São Tomé e Principe - Climate
At sea level, the climate is tropical -- hot and humid with average yearly temperatures around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) and little daily variation. At the interior's higher altitudes, the average yearly temperature falls to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), and nights are generally cooler. Annual rainfall varies from 200 inches (500 centimeters) on the southwestern slopes to 40 inches (100 centimeters) in the northern lowlands. The rainy season runs from October to May.
In San Thome the south-western districts receive rain at all seasons of the year, but the north-eastern have a well-marked dry season from June to September. During the remainder of the year, as the winds blow over the warm Guinea current, the region in question receives a heavy rainfall. 0n the greater part of the mountain region rainfalls at all times of the year. The town of San Thome on the north-east coast appears to have a rainfall of about 50 inches (l,270 mm.), and Monte Cafe, at a height of 2,263 ft., one of 100 inches (2,540 mm.). The more exposed parts of the island the yearly precipitation is probably twice or three times as much.
The tempcrature is high and fairly uniform throughout the year. The town of San Thome has a mean annual temperature of about 77° F. (25° C.), with a range of 4°or 5° F. (2.2° to 2.8° C.) between the hottest and coldest months. On Monte Cafe the mean annual temperature is about 69° F. (20.5° C.), and the annual range between 6° and 7° F. (3.3° and 3.9° C.).
The climatic conditions of Principe are, on the whole, similar to those of. San Thome. July and August are dry, while the remainder of the year is hot and humid.
In São Tomé and Príncipe, a rise in temperature and coastal erosion are the most obvious manifestations of climate change – even if they can have other causes. Variability in rainfall is also observed; it results in disturbances in the agricultural calendar and irregular agricultural production. Food insecurity persists in spite of a favorable climate and good soils, and variability in farming output aggravates food price volatility. In such a context, some trends associated with increased vulnerability are a concern; these include the extension of low-resilience annual crops with a low potential to protect soils, to the detriment of agroforestry systems; the weakening of agroforestry systems resulting from a decline in irrigation and tree cover; forest degradation as a result of the overexploitation of timber and woodfuel (including for carbonisation); and higher risks of wild fires and the conversion of forests to savannah.
The recently adopted national programme for food and nutritional security includes adaptation actions, but has not been explicitly or systematically aligned with climate-related issues and stakes. Overall, the mainstreaming of climate-related considerations in sector programming documents remains insufficient. Lack of coordination, the scarcity of qualified human resources, the lack of consolidation and sharing of information, the weakness of decentralised institutions and operational capacities of government services are other obstacles to an effective response to climate-related challenges.
The country is already a sink of greenhouse gases. In addition, the country shows vulnerability and fragility conditions as a developing small island state, for which the negative impacts of Climate Change are evident in all sectors of the national economy. The development objective of the World Bank Adaptation to Climate Change Project is to increase the adaptive capacity of vulnerable coastal communities in Sao Tome and Principe to the adverse impacts of climate variability and change.
STP is already suffering the impacts of climae change. Several trends have been observed: increasing temperature, decreasing rainfall, longer dry season “gravana”, decreasing river flow level, which causes the risk of decreasing groundwater reservoirs , floods, raising sea level and increasing coastal erosion. These trends have negative economic impacts on energy production, fishing activities, forestry and agro forestry, agriculture and livestock.
According to the Marrakesh Call for Climate Action, agreed at the Ministerial Dialogue of the Seventh African Forum of Carbon, in April 2015, Sao Tome and Principe recognizes the experience gained from the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism and want to be supported by market mechanisms with high environmental integrity, contributing to sustainable development and establishing strong incentives to harness the power of private sector.
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