Climate Change in Chihuahua, Mexico

MAY 18, 2015

ANNUAL TEMPERATURES /

GRAPHS / CHANGES IN ECOSYSTEMS

TEMPO CLIMATE CHANGE IN

CHIHUAHUA Changes in the future ¿What we should do?

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Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, México

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Climate Change in Chihuahua

Climate Change in Chihuahua As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.

-Al Gore According to the legend, when you climb to the top of the hill and look to the southeast, right on the horizon, you are able to distinguish some red flags. And if one wait enough to the sunset to coincide with the flags you can see a magnificent Chinese temple. Like this legend, there are lots of them from the state of Chihuahua, the largest one in Mexico. It is full of culture and amazing landscapes. The Chihuahua Desert is a ecoregion that connects Mexico with USA, and is one the desert regions with more biodiversity in the world. The Sierra Madre Occidental has leftover sections of ancient forests that came from the temperate forests of NorthAmerica, of which have been diversification centers of

oaks and where have been registered over 7000 species of grass, herb, bushes, trees and ferns, which are a quarter of the total estimated for Mexico.

In this majestic scenario of giant trees, grasslands, desert dunes and shrubs, coexist a large variety of species of plants, reptiles, birds and mammals.

All these represent the biodiversity of climates, altitudes, geology and soils.

This has resulted in three different ecosystems: forests, grasslands, and shrubs, and —to a lesser extent— small areas of jungle, dunes, bushlands and a variety of small trees. The rest of the territory is composed by transformed areas for agriculture, mining, urbanized areas or water bodies.

About Chihuahuas weather, is dry to semiarid although there is regular rainfall. The average annual temperature is 20°C. Summer is in April, May, June, July, August, September and October. Chihuahua has dry periods in January, February, March, April, May, October, November and December. On average, the warmest month is June and the coolest is January.

In 2012, a record drought was registered in Chihuahua. The region's beef herds were ravaged by that event, one which scientists linked to c l i m a t e change.

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Climate Change in Chihuahua

N o r a i n m e a n s n o p a s t u re a n d i n Chihuahua, an estimated 350,000 cows died according to ‘The Independent’ on that year.

By recollecting temperatures from past years we can say if weather has changed the last years. These are the conclusions form the study that you can consult at the “Climate Change in Chihuahua Database” published along with this article: 1. Annual Average has decrease An annual average does not give us enough information to infer that Chihuahua is now cooler than in 1949. But speaks to us about a dramatic change in temperatures balance that existed 66 years ago.

Annual Average ºC 16 12 8 4 0 1949 1955 1961 1967 1973 1979 1985 1991 1997

2.

Maximum Annual Average has increase

We can appreciate that the extreme temperatures have change alarmingly because if you think about the future, the temperatures in 50 years are going to be very unsafe for humans and other leaving beings. In 1974 the highest temperature exceeded 30ºC, something that in twentyfive years did not happen.

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Maximum Annual Average ºC

24 16 8 0 1949 1955 1961 1967 1973 1979 1985 1991 1997

Minimum Annual Average has decrease

1.

From 1949 to 1972, lowest temperatures had been 10ºC to almost 13ºC. The next year the lowest temperature was 8.7ºC, 1.3 degrees lower. From then, temperatures have remain from 7.7ºC to almost 12ºC in 1993.

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Minimum Annual Average

10.5 7 3.5 0 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014

With all these information we can predict the temperatures for the future. For 2020, the annual precipitation will decrease between 5 and 10%. Annual average temperature will increase between 1.0 and 2.0ºC. In the case of 2050, precipitation will be between five percent more and ten percent less. Annual average temperature will be between 2.0 and 3.0ºC more. Finally for 2080, precipitation will be reduce 5 to 25%. Temperatures increase between 3 and 5ºC of annual average.

We recently passed 400 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere; the status quo will take us up to 1,000 ppm, raising global average temperature (from a pre-industrial baseline) between 3.2 and 5.4 degrees Celsius. That will mean, according to a 2012 World Bank report, "extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity, and life-threatening sea level rise," the effects of which will be "tilted against many of the world's poorest regions," stalling or reversing decades of development work. "A 4°C warmer world can, and must be, avoided," said the World Bank president.

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Climate Change in Chihuahua

Biodiversity is particularly threatened by climate change that has affected the world in recent years. The climate crisis in Chihuahua, state with the largest forest area of the country, has effects on several threatening phenomena, as has been the large increase of forest fires. It has a devastating impact on plants and animals.

The Organization of Forest Producers and institutions of the Federation and the state, ensured that the effects caused by the fires remained below the national average, said the director of Forestry Development and Ministry of Rural Development Oscar Estrada Murrieta.

Then came the hard frosts in February and the drought that has afflicted far planting thousands of fields, forests and grasslands.

This has already begun to generate a change that is permanent in Chihuahua flora and fauna.

Chihuahua biodiversity is very rich, as it owns 25% of the total in the country.

However, Chihuahua has 41 extinct species, between plants and animals. In the state the imperial woodpecker and grizzly bear are considered extinct. The Mexican wolf, the antelope, the peregrine falcon, golden eagle, rattlesnake and Thick-billed Parrot, among others, are endangered species . These species are diminished their population because their habitat is affected as a result of the presence of man.

Moreover also they include effects on the population. The population has increased along with the level of poverty, apart cup death is increased both by frost as torrential rains, so it's the latter, households in the state are affected.

ones are the solution. If Chihuahua does not want to end up like the predictions previously exposed, people should demand the implementation of wind energy or solar panels to feed the cities.

Local economic solutions, the society and the sustainable development should a priority for the government.

Ban Ki-moon ones said that saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth were one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women's empowerment.

Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.

Climate change is happening, humans are causing it. We are creating a future where we don’t want to live on. Because if we don’t all work together to save the environment, we will be equally extinct, from Chihuahua to the entire world. This may sound severe put it is the truth, and we have to face it in order to solve it.

May 18, 2015. ITESM Campus Toluca, Mexico.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY USE Professor: Lic. Norma María de Jesús Pérez Espinoza WORK TEAM: Navarrete Serrano Enrique Eugenio Pineda Flores Guadalupe María Ruvalcaba Sánchez Victoria Gustavo Peñaloza Díaz Carbajal Morales José

We have to reduce green house gases that are the cause of the increasing temperatures. Use alternative energies, clean and renewable 3