Climate Change and Water Crisis in the Global South

Climate change is a phenomenon that affects all facets of life in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. It can affect life processes in fish, mammals, amphibians, wildlife, and humans by altering the ecology between biotic and abiotic factors. Its principal identifiers are the changes in rainfall patterns and average temperatures over time, and these are pre-disposing factors to other forms of changes observed in the environment because of climate change. Water is a principal component of the environment as virtually no life process can exist without it. As the intensity of temperature changes, the direct impact is felt on the rainfall abundance and distribution and in drought results in extreme cases. The Global South are areas of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia (which excludes Israel, Japan, and South Korea), and Oceania (which excludes Australia and New Zealand) and are mostly affected by these climatic changes as their adaptive and coping strategies are low because of their categorization as low-income countries. These areas are often marginalized due to their profile, and they strive to elevate from underdeveloped to a developing economy. In this process, human activities are intensified, thereby releasing diverse forms of pollutants which have the potential in altering the environmental conditions by warming up gases in the atmosphere. Issues such as deforestation, agricultural processes, incomplete combustion of fuels, and land use activities are not left out as they can contribute to the climate change phenomenon. Subsequently, water crisis and shortage will increase if the climate change phenomenon facing the world today is not addressed, and water scarcity is eminent in the nearest future. Conversely, measures for sustenance of the environment, mitigation, and adaptive strategies for both aquatic and terrestrial activities and climate smart actions are pertinent as elaborated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13 (climate action), 14 (life under water), and 15 (life on land). This review is aimed at describing the climate change concept, its indices, effects on both aquatic and terrestrial ecologies, and sustainable approaches to the effects of climate change on the environment in the Global South.