice melt. When glaciers and ice melt, the sea level increases and floods could happen more frequently and last longer.
Climate change and droughts
Global warming and climate change will also result in more droughts. Changes in the hydrological cycle causes a change in precipitation, meaning some places will get more water and others will become drier. A build up of water vapor in the atmosphere due to the environment heating up, or sudden changes in climate causes droughts to happen more frequently.
One of the ways we can help the environment is by reducing our carbon foot print. In tomorrow's post, I'll be explaining how to do this.
