High-Level Project Summary
All life forms on earth, from ecosystems to human civilization, are vulnerable to the constantly changing climate. Currently, climate change is impacting the well-being of our human societies and our planet. We need to assess the complex interactions between climate change and risks for nature and people now and into the future and present options to act or adapt. The video presented as the project submission provides factual and scientific educational information about climate change in a creative and educative approach.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Detailed project description
Since 1950, the increase in atmospheric GreenHouse Gases(GHGs) has been the dominant cause of human-induced climate change showing that the main driver of changes in atmospheric GHGs over the past 200 years relates to the direct emissions from human activities. The combustion of fossil fuels and land use change for the period 1750 to 2019, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) resources, released an estimated 700 Pico grams of carbon into the atmosphere, of which less than half remains in the atmosphere today. Scientific evidence now shows that the current human-caused global warming of 1.1°C is increasingly impacting nature and human lives everywhere despite the efforts to adapt to the changing climate
The current scientific evidence for climate change is unequivocal. Climate change affects our life-sustaining resource, water, and poses risks to food security from changes to crop yields, fruit harvest, livestock and fisheries. We need a way to limit and prevent human-caused emissions that cause global warming by taking note of the causes and history. We need to be conscious that the decisions we make today affect our future and support the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
According to the sixth assessment report fact sheet for Africa on climate change, impacts and risks from IPCC agricultural productivity growth have been reduced by 34% since 1961 due to climate change, more than any other region. If the global average temperature keeps increasing above 1.5°C, half of the assessed species are projected to lose over 30% of their population or area of suitable habitat and 7–18% of species assessed are at risk of extinction in Africa as an example.
Climate change, including increases in frequency and intensity of extremes and enhanced ocean acidity, has adversely impacted food security, terrestrial and marine ecosystems as well as contributed to desertification and land degradation in many regions. Several findings indicate that our future depends on what we do and how we live our lives. Our climate is our future.
On the morning of 7th September 2022, countrywide news read “The death toll from the landslides that hit Kasese town, Uganda in the wee hours of Wednesday morning has risen to 15”. Formerly, on 10th May 2020, amidst the covid-19 pandemic, as many as 100,000 people were affected in Kasese by a double tragedy where severe flooding occurred as the river banks of Nyamwamba and Mubuku burst.
Among the causes of these disasters are deforestation on the mountain Rwenzori slopes, high carbon emissions and dust pollution from the formerly Kilembe copper mines in the area. Further evidence of climate change in the region include increased extremities such as extremely hot dry seasons and wet seasons, part of the reason for the increased floods and landslides.
The World Meteorology Organization reported that by 2040 the glacier at the top of mountain Rwenzori (mountains of the moon), the third highest mountain in Africa, would be melted due to severe climate change affecting the continent. The glacier ice melted vertically by at least 60 meters from 2012 to 2020, disposing of deposits of the mountain. This has been due to the increase in the atmospheric temperature of the region, and globe as a whole, increasing the water volume of the rivers originating from the mountains leading to flooding the lower altitude regions of Kasese district. In ad[1] dition, the first rains due to the climatic extremities come so hard and sweep away both crops and homes and increase soil moisture causing massive landslides.
Space Agency Data
We used satellite and ground-based data as well as models to evaluate the factors which contributed to Kasese’s predisposition to flooding, including precipitation, soil moisture and topography.
We found landslide data that cites the Kasese region as an area prone to landslides and also obtained data on the reduced snow cover on the Mountains of the Moon.
Hackathon Journey
Our team is concerned about how our native communities have been negatively impacted by the consequences of climate change from a global and local perspective. With this in mind, we created the video presented to instill awareness in the fight against climate change. Our approach to developing the video was through several brainstorming sessions and sharing experiences and facts on the topic. The collaboration of people with different backgrounds and skill sets led to the creative end product. In conclusion, our Space Apps experience was excellent and insightful. We extend much appreciation to our institution, Makerere University, for its advice and assistance through the process. Lastly, we would like to acknowledge the Space Apps challenge organizers for allowing us to partake in this challenge.
References
Tags
#climatechange