The Omnipresent Threat of Climate Change.

Baffour Gyimah Kwame Owusu 28 May 2024

Flooding, intense heat waves, and erratic rains have become a constant presence in our lives, dominating news headlines, social media feeds, and even billboards. But what if this constant buzz died down? Where would we be without these reminders of the urgent action needed?

The climate personifies the heart of the world and, just as the heart requires veins and arteries for sustainability, the climate requires the concerted efforts of all hands and minds. At the outset, the effects of climate change felt distant and abstract, experienced only through our screens. Now, we have lived and relived almost every scene. We are at the cusp of an unnatural stage in the universe.

Recent events are a paragon that no resource is safe from the impacts of climate change. Water scarcity and quality have slowly raised into a major concern and even matured to become a pressing global issue due to the strong forces of climate change. Water is indispensable, and it confirms why it features in almost every philanthropic catalogue – it is the kernel and the essence of life.

In the haze of abounding greenhouse gases, the natural order of many regions has been redressed. Countries like Niger that bask along desert regions are now nestled in scenes like intense heat, long droughts, and erratic rainfall; their conditions have been severely aggravated.

Reports garnered by Africa Matters unveiled the impact of climate change in Northern Ghana. This jurisdiction is reminiscent of Niger; they experience the warmest temperatures in Ghana and often jump into a water crisis due to its monomodal rainfall pattern and the influx of climate change impacts. This plight causes rivers and lakes to dry up, compelling inhabitants to travel several distances under the staunch heat to find water.

Conversely, others go through the toil of digging the ground before reaching a water source. But only to be predisposed to turbid and bacterial infections, leading to an explosion of cholera and typhoid among civilians. This has left the people in Nanumba North District in a dilemma and constantly torn down by fear.¹

While droughts and water scarcity represent one extreme of climate change's impact, the other extreme is flooding, which exerts its bundle of challenges to water quality and ecosystem health. Jurisdictions resistant to water shortages are not entirely immune to water challenges fuelled by climate change.

Inundation, commonly termed flooding, has a growing effect on water quality. During these events, numerous materials migrate from their source; one such material is nitrogen due to its susceptibility to leaching. This influx of nitrogen acts as a nutrient source, providing an abundant supply for algae to multiply in water bodies. Algae are aquatic microorganisms that photosynthesize, just like plants do.

Within these algae species, when strains multiply to form a bloom, they tend to induce harmful compounds; HABs (Harmful Algal Blooms) are among the factors that affect freshwater quality. Under favourable conditions like warm temperatures and high carbon dioxide levels in air and water, there can be explosive growth of these toxins. They have the potential to injure human health, livestock, and aquatic ecosystems, hence the name 'harmful algal bloom'. These toxins make water unsafe for human use or aquatic life.

In 2014, the residents of Toledo, Ohio, woke up to find Lake Erie overwhelmed by Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). This devastating event was tied to run-off from agricultural pollution. Ohio residents were urgently warned not to drink or use their tap water, for culinary purposes, or for brushing due to the toxins present in the lake. Over half a million Toledo residents awoke to this urgent warning.²

The scale of the climatic destruction is beyond our reach, and no region or person is resistant to its repercussions. Poignant stories from various regions of the world speak volumes about this. Apparently, the UN cannot solely revert the world to the natural order; it needs the cooperation of the global community to achieve this utopia.

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