(AU) Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack Flags Excluding Agriculture From 2050 Climate Target

ABC News - Jade Macmillan

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said his immediate focus was on issues other than climate targets. (ABC News: Sean Davey)

Key Points The Prime Minister says it's "preferable" to reach net zero emissions by 2050 but hasn't set a target Deputy PM Michael McCormack has suggested agriculture could be excluded Labor argues Australia needs to reach carbon neutrality "across the economy"

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says the Government might consider excluding agriculture from future long-term climate change targets.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared his goal is to reach net zero emissions "as soon as possible, and preferably by 2050", although he has not committed to it.

Mr McCormack said Australia could follow New Zealand's lead in exempting emissions from the agriculture sector.

"Indeed, that could well be one of the options, but as I say, it's a long way off," the Nationals leader told Sky News.

National Farmers’ Federation  Calls for Net Carbon Zero by 2050 Australia’s peak farm body has thrown its weight behind an aspirational economy-wide target of net carbon zero by 2050. Members of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) have voted in favour of the landmark policy – which includes strict caveats regarding fair implementation and economic viability – at an online meeting this month. NFF President Fiona Simson said the strengthening of the NFF’s climate goals was a strong reminder of the role farmers already played in tackling emissions. “Australia’s farm sector continues to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Ms Simson said. “In the past decade, agriculture has consistently reduced its emissions intensity and net emissions within the Australian economy." Read more ...

"New Zealand, well yes they've said that 2050 is a target but they've also had that caveat with their agriculture.

"Well if that's what it takes, well that's what it takes, but we're not going to hurt regional Australia, we're not going to hurt those wonderful people who've put food on our table."

New Zealand has set a 2050 target of reaching net zero emissions "of all greenhouse gases other than biogenic methane".

McCormack 'not worried about what might happen in 30 years'

Mr McCormack said he did not want to see regional areas disproportionately affected by Australia's climate change response but argued his immediate focus was on other issues.

"There are huge challenges in 2021 and we're not worried, well I'm certainly not worried, about what might happen in 30 years' time," he said.

"The concentration at the moment indeed for me, for the National Party and indeed for regional Australia is getting back on our feet after what's been a very challenging year."

Richard Marles said Australia needed to reach carbon neutrality. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Asked whether agriculture should be exempted from a potential 2050 target, Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said Australia needed to reach carbon neutrality "across the economy".

"That's what Paris requires and that's the commitment that we have made," he told the ABC's Insiders program.

"Labor has made a commitment, we didn't hear that from the Government this week.

"I'm not sure what he heard from the Prime Minister, it might have been a hope, an aspiration, 'inching' I think is the word, but what we did not hear was a commitment."

Links

• ‘More pros than cons’: Farmers ahead of divided Nationals on climate policy
• National party ministers pour cold water on Australia's push for net zero emissions by 2050
• Michael McCormack Says Agriculture Could Be Excluded From 2050 Net Zero Emissions Target
• National Farmers’ Federation calls for net carbon zero by 2050
• Australia inching closer to committing to net zero by 2050, top energy adviser says
• It's not impossible for Morrison to land a grand emissions bargain. It's just very hard
• Spinning emissions: Australia's climate projections are not what they seem
• 'Do-nothing document': Australian electric vehicle strategy lets emissions keep rising
• Morrison geared up for a party room fight over climate this week. There wasn't a peep
• At least 150 people missing as Himalayan glacier breaks apart and destroys dam

Water Scarcity Likely In The Himalayan Catchment If Warming Continues

The Hindu - Aswathi Pacha



The coldly white snowpacks and glaciers of the Himalayas that make for a picturesque panorama are also important sources of water for about a billion people who live in the basins of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

But with rising global temperatures, these snowpacks and glaciers, which are highly sensitive, are affected.

This, in turn, affects the Himalayan hydrology. India, Nepal, Pakistan and China hugely depend on these Himalayan rivers for their daily needs and energy production.

Himalayan rivers

A new paper published last month studied how these Himalayan rivers are affected by the different components – rainfall-runoff, snow-melt and glacier-melt – and notes that if drier and warmer scenarios continue in the near future (2031–2050), we are more likely to face water stress in these catchment areas.

They also note that if there is increased rainfall, this could lead to a water surplus situation.

The team studied five basins in the central Himalaya – Sutlej, Thulo Bheri, Kali Gandaki, Dudh Kosi and Arun. They analysed the daily precipitation, maximum and minimum daily temperatures, wind speeds, land cover, elevation and soil properties.

“We developed a new glacier melt model and integrated it to the currently used land surface model. The currently used land surface model – used even by the Ministry of Earth Sciences – does not take into account glacier melt. This could lead to serious errors in the study of north-Indian rivers. Our model helps make the current one complete and turns it into a more advanced and better one,” explains Subimal Ghosh, the corresponding author of the paper published in Water Resources Research. He is from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Wetter scenario

The results show that the glacier-melt increases about 15% to 70% in a warmer environment with its present volume, but then decreases to 3%–38% substantially when the glacier volumes shrink. However, such a decrease can be compensated if there is increased rainfall and if a wetter scenario persists.

