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climate change in somalia

Climate change in Somalia refers to changes in the climate in Somalia and the subsequent response, adaption and mitigation strategies of the country. Somalia is the second most climate-vulnerable country in the world. The country has seen an increase in severe climatic events since 1990, with three major droughts since 2010, recurring flooding and more regular locust swarms that destroy crops. By 2080, it’s expected temperatures will rise by 3.4 degrees Celsius, with an additional 152 very hot days per year (where the maximum temperatures will surpass 35 degrees Celsius).Climate change is expected to put significant strain on already scarce water and agricultural resources within the country, threatening the national security and political stability. Impacts of climate change on the natural environment Climate models predict that the East Africa region is likely to experience both near-term alterations in climate such as warmer temperatures, changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, and decreased precipitation, as well as long-term shifts such as sea level rise. Temperature and weather changes Somalia is generally hot and dry, with two rainy seasons. Mean temperatures in Somalia are amongst the highest worldwide. Hot conditions prevail throughout the year, in particular in the southwest near the border to Ethiopia, where annual mean temperatures surpass 29 °C. The main rainy season is from April to June, and the second rainy season is from October to December. Annual precipitation in the hot and arid northern area mostly amounts to under 250 mm and decrease to less than 100 mm in the very northeast. The central plateau receives between 200 and 300 mm of precipitation, while it increases toward the South to around 400 to 500 mm of rainfall annually. Southwestern and northwestern regions receive the most precipitation, with an average between 500 and 700 mm.The climate has changed over the last several decades: There has been a gradual, continuous temperature increase of 1 to 1.5°C since 1991, Extreme weather impacted the country, with severe drought in 2011 and 2017. Extended droughts, flash floods and cyclones, have become more frequent in the past 25 years.Projections models show that Both drought and floods are likely to increase in intensity and frequency. While uncertainty exists, models project that monthly rainfall will increase slightly from September to December by between 2040-2060. The average temperature is expected to increase by between 1-1.75°C by between 2040-2060, and projected increases of 3.2 to 4.3°C by 2100. Sea level rise The sea level is projected to rise with high certainty under future emission scenarios. The median climate models project a sea level rise of 12 cm until 2030, 20 cm until 2050 and 36 cm until 2080 under RCP2.6, as compared to the year 2000. Under RCP6.0 (emissions peak around 2080, then decline), the sea level is projected to rise by 11 cm until 2030, 21 cm until 2050 and 42 cm until 2080.The projected sea level rise threatens the livelihoods of coastal communities, particularly in southern Somalia, including the country’s capital Mogadishu, and may cause saline intrusion in coastal waterways and groundwater reservoirs. Water availability Projections of water availability are highly uncertain under emissions scenarios. Without considering population growth, models show a slight increase in line with future precipitation projections. Considering projected population growth, overall per capita water availability can be expected to half by 2080 under both RCP2.6 and RCP6.0 emission scenarios, though uncertainty around current and projected available water volumes is extremely high. Impact on people Somalia is estimated very susceptible to the effects of climate change and extreme weather. Its ND Gain index is of 172 in 2020, making it the 2nd most vulnerable country to climate change and other global challenge, and the 120th most ready country to improve resilience. Climate change impacts in East Africa are anticipated to result in a range of direct and indirect impacts affecting food security due to high temperature stress and changes in the frequency and intensity of droughts. The gradual, continuous temperature increase of 1 to 1.5°C since 1991, the extended droughts, flash floods and cyclones, have become more frequent in the past 25 years, and the effects of longer-term climatic change – erratic rainfall, disrupted monsoon seasons, strong winds, storms and soil erosion pose a serious threat to 83 per cent of the population very reliant on renewable resources from agriculture, pastoralism, hunting, forestry and fishing.Rising temperatures and the strong increase in very hot days will very likely result in an increased exposure to heatwaves in Somalia. Heat-related mortality will very likely increase to between 2.7 and 3.3 deaths per 100 000 people/year until 2030, and then drastically increase to between 3.6 and 11.4 deaths per 100 000 people/year until 2080, depending on the emissions scenario. Climate change mitigation and adaptation The severe impacts of climate change on the region, made climate change mitigation and adaptation an important issue in it. Policies and legislation Somalia was an early signatory of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016.The country formulated its first National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) in 2013. The program developed with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), was Somalia’s first step towards a nationwide climate adaptation strategy. Water management mitigation Since the formulation of the first NAPA plan, progress has been made in boosting resilience to prepare for and withstand extreme weather, such as better water management to be able to withstand drought periods. Ecosystem-based adaptation solutions are being embraced. In one example, under a UNDP-supported water management project, community-led afforestation initiatives are helping combat desertification.Other alternatives include rewilding of water catchment construction, rehabilitation of water infrastructure, flood defense walls, irrigation canals, mapping water resources and breakage points along rivers, rangeland restoration of soils, mangrove, cactus and tree planting, change in breeding practices etc. Greenhouse gaz mitigation In 2014 Somalia was responsible for 36.46 MtCO2e (metric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, or 0.07% of the world total emissions Per capita Somalis produced 1.02 tCO2e of GHG emissions. Worldwide is 6.73 tCO2e per capita. Agriculture was the most significant emitting sector, at 56 % of country’s total emissions. Land-use change and forestry (LUCF) accounted for 36% of country’s total emissions. Land use change and forestry reduce emission by 16% between 1990-2014. Somalia’s population has grown by 390% between 1960-2010, to reach approximately 13.5 million people in 2014.In 2021, Somalia registered a new NDC plan, which includes an overall goal to reduce greenhouse gas "business-as-usual" emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and adapt to the effects of climate change under the global Paris Agreement. Climate change and adaptations Innovation and technology are critical to dealing with the many facets of the climate crisis, this include climate change adaptation, which seeks to lower the risks posed by the consequences of climate change. Because of changes in extreme weather and sea level rise, due to climate change, the UN has recommended early warning systems as key elements of climate change adaptation and climate risk management. Technological advances have made it possible to trigger an early and rapid response to threats such as locust swarms. Rainy conditions create favorable conditions for locust swarms to breed. Their invasion presents a threat to food security, where a small swarm of 1km2 can in just one day consume crops and vegetation that could feed 35000 people. The FAO delivered desert an early warning system to delay monitor conditions favoring locust invasions to Somalia. The locus surveillance and control system rely on satellite imagery as well as weather and habitat data and can cast alerts up to six weeks in advance of a possible invasion. To make data collection more accessible, a mobile smartphone app. was developed and satellite data communicator modified to enable farmers without connectivity to collect data. See also Water scarcity in Africa References External links Somalia on the Climate Change Knowledge Portal

list of climate change books

This is a list of climate change books that describe, as a major theme, the effects of human activity on climate change. Non-fiction Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject that is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition. Fiction See also Climate change in literature List of environmental books References Books on Global Warming, Climate Change Books, Climate Change Education.org

the climate reality project

The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project, both of which were founded by Al Gore. Among its activities, The Climate Reality Project hosts an annual event called 24 Hours of Reality. Overview The Climate Reality Project is focused on climate change education and advocating for climate solutions available today. The organization is a consolidation of two environmental organizations, the Alliance for Climate Protection and the Climate Project, both founded in 2006 by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Gore currently serves as chairman of the board of directors.As of 2021, the organization said it operated 10 branches worldwide and was active in 170 countries. History Alliance for Climate Protection The Alliance for Climate Protection was founded in 2006 by Al Gore to encourage civic action against climate change. The organization was founded in Palo Alto, California, and later moved to Menlo Park, California, before relocating to Washington, D.C., in 2009. Originally established as a 501(c)(3), the organization later included an affiliated 501(c)(4), the Climate Protection Action Fund, which developed advocacy campaigns focused on climate change solutions through grassroots organizing and lobbying.The organization was partially funded by proceeds donated from Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth, as well as profits from the book of the same name. Gore also donated his salary from his work for the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and prize money from his 2007 Nobel Peace prize for a total of more than $2.7 million. The distributor of An Inconvenient Truth, Paramount Classics, also donated 5 percent of the film's box office earnings to the Alliance. The Alliance was also funded by profits from Live Earth concerts in 2007.The Alliance encouraged federal policies that limited greenhouse gas emissions and supported low-carbon power sources. Former campaigns from the Alliance include the bipartisan "We" campaign, launched in 2008. The campaign, which included an advertisement called "We Can Solve It" featuring Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich jointly calling for a response to climate change, was created to prompt public action against climate change on a national and international level. The "We" campaign included partnerships with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, the United Steelworkers of America and the National Audubon Society. The same year, the Alliance launched the "Repower America" campaign to support Gore's directive to shift American homes to 100 percent clean energy within 10 years. This campaign supported climate change legislation in the United States and, according to The Washington Post in 2008, was one of the farthest reaching public advocacy initiatives in recent history.Also in 2008, the Alliance created the Reality Coalition in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. The Reality Coalition used television, print and online advertisements as well as grassroots events to challenge the idea of coal pollution mitigation. The Climate Project The Climate Project, founded in 2006 and based in Nashville, Tennessee, was also supported by Gore's profits from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The Climate Project was an educational, worldwide grassroots organization that trained selected members of the public to give public talks, similar to Gore's presentation in the film. The talks focused on the harmful effects of climate change and ways to address climate change at the grassroots level. By 2009, the project had more than 3,000 participants worldwide. These participants, trained by Gore, delivered 70,000 presentations to 7.3 million people. Recent history In March 2010, the Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project combined to create a single organization. The new organization was known as the Alliance for Climate Protection until it was renamed The Climate Reality Project in July 2011. The organization brought together the aims of its two predecessors to focus on education initiatives related to climate change as well as continuing to develop a grassroots network to address climate change. Activities 24 Hours of Reality campaign The Climate Reality Project hosts an annual event called 24 Hours of Reality, a 24-hour live broadcast about the climate crisis and its solutions with a one-hour segment in every time zone. Each broadcast features celebrities, musicians, elected officials, and thought leaders from around the world. In 2017, the broadcast had a potential reach of 400 million people.Themes for each annual broadcast are: 2011: 24 Hours of Reality 2012: 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report 2013: 24 Hours of Reality: The Cost of Carbon 2014: 24 Hours of Reality: 24 Reasons for Hope 2015: 24 Hours of Reality and Live Earth: The World is Watching 2016: 24 Hours of Reality: The Road Forward 2017: 24 Hours of Reality: Be the Voice of Reality 2018: 24 Hours of Reality: Protect Our Planet, Protect Ourselves 2019: 24 Hours of Reality: Truth to Action 2020: 24 Hours of Reality: Countdown to the FutureThe first event, in 2011, was a 24-hour event that was broadcast live over the Internet and featured 24 presenters across 24 time zones presenting in 13 different languages. The presentations, which stressed a link between climate change and oil and coal producers, started in Mexico City and traveled west before culminating in New York City with a presentation by The Climate Reality Project's chairman Al Gore. The event included celebrity hosts and panel members such as Renee Zellweger, Fran Drescher and Virgin Group's Sir Richard Branson. The webcast received 8 million views, 5 million of which were unique viewers, and was awarded a "Silver Lion" at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity event in 2012. Accompanying this event, The Climate Reality Project also released several short videos covering topics related to climate change. The videos included Doubt, Climate 101 and Grassroots.A second webcast called 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report was broadcast beginning on November 14, 2012. This broadcast followed a format similar to the inaugural event and featured speeches and presentations from more than 100 activists, business leaders and scientists in 24 locations. The 2012 webcast focused on the impact coal, oil and gas pollution have on weather patterns. The webcast attracted 14 million unique viewers and a viewership of more than 16 million, which set a Ustream record for the most online viewers in a 24-hour period. The event also generated 135 million tweets from Twitter users, compared with 120 million tweets in 2011, and received ten Telly Awards in 2013 including two silver Telly awards in the News/News Feature and Social Responsibility categories and seven bronze Telly awards. Climate Reality Leadership Corps The Climate Reality Project also addresses climate change through a network of approximately 31,000 Climate Reality Leaders, which the organization calls the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. As of 2019, The Climate Reality Leadership Corps has conducted 43 training events to prepare Climate Reality Leaders to communicate and conduct effective advocacy events within their local communities. Climate Reality Leaders come from 154 countries. Members of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps lead educational events and encourage activity to address climate change in their local communities. See also Planet Relief Live Earth Earth Hour Denmark plants trees References External links Official website

economics of climate change mitigation

The economics of climate change mitigation is part of the economics of climate change related to climate change mitigation, that is actions that are designed to limit the amount of long-term climate change.Mitigation may be achieved through the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the enhancement of sinks that absorb GHGs, for example forests. Higher interest rates are slowing solar panel installation in developing countries. Public good issues The atmosphere is an international public good and GHG emissions are an international externality. A change in the quality of the atmosphere does not affect the welfare of all individuals and countries equally. Heterogeneity GHG emissions are unevenly distributed around the world, as are the potential impacts of climate change. Nations with higher than average emissions that face potentially small negative/positive climate change impacts have little incentive to reduce their emissions. Nations with relatively low levels of emissions that face potentially large negative climate change impacts have a large incentive to reduce emissions. Nations that avoid mitigation can benefit from free-riding on the actions of others, and may even enjoy gains in trade and/or investment. The unequal distribution of benefits from mitigation, and the potential advantages of free-riding, made it difficult to secure the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce emissions. Intergenerational transfers Mitigation of climate change can be considered a transfer of wealth from the present generation to future generations. The amount of mitigation determines the composition of resources (e.g., environmental or material) that future generations receive. Across generations, the costs and benefits of mitigation are not equally shared: future generations potentially benefit from mitigation, while the present generation bear the costs of mitigation but do not directly benefit (ignoring possible co-benefits, such as reduced air pollution). If the current generation also benefitted from mitigation, it might lead them to be more willing to bear the costs of mitigation. Policies and approaches to reduce emissions Price signals Carbon pricing A carbon price is a system of applying a price to carbon emissions, as a method of emissions mitigation. Potential methods of pricing include carbon emission trading, results-based climate finance, crediting mechanisms and more. Carbon pricing can lend itself to the creation of carbon taxes, which allows governments to tax emissions. Carbon tax Carbon taxes are considered useful because, once a number has been created, it will benefit the government either with currency or with a lowering in emissions or both, and therefore benefit the environment. It is almost a consensus that carbon taxing is the most cost-effective method of having a substantial and rapid response to climate change and carbon emissions. However, backlash to the tax includes that it can be considered regressive, as the impact can be damaging disproportionately to the poor who spend much of their income on energy for their homes. Still, even with near universal approval, there are issues regarding both the collection and redistribution of the taxes. One of the central questions being how the newly collected taxes will be redistributed.Some or all of the proceeds of a carbon tax can be used to stop it disadvantaging the poor. Structural market reforms Market-orientated reforms, as undertaken by several countries in the 1990s, can have important effects on energy use, energy efficiency, and therefore GHG emissions. In a literature assessment, Bashmakov et al. (2001:409) gave the example of China, which has made structural reforms with the aim of increasing GDP. They found that since 1978, energy use in China had increased by an average of 4% per year, but at the same time, energy use had been reduced per unit of GDP. Emissions trading In addition to the implementation of command-and-control regulations (as with a carbon tax), governments can also use market-based approaches to mitigate emissions. One such method is emissions trading where governments set the total emissions of all polluters to a maximum and distribute permits, through auction or allocation, that allow entities to emit a portion, typically one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), of the mandated total emissions. In other words, the amount of pollution an entity can emit in an emissions trading system is limited by the number of permits they have. If a polluter wants to increase their emissions, they can only do so after buying permits from those who are willing to sell them. Many economists prefer this method of reducing emissions as it is market based and highly cost effective. That being said, emissions trading alone is not perfect since it fails to place a clear price on emissions. Without this price, emissions prices are volatile due to the supply of permits being fixed, meaning their price is entirely determined by shifts in demand. This uncertainty in price is especially disliked by businesses since it prevents them from investing in abatement technologies with confidence which hinders efforts for mitigating emissions. Regardless, while emissions trading alone has its problems and cannot reduce pollutants to the point of stabilizing the global climate, it remains an important tool for addressing climate change. Degrowth There is a debate about a potentially critical need for new ways of economic accounting, including directly monitoring and quantifying positive real-world environmental effects such as air quality improvements and related unprofitable work like forest protection, alongside far-reaching structural changes of lifestyles as well as acknowledging and moving beyond the limits of current economics such as GDP. Some argue that for effective climate change mitigation degrowth has to occur, while some argue that eco-economic decoupling could limit climate change enough while continuing high rates of traditional GDP growth. There is also research and debate about requirements of how economic systems could be transformed for sustainability – such as how their jobs could transition harmonously into green jobs – a just transition – and how relevant sectors of the economy – like the renewable energy industry and the bioeconomy – could be adequately supported.While degrowth is often believed to be associated with decreased living standards and austerity measures, many of its proponents seek to expand universal public goods (such as public transport), increase health (fitness, wellbeing and freedom from diseases) and increase various forms of, often unconventional commons-oriented, labor. To this end, the application of both advanced technologies and reductions in various demands, including via overall reduced labor time or sufficiency-oriented strategies, are considered to be important by some. Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies Policies National policies International policies Paris Agreement Other policies Regulatory instruments: This could involve the setting of regulatory standards for various products and processes for countries to adopt. The other option is to set national emission limits. The second option leads to inefficiency because the marginal costs of abatement differs between countries.: 430 Initiatives such as the EU "cap and trade" system have also been implemented. Carbon taxes: This would offer a potentially cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions. Compared with emissions trading, international or harmonized (where each country keeps the revenue it collects) taxes provide greater certainty about the likely costs of emission reductions. This is also true of a hybrid policy (see carbon tax).: 430 Efficiency of international agreements For the purposes of analysis, it is possible to separate efficiency from equity.: 30  It has been suggested that because of the low energy efficiency in many developing countries, efforts should first be made in those countries to reduce emissions. There are a number of policies to improve efficiency, including:: 34  Property rights reform. For example, deforestation could be reduced through reform of property rights. Administrative reforms. For example, in many countries, electricity is priced at the cost of production. Economists, however, recommend that electricity, like any other good, should be priced at the competitive price. Regulating non-greenhouse externalities. There are externalities other than the emission of GHGs, for example, road congestion leading to air pollution. Addressing these externalities, e.g., through congestion pricing and energy taxes, could help to lower both air pollution and GHG emissions.General equilibrium theory One of the aspects of efficiency for an international agreement on reducing emissions is participation. In order to be efficient, mechanisms to reduce emissions still require all emitters to face the same costs of emission.: 30  Partial participation significantly reduces the effectiveness of policies to reduce emissions. This is because of how the global economy is connected through trade. General equilibrium theory points to a number of difficulties with partial participation. Examples are of "leakage" (carbon leakage) of emissions from countries with regulations on GHG emissions to countries with less regulation. For example, stringent regulation in developed countries could result in polluting industries such as aluminium production moving production to developing countries. Leakage is a type of "spillover" effect of mitigation policies. Estimates of spillover effects are uncertain. If mitigation policies are only implemented in Kyoto Annex I countries, some researchers have concluded that spillover effects might render these policies ineffective, or possibly even cause global emissions to increase. Others have suggested that spillover might be beneficial and result in reduced emission intensities in developing countries. Comprehensiveness Efficiency also requires that the costs of emission reductions be minimized.: 31  This implies that all GHGs (CO2, methane, etc.) are considered as part of a policy to reduce emissions, and also that carbon sinks are included. Perhaps most controversially, the requirement for efficiency implies that all parts of the Kaya identity are included as part of a mitigation policy. The components of the Kaya identity are: CO2 emissions per unit of energy, (carbon intensity) energy per unit of output, (energy efficiency) economic output per capita, and human population.Efficiency requires that the marginal costs of mitigation for each of these components is equal. In other words, from the perspective of improving the overall efficiency of a long-term mitigation strategy, population control has as much "validity" as efforts made to improve energy efficiency. Equity in international agreements Unlike efficiency, there is no consensus view of how to assess the fairness of a particular climate policy (Bashmakov et al., 2001:438–439; see also economics of global warming#Paying for an international public good). This does not prevent the study of how a particular policy impacts welfare. Edmonds et al. (1995) estimated that a policy of stabilizing national emissions without trading would, by 2020, shift more than 80% of the aggregate policy costs to non-OECD regions (Bashmakov et al., 2001:439). A common global carbon tax would result in an uneven burden of abatement costs across the world and would change with time. With a global tradable quota system, welfare impacts would vary according to quota allocation. Finance Article 4.2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change commits industrialized countries to "[take] the lead" in reducing emissions. The Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC has provided only limited financial support to developing countries to assist them in climate change mitigation and adaptation.: 233  Additionally, private sector investment in mitigation and adaptation could be discouraged in the short and medium term because of the 2008 global financial crisis.: xix The International Energy Agency estimates that US$197 billion is required by states in the developing world above and beyond the underlying investments needed by various sectors regardless of climate considerations, this is twice the amount promised by the developed world at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Cancún Agreements. Thus, a new method is being developed to help ensure that funding is available for climate change mitigation. This involves financial leveraging, whereby public financing is used to encourage private investment.The private sector is often unwilling to finance low carbon technologies in developing and emerging economies as the market incentives are often lacking. There are many perceived risks involved, in particular: General political risk associated politically instability, uncertain property rights and an unfamiliar legal framework. Currency risks are involved is financing is sought internationally and not provided in the nationally currency. Regulatory and policy risk – if the public incentives provided by a state may not be actually provided, or if provided, then not for the full length of the investment. Execution risk – reflecting concern that the local project developer/firm may lack the capacity and/or experience to execute the project efficiently. Technology risk as new technologies involved in low carbon technology may not work as well as expected. Unfamiliarity risks occur when investors have never undertaken such projects before.Funds from the developed world can help mitigate these risks and thus leverage much larger private funds, the current aim to create $3 of private investment for every $1 of public funds.: 4  Public funds can be used to minimise the risks in the following way. Loan guarantees provided by international public financial institutions can be useful to reduce the risk to private lenders. Policy insurance can insurance the investor against changes or disruption to government policies designed to encourage low carbon technology, such as a feed-in tariff. Foreign exchange liquidity facilities can help reduce the risks associated with borrowing money in a different currency by creating a line of credit that can be drawn on when the project needs money as a result of local currency devaluation but then repaid when the project has a financial surplus. Pledge fund can help projects are too small for equity investors to consider or unable to access sufficient equity. In this model, public finance sponsors provide a small amount of equity to anchor and encourage much larger pledges from private investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, large private equity firms and pension funds. Private equity investors will tend to be risk-averse and focused primarily on long-term profitability, thus all projects would need to meet the fiduciary requirements of the investors. Subordinated equity fund – an alternative use of public finance is through the provision of subordinated equity, meaning that the repayment on the equity is of lower priority than the repayment of other equity investors. The subordinated equity would aim to leverage other equity investors by ensuring that the latter have first claim on the distribution of profit, thereby increasing their risk-adjusted returns. The fund would have claim on profits only after rewards to other equity investors were distributed.An investment survey conducted by the European Investment Bank in 2021 found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change was addressed by 43% of EU enterprises. Despite the pandemic's effect on businesses, the percentage of firms planning climate-related investment rose to 47%. In 2020, the percentage of climate related investment was at 41%.62% of Europeans believe that the green transition will reduce their buying power.Eastern European and Central Asian businesses fall behind their Southern European counterparts in terms of the average quality of their green management practices, notably in terms of specified energy consumption and emissions objectives. External variables, such as consumer pressure and energy taxes, are more relevant than firm-level features, such as size and age, in influencing the quality of green management practices. Firms with less financial limitations and stronger green management practices are more likely to invest in a bigger variety of green initiatives. Energy efficiency investments are good to both the bottom line and the environment. Europe The European Investment Bank plans to support €1 trillion of climate investment by 2030 as part of the European Green Deal. In 2019 the EIB Board of Directors approved new targets for climate action and environmental sustainability to phase out fossil fuel financing. The bank will increase the share of its financing for to climate action and environmental sustainability to 50% by 2025 The European Investment Bank Group announced it will align all financing with the Paris Agreement by the end of 2020. The bank aims "to play a leading role in mobilising the finance needed to achieve the worldwide commitment to keep global warming well below 2˚C, aiming for 1.5˚C." EIB loans to the sustainable blue economy totalled €6.7 billion between 2018 and 2022, generating €23.8 billion in investments, and €2.8 billion in maritime renewable energy. In the same timeframe, the Bank granted around €881 million to assist in the management of wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste to decrease pollution entering the ocean.A survey in 2020 found that 45% of EU companies have invested in climate change mitigation or adaptation measures, compared to 32% in the US. Fewer companies plan future investment in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. 40% of European companies want to invest in climate initiatives during the next three years. The proportion of investment in 2020 varies from 50% in Western and Northern Europe to 32% in Central and Eastern Europe. The majority of European companies, 75%, say regulatory and tax uncertainty is preventing them from investing in climate-related projects.According to a 2020 Municipality Survey, 56% of European Union municipalities increased climate investment, while 66% believe their climate investment over the previous three years has been insufficient. In the three years preceding the pandemic, over two-thirds of EU towns boosted infrastructure investments, with a 56% focus on climate change mitigation.Local municipalities contribute 45% of total government investment. Basic infrastructure, such as public transportation or water utilities, is included in their investment. They also update public facilities including schools, hospitals, and social housing. Prioritizing energy efficiency in these projects will assist Europe in meeting climate targets.Municipal investment began to increase again about 2017. In the three years preceding the pandemic, over two-thirds of EU towns boosted infrastructure investments. This investment has tended to concentrate on certain types of infrastructure, such as digital infrastructure, at 70% of municipalities and social services at 60%, as well as climate change mitigation at 56%. Cities and towns are also responsible for around 70% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Assessing costs and benefits GDP The costs of mitigation and adaptation policies can be measured as a percentage of GDP. A problem with this method of assessing costs is that GDP is an imperfect measure of welfare.: 478  There are externalities in the economy which mean that some prices might not be truly reflective of their social costs. Corrections can be made to GDP estimates to allow for these problems, but they are difficult to calculate. In response to this problem, some have suggested using other methods to assess policy. For example, the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development has developed a system for "Green" GDP accounting and a list of sustainable development indicators. Baselines The emissions baseline is, by definition, the emissions that would occur in the absence of policy intervention. Definition of the baseline scenario is critical in the assessment of mitigation costs.: 469  This because the baseline determines the potential for emissions reductions, and the costs of implementing emission reduction policies. There are several concepts used in the literature over baselines, including the "efficient" and "business-as-usual" (BAU) baseline cases. In the efficient baseline, it is assumed that all resources are being employed efficiently. In the BAU case, it is assumed that future development trends follow those of the past, and no changes in policies will take place. The BAU baseline is often associated with high GHG emissions, and may reflect the continuation of current energy-subsidy policies, or other market failures. Some high emission BAU baselines imply relatively low net mitigation costs per unit of emissions. If the BAU scenario projects a large growth in emissions, total mitigation costs can be relatively high. Conversely, in an efficient baseline, mitigation costs per unit of emissions can be relatively high, but total mitigation costs low. Ancillary impacts These are the secondary or side effects of mitigation policies, and including them in studies can result in higher or lower mitigation cost estimates.: 455  Reduced mortality and morbidity costs are potentially a major ancillary benefit of mitigation. This benefit is associated with reduced use of fossil fuels, thereby resulting in less air pollution, which might even just by itself be a benefit greater than the cost.: 48  There may also be ancillary costs. Flexibility Flexibility is the ability to reduce emissions at the lowest cost. The greater the flexibility that governments allow in their regulatory framework to reduce emissions, the lower the potential costs are for achieving emissions reductions (Markandya et al., 2001:455). "Where" flexibility allows costs to be reduced by allowing emissions to be cut at locations where it is most efficient to do so. For example, the Flexibility Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol allow "where" flexibility (Toth et al., 2001:660). "When" flexibility potentially lowers costs by allowing reductions to be made at a time when it is most efficient to do so.Including carbon sinks in a policy framework is another source of flexibility. Tree planting and forestry management actions can increase the capacity of sinks. Soils and other types of vegetation are also potential sinks. There is, however, uncertainty over how net emissions are affected by activities in this area. No regrets options No regret options are social and economic benefits developed under the assumption of taking action and establishing preventative measures in current times without fully knowing what climate change will look like in the future.These are emission reduction options which can also make a lot of profit – such as adding solar and wind power.: TS-108 Different studies make different assumptions about how far the economy is from the production frontier (defined as the maximum outputs attainable with the optimal use of available inputs – natural resources, labour, etc.).The benefits of coal phase out exceed the costs. Switching from cars by improving walking and cycling infrastructure is either free or beneficial to a country's economy as a whole. Technology Assumptions about technological development and efficiency in the baseline and mitigation scenarios have a major impact on mitigation costs, in particular in bottom-up studies. The magnitude of potential technological efficiency improvements depends on assumptions about future technological innovation and market penetration rates for these technologies. Discount rates Assessing climate change impacts and mitigation policies involves a comparison of economic flows that occur in different points in time. The discount rate is used by economists to compare economic effects occurring at different times. Discounting converts future economic impacts into their present-day value. The discount rate is generally positive because resources invested today can, on average, be transformed into more resources later. If climate change mitigation is viewed as an investment, then the return on investment can be used to decide how much should be spent on mitigation. Integrated assessment models (IAM) are used to estimate the social cost of carbon. The discount rate is one of the factors used in these models. The IAM frequently used is the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) model developed by William Nordhaus. The DICE model uses discount rates, uncertainty, and risks to make benefit and cost estimations of climate policies and adapt to the current economic behavior.The choice of discount rate has a large effect on the result of any climate change cost analysis (Halsnæs et al., 2007:136). Using too high a discount rate will result in too little investment in mitigation, but using too low a rate will result in too much investment in mitigation. In other words, a high discount rate implies that the present-value of a dollar is worth more than the future-value of a dollar. Discounting can either be prescriptive or descriptive. The descriptive approach is based on what discount rates are observed in the behaviour of people making every day decisions (the private discount rate) (IPCC, 2007c:813). In the prescriptive approach, a discount rate is chosen based on what is thought to be in the best interests of future generations (the social discount rate). The descriptive approach can be interpreted as an effort to maximize the economic resources available to future generations, allowing them to decide how to use those resources (Arrow et al., 1996b:133–134). The prescriptive approach can be interpreted as an effort to do as much as is economically justified to reduce the risk of climate change. The DICE model incorporates a descriptive approach, in which discounting reflects actual economic conditions. In a recent DICE model, DICE-2013R Model, the social cost of carbon is estimated based on the following alternative scenarios: (1) a baseline scenario, when climate change policies have not changed since 2010, (2) an optimal scenario, when climate change policies are optimal (fully implemented and followed), (3) when the optimal scenario does not exceed 2˚C limit after 1900 data, (4) when the 2˚C limit is an average and not the optimum, (5) when a near-zero (low) discount rate of 0.1% is used (as assumed in the Stern Review), (6) when a near-zero discount rate is also used but with calibrated interest rates, and (7) when a high discount rate of 3.5% is used.According to Markandya et al. (2001:466), discount rates used in assessing mitigation programmes need to at least partly reflect the opportunity costs of capital. In developed countries, Markandya et al. (2001:466) thought that a discount rate of around 4–6% was probably justified, while in developing countries, a rate of 10–12% was cited. The discount rates used in assessing private projects were found to be higher – with potential rates of between 10% and 25%. When deciding how to discount future climate change impacts, value judgements are necessary (Arrow et al., 1996b:130). IPCC (2001a:9) found that there was no consensus on the use of long-term discount rates in this area. The prescriptive approach to discounting leads to long-term discount rates of 2–3% in real terms, while the descriptive approach leads to rates of at least 4% after tax – sometimes much higher (Halsnæs et al., 2007:136). Even today, it is difficult to agree on an appropriate discount rate. The approach of discounting to be either prescriptive or descriptive stemmed from the views of Nordhaus and Stern. Nordhaus takes on a descriptive approach which "assumes that investments to slow climate change must compete with investments in other areas". While Stern takes on a prescriptive approach in which "leads to the conclusion that any positive pure rate of time preference is unethical".In Nordhaus' view, his descriptive approach translates that the impact of climate change is slow, thus investments in climate change should be on the same level of competition with other investments. He defines the discount rate to be the rate of return on capital investments. The DICE model uses the estimated market return on capital as the discount rate, around an average of 4%. He argues that a higher discount rate will make future damages look small, thus have less effort to reduce emissions today. A lower discount rate will make future damages look larger, thus put more effort to reduce emissions today.In Stern's view, the pure rate of time preference is defined as the discount rate in a scenario where present and future generations have equal resources and opportunities. A zero pure rate of time preference in this case would indicate that all generations are treated equally. The future generation do not have a "voice" on today's current policies, so the present generation are morally responsible to treat the future generation in the same manner. He suggests for a lower discount rate in which the present generation should invest in the future to reduce the risks of climate change. Assumptions are made to support estimating high and low discount rates. These estimates depend on future emissions, climate sensitivity relative to increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, and the seriousness of impacts over time. Long-term climate policies will significantly impact future generations and this is called intergenerational discounting. Factors that make intergenerational discounting complicated include the great uncertainty of economic growth, future generations are affected by today's policies, and private discounting will be affected due to a longer "investment horizon". Controversy Discounting is a relatively controversial issue in both climate change mitigation and environmental economics due to the ethical implications of valuing future generations less than present ones. Non-economists often find it difficult to grapple with the idea that thousands of dollars of future costs and benefits can be valued at less than a cent in the present after discounting. This devaluation can lead to overconsumption and "strategic ignorance" where individuals choose to ignore information that would prevent the overconsumption of resources. Contrary to this, orthodox economists concerned with equality argue that it is important to distribute society's resources equitably across time, and since they generally, rightly or wrongly predict positive economic growth, despite global climate change, they argue that current generations should damage the environment in which future generations live so that the current ones can consume and produce more to equalize the (rightly or wrongly) assumed gains to the future from a supposed growing net GDP. That being said, not all economists share this opinion as notable economist Frank Ramsey once described discounting as "ethically indefensible."One root of this controversy can be attributed to the discrepancies between the time scales environmentalists and corporations/governments view the world with. Environmental processes such as the carbonate-silicate cycle and Milankovitch cycles occur on timescales of thousands of years while economic processes, such as infrastructure investments, occur on time scales as short as thirty years. The difference between these two scales makes balancing both interests, sustainability and efficiency, incredibly difficult. Implementation Because discounting rates are determined and implemented by individual governments, discounting rates are not unanimous across the globe. They range from percentages as high as 15%, as in the Philippines, to as low as 3%, as in Germany. United States Discounting in the United States is a complicated area for policy analysis. The discounting rate is not the same for every government agency. As of 1992, the recommended discounting rate from the Environmental Protection Agency is 2–3% while the Office of Management and Budget recommends a discount rate of 7%. Further complicating things, these rates are fluid and change every year depending on the administration. United Kingdom The United Kingdom is one of very few governmental bodies that currently use what is known as a declining discount rate. Declining discount rates are gaining popularity due to the fact that they address the uncertainties in economic growth which allows for greater weight to be placed on future benefits, but the extent to this advantage remains to be proven. Decision analysis This is a quantitative type of analysis that is used to assess different potential decisions. Examples are cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis. In cost-benefit analysis, both costs and benefits are assessed economically. In cost-effectiveness analysis, the benefit-side of the analysis, e.g., a specified ceiling for the atmospheric concentration of GHGs, is not based on economic assessment. One of the benefits of decision analysis is that the analysis is reproducible. Weaknesses, however, have been citied: The decision maker: In decision analysis, it is assumed that a single decision maker, with well-order preferences, is present throughout the analysis. In a cost-benefit analysis, the preferences of the decision maker are determined by applying the concepts of "willingness to pay" (WTP) and "willingness to accept" (WTA). These concepts are applied in an attempt to determine the aggregate value that society places on different resources. In reality, there is no single decision maker. Different decision makers have different sets of values and preferences, and for this reason, decision analysis cannot yield a universally preferred solution. Utility valuation: Many of the outcomes of climate policy decisions are difficult to value.Arrow et al. (1996a) concluded that while decision analysis had value, it could not identify a globally optimal policy for mitigation. In determining nationally optimal mitigation policies, the problems of decision analysis were viewed as being less important. Cost-benefit analysis In an economically efficient mitigation response, the marginal (or incremental) costs of mitigation would be balanced against the marginal benefits of emission reduction. "Marginal" means that the costs and benefits of preventing (abating) the emission of the last unit of CO2-eq are being compared. Units are measured in tonnes of CO2-eq. The marginal benefits are the avoided damages from an additional tonne of carbon (emitted as carbon dioxide) being abated in a given emissions pathway (the social cost of carbon). A problem with this approach is that the marginal costs and benefits of mitigation are uncertain, particularly with regards to the benefits of mitigation (Munasinghe et al., 1996, p. 159). In the absence of risk aversion, and certainty over the costs and benefits, the optimum level of mitigation would be the point where marginal costs equal marginal benefits. As of 2022 the models are not good enough to be certain, but the IPCC said that "emerging evidence suggests that, even without accounting for co-benefits of mitigation on other sustainable development dimensions, the global benefits of pathways likely to limit warming to 2°C outweigh global mitigation costs over the 21st century" (see economics of global warming#Trade offs).: 51 Damage function In cost-benefit analysis, the optimal timing of mitigation depends more on the shape of the aggregate damage function than the overall damages of climate change (Fisher et al., 2007:235). If a damage function is used that shows smooth and regular damages, e.g., a cubic function, the results suggest that emission abatement should be postponed. This is because the benefits of early abatement are outweighed by the benefits of investing in other areas that accelerate economic growth. This result can change if the damage function is changed to include the possibility of catastrophic climate change impacts. Cost estimates Global costs Mitigation cost estimates depend critically on the baseline (in this case, a reference scenario that the alternative scenario is compared with), the way costs are modelled, and assumptions about future government policy.: 622  Macroeconomic costs in 2030 were estimated for multi-gas mitigation (reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other GHGs, such as methane) as between a 3% decrease in global GDP to a small increase, relative to baseline. This was for an emissions pathway consistent with atmospheric stabilization of GHGs between 445 and 710 ppm CO2-eq. In 2050, the estimated costs for stabilization between 710 and 445 ppm CO2-eq ranged between a 1% gain to a 5.5% decrease in global GDP, relative to baseline. These cost estimates were supported by a moderate amount of evidence and much agreement in the literature.: 11, 18 Macroeconomic cost estimates were mostly based on models that assumed transparent markets, no transaction costs, and perfect implementation of cost-effective policy measures across all regions throughout the 21st century.: 204  Relaxation of some or all these assumptions would lead to an appreciable increase in cost estimates. On the other hand, cost estimates could be reduced by allowing for accelerated technological learning, or the possible use of carbon tax/emission permit revenues to reform national tax systems.: 8 In most of the assessed studies, costs rose for increasingly stringent stabilization targets. In scenarios that had high baseline emissions, mitigation costs were generally higher for comparable stabilization targets. In scenarios with low emissions baselines, mitigation costs were generally lower for comparable stabilization targets. Distributional effects Regional costs Several studies have estimated regional mitigation costs. The conclusions of these studies are as follows:: 776  Regional abatement costs are largely dependent on the assumed stabilization level and baseline scenario. The allocation of emission allowances/permits is also an important factor, but for most countries, is less important than the stabilization level. Other costs arise from changes in international trade. Fossil fuel-exporting regions are likely to be affected by losses in coal and oil exports compared to baseline, while some regions might experience increased bio-energy (energy derived from biomass) exports. Allocation schemes based on current emissions (i.e., where the most allowances/permits are given to the largest current polluters, and the fewest allowances are given to smallest current polluters) lead to welfare losses for developing countries, while allocation schemes based on a per capita convergence of emissions (i.e., where per capita emissions are equalized) lead to welfare gains for developing countries. Sectoral costs In 2001 it was predicted that the renewables sector could potentially benefit from mitigation.: 563  The coal (and possibly the oil) industry was predicted to potentially lose substantial proportions of output relative to a baseline scenario.: 563 Cost sharing Distributing emissions abatement costs There have been different proposals on how to allocate responsibility for cutting emissions:: 103  Egalitarianism: this system interprets the problem as one where each person has equal rights to a global resource, i.e., polluting the atmosphere. Basic needs: this system would have emissions allocated according to basic needs, as defined according to a minimum level of consumption. Consumption above basic needs would require countries to buy more emission rights. From this viewpoint, developing countries would need to be at least as well off under an emissions control regime as they would be outside the regime. Proportionality and polluter-pays principle: Proportionality reflects the ancient Aristotelian principle that people should receive in proportion to what they put in, and pay in proportion to the damages they cause. This has a potential relationship with the "polluter-pays principle", which can be interpreted in a number of ways: Historical responsibilities: this asserts that allocation of emission rights should be based on patterns of past emissions. Two-thirds of the stock of GHGs in the atmosphere at present is due to the past actions of developed countries.: 29  Comparable burdens and ability to pay: with this approach, countries would reduce emissions based on comparable burdens and their ability to take on the costs of reduction. Ways to assess burdens include monetary costs per head of population, as well as other, more complex measures, like the UNDP's Human Development Index. Willingness to pay: with this approach, countries take on emission reductions based on their ability to pay along with how much they benefit from reducing their emissions. Specific proposals Equal per capita entitlements: this is the most widely cited method of distributing abatement costs, and is derived from egalitarianism.: 106  This approach can be divided into two categories. In the first category, emissions are allocated according to national population. In the second category, emissions are allocated in a way that attempts to account for historical (cumulative) emissions. Status quo: with this approach, historical emissions are ignored, and current emission levels are taken as a status quo right to emit.: 107  An analogy for this approach can be made with fisheries, which is a common, limited resource. The analogy would be with the atmosphere, which can be viewed as an exhaustible natural resource.: 27  In international law, one state recognized the long-established use of another state's use of the fisheries resource. It was also recognized by the state that part of the other state's economy was dependent on that resource. Barriers to change It may not be in the interest of many large companies to help mitigate climate change sufficiently instead of striving to generate near-maximum profit in the contemporary socioeconomic system, a globalized competitive consumption-demanding environment, and use all legal means to delay climate change action if such is beneficial. This is because their products are being bought by consumers, the stock market likely underestimates (or cannot value) e.g. social benefits of climate mitigation, they are regulatable by governments, and don't have as much power as many large states (or groups of such) which e.g. have capacities of law enforcement and military, customs, legal frameworks and for business-, media-, education-, global-, trade- and industrial policies.A fraction of such policies or measures are invariably initially at least partly unpopular, and in the contemporary decision-making environment of (campaign-marketing-, party-, media-, and electoral/referendum plain votes-based) politics, unpopular decisions may be difficult for politicians to enact directly or help facilitate indirectly. The question of the largest responsibility or driver may be about who is holding (or withholding) the power (and capacity) to create and change the systems that cause climate change, such as the transportation system.According to a study, "staying within a 1.5 °C carbon budget (50% probability) implies leaving almost 40% of 'developed reserves' of fossil fuels unextracted". Climate policies-induced future lost financial profits from global stranded fossil-fuel assets would lead to major losses for freely managed wealth of investors in advanced economies in current economics. See also References Sources Carbon Trust (March 2009), Global Carbon Mechanisms: Emerging lessons and implications (CTC748), Carbon Trust Grubb, M. (July–September 2003), "The Economics of the Kyoto Protocol" (PDF), World Economics, 4 (3), archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011 IPCC TAR WG3 (2001), Metz, B.; Davidson, O.; Swart, R.; Pan, J. (eds.), Climate Change 2001: Mitigation, Contribution of Working Group III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-80769-2, archived from the original on 27 February 2017, retrieved 12 May 2019 (pb: 0-521-01502-2). Olivier, J.G.J.; Janssens-Maenhout, G.; Peters, J.A.H.W.; Wilson, J. (21 September 2011), Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions; 2011 report (PDF), The Hague, Netherlands: PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency; Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), ISBN 978-90-78645-68-9, archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2011, retrieved 8 October 2012. PBL publication number 500253004. JRC Technical Note number JRC65918. Stern, N. (2006), Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change (pre-publication edition), London, UK: HM Treasury, archived from the original on 7 April 2010 World Bank (2011), State and Trends of the Carbon Market Report 2011 (PDF), Washington, DC, USA: World Bank Environment Department, Carbon Finance Unit External links IPCC Working Group III (WG III). This body assesses options for mitigating climate change through limiting or preventing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing activities that remove them from the atmosphere.

