INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (IRDP)

DODOMA - TANZANIA

COURSE: BACHELOR DEGREE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

AND MANAGEMENT

MODULE NAME: CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIBILITY

MODULE CODE: EPUE 8201

LECTURER’S NAME: DR. NJAU

TASK: INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

STUDENT’S NAME: AWADHI NGELA

REGISTRATION NUMBER: IRDP/BDE/16/2980

QUESTION:
Climate change is mainly caused by anthropogenic activities through the production of
greenhouse gases; with examples explain how anthropogenic activities cause climate change
Submission date: 30thJUNE 2020
Climate is average weather for a given place or a region. It defines typical weather conditions
for a given area based on long-term averages. Climate is usually based on the weather in one
locality averaged for at least 30 years.
Climate change refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or
anthropogenic forces. However, because of increased changes in the earth’s climate since the
pre-industrial era, some of these changes are now considered attributable to human activities.
Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in the amounts/concentration
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The largest known contribution comes from the burning
of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere.
A greenhouse gas is defined as any gaseous compound that is capable of absorbing infrared
radiation thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. The primary greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse
gases affect climate by altering incoming solar radiation and out-going infrared (thermal)
radiation that are part of Earth’s energy balance. The main sources of greenhouse gases due to
human activity are; burning fossil fuels leading to higher carbon dioxide concentrations; farming
and forestry including land use change via agriculture and livestock; cement manufacture and
aerosols including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Enhanced greenhouse effect is considered the result of human activities that have increased
atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases since the pre-industrial era. Human activity has
impacts on the concentrations of four principal greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane
(CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and the halocarbons (a group of gases containing fluorine, chlorine
and bromine). Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in Earth’s
atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse gases, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness.
Human activity versus increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration

a) Burning fossil fuels

Beginning with the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the combustion of fossil fuels has
elevated CO2 levels from a concentration of approximately 280 parts per million (ppm) in the
atmosphere in pre-industrial times to around 387 ppm today. Carbon dioxide has increased from
burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.

Hydrocarbon + Oxygen= Carbon dioxide + Water

 b) Deforestation

Forest act as a sink (absorbing CO 2 from the atmosphere) or a source of greenhouse gas
emissions. Deforestation reduces the vegetation ground cover thus affecting the local albedo
(reflectivity of the Earth’s surface), altering the way sunlight is absorbed or reflected with the
result that the modern climate of changes to a significantly hotter and drier than it was before.
When forests are cleared for agriculture or development reduces carbon dioxide (CO 2) uptake by
plants and also adds to the CO2 content of the atmosphere. Due to increased deforestation carbon
dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at any time in the last 750 000 years.

c) Cement Manufacture

Cement manufacture contributes CO2 to the atmosphere when calcium carbonate is heated,
producing lime and carbon dioxide. CO2 is also produced by burning the fossil fuels that provide
the heat for the cement manufacture process. It is estimated that the cement industry produces
around 5 per cent of global man-made CO 2 emissions, of which 50 per cent is produced from the
chemical process itself, and 40 per cent from burning fuel to power that process.

Heat
Calcium Carbonate Calcium Oxide + Carbon dioxide

Heat
CaCO3 CaO + CO2

Human activity versus increasing concentrations Halocarbon gas in the atmosphere

Industry creates chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halocarbons for use in various products
and industrial processes. Halocarbon species include the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the
hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), methylhalides, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), carbon
tetrafluoride (CF4)), and the halons (bromide species), which were used extensively as
propellants in aerosol cans, in the manufacture of plastic foams for cushions and other products,
in the cooling coils of refrigerators and air conditioners, as fire extinguishing materials, and as
solvents for cleaning.
Human activity versus increasing concentration of methane in the atmosphere

a) Anaerobic decomposition of organic waste in landfills

Municipal solid waste landfills are the source of human related methane emission. When garbage
is buried in a landfill, it sooner or later undergoes anaerobic (oxygen-free) decomposition and
emits methane (and some carbon dioxide). Anaerobic bacteria decompose organic waste
including food, garden waste, wood and paper, to produce biogas, which consists of methane and
carbon dioxide together with traces of other compounds. Unless the gas is captured and used as a
fuel, the methane eventually escapes to the atmosphere.

b) Farming Activities

Agricultural activities such rice cultivation also releases methane. "Wetland" or "paddy" rice
farming produces roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of global methane emissions from human
activities; wetland rice is grown in fields that are flooded or irrigated for much of the growing
season. Bacteria and other micro-organisms in the soil of the flooded rice paddy decompose
organic matter and produce methane.
Methanogen
CH3COOH CO2 + CH4
c) Livestock Keeping

Domesticated animals like cattle, dairy cows, buffalo, goats, sheep, camels, pigs, and horses emit
methane gas. Most livestock-related methane emissions are produced by "enteric fermentation"
of food by bacteria and other microbes in the animals' digestive tracts; another source is the
decomposition of animal manure. According to the United Nations; livestock account for about
for 18 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. This percentage includes the effect of
deforestation in order to create grazing land, as well as livestock natural methane gas emissions.

Human activity versus increasing concentration Nitrogen Oxide in the atmosphere

a) Agriculture Activities

In agriculture fertilizer use increases nitrous oxide emissions. The nitrogen contained in many
fertilizers enhances the natural processes of nitrification and denitrification that are carried out
by bacteria and other microbes in the soil. These processes convert some nitrogen into nitrous
oxide. Also nitrogen oxide is produced from the crop residue left on farms. Nitrous oxide emitted
from agricultural activities can also lead to higher nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations.
 b) Fossil Fuel Burning
Fossil fuel burning also produces N2O which is part of the natural nitrogen cycle. High
temperature combustion of fossil fuels (or indeed, any kind of vegetation) in air produces some
N2O (through reaction between N2 and O2 in the air), along with other nitrogen oxides (notably
nitric oxide, NO). Again, this increase in its atmospheric concentration
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CO2 Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National
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