A new international study highlights the severity of climate change impacts across African mountains, how farmers are adapting, and the barriers they face – findings relevant to people living in mountain regions around the world.
A new international study highlights the severity of climate change impacts across African mountains, how farmers are adapting, and the barriers they face – findings relevant to people living in mountain regions around the world.
“Mountains are the sentinels of climate change,” said Julia Klein, a Colorado State University professor of ecosystem science and sustainability and co-author of the study. “Like the Arctic, some of the first extreme changes we’re seeing are happening in mountains, from glaciers melting to extreme events. There’s greater warming at higher elevations, so what’s happening in mountains is foreshadowing what’s going to happen for the rest of the world.”
Global studies have shown that temperatures are rising more rapidly in mountain regions than at lower elevations, but there has been a lack of climate data for African mountains. To start to fill this gap in information, researchers interviewed 1,500 farmers across 10 African mountain regions to understand how the climate has changed, the impacts those changes are having on local livelihoods, and how farmers are adapting.
Read more at Colorado State University
Image: In the Kigezi highlands of Uganda, some African farmers are diversifying their livelihoods using small tea plantations and wood lots, pictured here, to adapt to climate change. (Photo Credit: Aida Cuni-Sanchez)