climate change art

Climate change art is art inspired by climate change and global warming, generally intended to overcome humans' hardwired tendency to value personal experience over data and to disengage from data-based representations by making the data "vivid and accessible". One of the goal of climate change art is to "raise awareness of the crisis", as well as engage viewers politically and environmentally.Some climate change art involves community involvement with the environment. Other approaches involve revealing socio-political concerns through their various artistic forms, such as painting, video, photography, sound and films. These works are intended to encourage viewers to reflect on their daily actions "in a socially responsible manner to preserve and protect the planet".Climate change art is created both by scientists and by non-scientist artists. The field overlaps with data art. History The Guardian reported that in response to a backlash in the 1990s against fossil fuels and nuclear plants, major energy companies stepped up their philanthropic giving, including to arts organizations, "to a point where many major national institutions were on the payroll of the fossil fuel giants," effectively silencing many environmentally-focused artists.In 2005 Bill McKibben wrote an article, What the Warming World Needs Now Is Art, Sweet Art that argued that "An intellectual understanding of the scientific facts was not enough – if we wanted to move forward and effect meaningful change, we needed to engage the other side of our brains. We needed to approach the problem with our imagination. And the people best suited to help us do that, he believed, were the artists." According to climate change in the arts organization The Arctic Cycle, "It took some time for artists to heed the call."In 2009 The Guardian reported that the art world was "waking up to climate-change art." Reporting on the 2020 We Make Tomorrow conference on climate change and the arts in London, Artnet News commented that "instead of being seduced by sponsorships from deep-pocketed organizations invested in the fossil-fuel industry, institutions should look for new funding models." Effects and influence Representation and interpretation According to Artnet News, climate change can be represented meaningfully through art because "Art has a way of getting ahead of the general discourse because it can convey information in novel ways." Climate change artworks differ in how they are interpreted by and how they impact the viewer. Laura Kim Sommer and Christian Andreas Klöckner (both from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology) conducted a survey of attendees of the Parisian art festival ArtCOP21 in 2015 (that was held at the same time as the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference) regarding 37 artworks within the festival. The responses led Sommer and Klöckner's research to develop four characterizations of the works of art in terms of their content and the responses of the viewers to the artworks. The first categorization was labeled "the comforting utopia", which meant that the artwork had given off positive emotions but did not inspire people to enact positive climate action. The second categorization was labeled "the challenging dystopia", which meant that the artwork had given off negative emotions and greatly inspired climate nonaction. The third categorization was labeled "the mediocre mythology", which meant that the artwork had given off neutral emotions and did not inspire people to enact positive climate action.The final categorization was labeled "the awesome solution", which meant that the work of art had given off both positive and negative emotions but inspired people to enact positive climate action. The data collected by Sommer and Klöckner was categorized by them in 2019 into different psychological characteristics and connected these to functions of the brain to see where various emotions were triggered from observing the art and concluded that works of art that were not in "the challenging dystopia" category were generally more likely to leave audiences open to positive climate action, with "the awesome solution" works of art being the most likely of all the categories to inspire positive climate action.Journalist Betsy Mason wrote in Knowable that humans are visual creatures by nature, absorbing information in graphic form that would elude them in words, adding that bad visuals can impair public understanding of science. Similarly, Bang Wong, creative director of MIT's Broad Institute, stated that visualizations can reveal patterns, trends, and connections in data that are difficult or impossible to find any other way.In particular, climate change art has been used both to make scientific data more accessible to non-scientists and to express people's fears. Some research indicates that climate change art is not particularly effective in changing peoples views, though art with a "hopeful" message gives people ideas for change. Projecting a positive message, climate scientist Ed Hawkins said that "infiltrating popular culture is a means of triggering a change of attitude that will lead to mass action".Students who are taught means to illustrate the concepts of global warming expressed through art can show greater learning gains than by learning the scientific basis alone. This was illustrated by a study conducted at a public high school in Portugal by Julia Bentz (a postgraduate researcher for the Centre for Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Changes at the University of Lisbon in Portugal) in 2018 and 2019. In this study, 70 high school students between the ages of 16 and 18 undertook two separate projects relating to arts and global warming. The first art project involved the students finding a small but impactful change in their lives that leads to positive global warming change and sticking to it for 30 days, where the data they collected was reflected in various group discussions and individual writing and art projects. The second art project involved the students reading global warming-focused short stories then discussing their takeaways in group discussions and producing art projects focused on specific topics concerning what they discussed. Bentz took first-hand observations of all of the various group and individual discussions & assignments and transmuted them into analytic memos that suggested that the above projects be used by teachers to more positively engage their students more effectively about global warming than a more fear-based approach.It is thought that people who engage with climate change art feel a sense of belonging, a feeling of connection to a cause, and a sense of empowerment. Participatory climate change art, such as downloading warming stripes graphics for one's own locality or using a climate-related logo, provides an interactive element that gets people involved.Lucia Pietroiusti, the curator of "general ecology" at the Serpentine Galleries, suggested "a radical redefinition of what constitutes an artwork...to include environmental campaigns," saying that "By calling something an artwork, you are allowing an institution to support it." Expansion of formats In recent years, the expansion of climate change art beyond purely visual representations has allowed for an expansion of audiences able to appreciate and experience this art, specifically those who experience Visual impairment. These musical forms of climate change art include pieces performed using environmental media to represent climate change and popular music whose lyrical aspects address climate change topics. Climate change composer Daniel Crawford said that "climate scientists have a standard toolbox to communicate their data, and what we [climate change artists] are trying to do is to add to that another tool to that toolbox to people who might get more out of this than maps graphs and numbers". In the performing arts, there has been an increasing number of stage productions related to climate change, such as those performed by the global movement, Climate Change Theatre Action.A 2022 survey article published in Music and Science noted that music was already being written and performed to address the climate crisis, but said that music psychology research had not addressed that question directly. The article said that there is "strong evidence" for the power of music "to change listeners' and performers' emotions, moods, thoughts, levels of empathy, and beliefs", and urged further research. Use of climate change art by non-governmental organizations Various non-governmental organizations (or NGOs) work to emphasize the effects climate change-inspired art can have to inspire positive climate action worldwide. In Australia, the NGO CLIMARTE aims for people to not just get the right information out through works of art made from the joint effort of artists and from climate change-focused scientists alike, but to enact positive climate action, opening a gallery based on such works of art in the Richmond neighborhood of Melbourne. In the Netherlands, the NGO Fossil Free Culture works to sever the linkage between fine arts organizations and global petroleum corporations, and to see that works of art that are critical of climate change get the proper forum to enact positive climate action. Based out of Yangon, Myanmar, but operating all over Southeast Asia, the NGO Kinnari Ecological Theatre Project (or KETEP) stages folk performative arts from the regional area with the intention of confronting an issue related to climate change decided by the performers to spread to its audience in hopes of enacting positive climate action. In the United Kingdom, the NGO Platform works to incorporate education into the mixture of science and fine arts by providing curriculums to schools that teach climate change science through various arts and literature-based projects. Emphasis on solutions The 2015 exhibition 'Art Works For Change' aims to demonstrate the options available to reduce emissions and other climate change impacts, such as reducing carbon footprints, conserving energy, and making sustainable transportation choices among others. Reception Journalist Betsy Mason wrote in Knowable that humans are visual creatures by nature, absorbing information in graphic form that would elude them in words, adding that bad visuals can impair public understanding of science. Similarly, Bang Wong, creative director of MIT's Broad Institute, stated that visualizations can reveal patterns, trends, and connections in data that are difficult or impossible to find any other way.Malcolm Miles (professor of Cultural Theory at the University of Plymouth, U.K.) is among those who believe that art that is centered on global warming can potentially normalize climate inaction. Miles cites the Natural Reality art exhibition that was held in Aachen, Germany in 1999 as an example, which had a credo of needing to find original ideas for how to depict nature "'because the images of the visible nature it processed before have lost their validity'". Miles similarly mentions the 2006 art exhibition Climate Change and Cultural Change that was held in both Newcastle and Gateshead, in northern England, which tried to be more direct in their climate advocacy by commissioning works of art such as "a montage by [artist] Peter Kennard depicting the Earth attached to a petrol pump, choking on black oil" and Water Mist Wall (2005), a video instillation by David Buckland that detailed his efforts to provide a carbon-free schooner ride to the artic to see first-hand the melting glaciers and icebergs caused by global warming. These intense visual displays led to a numbing effect among audience members, which led not to positive climate action but to climate inaction.Miles also argues that art that is centered on global warming might be more truly centered on singularly moving forward the artist's feeling of self-representation and not propagating concrete positive change about global warming, that these works of art can only potentially spread awareness and nothing more. The history of 'found objects' as art that started in the Dadaist movement of modern art in the early 20th Century has transitioned in more recent years into "the art [sculptures] of natural conservation of Andy Goldsworthy", which comments on how modern landscapes are less focused on the natural aspects of an environment but more so on human interaction within an environment such as "war memorials" and "country walking". Miles mentions that the majority of people who see Goldsworthy's work do not see them in-person – and outdoors – but through photos found in books, websites, and gallery shows. Similarly, Miles cites the Groundworks art exhibition held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2005 that was curated by "art historian Grant Kester", whom Miles quoted in saying that when talking about an artist's relationship to nature that "'the artist's brush can as easily resemble a dissecting scalpel as it can a lover's caress'"; which Kester says is due to an artist's need to be a part of the global market economy to sustain themselves.Finally, Miles argues that art that is centered on global warming that is also seen to be aesthetically boring or awful is more likely to lead to inaction than works of art that are seen to be aesthetically exciting or awe-inspiring. The reviews of Goldworth's sculptures by David Matless – a professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Nottingham, U.K. – and George Revill – a professor of Cultural Historical Geography at The Open University, U.K. – were done so not so much for their aesthetic quality – which they go out of their way to not comment on – but for their environmental advocacy are used by Miles as an example of this. Examples Olafur Eliasson's "Ice Watch" piece is an example of climate change art.Researchers analyzing artwork created between 2000 and 2016 found that climate change art production increased over the period.In 1998, Matthew Brutner composed Sikuigvik (The Time of Ice Melting), which began as an ode to the "beauty of the Arctic", but over time has evolved into a frightening representation of the loss of the Arctic environment.In 2002, Alan Sonfist created a series of wood sculptures sourced from the Roybal Fire in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The work included 22 pieces of salvaged wood standing vertically on concrete pedestals with tree seeds scattered on the surrounding floorspace, using natural elements to make ecological processes and concepts tangible.A group started in 2005 to create crochet versions of coral reefs grew by 2022 to over 20,000 contributors in what became the Crochet Coral Reef Project. Organized by Margaret and Christine Wertheim, the project promotes awareness of the effects of global warming. Project creations have been displayed in galleries and museums by an estimated 2 million people. Many creations apply hyperbolic (curved) geometric shapes—distinguished from Euclidean (flat) geometry—to emulate natural structures.In 2007, artist Eve Mosher used a sports-field chalk marker to draw a blue "high-water" line around Manhattan and Brooklyn, showing the areas that would be underwater if climate change predictions are realized. Her HighWaterLine Project has since drawn high-water lines around Bristol, Philadelphia, and two coastal cities in Florida.In 2012, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski made Chasing Ice, documenting photographer James Balog's Extreme Ice Survey, which uses time-lapse photography to show the disappearance of glaciers over time.In 2015, an online exhibition called 'Footing The Bill: Art and Our Ecological Footprint', was created by Art Works For Change to show a range of artist expressions (such as Sebastian Copeland and Fred Tomaselli) of climate change through their work.Starting in 2017 The Tempestry Project encouraged fiber artists to create "tempestries", scarf-size banners showing temperature change over time. Each tempestry is knitted or crocheted, one row per day in a color representing that day's high temperature, for a year. Two or more tempestries for the same location, each representing different years, are displayed together to show daily-high temperature change over time. In 2018 artist Xavier Cortada's project Underwater Home Owner's Association placed signs in front yards throughout Miami, Florida indicating each property's height above sea level to illustrate what the sea level rise would flood that property.In 2019, the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, launched its inaugural Grantham Art Prize, commissioning original works by six artists who collaborated with climate researchers. See also Craftivism Environmentalism Climate change Environmental Art Ecological Art References External links Windhager, Florian; Schreder, Günther; Mayr, Eva (2019). "On Inconvenient Images: Exploring the Design Space of Engaging Climate Change Visualizations for Public Audiences". Workshop on Visualisation in Environmental Sciences (EnvirVis). The Eurographics Association: 1–8. doi:10.2312/envirvis.20191098. ISBN 9783038680864. — Survey of climate change visualizations Paddison, Laurie (September 23, 2018). "8 Artists Taking On The Big Global Challenge: Climate Change "We should (and may) die trying to render climate change issues accessible."". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. "Footing the Bill: Art and Our Ecological Footprint (2020)" Art Works For Change (archive)

media coverage of climate change

Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it conveys the scientific consensus on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.Climate change communication research shows that coverage has grown and become more accurate.: 11 Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of politics of climate change is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. History Media attention is especially high in carbon dependent countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The way the media report on climate change in English-speaking countries, especially in the United States, has been widely studied, while studies of reporting in other countries have been less expansive. A number of studies have shown that particularly in the United States and in the UK tabloid press, the media significantly understated the strength of scientific consensus on climate change established in IPCC Assessment Reports in 1995 and in 2001. A peak in media coverage occurred in early 2007, driven by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. A subsequent peak in late 2009, which was 50% higher, may have been driven by a combination of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit email controversy and December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference.The Media and Climate Change Observatory team at the University of Colorado Boulder found that 2017 "saw media attention to climate change and global warming ebb and flow" with June seeing the maximum global media coverage on both subjects. This rise is "largely attributed to news surrounding United States (US) President Donald J. Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 United Nations (UN) Paris Climate Agreement, with continuing media attention paid to the emergent US isolation following through the G7 summit a few weeks later."Media coverage of climate change during the Trump Administration remained prominent as most news outlets placed heavy emphasis on Trump-related stories rather than climate-related events. This shift in media focus is referred to as "Trump Dump" and was shown to peak in times when the President was most active on Twitter. Just in the year 2017, the word "Trump" was mentioned 19,187 times in stories covered by five of the nation's biggest press accounts, with "climate" being the second most frequent word.In a 2020 article, Mark Kaufman of Mashable noted that the English Wikipedia's article on climate change has "hundreds of credible citations" which "counters the stereotype that publicly-policed, collaboratively-edited Wikipedia pages are inherently unreliable". Common distortions Factual Scientists and media scholars who express frustrations with inadequate science reporting argue that it can lead to at least three basic distortions. First, journalists distort reality by making scientific errors. Second, they distort by keying on human-interest stories rather than scientific content. And third, journalists distort by rigid adherence to the construct of balanced coverage. Bord, O'Connor, & Fisher (1998) argue that responsible citizenry necessitates a concrete knowledge of causes and that until, for example, the public understands what causes climate change it cannot be expected to take voluntary action to mitigate its effects.In 2022 the IPCC reported that "Accurate transference of the climate science has been undermined significantly by climate change countermovements, in both legacy and new/social media environments through misinformation.": 11 Narrative According to Shoemaker and Reese, controversy is one of the main variables affecting story choice among news editors, along with human interest, prominence, timeliness, celebrity, and proximity. Coverage of climate change has been accused of falling victim to the journalistic norm of "personalization". W.L Bennet defines this trait as: "the tendency to downplay the big social, economic, or political picture in favor of human trials, tragedies and triumphs". The culture of political journalism has long used the notion of balanced coverage in covering the controversy. In this construct, it is permissible to air a highly partisan opinion, provided this view is accompanied by a competing opinion. But recently scientists and scholars have challenged the legitimacy of this journalistic core value with regard to matters of great importance on which the overwhelming majority of the scientific community has reached a well-substantiated consensus view. In a survey of 636 articles from four top United States newspapers between 1988 and 2002, two scholars found that most articles gave as much time to the small group of climate change doubters as to the scientific consensus view. Given real consensus among climatologists over global warming, many scientists find the media's desire to portray the topic as a scientific controversy to be a gross distortion. As Stephen Schneider put it: "a mainstream, well-established consensus may be 'balanced' against the opposing views of a few extremists, and to the uninformed, each position seems equally credible." Science journalism concerns itself with gathering and evaluating various types of relevant evidence and rigorously checking sources and facts. Boyce Rensberger, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Knight Center for Science Journalism, said, "balanced coverage of science does not mean giving equal weight to both sides of an argument. It means apportioning weight according to the balance of evidence."The claims of scientists also get distorted by the media by a tendency to seek out extreme views, which can result in portrayal of risks well beyond the claims actually being made by scientists. Journalists tend to overemphasize the most extreme outcomes from a range of possibilities reported in scientific articles. A study that tracked press reports about a climate change article in the journal Nature found that "results and conclusions of the study were widely misrepresented, especially in the news media, to make the consequences seem more catastrophic and the timescale shorter."A 2020 study in PNAS found that newspapers tended to give greater coverage of press releases that opposed action on climate change than those that supported action. The study attributes it to false balance.Research that was done by Todd Newman, Erik Nisbet, and Matthew Nisbet shows that people's partisan preference is an indicator as to which media outlet they will most likely consume. Most media outlets often align with a particular partisan ideology. This causes people to resort to selective exposure which influences views on world issues such as climate change beliefs.Since 1990 climate scientists have communicated urgent warnings while simultaneously experiencing the media converting their statements into sensational entertainment. Alarmism To achieve climate action Alarmism is using inflated language, including an urgent tone and imagery of doom. In a report produced for the Institute for Public Policy Research Gill Ereaut and Nat Segnit suggested that alarmist language is frequently used in relation to environmental matters by newspapers, popular magazines and in campaign literature put out by the government and environment groups. It is claimed that when applied to climate change, alarmist language can create a greater sense of urgency.It has been argued that using sensational and alarming techniques, often evoke "denial, paralysis, or apathy" rather than motivating individuals to action and do not motivate people to become engaged with the issue of climate change. In the context of climate refugees—the potential for climate change to displace people—it has been reported that "alarmist hyperbole" is frequently employed by private military contractors and think tanks. To challenge the science related to global warming The term alarmist has been used as a pejorative by critics of mainstream climate science to describe those that endorse the scientific consensus without necessarily being unreasonable. MIT meteorologist Kerry Emanuel wrote that labeling someone as an "alarmist" is "a particularly infantile smear considering what is at stake." He continued that using this "inflammatory terminology has a distinctly Orwellian flavor."Some media reports have used alarmist tactics to challenge the science related to global warming by comparing it with a purported episode of global cooling. In the 1970s, global cooling, a claim with limited scientific support (even during the height of a media frenzy over global cooling, "the possibility of anthropogenic warming dominated the peer-reviewed literature") was widely reported in the press.Several media pieces have claimed that since the even-at-the-time-poorly-supported theory of global cooling was shown to be false, that the well-supported theory of global warming can also be dismissed. For example, an article in The Hindu by Kapista and Bashkirtsev wrote: "Who remembers today, they query, that in the 1970s, when global temperatures began to dip, many warned that we faced a new ice age? An editorial in The Time magazine on June 24, 1974, quoted concerned scientists as voicing alarm over the atmosphere 'growing gradually cooler for the past three decades', 'the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland,' and other harbingers of an ice age that could prove 'catastrophic.' Man was blamed for global cooling as he is blamed today for global warming", and the Irish Independent published an article claiming that "The widespread alarm over global warming is only the latest scare about the environment to come our way since the 1960s. Let's go through some of them. Almost exactly 30 years ago the world was in another panic about climate change. However, it wasn't the thought of global warming that concerned us. It was the fear of its opposite, global cooling. The doom-sayers were wrong in the past and it's entirely possible they're wrong this time as well." Numerous other examples exist. Media, politics, and public discourse As McCombs et al.'s 1972 study of the political function of mass media showed, media coverage of an issue can "play an important part in shaping political reality". Research into media coverage of climate change has demonstrated the significant role of the media in determining climate policy formation. The media has considerable bearing on public opinion, and the way in which issues are reported, or framed, establishes a particular discourse. Media-policy interface The relationship between media and politics is reflexive. As Feindt & Oels state, "[media] discourse has material and power effects as well as being the effect of material practices and power relations". Public support of climate change research ultimately decides whether or not funding for the research is made available to scientists and institutions. Media coverage in the United States during the Bush Administration often emphasized and exaggerated scientific uncertainty over climate change, reflecting the interests of the political elite. Hall et al. suggest that government and corporate officials enjoy privileged access to the media, allowing their line to become the 'primary definer' of an issue. Media sources and their institutions very often have political leanings which determine their reporting on climate change, mirroring the views of a particular party. However, media also has the capacity to challenge political norms and expose corrupt behaviour, as demonstrated in 2007 when The Guardian revealed that American Enterprise Institute received $10,000 from petrochemical giant Exxon Mobil to publish articles undermining the IPCC's 4th assessment report. Ever-strengthening scientific consensus on climate change means that skepticism is becoming less prevalent in the media (although the email scandal in the build up to Copenhagen reinvigorated climate skepticism in the media). Discourses of action Commentators have argued that the climate change discourses constructed in the media have not been conducive to generating the political will for swift action. The polar bear has become a powerful discursive symbol in the fight against climate change. However, such images may create a perception of climate change impacts as geographically distant, and MacNaghten argues that climate change needs to be framed as an issue 'closer to home'. On the other hand, Beck suggests that a major benefit of global media is that it brings distant issues within our consciousness.Furthermore, media coverage of climate change (particularly in tabloid journalism but also more generally), is concentrated around extreme weather events and projections of catastrophe, creating "a language of imminent terror" which some commentators argue has instilled policy-paralysis and inhibited response. Moser et al. suggest using solution-orientated frames will help inspire action to solve climate change. The predominance of catastrophe frames over solution frames may help explain the apparent value-action gap with climate change; the current discursive setting has generated concern over climate change but not inspired action. Breaking the prevailing notions in society requires discourse that is traditionally appropriate and approachable to common people. For example, Bill McKibben, an environmental activist, provides one approach to inspiring action: a war-like mobilization, where climate change is the enemy. This approach could resonate with working Americans who normally find themselves occupied with other news headlines.Compared to what experts know about traditional media's and tabloid journalism's impacts on the formation of public perceptions of climate change and willingness to act, there is comparatively little knowledge of the impacts of social media, including message platforms like Twitter, on public attitudes toward climate change.In recent years, there has been an increase in the influence and role that social media plays in conveying opinions and knowledge through information sharing. There are several emerging studies that explore the connection between social media and the public's awareness of climate change. Anderson found that there is evidence that social media can raise awareness of climate change issues, but warns that it can also lead to opinion-dominated ideologies and reinforcement. Another study examined datasets from Twitter to assess the ideas and attitudes that users of the application held toward climate change. Williams et al. found that users tend to be active in groups that share the same opinions, often at the extremes of the spectrum, resulting in less polarized opinions between the groups. These studies show that social media can have both a negative and positive impact on the information sharing of issues related to climate change. Youth awareness and activism Published in the journal Childhood, the article "Children's protest in relation to the climate emergency: A qualitative study on a new form of resistance promoting political and social change" considers how children have evolved into prominent actors to create a global impact on awareness of climate change. It highlights the work of children like Greta Thunberg and the significance of their resistance to the passivity of world leaders regarding climate change. It also discusses how individual resistance can directly be linked to collective resistance and that this then creates a more powerful impact, empowering young people to act more responsibly and take authority over the future. The article discusses the potential impact of youth to raise awareness while also inspiring action, and using social media platforms to share the message. Coverage by country Australia Australian news outlets have been reported to present misleading claims and information. One article from The Australian in 2009 claimed that climate change and global warming were fraudulent claims pushed by so-called "warmaholics". Many other examples of claims that dismiss climate change have been posted by media outlets in Australia throughout the years following as well. The 2013 summer and heat wave colloquially known as "Angry Summer" attracted a great deal of media attention, although few outlets directly linked the unprecedented heat to climate change. As the world entered into 2020, global media coverage of climate change issues decreased and COVID-19 coverage increased. In Australia there was a 34% decrease in climate change articles published from March 2020. A 2022 analysis found that Sky News Australia was a major source of climate misinformation globally.Australia has recently experienced some of the most intense bushfire seasons in its immediate history. This phenomenon has sparked extensive media coverage both nationally and internationally. Much of the media coverage of the 2019 and 2020 Australian bushfire seasons discussed the different factors that lead to and increase the chances of extreme fire seasons. A climate scientist, Nerilie Abram, at Australian National University explained in an article for Scientific American, that the four major conditions need to exist for wildfire and those include "available fuel, dryness of that fuel, weather conditions that aid the rapid spread of fire and an ignition. Canada During the Harper government (2006-2015), Canadian media, mostly notably the CBC, made little effort to balance the claims of global warming deniers with voices from science. The Canadian coverage appeared to be driven more by national and international political events rather than the changes to carbon emissions or various other ecological factors. The discourse was dominated by matters of government responsibility, policy-making, policy measures for mitigation, and ways to mitigate climate change; with the issue coverage by mass media outlets continuing to act as an important means of communicating environmental concerns to the general public, rather than introducing new ideas about the topic itself.Within various provincial and language media outlets, there are varying levels of articulation regarding scientific consensus and the focus on ecological dimensions of climate change. Within Quebec, specifically, these outlets are more likely to position climate change as an international issue, and to link climate change to social justice concerns in order to depict Quebec as a pro-environmental society.Across various nations, including Canada, there has been an increased effort in the use of celebrities in climate change coverage, which is able to gain audience attention, but in turn, it reinforces individualized rather than structural interpretations of climate change responsibility and solutions. China Sweden Japan In Japan, a study of newspaper coverage of climate change from January 1998 to July 2007 found coverage increased dramatically from January 2007. India A 2010 study of four major, national circulation English-language newspapers in India examined "the frames through which climate change is represented in India", and found that "The results strongly contrast with previous studies from developed countries; by framing climate change along a 'risk-responsibility divide', the Indian national press set up a strongly nationalistic position on climate change that divides the issue along both developmental and postcolonial lines."On the other hand, a qualitative analysis of some mainstream Indian newspapers (particularly opinion and editorial pieces) during the release of the IPCC 4th Assessment Report and during the Nobel Peace Prize win by Al Gore and the IPCC found that Indian media strongly pursue scientific certainty in their coverage of climate change. This is in contrast to the skepticism displayed by American newspapers at the time. Indian media highlights energy challenges, social progress, public accountability and looming disaster. Ireland Ireland has quite a low coverage of climate change in media. A survey created shows how the Irish Times had only 0.84% of news coverage for climate change in the space of 13 years. This percentage is low compared to the rest of Europe. For example- Coverage of climate change in Ireland 10.6 stories, while the rest of Europe lies within 58.4 stories. New Zealand A six-month study in 1988 on climate change reporting in the media found that 80% of stories were no worse than slightly inaccurate. However, one story in six contained significant misreporting. Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth in conjunction with the Stern Review generated an increase in media interest in 2006. The popular media in New Zealand often give equal weight to those supporting anthropogenic climate change and those who deny it. This stance is out of step with the findings of the scientific community where the vast majority support the climate change scenarios. A survey carried out in 2007 on climate change gave the following responses: Turkey A study of mainstream media coverage in the late 2010s said that it tended to cover the consequences of climate change rather than mitigation or adaptation. United Kingdom The Guardian newspaper is internationally respected for its coverage of climate change. United States One of the first critical studies of media coverage of climate change in the United States appeared in 1999. The author summarized her research:Following a review of the decisive role of the media in American politics and of a few earlier studies of media bias, this paper examines media coverage of the greenhouse effect. It does so by comparing two pictures. The first picture emerges from reading all 100 greenhouse-related articles published over a five-month period (May–September 1997) in The Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post. The second picture emerges from the mainstream scientific literature. This comparison shows that media coverage of environmental issues suffers from both shallowness and pro-corporate bias.According to Peter J. Jacques et al., the mainstream news media of the United States is an example of the effectiveness of environmental skepticism as a tactic. A 2005 study reviewed and analyzed the US mass-media coverage of the environmental issue of climate change from 1988 to 2004. The authors confirm that within the journalism industry there is great emphasis on eliminating the presence of media bias. In their study they found that — due to this practice of journalistic objectivity — "Over a 15-year period, a majority (52.7%) of prestige-press articles featured balanced accounts that gave 'roughly equal attention' to the views that humans were contributing to global warming and that exclusively natural fluctuations could explain the earth's temperature increase [...] US mass-media have misrepresented the top climate scientific perspective regarding anthropogenic climate change." As a result, they observed that it is unsurprising for the public to believe that the issue of global warming and the accompanying scientific evidence is still hotly debated.A study of US newspapers and television news from 1995 to 2006 examined "how and why US media have represented conflict and contentions, despite an emergent consensus view regarding anthropogenic climate science." The IPCC Assessment Reports in 1995 and in 2001 established an increasingly strong scientific consensus, yet the media continued to present the science as contentious. The study noted the influence of Michael Crichton's 2004 novel State of Fear, which "empowered movements across scale, from individual perceptions to the perspectives of US federal powerbrokers regarding human contribution to climate change."A 2010 study concluded that "Mass media in the U.S. continue to suggest that scientific consensus estimates of global climate disruption, such as those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are 'exaggerated' and overly pessimistic. By contrast, work on the Asymmetry of Scientific Challenge (ASC) suggests that such consensus assessments are likely to understate climate disruptions [...] new scientific findings were more than twenty times as likely to support the ASC perspective than the usual framing of the issue in the U.S. mass media. The findings indicate that supposed challenges to the scientific consensus on global warming need to be subjected to greater scrutiny, as well as showing that, if reporters wish to discuss "both sides" of the climate issue, the scientifically legitimate 'other side' is that, if anything, global climate disruption may prove to be significantly worse than has been suggested in scientific consensus estimates to date." The most watched news network in the United States, Fox News, most of the time promotes climate misinformation and employs tactics that distract from the urgency of global climate change, according to a 2019 study by Public Citizen. According to the study, 86% of Fox News segments that discussed the topic were "dismissive of the climate crisis, cast its consequences in doubt or employed fear mongering when discussing climate solutions." These segments presented global climate change as a political construct, rarely, if ever, discussing the threat posed by climate change or the vast body of scientific evidence for its existence. Consistent with such politicized framing, three messages were most commonly advanced in these segments: global climate change is part of a "big government" agenda of the Democratic Party (34% of segments); an effective response to the climate crisis would destroy the economy and hurtle us back to the Stone Age (26% of segments); and, concern about the climate crisis is "alarmists", "hysterical," the shrill voice of a "doomsday climate cult," or the like (12% of segments). Such segments often featured "experts" who are not climate scientists at all or are personally connected to vested interests, such as the energy industry and its network of lobbyists and think tanks, for example, the Heartland Institute, funded by the Exxon Mobil company and the Koch foundation. The remaining segments (14%) were neutral on the subject or presented information without editorializing.It has been suggested that the association of climate change with the Arctic in popular media may undermine effective communication of the scientific realities of anthropogenic climate change. The close association of images of Arctic glaciers, ice, and fauna with climate change might harbor cultural connotations that contradict the fragility of the region. For example, in cultural-historical narratives, the Arctic was depicted as an unconquerable, foreboding environment for explorers; in climate change discourse, the same environment is sought to be understood as fragile and easily affected by humanity.Gallup's annual update on Americans' attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years (2008-2010) has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientist themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question.Data from the Media Matters for America organization has shown that, despite 2015 being "a year marked by more landmark actions to address climate change than ever before," the combined climate coverage on the top broadcast networks was down by 5% from 2014.President Donald Trump denies the threat of global warming publicly. As a result of the Trump Presidency, media coverage on climate change was expected to decline during his term as president.Globally, media coverage of global warming and climate change decreased in 2020. In the United States, however, newspaper coverage of climate change increased 29% between March 2020 and April 2020, these numbers are still 22% down from coverage in January 2020. This spike in April 2020 can be attributed to the increased coverage of the "Covering Climate Now'' campaign and the US holiday of "Earth Day". The overall decline in climate change coverage in the year 2020 is related to the increased coverage and interconnectedness of COVID-19 and President Trump, without mention of climate change, that began in January 2020.The U.S. experienced its highest level of climate change media coverage to date in September and October 2021 [1]. This increase can be attributed to coverage of the United Nations Conference of Parties meeting which aimed to outline policies to address climate change [2]. See also Climate apocalypse (about usage of the term) Climate change and civilizational collapse Climate change denial Climate Change Denial Disorder, satirical parody film about a fictional disease Climate change in popular culture Climate crisis (about usage of the term) Climate emergency declaration (includes usage of the term "climate emergency") Environmental communication Environmental skepticism Global warming controversy Merchants of Doubt Requiem for a Species References Further reading Pooley, Eric (June 8, 2010). The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-1-4013-2326-4. Michael Specter (2009). Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives. Penguin Press HC, The. ISBN 978-1-59420-230-8 Mike Hulme (2009). Why we disagree about climate change: understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-72732-7. Tammy Boyce; Lewis, Justin, eds. (2009). Climate Change and the Media (Global Crises and the Media). Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4331-0460-2. Uusi-Rauva C, Tienari J (2010). "On the relative nature of adequate measures: Media representations of the EU energy and climate package". Global Environmental Change. 20 (3): 492–501. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.03.001. Anderson, Alison (March 2009). "Media, Politics and Climate Change: Towards a New Research Agenda". Sociology Compass. 3 (2): 166–182. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00188.x. Who Speaks for the Climate?: Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change by Maxwell T. Boykoff, Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (September 30, 2011) ISBN 978-0-521-13305-0

climate change in the arctic

Major environmental issues caused by contemporary climate change in the Arctic region range from the well-known, such as the loss of sea ice or melting of the Greenland ice sheet, to more obscure, but deeply significant issues, such as permafrost thaw, as well as related social consequences for locals and the geopolitical ramifications of these changes. The Arctic is likely to be especially affected by climate change because of the high projected rate of regional warming and associated impacts. Temperature projections for the Arctic region were assessed in 2007: These suggested already averaged warming of about 2 °C to 9 °C by the year 2100. The range reflects different projections made by different climate models, run with different forcing scenarios. Radiative forcing is a measure of the effect of natural and human activities on the climate. Different forcing scenarios reflect things such as different projections of future human greenhouse gas emissions. These effects are wide-ranging and can be seen in many Arctic systems, from fauna and flora to territorial claims. According to a July 2022 article in Geophysical Research Letters, temperatures in the Arctic region are rising four times as fast as elsewhere on Earth,: 1  leading to these effects worsening year on year and causing significant concern. The changing Arctic has global repercussions, perhaps via ocean circulation changes or arctic amplification. Current trends and impacts The 2021 Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) report by an international team of more than 60 experts, scientists, and indigenous knowledge keepers from Arctic communities, was prepared from 2019 to 2021.: vii  It is a follow-up report of the 2017 assessment, "Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic" (SWIPA).: vii  The 2021 IPCC AR6 WG1 Technical Report confirmed that "[o]bserved and projected warming" were ""strongest in the Arctic".: 29  According to an August 11, 2022 article published in Nature, there have been numerous reports that the Arctic is warming from twice to three times as fast as the global average since 1979, but the co-authors cautioned that the recent report of the "four-fold Arctic warming ratio" was potentially an "extremely unlikely event". The annual mean Arctic Amplification (AA) index had "reached values exceeding four" from c. 2002 through 2022, according to a July 2022 article in Geophysical Research Letters.: 1 The December 14, 2021 16th Arctic Report Card produced by the United States's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and released annually, examined the "interconnected physical, ecological and human components" of the circumpolar Arctic. The report said that the 12 months between October 2020 and September 2021 were the "seventh warmest over Arctic land since the record began in 1900". The 2017 report said that the melting ice in the warming Arctic was unprecedented in the past 1500 years. NOAA's State of the Arctic Reports, starting in 2006, updates some of the records of the original 2004 and 2005 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) reports by the intergovernmental Arctic Council and the non-governmental International Arctic Science Committee.A 2022 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report "Spreading Like Wildfire: The Rising Threat Of Extraordinary Landscape Fires" said that smoke from wildfires around the world created a positive feedback loop that is a contributing factor to Arctic melting. The 2020 Siberian heatwave was "associated with extensive burning in the Arctic Circle".: 36  Report authors said that this extreme heat event was the first to demonstrate that it would have been "almost impossible" without anthropogenic emissions and climate change.: 36 Impacts on the natural environment Temperature and weather changes According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "surface air temperatures (SATs) in the Arctic have warmed at approximately twice the global rate". The period of 1995–2005 was the warmest decade in the Arctic since at least the 17th century, with temperatures 2 °C (3.6 °F) above the 1951–1990 average. In addition, since 2013, Arctic annual mean SAT has been at least 1 °C (1.8 °F) warmer than the 1981-2010 mean. With 2020 having the second warmest SAT anomaly after 2016, being 1.9 °C (3.4 °F) warmer than the 1981–2010 average. In 2016, there were extreme anomalies from January to February with the temperature in the Arctic being estimated to be between 4-5.8 degrees Celsius more than it was between 1981 and 2010, and has shown to not have cooled years followed.Some regions within the Arctic have warmed even more rapidly, with Alaska and western Canada's temperature rising by 3 to 4 °C (5.40 to 7.20 °F). This warming has been caused not only by the rise in greenhouse gas concentration, but also the deposition of soot on Arctic ice. The smoke from wildfires defined as "brown carbon" also increases arctic warming. Its warming effect is around 30% from the effect of black carbon (soot). As wildfires increases with warming this create a positive feedback loop. A 2013 article published in Geophysical Research Letters has shown that temperatures in the region haven't been as high as they currently are since at least 44,000 years ago and perhaps as long as 120,000 years ago. The authors conclude that "anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases have led to unprecedented regional warmth."On 20 June 2020, for the first time, a temperature measurement was made inside the Arctic Circle of 38 °C, more than 100 °F. This kind of weather was expected in the region only by 2100. In March, April and May the average temperature in the Arctic was 10 °C higher than normal. This heat wave, without human – induced warming, could happen only one time in 80,000 years, according to an attribution study published in July 2020. It is the strongest link of a weather event to anthropogenic climate change that had been ever found, for now. Such heat waves are generally a result of an unusual state of the jet stream. Some scientists suggest that climate change will slow the jet stream by reducing the difference in temperature between the Arctic and more southern territories, because the Arctic is warming faster. This can facilitate the occurring of such heat waves. The scientists do not know if the 2020 heat wave is the result of such change.A rise of 1.5 degrees in global temperature from the pre-industrial level will probably change the type of precipitation in the Arctic from snow to rain in summer and autumn, which will increase glaciers melting and permafrost thawing. Both effects lead to more warming.One of the effects of climate change is a strong increase in the number of lightnings in the Arctic. Lightnings increase the risk for wildfires. Arctic amplification Black carbon Black carbon deposits (from the combustion of heavy fuel oil (HFO) of Arctic shipping) absorb solar radiation in the atmosphere and strongly reduce the albedo when deposited on snow and ice, thus accelerating the effect of the melting of snow and sea ice. A 2013 study quantified that gas flaring at petroleum extraction sites contributed over 40% of the black carbon deposited in the Arctic. Recent studies attributed the majority (56%) of Arctic surface black carbon to emissions from Russia, followed by European emissions, and Asia also being a large source.According to a 2015 study, reductions in black carbon emissions and other minor greenhouse gases, by roughly 60 percent, could cool the Arctic up to 0.2 °C by 2050. However, a 2019 study indicates that "Black carbon emissions will continuously rise due to increased shipping activities", specifically fishing vessels. Decline of sea ice Changes in extent and area Reliable measurement of sea ice edges began with the satellite era in the late 1970s. Before this time, sea ice area and extent were monitored less precisely by a combination of ships, buoys and aircraft. The data show a long-term negative trend in recent years, attributed to global warming, although there is also a considerable amount of variation from year to year. Some of this variation may be related to effects such as the Arctic oscillation, which may itself be related to global warming. The rate of the decline in entire Arctic ice coverage is accelerating. From 1979 to 1996, the average per decade decline in entire ice coverage was a 2.2% decline in ice extent and a 3% decline in ice area. For the decade ending 2008, these values have risen to 10.1% and 10.7%, respectively. These are comparable to the September to September loss rates in year-round ice (i.e., perennial ice, which survives throughout the year), which averaged a retreat of 10.2% and 11.4% per decade, respectively, for the period 1979–2007.The Arctic sea ice September minimum extent (SIE) (i.e., area with at least 15% sea ice coverage) reached new record lows in 2002, 2005, 2007, 2012 (5.32 million km2), 2016 and 2019 (5.65 million km2). The 2007 melt season let to a minimum 39% below the 1979–2000 average, and for the first time in human memory, the fabled Northwest Passage opened completely. During July 2019 the warmest month in the Arctic was recorded, reaching the lowest SIE (7.5 million km2) and sea ice volume (8900 km3). Setting a decadal trend of SIE decline of −13%. As for now, the SIE has shrink by 50% since the 1970s.From 2008 to 2011, Arctic sea ice minimum extent was higher than 2007, but it did not return to the levels of previous years. In 2012 however, the 2007 record low was broken in late August with three weeks still left in the melt season. It continued to fall, bottoming out on 16 September 2012 at 3.42 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles), or 760,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles) below the previous low set on 18 September 2007 and 50% below the 1979–2000 average.Temperatures in the Arctic region are increasing four times faster than elsewhere on Earth, according to a July 2022 Geophysical Research Letters article.: 1 Changes in volume The sea ice thickness field and accordingly the ice volume and mass, is much more difficult to determine than the extension. Exact measurements can be made only at a limited number of points. Because of large variations in ice and snow thickness and consistency air- and spaceborne-measurements have to be evaluated carefully. Nevertheless, the studies made support the assumption of a dramatic decline in ice age and thickness. While the Arctic ice area and extent show an accelerating downward trend, arctic ice volume shows an even sharper decline than the ice coverage. Since 1979, the ice volume has shrunk by 80% and in just the past decade the volume declined by 36% in the autumn and 9% in the winter. And currently, 70% of the winter sea ice has turned into seasonal ice. An end to summer sea ice? The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 summarized the current state of sea ice projections: "the projected reduction [in global sea ice cover] is accelerated in the Arctic, where some models project summer sea ice cover to disappear entirely in the high-emission A2 scenario in the latter part of the 21st century." However, current climate models frequently underestimate the rate of sea ice retreat. A summertime ice-free Arctic would be unprecedented in recent geologic history, as currently scientific evidence does not indicate an ice-free polar sea anytime in the last 700,000 years.The Arctic ocean will likely be free of summer sea ice before the year 2100, but many different dates have been projected, with models showing near-complete to complete loss in September from 2035 to some time around 2067. Melting of the Greenland ice sheet Models predict a sea-level contribution of about 5 centimetres (2 in) from melting of the Greenland ice sheet during the 21st century. It is also predicted that Greenland will become warm enough by 2100 to begin an almost complete melt during the next 1,000 years or more. In early July 2012, 97% percent of the ice sheet experienced some form of surface melt, including the summits.Ice thickness measurements from the GRACE satellite indicate that ice mass loss is accelerating. For the period 2002–2009, the rate of loss increased from 137 Gt/yr to 286 Gt/yr, with every year seeing on average 30 gigatonnes more mass lost than in the preceding year. The rate of melting was 4 times higher in 2019 than in 2003. In the year 2019 the melting contributed 2.2 millimeters to sea level rise in just 2 months. Overall, the signs are overwhelming that melting is not only occurring, but accelerating year on year. According to a study published in "Nature Communications Earth and Environment" the Greenland ice sheet is possibly past the point of no return, meaning that even if the rise in temperature were to completely stop and even if the climate were to become a little colder, the melting would continue. This outcome is due to the movement of ice from the middle of Greenland to the coast, creating more contact between the ice and warmer coastal water and leading to more melting and calving. Another climate scientist says that after all the ice near the coast melts, the contact between the seawater and the ice will stop what can prevent further warming.In September 2020, satellite imagery showed that a big chunk of ice shattered into many small pieces from the last remaining ice shelf in Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, Greenland. This ice sheet is connected to the interior ice sheet, and could prove a hotspot for deglaciation in coming years. Another unexpected effect of this melting relates to activities by the United States military in the area. Specifically, Camp Century, a nuclear powered base which has been producing nuclear waste over the years. In 2016, a group of scientists evaluated the environmental impact and estimated that due to changing weather patterns over the next few decades, melt water could release the nuclear waste, 20,000 liters of chemical waste and 24 million liters of untreated sewage into the environment. However, so far neither US or Denmark has taken responsibility for the clean-up. Changes in vegetation Climate change is expected to have a strong effect on the Arctic's flora, some of which is already being seen. These changes in vegetation are associated with the increases in landscape scale methane emissions, as well as increases in CO2, Tº and the disruption of ecological cycles which affect patterns in nutrient cycling, humidity and other key ecological factors that help shape plant communities.A large source of information for how vegetation has adapted to climate change over the last years comes from satellite records, which help quantify shifts in vegetation in the Arctic region. For decades, NASA and NOAA satellites have continuously monitored vegetation from space. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments, as well as others, measure the intensity of visible and near-infrared light reflecting off of plant leaves. Scientists use this information to calculate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an indicator of photosynthetic activity or "greenness" of the landscape, which is most often used. There also exist other indices, such as the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) or Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI).These indices can be used as proxies for vegetation productivity, and their shifts over time can provide information on how vegetation changes over time. One of the two most used ways to define shifts in vegetation in the Arctic are the concepts of Arctic greening and Arctic browning. The former refers to a positive trend in the aforementioned greenness indices, indicating increases in plant cover or biomass whereas browning can be broadly understood as a negative trend, with decreases in those variables.Recent studies have allowed us to get an idea of how these two processes have progressed in recent years. It has been found that from 1985 to 2016, greening has occurred in 37.3% of all sites sampled in the tundra, whereas browning was observed only in 4.7% of them. Certain variables influenced this distribution, as greening was mostly associated with sites with higher summer air temperature, soil temperature and soil moisture. On the other hand, browning was found to be linked with colder sites that were experiencing cooling and drying. Overall, this paints the picture of widespread greening occurring throughout significant portions of the arctic tundra, as a consequence of increases in plant productivity, height, biomass and shrub dominance in the area. This expansion of vegetation in the Arctic is not equivalent across types of vegetation. One of the most dramatic changes arctic tundras are currently facing is the expansion of shrubs, which, thanks to increases in air temperature and, to a lesser extent, precipitation have contributed to an Arctic-wide trend known as "shrubification", where shrub type plants are taking over areas previously dominated by moss and lichens. This change contributes to the consideration that the tundra biome is currently experiencing the most rapid change of any terrestrial biomes on the planet.The direct impact on mosses and lichens is unclear as there exist very few studies at species level, but climate change is more likely to cause increased fluctuation and more frequent extreme events. The expansion of shrubs could affect permafrost dynamics, but the picture is quite unclear at the moment. In the winter, shrubs trap more snow, which insulates the permafrost from extreme cold spells, but in the summer they shade the ground from direct sunlight, how these two effects counter and balance each other is not yet well understood. Warming is likely to cause changes in plant communities overall, contributing to the rapid changes tundra ecosystems are facing. While shrubs may increase in range and biomass, warming may also cause a decline in cushion plants such as moss campion, and since cushion plants act as facilitator species across trophic levels and fill important ecological niches in several environments, this could cause cascading effects in these ecosystems that could severely affect the way in which they function and are structured.The expansion of these shrubs can also have strong effects on other important ecological dynamics, such as the albedo effect. These shrubs change the winter surface of the tundra from undisturbed, uniform snow to mixed surface with protruding branches disrupting the snow cover, this type of snow cover has a lower albedo effect, with reductions of up to 55%, which contributes to a positive feedback loop on regional and global climate warming. This reduction of the albedo effect means that more radiation is absorbed by plants, and thus, surface temperatures increase, which could disrupt current surface-atmosphere energy exchanges and affect thermal regimes of permafrost. Carbon cycling is also being affected by these changes in vegetation, as parts of the tundra increase their shrub cover, they behave more like boreal forests in terms of carbon cycling. This is speeding up the carbon cycle, as warmer temperatures lead to increased permafrost thawing and carbon release, but also carbon capturing from plants that have increased growth. It is not certain whether this balance will go in one direction or the other, but studies have found that it is more likely that this will eventually lead to increased CO2 in the atmosphere.For a more graphic and geographically focused overview of the situation, maps above show the Arctic Vegetation Index Trend between July 1982 and December 2011 in the Arctic Circle. Shades of green depict areas where plant productivity and abundance increased; shades of brown show where photosynthetic activity declined, both according to the NDVI index. The maps show a ring of greening in the treeless tundra ecosystems of the circumpolar Arctic—the northernmost parts of Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia. Tall shrubs and trees started to grow in areas that were previously dominated by tundra grasses, as part of the previously mentioned "shrubification" of the tundra. Researchers concluded that plant growth had increased by 7% to 10% overall. However, boreal forests, particularly those in North America, showed a different response to warming. Many boreal forests greened, but the trend was not as strong as it was for tundra of the circumpolar Arctic, mostly characterized by shrub expansion and increased growth. In North America, some boreal forests actually experienced browning over the study period. Droughts, increased forest fire activity, animal behavior, industrial pollution, and a number of other factors may have contributed to browning.Another important change affecting flora in the arctic is the increase of wildfires in the Arctic Circle, which in 2020 broke its record of CO2 emissions, peaking at 244 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emitted. This is due to the burning of peatlands, carbon-rich soils that originate from the accumulation of waterlogged plants which are mostly found at Arctic latitudes. These peatlands are becoming more likely to burn as temperatures increase, but their own burning and releasing of CO2 contributes to their own likelihood of burning in a positive feedback loop.In terms of aquatic vegetation, reduction of sea ice has boosted the productivity of phytoplankton by about twenty percent over the past thirty years. However, the effect on marine ecosystems is unclear, since the larger types of phytoplankton, which are the preferred food source of most zooplankton, do not appear to have increased as much as the smaller types. So far, Arctic phytoplankton have not had a significant impact on the global carbon cycle. In summer, the melt ponds on young and thin ice have allowed sunlight to penetrate the ice, in turn allowing ice algae to bloom in unexpected concentrations, although it is unknown just how long this phenomenon has been occurring, or what its effect on broader ecological cycles is. Changes for animals The northward shift of the subarctic climate zone is allowing animals that are adapted to that climate to move into the far north, where they are replacing species that are more adapted to a pure Arctic climate. Where the Arctic species are not being replaced outright, they are often interbreeding with their southern relations. Among slow-breeding vertebrate species, this usually has the effect of reducing the genetic diversity of the genus. Another concern is the spread of infectious diseases, such as brucellosis or phocine distemper virus, to previously untouched populations. This is a particular danger among marine mammals who were previously segregated by sea ice.3 April 2007, the National Wildlife Federation urged the United States Congress to place polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. Four months later, the United States Geological Survey completed a year-long study which concluded in part that the floating Arctic sea ice will continue its rapid shrinkage over the next 50 years, consequently wiping out much of the polar bear habitat. The bears would disappear from Alaska, but would continue to exist in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and areas off the northern Greenland coast. Secondary ecological effects are also resultant from the shrinkage of sea ice; for example, polar bears are denied their historic length of seal hunting season due to late formation and early thaw of pack ice. Similarly, Arctic warming negatively affects the foraging and breeding ecology many other species of arctic marine mammals, such as walruses, seals, foxes or reindeers. In July 2019, 200 Svalbard reindeer were found starved to death apparently due to low precipitation related to climate change.In the short-term, climate warming may have neutral or positive effects on the nesting cycle of many Arctic-breeding shorebirds. Permafrost thaw Permafrost is an important component of hydrological systems and ecosystems within the Arctic landscape. In the Northern Hemisphere the terrestrial permafrost domain comprises around 18 million km2. Within this permafrost region, the total soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is estimated to be 1,460-1,600 Pg (where 1 Pg = 1 billion tons), which constitutes double the amount of carbon currently contained in the atmosphere. Subsea permafrost Subsea permafrost occurs beneath the seabed and exists in the continental shelves of the polar regions. Thus, it can be defined as "the unglaciated continental shelf areas exposed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~26 500 BP) that are currently inundated". Large stocks of organic matter (OM) and methane (CH4) are accumulated below and within the subsea permafrost deposits. This source of methane is different from methane clathrates, but contributes to the overall outcome and feedbacks in the Earth's climate system.Sea ice serves to stabilise methane deposits on and near the shoreline, preventing the clathrate breaking down and venting into the water column and eventually reaching the atmosphere. Methane is released through bubbles from the subsea permafrost into the Ocean (a process called ebullition). During storms, methane levels in the water column drop dramatically, when wind-driven air-sea gas exchange accelerates the ebullition process into the atmosphere. This observed pathway suggests that methane from seabed permafrost will progress rather slowly, instead of abrupt changes. However, Arctic cyclones, fueled by global warming and further accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could contribute to more release from this methane cache, which is really important for the Arctic. An update to the mechanisms of this permafrost degradation was published in 2017.The size of today's subsea permafrost has been estimated at 2 million km2 (~1/5 of the terrestrial permafrost domain size), which constitutes a 30–50% reduction since the LGM. Containing around 560 GtC in OM and 45 GtC in CH4, with a current release of 18 and 38 MtC per year respectively, which is due to the warming and thawing that the subsea permafrost domain has been experiencing since after the LGM (~14000 years ago). In fact, because the subsea permafrost systems responds at millennial timescales to climate warming, the current carbon fluxes it is emitting to the water are in response to climatic changes occurring after the LGM. Therefore, human-driven climate change effects on subsea permafrost will only be seen hundreds or thousands of years from today. According to predictions under a business-as-usual emissions scenario RCP 8.5, by 2100, 43 GtC could be released from the subsea permafrost domain, and 190 GtC by the year 2300. Whereas for the low emissions scenario RCP 2.6, 30% less emissions are estimated. This constitutes a significant anthropogenic-driven acceleration of carbon release in the upcoming centuries. Methane clathrate deposits Effects on other parts of the world On ocean circulation Although this is now thought unlikely in the near future, it has also been suggested that there could be a shutdown of thermohaline circulation, similar to that which is believed to have driven the Younger Dryas, an abrupt climate change event. Even if a full shutdown is unlikely, a slowing down of this current and a weakening of its effects on climate has already been seen, with a 2015 study finding that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has weakened by 15% to 20% over the last 100 years. This slowing could lead to cooling in the North Atlantic, although this could be mitigated by global warming, but it is not clear up to what extent. Additional effects of this would be felt around the globe, with changes in tropical patterns, stronger storms in the North Atlantic and reduced European crop productivity among the potential repercussions.There is also potentially a possibility of a more general disruption of ocean circulation, which may lead to an ocean anoxic event; these are believed to be much more common in the distant past. It is unclear whether the appropriate pre-conditions for such an event exist today, but these ocean anoxic events are thought to have been mainly caused by nutrient run-off, which was driven by increased CO2 emissions in the distant past. This draws an unsettling parallel with current climate change, but the amount of CO2 that's thought to have caused these events is far higher than the levels we're currently facing, so effects of this magnitude are considered unlikely on a short time scale. On mid-latitude weather As the Arctic continues to warm, the temperature gradient between it and the warmer parts of the globe will continue to diminish with every decade of global warming due to Arctic amplification. If this gradient has a strong influence on the jet stream, then it will eventually become weaker and more variable in its course, which would allow more cold air from the polar vortex to leak mid-latitudes and slow the progression of Rossby Waves, leading to more persistent and more extreme weather. Impacts on people Territorial claims Growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice has added to the urgency of several nations' Arctic territorial claims in hopes of establishing resource development and new shipping lanes, in addition to protecting sovereign rights.As ice sea coverage decreases more and more, year on year, Arctic countries (Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the United States and Denmark representing Greenland) are making moves on the geopolitical stage to ensure access to potential new shipping lanes, oil and gas reserves, leading to overlapping claims across the region. However, there is only one single land border dispute in the Arctic, with all others relating to the sea, that is Hans Island. This small uninhabited island lies in the Nares strait, between Canada's Ellesmere Island and the northern coast of Greenland. Its status comes from its geographical position, right between the equidistant boundaries determined in a 1973 treaty between Canada and Denmark. Even though both countries have acknowledged the possibility of splitting the island, no agreement on the island has been reached, with both nations still claiming it for themselves.There is more activity in terms of maritime boundaries between countries, where overlapping claims for internal waters, territorial seas and particularly Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) can cause frictions between nations. Currently, official maritime borders have an unclaimed triangle of international waters lying between them, that is at the centerpoint of international disputes.This unclaimed land can be obtainable by submitting a claim to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, these claims can be based on geological evidence that continental shelves extend beyond their current maritime borders and into international waters.Some overlapping claims are still pending resolution by international bodies, such as a large portion containing the north pole that is both claimed by Denmark and Russia, with some parts of it also contested by Canada. Another example is that of the Northwest Passage, globally recognized as international waters, but technically in Canadian waters. This has led to Canada wanting to limit the number of ships that can go through for environmental reasons but the United States disputes that they have the authority to do so, favouring unlimited passage of vessels. Impacts on indigenous peoples As climate change speeds up, it is having more and more of a direct impact on societies around the world. This is particularly true of people that live in the Arctic, where increases in temperature are occurring at faster rates than at other latitudes in the world, and where traditional ways of living, deeply connected with the natural arctic environment are at particular risk of environmental disruption caused by these changes.The warming of the atmosphere and ecological changes that come alongside it presents challenges to local communities such as the Inuit. Hunting, which is a major way of survival for some small communities, will be changed with increasing temperatures. The reduction of sea ice will cause certain species populations to decline or even become extinct. Inuit communities are deeply reliant on seal hunting, which is dependent on sea ice flats, where seals are hunted.Unsuspected changes in river and snow conditions will cause herds of animals, including reindeer, to change migration patterns, calving grounds, and forage availability. In good years, some communities are fully employed by the commercial harvest of certain animals. The harvest of different animals fluctuates each year and with the rise of temperatures it is likely to continue changing and creating issues for Inuit hunters, as unpredictability and disruption of ecological cycles further complicate life in these communities, which already face significant problems, such as Inuit communities being the poorest and most unemployed of North America.Other forms of transportation in the Arctic have seen negative impacts from the current warming, with some transportation routes and pipelines on land being disrupted by the melting of ice. Many Arctic communities rely on frozen roadways to transport supplies and travel from area to area. The changing landscape and unpredictability of weather is creating new challenges in the Arctic. Researchers have documented historical and current trails created by the Inuit in the Pan Inuit Trails Atlas, finding that the change in sea ice formation and breakup has resulted in changes to the routes of trails created by the Inuit. Navigation The Transpolar Sea Route is a future Arctic shipping lane running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean across the center of the Arctic Ocean. The route is also sometimes called Trans-Arctic Route. In contrast to the Northeast Passage (including the Northern Sea Route) and the North-West Passage it largely avoids the territorial waters of Arctic states and lies in international high seas.Governments and private industry have shown a growing interest in the Arctic. Major new shipping lanes are opening up: the northern sea route had 34 passages in 2011 while the Northwest Passage had 22 traverses, more than any time in history. Shipping companies may benefit from the shortened distance of these northern routes. Access to natural resources will increase, including valuable minerals and offshore oil and gas. Finding and controlling these resources will be difficult with the continually moving ice. Tourism may also increase as less sea ice will improve safety and accessibility to the Arctic.The melting of Arctic ice caps is likely to increase traffic in and the commercial viability of the Northern Sea Route. One study, for instance, projects, "remarkable shifts in trade flows between Asia and Europe, diversion of trade within Europe, heavy shipping traffic in the Arctic and a substantial drop in Suez traffic. Projected shifts in trade also imply substantial pressure on an already threatened Arctic ecosystem." Adaptation Research National Individual countries within the Arctic zone, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States (Alaska) conduct independent research through a variety of organizations and agencies, public and private, such as Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Countries who do not have Arctic claims, but are close neighbors, conduct Arctic research as well, such as the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration (CAA). The United States's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produces an Arctic Report Card annually, containing peer-reviewed information on recent observations of environmental conditions in the Arctic relative to historical records. International International cooperative research between nations has become increasingly important: Arctic climate change is summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its series of Assessment Reports and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. European Space Agency (ESA) launched CryoSat-2 on 8 April 2010. It provides satellite data on Arctic ice cover change rates. International Arctic Buoy Program: deploys and maintains buoys that provide real-time position, pressure, temperature, and interpolated ice velocity data International Arctic Research Center: Main participants are the United States and Japan. International Arctic Science Committee: non-governmental organization (NGO) with diverse membership, including 23 countries from 3 continents. 'Role of the Arctic Region', in conjunction with the International Polar Year, was the focus of the second international conference on Global Change Research, held in Nynäshamn, Sweden, October 2007. SEARCH (Study of Environmental Arctic Change): A research framework originally promoted by several US agencies; an international extension is ISAC (the International Study of Arctic Change). See also References Works cited IPCC (2021). Masson-Delmotte, V.; Zhai, P.; Pirani, A.; Connors, S. L.; et al. (eds.). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (PDF). Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press (In Press). Fox-Kemper, Baylor; Hewitt, Helene T.; Xiao, Cunde; Aðalgeirsdóttir, Guðfinna; et al. (2021). "Chapter 9: Ocean, cryosphere, and sea level change" (PDF). IPCC AR6 WG1 2021. Further reading "Black Carbon and Methane". Arctic Council. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2023.Hersher, Rebecca (11 August 2022). "The Arctic is heating up nearly four times faster than the whole planet, study finds". NPR. Retrieved 6 November 2023. External links Arctic Change website, in near-realtime Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis Smith, Duane (2007). "Climate Change In The Arctic: An Inuit Reality". UN Chronicle. The Arctic ice sheet, satellite map with daily updates. NOAA: Arctic Theme Page – A comprehensive resource focused on the Arctic Persistent warming trend and loss of sea ice are triggering extensive Arctic changes (Report). Arctic Report Card: Update for 2016. NOAA. Rapid and pronounced warming continues to drive the evolution of the Arctic environment (Report). Arctic Report Card: Update for 2021. NOAA. Killing the Arctic Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective (October 2020), by John McCannon

