20130206_DA
Source: BBC1 (Africa, Episode 6: The Future)
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qmbqn/Africa_The_Future/
Date: 06/02/2013
Event: Parts of Africa "have become three and a half degrees Centigrade hotter in the past 20 years"
Attribution: BBC
People:
- Sir David Attenborough: British broadcaster and naturalist
[The highlighted sentence was included in the first broadcast of Wednesday 6th February 2013, but removed in the repeat broadcast of Sunday 10th February 2013, following contact by Guardian journalist Leo Hickman.]
Sir David Attenborough: Elephants are great travellers. And here in this part of Kenya, they regularly moved from the lowlands up the sides of the mountains to feed in the forests up there. But then the human population of Kenya grew, and roads like this one were constructed, penning the elephants down in the lowlands, where they created havoc amongst farms. Not only that, there were [sic] danger of collisions on the road. And then someone suggested building an underpass. Within 24 hours of it being completed, one elephant had passed through, and now all the elephants use that route to go up the mountain, often at night, to feed. Simple ideas like this underpass are a lifeline for these elephants, especially in times of drought.
Africa's climate is certainly changing. Some parts of the continent have become three and a half degrees Centigrade hotter in the past 20 years. At the summit of Africa's most famous mountain, Kilimanjaro, 80% of its permanent ice fields have disappeared. Soon it will be free of ice altogether.
All over Africa, the mountainous regions are often the first indicators of climate change. Here in the Ethiopian Highlands live very unusual-looking creatures. Gelada baboons - climate change refugees. Although this region of Ethiopia lies in the tropics, up at 4,000 metres it doesn't feel like it. Unlike most African animals, geladas are adapted to life in the cold. They used to be one of Africa's most successful primates, found all over the continent. At one stage, there were six different species. Now there is only one.
With the warming climate, their grazing is becoming more and more scarce, restricted to cooler and higher places. These geladas are being forced higher into the mountains. Soon there will be nowhere left to go. This is a species living on the edge. Even though they're isolated on the mountain tops, they're not immune to our influence. As a result of changing climate, these gelada baboons may soon be gone from our planet.
Africa is the world's hottest continent, and there is no doubt it's getting warmer. The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world. Very little can survive in these harsh conditions. Along the desert edge, life clings on in the face of encroaching sands. But for how long? Alongside the wildlife, 22 million people struggle to make a living on these desert margins. Can anything be done, to stop the sand overwhelming this fragile land?
One idea is to build a green wall of trees across 11 countries. The project has already started in Senegal. But like all big ideas, it has big problems. Getting 11 countries to work together is not easy. And simply irrigating a 5,000 mile-long belt of trees is an ambitious task. But all over Africa, people are recognising how important it is to have trees as part of their local landscape. This group of volunteers has planted nearly 100 million saplings. And they are just one of countless similar groups and individuals, taking it upon themselves to reforest their own part of this great continent.