Africa's lake Tanganyika warming fast, life dying

[Herbalist Dr MziziMkavu]

Reuters – A family of hippos feed at the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi. REUTERS/Jean Pierre Harrerimana



By Tim Cocks Tim Cocks – Sun May 16, 1:01 pm ET
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Africa's lake Tanganyika has heated up sharply over the past 90 years and is now warmer than at any time for at least 1,500 years, a scientific paper said on Sunday, adding that fish and wildlife are threatened.
The lake, which straddles the border between Tanzania in East Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the world's second largest by volume and its second deepest, the paper says.
Lead scientist on the project Jessica Tierney told Reuters the sharp rise in temperature coincided with rises in human emissions of greenhouse gases seen in the past century, so the study added to evidence that emissions are warming the planet.
The 'Great Lakes' such as Tanganyika, Malawi and Kenya's lake Turkana were formed millions of years ago by the tectonic plate movements that tore Africa's Great Rift Valley.
Some 10 million people live around Tanganyika and depend upon it for drinking water and food, mostly fish.
Geologists at Rhode Island's Brown University used carbon dating to measure the age of sediments on the lake floor. They then tested fossilized micro-organisms whose membranes differ at various temperatures to gauge how hot it was at times past.
The results were published in Nature Geoscience on Sunday.
"Lake Tanganyika has experienced unprecedented warming in the last century," a press release accompanying the paper said. "The warming likely is affecting valuable fish stocks upon which millions of people depend."
"INTENSE WARMING"
Most climate change studies have focused on the atmosphere, but increasingly scientists are studying the effects on the oceans, seas and lakes, which all absorb a huge amount of heat.
The paper argues that recent rises in temperature are correlated with a loss of biological productivity in the lake, suggesting higher temperatures may be killing life.
"Lake Tanganyika has become warmer, increasingly stratified and less productive over the past 90 years," the paper says.
"Unprecedented temperatures and a ... decrease in productivity can be attributed to (human) ... global warming."
The rise in temperature over the past 90 years was about 0.9 degrees Celsius and was accompanied by a drop in algae volumes.
"We're showing that the trend of warming that we've seen is also affecting these remote places in the tropics in a very severe way," Tierney said by telephone from the United States. "We've seen intense warming in recent times ... not down to natural variations in climate."
She said the lake life had been harmed because in a lake as deep as Tanganyika, the nutrients form at the bottom but the algae needed to make use of them live at the top.
Higher surface temperatures mean less mixing of waters at the top and bottom." That's why a warmer lake means less life."
But the paper admits that other factors, like overfishing, may be doing more harm than any warming.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)


Africa's lake Tanganyika warming fast, life dying - Yahoo! News

MTO TANGANYIKA UNAKAUKA JAMANI SERIKALI YA MZEE JK INALICHUKULIA VIPI HILI SUALA? JAMANI WAKUU WENZANGU?NATAKA MAWAZO YENU JAMANI

 

[Kiranga]

Nilikuwa nasoma huku najiuliza ni sehemu gani ya kuzidi joto huku kunatokana na wakazi wa maeneo ya karibu na ziwa hili, na ni kiasi gani ni matokeo ya global warming / carbon emissions etc, nikiwa nafikiri kwamba huenda jamii za karibu na ziwa hili zinaathirika bila ya hatia kutokana na effects za rampant industrialization.

Lakini sentensi ya mwisho inajaribu kubadilisha kabisa maoni hayo.

But the paper admits that other factors, like overfishing, may be doing more harm than any warming.

Hii inaweza kutafsiriwa kama inaleta context nzuri ya kuweka matatizo ya mazingira katika Ziwa Tanganyika into perspective, kwamba ukifikiri hii warming is the worst, huku kuna tatizo lingine la overfishing.

Wengine wanaweza kusema ni wamagharibi tu wanataka ku shift story kuhusu responsibility yao katika hili swala, kwa kuwafanya hata Waafrika wanaoishi karibu na ziwa kuwa responsible na matatizo ya biodiversity.

Mimi nasema kwa tatizo la warming largely jamii zetu hazina industrialization ya kuchukua responsibility, lakini tatizo la overfishing ni letu.

Jana nilikuwa naangalia story Israel wamepiga marufuku kuvua Sea of Galilee nafikiri, kwa miaka miwili kutokana na matatizo haya ya overfishing, watu wana debate whether hii measure itakuwa effective na economic impacts zake. Lakini wenzetu angalau wanajua tatizo, na hata kama hawajalipatia ufumbuzi unaokubalika na wote (if there is such a thing) tayari wameshaanza kulifanyia kazi.

Sijawahi kusikia wizara/ idara husika zikitueleza mipango ya serikali yetu kuhusu hili jambo. Au bado tunajidanganya kwamba Tanzania ni nchi ya plenty, na kwamba uki slash and burn poa tu, nchi kubwa maziwa mengi na resources haziishi?