Implications To Society

An intensified greenhouse effect can give rise to global warming. As the average temperature of the Earth increases, sea levels start to rise due to two resulting factors.

Firstly, polar ice sheets and glaciers start to melt. As more melted ice becomes water, the overall albedo of the Earth’s surface decreases. This allows more incident solar radiation to be absorbed. Hence the surface warming is intensified and the vicious cycle is created in which sea levels rise continuously.

Secondly, as sea water is heated, thermal expansion occurs, resulting in greater volume. The warmer water will therefore occupy more space and as a consequence, sea levels will rise.

Rising sea levels will lead to the following implications:

1) Flooding of low-lying coastal areas

Firstly, flooding can potentially threaten the survival of low-lying coastal communities. Since 40% of the world’s population live within 100 km from ocean boundaries, human lives will be subjected to interference when flooding of these low-lying areas occur.

Secondly, flooding could unleash high economic costs due to property damage in coastal areas. Many valuable real-estates are located on low-lying beach fronts such as Miami and Malibu. The flooding of these areas cause destruction to such property and the costs of rebuilding will be immense.

Thirdly, coastal flooding will lead to saltwater intrusion. As saltwater contaminates surface water sources near coastal areas, potable water supplies will be adversely affected. This will compromise the quality of freshwater available for domestic uses.

2) Endangered species

It’s easy to find the impacts climate change has on wildlife. Though in cozy Singapore, this is visually impacted a quick visit to the World Wildlife Fund website will list both ecological and biological impacts affects. A quick example of ecological (1), land wildlife (2) and marine wildlife (3) will be used.

• (1) Ecological – Corals

Climate change affects coastal ecosystems in the Coral Triangle through warming, rising seas and ocean acidification. Widespread coral reef bleaching, sea level rise and seawater acidification endanger marine animals like reef fish and marine turtles, negatively impact local livelihoods such as fishing and tourism, and threaten a critical supply of protein for more than one hundred million people.

Reef-building corals cannot survive if the water keeps warming. Corals rely on algae living inside them to supply them with food. These algae, which create the brilliant colors of healthy coral, die if the water gets too hot. The loss of the algae leaves the coral with a bleached appearance and leads to starvation.

Not only are ocean waters warming, but they also absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2)—a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. CO2 alters the ocean’s pH balance, which makes it more acidic and toxic to some marine organisms. Shellfish and corals are extremely vulnerable to ocean acidification because it interferes with their ability to form hard skeletons. Climate change also causes sea levels to rise—a big threat to coastal communities in the Coral Triangle, as well as to beach-dependent species such as marine turtles.

Furthermore, coastal ecology will be severely disrupted. This is attributed to the rising ocean waters seeping into soil. The increase in coastal soil salinity will destroy plant life along the coast. This will in turn affect animal species that rely on these plants as a source of food. As a result, the ecological balance of coastal communities will be drastically disrupted.

• (2) Land wildlife – Tigers

One of the world’s largest tiger populations is found in the Sundarbans—a large mangrove forest area shared by India and Bangladesh on the northern coast of the Indian Ocean. This area harbors Bengal tigers and protects coastal regions from storm surges and wind damage. However, rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten to wipe out these forests and the last remaining habitat of this tiger population. According to a WWF study, without mitigation efforts, projected sea level rise—about a foot by 2070—could destroy nearly the entire Sundarbans tiger habitat.

• (3) Marine Wildlife – Polar Bears

Animal species in polar regions are being threatened as shrinking land ice is a form of habitat destruction. Many animals such as polar bears, walrus, and seals depend on the ice for survival. Polar bears rely on ice caps to hunt for seals, their primary source of food.

As there are fewer ice caps, there has been noticeable changes in the migration patterns of polar bears.

Polar bear population declined from about 1,200 to 800 in the western Hudson Bay area of Canada over 24 years starting in 1987, largely because sea ice breaks up earlier and freezes later in a shortened season.

