The Warsaw Nineteenth Session on the Conference of the Parties’ (COP19) objective is to limit global temperature increase to a maximum of 2° C like the preindustrial level.-By Lorraine Josiane Manishatse
Rénilde Ndayishimiye,Managing Director of Burundi Geographic Institute (IGEBU)..©Iwacu
The climate change on our planet and its adverse effects on the population are a subject of major concern for all humanity around the World. Adaptation to climate change . It is worth mentioning that the majority of greenhouse gas emission in the past and today stems from developed countries. Gas emission per inhabitant in developing countries is relatively low. But developed countries continue increasing greenhouse gas emission in order to satisfy their social and development needs. Unfortunately, developing countries are the most victims of the climate change caused by that gas emission. They don’t have relevant means to adapt to climate change. According to Rénilde Ndayishimiye, Managing Director of Burundi Geographic Institute (IGEBU), the main objective of the convention is to limit the global temperature increase to a maximum of 2° C. To reach this, all parties must be involved. They should make an additional effort to fight against increasing the planet warming. “Experts have predicted that if nothing is done, the global temperature increase will reach 5°C,”she deplores. Human activities have increased greenhouse gas concentration significantly in the atmosphere. Consequently, there is planet and atmosphere warming that affects the natural ecosystem and causing then human sufferings.
In Burundi, the climate warming increase is superior to the global temperature increase
The 2nd National Communication on Climate Change in Burundi presented in 2010 at Mexico showed that the local warming was more sensitive than the regional and global warming average. If the global temperature increases of 0, 75°C in Burundi, the increase is between 1, 5 °C in upland areas and 2°C in low-lying areas; thus, more than the double of the average increase of the global temperature. According to Fabien Ndikumugisha, Former Officer at National Adaptation Program Action (PANA), the average global
temperature is 15°C, whereas in Burundi it is around 21°C. He explains that in Burundi the warming is higher because of two hypotheses. Firstly, during the 1993 civil war the forest cover was destroyed while it was the only means that Burundi had to fight
against greenhouse gas emission. Secondly, demography is another important factor in climate change. Because of the problem of
overpopulation in Burundi, people continue expanding agricultural lands for their survival. “It has been explained that agriculture is
the first factor that produces greenhouse gas because chemical fertilizers containing nitrogen produces much gas as well as de composition made in rice fields,” says Ndikumugisha.
Adaptation to climate change
Ndikumugisha indicates that developing countries are vulnerable of climate change because they don’t have appropriate means
to adapt to that. The Convention requires each party to produce every year a National Communication on Climate Change so that developed countries which are accused of producing more greenhouse gas emission could fund those third world countries. “According to the principle of polluter pays, developed countries which are responsible of the negative climate change consequences
must pay developing countries as a reward,” he indicates. For Ndayishimiye, everybody must be conscious of the danger of climate change and adopt good strategies to fight against its negative impacts. “Burundi Government, Civil Societies, Private Sectors, Medias, Associations, NGOs, UN Organizations and all Countries should be involved inthat struggle,” she concludes.
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