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Effects of Climate Change and Global Warming in Agricultural Regions

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Submitted By qaphelani
Words 2789
Pages 12
1. Introduction
Rural development is South Africa’s priority to achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs). The millennium development goals aim at cutting poverty by 50% by the year 2015. In South Africa about 40% of the country’s population resides in rural areas and they directly or indirectly depend on the land that they live in. Agriculture plays a significant role in the country’s economy, contributing in 2000 about 2.9% of GDP, 10% of formal employment and 10% of the total value of exports. Agriculture as a percentage of GDP has decreased over past four decades, currently contributing around 2%. This implies that the economy is maturing, moving towards the secondary and tertiary sectors. However, farming remains vitally important to the economy with 638 000 people formally employed (Statistics SA, 2012 Q2) – although it’s estimated that around 8,5-million people are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their employment and income. However, global climate change will affect the government’s efforts to alleviate poverty and fast-track development in rural areas. Definition of terms Global warming: refers to the increased temperature of Earth's surface, including land, water and near-surface air. Climate change: means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (UNFCCC).

2. Causes of Climate Change
Any factor that causes a sustained change to the amount of incoming energy or the amount of outgoing energy can lead to climate change. They are factors that operate in favour of climate change; these factors that cause climate change can be divided into two categories. Those related to natural processes and those related to human activity.

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