3) Spread of diseases

As oceans get warmer, this will lead to an increase in cholera outbreak. Due to the increased temperature caused by global warming, the infection rates of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus will tend to increase as well. When the Earth gets warmer, it will provide the optimal conditions for the breeding of mosquito and malaria parasite which will in turn increase the contact with humans leading to the spread of disease caused by the mosquito.

Based on a study, the effects of global warming on the spread of disease can be classified under 3 components, pathogen, and host and transmission environment.

Figure 1: Relationships between climate change and the spread of diseases

First, an increase in temperature can increase the mortality rates of the pathogen which include virus, bacterium, parasite, germ and fungi. When there is an increase in temperature, the extrinsic incubation period for the pathogen will tend to decrease which in turn will lead to an increase in the transmission of disease. Lastly, prolonged periods of hot weather will raise the temperature of the water bodies and food environment which provide a suitable conditions for microorganism’s reproduction and algal blooms.

Secondly, when temperature continues to rise, insects will tend to find new habitats in mid or high latitude regions which will lead to shift of diseases. Some of the common diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, plague and dengue have distributed to a wider range. Drought in wet regions will provide mosquitoes more breeding grounds as they can reside in stagnant water. The carrier of west Nile virus mosquito tend to breed in these conditions.

Lastly, disease transmissions can be either direct or indirect. Direct transmission refers to the transmission of disease from one person to another through droplet contact, direct physical contact, indirect physical contact, air-borne transmissions or fecal-oral transmissions. Indirect transmissions refer to the transmissions of disease to human through another organisms such as intermediate host. Change in the climate due to global warming can change the transmissions of infectious disease through altering the contact patterns of human-pathogen, human-host. When all these lead to ecosystem degradation, this will bring pressure on agricultural productivity which will cause problems such as crop failure, malnutrition, starvation, increased population displacement and lastly resource conflict. All these problems will cause human to be more vulnerable to infectious diseases. For example, when there is food shortage, will cause malnutrition to human immunity. Climate change also effect the supply of clean surface water which will cause an increased risk of malaria and other tropical diseases.

4) Agricultural

The effect from the rising sea levels on the agriculture includes the crops, livestock as well as fisheries.

Firstly, with the rising sea levels, fertility of crop lands are being destroyed. This destruction greatly impacted the entire Southwestern region, back in 2007. Agricultures such as rice, vegetables, even coconut trees and banana palms are impossible to grow in this global warming situation, attributed to the rising of sea levels. The changing sea level also pose challenges for farmers and ranchers and threaten food safety. In such extreme events, especially floods or even droughts, can harm crops and reduce yields.

Secondly, livestocks will be affected as well, especially for animals that rely on grain. As mentioned in the paragraph above, crop production will be negatively affected and hence, animals that rely on them will suffer as well.

Lastly, the warmer water temperatures are likely to cause the habitat ranges of many fish and shellfish species to shift, which could disrupt ecosystems. This will make it more difficult to catch fish in the same way and in the same place. Since many of aquatic animal’s lifecycle are controlled by the temperature and season changes, the change in temperature can affect the reproduction cycle as well as affecting migration. Also, many weeds, pests, and fungi thrive under wetter climates and also, warmer temperatures, and increased carbon dioxide levels.

5) Impact on tourism 

There has been a growing international awareness about the impact of climate change on our planet, natural environment as well as humans and their economic activities. The impact of climate change on tourism is not a remote event but a rising phenomenon that has began to affect certain destinations such as those that are located in mountainous region and coastal areas.

In mountainous regions, snow reliability is projected to decrease further, putting ski resorts at risk. Downhill skiing is an industry that is highly dependent on particular weather variables necessary to create favorable skiing conditions. Temperature and precipitation need to comply to realize adequate snowpack and allow artificial snowmaking. In the event these warming patterns persist, many of the world’s existing ski resorts may not have adequate snowpack to sustain business operations over the next 30 – 40 years.

Increases in seawater and sea-surface temperatures, CO2 emissions and consequent ocean acidity are altering the ecosystem and causing outbreaks of jellyfish, harmful algal blooms and cyanobacteria and mucilage events, which pose a risk for coastal tourism, leisure and related businesses.

6) Degrading of social conditions