climate change in europe

Climate change in Europe has resulted in an increase in temperature of 2.3 °C (2022) in Europe compared to pre-industrial levels. Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world. Europe's climate is getting warmer due to anthropogenic activity. According to international climate experts, global temperature rise should not exceed 2 °C to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change; without reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, this could happen before 2050. Climate change has implications for all regions of Europe, with the extent and nature of impacts varying across the continent. Impacts on European countries include warmer weather and increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather such as heat waves, bringing health risks and impacts on ecosystems. European countries are major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, although the European Union and governments of several countries have outlined plans to implement climate change mitigation and an energy transition in the 21st century, the European Green Deal being one of these. The European Union commissioner of climate action is Frans Timmermans since 1 December 2019.Public opinion in Europe shows concern about climate change; in the European Investment Bank's Climate Survey of 2020, 90% of Europeans believe their children will experience the effects of climate change in their daily lives. Climate change activism and businesses shifting their practices has taken place in Europe. Greenhouse gas emissions A 2016 European Environment Agency (EEA) report documents greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 1990 and 2014 for the EU-28 individual member states by IPCC sector. Total greenhouse gas emissions fell by 24% between 1990 and 2014, but road transport emissions rose by 17%. Cars, vans, and trucks had the largest absolute increase in CO2 emissions of any sector over the last 25 years, growing by 124 Mt. Aviation also grew by 93 Mt over the same period, a massive 82% increase.In 2019 European Union emissions reached 3.3 Gt (3.3 billion metric tons), 80% of which was from fossil fuels.In 2021, the European Parliament approved a landmark law setting GHG targets for 2050. The law aims to achieve carbon neutrality and, after 2050, negative emissions and paves the way for a policy overhaul in the European Union. Under the law, the European Union must act to lower net GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990). The law sets a limit of 225 Mt of CO2 equivalent to the contribution of removals to the target. According to Swedish lawmaker Jytte Guteland, the law would allow Europe to become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Energy consumption Coal The coal consumption in Europe was 7,239 TWh in 1985 and has fallen to 2,611 TWh in 2020. The coal consumption in the EU was 5,126 TWh in 1985 and has fallen to 1,624 TWh in 2020. The height of CO2 emissions from coal in Europe were in 1987 with 3.31 billion tonnes, and in 2019 with 1.36 billion tonnes.Russia had the most CO2 emissions from coal in Europe in 2019 (395.03 Mt), Germany had the second most CO2 emissions from coal in Europe (235.7 Mt). Iceland's CO2 emissions from coal grew 151%, Turkey's CO2 emissions from coal grew 131% between and Montenegro CO2 emissions from coal grew 13% between 1990 and 2019, the rest of the European countries had a decrease in coal consumption in that period of time.From 2012 to 2018 in the EU coal fell by around 50TWh, compared to a rise of 30TWh in wind power and solar energy generation and a rise of 30TWh in gas generation. The remaining 10TWh covered a small structural increase in electricity consumption. In 2019 coal generation will be about 12% of the EU's 2019 greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil gas The EU classifies fossil gas as a "green" energy for investment purposes under the taxonomy, although it is a fossil fuel. According to Global Energy Monitor plans to expand infrastructure contradict EU climate goals.The EU used 3,966 TWh in 2021 and Europe as a whole used 10,074 TWh in 2021. Agriculture Greenhouse gases are also released through agriculture. Livestock production is common in Europe, responsible for 42% of land in Europe. This land use for livestock does affect the environment. Agriculture accounts for 10% of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions, this percentage being even larger in other parts of the world. Along with this percentage, agriculture is also responsible for being the largest contributor of non carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions being emitted annually in Europe. Agriculture has been found to release other gases besides carbon dioxides such as methane and nitrous oxide. A study claimed that 38% of greenhouse gases released through agriculture in Europe were methane. These farms release methane through chemicals in fertilizers used, manure, and a process called enteric fermentation. These gases are estimated to possibly cause even more damage than carbon dioxide, a study by Environmental Research Letters claims that "CH4 has 20 times more heat-trapping potential than CO2 and N2O has 300 times more." These emissions released through agriculture are also linked to soil acidification and loss of biodiversity in Europe as well.Europe is attempting to take action. The Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) was created, focusing on lowering the amount of greenhouse gas emissions through land use in Europe. Some success was seen, between 1990 and 2016, greenhouse gases emitted through agriculture in Europe decreased by 20%. However, the European Union has a plan to become carbon neutral by 2050. If more policies are not implemented or if there is no dietary shift, it has been concluded the European Union may not reach this goal.According to the European Green Deal, it is critical to minimize reliance on pesticides and antimicrobials, eliminate excess fertilization (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), promote organic farming, improve animal welfare, and reverse biodiversity loss. The introduction and successful implementation of sustainable agriculture can assist developing nations improve their food security, as well as strengthening soil and plan carbon sinks globally. Transport Shipping Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping equal the carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger cars in Europe. In France, Germany, UK, Spain, Sweden and Finland, shipping emissions in 2018 were larger than the emissions from all the passenger cars registered in 10 or more of the largest cities in each country. Despite the scale emissions, they are not part of emissions reduction targets made by countries as part of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Other greenhouse gases Hydrofluorocarbons Trifluoromethane (HFC-23) is generated and emitted as a byproduct during the production of chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22). HCFC-22 is used both in emissive applications (primarily air conditioning and refrigeration) and as a feedstock for production of synthetic polymers. Because HCFC-22 depletes stratospheric ozone, its production for non-feedstock uses is scheduled to be phased out under the Montreal Protocol. However, feedstock production is permitted to continue indefinitely. In the developed world, HFC-23 emissions decreased between 1990 and 2000 due to process optimization and thermal destruction, although there were increased emissions in the intervening years. The United States (U.S.) and the European Union drove these trends in the developed world. Although emissions increased in the EU between 1990 and 1995 due to increased production of HCFC-22, a combination of process optimization and thermal oxidation led to a sharp decline in EU emissions after 1995, resulting in a net decrease in emissions of 67 percent for this region between 1990 and 2000. Methane The decline in methane emissions from 1990 to 1995 in the OECD is largely due to non-climate regulatory programs and the collection and flaring or use of landfill methane. In many OECD countries, landfill methane emissions are not expected to grow, despite continued or even increased waste generation, because of non-climate change-related regulations that result in mitigation of air emissions, collection of gas, or closure of facilities. A major driver in the OECD is the European Union Landfill Directive, which limits the amount of organic matter that can enter solid waste facilities. Although the organic matter is expected to decrease rapidly in the EU, emissions occur as a result of total waste in place. Emissions will have a gradual decline over time. Impacts on the natural environment Temperature and weather changes The World Meteorological Organization's State of the Climate 2021 stated that temperatures in Europe increased at more than twice the global average over the preceding 30 years–the highest increase of any continent in the world. The European Environment Agency stated that from pre-industrial times, European land temperatures have increased by 1.94–1.99 °C, faster than the global average increase of 1.11–1.14 °C.The Arctic sea ice decreased 33.000 km2 between 1979 and 2020 per year during the winter and 79.000 km2 per year during the summer in the same period of time. If temperatures are kept below 1.5 °C warming ice free Arctic summers would be rare but it would be a frequent event with a 2 °C warming.In the Baltic Sea ice melting has been seen since 1800 and with an acceleration happening since the 1980s. Sea ice was at a record low in the winter of 2019–2020.These extreme weather changes may increase the severity of diseases in animals as well as humans. The heat waves will increase the number of forest fires. Experts have warned that climate change may increase the number of global climate refugees from 150 million in 2008 to 800 million in the future. The International agreement of refugees does not recognize climate change refugees. From 2012 to 2022, according to the European Environment Agency, extreme weather events cost Europe more than €145 billion in economic damages. Climate-related economic losses grew by about 2% each year throughout the same time. A study of future changes in flood, heat-waves, and drought impacts for 571 European cities, using climate model runs from the coupled model intercomparison project Phase 5 (CMIP5) found that heat-wave days increase across all cities, but especially in southern Europe, whilst the greatest heatwave temperature increases are expected in central European cities. For the low impact scenario drought conditions intensify in southern European cities while river flooding worsens in northern European cities. However, the high impact scenario projects that most European cities will see increases in both drought and river flood risks. Over 100 cities are particularly vulnerable to two or more climate impacts. Extreme weather events The summer of 2019 brought a series of high temperature records in Western Europe. During a heat wave a glaciological rarity in the form of a previously unseen lake emerged in the Mont Blanc Massif in the French Alps, at the foot of the Dent du Géant at an altitude of about 3400 meters, that was considered as evidence for the effects of global warming on the glaciers. Impact on flora In the aftermath of the 2003 heat wave, researchers noted how the alpine ecosystems of Italy were affected. Namely, the heat wave "triggered a rapid expansion of vascular plant species at the expense of mosses in peatlands". Peatlands are known to be supreme carbon-storing environments, and thus alterations caused by anthropogenic climate change poses a threat to long-term climate stability. Impacts on people Health impacts Heat waves In the absence of climate change, extreme heat waves in Europe would be expected to occur only once every several hundred years. In addition to hydrological changes, grain crops mature earlier at a higher temperature, which may reduce the critical growth period and lead to lower grain yields. The Russian heat wave in 2010 caused grain harvest down by 25%, government ban wheat exports, and losses were 1% of GDP. The Russian heat wave 2010 estimate for deaths is 55,000.A study of future changes in flood, heat-waves, and drought impacts for 571 European cities, using climate model runs from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) found that heat-wave days increase across all cities, but especially in southern Europe, whilst the greatest heatwave temperature increases are expected in central European cities. For the low impact scenario, drought conditions intensify in southern European cities while river flooding worsens in northern European cities. However, the high impact scenario projects that most European cities will see increases in both drought and river flood risks. Over 100 cities are particularly vulnerable to two or more climate impacts.The summer of 2003 was probably the hottest in Europe since at least AD 1500, and unusually large numbers of heat-related deaths were reported in France, Germany and Italy. It is very likely that the heat wave was human-induced by greenhouse gases.These extreme weather changes may increase the severity of diseases in animals as well as humans. The heat waves will increase the number of forest fires. Experts have warned that climate change may increase the number of global climate refugees from 150 million in 2008 to 800 million in future. International agreement of refugees does not recognize the climate change refugees. The heat wave in 2018 in England, which would take hundreds of lives, would have had 30 times less of a chance of happening, without climate change. By 2050, such patterns would occur every 2 years if the current rate of warming continues.The heat wave in summer of 2019 as of June 28, claimed human lives, caused closing or taking special measures in 4,000 schools in France only, and big wildfires. Many areas declared state of emergency and advised the public to avoid "risky behaviour" like leaving children in cars or jogging outside in the middle of the day". The heatwave was made at least 5 times more likely by climate change and possibly even 100 times.In 2022, severe heatwaves occurred in Western Europe. Only in Spain from 10 to 16 of July 510 people died from heat directly. Wildfires emerged in different places and burned vast territories. Dozens of thousand people fled them. Diseases In 2019 for the first time, cases of Zika fever were diagnosed in Europe not because people traveled to tropical countries like Brazil, but from local mosquitos. Evidence indicating that the warming climate change in the area is the primary cause of this fever. It is thought that climate change could lead to dengue fever epidemics in Europe by 2100 if Aedes mosquito vectors become established. Mitigation In the beginning of the 21st century the European Union, began to conceive the European Green Deal as its main program of climate change mitigation. The European Union claims that it has already achieved its 2020 target for emission reduction and has the legislation needed to achieve the 2030 targets. Already in 2018, its GHG emissions were 23% lower than in 1990. Paris Agreement On April 22, 2016, the Paris Climate Accords were signed by all but three countries around the world. The conference to talk about this document was held in Paris, France. This put Europe in the epicenter of talks about the environment and climate change. The EU was the first major economy that decided to submit its intended contribution to the new agreement in March 2015. The EU ratified the Paris Agreement on October 5, 2015.In these talks the countries agreed that they all had a long-term goal of keeping global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. They agreed that global emissions need to peak as soon as possible, and recognize that this will take longer for developing countries. On the subject of transparency the countries agreed that they would meet every five years to set ambitious goals, report their progress to the public and each other, and track progress for their long-term goals throughout a transparent and accountable system.The countries recognized the importance of non-party stakeholders to be involved in this process. Cities, regions, and local authorities are encouraged to uphold and promote regional and international cooperation.The Paris agreement is a legally international agreement, its main goal is to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC's) are the plans to fight climate change adapted for each country. Every party in the agreement has different targets based on its own historical climate records and country's circumstances and all the targets for each country are stated in their NDC. National determined goals based on NDC's In the case for member countries of the European Union the goals are very similar and the European Union work with a common strategy within the Paris agreement. The NDC target for countries of the European Union against climate change and greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement are the following: 40% reduction in Greenhouse gas emissions until 2030, compared to 1990. This reduction is covered in these four sections;European Union Emission Trading System Outside the EU emissions trading system Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) Domestic institutional legislation and mitigation measure55% reduction of greenhouse gases by domestic binding target without contribution from international credits, until 2030 compared to 1990. Gases covered in reduction: Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs), Perfluorinated compound (PFCs), Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). 40% reduction of emissions from outside the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) until 2030, compared to 2005. Strategy to achieve NDC's Each country has different ways to achieve the established goals depending on resources. In the case of the European union the following approach is established to support the NDC's climate change plan: Each member state must report land use and subsequently report compensatory measures for the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Targets for improved energy efficiency and an increased amount of renewable energy have been established. Until the year 2030, energy consumption will be improved by 32.5%. The CO2 emission per km must be reduced by 30–37.5% depending on vehicles by 2030 Limit sales of F-gas, prohibited products and prevent emissions in existing products with F-gases. This is expected to reduce emissions of F-gases by 66% by 2030 compared to 2014. Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021–2027. MFF will finance climate action, such as policies and programs. MFF shall contribute to climate neutrality by 2050 and to achieving the 2030 climate targets. Within the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) a cap on the maximum allowable amount of emissions established. From year 2021 this will also be applied in aviation. The EU ETS is an important tool in EU policy to reduce Greenhouse gas emission in a cost effective way. Under the 'cap and trade' principle, a maximum (cap) is set on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by all participating installations.A survey conducted by the European Investment Bank in 2020 found that although 45% of EU companies have invested in climate change mitigation or adaptation measures, compared to 32% in the US, fewer companies plan future investment in the next three years. 40% of European companies want to invest in climate initiatives during the next three years. The proportion of investment in 2020 varies from 50% in Western and Northern Europe to 32% in Central and Eastern Europe. The majority of European companies, 75%, say regulatory and tax uncertainty is preventing them from investing in climate-related projects.According to their 2020 Municipality Survey, 56% of European Union municipalities increased climate investment, while 66% believe their climate investment over the previous three years has been insufficient.According to a study from 2022, while renewables as a whole and specifically hydroelectricity and geothermal energy do reduce emission in European countries, there is a problem with biomass, solar power and wind power as the process of their production also emit big amounts of CO2. The study did not check other greenhouse gases like methane. The authors called to ensure that the energy sources will really reduce emissions. Climate targets The climate commitments of the European Union are divided into 3 main categories: targets for the year 2020, 2030 and 2050. The European Union claim that its policies are in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement. The programm of response to climate change in Europe is called European Green Deal. In April 2020, the European Parliament called to include the European Green Deal in the recovery program from the COVID-19 pandemic.Targets for the year 2020: Reduce GHG emissions by 20% from the level in 1990. Produce 20% of energy from renewable sources. Result: 22 percent renewable sources in 2020. Increase Energy Efficiency by 20%. 10 percent renewable fuels in the transport sector. Result: 10 percent of fuels were renewable on average in the EU27 in 2020.Targets for the year 2030: Reduce GHG emission by 55 percent from the level in 1990. Produce 45 percent of energy from renewables. Increase energy efficiency by 32.5% from a historical baseline. 14 percent renewable fuels in the transport sector. CO2 emissions per kilometer from passenger cars sold in the EU must decrease by an average of 37.5 percent from 2021 levels. 14 percent of the fuel in the transport sector must be renewable.Target for the year 2035: Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles in new car sales, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.Target for the year 2050: Become climate neutral. Policies and legislation for mitigation There is in place national legislation, international agreements and EU directives. The EU directive 2001/77/EU promotes renewable energy in electricity production. The climate subprogramme will provide €864 million in co-financing for climate projects between 2014 and 2020. Its main objectives are to contribute to the shift towards a low carbon and climate resilient economy and improve the development, implementation and enforcement of EU climate change policies and laws.In March of the year 2020 a draft of a climate law for the entire European Union was proposed. The law obliges the European Union to become carbon neutral by 2050 and adjust all its policies to the target. The law includes measures to increase the use of trains. The law includes a mechanism to check the implementation of the needed measures. It also should increase the climate ambitions of other countries. It includes a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, that will prevent Carbon leakage. Greta Thunberg and other climate activists have criticized the draft saying it has not enough strong targets.In July 2021 The European Union published several drafts describing concrete measures to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Those include tax on jet fuel, a ban on selling cars on petrol and diesel by 2035, border tax, measures for increase energy efficiency in buildings and renewable energy.Climate initiatives, according to 56% of Europeans, are a source of economic growth. 56% of Europeans also believe that climate change mitigation will produce more employment. 61% of Europeans believe that climate change policies will improve their quality of life.In May 2022 the European Commission proposed a plan that includes measures for speeding emission reduction. The plan includes reducing energy consumption by 13% by the year 2030, reducing oil and gas use by 5% with behavioural changes already in the short time, increase use of biogas and heat pumps. According to the plan, 45% of energy in the European Union should come from renewable sources by 2030.In the summer of 2022 the leaders of the union adopted basic elements of the proposition of the European Commission aiming to reduce the emissions of the union by 61% by the year 2030.The European Commission predicted in 2020 that extra investment of €260 billion year, or around 2% of EU GDP, would be needed to meet the 2030 climate and energy objectives. Since then, the aim for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the year 2030 has grown (from -40% to -55%), necessitating both more investment and the acceleration of some expenditures.Approximately 57% of EU businesses are investing in energy efficiency, 64% in reducing and recycling trash, and 32% in less polluting industries and technologies. Roughly 40% of businesses made investments in energy efficiency in 2021. About 90% of EU businesses previously made an effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, physical climate change risks were found to affect around 64% of EU businesses, with just 36% of those businesses taking action to adapt to these risks, through investments in preventing or limiting exposure. Only 13% of businesses purchased insurance to deal with climate-related losses. The largest proportion of firms citing weather events as affecting their operations was found in Spain, with 80%, Portugal 79% and Italy 73%. Denmark, Luxembourg and Latvia (firms) were found to have the least amount of weather events affecting them. The Netherlands has the largest share of companies that have already invested in addressing climate change in the European Union, while Lithuania has the highest share of firms planned to invest in the next three years (following 2023). Cyprus and Greece have the lowest percentage of enterprises in terms of both investments made and planned investments.The European Union's key efforts are investments in energy efficiency (59%) and trash minimization and recycling (67%). European Union Emissions Trading System The European Union Emissions Trading System is a major pillar of EU energy policy. It was the first large greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world and was launched in 2005 to fight global warming. In 2022, the EU ETS covers emissions from power and heat generation, energy-intensive industrial sectors and commercial aviation within Europe.Under the "cap and trade" principle, a maximum (cap) is set on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by all participating installations. EU Allowances for emissions are then auctioned off or allocated for free, and can subsequently be traded. Installations must monitor and report their CO2 emissions, ensuring they hand in enough allowances to the authorities to cover their emissions. If emission exceeds what is permitted by its allowances, an installation must purchase allowances from others. Conversely, if an installation has performed well at reducing its emissions, it can sell its leftover credits. This allows the system to find the most cost-effective ways of reducing emissions without significant government intervention. The current EU ETS cap aims to reduce GHG emissions by 43% in 2030 against 2005 emissions, but in the "Fit for 55" package, the EU commission proposes to increase the reduction target for 2030 to -61% compared to 2005 emissions. Stern report 2006 British government and economist Nicholas Stern published the Stern report in 2006. The Review states that climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen, presenting a unique challenge for economics. The Review provides prescriptions including environmental taxes to minimize the economic and social disruptions. The Stern Review's main conclusion is that the benefits of strong, early action on climate change far outweigh the costs of not acting. The Review points to the potential impacts of climate change on water resources, food production, health, and the environment. According to the Review, without action, the overall costs of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global gross domestic product (GDP) each year, now and forever. Including a wider range of risks and impacts could increase this to 20% of GDP or more. No-one can predict the consequences of climate change with complete certainty; but we now know enough to understand the risks. The review leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs. Climate emergency The EU parliament declared a climate emergency in November 2019. It urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. MEPs backed a tougher target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed a series of climate tipping points, resulting in "a state of planetary emergency". The parliament also calls to end all fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, increase at least twice the payments to the green climate fund, make sure that all the legislation and the European budget will be in line with the 1.5 degrees target, and reduce emissions from aviation and shipping. Divestment from fossil fuels and sustainable investments The European Investment Bank declared that it will divest almost completely from fossil fuels from the year 2021 and started to phase out acceptance of new projects in 2019.The central bank of Sweden sold its bonds in the provinces of Queensland, Western Australia in Australia and the province Alberta from Canada because of severe climate impacts from those provinces.In November 2019, the European parliament adopted resolutions calling to end all subsidies of fossil fuels by 2020.In 2019 the European Parliament created rules for identification of sustainable investments. The measure should help achieve climate neutral Europe.27% of companies in less developed areas report that climate change is having a big impact on their business, while 40% have a slight impact. Only 19% and 43%, respectively, of businesses in transition zones claim that climate change is significantly affecting their business. Less developed regions also have the lowest percentage of businesses who have made investments to combat climate change or reduce their carbon emissions (46%). Green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic In May 2020, the €750 billion European recovery package and the €1 trillion budget were announced, the European Green Deal being part of it. The money will be spent only on projects that meet some green criteria; 25% of all funding will go to climate change mitigation. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are excluded from the funding. The recovery package should also restore some equilibrium between rich and poor countries in the European Union. In July the recovery package and the budget were generally accepted, and budget allocation going to climate action was raised to 30%. The plan includes some green taxation on European products and on imports. Critics say it is still not enough for achieving the climate targets of the European Union and it is not clear how to ensure that all the money will really go to green projects. Nature restoration and agriculture In May 2020, the European Union published 2 plans that are part of the European Green Deal: The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and From Farm to Fork. In the official page of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 is cited Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, saying that: "Making nature healthy again is key to our physical and mental wellbeing and is an ally in the fight against climate change and disease outbreaks. It is at the heart of our growth strategy, the European Green Deal, and is part of a European recovery that gives more back to the planet than it takes away." The biodiversity strategy is an essential part of the climate change mitigation strategy of the European Union. From the 25% of the European budget that will go to fight climate change, large parts will go to restore biodiversity and nature based solutions. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 include the next targets: Protect 30% of the sea territory and 30% of the land territory especially Old-growth forests. Plant 3 billion trees by the year 2030. Restore at least 25,000 kilometers of rivers, so they will become free flowing. Reduce the use of Pesticides by 50% by the year 2030. Increase Organic farming. Increase Biodiversity in agriculture. Give €20 billion per year to the issue and make it part of the business practice.According to the page, approximately half of the global GDP depends on nature. In Europe many parts of the economy that generate trillions of Euros per year, depend on nature. Only the benefits of Natura 2000 in Europe are €200 - €300 billion per year.In the official page of the program From Farm to Fork is cited Frans Timmermans the Executive Vice-president of the European Commission, saying that: "The coronavirus crisis has shown how vulnerable we all are, and how important it is to restore the balance between human activity and nature. At the heart of the Green Deal the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems and biodiversity; to protect our people's health and well-being, and at the same time to increase the EU's competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a crucial part of the great transition we are embarking upon." The program include the next targets: Making 25% of EU agriculture organic, by the year 2030. Reduce by 50% the use of Pesticides by the year 2030. Reduce the use of Fertilizers by 20% by the year 2030. Reduce nutrient loss by at least 50%. Reduce the use of antimicrobials in agriculture and antimicrobials in aquaculture by 50% by 2030. Create sustainable food labeling. Reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. Dedicate to R&I related to the issue €10 billion.In 2022 the Environment Ministers of the European Union backed a new law aiming to increase carbon sinks such as forests.In 2022 the European parliament approved a bill aiming to stop the import linked with deforestation. The bill may cause to Brazil, for example, to stop deforestation for agricultural production and begun to "increase productivity on existing agricultural land". The legislation was adopted with some changes by the European Council in May 2023 and is expected to enter into force several weeks after. The bill requires companies who want to import certain types of products to the European Union to prove the production of those commodities is not linked to areas deforested after 31 of December 2020. It prohibits also import of products linked with Human rights abuse. The list of products includes: palm oil, cattle, wood, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy. Some derivatives of those products are also included: chocolate, furniture, printed paper and several palm oil based derivates. Transport In 2022, the leaders of the union agreed to ban sales of cars emitting CO2 from the year 2035.In December 2022 the European Commission approved a law forbidding flights on planes in France, if people can pass the distance on a train in 2.5 hours. Greenpeace demanded to extend the law, by following the advice of the European Commission to include connecting flights. Greenpeace cited a report according to which, if it will be 6 hours instead of 2.5, it will cut global greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to 3.5 million tonnes CO2 annually. Adaptation Climate change threatens to undermine decades of development gains in Europe and put at risk efforts to eradicate poverty. In 2013, the European Union adopted the 'EU Adaptation Strategy', which had three key objectives: (1) promoting action by member states, which includes providing funding, (2) promoting adaptation in climate-sensitive sectors and (3) research.The study from 15,951 survey participants across 27 European nations has shown "that only respondents who are certain of global warming and believe that it is mostly anthropogenic show a significantly higher willingness to donate to a climate action fund". These results point to the importance of tackling climate denial and better communicating climate science. Society and culture Public opinion The majority of individuals in the eastern EU countries are relatively less positive about the influence of climate measures on the employment market. 55% of Eastern Europeans believe that measures against climate change will result in less jobs. In Western Europe, 60% of respondents believe that policies would generate more jobs. While seeking employment, an increasing number of people are looking at businesses' environmental credentials. Over two-thirds of Europeans (62%) believe that future employers should prioritize sustainability. It is even a high priority for 16% of Europeans.62% of Europeans believe that the green transition will reduce their buying power.66% of Europeans believe the climate emergency will be a severe problem by the mid-century, and 30% believe that the climate emergency will be under control by 2050.Europeans believe climate change is a threat, with 29% of the EU population expecting to be forced to relocate to another area. People of ages 20–29 are concerned about the potential of having to relocate due to climate challenges. Because of climate change, 33% of Europeans feel they will have to relocate to a colder or warmer area or nation, according to the European Investment Bank's climate survey in 2020.In European Investment Bank's Climate Survey of 2020, 90% of Europeans believe their children will experience the effects of climate change in their daily lives. The survey showed a high concern for the climate from the 30 000 individuals surveyed, explaining that a majority of respondents are also prepared to pay a new tax in accordance with climate laws. Only 9% of Europeans do not think climate change is occurring, compared to 18% in the United States. Activism The critics include that European companies, like in other OECD countries, have moved the energy-intensive, polluting, and climate gas-emitting industry to Asia and South America. In respect to climate change there are no harmless areas. Carbon emissions from all countries are equal. The agreements exclude significant factors like deforestation, aviation and tourism, the actual end consumption of energy and the history of emissions. Negotiations are country oriented but the economical interests are in conflict between the energy producers, consumers and the environment. In the EU, 75% of the population claims they are more worried about the climate crisis than their politicians. 51% of EU citizens cite government inaction as a major difficulty when facing the climate crisis, and 81% cite climate change as the most serious problem of the twenty-first century.Climate change is also a factor when job searching, according to 54% of young Europeans.As a form of climate action, 42% of Europeans, specifically 48% of women and 34% of men, invest in second-hand clothing rather than buying new. Younger populations, aged 15 to 29, were found more likely to do so than older generations.33% of car buyers in Europe will also opt for a petrol / diesel car when purchasing a new vehicle. 67% of them mentioned opting for the hybrid or electric version. In the EU, only 13% of the total population do not plan on owning a vehicle at all.44% of Europeans aged 20–29 fear they could lose their jobs because of climate change.Europeans expect lifestyle changes to experience great transformation in the next 20 years. 31% of respondents to an EU climate survey believe that most people will no longer have their own vehicle. 63% believe that teleworking will become the norm in the fight against climate change. 36% of respondents believe most people will no longer consume animal products. 48% predict that energy quotas will be individually assigned. School strike for climate School strikes for climate became well known when the Swedish teen Greta Thunberg started to strike in the summer of 2018 and starting from September 2018 she began to strike every Friday. The movement started to pick up in January 2019 with mass strikes happened in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. In the following months mass strikes were reported in numerous European countries. There were numerous global climate strikes that also took place in Europe on 15 March 2019, 24 May 2019, from 20 to 27 September 2019 (global climate action week), 29 November 2019 and 25 September 2020. The strikes during 2020 were limited because of COVID-19. Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion (XR) was founded in 2018 in the United Kingdom and is a civil disobedience movement. Their first planned action was in London were 5000 demonstrators blocked the most important bridges of the city. The movement quickly spread around Europe. In October 2019 there was the first global rebellion with numerous demonstrations in European cities. By country Austria At the beginning of the year 2020, major parties in Austria reach a deal, including achieving carbon - neutrality of the country by 2040, produce all electricity from renewable sources by 2030, making a nationwide carbon tax and making a tax on flying, what should making trains more attractive.In 2020 the latest coal fired power station in the country was closed. Austria became the second country in Europe, after Belgium to become coal free. The goal of achieving 100% renewable electrycity by 2030 was adopted by government Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Croatia aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 and phase out coal by 2033. However, the shift to a low-carbon economy will necessitate significant expenditures in new energy infrastructure and additional renewable energy resources.Croatia established a 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan to attain its aim. The national policy targets for a 36.4% renewable energy share by 2030, as well as major investment in the energy industry, including hydropower, wind farms, solar photovoltaic facilities, and hydrogen energy. Cyprus Denmark In 2019 Denmark passed a law in which its pledge to reduce GHG emissions by 70% by 2030 from the level in 1990. It also pledged to achieve zero emissions by 2050. The law includes strong monitoring system and setting intermediate targets every 5 years. It includes a pledge to help climate action in other countries and consider climate impacts in diplomatic and economic relations with other countries.Greenland is an autonomous territory within Denmark. In 2021 Greenland banned all new oil and gas exploration on its territory. The government of Greenland explained the decision as follows: "price of oil extraction is too high," Finland France Germany Iceland Iceland has a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. It wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by the year 2030. Ireland Italy In 2019, Italy became the first country in the world to introduce mandatory lessons about sustainability and climate change. The lessons will be taught in all schools, in the ages 6 –19, one hour each week. According to the European Investment Bank climate survey from 2020, 70% of Europeans have either switched to a green energy supplier or are prepared to do so. This ratio is 82% in Italy. Netherlands Norway Russia Sweden Spain Turkey Ukraine The EU is trying to support a move away from coal. United Kingdom See also 2022 European drought 2023 European drought Climate of Europe Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Energy policy of the European Union Environmental policy of the European Union European Federation for Transport and Environment European Green Party European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) European Union Emission Trading Scheme Greens–European Free Alliance List of European power companies by carbon intensity Plug-in electric vehicles in Europe Renewable energy in the European Union References External links Climate change in the EU. Climate Action

climate change and fisheries

Fisheries are affected by climate change in many ways: marine aquatic ecosystems are being affected by rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification and ocean deoxygenation, while freshwater ecosystems are being impacted by changes in water temperature, water flow, and fish habitat loss. These effects vary in the context of each fishery. Climate change is modifying fish distributions and the productivity of marine and freshwater species. Climate change is expected to lead to significant changes in the availability and trade of fish products. The geopolitical and economic consequences will be significant, especially for the countries most dependent on the sector. The biggest decreases in maximum catch potential can be expected in the tropics, mostly in the South Pacific regions.: iv The impacts of climate change on ocean systems has impacts on the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture, on the livelihoods of the communities that depend on fisheries, and on the ability of the oceans to capture and store carbon (biological pump). The effect of sea level rise means that coastal fishing communities are significantly impacted by climate change, while changing rainfall patterns and water use impact on inland freshwater fisheries and aquaculture. Increased risks of floods, diseases, parasites and harmful algal blooms are climate change impacts on aquaculture which can lead to losses of production and infrastructure.It is projected that "climate change decreases the modelled global fish community biomass by as much as 30% by 2100". Effects of climate change on oceans Oceans and coastal ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle and in Carbon sequestration. Rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification are the results of higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Healthy ocean ecosystems are essential for the mitigation of climate change. Coral reefs provide habitat for millions of fish species and with no change it can provoke these reefs to die. Furthermore, the rise in sea levels also affects other ecosystems such as mangroves and marshes, making them experience a lack of both land and hinterland for the purpose to migrate. Greenhouse gas emissions The fishing industry sector is a small contributor to greenhouse gas emissions overall but nevertheless there are options for reducing fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.: v  For example, about 0.5 percent of total global CO2 emissions in 2012 were caused by fishing vessels (including inland vessels): 172.3 million tonnes of CO2. When looking at the aquaculture industry, it was estimated that 385 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2 e) were emitted in 2010. This equates to around 7 percent of the emissions from agriculture.: v Impact on fish production The rising ocean acidity makes it more difficult for marine organisms such as shrimp, oysters, or corals to form their shells – a process known as calcification. Many important animals, such as zooplankton, that forms the base of the marine food chain have calcium shells. Thus the entire marine food web is being altered – there are 'cracks in the food chain'. As a result, the distribution, productivity, and species composition of global fish production is changing, generating complex and inter-related impacts on oceans, estuaries, coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds that provide habitats and nursery areas for fish. Changing rainfall patterns and water scarcity is impacting on river and lake fisheries and aquaculture production. After the Last Glacial Maximum of about 21,000 years ago, the global average air temperature has risen approximately 3 degrees, leading to an increase in sea temperatures.Fish catch of the global ocean is expected to decline by 6 percent by 2100 and by 11 percent in tropical zones. Diverse models predict that by 2050, the total global fish catch potential may vary by less than 10 percent depending on the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, but with very significant geographical variability. Decreases in both marine and terrestrial production in almost 85 percent of coastal countries analysed are predicted, varying widely in their national capacity to adapt.Fish populations of skipjack tuna and bigeye tuna are expected to be displaced further to the east due to the effects of climate change on ocean temperatures and currents. This will shift the fishing grounds toward the Pacific islands and away from its primary owner of Melanesia, disrupting western Pacific canneries, shifting tuna production elsewhere, and having an uncertain effect on food security.Species that are over-fished, such as the variants of Atlantic cod, are more susceptible to the effects of climate change. Over-fished populations have less size, genetic diversity, and age than other populations of fish. This makes them more susceptible to environment related stress, including those resulting from climate change. In the case of Atlantic cod located in the Baltic Sea, which are stressed close to their upper limits, this could lead to consequences related to the population's average size and growth.Due to climate change, the distribution of zooplankton has changed. Cool water cope-pod assemblages have moved north because the waters get warmer, they have been replaced by warm water cope-pods assemblages however it has a lower biomass and certain small species. This movement of copepods could have large impacts on many systems, especially high trophic level fish. For example, Atlantic cod require a diet of large cope-pods but because they have moved pole-wards morality rates are high and as a result the recruitment of this cod has plummetedIncrease in water temperature as a result of climate change will alter the productivity of aquatic ecosystems. flourish may be undesirable or even harmful. For example, the large fish predators that require cool water may be lost from smaller lakes as surface water temperature warms, and this may indirectly cause more blooms of nuisance algae, which can reduce water quality and pose potential health problems. Impact on fishing communities Coastal and fishing populations and countries dependent on fisheries are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Low-lying countries such as the Maldives and Tuvalu are particularly vulnerable and entire communities may become the first climate refugees. Fishing communities in Bangladesh are subject not only to sea-level rise, but also flooding and increased typhoons. Fishing communities along the Mekong river produce over 1 million tons of basa fish annually and livelihoods and fish production will suffer from saltwater intrusion resulting from rising sea level and dams. In rural Alaska, residents of the Noatak and Selawik villages struggle with unpredictable weather, changes in fish abundance and movement, and boat access changes due to climate change. These impacts significantly impact sustainability and subsistence practices.Fisheries and aquaculture contribute significantly to food security and livelihoods. Fish provides essential nutrition for 3 billion people and at least 50% of animal protein and minerals to 400 million people from the poorest countries. This food security is threatened by climate change and the increasing world population. Climate change changes several parameters of the fishing population: availability, stability, access, and utilization. The specific effects of climate change on these parameters will vary widely depending on the characteristics of the area, with some areas benefiting from the shift in trends and some areas being harmed based on the factors of exposure, sensitivity, and ability to respond to said changes. The lack of oxygen in warmer waters will possibly lead to the extinction of aquatic animalsWorldwide food security may not change significantly, however rural and poor populations would be disproportionately and negatively affected based on this criteria, as they lack the resources and manpower to rapidly change their infrastructure and adapt. In Bangladesh, Cambodia, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone or Sri Lanka, the dependency on fish for protein intake is over 50%. Over 500 million people in developing countries depend, directly or indirectly, on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods – aquaculture is the world's fastest growing food production system, growing at 7% annually and fish products are among the most widely traded foods, with more than 37% (by volume) of world production traded internationally.Human activities also increase the impact of climate change. Human activity has been linked to lake nutrition levels, which high levels are correlated to increasing vulnerability to climate change. Excess nutrients in water bodies, or eutrophication, can result in more algae and plant growth which can be harmful to humans, aquatic communities, and even birds.Climate change will also have an impact on recreational fisheries and commercial fisheries, as shifts in distribution could lead to changes in popular fishing locations, economic changes in fishing communities, and increased accessibility of fisheries in the North. Adaptation The change in temperature and decrease in oxygen is expected to occur too quickly for effective adaptation of affected species. Fishes can migrate to cooler places, but there are not always appropriate spawning sites.Several international agencies, including the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization have programs to help countries and communities adapt to global warming, for example by developing policies to improve the resilience of natural resources, through assessments of risk and vulnerability, by increasing awareness of climate change impacts and strengthening key institutions, such as for weather forecasting and early warning systems. The World Development Report 2010 – Development and Climate Change, Chapter 3 shows that reducing overcapacity in fishing fleets and rebuilding fish stocks can both improve resilience to climate change and increase economic returns from marine capture fisheries by US$50 billion per year, while also reducing GHG emissions by fishing fleets. Consequently, removal of subsidies on fuel for fishing can have a double benefit by reducing emissions and overfishing.Investment in sustainable aquaculture can buffer water use in agriculture while producing food and diversifying economic activities. Algal biofuels also show potential as algae can produce 15-300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed, soybeans, or jatropha and marine algae do not require scarce freshwater. Programs such as the GEF-funded Coral Reef Targeted Research provide advice on building resilience and conserving coral reef ecosystems, while six Pacific countries recently gave a formal undertaking to protect the reefs in a biodiversity hotspot – the Coral Triangle.The costs and benefits of adaptation are essentially local or national, while the costs of mitigation are essentially national whereas the benefits are global. Some activities generate both mitigation and adaptation benefits, for example, the restoration of mangrove forests can protect shorelines from erosion and provide breeding grounds for fish while also sequestering carbon. Over-fishing Although there is a decline of fisheries due to climate change, a related cause for this decrease is due to over-fishing. Over-fishing exacerbates the effects of climate change by creating conditions that make a fishing population more sensitive to environmental changes. Studies show that the state of the ocean is causing fisheries to collapse, and in areas where fisheries have not yet collapsed, the amount of over-fishing that is done is having a significant impact on the industry. Fishing that is destructive and unsustainable affects biodiversity. Minimizing over-fishing and destructive fishing will increase Ocean resilience to climate change hence mitigating climate change See also Carbon sequestration Effects of climate change on agriculture List of harvested aquatic animals by weight Marine pollution Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (2019) Sustainable fisheries Sources This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken from In brief, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2018​, FAO, FAO. References Sources Brander Keith (2010). "Impacts of climate change on fisheries" (PDF). Journal of Marine Systems. 79 (3): 389–402. Bibcode:2010JMS....79..389B. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2008.12.015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2012-03-18. FAO (2009) Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture. Overview of current scientific knowledge Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper 530, Rome. Klyashtorin LB (2001) Climate change and long-term fluctuations of commercial catches: the possibility of forecasting Technical paper 410, FAO fisheries, Rome. ISBN 978-92-5-104695-1.

