What is climate change? They were talking about climate change on the television last night. What is climate change? It’s something to do with the weather. Let’s see what it means to different parts of the world.

United Kingdom USA Bangladesh Zimbabwe Peru Click onto the places to see the effects of climate change.

Bangladesh: Tara’s story The monsoon rains are much worse. There is a lot of flooding and this destroys my crops. It’s hard to feed my family. We have had to move house seven times to get away from the floods. Then in the summer there are long droughts when everything is dry.

Zimbabwe: Oripu’s story Droughts make it difficult for people, crops and animals to survive. The rains are not regular. The ground is baked hard. When it does rain, the water quickly runs off the ground. I now dig ridges of soil in my field to capture the rain. My crops can now grow and I can feed my family. This has helped me and my family.

United Kingdom: Alison’s story There were heavy rains last winter and my town was flooded. The water got into my house and ruined everything. I was lucky. I had insurance to pay for the damage. Other people had to pay for everything themselves. Then in the summer it was hot and dry. We had a water-shortage. It seems the weather is getting more extreme.

Peru: Pedro’s story Climate change has reached Peru. The weather changes a lot more. Sometimes there are bad rains and then other times there are droughts. The snow and ice in the mountains are melting. Lakes are getting full and there could be floods or landslides. The winters seem to be more severe. We have started to build shelters to keep our animals alive over the harsh winters. We plant new crops that can survive the droughts in the summer.

USA: Frank’s story Hurricane Katrina was terrible. It hit New Orleans in August, 2005. It flooded my city. My house was destroyed. People had to move out of New Orleans. It’s still not back to normal today. Global warming causes the polar ice to melt. The extra water is making the sea levels rise. Warmer temperatures are making the storms stronger. This means bad storms and big floods. Picture from NASA

Recent landslide in Nepal Case Study - Climate change in Nepal Temperature and rainfall are increasing faster in Nepal than anywhere else in the world Higher temperatures are melting the glaciers. This increases the risk of flooding and landslides. Recent landslide in Nepal Lakes in the Himalayas collect water from melting glaciers. Over 40 of these lakes are almost overflowing and may burst in less than 10 years Melting glaciers in the Himalayas are causing lakes in the region to fill to dangerous levels, creating an increased threat of disastrous floods, droughts, land erosion and biodiversity loss. A report in Nature Magazine revealed that, as a result of global warming, the incidence of glacial lakes bursting their banks has increased ten-fold in the past two decades. Temperature in the region have increased by more than 10C recently, and are set to rise by a further 1.2 0C by 2050. Bhutan government officials have reported that 24 glacial lakes have reached “potentially dangerous” status, and authorities in Nepal report a similar number of lakes at danger level. Villagers expect a small flood every 10 years or so, but the floods are becoming more regular and more common. A heavy downpour in 2006 washed away houses, fields, terraces and the old irrigation systems Over 400 million people will be affected in this region.

Villagers have noticed changes Wild pigs in the forest now have their young earlier in the year. The days are hotter and some trees now flower twice a year. “It is getting more and more difficult to predict the weather – especially when it will rain. We used to have a little rain each month but now when it rains it is much heavier and lasts for longer. This means that the crop yields are getting less” says Tekmadur Majsi Some types of rice and cucumber will not grow where they used to.

Practical Action in Nepal People in Nepal are learning how to grow new crops using terraces. They are trying to reduce deforestation which can lead to landslides. Rice is the main crop in Nepal. If it rains too much, the rice seedlings get washed away. Landslides can happen in the valleys. Making these steps in the hillside, called terraces, help to stop landslides. Davandrod Kardigardi, a farmer in the Chitwan valley used to grow rice. He was taught how to grow fruit and now grows bananas, which survive in the new climate

Gravity ropeways in Nepal Ropeways or pulley systems are built in remote areas. They transport goods to and from market quickly. Villagers can put their produce in the basket. The ropeway carries goods up steep slopes and past landslides which have destroyed the paths. Quote from Dharma “It takes two hours to get down the mountain trail to the main road, and during the monsoon, accidents are frequent (due to landslides). Now we have the gravity ropeway, the time saved means I can earn three times as much from selling my vegetables. With that extra money I can afford to buy farm animals, too.” These are examples of effective technology which help people to feed themselves and their families and therefore achieve a higher level of food security The goods that arrive at market are fresher and not damaged. Farmers get more money for their produce.

So that’s climate change So the world’s weather is changing. There are floods in some places and droughts in others. There will be more storms and it may get too hot to live in some places. People all over the world will be affected. How is the climate changing in Thailand?