Washington: A recent study by ecologists has revealed that Africa will suffer the most from global warming.
In a study conducted at the Kenyan Tsavo National Park, published in the African Journal of Ecology, Dr Lindsey Gillson said that the 19th century drought that threatened to wipe out the Masai population were only a glimpse of what was in store for the continent as a result of rising global warming.
"Severe disturbance events and rapid environmental change tend to occur infrequently, but can have a lasting effect on both environment and society. This was no-where more evident than in the case of the Maasai "Emutai," said Gillson.
“The period 1883-1902 was marked by epidemics of bovine pleuropneumonia, rinderpest and small pox. The rains failed completely in 1897 and 1898. The Austrian explorer Dr Oscar Baumann, who travelled in Maasailand in 1891, wrote chilling eye-witness accounts of the horror experienced during a large ecological disturbance,” she wrote in her study.
"There were women wasted to skeletons from whose eyes the madness of starvation glared ... warriors scarcely able to crawl on all fours, and apathetic, languishing elders. Swarms of vultures followed them from high, awaiting their certain victims," Dr Gillman quoted Dr Oscar Baumann as saying during his 1894 visit to Masailand.
Dr Gillson said that ecological shocks such as that experienced by the Maasai were only predicted to be a feature of global warming.
"It is important to use long-term historical and palaeoecological data to try to understand the frequency and effects of extreme events, and the way societies and ecosystems respond to them," she added.
For her study, Dr Gillson analysed sediments from the famous Tsavo National Park and confirmed their age by using radiocarbon dating and analysis of the pollen and charcoal fragments.
This enabled her to build a picture of environmental changes.
"It is painstaking work, but the results were clear. At the time of the Emutai there was a drought, an increase in burning and soil erosion: indicators of a large infrequent disturbance,” she said, adding that the 'large infrequent disturbances' to the climate would have the most devastating effects on African soil.
Dr Jon Lovett, who has been researching the impacts of climate change on Africa, said: "Events like this are going to become more common in the future, and we need to be ready for them".
“Lindsey's work is important because it shows what has happened in the past, we are now forewarned. But the big question remains – will policy makers take any notice?" he said.
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