02/05/2021

(The Guardian) UK Students Sue Government Over Human Rights Impact Of Climate Crisis

The Guardian - 

Three claimants in their 20s say their rights to life have been breached because of inadequate roadmap to solve emergency

Plan B campaign material from 2020 featuring the three climate campaigners. Photograph: Plan B
The UK is being taken to court by three young people who claim their human rights are being breached by the government’s failure to act decisively on the climate crisis. Adetola Stephanie Onamade, Marina Tricks and Jerry Amokwandoh, all students in their early 20s, will on Saturday ask for a judicial review of government actions to cut national carbon emissions.

The case is also being brought by Plan B, the legal charity behind the failed court case to block Heathrow expansion, and its director, Tim Crosland.

The claimants say that despite enshrining a net zero goal by 2050 in law and parliament declaring a climate emergency, the government does not have an adequate roadmap to match the scale of the crisis.

Frustrated at the pace of action, they will argue that the UK has disregarded their rights to life, family life and not be discriminated against, which are protected under articles 2, 8 and 14 of the Human Rights Act.

The youngest claimant, Tricks, 20, said she felt she had a duty to hold her government accountable.

“As young people, as future generations, we are being denied our right to life because of the government funnelling billions of dollars back into the same carbon economies that have caused this crisis,” she told the Guardian. “We’re in the epicentre of destruction. It’s almost about weaponising the privileges we have of being in the global north.”

Mexican-born Tricks became aware of the climate crisis as a teenager, when she was shocked by reading official reports on climate and migration.

“In Mexico, migration has really uprooted communities and torn apart families. Having known the effect it’s had on a community, the idea that that could be replicated to billions was madness to me. We’re seeing the direct implications of the effects of the climate crisis on real people, and yet we’re still doing nothing.”

The other two young claimants are also from diaspora backgrounds: Onamade from Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago and Amokwandoh from Ghana.

They are eager to highlight links between the climate crisis and wider social injustice, be it gender, race or wealth, pointing out that environmental harm is not shared equally.

In the UK, illegal levels of air pollution disproportionately affect racially marginalised communities, while the country is exporting its plastic pollution problem to poorer countries rather than tackling it domestically.

“Black, brown, indigenous communities are on the front end of this crisis,” said Tricks. “This Covid pandemic has shown the deep-rooted inequalities in our society … and yet we’re being confronted with a much larger crisis that will exacerbate those inequalities even further.”

Attempts have been made before to link human rights breaches with the climate emergency in British courts, during the Heathrow hearings and in an earlier lawsuit also brought by Plan B. But in both cases the courts dismissed the arguments, stressing that states have wide discretion in how they meet their human rights commitments.

However, the claimants have been heartened by the swathe of climate litigation brought in recent months by young people across the world, from Australia to Brazil.

The UK is one of 33 states ordered to respond to a case in the European court of human rights by a group of children and young people from Portugal who want much more ambitious action to meet the Paris agreement’s maximum warming target of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Onamade, 23, said this method of litigation was “essential right now”. “It has been over five years since Britain signed the Paris agreement but we have had to fight for equity to be applied. Our mission is for young people and heritage communities on the front lines, to speak their truth to power in the courtroom and on the streets. There is no more time to waste.”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which has lead responsibility for climate change, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

But in its response to a pre-legal action letter, the government’s legal team called the claim “pointless” given that the government had published plans to meet its net zero target and was due to publish a net zero strategy before the Cop26 climate talks in November.

Protest in a pandemic: voices of young climate activists.
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(Daily Mail) A Disaster Waiting To Happen: Western Antarctic Ice Sheet Will Lead To 'Significantly' Higher Sea Level Rise If It Collapses Than Previous Estimates Suggest - Bringing Global Levels Up By 13ft, Scientists Warn

Daily Mail - Ryan Morrison

Key Points
  • Over 1,000 years sea levels could rise by 10ft if the Antarctic ice sheet melts 
  • Researchers monitored the movement of bedrock in the Earth's mantle layer
  • They found that slow moving bedrock would push more water into the ocean
  • This would happen as the ice melted causing bedrock under the ice to 'bounce' 
  • This process would add another 3ft on to global sea level increases by 3020
Global sea levels could rise by up to 13ft if the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, a 'significantly' worse outcome than scientists had predicted, study warns. 