united nations climate change conference

The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties (Conference of the Parties, COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2005 the conferences have also served as the "Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP); also parties to the convention that are not parties to the protocol can participate in protocol-related meetings as observers. From 2011 to 2015 the meetings were used to negotiate the Paris Agreement as part of the Durban platform, which created a general path towards climate action. Any final text of a COP must be agreed by consensus.The first UN Climate Change Conference was held in 1995 in Berlin. 1995: COP 1, Berlin, Germany The first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties took place from 28 March to 7 April 1995 in Berlin, Germany. 1996: COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland COP 2 took place from 8–19 July 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its ministerial declaration was noted (but not adopted) on 18 July 1996, and reflected a United States position statement presented by Timothy Wirth, former Under Secretary for Global Affairs for the United States Department of State at that meeting, which: Accepted the scientific findings on climate change proffered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its second assessment (1995); Rejected uniform "harmonized policies" in favor of flexibility; Called for "legally binding mid-term targets". 1997: COP 3, Kyoto, Japan COP 3 took place on 1–11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries, along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation. In a separate decision of the Conference of Parties, countries agreed to a range of national security exemptions which stated that bunker fuels and emissions from multilateral military operations would not be part of national emissions totals and would be reported outside of those totals. Most industrialized countries and some central European economies in transition (all defined as Annex B countries) agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to 8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008–2012, defined as the first emissions budget period. The United States would be required to reduce its total emissions an average of 7% below 1990 levels; however Congress did not ratify the treaty after Clinton signed it. The Bush administration explicitly rejected the protocol in 2001. 1998: COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina COP 4 took place on 2–14 November 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It had been expected that the remaining issues unresolved in Kyoto would be finalized at this meeting. However, the complexity and difficulty of finding agreement on these issues proved insurmountable, and instead the parties adopted a two-year "Plan of Action" to advance efforts and to devise mechanisms for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, to be completed by 2000. During COP 4, Argentina and Kazakhstan expressed their commitment to take on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation, the first two non-Annex countries to do so. 1999: COP 5, Bonn, Germany COP 5 took place between 25 October and 5 November 1999, in Bonn, Germany. It was primarily a technical meeting, and did not reach major conclusions. 2000: COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands COP 6 took place on 13–25 November 2000, in The Hague, Netherlands. The discussions evolved rapidly into a high-level negotiation over the major political issues. These included major controversy over the United States' proposal to allow credit for carbon "sinks" in forests and agricultural lands that would satisfy a major proportion of the U.S. emissions reductions in this way; disagreements over consequences for non-compliance by countries that did not meet their emission reduction targets; and difficulties in resolving how developing countries could obtain financial assistance to deal with adverse effects of climate change and meet their obligations to plan for measuring and possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the final hours of COP 6, despite some compromises agreed between the United States and some EU countries, notably the United Kingdom, the EU countries as a whole, led by Denmark and Germany, rejected the compromise positions, and the talks in The Hague collapsed. Jan Pronk, the President of COP 6, suspended COP 6 without agreement, with the expectation that negotiations would later resume. It was later announced that the COP 6 meetings (termed "COP 6 bis") would be resumed in Bonn, Germany, in the second half of July. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC, COP 7, had been set for Marrakech, Morocco, in October–November 2001. 2001: COP 6 bis, Bonn, Germany COP 6 negotiations resumed on 17–27 July 2001, in Bonn, Germany, with little progress having been made in resolving the differences that had produced an impasse in The Hague. However, this meeting took place after George W. Bush had become the President of the United States and had rejected the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001; as a result the United States delegation to this meeting declined to participate in the negotiations related to the Protocol and chose to take the role of observer at the meeting. As the other parties negotiated the key issues, agreement was reached on most of the major political issues, to the surprise of most observers, given the low expectations that preceded the meeting. The agreements included: Flexible mechanisms: The "flexibility mechanisms" which the United States had strongly favored when the Protocol was initially put together, including emissions trading, joint implementation (JI), and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which allows industrialized countries to fund emissions reduction activities in developing countries as an alternative to domestic emission reductions. One of the key elements of this agreement was that there would be no quantitative limit on the credit a country could claim from use of these mechanisms provided domestic action constituted a significant element of the efforts of each Annex B country to meet their targets. Carbon sinks: It was agreed that credit would be granted for broad activities that absorb carbon from the atmosphere or store it, including forest and cropland management, and re-vegetation, with no over-all cap on the amount of credit that a country could claim for sinks activities. In the case of forest management, an Appendix Z establishes country-specific caps for each Annex I country. Thus, a cap of 13 million tons could be credited to Japan (which represents about 4% of its base-year emissions). For cropland management, countries could receive credit only for carbon sequestration increases above 1990 levels. Compliance: Final action on compliance procedures and mechanisms that would address non-compliance with Protocol provisions was deferred to COP 7, but included broad outlines of consequences for failing to meet emissions targets that would include a requirement to "make up" shortfalls at 1.3 tons to 1, suspension of the right to sell credits for surplus emissions reductions, and a required compliance action plan for those not meeting their targets. Financing: There was agreement on the establishment of three new funds to provide assistance for needs associated with climate change: (1) a fund for climate change that supports a series of climate measures; (2) a least-developed-country fund to support National Adaptation Programs of Action; and (3) a Kyoto Protocol adaptation fund supported by a CDM levy and voluntary contributions.A number of operational details attendant upon these decisions remained to be negotiated and agreed upon, and these were the major issues considered by the COP 7 meeting that followed. 2001: COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco At the COP 7 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, from 29 October to 10 November 2001, negotiators wrapped up the work on the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, finalizing most of the operational details and setting the stage for nations to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The completed package of decisions is known as the Marrakech Accords. The United States delegation maintained its observer role, declining to participate actively in the negotiations. Other parties continued to express hope that the United States would re-engage in the process at some point and worked to achieve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the requisite number of countries to bring it into force (55 countries needed to ratify it, including those accounting for 55% of developed-country emissions of carbon dioxide in 1990). The date of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (August–September 2002) was put forward as a target to bring the Kyoto Protocol into force. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The main decisions at COP 7 included: Operational rules for international emissions trading among parties to the Protocol and for the CDM and joint implementation; A compliance regime that outlined consequences for failure to meet emissions targets but deferred to the parties to the Protocol, once it came into force, the decision on whether those consequences would be legally binding; Accounting procedures for the flexibility mechanisms; A decision to consider at COP 8 how to achieve a review of the adequacy of commitments that might lead to discussions on future commitments by developing countries. 2002: COP 8, New Delhi, India Taking place from 23 October to 1 November 2002, in New Delhi COP 8 adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration that, amongst others, called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimize the impact of climate change on developing countries. It is also approved the New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention. The COP 8 was marked by Russia's hesitation, stating that it needed more time to think it over. The Kyoto Protocol could enter into force once it was ratified by 55 countries, including countries responsible for 55 per cent of the developed world's 1990 carbon dioxide emissions. With the United States (36.1 per cent share of developed-world carbon dioxide) and Australia refusing ratification, Russia's agreement (17% of global emissions in 1990) was required to meet the ratification criteria and therefore Russia could delay the process. 2003: COP 9, Milan, Italy COP 9 took place on 1–12 December 2003 in Milan, Italy. The parties agreed to use the Adaptation Fund established at COP 7 in 2001 primarily in supporting developing countries better adapt to climate change. The fund would also be used for capacity-building through technology transfer. At COP 9, the parties also agreed to review the first national reports submitted by 110 non-Annex I countries. 2004: COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina COP 10 took place on 6–17 December 2004. COP 10 discussed the progress made since the first Conference of the Parties 10 years ago and its future challenges, with special emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaptation. To promote developing countries better adapt to climate change, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action was adopted. The parties also began discussing the post-Kyoto mechanism, on how to allocate emission reduction obligation following 2012, when the first commitment period ends. 2005: COP 11/CMP 1, Montreal, Canada COP 11/CMP 1 took place between 28 November and 9 December 2005, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the first Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 1) since their initial meeting in Kyoto in 1997. It was one of the largest intergovernmental conferences on climate change ever. The event marked the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. Hosting more than 10000 delegates, it was one of Canada's largest international events ever and the largest gathering in Montreal since Expo 67. The Montreal Action Plan was an agreement to "extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol beyond its 2012 expiration date and negotiate deeper cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions". Canada's environment minister at the time, Stéphane Dion, said the agreement provides a "map for the future". 2006: COP 12/CMP 2, Nairobi, Kenya COP 12/CMP 2 took place on 6–17 November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. At the meeting, BBC reporter Richard Black coined the phrase "climate tourists" to describe some delegates who attended "to see Africa, take snaps of the wildlife, the poor, dying African children and women". Black also noted that due to delegates concerns over economic costs and possible losses of competitiveness, the majority of the discussions avoided any mention of reducing emissions. Black concluded that was a disconnect between the political process and the scientific imperative. Despite such criticism, certain strides were made at COP12, including in the areas of support for developing countries and clean development mechanism. The parties adopted a five-year plan of work to support climate change adaptation by developing countries, and agreed on the procedures and modalities for the Adaptation Fund. They also agreed to improve the projects for clean development mechanism. 2007: COP 13/CMP 3, Bali, Indonesia COP 13/CMP 3 took place on 3–15 December 2007, at Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. Agreement on a timeline and structured negotiation on the post-2012 framework (the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol) was achieved with the adoption of the Bali Action Plan (Decision 1/CP.13). The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) was established as a new subsidiary body to conduct the negotiations aimed at urgently enhancing the implementation of the Convention up to and beyond 2012. Decision 9/CP.13 is an Amended to the New Delhi work programme. These negotiations took place during 2008 (leading to COP 14/CMP 4 in Poznan, Poland) and 2009 (leading to COP 15/CMP 5 in Copenhagen). 2008: COP 14/CMP 4, Poznań, Poland COP 14/CMP 4 took place on 1–12 December 2008 in Poznań, Poland. Delegates agreed on principles for the financing of a fund to help the poorest nations cope with the effects of climate change and they approved a mechanism to incorporate forest protection into the efforts of the international community to combat climate change.Negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol were the primary focus of the conference. 2009: COP 15/CMP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark COP 15 took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 7–18 December 2009. The overall goal for the COP 15/CMP 5 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark was to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires. However, on 14 November 2009, the New York Times announced that "President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement... agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific "politically binding" agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future". Ministers and officials from 192 countries took part in the Copenhagen meeting and in addition there were participants from a large number of civil society organizations. As many Annex 1 industrialized countries are now reluctant to fulfill commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, a large part of the diplomatic work that lays the foundation for a post-Kyoto agreement was undertaken up to the COP 15. The conference did not achieve a binding agreement for long-term action. A 13-paragraph 'political accord' was negotiated by approximately 25 parties including US and China, but it was only 'noted' by the COP as it is considered an external document, not negotiated within the UNFCCC process. The accord was notable in that it referred to a collective commitment by developed countries for new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, that will approach US$30 billion for the period 2010–2012. Longer-term options on climate financing mentioned in the accord are being discussed within the UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing, which is due to report in November 2010. The negotiations on extending the Kyoto Protocol had unresolved issues as did the negotiations on a framework for long-term cooperative action. The working groups on these tracks to the negotiations are now due to report to COP 16 and CMP 6 in Mexico. 2010: COP 16/CMP 6, Cancún, Mexico COP 16 was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 28 November to 10 December 2010.The outcome of the summit was an agreement adopted by the states' parties that called for the US$100 billion per annum "Green Climate Fund", and a "Climate Technology Centre" and network. However the funding of the Green Climate Fund was not agreed upon. Nor was a commitment to a second period of the Kyoto Protocol agreed upon, but it was concluded that the base year shall be 1990 and the global warming potentials shall be those provided by the IPCC. All parties "Recognizing that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet, and thus requires to be urgently addressed by all Parties". It recognizes the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report goal of a maximum 2 °C global warming and all parties should take urgent action to meet this goal. It also agreed upon greenhouse gas emissions should peak as soon as possible, but recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries, since social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries. 2011: COP 17/CMP 7, Durban, South Africa The 2011 COP 17 was held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011.The conference agreed to a start negotiations on a legally binding deal comprising all countries, to be adopted in 2015, governing the period post 2020. There was also progress regarding the creation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) for which a management framework was adopted. The fund is to distribute US$100 billion per year to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts.While the president of the conference, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, declared it a success, scientists and environmental groups warned that the deal was not sufficient to avoid global warming beyond 2 °C as more urgent action is needed. 2012: COP 18/CMP 8, Doha, Qatar Qatar hosted COP 18 which took place in Doha, Qatar, from 26 November to 7 December 2012. The Conference produced a package of documents collectively titled The Doha Climate Gateway. The documents collectively contained: The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol (to be accepted before entering into force) featuring a second commitment period running from 2012 until 2020 limited in scope to 15% of the global carbon dioxide emissions due to the lack of commitments of Japan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, New Zealand (nor the United States and Canada, who are not parties to the Protocol in that period) and due to the fact that developing countries like China (the world's largest emitter), India and Brazil are not subject to emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. Language on loss and damage, formalized for the first time in the conference documents.The conference made little progress towards the funding of the Green Climate Fund.Russia, Belarus and Ukraine objected at the end of the session, as they had a right to under the session's rules. In closing the conference, the President said that he would note these objections in his final report. 2013: COP 19/CMP 9, Warsaw, Poland COP 19 was the 19th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The conference was held in Warsaw, Poland from 11 to 23 November 2013. The most prominent result was the adoption of the Warsaw Framework for REDD-plus. 2014: COP 20/CMP 10, Lima, Peru On 1–12 December 2014, Lima, Peru, hosted the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The pre-COP conference was held in Venezuela. 2015: COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France The COP 21 was held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015. Negotiations resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December, governing climate change reduction measures from 2020. The adoption of this agreement ended the work of the Durban platform, established during COP 17. The agreement will enter into force (and thus become fully effective) on 4 November 2016. On 4 October 2016 the threshold for adoption was reached with over 55 countries representing at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ratifying the Agreement. 2016: COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1, Marrakech, Morocco COP 22 was held in Marrakech, in the North African country of Morocco, on 7–18 November 2016. A focal issue of COP 22 is that of water scarcity, water cleanliness, and water-related sustainability, a major problem in the developing world, including many African states. Prior to the event a special initiative on water was presided by Charafat Afailal, Morocco's Minister in Charge of Water and Aziz Mekouar, COP 22 Ambassador for Multilateral Negotiations. Another focal issue was the need to reduce greenhouse emissions and utilize low-carbon energy sources. Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, called for the transformation of the global economy in all sectors to achieve a low emissions global economy. 2017: COP 23/CMP 13/CMA 1-2, Bonn, Germany COP 23 was held on 6–17 November 2017. On Friday, 18 November 2016, the end of COP 22, the Chairperson of COP 23 from Fiji announced that it would be held in Bonn, Germany. (COP 23/CMP 13). Fijian Prime Minister and incoming President of COP 23, Frank Bainimarama, on 13 April launched the logo for this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held at UN Campus, Bonn in November. This conference saw the launch of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. 2018: COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 1-3, Katowice, Poland COP 24 was held on 3–14 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.The Polish government's vision for presidency states that the organisation of COP 24 will provide an opportunity for convincing other countries that Poland does not hamper the process of tackling dangerous climate change and that Poland is one of the leaders of this process. 2019: SB50, Bonn, Germany The Climate Change Conference of UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies was convened in Bonn, Germany, from 17 to 27 June 2019. 2019: COP 25/CMP 15/CMA 2, Madrid, Spain The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC was planned to take place from 11 to 22 November 2019 in Brazil. Upon election as President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from hosting the event.COP 25 was then planned to take place in Parque Bicentenario Cerrillos in Santiago de Chile, Chile from 2 to 13 December with a pre-sessional period from 26 November to 1 December 2019 with up to 25000 delegates scheduled to attend. However, following the 2019 Chilean protests, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced Chile's withdrawal from hosting the summit in late October 2019. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa stated that organizers were "exploring alternative hosting options". Then Spain offered, and was appointed, as the new host. 2021: COP 26/CMP 16/CMA 3, Glasgow, United Kingdom COP 26 was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 19 November 2020, in Glasgow, United Kingdom, but was postponed to 31 October to 12 November 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, this conference led to the development of the Accelerating to Zero coalition to accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles, and the Glasgow Climate Pact to "phase down" the use of coal-fired power stations. 2022: COP 27/CMP 17/CMA 4, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt COP 27 was originally expected to take place in November 2021, but was moved to 2022 due to the rescheduling of COP 26 from 2020 to 2021. It took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It led to an agreement on loss and damage, under which rich countries could compensate poor countries for damage caused by climate change. 2023: COP 28/CMP 18/CMA 5, Dubai, UAE COP 28 will take place in the United Arab Emirates. The summit will be held at Expo City Dubai from 30 November until 12 December 2023. 2024: COP 29/CMP 19/CMA 6, Eastern Europe Group (TBC) The Czech Republic announced it was considering entering a bid to host the conference.Bulgaria also expressed its desire to host COP 29, with President Rumen Radev presenting Bulgaria's candidacy to host in 2024. During the Bonn Climate Change meeting in May 2023, Azerbaijan and Armenia also announced their interest in hosting COP 29. The Eastern Europe Group have had difficulties in identifying a potential host due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Any offer to host COP 29 will first need to be approved by the Eastern Europe Group before being presented and approved at COP 28. 2025: COP 30/CMP 20/CMA 7, Belém, Brazil (TBC) In 2022, during his statement at COP 27, elected-president Lula said he would seek to make Brazil the host of COP 30 in 2025 and would aim to put the venue in one of the country's Amazon states (most of them in the north region), rather than the more populous coastal region. That would be the first time that Brazil, which is home to 60% of the Amazon Rainforest, the world's largest intact forest, hosts the event. On 11 January 2023, President Lula and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the city of Belém in the state of Pará as the Brazil's candidate host city of the event. On 26 May 2023, it was claimed that a U.N. Latin America regional group endorsed the city chosen to host the COP 30, a first for a city in the Amazon region.The offer will have to be presented and approved at COP 29. 2026: COP 31/CMP 21/CMA 8, Australia and Pacific Nations (TBC) In 2022, Australia announced plans to host COP 31 along with its Pacific island neighbours, and discussed this at the Pacific Islands Forum.On 18 November 2022, Türkiye's Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum declared Türkiye's candidacy to host COP 31. On 3 August 2023, Türkiye withdrew from hosting the United Nations' COP 16 biodiversity summit in 2024, putting into doubt the probability of hosting COP 31.Any offer to host COP 31, will first need to be approved by the Western Europe and Other Group before being presented and approved at COP 30. Summary of events See also United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Action for Climate Empowerment Global Climate Action Summit 2019 UN Climate Action Summit == References ==

climate change in greece

Climate change in Greece involves changes to the climate of Greece by way of increased drought, flooding, wildfires and sea level rise. These extreme weather conditions are likely to become more frequent and as a result landscapes and biodiversity will be affected. Climate change will also cause human activities such as land-use change, urbanisation and soil degradation to further affect Greek's ecosystems. Ecosystems in Greece are already at their tipping point, close to their environmental limits. Policies and laws have been put in place by the Greek government to try to manage these issues. Greenhouse gas emissions In 2021, Greece contributed 59.73 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. From 2005 to 2021, the per capita carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions coming from Greece decreased dramatically. In 2005, Greece hit their record high for GHG emissions, at 132.57 tonnes. Since then, the GHG emissions per capita more than halved. Greece's emissions per capita decreased at a faster rate than the overall EU per capita emissions from 2005 to 2015. The largest contributor to the GHG emissions in Greece is carbon dioxide (CO2), followed by nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). In 2021, CO2 emissions accounted for almost 95% of all of Greece's GHG emissions, at 56.31 million tonnes. In comparison to global emission levels, Greece emits 0.15% of the world's CO2 emissions whereas China, the highest contributor, emits 14.36%, as of 2021.It has also been found that Greece's CO2 emissions are coupled with economic growth, so when Greece's CO2 emissions drop, so does the GDP. Greece is working towards decoupling their GDP growth with their emissions, as several other countries have done successfully in the past. By sector On the individual level, the per capita GHG emissions in Greece as of 2021 was 5.93 tonnes. By sector, the top three sources of GHG emissions include electricity and heat, transportation, and aviation and shipping. In most total energy consumption measurements, there are three components–heat, electricity, and transport. Those three components make up the largest sector releasing GHG emissions from 1990-2019 in Greece. Electricity and heat From 1990-2019, Greece's largest sector releasing GHG emissions was electricity and heat. In 2022, Greece consumed 52.44 terawatt hours of energy. These emissions are mainly made up of CO2 emissions. These emissions occur due to the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gases, for energy production. In 2021, it was found that 79.84% of Greece's energy comes from fossil fuels, and of that, over half comes from oil.However, 19.39% of Greece's energy also comes from renewable energy sources, as of 2021. From 2007 to 2021, the share of primary energy coming from renewable sources increased by over 15%.As of 2022, 56.69% of electricity production in Greece comes from fossil fuels. That means that 43.31% of electricity production comes from renewable energy technologies. Another way to reduce CO2 emissions and increase of air pollution would be to transition electricity towards another low-carbon source such as nuclear energy. However, Greece has not explored that energy option yet. One of the larger obstacles to overcome when transitioning to renewable energy sources is the dilemma of the non-interconnected Greek Islands(NII). Currently, they obtain their electricity mainly from inefficient diesel generators. On average, electricity production cost in the NII is 2.5 times higher than in areas connected to a main electricity grid. Due to tourist seasonal demand, absence of storage space, and technical restrictions because of solar and wind's high chance of variability, installing renewable energy becomes increasingly more difficult on the NII. Thus, during the decade of 2021 to 2030, these islands are working to become interconnected with the mainland electricity system, reducing the need for oil imports. In June 2021, the power link between the mainland and the islands of Crete was completed. These connectivity offers a two benefits for the NII, as cheaper electricity can be supplied to the islands, and more renewables can be built because the interconnection allows for the balancing of energy amounts due to variable generation and varying demand. Transport (incl. aviation and shipping) During the touristic periods of the year in Greece, which falls from May to August, emissions from transportation such as ships, cars, and airplanes are at their highest, which is becoming more and more evident in popular tourist destinations such as in the Mediterranean area.In 2017, the road transport CO2-equivalent emissions accounted for 22.6% of Greece's total emissions. In terms of Greece's transport specific emissions in 2017, road transport accounted for 51.8% of total CO2-equivalent emissions. Between 1990 and 2017, the road sector's CO2-equivalent emissions increased by almost 25%, from 12,000 to almost 15,000 kilo-tonnes (kt). Greece is also one of the countries with the oldest fleet of cars within the EU, with an average vehicle age of 13.5 years in 2015. These older cars contribute more to emissions than newer models due to the new models' low-emission technology and alternative fuels that can be utilized. GHG emissions from aviation and shipping are also of increasing importance due to the global rise in domestic and international flights as well as sea cruises and traditional commercial navigation. In 2017, aviation contributed 11.6% of Greece's CO2-equivalent transport emissions. All airlines flying in and out of Greece abide by the EU emissions trading systems (EU ETS), in which they are required to document and report their emissions to the EU and can buy certain levels of emission allowances, all of amount to a cap that the EU sets on how much CO2 can be emitted in a single year. Companies can then trade for higher or lower emission allowances. So far, this system has helped reduce the aviation sector's carbon footprint by over 17 million tonnes per year. In comparison, in 2017, navigation contributed up to 36.1% of Greece's CO2-equivalent transport emissions. This section of transportation has been less regulated than road and aviation, but in 2018, the European Commission did make an amendment to the EU ETS to emphasize the need to take action to reduce emissions from shipping. Impacts on natural landscape Temperature rise Since the 1960s, Greece's average annual temperature has been rising. In addition, from 2000 to 2020, Greece's average annual temperature increase was 0.047°C, which is 0.011°C above the global average. Assuming the amount of global GHG emissions remain high, temperature increases in summer and autumn are produced to be higher than in spring, with the mainland regions experiencing more warming than the islands in all seasons except in autumn.These temperature rises pose a threat to electricity supply, as the increased heat will put stress on thermal power plants, reducing the efficiency and increasing the need for cooling water. The population of Greece will be more likely to demand more electricity for air conditioning during extreme heat events which may result in power outages as seen in 2017 and 2020. Extreme weather events Fire Most Greek forests are fire-adapted, however increase in fire due to climate change threatens the natural equilibrium of the ecosystem. Fire in Greek forests are natural, with most plants being fire-adapted and are a determining factor in the development of the Greek ecosystems. With rising temperatures, fires in Greece will become more common and severe, above the natural standard, leading to long-lasting damage. Climate change is furthering the likelihood of forest fires due to rising air temperatures, land use changes and lack of rainfall. There have been changes in the reduction of time between successive fires and the time of the fire season. The region is now seeing a longer fire season with higher frequency and intensity.The fire season is expected to rise by 15% and 70%, with a drop of 10% to 30% days of rainfall. This, alongside increased chance of heatwaves will further cause disruption to the Greek forests, affecting the ecosystems. Heat waves By the year 2050 it is expected that Greece will be hit by 15-20 heatwaves in a year. A heatwave is defined as a day where the temperature becomes higher than the 90th percentile of temperatures for the region. This will contribute to 'Urban Heat Islands', causing areas in cities to have a difference in an estimated 8 to 10 degrees. This is due a lack of green areas and poor ventilation. Thus, Greek cities will feel extra pressure during climate change than rural areas. During the period of 1971-2000 the average number of heatwaves was 1.4, and this is expected to rise to an average of 6 over the next 25 years. Sea level rise The coastal zone of Greece is 18,400km in length for the mainland and 9,835km for the islands. The population among the coast is high, with 33% of the Greek population inhabiting coastal areas 1-2 km from the coast and 85% living 50km from the coast. The coastal zone provides for valuable goods and services from the natural resources. This area is highly productive for the economic activity of Greece with 80% of industrial activities, 90% of tourism and 35% of agriculture occurring in the coastal zones. Coastal erosion caused by sea level rise is a significant issue for Greece. Greece is under threat from coastal erosion, being the 4th most vulnerable country in Europe with over 20% of Greece's coastline under threat (EUROSION, 2004). There is heightened vulnerability of this coastal erosion due to sea level rise. The impact of sea level rise will occur by inundation and erosion. The southern part of Greece will be more vulnerable to these impacts than the northern side due to the geography of the area. Beach erosion will be damaging to Greek beaches as the beaches are vulnerable due to their small size, climatic characteristics and the negative sediment budgets. In the Mediterranean Sea, studies are indicating a sea-level rise of 1.1 – 1.3 mm/yr. By the end of the century it is estimated that there will be a coastal retreat of more than 280m. In 1990 United Nations Environment Programme warned of these impacts stating that ‘it is likely that the impact of climate change will first be felt in the Mediterranean water resource system’.Sustainability of the beach tourism sector will be challenged; the increasing erosion and inundation will cause the carrying-capacity of these highly populous beaches to become sensitive. Not only will the tourism sector be affected, but so will the economies that rely on the coast such as agriculture. Estimates for the cost of sea level rise show a cost of 24.9 billion for a 0.5m rise and 265.2 billion for a 1m rise in the sea level. Terrestrial ecosystems Greece has one of the most biodiverse regions in the Earth, being a biodiversity hot spot. Greece is home to 22% of the biodiverse Mediterranean species and is home to 25 times more species than its landmass would suggest it could have. Greece's position in the Mediterranean basin is reason as to why the country has extremely high levels of biodiversity. An increase of 3.6 in the global temperature could cause a loss of over 50% of plant species in the Mediterranean.However, Greece's position in the Mediterranean basin also make it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate change has been steadily occurring in Greece for the last century with winters and summers slowly warming. Temperatures have been increasing, but the precipitation of the area has been slowly decreasing.The Greek forests have many drought-tolerant tree species and so it has been thought that these trees would be favoured with the proposed increase in temperatures. However, a severe drought in eastern Greece killed many of the drought-tolerant Mediterranean pines. The increase in temperatures will affect how the disturbances of insect and pathogen outbreaks occur.The bark beetle, which is of high abundance in the Parnitha National Park and Mount Taygetos, is known for causing the death of millions of Firtrees. The impact of climate change on these beetles will result in the expansion of these beetles. This expansion alongside the forest's susceptibility to disease is likely to result in more outbreaks. Changes in temperature and precipitation will allow the bark beetles to thrive in increased drought conditions, while increasing the trees susceptibility to being infested by the beetles. Droughts weaken tree vigour which leads to infections by diseases and / or heightened exposure to fires. Heightened insect infections alongside heightened susceptibility to fire promotes fuel leading to devastating effects of Greece's biodiverse forests. Marine ecosystems As of 2016, over 84% of Europe's aquaculture production comes from marine life that are farmed at sea, which are subject to the environmental conditions that are outside of human control. One of these farming locations is the Mediterranean Sea which surrounds Greece's mainland and all its islands. Aquaculture in the Mediterranean is important due to the overfishing that has occurred in the areas for several decades. More specifically, coastal hake, sole, and red mullet natural fisheries have been severely overexploited.The most common Mediterranean aquaculture practice is marine cage farming, and 95% of the total production is made up of European seabass and gilthead seabream. Greece is the main EU producer for these two species of fish, with annual production exceeding 135,000 ton, accounting for 60% of the EU supply and 24% of the global supply. This industry is very significant towards Greece's economic wellbeing. Due to low water exchange with large oceans and the unique nature of the Mediterranean Basin surrounding the sea, it is one of the areas that is highly affected by climate change. In Mediterranean sea, temperatures are increasing 20% faster than the global average. Increased temperatures due to climate change have been associated with changes in fish age at maturity, time of reproduction, and growth. At the individual level, fish may actually benefit from warmer temperatures in terms of reaching commercial sizes faster due to faster growth. However, at the population level, the increase of extreme weather events, such as floods, cyclones, and windstorms, could largely offset the benefits caused by the faster rate of growth. Regardless of the increased growth due to warmer temperatures, warm-water fish species are expected to perform range shifts and move northwards, and cold-water fish species will decline. Another aspect of the Mediterranean Sea marine life at risk includes species that act as carbon sinks such as posidonia oceanica, a type of seagrass that provides many benefits to the marine ecosystem. Posidonia meadows are estimated to store between 11-42% of the total CO2 emissions from the Mediterranean Basin since the Industrial Revolution. Posidonia oxygenates the ocean and provides a habitat for 20% of marine species in the Mediterranean. As storms and hurricanes become more frequent and severe, fields of posidonia reduce the power of the waves and currents, and in autumn, the dead leaves float up to the surface and protect again coastal erosion. However, climate change is causing a serious decline in the posidonia species. Due to increasing temperatures, posidonia is under stress and is changing its distribution in ocean waters. These higher temperatures also attract invasive algae species and herbivorous fish, which can leave posidonia meadows completely barren. The rising sea levels can negatively affect this species as well, causing a regression due to less light reaching the meadows for photosynthesis. The decline in this species creates a vicious cycle because as the meadows die due to warmer temperatures, the carbon they hold is exposed, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere and continues to fuel global warming. Heat waves will likely cause mass mortality events of species lower on the food chain such as invertebrate organisms. Increased levels of CO2 in the water will also decrease calcium carbonate levels, which in turn will negatively affect the skeletal growth of key marine species, such as coral. Since these species are at the bottom of the food chain, their decline could greatly affect those higher up on the food chain who are depending on it. Impact on people Agriculture The agriculture sector in Greece accounts for 13% of the labour force in Greece, with one-third of exports in Greece being from agricultural products. Climate change is set to increase the mean average temperature leading to a positive increase in the number of hotter days and nights and frost days to decrease.However, the entire agriculture sector as a whole is not expected to be entirely affected negatively by climate change. The extension of the growing season due to increased temperatures will allow further cultivation of certain crops. This will give certain crops the opportunity to expand, for example the cotton plantations as increased temperature will benefit their growth. Greece is one of the biggest cotton producers in Europe. Greece accounts for almost 80% of the European Union's total cotton production. Climate change is set to reduce the water balance of the Mediterranean region and lead to a higher chance of climatic events. These weather changes will lead cotton ball retention being curtailed. The rise of CO2 in the atmosphere due to climate change will lead to more fruiting structures and cotton bolls (i.e. more CO2 equals more plant growth), however other climatic variables such as droughts will negatively impact productivity overall.Olives are important products in the agricultural sector in Greece. The olive tree is one of the most cultivated tree species in the Mediterranean region. Greece, as a country in the Mediterranean biome, is of a Temperate climate. This means that plant species require certain chill requirements to achieve regular crop yields. The olive tree is very resistant to drought, hence why it thrives in Greece. However because the winter will be more warm, there will be a lack of cold temperatures necessary for the olive trees to bloom. The olive tree is affected by temperature changes, flowering begins in the summer, then the colder conditions of the winter begins the dormancy phase. Post dormancy the olive tree must be exposed to higher temperatures to break its dormancy and activate the shoot growth. Without an adequate chilling phase, the quantity and quality of the flowering on the olive tree is negatively affected which will affect olive production. Climate change will have impacts on the growth of olive trees and subsequently affect the economy surrounding it. Tourism One of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece, Santorini Island, is set to experience a deterioration of optimal thermal comfort conditions. While the Mediterranean area is extremely popular with tourists, the area is also subject to be very vulnerable to climate change. The Greek islands typically has very favourable weather conditions with warm temperatures and sunny weather. However, studies are indicating that thermal comfort-based temperature may decrease in the summer period, but increase in spring, autumn and winter, which may alter the tourism industry. These studies have shown that there will be shifts into hot extreme weather in summer alongside an elongation of the warm and hot season. The days of discomfort due to extreme temperatures is set to increase most significantly in the coastal regions and islands. Based on the Tourism Climate Index is set to change to just acceptable conditions in the near future. With this deterioration of ideal days, the tourism sector can expect a redistribution in the tourism traffic during the current high season to earlier and later (shifting to spring and autumn). While the summer period may see a decrease in tourism, the elongation of ideal climate and the shift of it into spring, autumn and winter may actually increase the overall tourism in Greece. The Mediterranean region is one of the most visited regions in the world, attracting 214.9 million tourists or 19% of tourism worldwide (UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2015). Greece combined with Spain and Turkey attracts 60% of the tourists worldwide. This makes the tourism industry of Greece susceptible to the vulnerability that climate change causes. The impacts of increasing temperatures on economies is therefore larger on Greece compared to other European countries. A decrease in tourism could also be expected due to the fact that climate “defines the length and quality of tourism seasons, affects tourism operations, and influences environmental conditions that both attract and deter visitors”. Mitigation and adaptation International commitments Timeline of international conventions In the order that Greece became a party to the convention or protocol, regardless of whether the convention or protocol had entered into force yet: 1975: Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 1988: Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer 1994: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1994: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal 1995: Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer 1997: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 2002: Kyoto Protocol 2003: Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade 2004: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety 2006: Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants 2016: Paris Agreement Rio Convention In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted and opened for signature in Rio de Janeiro at the Rio Convention. This convention served as the first large scale agreement between signing countries and the UN to reduce the impact that climate change was predicted to have globally. Greece signed this convention in 1992 and ratified it in 1994, adopting the 1st National Programme for Climate Change in 1995. This program took into account both economic and social parameters and set a restriction for Greece to reduce their contribution to the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly CO2, N2O and CH4, by 15% by 2000.In 2002, Greece adopted the 2nd National Programme for Climate Change, which added measures for Greece to meet the goal set by the Kyoto Protocol by setting restrictions on 3 more greenhouse gasses, hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorochemicals (PFC), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Greece was tasked with reducing their emissions from these 3 gasses, along with the three gasses from the 1st program, by 25%. The 2nd National Programme also expressed Greece's need to develop appropriate infrastructure to handle energy by natural gas and to further explore renewable energy sources that were able to be implemented. Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol was created in 1997, but wasn't fully ratified and put into motion until 2005. It is an agreement to follow the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by setting goals for industrialized countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global warming. Industrialized countries are labeled as Annex 1 countries, whereas all other countries in the treaty are labeled as Non-Annex 1, and they are only required to report their emissions but not set to any limitations. Greece was categorized as an Annex 1 country. Greece ratified the protocol in 2002. By 2005, 192 countries ratified the agreement, and the protocol entered into force.Countries could primarily use national measures to achieve their individual emissions target amount. However, a key part of the Kyoto Protocol was the introduction of market mechanisms based on the principle of trading emissions permits.There have been two commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol, one spanning from 2008 to 2012, and one spanning from 2013 to 2020. Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement is an international accord with the goal of significantly reducing GHG emissions to limit global temperature increase to 2°C, with a more ambitious goal to limit global temperature increase by 1.5°C. While the Kyoto Protocol is still technically in effect, the Paris Agreement has superseded the Kyoto Protocol as the main treaty guiding the global response to climate change.This agreement requires member countries to annually send in their national climate plans, otherwise known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), with every new NDC reflecting a higher level of change and emission reduction than the previous year. This allows countries to take action on their own accord in response to climate change as opposed to the Kyoto Protocol, which enforced limitations. NDCs are not legally binding, meaning that countries don't have to achieve every action in their NDC. Domestic initiatives Climate change legislation in Greece has been harmonised alongside relevant EU directives to ensure the country is aiming for similar changes to emission. The National Energy and Climate (ENCP) Plan is a ten-year plan that has been mandated by the European member states. The aim is for Europe to meet its overall greenhouse gases emissions targets. This plan targets carbon emissions, energy efficiency, energy security and innovation. As party to this Plan, Greece has introduced policies and laws to ensure the target of the plan will be meet. National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change The Greek National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) was finalised in April 2016 and was formally endorsed by the Parliament in August 2016. It is currently in its 10-year implementation horizon, to be followed by a review. The NAS is the principal document that defines goals, principles and priorities for climate adaption in Greece. This policy plan lists the potential adaptation measures for all sectors in Greece that are expected to be significantly affected by change. It is a strategic document, providing guidance in climate change adaptation. The NAS was developed in 13 Regional Adaptation Action Plans (RAAPs), each form including potential adaption measures at a regional level.The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEEN) is the competent authority to draft the NAS, the group that oversees and revises the strategies. The National Climate Change Adaptation Committee (NCCAC) has representatives from different areas of government, forming a group that develops and supports adapting policies. This committee group is the advisory to the MEEN. National Climate Law The National Climate Law of Greece was introduced in May 2022 and sets a long-term goal of the gradual transition of Greece to carbon neutrality by the year 2050. The goal is to achieve this in the most environmentally sustainable way possible. The law defines climate neutrality as the balance of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from their sources and their absorptions by carbon sinks. This National Law intervenes with other legislative measures in the country to ensure the goal is meet. This is done by drafting and adopting the national strategy into regional plans. Further by establishing government institutions for a smooth transition towards climate neutrality, focusing on the establishment of a carbon budgeting mechanism. Lastly the goal is to be achieved by creating policies and measures that aim to mitigate emissions from high emission sectors such as building, transport and business.The immediate objects are set to recede the net anthropogenic greenhouse's emissions by at least: 55% by the year 2030 80% by the year 2040 Sectoral policies and measures There are specific sectoral measures of the National Climate Law that have been introduced and will be introduced to achieve the goal of climate neutrality which are as follows: Electricity Production Zero-Emission Vehicles Municipal Emission Reduction Plans Reduction of Emissions from Buildings Environment Permits Reduction of Emissions from Installations Reduction of Emissions from Businesses Transition of Islands to Climate Neutrality National Energy and Climate Change Plan The National Energy and Climate Change Plan (NECP) is the plan for strategic goals to attain specific energy and climate objectives by 2030. This plan outlines Greece's priorities and aims to serve as a key tool in drawing up the national energy and climate policy in the next decade. The objectives are as follows: (a) Greenhouse gas emissions reduced by more than 42% compared to 1990 emissions and more than 56% compared to 2005 emissions (b) Renewable energy sources (RES) to be at a minimum share of 35%. Provision has been made for RES share in electricity consumption to exceed 60% (c) Final object for energy consumption in 2030 to be lower than recorded in 2017.There are seven themes under which the NECP aims to attain its object. These seven themes are: (1) Climate change, emissions and removals of greenhouse gases, (2) Renewable energy sources, (3) Improvement in energy efficiency, (4) Security of energy supply, (5) Energy market, (6) Agriculture, shipping, tourism and (7) Research, innovation and competitiveness.National Recovery and Resilience Plan Developed after the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery and resilience plan encourages investments that will help Greece throughout the green and digital transition. The plan has 106 investment initiatives, 68 reforms and will receive grants of €17.77 billion and €12.73 billion. Greece and the European Investment Bank agreed to establish a €5 billion fund in September 2021 to support the nation's sustainable recovery and growth in accordance with Greece's National Recovery and Resilience Plan and is backed by resources from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. These include both governmental and private investments in urban revitalization, sustainable transport, energy efficiency and renewable energy, to support the green and digital transformation. == References ==

climate engineering

Climate engineering (also called geoengineering) is a term used for both carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management, also called solar geoengineering, when applied at a planetary scale.: 6–11  However, they have very different geophysical characteristics which is why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change no longer uses this overarching term.: 6–11  Carbon dioxide removal approaches are part of climate change mitigation. Solar geoengineering involves reflecting some sunlight (solar radiation) back to space. All forms of geoengineering are not a standalone solution to climate change, but need to be coupled with other forms of climate change mitigation. Another approach to geoengineering is to increase the Earth's thermal emittance through passive radiative cooling.Carbon dioxide removal is defined as "Anthropogenic activities removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products. It includes existing and potential anthropogenic enhancement of biological or geochemical CO2 sinks and direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage, but excludes natural CO2 uptake not directly caused by human activities."Some types of climate engineering are highly controversial due to the large uncertainties around effectiveness, side effects and unforeseen consequences. However, the risks of such interventions must be seen in the context of the trajectory of climate change without them. Definitions Climate engineering (or geoengineering) has been used as an umbrella term for both carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management (or solar geoengineering), when applied at a planetary scale.: 6–11  However, these two methods have very different geophysical characteristics, which is why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change no longer uses this term.: 6–11  This decision was communicated in around 2018, see for example the "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C".: 550 Some authors, for example in the mainstream media, also include passive daytime radiative cooling, "ocean geoengineering" and others in the term of climate engineering.Specific technologies that fall into the "climate engineering" umbrella term include:: 30  Carbon dioxide removal Biochar - Biochar is a high-carbon, fine-grained residue that is produced via pyrolysis Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) - the process of extracting bioenergy from biomass and capturing and storing the carbon, thereby removing it from the atmosphere. Direct air capture and carbon storage - a process of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air (as opposed to capturing from point sources, such as a cement factory or biomass power plant) and generating a concentrated stream of CO2 for sequestration or utilization or production of carbon-neutral fuel and windgas. Enhanced weathering - a process that aims to accelerate the natural weathering by spreading finely ground silicate rock, such as basalt, onto surfaces which speeds up chemical reactions between rocks, water, and air. It also removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, permanently storing it in solid carbonate minerals or ocean alkalinity. The latter also slows ocean acidification. Solar Radiation Management Marine cloud brightening - a proposed technique that would make clouds brighter, reflecting a small fraction of incoming sunlight back into space in order to offset anthropogenic global warming. Mirrors in space (MIS) - satellites that are designed to change the amount of solar radiation that impacts the Earth as a form of climate engineering. Since the conception of the idea in 1923, 1929, 1957 and 1978 (Hermann Oberth) and also in the 1980s, space mirrors have mainly been theorized as a way to deflect sunlight to counter global warming and were seriously considered in the 2000s. Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) - a proposed method to introduce aerosols into the stratosphere to create a cooling effect via global dimming and increased albedo, which occurs naturally from volcanic eruptions.The following methods are not termed "climate engineering" in the latest IPCC assessment report in 2022: 6–11  but are nevertheless included in other publications on this topic: Passive daytime radiative cooling Ground-level albedo modification - a process of increasing Earth's albedo through the means of altering things on the Earth's surface. Examples include planting light-colored plants to help with reflecting sunlight back into space. Glacier stabilization - proposals aiming to slow down or prevent sea level rise caused by the collapse of notable marine-terminating glaciers, such as Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland or Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. It may be possible to bolster some glaciers directly, but blocking the flow of ever-warming ocean water at a distance, allowing it more time to mix with the cooler water around the glacier, is likely to be far more effective. Technologies Carbon dioxide removal Solar geoengineering Passive daytime radiative cooling Enhancing the thermal emissivity of Earth through passive daytime radiative cooling has been proposed as an alternative or "third approach" to geoengineering that is "less intrusive" and more predictable or reversible than stratospheric aerosol injection. Ocean geoengineering Ocean geoengineering involves adding material such as lime or iron to the ocean to affect its ability to support marine life and/or sequester CO2. In 2021 the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) requested $2.5 billion funds for research in the following decade, specifically including field tests. Ocean liming Enriching seawater with calcium hydroxide (lime) has been reported to lower ocean acidity, which reduces pressure on marine life such as oysters and absorb CO2. The added lime raised the water's pH, capturing CO2 in the form of calcium bicarbonate or as carbonate deposited in mollusk shells. Lime is produced in volume for the cement industry. This was assessed in 2022 in an experiment in Apalachicola, Florida in an attempt to halt declining oyster populations. pH levels increased modestly, as CO2 was reduced by 70 ppm.A 2014 experiment added sodium hydroxide (lye) to part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It raised pH levels to nearly preindustrial levels.However, producing alkaline materials typically releases large amounts of CO2, partially offsetting the sequestration. Alkaline additives become diluted and dispersed in one month, without durable effects, such that if necessary, the program could be ended without leaving long-term effects. Iron fertilization Submarine forest Another 2022 experiment attempted to sequester carbon using giant kelp planted off the Namibian coast. Whilst this approach has been called "ocean geoengineering" by the researchers it is just another form of carbon dioxide removal via sequestration. Another term that is used to describe this process is blue carbon management and also marine geoengineering. Glacier stabilization Problems According to climate economist Gernot Wagner the term "geoengineering" is "largely an artefact and a result of the terms frequent use in popular discourse" and "so vague and all-encompassing as to have lost much meaning".: 14 Interventions at large scale run a greater risk of unintended disruptions of natural systems, resulting in a dilemma that such disruptions might be more damaging than the climate damage that they offset. Ethical aspects Climate engineering may reduce the urgency of reducing carbon emissions, a form of moral hazard. Also, most efforts have only temporary effects, which implies rapid rebound if they are not sustained. The Union of Concerned Scientists points to the danger that the technology will become an excuse not to address the root causes of climate change, slow our emissions reductions and start moving toward a low-carbon economy. However, several public opinion surveys and focus groups reported either desire to increase emission cuts in the presence of climate engineering, or of no effect. Other modelling work suggests that the prospect of climate engineering may in fact increase the likelihood of emissions reduction.If climate engineering can alter the climate, then this raises questions whether humans have the right to deliberately change the climate, and under what conditions. For example, using climate engineering to stabilize temperatures is not the same as doing so to optimize the climate for some other purpose. Some religious traditions express views on the relationship between humans and their surroundings that encourage (to conduct responsible stewardship) or discourage (to avoid hubris) explicit actions to affect climate. Society and culture Public perception A large 2018 study used an online survey to investigate public perceptions of six climate engineering methods in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Public awareness of climate engineering was low; less than a fifth of respondents reported prior knowledge. Perceptions of the six climate engineering methods proposed (three from the carbon dioxide removal group and three from the solar geoengineering group) were largely negative and frequently associated with attributes like 'risky', 'artificial' and 'unknown effects'. Carbon dioxide removal methods were preferred over solar geoengineering. Public perceptions were remarkably stable with only minor differences between the different countries in the surveys.Some environmental organizations (such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace) have been reluctant to endorse or oppose solar geoengineering, but are often more supportive of nature-based carbon dioxide removal projects, such as afforestation and peatland restoration. History Several organizations have investigated climate engineering with a view to evaluating its potential, including the US Congress, the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Royal Society, the UK Parliament, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IMechE report examined a small subset of proposed methods (air capture, urban albedo and algal-based CO2 capture techniques), and its main conclusions were that climate engineering should be researched and trialed at the small scale alongside a wider decarbonization of the economy.The Royal Society review examined a wide range of proposed climate engineering methods and evaluated them in terms of effectiveness, affordability, timeliness, and safety (assigning qualitative estimates in each assessment). The key recommendations reports were that "Parties to the UNFCCC should make increased efforts towards mitigating and adapting to climate change, and in particular to agreeing to global emissions reductions", and that "[nothing] now known about geoengineering options gives any reason to diminish these efforts". Nonetheless, the report also recommended that "research and development of climate engineering options should be undertaken to investigate whether low-risk methods can be made available if it becomes necessary to reduce the rate of warming this century".In 2009, a review examined the scientific plausibility of proposed methods rather than the practical considerations such as engineering feasibility or economic cost. The authors found that "[air] capture and storage shows the greatest potential, combined with afforestation, reforestation and bio-char production", and noted that "other suggestions that have received considerable media attention, in particular, "ocean pipes" appear to be ineffective". They concluded that "[climate] geoengineering is best considered as a potential complement to the mitigation of CO2 emissions, rather than as an alternative to it". In 2015, the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded a 21-month project to study the potential impacts, benefits, and costs of climate engineering. The differences between these two classes of climate engineering "led the committee to evaluate the two types of approaches separately in companion reports, a distinction it hopes carries over to future scientific and policy discussions." The resulting study titled Climate Intervention was released in February 2015 and consists of two volumes: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth and Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration. According to their brief about the study:Climate intervention is no substitute for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and adaptation efforts aimed at reducing the negative consequences of climate change. However, as our planet enters a period of changing climate never before experienced in recorded human history, interest is growing in the potential for deliberate intervention in the climate system to counter climate change... Carbon dioxide removal strategies address a key driver of climate change, but research is needed to fully assess if any of these technologies could be appropriate for large-scale deployment. Albedo modification strategies could rapidly cool the planet's surface but pose environmental and other risks that are not well understood and therefore should not be deployed at climate-altering scales; more research is needed to determine if albedo modification approaches could be viable in the future.In June 2023 the US government released a report that recommended conducting research on stratospheric aerosol injection and marine cloud brightening. See also == References ==

