Impact of Climate Change on the Environment: A Synthesis Study
Abduletif Abdurahman Mume
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Benson Turyasingura
Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Kabale University, P. O. Box 317, Plot 346, Block 3 Kikungiri, Kabale, Uganda and Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Eliyas Abdi
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Yusuf Umer
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.
Lydia Nema Amanzi
World Agroforestry Center, St. Eugen Office Park 39P Lake Road, P.O. Box 50977, Lusaka, Zambia.
Agnes Uwimbabazi
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and Department of Nature Conservation, Rwanda Polytechnic-Integrated Polytechnic Regional College of Kitabi, Rwanda, P.O Box 330 Huye, Rwanda.
Chilala Ndeke
World Agroforestry Center, St. Eugen Office Park 39P Lake Road, P.O. Box 50977, Lusaka, Zambia.
Nuwe John Bosco
Kabale University, Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Department of Tourism Management, P. O. Box 317, Plot 346, Block 3 Kikungiri, Kabale, Uganda.
Petros Chavula *
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Haramaya University, P. O. Box 138, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and World Agroforestry Center, St. Eugen Office Park 39P Lake Road, P.O. Box 50977, Lusaka, Zambia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Climate change has a significant impact on both physical and social components of the environment. Every component of the environment has been suffering the impacts of climate change. All components of the environment are interrelated through the exchanging of energy and matter; hence they actively interact. Major components of the environment like the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere are open systems to impact climate change. This paper describes the major impacts of climate change on major components of the environment. This study investigated the current state, wide-range global research trends, and different concerns on the impacts of climate change on the sustainable tourism. Global climate change represents a grand challenge for society, one that is increasingly influencing tourism sector investment, planning, operations, and demand. This study synthesized a total of 36 studies on climate change by sourcing published material from the review that was performed in indexed databases namely Dimensions, Web Science, Elsevier Scopus, and Google Scholar. Therefore, the study found that human beings are the major contributors to climate change through anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that worsened during the Green Revolution. Climate change outcomes through the loss of valuable ecosystem goods and services, degrading the most of keystone species sites. In other ways, loss of biodiversity, changes in atmospheric composition, changes in chemical reactions in soil, changes in water quality, availability, and hydrologic cycles, and frequent occurrence of extreme weather conditions. Of course! The effects of climate change are wide-ranging and diverse, impacting many areas and facets of daily life. Therefore, this study recommends implementing carbon pricing mechanisms to internalize the costs of greenhouse gas emissions and enforcing stringent environmental regulations and standards to limit emissions and pollution. Support global efforts and agreements to combat climate change, such as the Paris Agreement.
Keywords: Climate change, carbon dioxide, environmental components, greenhouse gases