Do you know that the current overstay of the Harmattan Season affects you and the entire Ecosystem? Those that live within the West African region will attest to the current change in the duration of the Harmattan season, from a season of normally Six to Eight Weeks, to a season of over 12 weeks and still counting. This Season’s Harmattan have reiterated the need for more Enlightenment on Global Warming. Even with casual hot days and reported rain across some regions, the Harmattan of this season, always make a comeback for continuation. So what is the correlation between Harmattan and Climate Change in West Africa?
While lovers of Harmattan feels good about this development, it is actually an alarm, and we must do better to avoid the doom that comes after it. Yes! Climate Change is real, and with the high level of negligence across West Africa, when we finally awake to it’s evil reality, it may be too late for the actions of change we can take now. So how does the prolonged Harmattan season affect you? First, let us understand what is responsible for the unusual prolongation of the Harmattan Season.
PROLONGED HARMATTAN AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN WEST AFRICA
The prolonged Harmattan is just one of the many results of a changing climate, thanks to the activities of man and his treatment to the environment. Over the years, through the slow but intense Industrial Radicalization of West Africa, which saw unregulated increase in carbon emission, air pollution and all sorts of environmentally demeaning practices from various Industries: Oil leakage have caused aquatic pollution that rendered communities craft-less, water-less and homeless, illegal petrochemical establishments that pollutes both the rural and urban areas with their quack activities, millions of out of shape vehicles that pollutes the immediate air, triggering life threatening second hand inhaling of toxic air.
And all these environmentally demeaning practices triggers the production of toxins, these toxins escape to settle in various bodies in the Environment. The water-bodies, land, air and the Earth’s atmosphere all suffer from these activities as they are the last settling place of these toxic matters.
In the waters, these toxins could have devastating effects on the aquatic life, in the land it could alter the nutrient composition of the soil and hence affect agricultural outputs, in the air it could have devastating effect on all terrestrial organisms, and worst case is the continuous accumulation of these toxins in the Earth’s atmosphere, these toxins are usually emitted as Greenhouse gases, which settle in the Earth’s atmosphere, trapping heat and causing the Earth to warm due to their inability to escape out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
How Does This Activities Cause The Harmattan To Last Longer?
As the earth’s atmosphere heats up from the effects of these Greenhouse gases, it collects, retains, and drops more water, this causes fluctuations in weather patterns – Making wet areas wetter and dry areas drier. High Temperature gets more intense and increase the frequency of various natural disasters such as storms, floods, heat waves, and droughts.
How Does Longer Harmattan Season Affect You?
Longer Harmattan, which is an agent of climate change affects us in numerous ways. One thing to remember is that human activities is majorly responsible for the Warming Of the Earth, both industrial and domestic activities contribute in one way or the other. Harmattan and Climate Change affects You in the following contemporary ways:
- Hotter seasons, which create heat waves, discomfort, mood swings.
- Alteration in Agricultural produce which will in turn increase the prices of commodities.
- Meteorological errs that could block forecasting of future extremities and hence lead to unaware taking.
- Longer Harmattan season means longer time without rain and hence drought in some regions.
- Longer Harmattan will in turn breed Intense Rainy Season and hence Flooding could affect those living in riverine areas.
- Meteorological Error could tamper with both personal, occasional and organisational scheduling.
What Can You do To Help The Environment?
Please Read:
- Ecofriendly Waste Management Methods In West Africa
- Indiscriminate Waste Disposal: What is the Future Like For Nigeria?
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Thank you so much, glad you found it useful. Hope to have you back again.