deforestation and climate change

Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, and climate change affects forests. Land use changes, especially in the form of deforestation, are the second largest anthropogenic source of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, after fossil fuel combustion. Greenhouse gases are emitted during combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. As of 2019, deforestation is responsible for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation are accelerating. Growing forests are a carbon sink with additional potential to mitigate the effects of climate change. Some of the effects of climate change, such as more wildfires, insect outbreaks, invasive species, and storms are factors that increase deforestation.Forests cover 31% of the land area on Earth and annually 75,700 square kilometers (18.7 million acres) of the forest is lost. According to the World Resources Institute, there was a 12% increase in the loss of primary tropical forests from 2019 to 2020.Deforestation is often described as the changing of land from forested to non-forested by means both natural and unnatural. The relationship between deforestation and climate change is one of a positive feedback loop. The more trees that are removed equals larger effects of climate change which, in turn, results in the loss of more trees.Deforestation comes in many forms: wildfire, agricultural clearcutting, livestock ranching, and logging for timber, among others. Causes of deforestation Causes not linked to climate change Causes due to climate change Effects of deforestation on climate change aspects According to a review, north of 50°N, large scale deforestation leads to an overall net global cooling while tropical deforestation leads to substantial warming not just due to CO2 impacts but also due to other biophysical mechanisms (making carbon-centric metrics inadequate). Irreversible deforestation would result in a permanent rise in the global surface temperature. Moreover, it suggests that standing tropical forests help cool the average global temperature by more than 1 °C.Deforestation of tropical forests may risk triggering tipping points in the climate system and of forest ecosystem collapse which would also have effects on climate change.Deforestation, particularly in large swaths of the Amazon, where nearly 20% of the rainforest has been clear cut, has climactic effects and effects on water sources as well as on the soil. Moreover, the type of land usage after deforestation also produces varied results. When deforested land is converted to pasture land for livestock grazing it has a greater effect on the ecosystem than forest to cropland conversions. Other effect of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is seen through the greater amount of carbon dioxide emission. The Amazon rainforest absorbs one-fourth of the carbon dioxide emissions on Earth, however, the amount of CO2 absorbed today decreases by 30% than it was in the 1990s due to deforestation.Modeling studies have concluded that there are two crucial moments that can lead to devastating effects in the Amazon rainforest which are increase in temperature by 4 °C and deforestation reaching a level of 40%. Decrease in climate services Human activity such as deforestation for livestock grazing and fuel wood has led to forest degradation and over extraction resulting in ecosystem biodiversity loss. Loss and degradation of forest has a direct impact on the Earth's diverse flora and fauna and, therefore, on climate change because they are the best defense against CO2 buildup in the atmosphere. If there is more foliage photosynthesizing more CO2 will be absorbed, thereby balancing the potential temperature increases.Forests are nature's atmospheric carbon sink; plants take in atmospheric carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and convert the carbon into sugars and plant materials through the process of photosynthesis. The carbon is stored within the trees, vegetation, and soil of the forests. Studies show that "intact forests", in fact, do sequester carbon. Examples of large forests that have a significant impact on the balance of carbon include the Amazonian and the Central African rainforests. However, deforestation disrupts the processes of carbon sequestration and affects localized climates. Additionally, cutting down trees plays a role in a positive feedback loop centered around climate change on a much larger scale, as studies are finding.When a climate changes, this causes the shift in a species' geographic range in order to maintain the climatic conditions (temperature, humidity) it is accustomed to. Ecological zones will shift by approximately 160 km per 1 degree Celsius. A reduction in the area of any habitat, but particularly in forest habitat along with climatic change, enables species invasion and the possibility of biotic homogenization as stronger invasive species can take over weaker species in a fragile ecosystem. Humans will also be impacted by the loss of biodiversity as food, energy, and other 'ecosystem goods and services' patterns are disrupted.Burning or cutting down trees reverses the effects of carbon sequestration and releases greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. Furthermore, deforestation changes the landscape and reflectivity of earth's surface, i.e. decreasing Albedo. This results in an increase in the absorption of light energy from the sun in the form of heat, enhancing global warming. Changes in rainfall As a consequence of reduced evapotranspiration, precipitation is also reduced. This implies having a hotter and drier climate, and a longer dry season. This change in climate has drastic ecological and global impacts including increases in severity and frequency of fires, and disruption in the pollination process that will likely spread beyond the area of deforestation.According to a study published in 2023, tropical deforestation has led to a significant decrease in the amount of observed precipitation. By the year 2100, researchers anticipate that deforestation in the Congo will diminish regional precipitation levels by up to 8-10%. Forest fires Statistics have shown that there is a direct correlation between forest fires and deforestation. Statistics regarding the Brazilian Amazon area during the early 2000s have shown that fires and the air pollution that accompanies these fires mirror the patterns of deforestation and "high deforestation rates led to frequent fires".The Amazon rainforest has recently experienced fires that occurred inside the forest when wildfires tend to occur on the outer edges of the forest. Wetlands have faced an increase in forest fires as well. Due to the change in temperature, the climate around forests have become warm and dry, conditions that allow forest fires to occur.Under unmitigated climate change, by the end of the century, 21% of the Amazon would be vulnerable to post‐fire grass invasion. In 3% of the Amazon, fire return intervals are already shorter than the time required for grass exclusion by canopy recovery, implying a high risk of irreversible shifts to a fire‐maintained degraded forest grassy state. The south‐eastern region of the Amazon is currently at highest risk of irreversible degradation.According to a study in tropical peatland forest of Borneo, deforestation also contributes to the increase in fire risk. Control measures and their effects on climate change Reducing deforestation Carbon sequestration through forestry Reforestation, afforestation and agroforestry Possible methods of reforestation include large-scale industrial plantations, the introduction of trees into existing agricultural systems, small-scale plantations by landowners, the establishment of woodlots on communal lands, and the rehabilitation of degraded areas through tree planting or assisted natural regeneration. Afforestation is the planting of trees where there was no previous tree coverage. There are three different types of afforestation that could have varying effects on the amount of carbon dioxide that is taken from the atmosphere. The three kinds of afforestation are natural regeneration, commercial plantations, and agroforestry. Although afforestation can help reduce the carbon emissions given off as a result of climate change, natural regeneration tends to be the most effective out of the three. Natural regeneration typically concerns a wide variety of vegetation, making natural forest levels so plants can receive sunlight to undergo photosynthesis. Commercial plantations typically result in mass amounts of lumber, which if used for fuel, will release the stored CO2 back into the atmosphere. Agroforestry stores energy based on the size and type of plant, meaning that the effect will vary depending on what is planted.Wood harvesting and supply have reached around 550 million m3 per year, while the total increasing stock of European forests has more than quadrupled during the previous six decades. It now accounts for around 35 billion m3 of forest biomass. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the amounts of wood and carbon stored in European forests have increased by 50% due to greater forest area and biomass stocks. Every year, European woods adsorb and store around 155 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. This is comparable to 10% of all other sectors' emissions in Europe.The forestry industry tries to mitigate climate change by boosting carbon storage in growing trees and soils and improving the sustainable supply of renewable raw materials via sustainable forest management. Concerns with forestry projects Policies and programs Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries The Bali Action Plan The Bali Action Plan was developed in December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. It is a direct result of The Kyoto Protocol of December 1997. One of the key elements of The Bali Action Plan involves a concerted effort by the member countries of The Kyoto Protocol to enact and create policy approaches that incentivize emissions reduction caused by deforestation and forest degradation in the developing world. It emphasized the importance of sustainable forest management and conservation practices in mitigating climate change. This coupled with the increased attention to carbon emission stocks as a way to provide additional resource flows to the developing countries. Trillion Tree Campaign The Billion Tree Campaign was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a response to the challenges of global warming, as well as to a wider array of sustainability challenges, from water supply to biodiversity loss. Its initial target was the planting of one billion trees in 2007. Only one year later in 2008, the campaign's objective was raised to 7 billion trees—a target to be met by the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. Three months before the conference, the 7 billion planted trees mark had been surpassed. In December 2011, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program over to the not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet initiative, based in Munich, Germany. The Amazon Fund (Brazil) Considered the largest reserve of biological diversity in the world, the Amazon Basin is also the largest Brazilian biome, taking up almost half the nation's territory. The Amazon Basin corresponds to two fifths of South America's territory. Its area of approximately seven million square kilometers covers the largest hydrographic network on the planet, through which runs about one fifth of the fresh water on the world's surface. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is a major cause to climate change due to the decreasing number of trees available to capture increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.The Amazon Fund is aimed at raising donations for non-reimbursable investments in efforts to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation, as well as to promote the preservation and sustainable use of forests in the Amazon Biome, under the terms of Decree N.º 6,527, dated August 1, 2008. The Norwegian Government, which is the largest donor to the fund, froze its funding in 2019 over deforestation concerns. Norway has tied the resumption of funding to proof of a reduction in deforestation.The Amazon Fund supports the following areas: management of public forests and protected areas, environmental control, monitoring and inspection, sustainable forest management, economic activities created with sustainable use of forests, ecological and economic zoning, territorial arrangement and agricultural regulation, preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and recovery of deforested areas. Besides those, the Amazon Fund may use up to 20% of its donations to support the development of systems to monitor and control deforestation in other Brazilian biomes and in biomes of other tropical countries. See also Land use, land-use change, and forestry – Greenhouse gas inventory sector Special Report on Climate Change and Land – IPCC report Boreal forest of Canada – Canadian biome characterized by coniferous forests Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – Climate change mitigation policyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Natural Forest Standard – Voluntary carbon standard designed specifically for medium- to large-scale REDD+ projects. == References ==

history of climate change science

The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect was first identified. In the late 19th century, scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change Earth's energy balance and climate. Many other theories of climate change were advanced, involving forces from volcanism to solar variation. In the 1960s, the evidence for the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing. Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols (e.g., "pollution") could have cooling effects as well. During the 1970s, scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint. By the 1990s, as the result of improving the fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages, a consensus position formed: greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human-caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming. Since the 1990s, scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded. Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations, links with historic data, and abilities to measure and model climate change. Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Climate change, broadly interpreted, is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (such as more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes (such as oceanic circulation), biotic processes (e.g., plants), variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world. This last effect is currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often used to describe human-specific impacts. Prior to the 20th century Regional changes, antiquity through 19th century From ancient times, people suspected that the climate of a region could change over the course of centuries. For example, Theophrastus, a pupil of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BC, told how the draining of marshes had made a particular locality more susceptible to freezing, and speculated that lands became warmer when the clearing of forests exposed them to sunlight. In the 1st century BC, Roman writer and architect Vitruvius wrote about climate in relation to housing architecture and how to choose locations for cities. Renaissance European and later scholars saw that deforestation, irrigation, and grazing had altered the lands around the Mediterranean since ancient times; they thought it plausible that these human interventions had affected the local weather. In his book published in 1088, Northern Song dynasty Chinese scholar and statesman Shen Kuo promoted the theory of gradual climate change over centuries of time once ancient petrified bamboos were found to be preserved underground in the dry climate zone and arid northern region of Yanzhou, now modern day Yan'an, Shaanxi province, far from the warmer, wetter climate areas of China where bamboos typically grow.The 18th and 19th-century conversion of Eastern North America from forest to croplands brought obvious change within a human lifetime. From the early 19th century, many believed the transformation was altering the region's climate—probably for the better. When farmers in America, dubbed "sodbusters", took over the Great Plains, they held that "rain follows the plow". Other experts disagreed, and some argued that deforestation caused rapid rainwater run-off and flooding, and could even result in reduced rainfall. European academics, suggesting that the temperate zones inhabited by the "Caucasian race" were naturally superior for the spread of civilization, proffered that the Orientals of the Ancient Near East had heedlessly converted their once lush lands into impoverished deserts.Meanwhile, national weather agencies had begun to compile masses of reliable observations of temperature, rainfall, and the like. When these figures were analyzed, they showed many rises and dips, but no steady long-term change. By the end of the 19th century, scientific opinion had turned decisively against any belief in a human influence on climate. And whatever the regional effects, few imagined that humans could affect the climate of the planet as a whole. Paleo-climate change and theories of its causes, 19th century From the mid-17th century, naturalists attempted to reconcile mechanical philosophy with theology, initially within a biblical timescale. By the late 18th century, there was increasing acceptance of prehistoric epochs. Geologists found evidence of a succession of geological ages with climate changes. There were various competing theories about these changes; Buffon proposed that the Earth had begun as an incandescent globe and was very gradually cooling. James Hutton, whose ideas of cyclic change over huge periods were later dubbed uniformitarianism, was among those who found signs of past glacial activity in places too warm for glaciers in modern times.In 1815 Jean-Pierre Perraudin described for the first time how glaciers might be responsible for the giant boulders seen in alpine valleys. As he hiked in the Val de Bagnes, he noticed giant granite rocks that were scattered around the narrow valley. He knew that it would take an exceptional force to move such large rocks. He also noticed how glaciers left stripes on the land and concluded that it was the ice that had carried the boulders down into the valleys.His idea was initially met with disbelief. Jean de Charpentier wrote, "I found his hypothesis so extraordinary and even so extravagant that I considered it as not worth examining or even considering." Despite Charpentier's initial rejection, Perraudin eventually convinced Ignaz Venetz that it might be worth studying. Venetz convinced Charpentier, who in turn convinced the influential scientist Louis Agassiz that the glacial theory had merit.Agassiz developed a theory of what he termed "Ice Age"—when glaciers covered Europe and much of North America. In 1837 Agassiz was the first to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age. William Buckland had been a leading proponent in Britain of flood geology, later dubbed catastrophism, which accounted for erratic boulders and other "diluvium" as relics of the Biblical flood. This was strongly opposed by Charles Lyell's version of Hutton's uniformitarianism and was gradually abandoned by Buckland and other catastrophist geologists. A field trip to the Alps with Agassiz in October 1838 convinced Buckland that features in Britain had been caused by glaciation, and both he and Lyell strongly supported the ice age theory which became widely accepted by the 1870s. Before the concept of ice ages was proposed, Joseph Fourier in 1824 reasoned based on physics that Earth's atmosphere kept the planet warmer than would be the case in a vacuum. Fourier recognized that the atmosphere transmitted visible light waves efficiently to the earth's surface. The earth then absorbed visible light and emitted infrared radiation in response, but the atmosphere did not transmit infrared efficiently, which therefore increased surface temperatures. He also suspected that human activities could influence the radiation balance and Earth's climate, although he focused primarily on land-use changes. In an 1827 paper, Fourier stated,The establishment and progress of human societies, the action of natural forces, can notably change, and in vast regions, the state of the surface, the distribution of water and the great movements of the air. Such effects are able to make to vary, in the course of many centuries, the average degree of heat; because the analytic expressions contain coefficients relating to the state of the surface and which greatly influence the temperature.Fourier's work built on previous discoveries: in 1681 Edme Mariotte noted that glass, though transparent to sunlight, obstructs radiant heat. Around 1774 Horace Bénédict de Saussure showed that non-luminous warm objects emit infrared heat, and used a glass-topped insulated box to trap and measure heat from sunlight.The physicist Claude Pouillet proposed in 1838 that water vapor and carbon dioxide might trap infrared and warm the atmosphere, but there was still no experimental evidence of these gases absorbing heat from thermal radiation. The warming effect of sunlight on different gases was examined in 1856 by Eunice Newton Foote, who described her experiments using glass tubes exposed to sunlight. The warming effect of the sun was greater for compressed air than for an evacuated tube and greater for moist air than dry air. "Thirdly, the highest effect of the sun's rays I have found to be in carbonic acid gas." (carbon dioxide) She continued: "An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature; and if, as some suppose, at one period of its history, the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from its action, as well as from an increased weight, must have necessarily resulted." Her work was presented by Prof. Joseph Henry at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in August 1856 and described as a brief note written by then journalist David Ames Wells; her paper was published later that year in the American Journal of Science and Arts. Few noticed the paper and it was only rediscovered in the 21st century,John Tyndall took Fourier's work one step further in 1859 when he built an apparatus to investigate the absorption of infrared radiation in different gases. He found that water vapor, hydrocarbons like methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) strongly block the radiation. He understood that without these gases the planet would rapidly freeze.Some scientists suggested that ice ages and other great climate changes were due to changes in the amount of gases emitted in volcanism. But that was only one of many possible causes. Another obvious possibility was solar variation. Shifts in ocean currents also might explain many climate changes. For changes over millions of years, the raising and lowering of mountain ranges would change patterns of both winds and ocean currents. Or perhaps the climate of a continent had not changed at all, but it had grown warmer or cooler because of polar wander (the North Pole shifting to where the Equator had been or the like). There were dozens of theories. For example, in the mid-19th century, James Croll published calculations of how the gravitational pulls of the Sun, Moon, and planets subtly affect the Earth's motion and orientation. The inclination of the Earth's axis and the shape of its orbit around the Sun oscillate gently in cycles lasting tens of thousands of years. During some periods the Northern Hemisphere would get slightly less sunlight during the winter than it would get during other centuries. Snow would accumulate, reflecting sunlight and leading to a self-sustaining ice age. Most scientists, however, found Croll's ideas—and every other theory of climate change—unconvincing. First calculations of greenhouse effect, 1896 By the late 1890s, Samuel Pierpoint Langley along with Frank W. Very had attempted to determine the surface temperature of the Moon by measuring infrared radiation leaving the Moon and reaching the Earth. The angle of the Moon in the sky when a scientist took a measurement determined how much CO2 and water vapor the Moon's radiation had to pass through to reach the Earth's surface, resulting in weaker measurements when the Moon was low in the sky. This result was unsurprising given that scientists had known about infrared radiation absorption for decades. In 1896 Svante Arrhenius used Langley's observations of increased infrared absorption where Moon rays pass through the atmosphere at a low angle, encountering more carbon dioxide (CO2), to estimate an atmospheric cooling effect from a future decrease of CO2. He realized that the cooler atmosphere would hold less water vapor (another greenhouse gas) and calculated the additional cooling effect. He also realized the cooling would increase snow and ice cover at high latitudes, making the planet reflect more sunlight and thus further cool down, as James Croll had hypothesized. Overall Arrhenius calculated that cutting CO2 in half would suffice to produce an ice age. He further calculated that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 would give a total warming of 5–6 degrees Celsius.Further, Arrhenius' colleague Arvid Högbom, who was quoted in length in Arrhenius' 1896 study On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Earth had been attempting to quantify natural sources of emissions of CO2 for purposes of understanding the global carbon cycle. Högbom found that estimated carbon production from industrial sources in the 1890s (mainly coal burning) was comparable with the natural sources. Arrhenius saw that this human emission of carbon would eventually lead to a warming energy imbalance. However, because of the relatively low rate of CO2 production in 1896, Arrhenius thought the warming would take thousands of years, and he expected it would be beneficial to humanity. In 1908 he revised this prediction to take hundreds of years due to the ever increasing rate of fuel use and that within his lifetime this would benefit humanity. In 1899 Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin developed at length the idea that climate changes could result from changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Chamberlin wrote in his 1899 book, An Attempt to Frame a Working Hypothesis of the Cause of Glacial Periods on an Atmospheric Basis: Previous advocacy of an atmospheric hypothesis, – The general doctrine that the glacial periods may have been due to a change in the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide is not new. It was urged by Tyndall a half-century ago and has been urged by others since. Recently it has been very effectively advocated by Dr. Arrhenius, who has taken a great step in advance of his predecessors in reducing his conclusions to definite quantitative terms deduced from observational data. .. The functions of carbon dioxide. – By the investigations of Tyndall, Lecher and Pretner, Keller, Roentgen, and Arrhenius, it has been shown that the carbon dioxide and water vapor of the atmosphere have remarkable power of absorbing and temporarily retaining heat rays, while the oxygen, nitrogen, and argon of the atmosphere possess this power in a feeble degree only. It follows that the effect of the carbon dioxide and water vapor is to blanket the earth with a thermally absorbent envelope. .. The general results assignable to a greatly increased or a greatly reduced quantity of atmospheric carbon dioxide and water may be summarized as follows: a. An increase, by causing a larger absorption of the sun's radiant energy, raises the average temperature, while a reduction lowers it. The estimate of Dr. Arrhenius, based upon an elaborate mathematical discussion of the observations of Professor Langley, is that an increase of the carbon dioxide to the amount of two or three times the present content would elevate the average temperature 8° or 9 °C. and would bring on a mild climate analogous to that which prevailed in the Middle Tertiary age. On the other hand, a reduction of the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to an amount ranging from 55 to 62 per cent, of the present content, would reduce the average temperature 4 or 5 C, which would bring on a glaciation comparable to that of the Pleistocene period. b. A second effect of increase and decrease in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide is the equalization, on the one hand, of surface temperatures, or their differentiation on the other. The temperature of the surface of the earth varies with latitude, altitude, the distribution of land and water, day and night, the seasons, and some other elements that may here be neglected. It is postulated that an increase in the thermal absorption of the atmosphere equalizes the temperature, and tends to eliminate the variations attendant on these contingencies. Conversely, a reduction of thermal atmospheric absorption tends to intensify all of these variations. A secondary effect of intensification of differences of temperature is an increase of atmospheric movements in the effort to restore equilibrium. Increased atmospheric movements, which are necessarily convectional, carry the warmer air to the surface of the atmosphere, and facilitate the discharge of the heat and thus intensify the primary effect. ...In the case of the outgoing rays, which are absorbed in much larger proportions than the incoming rays because they are more largely long-wave rays, the tables of Arrhenius show that the absorption is augmented by increase of carbonic acid in greater proportions in high latitudes than in low; for example, the increase of temperature for three times the present content of carbonic acid is 21.5 per cent, greater between 60° and 70° N. latitude than at the equator. It now becomes necessary to assign agencies capable of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate sufficiently above the normal rate of supply, at certain times, to produce glaciation; and on the other hand, capable of restoring it to the atmosphere at certain other times in sufficient amounts to produce mild climates. When the temperature is rising after a glacial episode, dissociation is promoted, and the ocean gives forth its carbon dioxide at an increased rate, and thereby assists in accelerating the amelioration of climate. A study of the life of the geological periods seems to indicate that there were very notable fluctuations in the total mass of living matter. To be sure there was a reciprocal relation between the life of the land and that of the sea, so that when the latter was extended upon the continental platforms and greatly augmented, the former was contracted, but notwithstanding this it seems clear that the sum of life activity fluctuated notably during the ages. It is believed that on the whole it was greatest at the periods of sea extension and mild climates, and least at the times of disruption and climatic intensification. This factor then acted antithetically to the carbonic acid freeing previously noted, and, so far as it went, tended to offset its effects. In periods of sea extension and of land reduction (base-level periods in particular), the habitat of shallow water lime-secreting life is concurrently extended, giving to the agencies that set carbon dioxide free accelerated activity, which is further aided by the consequent rising temperature which reduces the absorptive power of the ocean and increases dissociation. At the same time, the area of the land being diminished, a low consumption of carbon dioxide both in original decomposition of the silicates and in the solution of the limestones and dolomites obtains. Thus the reciprocating agencies again conjoin, but now to increase the carbon dioxide of the air. These are the great and essential factors. They are modified by several subordinate agencies already mentioned, but the quantitative effect of these is thought to be quite insufficient to prevent very notable fluctuations in the atmospheric constitution. As a result, it is postulated that geological history has been accentuated by an alternation of climatic episodes embracing, on the one hand, periods of mild, equable, moist climate nearly uniform for the whole globe; and on the other, periods when there were extremes of aridity and precipitation, and of heat and cold; these last denoted by deposits of salt and gypsum, of subaerial conglomerates, of red sandstones and shales, of arkose deposits, and occasionally by glaciation in low latitudes. The term "greenhouse effect" for this warming was introduced by Nils Gustaf Ekholm in 1901. 20th century onwards Paleoclimates and sunspots, early 1900s to 1950s Arrhenius's calculations were disputed and subsumed into a larger debate over whether atmospheric changes had caused the ice ages. Experimental attempts to measure infrared absorption in the laboratory seemed to show little differences resulted from increasing CO2 levels, and also found significant overlap between absorption by CO2 and absorption by water vapor, all of which suggested that increasing carbon dioxide emissions would have little climatic effect. These early experiments were later found to be insufficiently accurate, given the instrumentation of the time. Many scientists also thought that the oceans would quickly absorb any excess carbon dioxide.Other theories of the causes of climate change fared no better. The principal advances were in observational paleoclimatology, as scientists in various fields of geology worked out methods to reveal ancient climates. In 1929, Wilmot H. Bradley found that annual varves of clay laid down in lake beds showed climate cycles. Andrew Ellicott Douglass saw strong indications of climate change in tree rings. Noting that the rings were thinner in dry years, he reported climate effects from solar variations, particularly in connection with the 17th-century dearth of sunspots (the Maunder Minimum) noticed previously by William Herschel and others. Other scientists, however, found good reason to doubt that tree rings could reveal anything beyond random regional variations. The value of tree rings for climate study was not solidly established until the 1960s.Through the 1930s the most persistent advocate of a solar-climate connection was astrophysicist Charles Greeley Abbot. By the early 1920s, he had concluded that the solar "constant" was misnamed: his observations showed large variations, which he connected with sunspots passing across the face of the Sun. He and a few others pursued the topic into the 1960s, convinced that sunspot variations were a main cause of climate change. Other scientists were skeptical. Nevertheless, attempts to connect the solar cycle with climate cycles were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Respected scientists announced correlations that they insisted were reliable enough to make predictions. Sooner or later, every prediction failed, and the subject fell into disrepute. Meanwhile, Milutin Milankovitch, building on James Croll's theory, improved the tedious calculations of the varying distances and angles of the Sun's radiation as the Sun and Moon gradually perturbed the Earth's orbit. Some observations of varves (layers seen in the mud covering the bottom of lakes) matched the prediction of a Milankovitch cycle lasting about 21,000 years. However, most geologists dismissed the astronomical theory. For they could not fit Milankovitch's timing to the accepted sequence, which had only four ice ages, all of them much longer than 21,000 years.In 1938 Guy Stewart Callendar attempted to revive Arrhenius's greenhouse-effect theory. Callendar presented evidence that both temperature and the CO2 level in the atmosphere had been rising over the past half-century, and he argued that newer spectroscopic measurements showed that the gas was effective in absorbing infrared in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, most scientific opinion continued to dispute or ignore the theory. Increasing concern, 1950s–1960s Better spectrography in the 1950s showed that CO2 and water vapor absorption lines did not overlap completely. Climatologists also realized that little water vapor was present in the upper atmosphere. Both developments showed that the CO2 greenhouse effect would not be overwhelmed by water vapor.In 1955 Hans Suess's carbon-14 isotope analysis showed that CO2 released from fossil fuels was not immediately absorbed by the ocean. In 1957, better understanding of ocean chemistry led Roger Revelle to a realization that the ocean surface layer had limited ability to absorb carbon dioxide, also predicting the rise in levels of CO2 and later being proven by Charles David Keeling. By the late 1950s, more scientists were arguing that carbon dioxide emissions could be a problem, with some projecting in 1959 that CO2 would rise 25% by the year 2000, with potentially "radical" effects on climate. In the centennial of the American oil industry in 1959, organized by the American Petroleum Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Business, Edward Teller said "It has been calculated that a temperature rise corresponding to a 10 per cent increase in carbon dioxide will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York. ... At present the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 2 per cent over normal. By 1970, it will be perhaps 4 per cent, by 1980, 8 per cent, by 1990, 16 per cent if we keep on with our exponential rise in the use of purely conventional fuels." In 1960 Charles David Keeling demonstrated that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere was in fact rising. Concern mounted year by year along with the rise of the "Keeling Curve" of atmospheric CO2. Another clue to the nature of climate change came in the mid-1960s from analysis of deep-sea cores by Cesare Emiliani and analysis of ancient corals by Wallace Broecker and collaborators. Rather than four long ice ages, they found a large number of shorter ones in a regular sequence. It appeared that the timing of ice ages was set by the small orbital shifts of the Milankovitch cycles. While the matter remained controversial, some began to suggest that the climate system is sensitive to small changes and can readily be flipped from a stable state into a different one.Scientists meanwhile began using computers to develop more sophisticated versions of Arrhenius's calculations. In 1967, taking advantage of the ability of digital computers to integrate absorption curves numerically, Syukuro Manabe and Richard Wetherald made the first detailed calculation of the greenhouse effect incorporating convection (the "Manabe-Wetherald one-dimensional radiative-convective model"). They found that, in the absence of unknown feedbacks such as changes in clouds, a doubling of carbon dioxide from the current level would result in approximately 2 °C increase in global temperature. For this, and related work, Manabe was awarded a share of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.By the 1960s, aerosol pollution ("smog") had become a serious local problem in many cities, and some scientists began to consider whether the cooling effect of particulate pollution could affect global temperatures. Scientists were unsure whether the cooling effect of particulate pollution or warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions would predominate, but regardless, began to suspect that human emissions could be disruptive to climate in the 21st century if not sooner. In his 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul R. Ehrlich wrote, "the greenhouse effect is being enhanced now by the greatly increased level of carbon dioxide ... [this] is being countered by low-level clouds generated by contrails, dust, and other contaminants ... At the moment we cannot predict what the overall climatic results will be of our using the atmosphere as a garbage dump."Efforts to establish a global temperature record that began in 1938 culminated in 1963, when J. Murray Mitchell presented one of the first up-to-date temperature reconstructions. His study involved data from over 200 weather stations, collected by the World Weather Records, which was used to calculate latitudinal average temperature. In his presentation, Murray showed that, beginning in 1880, global temperatures increased steadily until 1940. After that, a multi-decade cooling trend emerged. Murray's work contributed to the overall acceptance of a possible global cooling trend.In 1965, the landmark report "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment" by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's Science Advisory Committee warned of the harmful effects of fossil fuel emissions: The part that remains in the atmosphere may have a significant effect on climate; carbon dioxide is nearly transparent to visible light, but it is a strong absorber and back radiator of infrared radiation, particularly in the wave lengths from 12 to 18 microns; consequently, an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide could act, much like the glass in a greenhouse, to raise the temperature of the lower air. The committee used the recently available global temperature reconstructions and carbon dioxide data from Charles David Keeling and colleagues to reach their conclusions. They declared the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to be the direct result of fossil fuel burning. The committee concluded that human activities were sufficiently large to have significant, global impact—beyond the area the activities take place. "Man is unwittingly conducting a vast geophysical experiment", the committee wrote.Nobel Prize winner Glenn T. Seaborg, Chairperson of the United States Atomic Energy Commission warned of the climate crisis in 1966: "At the rate we are currently adding carbon dioxide to our atmosphere (six billion tons a year), within the next few decades the heat balance of the atmosphere could be altered enough to produce marked changes in the climate--changes which we might have no means of controlling even if by that time we have made great advances in our programs of weather modification."A 1968 study by the Stanford Research Institute for the American Petroleum Institute noted: If the earth's temperature increases significantly, a number of events might be expected to occur, including the melting of the Antarctic ice cap, a rise in sea levels, warming of the oceans, and an increase in photosynthesis. ... Revelle makes the point that man is now engaged in a vast geophysical experiment with his environment, the earth. Significant temperature changes are almost certain to occur by the year 2000 and these could bring about climatic changes. In 1969, NATO was the first candidate to deal with climate change on an international level. It was planned then to establish a hub of research and initiatives of the organization in the civil area, dealing with environmental topics as acid rain and the greenhouse effect. The suggestion of US President Richard Nixon was not very successful with the administration of German Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger. But the topics and the preparation work done on the NATO proposal by the German authorities gained international momentum, (see e.g. the Stockholm United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1970) as the government of Willy Brandt started to apply them on the civil sphere instead.Also in 1969, Mikhail Budyko published a theory on the ice–albedo feedback, a foundational element of what is today known as Arctic amplification. The same year a similar model was published by William D. Sellers. Both studies attracted significant attention, since they hinted at the possibility for a runaway positive feedback within the global climate system. Scientists increasingly predict warming, 1970s In the early 1970s, evidence that aerosols were increasing worldwide and that the global temperature series showed cooling encouraged Reid Bryson and some others to warn of the possibility of severe cooling. The questions and concerns put forth by Bryson and others launched a new wave of research into the factors of such global cooling. Meanwhile, the new evidence that the timing of ice ages was set by predictable orbital cycles suggested that the climate would gradually cool, over thousands of years. Several scientific panels from this time period concluded that more research was needed to determine whether warming or cooling was likely, indicating that the trend in the scientific literature had not yet become a consensus. For the century ahead, however, a survey of the scientific literature from 1965 to 1979 found 7 articles predicting cooling and 44 predicting warming (many other articles on climate made no prediction); the warming articles were cited much more often in subsequent scientific literature. Research into warming and greenhouse gases held the greater emphasis, with nearly six times more studies predicting warming than predicting cooling, suggesting concern among scientists was largely over warming as they turned their attention toward the greenhouse effect.John Sawyer published the study Man-made Carbon Dioxide and the "Greenhouse" Effect in 1972. He summarized the knowledge of the science at the time, the anthropogenic attribution of the carbon dioxide greenhouse gas, distribution and exponential rise, findings which still hold today. Additionally he accurately predicted the rate of global warming for the period between 1972 and 2000. The increase of 25% CO2 expected by the end of the century therefore corresponds to an increase of 0.6 °C in the world temperature – an amount somewhat greater than the climatic variation of recent centuries. – John Sawyer, 1972 The first satellite records compiled in the early 1970s showed snow and ice cover over the Northern Hemisphere to be increasing, prompting further scrutiny into the possibility of global cooling. J. Murray Mitchell updated his global temperature reconstruction in 1972, which continued to show cooling. However, scientists determined that the cooling observed by Mitchell was not a global phenomenon. Global averages were changing, largely in part due to unusually severe winters experienced by Asia and some parts of North America in 1972 and 1973, but these changes were mostly constrained to the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite trend was observed. The severe winters, however, pushed the issue of global cooling into the public eye.The mainstream news media at the time exaggerated the warnings of the minority who expected imminent cooling. For example, in 1975, Newsweek magazine published a story titled "The Cooling World" that warned of "ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change". The article drew on studies documenting the increasing snow and ice in regions of the Northern Hemisphere and concerns and claims by Reid Bryson that global cooling by aerosols would dominate carbon dioxide warming. The article continued by stating that evidence of global cooling was so strong that meteorologists were having "a hard time keeping up with it". On 23 October 2006, Newsweek issued an update stating that it had been "spectacularly wrong about the near-term future". Nevertheless, this article and others like it had long-lasting effects on public perception of climate science. Such media coverage heralding the coming of a new ice age resulted in beliefs that this was the consensus among scientists, despite this is not being reflected by the scientific literature. As it became apparent that scientific opinion was in favor of global warming, the public began to express doubt over how trustworthy the science was. The argument that scientists were wrong about global cooling, so therefore may be wrong about global warming has been called "the "Ice Age Fallacy" by Time author Bryan Walsh.In the first two "Reports for the Club of Rome" in 1972 and 1974, the anthropogenic climate changes by CO2 increase as well as by waste heat were mentioned. About the latter John Holdren wrote in a study cited in the 1st report, "that global thermal pollution is hardly our most immediate environmental threat. It could prove to be the most inexorable, however, if we are fortunate enough to evade all the rest". Simple global-scale estimates that recently have been actualized and confirmed by more refined model calculations show noticeable contributions from waste heat to global warming after the year 2100, if its growth rates are not strongly reduced (below the averaged 2% p.a. which occurred since 1973). Evidence for warming accumulated. By 1975, Manabe and Wetherald had developed a three-dimensional global climate model that gave a roughly accurate representation of the current climate. Doubling CO2 in the model's atmosphere gave a roughly 2 °C rise in global temperature. Several other kinds of computer models gave similar results: it was impossible to make a model that gave something resembling the actual climate and not have the temperature rise when the CO2 concentration was increased. In a separate development, an analysis of deep-sea cores published in 1976 by Nicholas Shackleton and colleagues showed that the dominating influence on ice age timing came from a 100,000-year Milankovitch orbital change. This was unexpected, since the change in sunlight in that cycle was slight. The result emphasized that the climate system is driven by feedbacks, and thus is strongly susceptible to small changes in conditions.A 1977 memo (see quote box) from President Carter's chief science adviser Frank Press warned of the possibility of catastrophic climate change. However, other issues—such as known harms to health from pollutants, and avoiding energy dependence on other nations—seemed more pressing and immediate. Energy Secretary James Schlesinger advised that "the policy implications of this issue are still too uncertain to warrant Presidential involvement and policy initiatives", and the fossil fuel industry began sowing doubt about climate science.The 1979 World Climate Conference (12 to 23 February) of the World Meteorological Organization concluded "it appears plausible that an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can contribute to a gradual warming of the lower atmosphere, especially at higher latitudes. ... It is possible that some effects on a regional and global scale may be detectable before the end of this century and become significant before the middle of the next century."In July 1979 the United States National Research Council published a report, concluding (in part): When it is assumed that the CO2 content of the atmosphere is doubled and statistical thermal equilibrium is achieved, the more realistic of the modeling efforts predict a global surface warming of between 2 °C and 3.5 °C, with greater increases at high latitudes. ... we have tried but have been unable to find any overlooked or underestimated physical effects that could reduce the currently estimated global warmings due to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 to negligible proportions or reverse them altogether. One week before President Carter left office, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued reports including a suggestion to limit global average temperature to 2°C above preindustrial levels, one goal agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord. Consensus begins to form, 1980–1988 By the early 1980s, the slight cooling trend from 1945 to 1975 had stopped. Aerosol pollution had decreased in many areas due to environmental legislation and changes in fuel use, and it became clear that the cooling effect from aerosols was not going to increase substantially while carbon dioxide levels were progressively increasing. Hansen and others published the 1981 study Climate impact of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and noted: It is shown that the anthropogenic carbon dioxide warming should emerge from the noise level of natural climate variability by the end of the century, and there is a high probability of warming in the 1980s. Potential effects on climate in the 21st century include the creation of drought-prone regions in North America and central Asia as part of a shifting of climatic zones, erosion of the West Antarctic ice sheet with a consequent worldwide rise in sea level, and opening of the fabled Northwest Passage. In 1982, Greenland ice cores drilled by Hans Oeschger, Willi Dansgaard, and collaborators revealed dramatic temperature oscillations in the space of a century in the distant past. The most prominent of the changes in their record corresponded to the violent Younger Dryas climate oscillation seen in shifts in types of pollen in lake beds all over Europe. Evidently drastic climate changes were possible within a human lifetime. In 1973 James Lovelock speculated that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) could have a global warming effect. In 1975 V. Ramanathan found that a CFC molecule could be 10,000 times more effective in absorbing infrared radiation than a carbon dioxide molecule, making CFCs potentially important despite their very low concentrations in the atmosphere. While most early work on CFCs focused on their role in ozone depletion, by 1985 Ramanathan and others showed that CFCs together with methane and other trace gases could have nearly as important a climate effect as increases in CO2. In other words, global warming would arrive twice as fast as had been expected. In 1985 a joint UNEP/WMO/ICSU Conference on the "Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide and Other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts" concluded that greenhouse gases "are expected" to cause significant warming in the next century and that some warming is inevitable.Meanwhile, ice cores drilled by a Franco-Soviet team at the Vostok Station in Antarctica showed that CO2 and temperature had gone up and down together in wide swings through past ice ages. This confirmed the CO2-temperature relationship in a manner entirely independent of computer climate models, strongly reinforcing the emerging scientific consensus. The findings also pointed to powerful biological and geochemical feedbacks.In June 1988, James E. Hansen made one of the first assessments that human-caused warming had already measurably affected global climate. Shortly after, a "World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security" gathered hundreds of scientists and others in Toronto. They concluded that the changes in the atmosphere due to human pollution "represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe", and declared that by 2005 the world would be well-advised to push its emissions some 20% below the 1988 level.The 1980s saw important breakthroughs with regard to global environmental challenges. Ozone depletion was mitigated by the Vienna Convention (1985) and the Montreal Protocol (1987). Acid rain was mainly regulated on national and regional levels. Increased consensus amongst scientists: 1988 to present In 1988 the WMO established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the support of the UNEP. The IPCC continues its work through the present day, and issues a series of Assessment Reports and supplemental reports that describe the state of scientific understanding at the time each report is prepared. Scientific developments during this period are summarized about once every five to six years in the IPCC Assessment Reports which were published in 1990 (First Assessment Report), 1995 (Second Assessment Report), 2001 (Third Assessment Report), 2007 (Fourth Assessment Report), 2013/2014 (Fifth Assessment Report). and 2021 Sixth Assessment Report The 2001 report was the first to state positively that the observed global temperature increase was "likely" to be due to human activities. The conclusion was influenced especially by the so-called hockey stick graph showing an abrupt historical temperature rise simultaneous with the rise of greenhouse gas emissions, and by observations of changes in ocean heat content that had a "signature" matching the pattern that computer models calculated for the effect of greenhouse warming. By the time of the 2021 report, scientists had much additional evidence. Above all, measurements of paleotemperatures from several eras in the distant past, and the record of temperature change since the mid 19th century, could be matched against measurements of CO2 levels to provide independent confirmation of supercomputer model calculations. These developments depended crucially on huge globe-spanning observation programs. Since the 1990s research into historical and modern climate change expanded rapidly. International coordination was provided by the World Climate Research Programme (established in 1980) and was increasingly oriented around providing input to the IPCC reports. Measurement networks such as the Global Ocean Observing System, Integrated Carbon Observation System, and NASA's Earth Observing System enabled monitoring of the causes and effects of ongoing change. Research also broadened, linking many fields such as Earth sciences, behavioral sciences, economics, and security. Development of terminology See also History of climate change policy and politics Historical climatology History of geology History of geophysics References Works cited Archer, David; Pierrehumbert, Raymond (2013). The Warming Papers: The Scientific Foundation for the Climate Change Forecast. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-68733-8. Colford, Paul (22 September 2015). "An addition to AP Stylebook entry on global warming". AP Style Blog. Retrieved 6 November 2019. Conway, Erik M. (5 December 2008). "What's in a Name? Global Warming vs. Climate Change". NASA. Archived from the original on 9 August 2010. Shaftel, Holly; Jackson, Randal; Callery, Susan; Bailey, Daniel, eds. (7 July 2020). "Overview: Weather, Global Warming and Climate Change". Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved 14 July 2020. Hodder, Patrick; Martin, Brian (2009). "Climate Crisis? The Politics of Emergency Framing". Economic and Political Weekly. 44 (36): 53–60. ISSN 0012-9976. JSTOR 25663518. IPCC AR5 SYR (2014). The Core Writing Team; Pachauri, R. K.; Meyer, L. A. (eds.). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC. IPCC (2014). "Annex II: Glossary" (PDF). IPCC AR5 SYR 2014. Joo, Gea-Jae; Kim, Ji Yoon; Do, Yuno; Lineman, Maurice (2015). "Talking about Climate Change and Global Warming". PLOS ONE. 10 (9): e0138996. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1038996L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138996. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4587979. PMID 26418127. Rigby, Sara (3 February 2020). "Climate change: should we change the terminology?". BBC Science Focus Magazine. Retrieved 24 March 2020. Shaftel, Holly (January 2016). "What's in a name? Weather, global warming and climate change". NASA Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018. Weart, Spencer (January 2020). "The Public and Climate Change: The Summer of 1988". The Discovery of Global Warming. American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2020. Further reading Dessler, Andrew E. and Edward A. Parson, eds. The science and politics of global climate change: A guide to the debate (Cambridge University Press, 2019). excerpt Edwards, Paul N. "History of climate modeling". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2.1 (2011): 128–139. online Edwards P. N. A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (MIT Press; 2010). Weart S. R. The Discovery of Global Warming (2nd ed 2008) excerpt Weart S. R. The discovery of global warming: a hypertext history of how scientists came to (partly) understand what people are doing to cause climate change (American Institute of Physics, College Park; revised annually since 2003) online External links Arrhenius, Svante (April 1896) On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground Dewan, Pandora (17 October 2022). "When Was Climate Change Discovered and How Long Has It Been an Issue?". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Fleming, James R. (ed.) (April 2008) Climate Change and Anthropogenic Greenhouse Warming: A Selection of Key Articles, 1824–1995, with Interpretive Essays Fourier, Joseph (1827) Memoire sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planetaires, in French and English, with annotations by William Connolley Pulver, Dinah Voyles (10 June 2023). "Climate change warning signs started in the 1800s. Here's what humanity knew and when". USA Today. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Rice-Oxley, Mark; Nelsson, Richard (2 October 2022). "The climate crisis? We've been investigating it for more than 100 years". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. (reproduces original clippings as far back as 1890) Climate Change Milestones: Timeline (archive), American Institute of Physics, c. 2016.