Harvard University researchers were working on another project when they realised the West Antarctic ice sheet was producing more water than usual. 

Rising global temperatures mean there is a possibility the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, spanning over 750,000 cubic miles, could collapse over the next 1,000 years.

The study authors say that current models suggest the ice melting would increase sea levels by 10ft over current levels, putting many coastal areas underwater.

However, due to a process called water expulsion, as the ice melts the bedrock under the sheet will 'bounce', forcing surrounding water into the ocean, causing an extra 3ft of global sea level rise on top of that generated by the melting ice.

The study authors say that current models suggest the ice melting would increase sea levels by 10ft over current levels, putting many coastal areas underwater.
The study authors say that current models suggest the ice melting would increase sea levels by 10ft over current levels, putting many coastal areas underwater.

Global sea levels could rise by up to 13ft if the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses, a 'significantly' worse outcome than scientists had predicted, study warns.

Explained
The Water Expulsion Mechanism

The water expulsion mechanism is a geological process that could result in much higher global average sea level rises over the next 1,000 years.

This occurs when the solid bedrock the West Antarctic Ice Sheet sits on rebounds upward as the ice melts.

The total weight of the ice sheet decreases as the melt continues.

The bedrock sits below sea level so when it lifts, it pushes water from the surrounding area into the ocean.

This extra water is added to water from the melting ice, increasing the overall amount of global sea level rise. 

The team predict the increase from this process will be about 3ft, bringing the total sea level rise to 13ft over the next 1,000 years. 
The new prediction considers the impact of this geological process on top of the wider impact of the melting ice.

The process involves solid bedrock beneath the sea moving upwards as the ice sheet melts, pushing surrounding water into the ocean.

This process increases the overall level of sea level rise by about three feet, more than the melting ice would on its own over the next 1,000 years, authors explained.

Co-author doctoral student Linda Pan at the University of Harvard in the United States said the magnitude of the effect 'shocked us.'

'Previous studies that had considered the mechanism dismissed it as inconsequential,' the authors explained.

The researchers were working on another project when they realised the West Antarctic ice sheet was producing more water than usual.

To investigate how the water expulsion mechanism was affecting sea levels around the world, they looked at what was going on beneath West Antarctica.

They explored how quickly material such as bedrock was flowing through the Earth's mantle, finding that water expulsion was happening faster than predicted.

Pan said: 'No matter what scenario we used for the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, we always found that this extra one metre of global sea level rise took place.'

A total collapse of the ice sheet would add 3.3 feet onto current estimates over the next 1,000 years - bringing it up to 13.3ft, the team explained.

Co-author graduate student Evelyn Powell said if the sheet collapsed that would cause a 10.5ft rise in global sea levels.

'What we've shown is that the water expulsion mechanism will add an additional metre, or 30 percent, to the total.'

Even over the next century, global sea level rise would increase 20 per cent due to the water expulsion mechanism under West Antarctica, the researchers say.
Due to a process called water expulsion, as the ice melts the bedrock under the sheet will 'bounce', forcing surrounding water into the ocean, causing an extra 3ft of global sea level rise on top of that generated by the melting ice.

A total collapse of the ice sheet would add 3.3 feet onto current estimates over the next 1,000 years - bringing it up to 13.3ft, the team explained
A total collapse of the ice sheet would add 3.3 feet onto current estimates over the next 1,000 years - bringing it up to 13.3ft, the team explained.

Co-author professor Jerry Mitrovica said every published projection of sea level rise due to the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet is based on climate modelling.

He said whether the projection extends to the end of this century or longer into the future, the modelling 'is going to have to be revised upward because of their work.'

The water expulsion effect and the mantle's low viscosity should be taken into account if future sea level rise estimates are to be accurate, the researchers say.

Mrs Pan said: 'Sea level rise doesn't stop when the ice stops melting. The damage we are doing to our coastlines will continue for centuries.'

The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

Glaciers and ice sheets melting would have a 'dramatic impact' on global sea levels

Global sea levels could rise as much as 10ft (3 metres) if the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica collapses. 

Sea level rises threaten cities from Shanghai to London, to low-lying swathes of Florida or Bangladesh, and to entire nations such as the Maldives. 

In the UK, for instance, a rise of 6.7ft (2 metres) or more may cause areas such as Hull, Peterborough, Portsmouth and parts of east London and the Thames Estuary at risk of becoming submerged.

