Unearthed today: Fires in a wetland
Morning!
I’m reading about… Fires in a wetland
First up that biodiversity pledge from yesterday. Whilst 64 countries did sign it Australia has joined China, the US and Russia in refusing.
For those that did the pledge promises much stronger action to prevent the loss of biodiversity, which has run rampant and unchecked for decades.
About that. In western Brazil, bordering Bolivia lies the Pantanal the world’s biggest wetland and – as such crucial to biodiversity and intimately connected to Brazil’s other two eco-systems, The Amazon and The Cerrado.
But like the Amazon – and the Cerrado to come – the Pantanal is on fire. Earlier this month we reported that according to the Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), a forestry NGO based in Mato Grosso, at least 17,000 sq kms of Pantanal vegetation in Mato Grosso state have already been burned this year, an area about eleven times larger than London.
A few days ago, Nature magazine also reported on the ongoing destruction.
“2020’s fires have been unprecedented in extent and duration, researchers say. So far, 22% of the vast floodplain — around 3.2 million hectares — has succumbed to the flames, according to Renata Libonati, a remote-sensing specialist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, whose data are being used by firefighters to plan containment. That’s more than twice the area that has burnt in the record-breaking fires in California this year.
“It’s apocalyptic,” says Leite, who studies humanity’s relationship with nature at the Federal University of Bahia in Salvador, Brazil. “It is a tragedy of colossal proportions.”
Like California, the Pantanal has always experienced fire. But not like this. The region is facing its worst drought in 47 years, says Luisa Diele-Vegas, a Brazilian ecologist at the University of Maryland in College Park.
The desiccated vegetation was perfect tinder for fires intentionally set by ranchers clearing land for their cattle. But some of those fires got out of control, adding to the wildfire damage, says Diele-Vegas.
As we reported earlier fires have ravaged the lands of indigenous communities in the region. Nature notes that more than 80% of the land in each of the three most affected — Baía dos Guató, Perigara and Tereza Cristina — has been consumed by fire.
Essentially this wetland could – very soon – cease to exist. It is the test of what a global biodiversity pledge actually means in practice.
And…. China’s green plan
Following this month’s surprise announcement a group of Chinese scientists have mapped out how the country could reach its goal of emissions neutrality by 2060 – with some interesting details.
Long short, whilst the plan does foresee growth in renewable capacity in the near term it puts the vast majority of the heavy lifting after 2035. The share of energy consumption not coming from fossil fuels currently stands at 15%. That will rise by just 10% in the next ten years – a modest target, though still a boost compared to what was previously planned.
That said – what happens next is pretty drastic. Investments could total $15 trillion; power generation would double, nuclear power generation would quadruple, and they’d need to be large-scale investments in Carbon Capture and “bio-CCS” to mitigate ongoing fossil fuel use even by 2060.
But there is an issue on which China’s climate plan is silent – it’s role in funding fossil fuels overseas. In Zimbabwe, for example, the Herald reported on plans by the miner RioZim to expand a coal plant with the help of a Chinese firm.
Five things you need to know
Warming, stable, oceans creating climate change feedback loop: Climate change is stabilising ocean currents, leading to warmer surfaces, more storms and the acceleration of global warming.
“The weakening mixing that penetrates down to deep oceans, and the lower capability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide.
In a terrible twist of fate, the warming we have caused in the past has resulted in a more stable ocean, and that will increase future warming – a feedback loop that keeps getting stronger,” writes John Abraham.
Air France leads tax pushback in climate vs recovery fight: Air France-KLM is battling new green taxes on top of the coronavirus crisis – in a test of growing policy tensions between righting Europe’s crippled airlines and delivering on climate goals.
Trump’s offshore oil ban will also hit offshore wind: President Donald Trump’s decision to rule out energy development along the coasts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas will bar not just offshore oil and gas drilling — but coastal wind farms too.
Coalition calls for new laws to end sewage discharges into UK waters: A coalition of river and sea organisations is calling for targets for water companies to reduce sewage discharges to be included in the upcoming environment bill.