31/03/2021

Climate Change: Consumer Pose 'Growing Threat' To Tropical Forests

BBC - Matt McGrath

Copyright Getty Images

Rising imports in wealthy countries of coffee, cocoa and other products are a "growing threat" to forests in tropical regions according to a new study.

Research shows consumer behaviour in the UK and other rich nations is responsible for the loss of almost 4 trees per person per year.

Increasing numbers of trees are now being planted in the developed world, the authors say.

But imports of products linked to deforestation undermine these efforts.

This growing international trade is doing more harm than good for climate and for biodiversity say the researchers.

Among the world's forests, trees growing in tropical areas are said to be the most valuable in protecting species and limiting global heating.

Tropical forests are home to between 50-90% of all terrestrial plants and animals.

They are also critical for the climate, soaking up and storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

But in the Amazon, central Africa, Indonesia and parts of Asia, growing numbers of trees have been cut down in recent decades so farmers can grow commodity crops like soybeans, and graze cattle for beef.

This new study looks at the global deforestation picture over the years between 2001 and 2015.

Demand for coffee is one of the big drivers of deforestation in parts of the world. Copyright Getty Images

Using high-resolution forest maps and a global supply chain model, the researchers were able to compile a comprehensive and highly detailed account of how deforestation is being driven by consumer behaviour, especially in richer countries.

So while countries like the UK, Germany, China and India have all planted more trees at home in recent years, all are linked to rising deforestation outside their borders, particularly in tropical forests.

The researchers were able to be remarkably precise about the impacts of this trade. Cocoa consumption in Germany poses the highest risk to forests in Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana, in Tanzania it's the demand for sesame seeds among Japanese consumers that's a key driver.

It's not just the wealthier nations - demand in China is responsible for deforestation in Northern Laos as land is cleared for rubber plantations.

"The imports of tropical deforestation-related commodities tend to be increasing, while the global deforestation rate was reported to be decreasing," said first author Nguyen Tien Hoang from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto.

"Obtaining net forest gains domestically but expanding non-domestic deforestation footprints, especially in the tropics, might do more harm than good for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation," he told BBC News.

While tree planting in the UK and other countries is making a difference it is being undermined by imports of products linked to deforestation. Copyright Getty Images

While consumers in India and China are responsible for the loss of around one tree per person per year, this rises to almost four in the richer G7 group of countries.

"This figure shows that the consumption of developed countries and the G7 in particular is destroying the world's forests, the planet's lung, and their biodiversity," said Adeline Favrel, from France Nature Environment, who was not involved with the study.

"Our consumption is not destroying our forests, but the forests of other countries, particularly the tropical forest, which is the richest in terms of biodiversity. The main culprits are our consumption of wood, meat, palm oil and soya."

Dealing with the problem though is not easy. The authors say that continued economic growth is not the answer. As richer countries saw their economies grow dramatically over the period of the study, their dependence on tropical forests has increased.

German imports of cocoa beans from Cote D'Ivoire are a growing threat to forests. Copyright Getty Images

"Rich countries should recognize their role in deforestation as a major consumer of forest-risk goods," said Audrey Changoe, an expert on trade at Friends of the Earth Europe.

"Governments need to adopt regulatory measures to oblige companies to assess and mitigate deforestation risks. The EU is now working on an accountability framework to address environmental harms and human rights by business. This must include liability for the harm caused by companies and access to courts for victims of human rights violations and environmental crimes."

The authors argue that paying poorer countries for environmental services has already cut deforestation rates and helped people out of poverty. They are calling for an expansion and increase of these long-term solutions.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Links
at No comments:

The Climate Crisis Will Cause Once-Dormant Viruses To Reemerge

Earth.Org - Jamie Sarao

The climate crisis is causing ancient permafrost to thaw, which could unleash viruses and bacteria that have been dormant for thousands of years, presenting a potentially catastrophic risk to humans and ecosystems alike. 

During the 2016 summer heatwave in the Siberian Tundra, a group of reindeer herders became ill from a mysterious illness, which took the life of 2,500 reindeer and a 12-year old boy.