The collapse of the glacier, which could begin with decades, could also submerge major cities such as New York and Sydney.

Parts of New Orleans, Houston and Miami in the south on the US would also be particularly hard hit.

A 2014 study looked by the union of concerned scientists looked at 52 sea level indicators in communities across the US.

It found tidal flooding will dramatically increase in many East and Gulf Coast locations, based on a conservative estimate of predicted sea level increases based on current data.

The results showed that most of these communities will experience a steep increase in the number and severity of tidal flooding events over the coming decades.

By 2030, more than half of the 52 communities studied are projected to experience, on average, at least 24 tidal floods per year in exposed areas, assuming moderate sea level rise projections. Twenty of these communities could see a tripling or more in tidal flooding events.

The mid-Atlantic coast is expected to see some of the greatest increases in flood frequency. Places such as Annapolis, Maryland and Washington, DC can expect more than 150 tidal floods a year, and several locations in New Jersey could see 80 tidal floods or more.

In the UK, a two metre (6.5 ft) rise by 2040 would see large parts of Kent almost completely submerged, according to the results of a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in November 2016.

Areas on the south coast like Portsmouth, as well as Cambridge and Peterborough would also be heavily affected.

Cities and towns around the Humber estuary, such as Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby would also experience intense flooding.

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( France 24) Climate Change: Amazon May Be Turning From Friend To Foe

 France 24 - Agence France-Presse

Deforestation in the Amazon, including through fires, increased nearly four-fold in 2019. CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

Paris - The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20 percent more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the last decade than it absorbed, according to a stunning report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world's largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution.

From 2010 through 2019, Brazil's Amazon basin gave off 16.6 billion tonnes of CO2, while drawing down only 13.9 billion tonnes, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study looked at the volume of CO2 absorbed and stored as the forest grows, versus the amounts released back into the atmosphere as it has been burned down or destroyed.

"We half-expected it, but it is the first time that we have figures showing that the Brazilian Amazon has flipped, and is now a net emitter," said co-author Jean-Pierre Wigneron, a scientist at France's National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA).

"We don't know at what point the changeover could become irreversible," he told AFP in an interview.

The study also showed that deforestation -- through fires and clear-cutting -- increased nearly four-fold in 2019 compared to either of the two previous years, from about one million hectares (2.5 million acres) to 3.9 million hectares, an area the size of the Netherlands.

"Brazil saw a sharp decline in the application of environmental protection policies after the change of government in 2019," the INRA said in a statement.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sworn into office on January 1, 2019.

Terrestrial ecosystems worldwide have been a crucial ally as the world struggles to curb CO2 emissions, which topped 40 billion tonnes in 2019.

Over the last half century, plants and soil have consistently absorbed about 30 percent of those emissions, even as those emissions increased by 50 percent over than period.

Oceans have also helped, soaking up more than 20 percent.

Tipping points

The Amazon basin contains about half of the world's tropical rainforests, which are more effective at soaking up and storing carbon that other types of vegetation.

If the region were to be come a net source rather than a "sink" of CO2, tackling the climate crisis will be that much harder.

Using new methods of analysing satellite data developed at the University of Oklahoma, the international team of researchers also showed for the first time that degraded forests were a more significant source of planet-warming CO2 emissions that outright deforestation.

Over the same 10-year period, degradation -- caused by fragmentation, selective cutting, or fires that damage but do not destroy trees -- caused three times more emissions that outright destruction of forests.

The data examined in the study only covers Brazil, which holds some 60 percent of the Amazonian rainforest.

Taking the rest of region into account, "the Amazon basin as a whole is probably (carbon) neutral," said Wigneron.

"But in the other countries with Amazon rainforest, deforestation is on the rise too, and drought has become more intense."

Climate change looms as a major threat, and could -- above a certain threshold of global warming -- see the continent's rainforest tip into a much drier savannah state, recent studies have shown.

This would have devastating consequences not only to the region, which currently harbours a significant percentage of the world's biodiversity, but globally as well.

The Amazon rainforest is one of a dozen so-called "tipping points" in the climate system.

Ice sheets atop Greenland and the West Antarctic, Siberian permafrost loaded with CO2 and methane, monsoon rains in South Asia, coral reef ecosystems, the jet stream -- all are vulnerable to point-of-no-return transitions that would radically alter the world as we know it.  

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