Climate change and poverty in Tanzania: realities and response options for CARE

Abstract

Climate change is already occurring. No one will be immune from its overall impacts. Nonetheless, it will have a disproportionate effect on the lives of poor people. Worldwide average surface temperatures have increased by an estimated 0.8ºC (1.4ºF) between 1900 and 2005. The past decade was the hottest of the past 150 years and perhaps the last millennium. The hottest 22 years on record have occurred since 1980, and 2005 was the hottest of all. The nearly universal consensus amongst scientists is that this warming trend has been triggered by the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses by human activities (e.g. industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion and land use changes such as deforestation). Moderate projections of future warming suggest a global increase of 1.4ºC (2.5ºF) to 5.8ºC (10.4ºF) by 2100. In some areas, such as Southern Africa and the Sahel, the rise in temperatures could be double these averages.