It was thought that the illness was the “Siberian plague” that was last seen in the region in 1941, and investigations revealed that the disease was anthrax.

Its origin was a reindeer carcass that died from anthrax 75 years previously that became exposed due to melting soil as a result of warming temperatures. 

This reemergence of viruses and bacteria may become more prevalent as the climate crisis progresses. The conditions of permafrost are ideal for bacteria to remain alive for very long periods of time, perhaps as long as a million years.

 Permafrost is a very good preserver of microbes and viruses because it is cold, devoid of oxygen and dark.

Scientists have discovered fragments of RNA from the 1918 Spanish flu virus in corpses buried in mass graves in the tundra of Alaska and it is likely that smallpox and the bubonic plague are buried in Siberia, showing the likelihood of these agents being unleashed. 

A study in 2011 postulated that as a result of melting permafrost, diseases prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries could come back, especially near the cemeteries where the victims of these diseases were buried.

In a project that began in the 1990s, scientists from the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk have tested the remains of Stone Age people that were found in southern Siberia, as well as samples from the corpses of men who had died during viral epidemics in the 19th century and were buried in the Russian permafrost.

The researchers found fragments of the DNA of smallpox in some of the bodies. 

Additionally, researchers in a 2005 study successfully revived bacteria that had been frozen in a pond in Alaska for over 30 000 years, since woolly mammoths still roamed the Earth. When the ice melted, the bacteria began swimming around, unaffected.

Two years later, scientists were able to revive an 8-million-year-old bacterium that had been frozen beneath a glacier in Antarctica.

Luckily, not all bacteria can come back to life after being frozen in permafrost. Anthrax forms spores, which can survive being frozen for over a century. Similar bacteria include tetanus and the bacteria that causes botulism. 

A 2009 study claimed that residents in the Arctic rely on subsistence hunting and fishing for food sources, as well as a suitable climate to store food. This food storage includes ground air-drying, being placed under ground and in close vicinity to permafrost.

The bacteria that prompts botulism is active in temperatures higher than 4 degrees Celsius and as the climate warms, the potential of food-borne botulism could grow. 

In the Arctic, temperatures have risen faster in the last century compared to the rest of the Northern hemisphere, meaning further rapid melting.

In the past decade, the Arctic has warmed 0.75 degrees Celsius whereas Earth overall has warmed 0.8 degrees Celsius in 137 years.

The warming of the climate will also trigger the migration of species that are carriers of diseases such as the Zika Virus, a mosquito-borne virus primarily carried by Aedes mosquitos and which causes fever, muscle and joint pain and headaches.

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and in severe cases, miscarriages. These mosquitoes also transmit dengue fever and chikungunya fever.

Though these mosquitoes primarily reside in tropical southeastern states in America, the increase in temperature could encourage a dispersion of these insects.

A 2017 study focuses on the outbreak of the Zika Virus in Brazil from 2014 to 2016. By the end of 2016, approximately 200,000 cases of Zika Virus were confirmed.

The virus was claimed to be brought to the country in the 2014 World Sprint Championship canoe race in Rio de Janeiro which brought those from the French Polyneisa into the country which triggered Zika transmission.

A year later, once the virus had domiciled in Brazil, it eventually spread throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and the virus had been found in every country that contained the Aedes aegypti mosquito. 

As the climate crisis continues, air temperatures will increase, resulting in quicker thawing. Higher temperatures also encourage the cholera bacteria (Vibrio Cholerae) to duplicate, resulting in a wider spread.

The melting of the soil could contaminate water supplies, therefore spreading water-borne diseases such as cholera and others. 

While we know of the frightening and life-threatening diseases and viruses that could come back to life with the advancement of the climate crisis, there is no way for us to know the full extent of this without experiencing it.

It is imperative that humanity mitigates the climate crisis before unknown and horrific diseases spring back to life.

Links
at No comments:

(AU) Yes, Achievements Are Important. So What Has Morrison Achieved On Climate?