“Snowpacks and glaciers are two important water storage units in the Himalaya. Though snow is lower density and will melt easily in a warming climate, the reduced snowfall will in turn reduce the amount of snow-melt. Though glacier melt will increase initially, they will shrink in size quickly and the amount of glacier melt will also decline in the latter end of the century,” adds Vikram S. Chandel, first author of the paper. He is a research scholar of Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, IIT Bombay. The future study will focus on understanding the predictability of the land-atmospheric processes.

The team notes that proper water-management and governance are urgently required. “Changing patterns of precipitation systems — Indian Summer Monsoon and Western Disturbances — are important for the future situation of water resources in Himalayan catchments,” adds the paper.

Links

• Components of Himalayan River Flows in a Changing Climate
• Two-thirds of glacier ice in the Himalayas will be lost by 2100 if climate targets aren’t met
• A Future of Retreating Glaciers in the Himalayas
• Acceleration of ice loss across the Himalayas over the past 40 years
• Into Thicker Air And Onto Thinner Ice: How Climate Change Is Affecting Mount Everest
• Human Face Of A Himalayan Climate Crisis
• Uttarakhand glacier burst | Experts point to climate change impact 
• Uttarakhand glacier burst: 2019 study warned Himalayan glaciers melting at alarming speed
• Himalayan glacier breaks in Uttarakhand, India, leaving up to 150 feared dead in floods

(India) Climate Change Behind Uttarakhand Glacier Burst, Experts Feel

Times of India - Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay

A massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river was triggered by a glacial burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

KOLKATA: The glacier burst at Uttarakhand is an outcome of climate change in the Himalayan region which is warming up faster than the other mountain regions, say experts.

Incremental use of reinforced concrete cement structures replacing the traditional wood and stone masonry is accelerating a heat-island impact in the mountain region. There are more than 8000 glacial lakes in the Himalayas of which 200 are classified as dangerous. 

The glacier collapse at Joshimath on Sunday led to a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river and caused large-scale devastation in the upper reaches of the ecologically fragile Himalayas. 

“Glacier retreat and permafrost thaw are projected to decrease the stability of mountain slopes and increase the number and area of glacier lakes (high confidence). Resulting landslides and floods, and cascading events, will also emerge where there is no record of previous events (high confidence),” says the Special Report on Oceans and Cryptosphere (SROCC) by Inter governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).

“There is high confidence that current global glacier shrinkage caused new lakes to form and existing lakes to grow in most regions, for instance in South America, High mountain Asia and Europe,” the report says.

“There is also high confidence that the number and area of glacier lakes will continue to increase in most regions in the coming decades, and new lakes will develop closer to steep and potentially unstable mountain walls where lake outbursts can be more easily triggered by the impact of landslides,” it adds.

The IPCC reports that climate change has altered the frequency and magnitude of the natural hazards. In some regions snow avalanches involving wet snow have increased while the rain on snow floods have also increased at lower elevations in springs.

"We do not have the data now to give you information on what has caused the avalanche in the Chamoli district but what we know, prima-facia, is that this looks very much like a climate change event as the glaciers are melting due to global warming," said said Dr. Anjal Prakash, Research Director and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

The impact of global warming on glacial retreat is well documented.

The recent assessment report called the HI-MAP report facilitated by ICIMOD has also pointed these out. The report shows that temperatures are rising in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region and the rise in global temperature will have more impact in the Himalayan region due to elevation-dependent warming.

"If the world can keep the temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, in the HKH region it would translate to at least a rise of 1.8 C, and in some places, above 2.2 C," said Prakash who was Coordinating Lead Author of the special report on Oceans and Cryosphere, 2018 and Lead Author of the ongoing 6th Assessment report of IPCC.

Calling it a "very rare incident," Dr Mohd Farooq Azam, Assistant Professor, Glaciology & Hydrology, IIT Indore, said it is unlikely that this was a cloud burst.

"Weather reports in Chamoli district show sunny weather till today with no record of precipitation. There is no doubt that global warming has resulted in the warming of the region," says Azam.

"Climate change driven erratic weather patterns like increased snowfall and rainfall, warmer winters has led to the melting point of a lot of snow. The thermal profile of ice is increasing, where earlier the temperature of ice ranged from -6 to -20 degree C, it is now -2, making it more susceptible to melting," Azam said.

Prakash wants the government to spend more on monitoring the Himalayan region.

"Himalayan regions area are also least monitored region and this event actually shows how vulnerable we could be. Spending more will ensure we have more information about the change process. The result would be that we are more aware and could develop better adaptation practices," he further said.

Links

• Uttarakhand glacier burst | Experts point to climate change impact 
• Uttarakhand glacier burst: 2019 study warned Himalayan glaciers melting at alarming speed
• Himalayan glacier breaks in Uttarakhand, India, leaving up to 150 feared dead in floods
• Fourteen dead, 170 missing in northern India after huge chunk of Himalayan glacier crashes into river
• Two-thirds of glacier ice in the Himalayas will be lost by 2100 if climate targets aren’t met
• A Future of Retreating Glaciers in the Himalayas
• Acceleration of ice loss across the Himalayas over the past 40 years
• Into Thicker Air And Onto Thinner Ice: How Climate Change Is Affecting Mount Everest
• Human Face Of A Himalayan Climate Crisis