EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Danladi Sani & Emmanuel Numai Josephine

ABSTRACT

The work examines the effects of climate change on plants and animals. Which human activities are believed to be responsible for theemissions of greenhouse gases that affects the plants and animals.  These gases exist naturally, but humans add more carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels for energy production eg .coal, oil, and natural gas and by cutting down forests that help in absorbing the carbondioxide.  Nigeria  greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions for 2018 was 320,860.83, for 2019 was 332,247.04 and for 2020 was 322,336.50. Within Africa, more than 60 percent of the continent’s carbon emissions are produced by just three countries – South Africa, contributing 435.9 million tonnes, Egypt, with 249.6 million tonnes, and Algeria, responsible for 176.2 million tonnes.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reported a net emissions increased by 35 percent from 1990 to 2010 worldwide and a seven percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2014, with Carbon dioxide accounted for three-fourths of all these emissions. Greenhouse gases act like a blanket. The thicker the blanket, the warmer our planet becomes. it is predicted  that  averagely over the next 20 years, global temperature is expected to reach 1.5°C of warming. This assessment is based on improved observational datasets that assess historical warming, as well as  progress in scientific understanding of the response of the climate system to human-caused of greenhouse gas emissions. The report projects that in the coming decades, climate changes will increase in all regions, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. And that at 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would reach critical intolerance thresholds for plants and animals.

Keywords: Climate, Greenhouse Gases, Global Warming, Animal and Plant.