Canberra Times - Steph Hodgins-May

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his UK counterpart Boris Johnson are ideological bedfellows but have very different ambitions on climate. Picture: Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his UK counterpart Boris Johnson are ideological bedfellows but have very different ambitions on climate. Picture: Getty Images

Author
Steph Hodgins-May is Greenpeace Australia's head of Pacific.
She is an environmental lawyer and climate campaigner with extensive experience in strategic planning and advocacy. 
Steph Hodgins-May holds a Bachelor of Law & Arts and a Master of International Relations from Deakin University.
When it comes to climate policy, Australia talks big talk.

A month out from US President Biden's global climate summit, the hot air is rising as our Prime Minister pushes for Australia's climate track record to be vindicated by his international counterparts.

But for all the talk of "practical action" on climate change from Mr Morrison, even the most cursory glance at Australia's climate performance reveals a startling lack of action, practical or otherwise.

Just this month a new policy brief by Canberra climate experts revealed Australia won't meet net-zero emissions by 2050 with its current effort.

Australia's poor climate performance has not gone unnoticed internationally, with our country regularly in the bottom ranks of global climate action trackers.

Now, with renewed climate ambition from the US, a vow from Boris Johnson to put climate change at the forefront of his international policy, and the introduction of carbon border tariffs in the EU, Australia is increasingly looking like a poor player in the global effort to tackle climate change. At the global climate summit, that will all come out in the wash, with Australia set to be embarrassed and isolated. Scott Morrison, one eye to marketing as always, is looking to manage the expected fallout.

Morrison's attempt at expectations management is yet another example of the PM putting politics before policy.

Rather than leading by outlining a vision and plan to get there, Morrison is trying to spin his way out of trouble and claim credit for the work of others, namely state governments that are most responsible for the drop in Australia's emissions through their renewable energy targets.

Strong leaders are ambitious and agenda-setting but like Morrison's handling of sexual assault allegations, the climate issue has exposed him as a man without a plan.

When it comes to climate policy, Morrison agrees that ambition is important but says he wants to be judged on his "achievements". Let's take a look at what the Morrison government has achieved so far on emissions reduction.

Scott Morrison leads a government that has not had a national climate policy for years. Under his leadership, Australia was one of only a handful of countries seeking to use Kyoto carryover credits to meet emissions-reduction targets under the Paris Agreement.

Morrison has encouraged the export of ever more fossil fuels, which are responsible for around five times Australia's massive domestic emissions. His government gifts around $12 billion of taxpayer money to the coal, oil and gas industries every year.

As PM, Morrison has steadfastly opposed measures to reduce emissions, protected members of his government who are straight-up climate-denialist conspiracy theorists, and recently supported climate action-blocker Mathias Cormann to become secretary-general of the OECD.

As other countries around the world, including Australia's major trading partners, take steps to decarbonise their economies and achieve net-zero emissions, Morrison has tried to keep highly polluting coal-burning power stations running, and advocated for Australia's recovery from the pandemic to be powered by another climate-destroying fossil fuel, gas.

But the height of this hypocrisy is reserved for the people that Morrison calls "family", our Pacific neighbours, who stand to be more impacted by climate change than any other region in the world. 

In a recent opinion piece co-authored by Morrison and the leaders of the US, Japan and India, Morrison said "we will work together and with others to strengthen the Paris Agreement, and enhance the climate actions of all nations".

These words mean nothing when Morrison has ignored Pacific leaders' consistent calls for Australia to reduce its emissions, despite his government signing onto communiques and declarations that recognise climate change as the number one threat to the Pacific.

As the world's largest coal exporter and the largest per capita emitter, Australia has a responsibility to help protect Pacific Island nations from the devastating impacts of climate change such as cyclones and sea-level rises that threaten to submerge entire nations beneath the waves.

Morrison has shirked many chances to lead, but as the urgent need to prevent the climate crisis grows, opportunities continue to arise. Biden's climate summit is the first, but soon after there is the Pacific Islands Forum and then COP26 in Glasgow.

Try as he might to avoid it, Morrison could still have greatness thrust upon him. He just has to "step up" to the challenge, listen to his Pacific counterparts and join them in leading on climate.

Looking backwards and side-stepping ambition won't save the Pacific, and it won't save us.

Links
at No comments: