Climate Facts: Africa’s agricultural productivity reduced by 34% since 1961

The complexities of climate change and associated jargon can make it difficult to digest. TheCable’s climate quick facts will help to demystify these climate concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• More than any other region, agricultural productivity growth in Africa has been reduced by 34 percent since 1961 due to climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

• Conventional cooling, such as air conditioning, is responsible for over seven per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, says UNEP.

• According to the United Nations, greenhouse gas concentrations are at their highest levels in two million years and continue to rise and as a result, the earth is about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the 1800s.

• Systems used to produce, package and distribute food, generate a third of greenhouse gas emissions and cause up to eighty per cent of biodiversity loss, says the UN. 

• According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, extreme sea level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century.