carbon capture and storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources is separated, treated and transported to a long-term storage location.: 2221  For example, the carbon dioxide stream that is to be captured can result from burning fossil fuels or biomass. Usually the CO2 is captured from large point sources, such as a chemical plant or biomass plant, and then stored in an underground geological formation. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus mitigate climate change. The IPCC's most recent report on mitigating climate change describes CCS retrofits for existing power plants as one of the ways to limit emissions from the electricity sector and meet Paris Agreement goals.CO2 can be captured directly from an industrial source, such as a cement kiln, using a variety of technologies; including adsorption, chemical looping, membrane gas separation or gas hydration. As of 2022, about one thousandth of global CO2 emissions are captured by CCS, and most projects are for fossil gas processing.: 32  Current CCS projects generally aim for 90% capture efficiency, but a number of current projects have failed to meet that goal. Additionally, opponents argue that carbon capture and storage is only a justification for indefinite fossil fuel usage disguised as marginal emission reductions.Storage of the CO2 is either in deep geological formations, or in the form of mineral carbonates. Pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) is also being researched. Geological formations are currently considered the most promising sequestration sites. The US National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) reported that North America has enough storage capacity for more than 900 years worth of CO2 at current production rates. A general problem is that long-term predictions about submarine or underground storage security are very difficult and uncertain, and there is still the risk that some CO2 might leak into the atmosphere. Despite this, a recent evaluation estimates the risk of substantial leakage to be fairly low.CCS is often considered to be a relatively expensive process yielding a product which is often too cheap. Hence, carbon capture makes economically more sense where the carbon price is high enough, such as in much of Europe, or when combined with a utilization process where the cheap CO2 can be used to produce high-value chemicals to offset the high costs of capture operations. Some environmental activists and politicians have criticized CCS as a false solution to the climate crisis. They cite the role of the fossil fuel industry in origins of the technology and in lobbying for CCS focused legislation. Opponents also argue that carbon capture and storage is only a justification for indefinite fossil fuel usage disguised as marginal emission reductions. People already involved or used to industry are more likely to accept CCS, while communities who have been negatively affected by any industrial activity are also less supportive of CCS. Globally, a number of laws and rules have been issued that either support or require the use of CCS technologies. In the US, the 2021 Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act provides support for a variety of CCS projects, while the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 updates tax credit law to encourage the use of carbon capture and storage. In 2023 EPA issued a rule proposing that CCS be required order to achieve a 90% emission reduction for existing coal-fired and natural gas power plants. That rule would become effective in the 2035-2040 time period. Other countries are also developing programs to support CCS technologies, including Canada, Denmark, China, and the UK. Terminology The term carbon capture and storage (also known as carbon dioxide capture and storage) refers to a process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) is separated (“captured”), compressed and transported to a storage location for long-term isolation from the atmosphere.: 2221  Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), is a related technique that involves the application of CCS to bioenergy in order to reduce atmospheric CO2 over the course of time. CCS and CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) are often used interchangeably. The latter involves 'utilization' of the captured carbon for other applications, such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR), liquid fuel production, or the manufacturing of consumer goods, such as plastics. Both approaches capture CO2 and effectively store it, whether in geological formations or in material products. Purpose Early Uses The natural gas production sector has used carbon capture technology for decades. Raw natural gas contains CO2 that needs removal to produce a marketable product. The sale of captured CO2, mainly to oil producers for EOR, has enhanced the economic viability of natural gas development projects. The use of CCS as a means of reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions is more recent. The Sleipner CCS project, which began in 1996, and the IEA Weyburn Project, which began in 2000, were the first international demonstrations of the large-scale capture, utilization, and storage of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Role in climate change mitigation CCS today is mainly employed to contribute to climate change mitigation. The IPCC's most recent report on mitigating climate change describes CCS retrofits for existing power plants as one of the ways to limit emissions from the electricity sector towards meeting Paris Agreement goals. However, analyses of modeling studies used in this report indicate that over-reliance on CCS presents risks, and that global rates of CCS deployment remain far below those depicted in IPCC mitigation scenarios. Total annual CCS capacity was only 45 MtCO2 as of 2021. The implementation of default technology assumptions would cost 29-297% more over the century than efforts without CCS for a 430-480 ppm CO2/yr scenario. The Paris agreement upholds a goal to reach no more than a 2.0 °C increase above pre-industrial temperatures. If the 2.0 °C goal is to be reached in time, CCS must be utilized to achieve net zero emissions by 2060–2070. After 2060–2070, negative emissions will need to be achieved to remain below the 2.0 °C target. The variations in methods depend heavily on the climate change model being used and the anticipated energy consumption patterns. It is widely agreed upon, however, that CCS would need to be utilized if there is to be any negative climate change mitigation.A change below 1 °C with respect to the pre-industrial era is now inconceivable. As of 2017 global temperatures have already increased by 1 °C. Because of the immediate inability to control the temperature at the 1 °C target, the next realistic target is 1.5 °C. Scenarios where the degree change is maintained below 1.5 °C are challenging but not impossible.For a below 2.0 °C target, Shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) had been developed adding a socio-economic dimension to the integrative work started by RCPs models. All SSPs scenarios show a shift away from unabated fossil fuels, that is processes without CCS.To achieve a 1.5 °C target before 2100, the following assumptions have to be considered; emissions have to peak by 2020 and decline after that, it will be necessary to reduce net CO2 emissions to zero and negative emissions have to be a reality by the second half of the 21st century. For these assumptions to take place, CCS has to be implemented in factories that accompany the use of fossil fuels. Because emissions reduction has to be implemented more rigorously for a 1.5 °C target, methods such as BECCS, and natural climate solutions such as afforestation can be used to aim for the reduction of global emissions. BECCS is necessary to achieve a 1.5 °C. The models estimate that with the help of BECCS, between 150 and 12000 GtCO2 still have to be removed from the atmosphere. Technology components Capture Capturing CO2 is most cost-effective at point sources, such as large carbon-based energy facilities, industries with major CO2 emissions (e.g. cement production, steelmaking), natural gas processing, synthetic fuel plants and fossil fuel-based hydrogen production plants. Extracting CO2 from air is possible, although the lower concentration of CO2 in air compared to combustion sources complicates the engineering and makes the process therefore more expensive. The net storage efficiency of carbon capture projects is maximally 6–56%.Impurities in CO2 streams, like sulfurs and water, can have a significant effect on their phase behavior and could pose a significant threat of increased pipeline and well corrosion. In instances where CO2 impurities exist, especially with air capture, a scrubbing separation process is needed to initially clean the flue gas.A wide variety of separation techniques are being pursued, including gas phase separation, absorption into a liquid, and adsorption on a solid, as well as hybrid processes, such as adsorption/membrane systems. There are three ways that this capturing can be carried out: post-combustion capture, pre-combustion capture, and oxy-combustion: In post combustion capture, the CO2 is removed after combustion of the fossil fuel—this is the scheme that would apply to fossil-fuel power plants. CO2 is captured from flue gases at power stations or other point sources. The technology is well understood and is currently used in other industrial applications, although at smaller scale than required in a commercial scale station. Post combustion capture is most popular in research because fossil fuel power plants can be retrofitted to include CCS technology in this configuration. The technology for pre-combustion is widely applied in fertilizer, chemical, gaseous fuel (H2, CH4), and power production. In these cases, the fossil fuel is partially oxidized, for instance in a gasifier. The CO from the resulting syngas (CO and H2) reacts with added steam (H2O) and is shifted into CO2 and H2. The resulting CO2 can be captured from a relatively pure exhaust stream. The H2 can be used as fuel; the CO2 is removed before combustion. Several advantages and disadvantages apply versus post combustion capture. The CO2 is removed after combustion, but before the flue gas expands to atmospheric pressure. The capture before expansion, i.e. from pressurized gas, is standard in almost all industrial CO2 capture processes, at the same scale as required for power plants. In oxy-fuel combustion the fuel is burned in pure oxygen instead of air. To limit the resulting flame temperatures to levels common during conventional combustion, cooled flue gas is recirculated and injected into the combustion chamber. The flue gas consists of mainly CO2 and water vapour, the latter of which is condensed through cooling. The result is an almost pure CO2 stream. Power plant processes based on oxyfuel combustion are sometimes referred to as "zero emission" cycles, because the CO2 stored is not a fraction removed from the flue gas stream (as in the cases of pre- and post-combustion capture) but the flue gas stream itself. A certain fraction of the CO2 inevitably end up in the condensed water. To warrant the label "zero emission" the water would thus have to be treated or disposed of appropriately. Separation technologies The major technologies proposed for carbon capture are: Membrane Oxyfuel combustion Absorption Multiphase absorption Adsorption Chemical looping combustion Calcium looping CryogenicAbsorption, or carbon scrubbing with amines is the dominant capture technology. It is the only carbon capture technology so far that has been used industrially. Monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions, the leading amine for capturing CO2 , have a heat capacity between 3–4 J/g K since they are mostly water. Higher heat capacities add to the energy penalty in the solvent regeneration step. About two thirds of CCS cost is attributed to capture, making it the limit to CCS deployment. Optimizing capture would significantly increase CCS feasibility since the transport and storage steps of CCS are rather mature.An alternate method is chemical looping combustion (CLC). Looping uses a metal oxide as a solid oxygen carrier. Metal oxide particles react with a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel in a fluidized bed combustor, producing solid metal particles and a mixture of CO2 and water vapor. The water vapor is condensed, leaving pure CO2 , which can then be sequestered. The solid metal particles are circulated to another fluidized bed where they react with air, producing heat and regenerating metal oxide particles for return to the combustor. A variant of chemical looping is calcium looping, which uses the alternating carbonation and then calcination of a calcium oxide based carrier.Under significant study is also adsorption based carbon capture on highly porous materials such as activated carbons, zeolites, or MOFs. Such a process is divided into physical and chemical adsorption or physisorption and chemisorption respectively. The former mitigates the issue of CO2 regeneration as most of the CO2 can be regenerated by simply decreasing the pressure. Physisorption capacity is principally determined by the porosity of the adsorbate.A 2019 study found CCS plants to be less effective than renewable electricity. The electrical energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) ratios of both production methods were estimated, accounting for their operational and infrastructural energy costs. Renewable electricity production included solar and wind with sufficient energy storage, plus dispatchable electricity production. Thus, rapid expansion of scalable renewable electricity and storage would be preferable over fossil-fuel with CCS. The study did not consider whether both options could be pursued in parallel.In sorption enhanced water gas shift (SEWGS) technology a pre-combustion carbon capture process, based on solid adsorption, is combined with the water gas shift reaction (WGS) in order to produce a high pressure hydrogen stream. The CO2 stream produced can be stored or used for other industrial processes. Compression After the CO2 has been captured, it is usually compressed into a supercritical fluid. The CO2 is compressed so that it can be more easily transported. Compression is done at the capture site. This process requires its own energy source. Like the capture stage, compression is achieved by increasing the parasitic load. Compression of CO2 is an energy intensive procedure that involves multi-stage complex compressors and a power-generated cooling process. Transport Large volumes of highly pressurized CO2 are transported via pipelines. For example, approximately 5,800 km of CO2 pipelines operated in the US in 2008, and a 160 km pipeline in Norway, used to transport CO2 to oil production sites where it is injected into older fields to extract oil. This injection is called enhanced oil recovery. Pilot programs are in development to test long-term storage in non-oil producing geologic formations. In the United Kingdom, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology envisages pipelines as the main UK transport.In 2021, two companies, namely Navigator CO2 Ventures and Summit Carbon Solutions were planning pipelines through the Midwestern US from North Dakota to Illinois to connect ethanol companies to sites where liquefied CO2 is injected into porous rock. Leakage during transport Transmission pipelines may leak or rupture. Pipelines can be fitted with remotely controlled valves that can limit the release quantity to one pipe section. For example, a severed 19" pipeline section 8 km long could release its 1,300 tonnes in about 3–4 min. Sequestration (storage) Various approaches have been conceived for permanent storage. These include gaseous storage in deep geological formations (including saline formations and exhausted gas fields), and solid storage by reaction of CO2 with metal oxides to produce stable carbonates. Storage capacity, containment efficiency and injectivity are the three factors that require major pre-assessment to decide the feasibility of CO2 storage in a candidate geological formation. Geo-sequestration, involves injecting CO2 , generally in supercritical form, into underground geological formations. Oil fields, gas fields, saline formations, unmineable coal seams, and saline-filled basalt formations have been suggested as alternatives. At the molecular level, carbon dioxide is shown to affect the mechanical properties of the formation where it has been injected. Physical (e.g., highly impermeable caprock) and geochemical trapping mechanisms prevent the CO2 from escaping to the surface.Unmineable coal seams can be used because CO2 molecules attach to the coal surface. Technical feasibility depends on the coal bed's permeability. In the process of absorption the coal releases previously absorbed methane, and the methane can be recovered (enhanced coal bed methane recovery). Methane revenues can offset a portion of the cost, although burning the resultant methane, however, produces another stream of CO2 to be sequestered.Saline formations contain mineralized brines and have yet to produce benefit to humans. Saline aquifers have occasionally been used for storage of chemical waste in a few cases. The main advantage of saline aquifers is their large potential storage volume and their ubiquity. The major disadvantage of saline aquifers is that relatively little is known about them. To keep the cost of storage acceptable, geophysical exploration may be limited, resulting in larger uncertainty about the aquifer structure. Unlike storage in oil fields or coal beds, no side product offsets the storage cost. Trapping mechanisms such as structural trapping, residual trapping, solubility trapping and mineral trapping may immobilize the CO2 underground and reduce leakage risks. Enhanced oil recovery CO2 is occasionally injected into an oil field as an enhanced oil recovery technique, but because CO2 is released when the oil is burned, it is not carbon neutral.CO2 has been injected into geological formations for several decades for enhanced oil recovery and after separation from natural gas, but this has been criticised for producing more emissions when the gas or oil is burned. Leakage risks during storage Long-term retention IPCC estimates that leakage risks at properly managed sites are comparable to those associated with current hydrocarbon activity. It recommends that limits be set to the amount of leakage that can take place. However, this finding is contested given the lack of experience. CO2 could be trapped for millions of years, and although some leakage may occur, appropriate storage sites are likely to retain over 99% for over 1000 years.Mineral storage is not regarded as presenting any leakage risks.Norway's Sleipner gas field is the oldest industrial scale retention project. An environmental assessment conducted after ten years of operation concluded that geosequestration was the most definite form of permanent geological storage method: Available geological information shows absence of major tectonic events after the deposition of the Utsira formation [saline reservoir]. This implies that the geological environment is tectonically stable and a site suitable for CO2 storage. The solubility trapping [is] the most permanent and secure form of geological storage. In March 2009, StatoilHydro issued a study documenting the slow spread of CO2 in the formation after more than 10 years operation.Gas leakage into the atmosphere may be detected via atmospheric gas monitoring, and can be quantified directly via eddy covariance flux measurements. Sudden leakage hazards At the storage site, the injection pipe can be fitted with non-return valves to prevent an uncontrolled release from the reservoir in case of upstream pipeline damage. Large-scale CO2 releases present asphyxiation risks. For example, in the 1953 Menzengraben mining accident, several thousand tonnes were released and asphyxiated a person 300 meters away. Malfunction of a CO2 industrial fire suppression system in a large warehouse released 50 t CO2 after which 14 people collapsed on the nearby public road. Cost Cost is a significant factor affecting CCS. The cost of CCS, plus any subsidies, must be less than the expected cost of emitting CO2 for a project to be considered economically favorable. CCS technology is expected to use between 10 and 40 percent of the energy produced by a power station. Energy for CCS is called an energy penalty. It has been estimated that about 60% of the penalty originates from the capture process, 30% comes from compression of CO2 , while the remaining 10% comes from pumps and fans. CCS would increase the fuel requirement of a plant with CCS by about 15% (gas plant). The cost of this extra fuel, as well as storage and other system costs, are estimated to increase the costs of energy from a power plant with CCS by 30–60%. Constructing CCS units is capital intensive. The additional costs of a large-scale CCS demonstration project are estimated to be €0.5–1.1 billion per project over the project lifetime. Other applications are possible. CCS trials for coal-fired plants in the early 21st century were economically unviable in most countries, including China, in part because revenue from enhanced oil recovery collapsed with the 2020 oil price collapse. A carbon price of at least 100 euros per tonne CO2 is estimated to be needed to make industrial CCS viable, together with carbon tariffs. But, as of mid-2022, the EU Allowance had never reached that price and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism had not yet been implemented. However a company making small modules claims it can get well below that price by mass production by 2022.According to UK government estimates made in the late 2010s, carbon capture (without storage) is estimated to add 7 GBP per MWh by 2025 to the cost of electricity from a gas-fired power plant: however most CO2 will need to be stored so in total the increase in cost for gas or biomass generated electricity is around 50%.A 2020 study concluded that half as much CCS might be installed in coal-fired plants as in gas-fired: these would be mainly in China and India. However a 2022 study concluded that it would be too expensive for coal power in China. Outlook Bill Gates has said that in his view CCS was unlikely to be economically viable for mass-scale use in the long term, and that "for most cases, you should use an alternative technique rather than emitting and then paying for capturing.... For everything you can, you want to solve it by never generating the carbon dioxide.” Related impacts Since liquid amine solutions are used to capture CO2 in many CCS systems, these types of chemicals can also be released as air pollutants if not adequately controlled. Among the chemicals of concern are volatile nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic when inhaled or drunk in water. CCS systems also reduce the efficiency of the power plants that use them to control CO2. For super-critical pulverized coal (PC) plants, CCS' energy requirements range from 24 to 40%, while for coal-based gasification combined cycle (IGCC) systems it is 14–25%. Using CCS for natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants can decrease operating efficiency from 11 to 22%. This in turn could cause a net increase of non-GHG pollutants from those facilities. However, most of these impacts are controlled by the pollution control equipment already installed at these plants to meet air pollution regulations. CCS technology also has operational impacts. These impacts increase as the capacity factor decreases (the plant is used less - for example only for times of highest demand or in emergencies).: 42 Other impacts occur outside the facility. As a result of efficiency losses at coal plants, fuel use and environmental problems arising from coal extraction increase. Plants equipped with flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems for sulfur dioxide control require proportionally greater amounts of limestone, and systems equipped with selective catalytic reduction systems for nitrogen oxides produced during combustion require proportionally greater amounts of ammonia. Limiting the use of CCS would also bring near-term benefits from reduced air and water pollution, human rights violations, and biodiversity loss. Monitoring Monitoring allows leak detection with enough warning to minimize the amount lost, and to quantify the leak size. Monitoring can be done at both the surface and subsurface levels. Subsurface Subsurface monitoring can directly and/or indirectly track the reservoir's status. One direct method involves drilling deep enough to collect a sample. This drilling can be expensive due to the rock's physical properties. It also provides data only at a specific location. One indirect method sends sound or electromagnetic waves into the reservoir which reflects back for interpretation. This approach provides data over a much larger region; although with less precision. Both direct and indirect monitoring can be done intermittently or continuously. Seismic Seismic monitoring is a type of indirect monitoring. It is done by creating seismic waves either at the surface using a seismic vibrator, or inside a well using a spinning eccentric mass. These waves propagate through geological layers and reflect back, creating patterns that are recorded by seismic sensors placed on the surface or in boreholes. It can identify migration pathways of the CO2 plume.Examples of seismic monitoring of geological sequestration are the Sleipner sequestration project, the Frio CO2 injection test and the CO2CRC Otway Project. Seismic monitoring can confirm the presence of CO2 in a given region and map its lateral distribution, but is not sensitive to the concentration. Tracer Organic chemical tracers, using no radioactive or Cadmium components, can be used during the injection phase in a CCS project where CO2 is injected into an existing oil or gas field, either for EOR, pressure support or storage. Tracers and methodologies are compatible with CO2 – and at the same time unique and distinguishable from the CO2 itself or other molecules present in the sub-surface. Using laboratory methodology with an extreme detectability for tracer, regular samples at the producing wells will detect if injected CO2 has migrated from the injection point to the producing well. Therefore, a small tracer amount is sufficient to monitor large scale subsurface flow patterns. For this reason, tracer methodology is well-suited to monitor the state and possible movements of CO2 in CCS projects. Tracers can therefore be an aid in CCS projects by acting as an assurance that CO2 is contained in the desired location sub-surface. In the past, this technology has been used to monitor and study movements in CCS projects in Algeria, the Netherlands and Norway (Snøhvit). Surface Eddy covariance is a surface monitoring technique that measures the flux of CO2 from the ground's surface. It involves measuring CO2 concentrations as well as vertical wind velocities using an anemometer. This provides a measure of the vertical CO2 flux. Eddy covariance towers could potentially detect leaks, after accounting for the natural carbon cycle, such as photosynthesis and plant respiration. An example of eddy covariance techniques is the Shallow Release test. Another similar approach is to use accumulation chambers for spot monitoring. These chambers are sealed to the ground with an inlet and outlet flow stream connected to a gas analyzer. They also measure vertical flux. Monitoring a large site would require a network of chambers. InSAR InSAR monitoring involves a satellite sending signals down to the Earth's surface where it is reflected back to the satellite's receiver. The satellite is thereby able to measure the distance to that point. CO2 injection into deep sublayers of geological sites creates high pressures. These layers affect layers above and below them, change the surface landscape. In areas of stored CO2 , the ground's surface often rises due to the high pressures. These changes correspond to a measurable change in the distance from the satellite. Society and culture Social acceptance Multiple studies indicate that risk and benefit perception are the most essential components of social acceptance.Risk perception is mostly related to the concerns on its safety issues in terms of hazards from its operations and the possibility of CO2 leakage which may endanger communities, commodities, and the environment in the vicinity of the infrastructure. Other perceived risks relate to tourism and property values. CCS public perceptions appear among other controversial technologies to tackle climate change such as nuclear power, wind, and geoengineeringPeople who are already affected by climate change, such as drought, tend to be more supportive of CCS. Locally, communities are sensitive to economic factors, including job creation, tourism or related investment.Experience is another relevant feature. Several field studies concluded that people already involved or used to industry are likely to accept the technology. In the same way, communities who have been negatively affected by any industrial activity are also less supportive of CCS.Few members of the public know about CCS. This can allow misconceptions that lead to less approval. No strong evidence links knowledge of CCS and public acceptance. However, one study found that communicating information about monitoring tends to have a negative impact on attitudes. Conversely, approval seems to be reinforced when CCS is compared to natural phenomena.Due to the lack of knowledge, people rely on organizations that they trust. In general, non-governmental organizations and researchers experience higher trust than stakeholders and governments. Opinions amongst NGOs are mixed. Moreover, the link between trust and acceptance is at best indirect. Instead, trust has an influence on the perception of risks and benefits.CCS is embraced by the Shallow ecology worldview, which promotes the search for solutions to the effects of climate change in lieu of/in addition to addressing the causes. This involves the use of advancing technology and CCS acceptance is common among techno-optimists. CCS is an "end-of-pipe" solution that reduces atmospheric CO2, instead of minimizing the use of fossil fuel.On 21 January 2021, Elon Musk announced he was donating $100m for a prize for best carbon capture technology. Political debate CCS has been discussed by political actors at least since the start of the UNFCCC negotiations in the beginning of the 1990s, and remains a very divisive issue.Some environmental groups raised concerns over leakage given the long storage time required, comparing CCS to storing radioactive waste from nuclear power stations.Other controversies arose from the use of CCS by policy makers as a tool to fight climate change. In the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report in 2022, most pathways to keep the increase of global temperature below 2 °C include the use of negative emission technologies (NETs).Some environmental activists and politicians have criticized CCS as a false solution to the climate crisis. They cite the role of the fossil fuel industry in origins of the technology and in lobbying for CCS focused legislation and argue that it would allow the industry to "greenwash" itself by funding and engaging in things such as tree planting campaigns without significantly cutting their carbon emissions. Government programs In the US, a number of laws and rules have been issued to either support or require the use of CCS tecnologies. The 2021 Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act designates over $3 billion for a variety of CCS demonstration projects. A similar amount is provided for regional CCS hubs that focus on the broader capture, transport, and either storage or use of captured CO2. Hundreds of millions more are dedicated annually to loan guarantees supporting CO2 transport infrastructure. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) updates tax credit law to encourage the use of carbon capture and storage. Tax incentives under the law are $85/tonne for CO2 capture and storage in saline geologic formations from industrial and power plants. Incentives for CO2 capture and utilization from these plants are $60/tonne. Thresholds for the total amount of CO2 needing to be captured are also lower, and so more facilities will be able to make use of the credits.In May 2023 EPA issued a rule proposing that CCS be required order to achieve a 90% emission reduction for coal-fired power plants that will continue to operate after 2040. For natural gas power plants, the rule would require 90 percent capture of CO2 using CCS by 2035, or co-firing of 30% low-GHG hydrogen beginning in 2032 and co-firing 96% low-GHG hydrogen beginning in 2038. In that rule EPA identified CCS as a viable technology for controlling CO2 emissions. Costs of using CCS technology were estimated to be, on average, $14/ton of CO2 reduced for coal plants. The impact on the cost of electricity generation from coal plants was estimated as $12/ MWh. These are considered by EPA to be reasonable air pollution control costs.Other countries are also developing programs to support CCS technologies. Canada has established a C$2.6 billion tax credit for CCS projects and Saskatchewan extended its 20 per cent tax credit under the province’s Oil Infrastructure Investment Program to pipelines carrying CO2. In Europe, Denmark has recently announced €5 billion in subsidies for CCS. The Chinese State Council has now issued more than 10 national policies and guidelines promoting CCS, including the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035 of China. In the UK the CCUS roadmap outlines joint government and industry commitments to the deployment of CCUS and sets out an approach to delivering four CCUS low carbon industrial clusters, capturing 20-30 MtCO2 per year by 2030. Carbon emission status-quo Opponents claimed that CCS could legitimize the continued use of fossil fuels, as well obviate commitments on emission reduction.Some examples such as in Norway shows that CCS and other carbon removal technologies gained traction because it allowed the country to pursue its interests regarding the petroleum industry. Norway was a pioneer in emission mitigation, and established a CO2 tax in 1991. Environmental NGOs Environmental NGOs are not in widespread agreement about CCS as a potential climate mitigation tool. The main disagreement amid NGOs is whether CCS will reduce CO2 emissions or just perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.For instance, Greenpeace is strongly against CCS. According to the organization, the use of the technology will keep the world dependent on fossil fuels.On the other hand, BECCS is used in some IPCC scenarios to help meet mitigation targets. Adopting the IPCC argument that CO2 emissions need to be reduced by 2050 to avoid dramatic consequences, the Bellona Foundation justified CCS as a mitigation action. They claimed fossil fuels are unavoidable for the near term and consequently, CCS is the quickest way to reduce CO2 emissions. Example projects According to the Global CCS Institute, in 2020 there was about 40 million tons CO2 per year capacity of CCS in operation and 50 million tons per year in development. In contrast, the world emits about 38 billion tonnes of CO2 every year, so CCS captured about one thousandth of the 2020 CO2 emissions. Iron and steel is expected to dominate industrial CCS in Europe, although there are alternative ways of decarbonizing steel.One of the most well-known failures is the FutureGen program, partnerships between the US federal government and coal energy production companies which were intended to demonstrate "clean coal", but never succeeded in producing any carbon-free electricity from coal. Related concepts Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) Direct air carbon capture and sequestration (DACCS) See also References External links Media related to Carbon capture and storage at Wikimedia Commons DOE Fossil Energy Department of Energy programs in CO2 capture and storage US Department of Energy US Gulf coast Zero Emissions Platform - technical adviser to the EU Commission on the deployment of CCS and CCU National Assessment of Geologic CO2 Storage Resources: Results United States Geological Survey Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies Program at MIT

how to avoid a climate disaster

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need is a 2021 book by Bill Gates. In it, Gates presents what he learned in over a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address global warming and recommends technological strategies to tackle it. Description When it comes to climate change, I know innovation isn’t the only thing we need. But we cannot keep the earth livable without it. Techno-fixes are not sufficient, but they are necessary. – Bill Gates, from page 14 of his book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021). The book's five parts The book is organized into five parts. In part one (chapter 1), Gates explains why the world must completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions ("getting to zero"), rather than simply reducing them. In part two (chapter 2) he discusses the challenges that will make achieving this goal very difficult. In part three (chapter 3) he outlines five pragmatic questions a reader can ask to evaluate any conversation they have about climate change. Part four (the longest part of the book, or chapters 4 through 9) analyzes currently-available technologies that can be utilized now to adapt to and mitigate climate change ("the solutions we have") and those areas where innovation is needed to make climate-friendly technologies cost competitive with their fossil fuel counterparts ("the breakthroughs we need"). In the final part (chapters 10 through 12) Gates suggests specific steps that can be taken by government leaders, market participants and individuals to collectively avoid a climate disaster. Electricity generation Gates thinks that decarbonizing electricity should be a priority, because it would not only reduce emissions from coal and gas used to produce electricity, but also allow an accelerated shift to zero emission transportation like electric cars. He advocates increased innovation and investment in nuclear energy, and warns against overly focusing on wind and solar generation, due to their intermittent nature. Roles for government and business Gates argues that both governments and businesses have parts to play in fighting global warming. While he acknowledges that there is a tension between economic development and sustainability, he posits that accelerated innovation in green technology, particularly sustainable energy, would resolve it. He calls on governments to increase investment in climate research, but at the same time to incentivize firms to invest in green energy and decarbonization. Gates also urges governments to institute a carbon pricing regime that would account for all externalities involved in producing and using carbon-emitting energy. Get to zero rather than simply reducing emissions The book describes strategies for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and emphasizes that many efforts to reduce emissions are actually counter-productive. For example, one can reduce CO2 emissions in 2030 by replacing a coal-fired electrical power plant with a new natural gas power plant (since coal combustion emits twice as much CO2 as natural gas, per unit of electricity). However, the natural gas plant will still be emitting CO2 in 2050. Alternatively, Gates prefers we spend money on infrastructure that does not emit CO2 in 2050. Gates warns, "Making reductions by 2030 the wrong way might actually prevent us from ever getting to zero." Gates' plan to get to net zero emissions Gates introduces a plan for getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Chapters 11 and 12 with several key points: The world needs to get to zero emissions, not just reduce. The world needs to accelerate the development of technology that helps to resolve the climate change problem. The world needs to reduce the additional cost of green energy, which he refers to as the "green premium". Federal, state and local governments can play a role to reduce emissions; in addition to private citizens. Publication How to Avoid a Climate Disaster was published in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf on February 16, 2021. An audiobook narrated by Gates and Wil Wheaton was released the same day. A large-print paperback edition was published on February 23, 2021.The book debuted at number one on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending February 20, 2021. Reception The ideas in How to Avoid a Climate Disaster generated discussions and commentary on both sides of the Atlantic. In summary, they point out the book focuses on future technologies, without really addressing policy issues. Politicians, journalists and activists Gordon Brown Writing in The Guardian, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown made generally positive comments on the book, but warned that it only touches briefly on the political obstacles the international community must navigate before a cataclysm is averted: Gates [has a] touching, admirable faith in science and reason, [but he also] knows that the solution he seeks is inextricably tied up in political decisions. ... [T]o operationalise the Paris [COP21] agreement – to limit warming to 1.5 degrees – requires countries to halve their CO2 emissions by 2030. So vested interests like big oil will have to be enlisted for change. The ... rhetoric of irresponsible demagogues will have to be taken head on. And supporters of a stronger set of commitments will have to show why sharing sovereignty is in every nation’s self-interest. Michael Mann In The New Climate War, the climatologist Michael Mann writes that Gates' book "advocates for a technocratic approach to addressing the climate crisis" (technologies in which "Gates has personal investment") and is "overly dismissive of the role that renewable energy can play in decarbonizing our economy". According to Mann, "the primary remaining obstacles are not fundamentally technological [...]. They are political". Bill McKibben Like Brown, US climate activist Bill McKibben faulted How to Avoid a Climate Disaster for not spending more time discussing the political impediments preventing action on climate change mitigation. However, McKibben's criticisms were more pointed: It is a disappointment ... to report that this book turns out to be a little underwhelming. ... [Gates is] absolutely right that we should be investing in research across a wide list of technologies because we may need them down the line to help scrub the last increments of fossil fuel from the system, but the key work will be done (or not) over the next decade, and it will be done by sun and wind. ... Most people, Gates included, have not caught on yet to just how fast [the price decline for solar and wind power] is happening. So why aren't we moving much faster than we are? That's because of politics, and this is where Gates really wears blinders. ... [T]hat means he can write an entire book about the "climate disaster" without discussing the role that the fossil fuel industry played, and continues to play, in preventing action. ... [I]t's wonderful that Gates has decided to work hard on climate questions, but to be truly helpful he ... needs to really get down on his hands and knees and examine how ... power works in all its messiness. Politics very much included. Leah Stokes Canadian-American political scientist Leah Stokes described the book as largely "technology solutionism" when compared to other books published at a similar time such as Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert. The Economist British newspaper The Economist praised Gates for the book's "cold-eyed realism and number-crunched optimism." While acknowledging that some might consider both the book's promotion of nuclear power and its emphasis on the constraints imposed by intermittency in wind and solar power generation to be an "outmoded mindset," eventually The Economist review concluded that Gates has the right big idea by stressing the need for innovation: Bill Gates [in his] new book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" [asserts that if] humanity is to win the great race between development and degradation ... green innovation must accelerate. ... [G]iven the pressing need to decarbonise the global economy, says Mr Gates, "we have to force an unnaturally speedy transition" [to carbon-free energy, and the] linchpin of his argument is the introduction of a meaningful carbon price to account for the externalities involved in using dirty energy. ... Ultimately his book is a primer on how to reorganise the global economy so that innovation focuses on the world’s gravest problems. It is a powerful reminder that if mankind is to get serious about tackling them, it must do more to harness the one natural resource available in infinite quantity – human ingenuity. Traditional book reviewers In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it a "supremely authoritative and accessible plan for how we can avoid a climate catastrophe." Publishers Weekly agreed, calling it a "cogent" and "accessible" guide to countering climate change. However, the publication wrote that "not all of his ideas strike as politically feasible." == References ==

climate change in canada

Climate change in Canada has had large impacts on the country's environment and landscapes. These events are likely to become even more frequent and severe in the future due to the continued release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The number of climate change–related events, such as the 2021 British Columbia Floods and an increasing number of forest fires, has become an increasing concern over time. Canada's annual average temperature over land has warmed by 1.7 degrees Celsius since 1948. The rate of warming is even higher in Canada's north, the Prairies, and northern British Columbia. The country's precipitation has increased in recent years and extreme weather events have become more common. Canada is currently the world's 10th largest greenhouse gas emitter, and has a long history of producing industrial emissions going back to the late 19th century. In 2019 transport and oil and gas extraction together emitted over half of the total. Canada's fossil fuel extraction industry has increased its greenhouse gas emissions by 21.6% since 1990. Canada is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. In July 2021, Canada enhanced the Paris Agreement plans with a new goal of reducing emissions by 40–45% below 2005 levels by 2030. Several climate change mitigation policies have been implemented in the country, such as carbon pricing, emissions trading and climate change funding programs. In 2019, the House of Commons voted to declare a national climate emergency in Canada. Greenhouse gas emissions Climate change is the result of greenhouse gas emission, which are produced by human activity. Canada is currently the world's 7th largest greenhouse gas emitter. In 2018, of all the G20 countries, Canada was second only to Saudi Arabia for greenhouse gas emissions per capita. In 2018, Canada emitted a total of 729 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2eq) into the atmosphere. This represents a minuscule decrease from 730 Mt CO2eq in 2005, but a large increase from 602 Mt CO2eq in 1990.Furthermore, Canada has one of the heaviest climate debts in the world, with a very long history of producing industrial greenhouse gas emissions. As of 2021 Canada is the 10th heaviest cumulative emitter at 65,000 Mt. The WRI's Climate Analysis Indicators Tool estimates that, between 1950 and 2000, Canada had the highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita of any first world countries. Energy consumption Electricity consumption in Canada accounts for 74 carbon dioxide equivalent Mt CO2eq, or 10% of the country's emissions. This sector's climate footprint significantly reduced in recent decades due to the closure of many coal-fired power stations. Currently, 81% of Canada's electricity is produced by non-emitting energy sources, such as hydro, nuclear, solar or wind power.Fossil fuels provide 19% of Canadian electric power, about half as coal (9% of the total) and the remainder a mix of natural gas and oil. Only five provinces use coal for electricity generation. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia rely on coal for nearly half their generation while other provinces and territories use little or none. Alberta and Saskatchewan also use a substantial amount of natural gas. Remote communities including all of Nunavut and much of the Northwest Territories produce most of their electricity from diesel generators, at high economic and environmental cost. The federal government has set up initiatives to reduce dependence on diesel-fired electricity. Transportation Canada is a large country with a low population density, so transportation – often in cold weather when fuel efficiency drops – is a big part of the economy. In 2017, 24% of Canada's greenhouse gases (GHG)s came from trucks, trains, airplanes and cars.The vast majority of Canadian emissions from transportation come from road transportation, accounting for 144 Mt CO2eq, or 20% of total emissions. These originate for individual cars, but also from long-haul trucks, which are used to transport most goods across the country. In 2018, the Canadian truck industry delivered 63.7 million shipments. In 2019, Canadian factories produced 1.4 million new trucks, more than triple the Canadian car production.The Canadian domestic aviation industry, represented largely by the country's two main airlines (Air Canada and Westjet), produced 7.1 Mt CO2eq in 2017 and account for 1% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emission. Fossil fuel production The most pollutant industry in terms of GHG emissions in Canada is the oil and gas sector. This industry produces 195 Mt CO2eq every year, which is 27% of the national total. Driven by the high emissions required for the exploitation of the tar sands in Alberta, greenhouse gas emissions from this sector increased by 84% from 1990 to 2017. Industrial emissions In 2017, Canadian heavy industry emitted 73 Mt CO2eq, or 10% of Canada's total greenhouse gas emission. This represents a 25% drop in emissions in this category since 1990. This data is consistent with the rapid decline of manufacturing in Canada. Deforestation Canada's deforestation rate is one of the lowest in the world, at 0.02 percent per year. This rate of deforestation has been reducing every year since 1985.According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), "Harvested wood products" in Canada account for 130 Mt CO2eq of greenhouse gas emissions. This would represent 18% of the country's emissions in 2017, but ECCC exclude this number from its national total. Also excluded from the total is ECCC's calculation that Canada's forests reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 150 Mt CO2eq. Before 2015, ECCC used to calculate a 160 Mt CO2eq reduction from its forest, a sign of their slow but continued deterioration. Impacts on the natural environment In recent decades, Canada has experienced increased average temperatures, increased precipitation, and more extreme weather events. These trends are expected to continue over the next century. ECCC determined it was extremely likely that these changes were the result of increased greenhouse gas emissions driven by human activity. Temperature and weather changes Annual average temperatures in Canada have increased by 1.7 °C since 1948. These weather changes have not been uniform across the seasons. Indeed, average winter temperatures have risen by 3.3 °C over the same period while average summer temperature only rose by 1.5 °C. The trends were not uniform across regions either. British Columbia, the Prairie provinces and Northern Canada experienced winter warming the most. Meanwhile, some areas of southeast Canada experienced average warming of less than 1 °C during the same period.According to Environment and Climate Change Canada "warming over the 20th century is indisputable and largely due to human activities" adding "Canada's rate of warming is about twice the global rate: a 2° C increase globally means a 3 to 4 °C increase for Canada".ECCC lists impacts of climate change consistent with global changes. Temperature-related changes include longer growing season, more heatwaves and fewer cold spells, thawing permafrost, earlier river ice break-up, earlier spring runoff, and earlier budding of trees. Meteorological changes include an increase in precipitation and more snowfall in northwest Arctic. Precipitation ECCC summarized annual precipitation changes to support biodiversity assessments by the Canadian Council of Resource Ministers. Evaluating records up to 2007 they observed: "Precipitation has generally increased over Canada since 1950 with the majority of stations with significant trends showing increases. The increasing trend is most coherent over northern Canada where many stations show significant increases. There is not much evidence of clear regional patterns in stations showing significant changes in seasonal precipitation except for significant decreases which tend to be concentrated in the winter season over southwestern and southeastern Canada. While the previous sentence might be technically correct in part, all seasons show increased precipitation in Canada, especially in the Winter, Spring, and Fall months. Also, increasing precipitation over the Arctic appears to be occurring in all seasons except summer."ECCC climate specialists have assessed trends in short-duration rainfall patterns using Engineering Climate Datasets: "Short-duration (5 minutes to 24 hours) rainfall extremes are important for a number of purposes, including engineering infrastructure design, because they represent the different meteorological scales of extreme rainfall events." A "general lack of a detectable trend signal", meaning no overall change in extreme, short-duration rainfall patterns was observed in the single station analysis. In relation to design criteria used for traditional water management and urban drainage design practice (e.g., Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) statistics), the evaluation "shows that fewer than 5.6% and 3.4% of the stations have significant increasing and decreasing trends, respectively, in extreme annual maximum single location observation amounts." On a regional basis, southwest and the east (Newfoundland) coastal regions generally showed significant increasing regional trends for 1- and 2-hour extreme rainfall durations. Decreasing regional trends for 5 to 15 minute rainfall amounts were observed in the St. Lawrence region of southern Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces. Extreme weather events The extreme weather events of greatest concern in Canada include heavy rain and snow falls, heat waves, and drought. They are linked to flooding and landslides, water shortages, forest fires, reduced air quality, as well as costs related to damage to property and infrastructure, business disruptions, and increased illness and mortality. Heat waves, including those in the summer of 2009, 2012, and 2021, are associated with increases in heat stroke and respiratory illness. Sea level rise Coastal flooding is expected to increase in many areas of Canada due to global sea-level rise and local land subsidence or uplift. The country's sea level is increasing between 1 and 4.5 mm per year. The areas that are going to have the biggest strike is southwest and southeastern Canada. Ecosystems Boreal forest According to Environment Canada's 2011 annual report, there is evidence that some regional areas within the western Canadian boreal forest have increased by 2 °C since 1948. The rate of the changing climate is leading to drier conditions in the boreal forest, which leads to a whole host of subsequent issues.As a result of the rapidly changing climate, trees are migrating to higher latitudes and altitudes (northward), but some species may not be migrating fast enough to follow their climatic habitat. Moreover, trees within the southern limit of their range may begin to show declines in growth. Drier conditions are also leading to a shift from conifers to aspen in more fire and drought-prone areas.Climate change creates more fire-prone conditions in the Boreal forest of Canada. In 2016, Northern Alberta witnessed the effects of climate change in a dramatic manner when a "perfect storm" of El Niño and global warming contributed to the Fort McMurray wildfire, which led to the evacuation of the oil-producing town at the heart of the tar sands industry. The area has witnessed an increased frequency of wildfires, as Canada's wildfire season now starts a month earlier than it used to and the annual area burned is twice what it was in 1970.As to 2019, climate change has already increased wildfires frequency and power in Canada, especially in Alberta. "We are seeing climate change in action," says University of Alberta wildland fire Prof. Mike Flannigan. "The Fort McMurray fire was 1+1⁄2 to six times more likely because of climate change. The 2017 record-breaking B.C. fire season was seven to 11 times more likely because of climate change."The mountain pine beetle epidemic raged from 1996 to 2015 as a result of milder winters in the boreal forest, allowing for the proliferation of the parasite. It resulted in 18 million hectares of dead trees and economic impacts for forest-dependent communities. Arctic Annual mean temperature over Northern Canada increased by 2.3 °C (likely range 1.7 °C–3.0 °C), which is approximately three times the global mean warming rate. The strongest rates of warming were observed in the northernmost regions of Yukon and the Northwest Territories where annual mean temperature increases of about 3.5 °C were observed between 1948 and 2016.Climate change melts ice and increases the mobility of the ice. In May and June 2017 dense ice – up to 8 metres (25 ft) thick – was in the waters off the northern coast of Newfoundland, trapping fishing boats and ferries. Impacts on people Economic impact Agriculture and food production During the drought of 2002, Ontario had a good season and produced enough crops to send a vast amount of hay to those hit the hardest in Alberta. However this is not something that can or will be expected every time there is a drought in the prairie provinces. This causes a great deficit in income for many as they are buying heads of cattle for high prices and selling them for very low prices. By looking at historical forecasts, there is a strong indication that there is no true way to estimate or to know the amount of rain to expect for the upcoming growing season. This does not allow for the agricultural sector to plan accordingly.In Alberta there has been a trend of high summer temperatures and low summer precipitation. This has led much of Alberta to face drought conditions. Drought conditions are harming the agriculture sector of this province, mainly the cattle ranching area. When there is a drought there is a shortage of feed for cattle (hay, grain). With the shortage on crops ranchers are forced to purchase the feed at the increased prices while they can. Those who cannot afford to pay top money for feed are forced to sell their herds. Wood industry Climate change causes challenges for the sustainable management and conservation of forests. It will have a direct impact on the productivity of the wood industry, as well as the health and regeneration of trees. The assisted migration of forests has been proposed as way to help the wood industry adapt to climate change. Health impact The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that incidences of Lyme disease increased from 144 cases in 2009 to 2,025 cases in 2017. Dr. Duncan Webster, an infectious disease consultant at Saint John Regional Hospital, links this increase in disease incidence to the increase in the population of blacklegged ticks. The tick population has increased due largely to shorter winters and warmer temperatures associated with climate change. Impacts on indigenous peoples Inuit who reside in Canada are facing significant difficulty maintaining their traditional food systems because of climate change. The Inuit have hunted mammals for hundreds of years. Many of their traditional economic transactions and cultural ceremonies were and still are centred around whales and other marine mammals. Climate change is causing the ocean to warm up and acidify, negatively impacting these species in these traditional areas and causing many to move elsewhere. While some believe a warming Arctic would cause food insecurity, already a problem for Canadian Inuit, to increase by taking away some of their primary food sources, others point to the resilience they have displayed in the past to changing temperatures and believe they will likely be able to adapt. Although ancestors to the modern Inuit would travel to other places in the Arctic based on these animals and adapt to changing migration routes, modern geopolitical boundaries and laws would likely prevent this from happening to the extent necessary to preserve these traditional food systems. Regardless of whether they can successfully modify their marine food systems, they will lose certain aspects of their culture. To hunt these whales and other marine mammals, they have used the same traditional tools for generations. Without these animals providing them subsistence, a core part of their culture would become obsolete. The Inuit are also losing their access to ringed seal and polar bears, two key animals that are essential to the traditional Inuit diet. Climate change has led to drastic drops in the ringed seal population, which has led to serious harm to the Inuit subsistence winter economy. The ringed seal is the most prevalent subsistence species in all of Nunavut, with respect to both land and water. Without the ringed seal, the Inuit would lose their sense of ningiqtuq, or their cultural form of resource sharing. Ringed seal meat is one of the core meats of this type of sharing and has been utilized in this system for hundreds of years. With climate change, ningiqtuq would be drastically altered. Also, the ringed seal embodies the ideals of sharing, unity, and collectivism because of ningiqtuq. Its decline signifies loss of Inuit identity. The polar bear population is also declining because of climate change. Polar bears rely on ringed seals for food, so both of their declines are correlated. This decline is also harming ningiqtuq as polar bear meat is shared among Inuit.For the Gwichʼin people, an Anthabaskan-speaking First Nations in Canada, caribou are central to their culture. They have coexisted with the Gwichʼin for thousands of years. As a result, their entire culture is at immediate risk. Caribou numbers are rapidly declining due to warmer temperatures and melting ice. Sarah James, a prominent Alaskan Gwichʼin activist, said, "We are the caribou people. Caribou are not just what we eat; they are who we are. They are the stories and songs and the whole way we see the world. Caribou are our life. Without caribou, we wouldn't exist." Mitigation and adaptation Policies and legislation (national level) Harper Government (2006–2015) Under the tenure of Stephen Harper, who was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015, the Kyoto Accord was abandoned and the Clean Air Act was unveiled in October 2006.In 2009, Canada's two largest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, became wary of federal policies shifting the burden of greenhouse reductions on them in order to give Alberta and Saskatchewan more room to further develop their oil sands reserves.In 2010 Graham Saul, who represented the Climate Action Network Canada (CAN) – a coalition of 60 non-governmental organisations – commented on the 40-page CAN report "Troubling Evidence" which claimed that, Canada's climate researchers are being muzzled, their funding slashed, research stations closed, findings ignored and advice on the critical issue of the century unsought by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. By 2014 award-winning American/Canadian limnologist, David Schindler, argued that Harper's administration had put "economic development ahead of all other policy objectives", in particular the environment. It's like they don't want to hear about science anymore. They want politics to reflect economics 100 per cent – economics being only what you can sell, not what you can save. Trudeau Government (2015–present) In its 2015 election platform, Justin Trudeau promised to tackle climate change, notably by phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, attending the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, developing a North American clean energy and environmental agreement with the United States and Mexico, and creating a $2 Billion Low Carbon Economy Trust. Trudeau made good on the three latter promises. However, he introduced new fossil fuel subsidies during his time in office.Trudeau's Foreign affairs Minister was Stéphane Dion from 2015 to 2017. Dion is known as being very supportive of climate change policies. Catherine McKenna was Trudeau's Minister to the Environment and Climate Change from 2015 to 2019. McKenna is known for her legal work surrounding social justice.Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Trudeau's national climate strategy, was released in August 2017. Provincial premiers (except Saskatchewan and Manitoba) adopted the proposal on December 9, 2016. The core of the proposal is to implement carbon pricing regimes nationwide. The federal minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Catherine McKenna states that carbon taxes has been shown to be the most economical way of reducing emissions.In April 2019, Environment commissioner Julie Gelfand described the country's lack of progress in reducing emissions as "disturbing" and noted that it was on track to miss its climate change targets.In 2019, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) released a report called Canada's Changing Climate Report (CCCR). It is essentially a summary of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report, customised for Canada. The report states that coastal flooding is expected to increase in many areas due to global sea-level rise and local land subsidence or uplift. The government of Justin Trudeau promised to step up the targets for the year 2030 and reach carbon neutrality in 2050. In 2020 it introduced a bill that will require the country to reach zero emission by 2050. Even though fossil fuels will be phased out in "the medium term" Trudeau has stated that the Kinder Morgan Pipeline will be built. The federal government has also approved the Woodfibre LNG Terminal in Vancouver. The Trudeau government has introduced a carbon tax. This tax was set at $20 a tonne in 2018 and will increase by $10 a year until it reaches $50 in 2022. It also places levies on natural gas, pump gas, propane, butane, and aviation fuel. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Albertan Premier Jason Kenney (UCP) and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister (PC) took the federal government to court on April 15, 2019, and the court ruled in favor (3–2) of the constitutionality of the carbon tax. Following on a motion by prime minister Justin Trudeau, on June 12, 2019, the House of Commons voted to declare a national climate emergency. In December 2020 the government of Justin Trudeau introduced a bill that will require the country to reach zero emission by 2050 (Climate Change Action Plan 2001). International cooperation Canada is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. However, the Liberal government that later signed the accord took little action towards meeting Canada's greenhouse gas emission targets. Although Canada committed itself to a 6% reduction below the 1990 levels for the 2008–2012 as a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the country did not implement a plan to reduce greenhouse gasses emissions. Soon after the 2006 federal election, the new minority government of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada could not and would not meet Canada's commitments. The House of Commons passed several opposition-sponsored bills calling for government plans for the implementation of emission reduction measures. Canadian and North American environmental groups feel that Canada lacks credibility on environmental policy and regularly criticize Canada in international venues. In the last few months of 2009, Canada's attitude was criticized at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) conference, at the Commonwealth summit, and the Copenhagen conference.In 2011, Canada, Japan and Russia stated that they would not take on further Kyoto targets. The Canadian government invoked Canada's legal right to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on December 12, 2011. Canada was committed to cutting its greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012, but in 2009 emissions were 17% higher than in 1990. Environment minister Peter Kent cited Canada's liability to "enormous financial penalties" under the treaty unless it withdrew. Canada's decision was strongly criticized by representatives of other ratifying countries, including France and China. Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international agreement. Its main goal is to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are the plans to fight climate change adapted for each country. Every party in the agreement has different targets based on its own historical climate records and country's circumstances and all the targets for each country are stated in their NDC.Climate action tracker (CAT) is an independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action and measures it against the globally agreed Paris Agreement. Climate action tracker found Canada actions to be "insufficient". Policies and legislation (provincial level) Mitigation In the mid-2000s, mitigation measures in some provinces moved forward, though the federal government under Stephen Harper was did not develop a federal monitoring and credible reduction regime. Several provincial governments established programs to reduce emissions in their respective territories. These measure were later integrated in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change under the premiership of Justin Trudeau. Ontario premier Doug Ford has been very vocal about his opposition to these programs, and abolished them when he came to office in Ontario. He maintains that the federal carbon tax imposed on his province will cause a recession. Economists have studied the issue and do not agree, citing the example of British Columbia, which has had a carbon tax since 2008 causing no economic downturn for the province. Alberta Alberta has an established "Climate Change Action Plan", released in 2008. The Specified Gas Emitters Regulation in Alberta made it the first jurisdiction in North America to have a price on carbon in 2007. and was renewed to 2017 with increased stringency. It requires "large final emitters", defined as facilities emitting more than 100,000 t CO2eq per year, to comply with an emission intensity reduction which increases over time and caps at 12% in 2015, 15% in 2016 and 20% in 2017. Facilities have several options for compliance. They may actually make reductions, pay into the Climate Change and Emission Management Fund (CCEMF), purchase credits from other large final emitters or purchase credits from non-large final emitters in the form of offset credits. Criticisms against the intensity-based approach to pricing carbon include the fact that there is no hard cap on emissions and actual emissions may always continue to rise despite the fact that carbon has a price. Benefits of an intensity-based system include the fact that during economic recessions, the carbon intensity reduction will remain equally as stringent and challenging, while hard caps tend to become easily met, irrelevant and do not work to reduce emissions. Alberta has also been criticized that its goals are too weak, and that the measures enacted are not likely to achieve the goals. In 2015, the newly elected government committed to revising the climate change strategy.As of 2008, Alberta's electricity sector was the most carbon-intensive of all Canadian provinces and territories, with total emissions of 55.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2008, accounting for 47% of all Canadian emissions in the electricity and heat generation sector.In November 2015, Premier Rachel Notley unveiled plans to increase the province's carbon tax to $20 per tonne in 2017, increasing further to $30 per tonne by 2018. This policy shift came about partly because of the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the premier likened to a "kick in the teeth". The province's new climate policies also include phasing out coal-fired power plants by 2030, and cutting emissions of methane by 45% by 2025. British Columbia BC has announced many ambitious policies to address climate change mitigation, particularly through its Climate Action Plan, released in 2008. It has set legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets of 33% below 2007 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050. BC's revenue neutral carbon tax is the first of its kind in North America. It was introduced at $10/tonne of CO2eq in 2008 and has risen by $5/tonne annual increases until it reached $30/tonne in 2012. In 2021, the carbon tax increased from $40/tonne to $45/tonne, and is scheduled to reach $50/tonne in 2022. It is required in legislation that all revenues from the carbon tax are returned to British Columbians through tax cuts in other areas.BC's provincial public sector organizations became the first in North America to be considered carbon neutral in 2010, partly by purchasing carbon offsets. The Clean Energy Vehicles Program provides incentives for the purchase of approved clean energy vehicles and for charging infrastructure installation. There has been action across sectors including financing options and incentives for building retrofits, a Forest Carbon Offset Protocol, a Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and landfill gas management regulation. BC's GHG emissions have been going down, and in 2012 (based on 2010 data) BC declared it was within reach of meeting its interim target of a 6% reduction below 2007 levels by 2012. GHG emissions went down by 4.5% between 2007 and 2010, and consumption of all the main fossil fuels are down in BC as well while GDP and population have both been growing.In 2018 it was announced that the province "after stalling on sustained climate action for several years, admitted they could not meet their 2020 target", the 33% reduction target had stalled at 6.5%. Provincially BC is the second-largest consumer of natural gas at 2.3 billion cubic feet per day. Ontario In August 2007, the Ontario government released Go Green: Ontario's Action Plan on Climate Change. The plan established three targets: a 6% reduction in emissions by 2014, 15% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. The government has committed to report annually on the actions it is taking to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. With the initiatives currently in place, the government projects it will achieve 90% of the reductions needed to meet its 2014 target, and only 60% of those needed to meet the 2020 target.The largest emissions reductions to date have come from the phase-out of coal-fired power generation by Ontario Power Generation. In August 2007, the government issued a regulation that required the end of coal burning at Ontario's four remaining coal-fired power plants by the end of 2014. Since 2003, emissions from these plants have dropped from 36.5 Mt to 4.2 Mt. In January 2013, the government announced that coal will be completely phased out one year early, by the end of 2013. The last coal generating station was closed on April 8, 2014, in Thunder Bay.Through the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 Ontario implemented a feed-in tariff to promote the development of renewable energy generation. Ontario is also a member of the Western Climate Initiative. In January 2013, a discussion paper was posted on the Environmental Registry seeking input on the development of a greenhouse gas emissions reduction program for industry. Over the years, transportation emissions have continued to increase. Growing from 44.8 Mt in 1990 to 59.5 Mt in 2010, transportation is responsible for the largest amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the province. Efforts to reduce these emissions include investing in public transit and providing incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. The government also recognizes the need for climate change adaptation and, in April 2011, released Climate Ready: Ontario's Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan 2011–2014.As required by the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario does an independent review and reports annually to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on the progress of activities in the province to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On June 7, 2018, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario under Doug Ford was elected to a majority government. Since then there has been a great deal of controversy regarding the environmental policies of his government. Among the changes to environmental policy by Ford's government were the withdrawal of Ontario from the Western Climate Initiative emissions trading system, which had been implemented by the previous Liberal government, and eliminating the office of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, a non-partisan officer of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario charged with enforcing Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR). The Ford government released a report indicating that the duties of the Environmental Commissioner would be transferred to the Auditor General of Ontario. Other criticisms levelled by Mike Schreiner of the Green Party of Ontario include cuts to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks as well as making unspecified changes to the Endangered Species Act. Quebec Greenhouse gas emissions increased by 3.8% in Quebec between 1990 and 2007, to 85.7 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent before falling to 81.7 in 2015. At 9.9 tonnes per capita, Quebec's emissions are well below the Canadian average (20.1 tonnes) and accounted for 11.1% of Canada's total in 2015.Emissions in the electricity sector spiked in 2007, due to the operation of the TransCanada Energy combined cycle gas turbine in Becancour. The generating station, Quebec's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that year, released 1,687,314 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2007 or 72.1% of all emissions from the sector and 2% of total emissions. The plant was closed in 2008 in 2009 and in 2010.Between 1990 – the reference year of the Kyoto Protocol – and 2006, Quebec's population grew by 9.2% and Quebec's GDP of 41.3%. The emission intensity relative to GDP declined from 28.1% during this period, dropping from 4,500 to 3,300 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per million dollars of gross domestic product (GDP).In May 2009, Quebec became the first jurisdiction in the Americas to impose an emissions cap after the Quebec National Assembly passed a bill capping emissions from certain sectors. The move was coordinated with a similar policy in the neighboring province of Ontario and reflects the commitment of both provinces as members of the Western Climate Initiative.On November 23, 2009, the Quebec government pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below the 1990 base year level by 2020, a goal similar to that adopted by the European Union. The government intends to achieve its target by promoting public transit, electric vehicles and intermodal freight transport. The plan also calls for the increased use of wood as a building material, energy recovery from biomass, and a land use planning reform. As of 2015 the rate of emissions has been reduced by 8.8%. In order to encourage electrification of the transportation sector, Quebec has introduced numerous policies to promote the purchase of electric vehicles. In 2018, the proportion of electric vehicles among all new passenger car sales in Quebec rose to 9.8%. Adaptation Many climate change adaptation policies are within provincial government's jurisdiction. However, adaptation is currently low in their list of environmental priorities, and most provinces have no climate adaptation plan at all. Assisted migration of forests However, some provinces implemented assisted colonization policies to guide their forests to their future optimal range. As the climate gets warmer, tree species' become less adapted to the conditions of their historical southern or downhill range and more adapted to the climatic condition of areas north or uphill of their historical range. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia modified their tree reseeding guidelines to account for this phenomenon. British Columbia even gave the green light for the relocation of a single species, the Western Larch, 1000 km northward. Policy assessments According to data in 2021, for giving the world a 50% chance of avoiding a temperature rise of 2 degrees or more Canada should increase its climate commitments by 57%.: Table 1  For a 95% chance it should increase the commitments by 160%. For giving a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees Canada should increase its commitments by 215%. Society and culture Activism The Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF), one of the largest conservation organisations in the country, lobbies for climate change mitigation. According to CWF the organization recognized the need for action in 1977. It published Checkerspot, a now discontinued biannual climate change magazine. Some Canadian groups have also lobbied for fossil fuel divestment. Public opinion According to a 2020 survey of the Canadian Nuclear Association, climate change concerns Canadians more than any other issue.In a 2021 survey, Nanos Research found that 30% of Canadians reported that climate change was their top worry, 2nd place behind inflation (36%) and ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic (29%).Canadians think the threat posed by climate change is higher than their United States counterparts do, but slightly below the median opinion of other nations included in a Pew Research Center survey in 2018. However the majority of Canadians in every electoral riding of every province in Canada believe that climate is changing.Rates of acceptance (belief) for ongoing climate change are highest in British Columbia and Quebec, and lowest in the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In a survey published by the University of Montreal and colleagues, national belief that the earth was warming was at 83%, while 12% of respondents said the earth was not warming. However, when asked if this warming is due to human activity, only 60% of respondents said "yes". These numbers are consistent with a 2015 survey that showed 85% of Canadians believed the earth was warming, while only 61% felt this warming was due to human activity. Canadian public opinion that human activity is responsible for global warming slightly declined overall from 2007 to 2015. When asked whether their province has already felt the effects of climate change, 70% of Canadians responded "yes". This result was based on a majority of respondents in almost all electoral ridings. At the same time, the three ridings in Alberta where opinion was lowest each polled at 49% "yes", which is just below a majority. National support for action to stop climate change sits at 58%, with similar levels of support for either a cap and trade system (58%) or a direct tax on carbon emissions (54%).A December 2018 Ipsos-Reid poll was conducted to gauge the public's opinion of Doug Ford's environmental policies in Ontario. The poll results were as follows: Negative – 45% Positive – 27% Neutral – 28%In 2021, in the midst of the COP26, a poll concluded that 25% of Canadians were of the opinion that international conferences on climate change were useful to fight climate change.A 2012 Canadian poll, found that 32% of Canadians said they believe climate change is happening because of human activity, while 54% said they believe it's because of human activity and partially due to natural climate variation. 9% believe climate change is occurring due to natural climate variation, and only 2% said they do not believe climate change is occurring at all. Media coverage Statistics on greenhouse gas emissions See also Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Climate change in the Arctic Climate change and indigenous peoples Environmental issues in Canada Hard Choices: Climate Change in Canada (2004 book) List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita Renewable energy in Canada Regional effects of global warming Plug-in electric vehicles in Canada References Report Bush, E. and Lemmen, D.S., editors (2019): Canada's Changing Climate Report; Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON. 444 p. External links Canada's Action on Climate Change Archived June 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – Government of Canada Environment And Climate Change Canada – Climate Change page

climate change capital

Climate Change Capital was a private asset management and advisory group founded in 2003 by Lionel Fretz and James Cameron to support efforts to develop solutions to climate change and resource depletion. Fretz left Climate Change Capital at the end of 2004 to found rival carbon trading company, called Carbon Capital Markets, backed by the AIM listed fund Trading Emissions PLC. Shortly thereafter, Mark Woodall became the first CEO of Climate Change Capital. History Climate Change Capital established an advisory group in 2004 to provide financial, strategic and policy advice to energy-intensive industries, financial institutions, cleantech companies and governments.The asset management business, which was established in 2005, included a carbon finance fund that invests in emission reduction projects, predominantly in developing countries, a private equity fund that invests in late stage technology and services companies headquartered in Europe and a property fund that buys commercial green buildings or retrofits existing commercial properties in the United Kingdom.. The company's think tank was established in 2009 to promote discussion of how capital can be deployed to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The company employed a large number of leading climate change experts, among them Paul Bodnar who subsequently went on to the Obama White House to serve as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change at the National Security Council and from 2018 went on to lead the Rocky Mountain Institute. In 2006, the group launched the world's largest private sector carbon fund. Acquisition In April 2012, Bunge Ltd, a global agribusiness and food company founded in 1818, acquired Climate Change Capital Group Limited.In 2015, Bunge Limited decided to close Climate Change Capital as part of a wider shutdown of its asset management activities.Climate Change Capital’s chairman was James Cameron, a member of General Electric's ecomagination board, a trustee member of the UK Green Building Council and the Carbon Disclosure Project. Climate Change Capital's CEO at the time it was closed was Eric Alsembach, who also served as the managing director of the Bunge Asset Management group. References External links Climate Change Capital (Company Website) Rocky Mountain Institute - Paul Bodnar

climate migration

Climate migration is a subset of climate-related mobility that refers to movement driven by the impact of sudden or gradual climate-exacerbated disasters, such as "abnormally heavy rainfalls, prolonged droughts, desertification, environmental degradation, or sea-level rise and cyclones". Gradual shifts in the environment tend to impact more people than sudden disasters. The majority of climate migrants move internally within their own countries, though a smaller number of climate-displaced people also move across national borders.Climate change gives rise to migration on a large, global scale. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that an average of 20 million people are forcibly displaced to other areas in countries all over the world by weather-related events every year. Climate-related disasters disproportionately affect marginalized populations, who are often facing other structural challenges in climate-vulnerable regions and countries. As a result, climate-related disasters are often described as a threat multiplier that compounds crises over time and space. The 2021 White House Report on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration underscored the multifaceted impacts of climate change and climate-related migration, ranging from destabilizing vulnerable and marginalized communities, exacerbating resource scarcity, to igniting political tension.Few existing international frameworks and regional and domestic legal regimes provide adequate protection to climate migrants. However, as the UN Dispatch noted, "people who have been uprooted because of climate change exist all over the world — even if the international community has been slow to recognize them as such." As a result, climate migration has been described as “the world’s silent crisis,” contrasting its global pervasiveness with its lack of recognition and investigation. Estimates on climate-related displacement vary, but all point to an alarming trend. The most common projections estimate around 200 million people will be displaced by climate-related disasters by 2050. Some even estimate up to 1 billion migrants by 2050, but these take ecological threats, including conflict and civil unrest as well as disasters into account. Causes Climate migrants refer to those who engage in movement driven by the impact of sudden or gradual climate change, such as "abnormally heavy rainfalls, prolonged droughts, desertification, environmental degradation, or sea-level rise and cyclones". The intensification of natural disasters caused by climate change, has the potential to impact many populations, leading to a significant number of climate migrants. Over the past 50 years, the frequency of disasters has increased by a factor of 5. In addition to more frequent and severe disasters, global warming-induced rising temperatures will lead to more prevalent droughts and snow and ice melting, resulting in higher sea levels.Gradual shifts in the environment tend to impact more people than sudden disasters. Between 1979 and 2008, storms impacted 718 million individuals, whereas droughts affected approximately 1.6 billion. Sudden climatic events like severe storms and natural disasters may destroy critical infrastructure, flood neighborhoods, disrupt transit systems, overburden medical centers, cause food and water shortages, destabilize energy plants, and jeopardize human health and well-being. These events can severely harm communities, making recovery a challenging process. Gradual impacts, such as famines, droughts, and other resource shortages and economic damages brought about by climate change may cause conflict, political instability, climate gentrification, and accumulated negative health effects due to exposure to unhealthy environments. Droughts and slowly rising temperatures, have more mixed effects, but are more likely to lead to longer-term changes.Rising sea levels are a frequently addressed concern in environmental discussions. Sea levels are estimated to rise between 3 and 6 feet by 2100. This means that, progressively, land areas will become submerged. To put it in perspective, on average each year, the sea level has risen 3.7 mm. These data reveal significant threats to coastal cities and ecosystems, potentially displacing many humans. Climate justice and adaptation Climate adaptation projects in preparation for climate hazards and as a response to climate change may increase the climate resilience of communities. However, this projects may inadvertently contribute to climate gentrification—a process where actions to address climate risks lead to the displacement of lower-socioeconomic groups by wealthier communities. Inner coastal cities and areas at higher elevations, traditionally occupied by less affluent populations, are now becoming more desirable due to increasing risks like sea level rise and extreme weather events affecting lower-lying wealthy waterfront properties.By bolstering resilience, such projects may reduce the degree of migration people feel compelled to undertake due to climate-related challenges. Varying levels of investment are made in supporting the adaptation, resilience, and mobility of neighborhoods, municipalities, and nations in the face of climate change and consequent environmental migration. This is especially important to consider since small island states, rural populations, people of color, low-income communities, the elderly, people with disabilities, coastal urban populations, food and housing insecure households, and developing countries are especially vulnerable to the worst effects of the climate crisis and therefore to environmental migration. Just as individuals and countries do not contribute equally to climate change, they also do not experience the negative effects of the crisis equally. Both short- and long-term impacts of climate change bring under-prepared communities environmental harm and exacerbate existing inequities. People with livelihoods tied to the environment, like those in agriculture, fisheries, and coast-dependent businesses, are also at risk of relocation or job loss due to climate change. If communities cannot adapt adequately, migration might emerge as the primary response. Climate migrants may migrate internally within their own country or to another country in response to climate change. Most climate migration is internal, meaning movement occurs within an individuals own country, and they do not cross international borders. In 2022 alone, weather-related events led to nearly 32 million internal displacements. In poor countries where individuals are more vulnerable to disasters due to inadequate climate adaptation, individuals will also often lack resources for long-distance migration.In some cases, climate change constrains migration and people may lose the means to migrate, leading to a net decrease in migration. The migration that does take place is seen as voluntary and economically motivated. In some cases climate change could also exacerbate economic insecurity or political instability as causes for migration beyond temperatures and extreme weather events. Who moves and who stays when affected by climate change often falls along lines of race and class, as mobility requires some amount of wealth. Global statistics In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared that the greatest single consequence of climate change could be migration, 'with millions of people displaced by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding and severe drought'.The most common projection is that the world will have 150–200 million people displaced by climate change by 2050. Variations of this claim have been made in influential reports on climate change by the IPCC and the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, as well as by NGOs such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace Germany (Jakobeit and Methmann 2007) and Christian Aid; and inter-governmental organisations such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO, and UNHCR. There has even been an estimate as high as 1.2 billion attributing climate migration to ecological threats, including conflict and civil unrest. This acknowledges that such ecological challenges might instigate conflicts, such as regions disputing over water access. Other reports with more conservative estimates focus solely on the direct effects of climate. Predictions on climate-induced migration often reflect the population in at-risk regions rather than the actual expected number of migrants, and not considering adaptation strategies or varying levels of vulnerability. However, Hein de Haas has argued that to link the climate change issue "with the specter of mass migration is a dangerous practice based on myth rather than fact. The use of apocalyptic migration forecasts to support the case for urgent action on climate change is not only intellectually dishonest, but also puts the credibility of those using this argument - as well as the broader case for climate change action - seriously at risk". He argued that while "climate change is unlikely to cause mass migration" this also overlooks the fact that the implications of environmental adversity are most severe for the most vulnerable populations who lack the means to move out.While climate-related migration is often framed as a remote issue, extreme weather events are already forcing people out of their homes in many parts of the world. In 2021, storms, floods, landslides, wildfires and droughts triggered 23,7 million internal displacements (i.e. displacement within a country), according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. This makes up for 60% of all internal displacements that year. Statistics by region Climate-induced migration is a highly complex issue which needs to be understood as part of global migration dynamics. Migration typically has multiple causes, and environmental factors are intertwined with other social and economic factors, which themselves can be influenced by environmental changes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized that climate change and environmental harm frequently “interact[] with other drivers of displacement” that fit into the established refugee definition.Additionally, it is maintained that the poor populate areas that are most at risk for environmental destruction and climate change, including coastlines, flood-lines, and steep slopes. As a result, climate change threatens areas already suffering from extreme poverty. "The issue of equity is crucial. Climate affects us all, but does not affect us all equally," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates at a climate conference in Indonesia. Africa Africa has 80% of the world's refugee population and this number is only set to increase with climate change. Africa is one of the world regions where environmental displacement is critical, largely due to droughts and other climate-related eventualities. The United Nations Environment Programme noted that "No continent will be struck as severely by the impacts of climate change as Africa." Most of the countries in Africa were ranked most vulnerable to climate change and least likely to adapt to its impacts. Existing conflicts, poverty, and displacement in Africa may draw attention away from climate migrants, but it is important to understand that these interrelated challenges often exacerbate the difficulties of those forced to move due to environmental factors. Drought has become a pressing issue with climate change, and with at least one-third of the population in Africa living in drought prone areas, many of these people are vulnerable. Thus, drought conditions are expected to change the lives of nearly 100 million Africans by 2050. As drought intensifies, it exacerbates desertification, further diminishing the amount of habitable land. Land degradation caused by desertification will have an impact of agricultural productivity, decreasing food security. The connection between desertification and food insecurity is evident in the Sahel region, where between 14.4 and 23.7 million people faced hunger in 2020 and 2021.Aside from droughts, other parts of Africa experience intensified storms and flooding due to monsoon seasons. In Sudan in 2014 flooding from a storm displaced 159,000 individuals. In Somali, seasonal rains caused flash flooding in 2023 which displaced nearly a 250,000.The exacerbation of conflict and displacement in the Lake Chad basin, has been attributed to droughts, floods, and the lake's contraction due to climate change. The dwindling of natural resources is intensifying regional tensions and has led to the displacement of 3 million individuals. Middle East The Middle East is combatting a severe refugee crisis and climate change is set to be influential in creating even more refugees. The leading country in the refugee crisis is Syria, largely due to social conflict. Since 2011, over 14 million Syrians have been displaced. The drought between 2007 and 2010 played a role in exacerbating the Syrian conflict. This period experienced the most severe drought on record, leading to significant agricultural setbacks and prompting numerous farming households to relocate to cities. The drought acted as a catalyst, leading to the Syrian civil war. Such environmental stresses have underscored the idea that many Syrians can be viewed as climate migrants, given that climatic factors indirectly fueled the onset of the Syrian civil war. Back-to-back unprecedented droughts plagued Syrian farmers from 2006 to 2011, resulting in mass migrations from the countryside to the cities where existing infrastructure came under strain. Over one million Syrians have fled the country since the war began, largely resettling in neighboring Turkey.Another cause of environmental distress in the Middle East is extreme heat. With its hot desert climate, the Middle east is predicted to reach summertime temperatures as high as 46 °C by 2050. These soaring temperatures have already occurred, although rarely, and have labeled parts of the Middle East as unlivable for humans. Such extreme conditions are expected to increase the number of climate migrants, as people search for cooler and more habitable regions. Asia and the Pacific According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, more than 42 million people were displaced in Asia and the Pacific triggered by sudden onset natural hazards during 2010 and 2011. This figure includes those displaced by storms, floods, and heat and cold waves. Still others were displaced by drought and sea-level rise. Most of those compelled to leave their homes eventually returned when conditions improved, but an undetermined number became migrants, usually within their country, but also across national borders. A 2012 Asian Development Bank study argues that climate-induced migration should be addressed as part of a country's development agenda, given the major implications of migration on economic and social development. The report recommends interventions both to address the situation of those who have migrated, as well as those who remain in areas subject to environmental risk. It says: "To reduce migration compelled by worsening environmental conditions, and to strengthen the resilience of at-risk communities, governments should adopt policies and commit financing to social protection, livelihoods development, basic urban infrastructure development, and disaster risk management."Due to rising sea levels, as many as 70,000 people will be displaced in the Sundarbans as early as 2020 according to an estimate by the Center for Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University. One expert calls for restoring the Sundarbans’ original mangrove habitats to both mitigate the impacts of rising seas and storm surges, and to serve as a carbon sink for greenhouse gas emissions.650 families of Satbhaya in Kendrapara district of Odisha, India who have been displaced by sea level rise and coastal erosion have been a part of the state government of Odisha's pioneering approach to planned relocation at Bagapatia under Gupti Panchayat. While this approach makes provision for homestead land and other amenities, provisioning for livelihoods like agriculture and fishing which are the mainstay for the relocated populations is needed.In Minqin County, Gansu Province, "10,000 people have left the area and have become shengtai yimin, 'ecological migrants'". In Xihaigu, Ningxia, water shortages driven by climate change and deforestation have resulted in several waves of government-mandated relocations since 1983.The Republic of the Marshall Islands is one of four atoll nations in the world that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise. Over a third of the population has moved to the US where, according to recent estimates, approximately 30,000 Marshallese reside, particularly in Hawaii, Arkansas and Washington. While few Marshallese migrants in the US cite climate change as the main reason for moving, many do indicate that it influences their decision whether or not to return some day. North America Canada Climate change has increased the likelihood and the intensity of wildfires in Canada. The wildfires have posed immediate dangers to several regions, and the ensuing smoke has affected even more regions. 20% of those exposed to the smoke report a worse health due to the poor air quality. Approximately 13% of the population in Canada are considering to migrate due to increase in wildfires strength and occurrence. In Alberta, it is 16%, and in British Columbia 19%. Women under the age of 35 are the most likely to migrate. California California is confronting a growing forest and wildlife crisis due to wildfire. California has historically been vulnerable to wildfires – at least a third of the worst wildfires in US history have occurred in California. However, climate change – specifically, warmer temperatures and more intense drought seasons – in recent years have dramatically increased the size and intensity of wildfires in the state. More than half of the 20 largest California wildfires in modern history occurred between 2018 and 2022. The 2020 wildfires were particularly devastating, burning down more than 4 million acres of land, destroying thousands of buildings, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes.Evidence suggests that only a small percentage of those affected by the wildfires choose to stay. Only several thousands of the 27,000 residents affected by the 2018 Sierra Nevada fire chose to remain and rebuild. The others chose to migrate either to other parts of California or out-of-state. They face special difficulties with relocation due to lack of fire insurance policies and the state’s lack of affordable housing. The state estimates at least 2.5 million homes are needed in the next eight years to catch up to demand. Alaska There have been 178 Alaskan communities threatened by erosion of their land. The annual temperature has steadily increased over the last fifty years, with Alaska seeing it double (compared to the rate seen across the rest of the United States) to the rate of 3.4 degrees, with an alarming 6.3 degrees increase for the winters over the past fifty years. Many of the communities residing in these areas have been living off the land for generations. There is an eminent threat of loss of culture and loss of tribal identity with these communities.Between 2003 and 2009, a partial survey by the Army Corps of Engineers identified thirty-one Alaskan villages under imminent threat of flooding and erosion. By 2009, 12 of the 31 villages had decided to relocate, with four (Kivalina, Newtok, Shaktoolik, and Shishmaref) requiring immediate evacuation due to danger of immediate flooding along with limited evacuation options.However, relocation is proving difficult because there is no governmental institutional framework that exists for the aid of climate refugees in the United States. The Obama administration promised to fund $50.4 billion to help with relocation efforts in 2016. Louisiana Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, home to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw First Nation, is being depopulated with federal grant money, due to saltwater intrusion and sea level rise. This Indigenous Nation residing on the Isle de Jean Charles is facing the effects of climate change. The resettlement of this community of around 100, exists as the first migration of a total community in the state of Louisiana. This state has lost almost 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2) of its coast within the last 87 years and now an alarming rate of almost 16 square miles (41 km2) per year is disappearing. In early 2016, a 48-million-dollar grant was the first allocation of federal tax dollars to aid a community suffering from direct impact of climate change. Louisiana has lost land mass comparable to the size of the state of Delaware revealing land mass loss that is at a rate faster than many places in the world. The resettlement plan for the Isle de Jean Charles is at the forefront of responding to climate change without destroying the community that resides within. Washington state Native American tribes located on the outer coast of the state of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, such as the Quinault Indian Nation village of Taholah, and the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, have been increasingly vulnerable to encroaching sea levels, storm surges and intense rain causing landslides and floods. In response, the Quinault Indian Nation conducted a vulnerability assessment and devised a comprehensive relocation plan to move two of its villages – Taholah and Queets, home to 660 tribal members – to higher ground way above the tsunami and flood zones. However, relocation is expensive and only possible with federal funding – it is estimated that moving the 471-member Shoalwater Bay Tribe up the mountain could cost half a billion dollars. The Department of the Interior, under the Biden Administration, has created programs designed to help relocate communities affected by climate change and is assessing which tribes to allocate funding to first. Central America and the Caribbean The people of Central America and the Caribbean are repeatedly faced with severe weather events and climate change will only exacerbate this issue. A large portion of this region lies along the “Dry Corridor”, an arid region that includes areas of Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. The dry corridor is predicted to expand with the onset of climate change. It is currently home to approximately 10 million people, half of whom are subsistence farmers, who rely heavily on stable weather patterns for their livelihoods, making them particularly susceptible to becoming climate migrants in search of more arable land and better living conditions. From 2009 - 2019, two million residents in the dry corridor have experienced hunger because of extreme weather events caused by climate change. Natural weather patterns such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or simply “El Niño”, can make dry conditions in this region more extreme. Wet periods following an El Niño weather event can bring torrential rain that results in major flooding and catastrophic landslides. Multiple studies have shown that climate change could result in more frequent extreme El Niños.: 106–107, 111–112 Food security issues are expected to worsen across Central America due to climate change. In August 2019, Honduras declared a state of emergency when a drought caused the southern part of the country to lose 72% of its corn and 75% of its bean production. It is predicted that by 2070, corn yields in Central America may fall by 10%, beans by 29%, and rice by 14%. With Central American crop consumption dominated by corn (70%), beans (25%), and rice (6%), the expected drop in staple crop yields could have devastating consequences. The World Bank predicts that by 2050, climate change-induced migration could displace 1.4 - 2.1 million residents of Central America and Mexico. The highest estimate is that worsening droughts and flooding from climate change could displace up to 4 million people in the region by 2050.Several weather events in the 21st century have displayed the devastating effects of the El Niño weather pattern and have led to mass displacement and hunger crises. In 2015, due to the strongest El Niño in recorded history, hundreds of thousands of Central American subsistence farmers lost a portion or the entirety of their crops. Throughout 2014 and 2015, El Salvador alone saw over $100 million in damage to crops. In Guatemala, the drought caused a food shortage that left 3 million people struggling to feed themselves, according to a 2015 report authored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency as the drought and high food prices led to a hunger crisis during which chronic malnutrition was common among children. By the end of June 2016, it was estimated by the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that 3.5 million people required humanitarian assistance across El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.: 107, 109–111 In 2018, 50% of the 94,000 Guatemalans deported from the United States and Mexico were from these western highlands, an area particularly susceptible to climate change. The IOM and WFP report also showed the ways in which food insecurity led to migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Pointing out that there are millions of Central Americans living abroad (with over 80% in the United States), the report stated there is a positive correlation between food insecurity and migration from these countries. It also confirmed that crises related to hunger and violence are exacerbated when the region heads into the second consecutive year of an extreme drought.: 113–115 South America Research on South American migration patterns have found multiple connections between climate change and its effect on migration.The effects and results vary based on the type of climatic change, socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics of migrants and the distance and direction of the migration. Since most climate migration studies are done in the developed world, scientists have called for more quantitative research within the developing world, including South America. Migration in South America does not always increase as a result of increased environmental threats but is affected by factors such as climate variability and land suitability. These migrations are typically directed from rural to urban areas. Inter-provincial migration is shown to not be as heavily influenced by environmental changes whereas migration outside of the country of origin is heavily influenced by environmental changes. The results of a climactic event catalyzing migration change depending on the onset of the event, however, climate change related events such as drought and hurricanes augment or increase youth migration. Youth are more likely to migrate as a response to climate-related events. As a result, children who have been displaced are found to travel shorter distances to find work in rural destinations versus further to an urban area. The increase in interest in this topic in the past decade has called for a measure called preventive resettlement. The cases in which preventive resettlement appear appropriate is typically discerned by local and governmental bodies.Active sea-level rise resulted in the relocation of the people of Enseada da Baleia, a coastal community located on Cardoso Island in southeastern Brazil. The government offered the residents the ability to either relocate to another community on the island or a city on the mainland. Most residents chose to move to a new location that was more inland on the same island and paid for their own expenses of relocation with little government assistance. Brazilian lawyer Erika Pires Ramos argues that the dilemma faced by the residents of Enseada da Baleia illustrates how climate migrants are invisible throughout much of Latin America. Governments must first recognize and identify groups of climate migrants in order to better help them.The International Organization for Migration estimates that today nearly 11 million South Americans are currently resettling or migrating due to recent and ongoing natural disasters, some of which are climate-induced. Collecting and maintaining data on climate migrants remains a major obstacle for South American governments in preparing and anticipating for migration flows from future climate-induced disasters. Peru passed a national climate change law in 2018 that mandates the government, led by a multi-agency group, to create a plan to mitigate and adapt to future climate migrations. Uruguay already has its own “national resettlement plan” for climate-induced migrations in place.A few countries like Argentina and Brazil, offer a “disaster-related emergency visa”. In Argentina, the visa came into effect in 2022 includes relocation, housing and integration support provided by civil society.Some Kuna people, such as those in the settlement of Gardi Sugdub, have decided to relocate from islands to the mainland of Panama due to sea level rise. Europe Estimates put the number of displaced persons in Europe from climate-related events at over 700,000 in the last ten years. Most of the continent’s climate-related catastrophes are a result of either flooding or wildfires.The European Union has yet to adopt any continent-wide convention on the status of migrants displaced by climate-related events. Due to the 2014 Balkan flooding (which is considered to be linked to climate change), some people in Bosnia and Herzegovina migrated to other European countries.Moldova, with a large rural population dependent on subsistence farming, is one of Europe’s most vulnerable countries to the threat of climate change. Increasing erratic weather patterns may lead to crop failures and mass migrations to neighboring countries. In 2010, devastating floods completely submerged the village of Cotul Morii in central Moldova resulting in the evacuation of 440 families. Government authorities mandated that Cotul Morii be reconstructed in a new location 15 kilometers away from the original village which the government officially abandoned. Despite this, over 60 families chose to remain and rebuild their community in the original village even with a lack of running water or electricity. Climate migration researchers emphasize the growing importance of a “right to voluntary immobility”. There are often very sensitive and complicated issues at play when making the decision to relocate an entire population from their home, and many residents may choose to voluntarily opt-out of government efforts.In Wales, the village of Fairbourne has been cited as an area particularly vulnerable to sea level rise. The local Gwynedd Council has described it as impractical to protect from rising sea levels and proposed managed retreat. Political and legal perspectives The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expects the scale of global migration to rise as a result of accelerated climate change. It, therefore, recommends policymakers around the world to take a proactive stance on the matter. Despite the scale of climate migration, current legal protections across the world are ineffective in protecting climate migrants. Few existing international frameworks and regional and domestic legal regimes provide adequate protection to climate migrants. Typically, climate migrants are not legally recognized as refugees and therefore do not enjoy international and domestic refugee law protections. In the Americas, instead of being granted refugee status, individuals displaced by environmental factors are offered humanitarian visas or complementary protection, which do not always provide permanent residence and citizenship pathways. Although the term 'refugee' is legally incorrect, the definition of climate change refugee has be created to address the crisis. Every individuals affected by environmental harm still deserves protection and aid on humanitarian grounds.A report from the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) therefore recommends the creation of new legal pathways to safety for people moving in the context of climate change and environmental degradation. IRAP’s report also recommends that governments develop stronger humanitarian protection for people who are forcibly displaced in a changing climate. The report emphasizes that strengthening the legal protections for climate-displaced persons should be preemptive with increased options for these persons before environmental disasters occur.The International Law Commission (ILC) provides guidance on the legal protections that climate-displaced persons should enjoy when disasters strikes. ILC’s Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters advocates for mass displacement to be included in the definition of “disaster”. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) recently decided cases wherein the Committee asserted that “the ICCPR obligates states not to return people fleeing life-threatening climate change impacts.” In one of these cases, Teitota v. New Zealand, the UNHRC held that “individuals and groups who have crossed national borders could file subsequent petitions against deportation to the UNHRC, after exhausting domestic options, based on climate change impacts that violate the right to life.” In January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that "climate refugees fleeing the effects of the climate crisis cannot be forced by their adoptive countries to return to their home counties whose climate is posing an immediate threat."The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) argued that people who will be forced to move due to climate change currently have no adequate recognition in international law. The EJF contends that a new multilateral legal instrument is required to specifically address the needs of "climate refugees" in order to confer protection to those fleeing environmental degradation and climate change. They have also asserted that additional funding is needed to enable developing countries to adapt to climate change. Sujatha Byravan and Sudhir Chella Rajan have argued for the use of the term 'climate exiles' and for international agreements to provide them political and legal rights, including citizenship in other countries, bearing in mind those countries' responsibilities and capabilities. Global perceptions from possible countries of asylum Acceptance of the possibility of environmental migrants may be influenced by other challenges that confront a nation. In Canada, there is public interest in policies that foster planning and accommodations. On 20 September 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada told the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants that plans just for resettlement would not be enough. Sweden which had allowed refugees to seek asylum from areas of war in an open door policy has changed to a policy that is more deterrent of asylum seekers and is even offering money for asylum seekers to withdraw their requests. The United States, which was warned under the Obama administration to prepare for climate change and consequent refugees, had more difficulties in doing so under former President Donald Trump, who denied the reality of climate change, signed executive orders dismantling environmental protections, ordered the EPA to remove climate change information from their public site, and signaled his administration's unwillingness to anticipate environmental refugees from climate change.A nation grants "asylum" when it grants someone freedom from prosecution within its borders. Each country makes its own rules and laws of asylum. The United States, for example, has a system recognized by federal and international laws. France was the first country to constitute the right to asylum. The right to asylum differs in different nations. There is a still fight for the right to asylum in some areas of the world.In 2021, a French court ruled in an extradition hearing to avoid the deportation of a Bangladeshi man with asthma from France after his lawyer argued that he risked a severe deterioration in his condition, due to the air pollution in his homeland. Heavy floods affected Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh in July 2021.The Biden administration in the United States released several intelligence agency reports in 2021 that sketched out in sweeping language the risks climate change poses to global stability. The reports emphasize the destabilizing effects climate change will take on developing countries including massive rises in food insecurity, worsening droughts, fires and flooding, and sea level rises. Some of the most vulnerable countries, the report concludes, are Guatemala, Haiti, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq; countries with weak state institutions that are located in especially climate-vulnerable regions of the world. In February 2021, President Biden signed an executive order “directing the National Security Council to provide options for protecting and resettling people displaced by climate change”. In an updated report on climate migration released in October 2021, the Biden Administration detailed how the United States government should work to aid and assist climate migrants around the world. The report points to the use of U.S. foreign assistance through active humanitarian support, technical expertise, and capacity building and calls for increased funding to achieve these goals. Emphasizing the “complex interplay between climate change and migration”, the report orients the government’s focus to focus on climate migration as a single issue, demanding greater attention and focus in the coming years. Planning for climate migrants Planning for climate migration entails preparing for the desertion of geographically vulnerable areas as well as for the influx of vulnerable communities into largely urban areas. In addressing current issues of environmental migration and preparing for forthcoming ones, experts call for interdisciplinary, locally-informed, equitable, and accessible approaches. Cities can explore what being “migrant friendly” might look like, such as offering job training programs, affordable and livable housing, access to green spaces, accessible mass transit systems, and resources to overcome language or cultural barriers. Special investment in both resources and information dissemination can help accommodate the diverse needs of people with disabilities and mental health conditions – both in the immediate moment of a disaster, where some emergency response and early warning systems may not be audiologically or visually accessible, and in the aftermath. Investments in flood barriers and other infrastructure for adaptation can provide physical protections against severe weather. Incorporating these considerations into planning conversations now can assist cities in preparing for the worst effects of climate change before some of the scenarios for climate migration come to occur.Sustainable development, emergency response mechanisms, and local planning can help mitigate the consequences of climate migration. Mitigation may be too late for many, leaving planned migration as the only option. For people whose livelihoods are closely linked to the stability and health of their environment – like farmers and fishers – migration may become necessary for survival. A recent New York Times and Pulitzer Center article on the issue notes that “by comparison, Americans are richer, often much richer, and more insulated from the shocks of climate change. They are distanced from the food and water sources they depend on, and they are part of a culture that sees every problem as capable of being solved by money...Census data show us how Americans move: toward heat, toward coastlines, toward drought, regardless of evidence of increasing storms and flooding and other disasters...The sense that money and technology can overcome nature has emboldened Americans." This disparity is reflected in the coastal real estate market and development projects. Addressing climate migration issues and climate change as a whole may involve reimagining how, where, and why municipalities develop and urbanize for the future. In an article written for The Guardian, Gaia Vince outlined what the future of climate migration would look like and how countries can prepare. She cites research from the United Nations estimating that in the next 30 years, over 1 billion climate and environmental migrants will be uprooted from their homes, largely from countries in the Global South. Developed nations in North America and Europe, with aging and declining populations, will benefit from accepting and assimilating these climate migrants into their societies, she argues. Climate migration can be a solution to many of the world’s problems, rather than just a problem, according to Vince. Currently, there is no global body or organization devoted exclusively to the issue of climate migration, however, Vince argues that new climate-friendly policies are still possible. Vince points to the rapid European response to enact open-border policies and right-to-work laws for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the 2022 war as an example. The policies arguably saved millions of lives and enabled the migrants to avoid the convoluted and slow-acting bureaucratic hurdles that exist for migrants from other countries. Vince argues that the Ukrainian migrant policy provides a blueprint for how developed countries can adopt policies and contingency plans for climate migrants in the future. In the UK, research is being done on how climate change's impact on countries that are emigrated to will vary due to the infrastructure of those countries. They want to put into place policies so that those who have to migrate could go throughout Europe, and have solid emergency planning in place so that the people being displaced would have a swift and quick plan of escape once their environment can no longer handle inhabitants-slow or sudden onset. The end goal of this work is to determine the best course of action in the event of various environmental catastrophes. Society and culture A documentary entitled Climate Refugees was released in 2010. Climate Refugees was an Official Selection for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. More recently, Short Documentary Academy Award Nominee, Sun Come Up (2011), tells the story of Carteret islanders in Papua New Guinea who are forced to leave their ancestral land in response to climate change and migrate to war-torn Bougainville. Since 2007, German artist Hermann Josef Hack has shown his World Climate Refugee Camp in the centers of various European cities. The model camp, made of roughly 1000 miniature tents, is a public art intervention that depicts the social impacts of climate change.Various works of ecofiction and climate fiction have also featured migration. One of these is The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi, which focuses on climate displacement and migration within the American Southwest. See also Environmental migrant Effects of climate change on human health Managed retreat Space and survival Climate change Sea level rise International Organization for Migration References Further reading Gaia Vince (2022). Nomad Century. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0241522318. Wennersten, John R.; Robbins, Denise (2017). Rising Tides: Climate Refugees in the Twenty-First Century. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-02593-7. External links Climate Change, Environment, and Migration Alliance World Refugee & Migration Council (2021) 'Solutions for the Global Governance of Climate Displacement'

climate change policy of the united states

The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China, and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. In total, the United States has emitted over 400 billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses, more than any country in the world.Climate change policy is developed at the local, state ,and federal levels of government. Global climate change was first addressed in United States policy beginning in the early 1950s. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines climate change as "any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time." Essentially, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, as well as other effects, that occur over several decades or longer. The policy with the biggest US investment in climate change mitigation is the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The politics of climate change have polarized certain political parties and other organizations. The Democratic Party advocates for an expansion of climate change mitigation policies whereas the Republican Party tends to be skeptical about the effects on business, as well as advocate for slower change, inaction, or outright reactionary reversal of existing climate change mitigation policies. Most lobbying on climate policy in the United States is done by corporations that are publicly opposed to reducing carbon emissions. Federal policy International law The United States, although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. In 1997, the US Senate voted unanimously under the Byrd–Hagel Resolution that it was not the sense of the Senate that the United States should be a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. In 2001, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, stated that the Protocol "is not acceptable to the Administration or Congress".In October 2003, the Pentagon published a report titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall. The authors conclude by stating, "this report suggests that, because of the potentially dire consequences, the risk of abrupt climate change, although uncertain and quite possibly small, should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern." Congress In October 2003 and again in June 2005, the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act failed a vote in the US Senate. In the 2005 vote, Republicans opposed the Bill 49–6, while Democrats supported it 37–10.In January 2007, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would form a United States Congress subcommittee to examine global warming. Sen. Joe Lieberman said, "I'm hot to get something done. It's hard not to conclude that the politics of global warming has changed and a new consensus for action is emerging and it is a bipartisan consensus."Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act on January 15, 2007. The measure would provide funding for R&D on geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2), set emissions standards for new vehicles and a renewable fuels requirement for gasoline beginning in 2016, establish energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards beginning in 2008 and low-carbon electric generation standards beginning in 2016 for electric utilities, and require periodic evaluations by the National Academy of Sciences to determine whether emissions targets are adequate. However, the bill died in committee. Two more bills, the Climate Protection Act and the Sustainable Energy Act, proposed February 14, 2013, also failed to pass committee.The House of Representatives approved the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) on June 26, 2009, by a vote of 219–212, but the bill failed to pass the Senate.In March 2011, the Republicans submitted a bill to the U.S. Congress that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gasses as pollutants. As of 2012, the EPA was still overseeing regulation under the Clean Air Act.In 2019, there were 130 elected congresspeople who had expressed doubt about the science of climate change. Clinton administration Upon the start of his presidency in 1993, Bill Clinton committed the United States to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000 through his biodiversity treaty, reflecting his attempt to return the United States to the global platform of climate policy. Clinton's British Thermal Unit (BTU) Tax and Climate Change Action Plan were also announced within the first year of his presidency, calling for a tax on energy heat content and plans for energy efficiency and joint implementations, respectively. The Climate Change Action Plan was announced on October 19, 1993. This plan aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000. Clinton described this goal as "ambitious but achievable," and called for 44 action steps to achieve this goal. Among these steps were voluntary participation by industry, especially those in the commercial and energy supply fields. Clinton allotted $1.9 billion to fund this plan from the federal budget and called for an additional $60 billion funding to come voluntarily businesses and industries.The British Thermal Tax proposed by Clinton in early 1993 called for a tax on producers of gasoline, oil, and other fuels based on fuel content in accordance to the British Thermal Unit (BTU). The British Thermal Unit is a measure of heat corresponding to the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of water by one degree Fahrenheit. The tax also applied to electricity produced by hydro and nuclear power, but exempted renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar, and wind. The Clinton Administration planned to collect up to $22.3 billion in revenue from the tax by 1997. The tax was opposed by the energy-intensive industry, who feared that the price increase caused by the tax would make U.S. products undesirable on an international level, and thus was never fully implemented.In 1994, the U.S. called for a new limit on greenhouse gas emissions post-2000 in at the August 1994 INC-10. They also called for a focus on joint implementation, and for new developing countries to limit their emissions. Environmental groups, including the Climate Action Network (CAN), critiqued these efforts, questioning U.S. focus on limiting the emissions of other countries when it had not established its own.The U.S. government under Clinton succeeded in pushing its agenda for joint implementation in the 1995 Conference of the Parties (COP-1). This victory is noted in the Berlin Mandate of April 1995, which called for developed countries to lead the implementation of national mitigation policies.Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol on behalf of the United States in 1997, pledging the country to a non-binding 7% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. He claimed that the agreement was "environmentally strong and economically sound," and expressed a desire for greater involvement in the treaty by developing nations.In his second term, Clinton announced his FY00 proposal, which allotted funding for a new set of environmental policies. Under this proposal, the President announced a new Clean Air Partnership Fund, new tax incentives and investments, and funding for environmental research of both natural and man-made changes to the climate.The Clean Air Partnership Fund was proposed to finance state and local government efforts for greenhouse gas emission reductions in cooperation with EPA. Under this fund, $200 million was allotted to promote and finance innovation projects meant to reduce air pollution. It also supported the creation of partnerships between the local and federal governments, and private sector.The Climate Change Technology Initiative provided $4 billion in tax incentives over a five-year period. The tax credits applied to energy efficient homes and building equipment, implementation of solar energy systems, electric and hybrid vehicles, clean energy, and the power industry. The Climate Change Technology Initiative also provided funding for additional research and development on clean technology, especially in the building, electricity, industry, and transportation sectors. G.W. Bush administration In March 2001, the George W. Bush Administration announced that it would not implement the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan that would require nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, claiming that ratifying the treaty would create economic setbacks in the U.S. and does not put enough pressure to limit emissions from developing nations. In February 2002, President Bush announced his alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, by bringing forth a plan to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gasses by 18 percent over 10 years. The intensity of greenhouse gasses specifically is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions and economic output, meaning that under this plan, emissions would still continue to grow, but at a slower pace. Bush stated that this plan would prevent the release of 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which is about the equivalent of 70 million cars from the road. This target would achieve this goal by providing tax credits to businesses that use renewable energy sources.The Bush administration has been accused of implementing an industry-formulated disinformation campaign designed to mislead the American public on global warming and to forestall limits on "climate polluters", according to a report in Rolling Stone magazine that reviewed hundreds of internal government documents and former government officials. The book Hell and High Water asserts that there has been a disingenuous, concerted and effective campaign to convince Americans that the science is not proven, or that global warming is the result of natural cycles, and that there needs to be more research. The book claims that, to delay action, industry and government spokesmen suggest falsely that "technology breakthroughs" will eventually save us with hydrogen cars and other fixes. It calls on voters to demand immediate government action to curb emissions. Papers presented at an International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, held in 2009 under the sponsorship of the University of Copenhagen in cooperation with nine other universities in the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), maintained that the climate change skepticism that is so prevalent in the USA "was largely generated and kept alive by a small number of conservative think tanks, often with direct funding from industries having special interests in delaying or avoiding the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions".According to testimony taken by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Bush White House pressured American scientists to suppress discussion of global warming "High-quality science" was "struggling to get out", as the Bush administration pressured scientists to tailor their writings on global warming to fit the Bush administration's skepticism, in some cases at the behest of an ex-oil industry lobbyist. "Nearly half of all respondents perceived or personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words 'climate change,' 'global warming' or other similar terms from a variety of communications." Similarly, according to the testimony of senior officers of the Government Accountability Project, the White House attempted to bury the report "National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change", produced by U.S. scientists pursuant to U.S. law, Some U.S. scientists resigned their jobs rather than give in to White House pressure to underreport global warming. and removed key portions of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report given to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about the dangers to human health of global warming.The Bush Administration worked to undermine state efforts to mitigate global warming. Mary Peters, the Transportation Secretary at that time, personally directed US efforts to urge governors and dozens of members of the House of Representatives to block California's first-in-the-nation limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks, according to e-mails obtained by Congress. Obama administration New Energy for America is a plan to invest in renewable energy, reduce reliance on foreign oil, address the global climate crisis, and make coal a less competitive energy source. It was announced during Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On November 17, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama proposed, in a talk recorded for YouTube, that the US should enter a cap and trade system to limit global warming. The American Clean Energy and Security Act, a cap and trade bill, was passed on June 26, 2009, in the House of Representatives, but was not passed by the Senate. President Obama established a new office in the White House, the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, and selected Carol Browner as Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. Browner is a former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was a principal of The Albright Group LLC, a firm that provides strategic advice to companies.On January 27, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Todd Stern as the department's Special Envoy for Climate Change. Clinton said, "we are sending an unequivocal message that the United States will be energetic, focused, strategic and serious about addressing global climate change and the corollary issue of clean energy." Stern, who had coordinated global warming policy in the late 1990s under the Bill Clinton administration, said that "The time for denial, delay and dispute is over.... We can only meet the climate challenge with a response that is genuinely global. We will need to engage in vigorous, dramatic diplomacy."In February 2009, Stern said that the US would take a lead role in the formulation of a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen in December 2009. He made no indication that the U.S. would ratify the Kyoto Protocol in the meantime. US Embassy dispatches subsequently released by whistleblowing site WikiLeaks showed how the US 'used spying, threats and promises of aid' to gain support for the Copenhagen Accord, under which its emissions pledge is the lowest by any leading nation.President Obama said in September 2009 that if the international community would not act swiftly to deal with climate change that "we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe... our prosperity, our health, and our safety are in jeopardy, and the time we have to reverse this tide is running out." In 2010, the president said, similarly, that it was time for the United States "to aggressively accelerate" its transition from oil to alternative sources of energy and vowed to push for quick action on climate change legislation, arguably seeking to harness the deepening anger over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The 2010 United States federal budget proposed to support clean energy development with a 10-year investment of US$15 billion per year, generated from the sale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions credits. Under the proposed cap-and-trade program, all GHG emissions credits would be auctioned off, generating an estimated $78.7 billion in additional revenue in FY 2012, steadily increasing to $83 billion by FY 2019.New rules for power plants were proposed March 2012.In US and China's Sunnylands Summit on June 8, 2013, President Obama and Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping worked in accordance for the first time, formulating a landmark agreement to reduce both production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). This agreement had the unofficial goal of decreasing roughly 90 gigatons of CO2 by 2050 and implementation was to be led by the institutions created under the Montreal Protocol, while progress was tracked using the reported emissions that were mandated under the Kyoto Protocol. The Obama administration viewed HFCs as a "serious climate mitigation concern."On March 31, 2015, the Obama administration formally submitted the US Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to the US submission, the United States committed to reducing emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, a reflection of the Obama administration's goal to convert the U.S. economy into one of low-carbon reliance.In 2015, Obama also announced the Clean Power Plan, which is the final version of regulations originally proposed by the EPA the previous year, and which pertains to carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.In the same year, President Obama announced his aim for a 40-45% reduction below 2012 levels in Methane emissions by 2025. In March 2016, the President would later solidify this goal in an agreement with Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, stating that the two federal governments will jointly work together to reduce methane emissions in North America. The nations released a joint statement outlining general methods and strategies to reach such goals within their respective jurisdictions. In adherence to this goal, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would take on the responsibility in regulating methane emissions, requiring information from big-time methane emitting industries. Emission information from these industries would be used in the promotion of research and development for methane reduction, formulating differentiated standards and cost-effective policies. The United States and Canada will jointly exchange any progress in research and development for optimal efficiency, while practicing transparency in regards to their respective progress with each other and the rest of North America, continuing to strengthen the bond with Mexico.On May 12, 2016, after three public hearings and a review of public comments, the administration released an Information Collection Request (ICR), requiring all methane emitting operations to provide reports of their levels of emissions for EPA analysis so that policies could begin to be formulated and high emitting sources could be identified. New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) were implemented, building off previous requirements to reduce VOC (a byproduct of methane) emissions. The new standards set emission limits for methane; reductions were to be made through transition to newer and cleaner production equipment, fixed monitoring of leaks at operation sites using innovative techniques, and the capturing of emissions from hydraulic fracturing. More specifically, well sites, regardless of size or operation, were to be checked for leaks at least twice a year, while compressor stations were required to monitor every quarter. Owners and operators can make these observances one of two ways, either through optical gas imaging, the use of a portable monitoring instrument, or the use of an approved innovated strategy. Once these checks are made, mandatory surveys must be submitted no later than a year after final results are gathered. Additionally, "green completion" requirements, regarding the process for seizing emissions from hydraulically fractured oil wells, were outlined for owners of oil wells.A September 2016 study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory analyses a set of definite and proposed climate change policies for the United States and finds that these are just insufficient to meet the US intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) under the 2015/2016 Paris Agreement. Additional greenhouse gas reduction measures will probably be required to meet this international commitment. These additional reduction measures will soon have to be decided on in order to start complying with the agreement's "below 2 degrees" goal, and countries may have to be more proactive than previously thoughtAn October 2016 report compares US government spending on climate security and military security and finds the latter to be 28 × greater. The report estimates that public sector spending of $55 billion is needed to tackle climate change. The 2017 national budget contains $21 billion for such expenditures, leaving a shortfall of $34 billion that could be recouped by scrapping underperforming weapons programs. The report nominates the F-35 fighter and close-to-shore combat ship projects as possible targets. Transportation President's 21st century clean transportation plan In June 2015, the Obama administration released the President's 21st Century Clean Transportation Plan with the goal of reducing carbon pollution by converting the nation's century old infrastructure into one based on clean energy. This plan intended to battle climate change by reducing emissions through a switch to more sustainable forms of transportation, resulting from a potential increase of innovation in both public transit and electric vehicle production in the United States. The President stated that the revitalization of the infrastructure would not only create jobs, but also allow for quicker deliveries of goods, and allow for a greater variety of transportation options that would facilitate travel for Americans. The President's multibillion-dollar proposal provided incentives to reduce reliance on international oil and fossil fuels.This plan fundamentally relied on an increase in investment into sustainable transportation, Previously, such investment into transportation was supported by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST), an act passed in December 2015 by the Obama administration. FAST was formulated to reduce traffic and increase the quality of air by reducing emissions, yet this act proved to be slow in gathering infrastructure investments. Thus, the President proposed a tax on oil, a gradual $10 per barrel, in order to subsidize this plan to improve infrastructure and further drive down the incentive to consume large quantities of oil, possibly furthering the urge to switch to more sustainable forms of transportation. Ultimately, this plan did not appeal to GOP leaders and as a result it was never enacted; the act was denied funding in the House of Representatives by U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar and his Republican coalition, enacting their fundamental "power of the purse." Climate action plan progress report In June 2015, under Obama's Climate Action Plan Progress Report, the EPA announced that they were going to propose new standards for both medium and heavy-duty engines and vehicles, building off standards that were already enacted. These proposals were projected to decrease emissions by 270 million metric tons and save vehicle owners around $50 billion in fuel costs.The Climate Action Plan progress report also addressed air craft, transit, and maritime emissions. The EPA released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, increasing transparency around the plans of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in tightening carbon pollution standards. Additionally, under the Next Generation Transportation System (NextGen), the Federal Aviation Administration has worked jointly with the aviation industry in formulating technology that supports a reduction in emissions and increase in fuel efficiency. With respect to maritime emissions, the Obama administration oversaw, in cooperation with the Maritime Administration, the increase of investments into more fuel-efficient ships, finalizing the creation of two ships that have been used in the Puerto-Rico to Jacksonville route. Similar investments were pumped into transit, which made it possible for buses and other forms of transit to switch to other forms of energy such as natural gas and electric. Model year 2012-2016 standards and model year 2017-2025 standards In April 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) formulated a national program that would finalize new standards for model year 2012 through 2016 passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium duty passenger vehicles. With these new standards, vehicles were required to meet an average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by model year 2016. This was the first time the EPA had taken measures to regulate vehicular GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. Additionally, the administration established Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.In August 2012, the administration expanded on these standards for model years 2017 through 2025 vehicles, issuing final rules and standards that were to result in a 163 gram emission per mile by model year 2025. Trump administration During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to roll back some of the Obama-era regulations enacted with the purpose of combating climate change. He questioned the existence of climate change and stated that efforts to curb fossil fuel emissions could harm the United States' global competitiveness. He pledged to roll back regulations placed on the oil and gas industry by the EPA under the Obama administration in order to boost the productivity of both industries.As president, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, a major international convention to address climate change. Appointment of energy industry-affiliated officials As president, Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a climate change denialist with a history of close ties to energy industry interests, to head the EPA. While serving as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt removed Oklahoma's environmental protection unit and sued the EPA a total of fourteen times, thirteen of which involved "industry players" as co-parties. He was confirmed to head the EPA on February 17, 2017 with a 52–46 vote and resigned on July 5, 2018 amid ethics violation controversies. Trump then nominated Andrew Wheeler, an attorney who worked as a coal lobbyist. who was confirmed as head of the EPA on February 28, 2019 by a 52–47 vote.Trump nominated Rex W. Tillerson, the former CEO and chairman of Exxon Mobil, the multinational oil and gas giant, as Secretary of State. His nomination was confirmed on February 1, 2017, by a 56–43 vote. He was fired on March 31, 2018, and replaced by Mike Pompeo. Pipeline expansion and attempts at major cuts to EPA After less than a week as president, on January 24, 2017, Trump issued an executive order that removed barriers from the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines, making it easier for the companies sponsoring them to continue with production. On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order aimed towards boosting the coal industry. The executive order rolls back on Obama-era climate regulations on the coal industry in order to grow the coal sector and create new American jobs. The White House has indicated that any climate change policies that they deem hinder the growth of American jobs will not be pursued. In addition, the executive order rolls back on six Obama-made orders aimed at reducing climate change and carbon dioxide emissions and calls for a review of the Clean Power Plan. Suppression and politicization of climate science In his first year in office, President Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to remove references to climate change from its website, suppressed government publication of scientific reports showing the threat of climate change and the effectiveness of renewable energy, and politicized decisions made at the EPA. In a similar vein, the Trump Administration prevented scientists from reporting to Congress regarding the threat of climate change and the urgent need to address it. However, buried inside a 500-page Environmental Impact Statement (EIP) published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Trump administration acknowledged that, without a course correction, the planet is on track for global average temperature warming by approximately four degrees Celsius by the end of the century, compared with preindustrial levels. Such warming would be catastrophic for organized human life, according to scientists. The EIP supports the U.S. government's decision to maintain without increase fuel-efficiency standards for cars and other vehicles.In his budget proposal for 2018, President Trump proposed cutting the EPA's budget by 31% (reducing its current $8.2 billion to $5.7 billion). Had it passed, it would have been the lowest EPA budget in 40 years adjusted for inflation, but Congress did not approve it. Trump tried again unsuccessfully in his budget proposal for 2019 to cut EPA funding by 26%. The EPA provides technical assistance to cities as they update their infrastructure to adapt to climate change, according to Joel Scheraga, the EPA senior advisor for climate change adaptation who has worked for the EPA for three decades. Scheraga said he was working with a reduced staff under the Trump administration. Environmental justice The shift in direction of environmental policy in the United States under the Trump administration has led to a change in the environmental justice sector. On March 9, 2017, Mustafa Ali, a leader of the environmental justice office at EPA, resigned over proposed cuts to the agency's environmental justice program. The preliminary budget proposals would cut the environmental justice office's budget by 1/4, causing a 20% reduction in its workforce. The program is one of a dozen vulnerable to losing all governmental funding. Biden administration Since taking office in 2021, the Biden administration paused construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline in addition to other actions on climate change, such as creating a National Climate Task Force and pausing oil and gas leases on public lands. Under Biden, the United States re-joined the Paris Agreement. His administration proposed spending on climate change in his infrastructure bill, including $174 billion for electric cars and $35 billion for research and development in climate-focused technology.In June 2021 the project, Keystone XL, considered by some as dangerous for climate, was cancelled, following strong objection from environmentalists, indigenous peoples, the Democratic Party, and the Joe Biden administration. Biden's goals in developing a federal climate change policy were hampered by the Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, where the court ruled against the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.On 21 September 2021, President Joe Biden stated at the UN General Assembly that he would work with Congress to double funds by 2024 to $11.4 billion per year. The plan aimed at helping the developing nations deal with climate change. Inflation Reduction Act The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the largest investment in climate change mitigation in US history. The Act sets out provisions to invest in increasing renewable energy and electrifying areas of the US economy.The legislation invests approximately $400 billion to climate-related projects, primarily in the form of tax credits for consumers and private businesses. The majority of these investments is intended to increase the amount of wind and solar energy in the United States grid by providing tax incentives to renewable energy producers, as well as companies that manufacture batteries and wind and solar power components. The bill, passing by a 51-50 vote in the Senate, explicitly defined carbon dioxide as an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act to make the Act's EPA enforcement provisions harder to challenge in court. According to several independent analyses, the law is projected to reduce 2030 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 2005 levels.In February 2023 the United States Department of Energy proposed a set of new energy efficiency standards that, if implemented, will save to users of different electric machines in the United States around $3.5 billion per year and will reduce by the year 2050 carbon emissions by the same amount as emitted by 29 million houses.In April 2023, as part of his continued efforts to tackle climate change, President Joe Biden's administration has made $450 million available for solar farms and other sustainable energy projects around the nation at the sites of active or former coal mines. State and local policy Across the country, regional organizations, states, and cities are achieving real emissions reductions and gaining valuable policy experience as they take action on climate change. These actions include increasing renewable energy generation, selling agricultural carbon sequestration credits, and encouraging efficient energy use. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program is a joint program of over twenty U.S. cabinet departments and federal agencies, all working together to investigate climate change. In June 2008, a report issued by the program stated that weather would become more extreme, due to climate change.As described in a 2007 brief by the PEW Center on Global Climate Change, "States and municipalities often function as "policy laboratories", developing initiatives that serve as models for federal action. This has been especially true with environmental regulation—most federal environmental laws have been based on state models. In addition, state actions can have a significant impact on emissions, because many individual states emit high levels of greenhouse gases. Texas, for example, emits more than France, while California's emissions exceed those of Brazil."City and state governments often act as liaisons to the business sector, working with stakeholders to meet standards and increase alignment with city and state goals. This section will provide an overview of major statewide climate change policies as well as regional initiatives. Arizona On September 8, 2006, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed an executive order calling on the state to create initiatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the 2000 level by the year 2020 and to 50 percent below the 2000 level by 2040. California California (the world's fifth largest economy) has long been seen as the state-level pioneer in environmental issues related to global warming and has shown some leadership in the last four years. On July 22, 2002, Governor Gray Davis approved AB 1493, a bill directing the California Air Resources Board to develop standards to achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles. Now the California Vehicle Global Warming law, it requires automakers to reduce emissions by 30% by 2016. Although it has been challenged in the courts by the automakers, support for the law is growing as other states have adopted similar legislation. On September 7, 2002, Governor Davis approved a bill requiring the California Climate Action Registry to adopt procedures and protocols for project reporting and carbon sequestration in forests. (SB 812. Approved by Governor Davis on September 7, 2002) California has convened an interagency task force, housed at the California Energy Commission, to develop these procedures and protocols. Staff are currently seeking input on a host of technical questions. In June 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order calling for the following reductions in state greenhouse gas emissions: to reduce GHG emissions to 2000 levels by 2010, to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, to reduce GHG emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Measures to meet these targets include tighter automotive emissions standards, and requirements for renewable energy as a proportion of electricity production. The Union of Concerned Scientists has calculated that by 2020, drivers would save $26 billion per year if California's automotive standards were implemented nationally.On August 30, 2006, Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature reached an agreement on AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. He signed the bill into law on September 27, 2006, saying, "We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late... The science is clear. The global warming debate is over." The Act caps California's greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2020, and institutes a mandatory emissions reporting system to monitor compliance, representing the first enforceable statewide program in the U.S. to cap all GHG emissions from major industries that includes penalties for non-compliance. It required the State Air Resources Board to establish a program for statewide greenhouse gas emissions reporting and to monitor and enforce compliance with this program, authorizes the state board to adopt market-based compliance mechanisms including cap-and-trade, and allows a one-year extension of the targets under extraordinary circumstances. Thus far, flexible mechanisms in the form of project based offsets have been suggested for five main project types. A carbon project would create offsets by showing that it has reduced carbon dioxide and equivalent gases. The project types include: manure management, forestry, building energy, SF6, and landfill gas capture. Additionally, on September 26 Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 107, which requires California's three major biggest utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric – to produce at least 20% of their electricity using renewable sources by 2010. This shortens the time span originally enacted by Gov. Davis in September 2002 to increase utility renewable energy sales 1% annually to 20% by 2017. Gov. Schwarzenegger also announced he would seek to work with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, and various other international efforts to address global warming, independently of the federal government. Connecticut The state of Connecticut passed a number of bills on global warming in the early to mid 1990s, including—in 1990—the first state global warming law to require specific actions for reducing CO2. Connecticut is one of the states that agreed, under the auspices of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP), to a voluntary short-term goal of reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 and by 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The NEG/ECP long-term goal is to reduce emissions to a level that eliminates any dangerous threats to the climate—a goal scientists suggest will require reductions 75 to 85 percent below current levels. These goals were announced in August 2001. The state has also acted to require additions in renewable electric generation by 2009. Maryland Maryland began a partnership with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) in 2015 to research impacts and solutions to climate change called the Maryland Climate Change Commission. New York In August 2009, Governor David Paterson created the New York State Climate Action Council (NYSCAC) and tasked them with creating a direct action plan. In 2010, the NYSCAC released a 428-page Interim Report which outlined a plan to reduce emissions and highlighted the impact climate change will have in the future. In 2010, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority also commissioned a report about statewide climate change impacts, later published in November 2011. After Hurricanes Sandy and Irene along with Tropical Storm Lee, the state updated vulnerability in regards to the condition of its critical infrastructure. According to the 2015 New York State Energy Plan, renewable sources, which include wind, hydropower, solar, geothermal, and sustainable biomass, have the potential to meet 40 percent of the state's energy needs by 2030. As of 2018, sustainable energy use comprises 11 percent of all energy usage. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority offers incentives in the form of grants and loans to its residents to adopt renewable energy technologies and create renewable energy businesses. Other state climate change mitigation laws have gone into effect. The net metering laws make it easier for both residents and businesses to use solar power by feeding unused energy back into electrical fields and receive credit from their power suppliers. Although one version was released in 1997, it was exclusively limited to residential systems using up to 10 kilowatts of power. However, on June 1, 2011, the laws were expanded to include farm and non-residential buildings. The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard set a statewide target for renewable energy and offered incentives to residents to use the new technologies.In June 2018, the state announced its first major update in over two decades to its Environmental Quality Review (EQR) regulations. The update involves streamlining the environmental review process and encouraging renewable energy. It also expanded the Type II actions, or "list of actions not subject to further review", including green infrastructure upgrades and retrofits. Furthermore, solar arrays are set to be installed in sites like brownfields, wastewater treatment facilities, and land zoned for industry. The regulations will take effect on January 1, 2019. New York State Energy Plan In 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo enforced the state's hallmark energy policy, Reforming the Energy Vision. This involves building a new network that will connect the central grid with clean, locally generated power. The method for this undertaking falls to the Energy Plan, a comprehensive plan to build a clean, resilient, affordable energy system for all New Yorkers. It will foster "economic prosperity and environmental stewardship" and cooperation between government and industry. Concrete goals thus far include a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas from 1990 levels, electricity sourced from 50 percent of renewable energy sources, and a 600 billion Btu increase in statewide energy efficiency. Regional initiatives Clean Energy Standards Clean Energy Standard (CES) policies are policies which favor lowering non-renewable energy emissions and increasing renewable energy use. They are helping to drive the transition to cleaner energy, by building upon existing energy portfolio standards, and could be applied broadly at the federal level and developed more acutely at the regional and state levels. CES policies have had success at the federal level, gaining bipartisan support during the Obama administration. Iowa was the first state to adopt CES policies, and now a majority of states have adopted CES policies. Similar to CES policies, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are standards set in place to ensure a greater integration of renewable energies in state and regional energy portfolios. Both CES and RPS are helping increase the use of clean and renewable energies in the United States. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative In 2003, New York State proposed and attained commitments from nine Northeast states to form a cap and trade carbon dioxide emissions program for power generators, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This program launched on January 1, 2009 with the aim to reduce the carbon "budget" of each state's electricity generation sector to 10 percent below their 2009 allowances by 2018. 11 Northeastern US states are involved in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, It is believed that the state-level program will apply pressure on the federal government to support Kyoto Protocol. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cap and trade system for CO2 emissions from power plants in the member states. Emission permit auctioning began in September 2008, and the first three-year compliance period began on January 1, 2009. Proceeds will be used to promote energy conservation and renewable energy. The system affects fossil fuel power plants with 25 MW or greater generating capacity ("compliance entities"). Since 2005, the participating states have collectively seen an over 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by RGGI-affected power plants. This has resulted in cleaner air, better health, and economic growth. Participating states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island Observer states and regions: Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, Ontario.Western Climate Initiative Since February 2007, seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces have joined to create the Western Climate Initiative, a regional greenhouse gas emissions trading system. The Initiative was created when the West Coast Global Warming Initiative (California, Oregon, and Washington) and the Southwest Climate Change Initiative (Arizona and New Mexico) joined efforts with Utah and Montana, along with British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.The nonprofit organization WCI, Inc., was established in 2011 and supports implementation of state and regional greenhouse gas trading programs. Powering the Plains Initiative The Powering the Plains Initiative (PPI) began in 2001 and aims to expand alternative energy technologies and improve climate-friendly agricultural practices. Its most significant accomplishment was a 50-year energy transition roadmap for the upper Midwest, released in June 2007. Participating states: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Canadian Province of Manitoba Litigation by states Several lawsuits have been filed over global warming. In 2007 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that the Clean Air Act gives the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, such as tailpipe emissions. A similar approach was taken by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer who filed a lawsuit California v. General Motors Corp. to force car manufacturers to reduce vehicles' emissions of carbon dioxide. A third case, Comer v. Murphy Oil, was filed by Gerald Maples, a trial attorney in Mississippi, in an effort to force fossil fuel and chemical companies to pay for damages caused by global warming.In June 2011, the United States Supreme Court overturned 8–0 a U.S. appeals court ruling against five big power utility companies, brought by U.S. states, New York City, and land trusts, attempting to force cuts in United States greenhouse gas emissions regarding global warming. The decision gives deference to reasonable interpretations of the United States Clean Air Act by the Environmental Protection Agency.Held v. Montana was the first constitutional law climate lawsuit to go to trial in the United States, on June 12, 2023. The case was filed in March 2020 by sixteen youth residents of Montana, then aged 2 through 18, who argued that the state's support of the fossil fuel industry had worsened the effects of climate change on the their lives, thus denying their right to a "clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations":Art. IX, § 1 as required by the Constitution of Montana. On August 14, 2023, the trial court judge ruled in the youth plaintiffs' favor, though the state indicated it would appeal the decision.In June 2023, Multnomah County, Oregon filed a lawsuit against seven defendants, including Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association, for materially contributing to the 2021 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which is thought to have killed hundreds of people. According to the Center for Climate Integrity, the Multnomah County lawsuit is the 36th action filed against fossil fuel interests for worsening the effects of climate change. Position of political parties and other political organizations In the 2016 presidential campaigns, the two major parties established different positions on the issue of global warming and climate change policy. The Democratic Party seeks to develop policies which curb negative effects from climate change. The Republican Party, whose leading members have frequently denied the existence of global warming, continues to meet its party goals of expanding the energy industries and curbing the efforts of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other parties, including the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Constitution Party possess various views of climate change and mostly maintain their parties' own long-standing positions to influence their party members. Democratic Party In its 2016 platform, the Democratic Party views climate change as "an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time." Democrats are dedicated to "curbing the effects of climate change, protecting America's natural resources, and ensuring the quality of our air, water, and land for current and future generations."With respect to climate change, the Democratic Party believes that "carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gasses should be priced to reflect their negative externalities, and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and help meet our climate goals." Democrats are also committed to "implementing, and extending smart pollution and efficiency standards, including the Clean Power Plan, fuel economy standards for automobiles and heavy-duty vehicles, building codes and appliance standards."Democrats emphasize the importance of environmental justice. The party calls attention to the environmental racism as the climate change has disproportionately impacted low-income and minority communities, tribal nations and Alaska Native villages. The party believes "clean air and clean water are basic rights of all Americans." Republican Party The Republican Party has varied views on climate change. The most recent 2016 Republican Platform denies the existence of climate change and dismisses scientists’ efforts of easing global warming. The GOP does champion some energy initiatives following: opening up public lands and the ocean for further oil exploration; fast tracking permits for oil and gas wells; and hydraulic fracturing. It also supports dropping "restrictions to allow responsible development of nuclear energy."In 2014, President Barack Obama proposed a series of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, known as the Clean Power Plan that would reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. The Republican Party has viewed these efforts as a "war on coal" and has significantly opposed them. Instead, it advocates building the Keystone XL pipeline, outlawing a carbon tax, and stopping all fracking regulations. Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, has said that "climate change is a hoax invented by and for Chinese." During his political campaign, he blamed China for doing little helping the environment on the earth, but he seemed to ignore many projects organized by China to slow global warming. While Trump's words might be counted as his campaign strategy to attract voters, it brought concerns from the left about environmental justice. From 2008 to 2017, the Republican Party went from "debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist," according to The New York Times. In 2011 "more than half of the Republicans in the House and three-quarters of Republican senators" said "that the threat of global warming, as a man-made and highly threatening phenomenon, is at best an exaggeration and at worst an utter 'hoax'", according to Judith Warner writing The New York Times Magazine. In 2014, more than 55% of congressional Republicans were climate change deniers, according to NBC News. According to PolitiFact in May 2014, "...relatively few Republican members of Congress...accept the prevailing scientific conclusion that global warming is both real and man-made...eight out of 278, or about 3 percent." A 2017 study by the Center for American Progress Action Fund of climate change denial in the United States Congress found 180 members who deny the science behind climate change; all were Republicans.However, many Republicans see ways to address the issue of climate change using conservative principles. In 2019, Luntz Global released polling indicating that a majority of Republican voters would support government action on emissions reduction, and worry the GOP's position on climate hurts its standing within young voting blocs. Also in 2019, several Republican legislators broke with the party to advocate taking action on climate change, with market-based solutions rather than traditional regulations. Additionally, groups of younger Republicans began advocacy efforts in favor of a climate policy response, such as Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions and Young Conservatives For Carbon Dividends (YCCD). republicEn.org is a conservative non-profit in support of a national, revenue-neutral carbon tax. By 2022, a group of Republican state treasurers had formed which actively opposed private sector climate initiatives. The group also raised objections to government appointments and regulations due to climate-related issues. Green Party The Green Party of the United States advocates for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and increased government regulation. In 2010 Platform on Climate Change, the Green Party leaders released their proposal to solve and integrate the problem and policy of climate change with six parts. First, Greens (the members of the Green Party) want a stronger international climate treaty to decrease greenhouse gases at least 40% by 2020 and 95% by 2050. Second, Greens advocate economic policies to create a safer atmosphere. The economic policies include setting carbon taxes on fossil fuels, removing subsidies for fossil fuels, nuclear power, biomass and waste incineration, and biofuels, and preventing corrupt actions from the rise of carbon prices. Third, countries with few contributions should pay for adaption to climate change. Fourth, Greens champion more efficient but low-cost public transportation system and less energy demand economy. Fifth, the government should train more workers to operate and develop the new, green energy economy. Last, Greens think necessary to transform commercial plants where have uncontrolled animal feeding operations and overuse of fossil fuel to health farms with organic practices. Libertarian Party In its 2016 platform, the Libertarian Party states that "competitive free markets and property rights stimulate the technological innovations and behavioral changes required to protect our environment and ecosystems." The Libertarians believe the government has no rights or responsibilities to regulate and control the environmental issues. The environment and natural resources belong to the individuals and private corporations. Constitution Party The Constitution Party, in the 2014 Platform, states that "it is our responsibility to be prudent, productive, and efficient stewards of God's natural resources." On the issue of global warming, it says that "globalists are using the global warming threat to gain more control via worldwide sustainable development." According to the party, eminent domain is unlawful because "under no circumstances may the federal government take private property, by means of rules and regulations which preclude or substantially reduce the productive use of the property, even with just compensation."In regards to energy, the party calls attention to "the continuing need of the United States for a sufficient supply of energy for national security and for the immediate adoption of a policy of free market solutions to achieve energy independence for the United States," and calls for the "repeal of federal environmental protections." The party also advocates the abolition of the Department of Energy. Nebraska Farmers Union In September 2019, the Nebraska Farmers Union called for "more government action on climate change." The organization wants better agricultural research that develops tools for increasing carbon sequestration in soils, and increased participation by government at state and national levels. Climate justice Climate justice is part of environmental justice, which EPA defines as: "The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."Poor and disempowered groups often do not have the resources to prepare for, cope with or recover from climate disasters such as droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, etc. This occurs not only within the United States but also between rich nations, who predominantly create the problem of climate change by dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and poor nations who have to deal more heavily with the consequences. State and regional policies States and local governments are often tasked with defense against climate change affecting areas and peoples under state and local jurisdiction. Mayors National Climate Action Agenda The Mayors National Climate Action Agenda was founded by Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, former Houston mayor Annise Parker, and former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter in 2014. The MNCAA aims to bring climate change policy into the hands of local government and to make federal climate change policies more accountable.As a part of MNCAA, 75 mayors from across the United States, known as the "Climate Mayors", wrote to President Trump on March 28, 2017, in opposition to proposed rollbacks of several major climate change departments and initiatives. They maintain that the federal government should continue to build up climate change policies, stating "we are also standing up for our constituents and all Americans harmed by climate change, including those most vulnerable among us: coastal residents confronting erosion and sea level rise; young and old alike suffering from worsening air pollution and at risk during heatwaves; mountain residents engulfed by wildfires; farmers struggling at harvest time due to drought; and communities across our nation challenged by extreme weather." Climate Mayors currently has over 400 cities involved in the network. Their current key initiative is the Electric Vehicle Request for Information (EV RFI). They have also produced responses to the announcement of the plan for the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and opposition to the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. United States Climate Alliance The United States Climate Alliance is a group of states committed to meeting the Paris Agreement emissions targets despite President Trump's announced withdrawal from the agreement. Currently, there are 22 states that are members of this network. This network is a bipartisan network of governors across the United States and is governed by three core principles: "States are continuing to lead on climate change", "State-level climate action is benefiting our economies and strengthening our communities", "States are showing the nation and the world that ambitious climate action is achievable." Their current initiatives include green banks, grid modernizations, solar soft costs, short-lived climate pollutants, natural and working lands, climate resilience, international cooperation, clean transportation, and improving data and tools. California The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (commonly known as AB 32) mandates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The Environmental Defense Fund and the Air Resources Board recruited staffers with environmental justice expertise as well as community leaders in order to appease environmental justice groups and ensure the safe passage of the bill.The environmental justice groups who worked on AB 32 strongly opposed cap and trade programs being made mandatory. A cap and trade plan was put in place, and a 2016 study by a group of California academics found that carbon offsets under the plan were not used to benefit people in California who lived near power plants, who are mostly less well off than people who live far from them. Regional Twenty-eight states have climate action plans and nine have statewide emission targets. The states of California and New Mexico have committed most recently to emission reductions targets, joining New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Washington and Oregon. Regional initiatives can be more efficient than programs at the state level, as they encompass a broader geographical area, eliminate duplication of work, and create more uniform regulatory environments. Over the past few years, a number of regional initiatives have begun developing systems to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, increase renewable energy generation, track renewable energy credits, and research and establish baselines for carbon sequestration. State initiatives Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative In December 2005, the governors of seven Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states agreed to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap and trade system covering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from regional power plants. Currently (at the time of this edit), Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont have signed, and Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich signed legislation in March 2006 that commits Maryland to join RGGI by 2007. To facilitate compliance with reduction targets, RGGI will provide flexibility mechanisms that include credits for emissions reductions achieved outside of the electricity sector. The successful implementation of the RGGI model will set the stage for other states to join or form their own regional cap and trade systems and may encourage the program to expand to other greenhouse gases and other sectors. RGGI states, along with Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, are also developing a GHG registry called the Eastern Climate Registry. On November 29, 2011, New Jersey withdrew from the initiative, effective January 1, 2012. Groups such as Acadia Center have since reported on lost revenue resulting from New Jersey's departure, and argued for renewed participation.After the election of Ralph Northam in the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election and Phil Murphy in the 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial election, New Jersey and Virginia began to make preliminary moves to join RGGI. The Western Governors' Association The Western Governors' Association (WGA) Clean and Diversified Energy Initiative, including 18 western states, has begun investigating strategies to increase efficiency and renewable energy sources in their electricity systems. Governors Richardson (NM), Schwarzenegger (CA), Freudenthal (WY) & Hoeven (ND) serve as lead Governors on this initiative. To meet its goals, the Initiative's advisory committee (CDEAC) appointed eight technical task forces to develop recommendations based on reviews of specific clean energy and efficiency options. The CDEAC made final recommendations to the Western Governors' Association on June 11, 2006. Additionally, the WGA and the California Energy Commission are creating the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information State (WREGIS). WREGIS is a voluntary system for renewable energy credits and tracks renewable energy credits (RECs) across 11 western states in order to facilitate trading to meet renewable energy portfolio standards. Other initiatives As of 2020, several states in the northeastern United States were discussing a regional cap and trade system for carbon emissions from motor vehicle fuel sources, called the Transportation Climate Initiative. In 2021, Massachusetts withdrew citing as one of the reasons that it was no longer necessary.The governors of Arizona and New Mexico signed an agreement to create the Southwest Climate Change Initiative in February 2006. The two states collaborated to assess greenhouse gas emissions and address the impacts of climate change in the Southwest and on September 8, 2006, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano issued an executive order to implement recommendations included in the Climate Change Advisory Group's Climate Action Plan. The West Coast states—Washington, Oregon, and California—are cooperating on a strategy to reduce GHG emissions, known as the Western Coast Governors' Global Warming Initiative. Finally, on February 26, 2007, these five Western states (Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and New Mexico) agreed to combine their efforts to develop regional targets for reducing greenhouse emissions, creating the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.In 2001 six New England states committed to the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG-ECP) Climate Change Action Plan 2001, including short and long-term GHG emission reduction goals. Powering the Plains, launched in 2002, is a regional effort involving participants from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Canadian Province of Manitoba. This initiative aims to develop strategies, policies, and demonstration projects for alternative energy sources and technology and climate-friendly agricultural development. Municipal initiatives ICLEI In 1993, at the invitation of ICLEI, municipal leaders met at the United Nations in New York and adopted a declaration that called for the establishment of a worldwide movement of local governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and enhance urban sustainability. The result was the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Campaign. Since its inception, the CCP Campaign has grown to involve more than 650 local governments worldwide that are integrating climate change mitigation into their decision-making processes. U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement On February 16, 2005, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched an initiative to advance the goals of the Kyoto Protocol through leadership and action by at least 141 American cities, and as of October, 2006, 319 mayors representing over 51.4 million Americans had accepted the challenge. Under the terms of the Mayors Climate Protection Center, cities must commit to three actions in striving to meet the Kyoto Protocol in their own communities. These actions include: Strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns; Urge their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol—7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which would establish a national emission trading system. See also List of climate change initiatives § North America Climate Change Action Plan 2001 is New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG-ECP) Climate Change Action Plan 2001 Carbon pricing Citizens' Climate Lobby Climate change in the United States Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord Plug-in electric vehicles in the United States Politics of the United States Politics of climate change in Oklahoma Public opinion on climate change Regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act Scientific consensus on climate change The Climate Registry The Republican War on Science – a 2005 book by Chris Mooney U.S. Climate Change Science Program United States Wind Energy Policy Western Climate Initiative == References ==

climate change in spain

Climate change has caused temperatures in the world to rise in the last few decades, and temperatures in Europe have risen twice as fast as the average change in the rest of the world. In Spain, which already has a hot and dry climate, extreme events such as heatwaves are becoming increasingly frequent. The country is also experiencing more episodes of drought and increased severity of these episodes. Water resources will be severely affected in various climate change scenarios.To mitigate the effects of climate change, Spain is promoting an energy transition to renewable energies, such as solar and wind energy. In 2021, to support this process, the government approved a law on climate change and energy transition.Spanish society as a whole is one of the most climate change conscious societies in the EU. Due to the effects of global warming, Spanish society is demanding stronger measures. Greenhouse gas emissions Four sectors generate 90% of emissions: transport, industry, agriculture and energy. Per capita CO2 emissions (not including land use change) were 5 tonnes in 2021. Spain accounts for 9% of the total CO2 emissions in the European Union. CO2 emissions are dominated by the combustion of fossil fuels for transport and electricity generation, and by the industrial production of materials such as cement. Fossil fuels A large part of Spain's energy demand comes from fossil fuels, which account for over 70% of the total. In 2021 oil was responsible for 60% of the emissions and natural gas 30% of emissions. Transportation Greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in the transportation sector, accounting for 27% of total GHG emissions. Of that, 90% of emissions come from road transport, with light-duty vehicles, such as passenger cars and motorbikes, contributing 66% and heavy trucks and buses accounting for the remaining 34%. Electricity generation Spain is considered an energy island, as its electricity import and export capacity is very limited, at 2.8 GW with France and 3.70 GW with Portugal.In 2022 coal-fired power plants emitted 15% of the CO2 from electricity generation, but these will be shut down by 2030. Almost all the rest is from gas-fired power plants.In the Balearic Islands electricity production is mainly natural gas and some solar energy, while the Canary Islands produce almost all their electricity with oil. Agriculture and waste Agriculture produces two potent greenhouse gasses: nitrous oxide and methane. Impacts on the natural environment Temperature and weather changes Between 1965 and 2015 the average temperature rose by 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). According to Aemet the frequency of heatwaves have doubled since 2010. Between 1980 and 2000 were 10 to 12 heatwaves per decade, whereas between 2010 and 2020 there were 24. The duration of these heatwaves will also be longer, with at least 41 days of extreme heat predicted in 2050 and, in the worst emissions scenario, 50 days. Compare this to heatwaves in 1971-2000 when the average number of days was 21 days annually.Based on the IPCC reports, different scenarios have been developed in order to study the future climate. The AEMET (Spanish meteorology agency) has studied how three of these would affect the Spanish climate through the year 2100: RCP 4.5, RCP 6, and RCP 8.5. The first scenario (RCP 4.5) envisages an increase in greenhouse gas emissions for several more decades, before stabilising and then decreasing before the end of the century. The RCP 8.5 scenario models the most extreme case, with no regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.In the best-case scenario (RCP 4.5), between 2081 and 2100 the annual maximum temperature would increase 2–4 °C (3.6–7.2 °F), with an uncertainty of 0.5–1.5 °C (0.90–2.70 °F). In RCP 6.0 that becomes an increase of 1-4 °C ± 0.5-1.5 °C (1.8–7.2 °F ± 0.90–2.70 °F) between 2046 and 2065, and of 3–5 °C (5.4–9.0 °F) between 2081 and 2100.In the worst-case scenario (RCP 8.5), the annual maximum temperature increases of 4–7 °C (7.2–12.6 °F) are expected for 2081–2100. In this scenario there is an uncertainty of 1.5–3 °C (2.7–5.4 °F).Changes are also predicted regarding precipitation. In scenario RCP 4.5, predicted changes for the years 2081-2100 range from +10% (in specific localised regions) to -20% with an uncertainty of up to 30%. Whereas in scenario RCP 8.5 the expected annual precipitation change varies from +10% to -30% with uncertainties of 10-30% between 2081 and 2100. Extreme weather events Heatwaves Of Spain's many heat waves, some that stand out are: 2017 for being the year with most heat waves, having had 5, totaling 25 days - 1991 and 2016 had 4 heat waves each. 2003 for having had the hottest summer ever recorded with an average national temperature of 24.94 °C (76.89 °F), and for having had the longest heatwave at the time. This 16 day heatwave caused thousands of deaths in Europe. 2015 for having the longest heat wave which lasted for 26 days, ten days more than the previous record holder. 2012 for having the most extensive heatwave. On August 10, it affected 40 out of 50 provinces.Climate change made the April 2023 heatwave at least 100 times more likely. The previous year (2022) heatwaves killed almost 4,000 people in Spain. Winter of 2022-2023 The winter of 2022-2023 was, in general, hot and humid. December 2022 was the hottest December in the historical record, with the winter being the fifth hottest of the 21st century. Meteorological drought In March 2022 AEMET analysed the previous 12 months and found that peninsular Spain has been in a meteorological drought since January 2022. These events are probably made more likely by climate change. Water resources The annual precipitation was 601.2 mm (23.7 in) between 1991 and 2020, and may decrease by 64.52 mm (2.5 in) in 2040–2059. The effect that climate change has on water resources can be worse in regions that already have low water resources levels and recurring droughts.According to existing climate change scenarios, Spain's water resources will be severely affected. However, these effects are difficult to accurately measure due to the natural variability of the water cycle and the impact of water usage on flow rates. As a result, enhancing the assessment of climate change impacts by hydrological simulation models is needed.River basin districts with a higher water exploitation index appear to experience more significant reductions in mean annual runoff. If the predicted climate change scenarios in Spain materialize, the traditional measures used to combat water scarcity must be applied more intensely and in ways consistent with regional effects on water resources. Policymakers in Spain face the challenge of understanding the impact of climate change and devising and executing policies that guarantee the best adaptation to the expected decrease in water resources in the most impacted regions, particularly those already facing water scarcity.Water resources in Spain are expected to experience temperature increases, more frequent and severe droughts and floods, and decreases in river flows, resulting in reduced water availability. These impacts may aggravate existing conflicts between Spanish regions and further elevate water as a potential powerful political tool. Sea level rise The Ebro Delta is a significant wetland area in the western Mediterranean, about 40% of the delta plain is less than 0.5 metres (20 in) above mean sea level, and parts of the southern margin are at mean sea level but protected by dikes. The delta may see a sea level rise of at least 3 mm (1⁄8 in) per year. The government is investing millions of euros into shifting sediments to alleviate the impacts of erosion, however this is not seen as a long-term solution.To offset negative impacts from waterlogging and saltwater intrusion, and to maintain land elevation, future management plans should consider the relative sea level rise. Plans will also need to regulate freshwater and sediment flows from the river. Doing this will entail the partial removal of sediments trapped behind the Ribarroja Dam and Mequinença Dam, as the stocks and inputs of sediments in the corresponding reservoirs are sufficient to elevate the delta plain by around 50 cm (20 in).Coastal measurements indicate that the global mean sea level has risen at a rate of 1.8 mm (1⁄16 in) per year from 1950 to 2000, with regional variability. Gauge records in the Bay of Biscay indicate that sea-level rise is accelerating, which is in line with rates observed from satellite imagery in the open ocean since 1993.Coastal habitats have been mapped via historical airborne photography since 1954 and via high-resolution imagery since 2004. The analysis of tide gauge records from Santander in northern Spain shows that relative mean sea level has been rising at a rate of 2.08 ± 0.33 mm (0.082 ± 0.013 in) per year from 1943 to 2004, consistent with trends from measurements elsewhere in the region. Using a LIDAR-based DTM, the study predicts an 11.1 ha (27 acres) sea-level rise in the Gipuzkoan coast within a 50-year period. However, only 2.95 hectares (7.3 acres) change was detected from historical and recent orthophotography, possibly due to sea-level rise. While 98 hectares (240 acres; 0.98 km2; 0.38 sq mi) were transformed by human impacts, suggesting that human impact poses a greater threat to Basque coastal and estuarine habitats than natural erosive processes and global climate change. Biodiversity A study conducted in northeast Spain concluded that the disappearances of white-clawed crayfish, Mediterranean barbel, chub, European eel, and southern water vole were clearly related to the hydrological changes of the studied stream. The study suggested that no other factors could explain their disappearance: there is no industrial or agrarian sewage in the Olzinelles valley that could cause water quality to deteriorate; the industrial pollution in the river Tordera has been reduced by the construction of sewage treatment plants and other administrative measures; these species had no market value in the study area, and fishing and capturing were occasional, making it unlikely that negative effects on their populations resulted from these activities. Additionally, the human pressure on these species has decreased over the years, as the valley's population dropped by 76% from 1924 to 2007.The disappearance of white-clawed crayfish in the Olzinelles stream may have been due to the loss of water flow or from the impact of red swamp crayfish. The red swamp crayfish became one of the most widespread invasive species in Spain after its introduction to streams in the Montnegre Mountains in 1989. Though as of 2011 surveys conducted in the Olzinelles stream had not found the crayfish, which was believed related to the absence of water. Impacts on people Economic impact Tourism Although the scientific community has made significant progress in predicting the magnitude and regional variation of climate change in upcoming decades, it is remains challenging to estimate the economic costs of climate change. The challenge mainly lies in the uncertainties of future climate change and economic projections, as well as the intricacies of connecting physical impacts and economic processes.As many of the tourist activities in Spain are weather-dependent, the industry may be strongly impacted by climate change. It has been projected that the Tourist Climate Index (TCI), which was 'excellent' and 'very good' during the summers (June–August) of 1961 through 1990, will become 'acceptable' around Spain, and 'good' and 'very good' in the north of the country for the years 2051–2080. Agriculture impact Climate change impacts are being observed globally, with certain regions that are already water scarce having higher levels of vulnerability. Spain is predicted to be highly vulnerable because of uneven availability of water resources, and due to existing demands. As a result of its geographic and socio-economic characteristics, Spain is regarded as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the European Union. Models forecast further increases in temperature and reductions in precipitation, which will likely have a profound impact on the region.Desertification, one of the most significant impacts of climate change in Spain, poses a significant threat to a substantial portion of the country. Over 30% of the area is already severely impacted by desertification, with human activity in arid regions exacerbating the situation. Causes of desertification include forest fires, loss of vegetation cover, erosion, and salinization processes. Climate change projections predict an exacerbation of these issues, particularly in regions with a dry and semi-arid Mediterranean climate.The agricultural sector is responsible for about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in Spain. Livestock, particularly pig manure management, accounts for over half the emissions, while crop systems account for the remainder. While agriculture has shown the ability to adapt to long term changes, the magnitude of the changes due to climate change is likely to exceed the adaptive capacity of many European farmers. Therefore, sustainable agriculture requires the synergy of adaptation and mitigation, with no clear separation between them. The Spanish agriculture sector has already implemented several measures aimed at reducing emissions, improving knowledge about them, and introducing energy efficiency criteria in modernizing irrigation systems.Climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture, ecosystems, and biodiversity, resulting in alterations to Spain's characteristics, accentuating the existing desertification issues, reducing water availability, increasing costs of adaptation measures, and potentially causing future problems such as pests, invasive species, and reduced crop yields. While agriculture is responsible for significant emissions, the efforts being made to address this also recognize its role as a carbon sink. Health impacts Between 1998 and 2012 over three thousand people died annually due to heatwaves. In the worst-case scenario that number could become 14,500 in 2035-2064 and over 30,000 between 2070 and 2099.Rising temperatures, ozone levels, and fine dust concentrations, particularly in urban areas, have been found to increase heat stress, leading to higher risk of death from various health conditions including ischaemic heart disease, stroke, metabolic disorders, and kidney disease. The health impacts of climate change may disproportionately affect groups such as people with chronic illnesses, the elderly, children, and people who are pregnant. Mitigation and adaptation Renewable energy The Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE) is a public entity that has, since its origin, been in charge of the promotion of renewable energies. The IDAE was in charge of carrying out the National Renewable Energy Action Plan 2011–2020, which achieved the 2020 renewable energy objectives, thereby complying with the EU directive to have 20% of energy consumption come from renewable sources. The organization is also charged with meeting the new target of 27% renewable energy by 2030, the commitment the EU made at the Paris climate change conference in 2016 in order to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). This support and promotion of renewable energies by Spain and the EU has reduced their costs, especially solar and wind power, turning them into competitive technologies as in some cases they are cheaper than fossil fuels. The contribution of renewable energies to the electricity generation mix approaches 40%, as Spain has about 3000 hours of sunlight per year, making it one of the sunniest countries in Europe and one with large solar resources. Solar energy generation had a record year in Spain in 2022, growing by 33% and becoming the fourth largest source of electricity. With a generation of 28,000 GWh, and an increase in installed capacity of 3.4 GW, solar energy has seen the greatest growth in production capacity.Another sector with strong growth is solar energy for self-consumption, which, with an installed capacity of 2,507 MW compared to 1,203 MW in 2021, saw growth of 108%. Spain has an installed self-consumption capacity totaling 5,249 MW. This boom has largely been possible due to a progressive elimination of barriers and local incentives. In Europe, Spain comes second in terms of wind energy generation and the fourth in terms of installed capacity with a capacity of 30.8 GW. The world's leading renewable energy producer, one of the five largest electricity companies in the world, is Spanish and the leading solar thermal companies are also Spanish. Spain has the largest installed capacity of solar thermal power in the world, with commercial operation in all four currently available technologies: tower, enclosed-parabolic trough, fresnel and dishes.Control Centre of Renewable Energies (CECRE) is the world's leading renewable energy control centre, which is responsible for ensuring the integration of large shares of renewables into the electricity sector and markets, which presents challenges due to intermittency. Another problem is that Spain is an energy island, as its small electricity interconnection with France does not allow the exchange of energy with the rest of the European continent. The CECRE is the first national control centre in the world dedicated exclusively to monitoring and controlling renewable energy production, maximising its integration, and guaranteeing the security of the electricity system.There is also the special case of El Hierro, which uses 100% renewable energy. It is a self-sufficient and sustainable island with a hybrid system of wind and hydro energy that covers the entire energy demand of the island. El Hierro stores the surplus wind energy by means of hydroelectric power. Transportation The transportation sector has the highest energy consumption in Spain, accounting for 40.4% of the total demand. Of that demand road transport accounts for 81.3%, the vast majority of which uses imported oil. This energy dependence cost approximately €40 billion in 2014, equivalent to 3.8% of Spain's GDP, with consequent problems for the economy, environment, and energy security.In order to solve this problem, policies have been established at the national level, with a special focus on trucks, private cars, and buses, which account for the largest share of road transport consumption. Spain approved the Strategy for Boosting Alternative Energy in 2015 and the National Action Framework for the development of the market and the infrastructures for alternative fuels in the transport sector in 2016. These measures are structured according to 3 priorities: infrastructure, market and industrialisation.Spain has several factories that produce alternative fuels for vehicles, as well as companies that produce the infrastructure equipment for recharging. Electric vehicles on Spanish roads account for less than 1% of all vehicles, although the number of electric vehicles has been increasing. For the promotion of these electric vehicles, and more sustainable transport in general, the Spanish government has launched the MOVES III Plan. The plan, provides direct aid to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, has a €400 million budget, with the option to increase it to €800 million depending on demand.The beneficiaries of the MOVES III Plan can be individuals or companies, as long as they purchase an electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid, or an electric vehicle with a long range. The price of the vehicle must be less than €45,000, and the maximum aid is €7,000. Spain is the European leader in sustainable rail transportation, as its 3,100 km (1,900 mi) of high speed train tracks are the most extensive high speed network in Europe. Reaching speeds of 310 km/h (190 mph), it possible to connect the North and South of the country in 5 hours. Also 90% of the vehicles using compressed natural gas are public buses, and use in taxis is increasing in some metropolitan areas. Policies and legislation On September 11, 2019, Spain declared a climate emergency.In 2021, the Spanish parliament approved a law on climate change and energy transition that calls for a 23% reduction of emissions by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and carbon neutrality by 2050. By or before 2030 all coal-fired power plants will have been shut down and coal-phase out is supported by EU funds for a just transition. By 2040 Spain plans to limit car sales to electric vehicles.On 20 May 2021, The Climate Change and Energy Transition Law went into force; the law requires reaching climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Article 3 establishes the long-term objective of decarbonising the economy by 2050 with a 100% renewable electricity system. In addition, the law establishes a series of shorter term objectives, including: reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 23% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels; achieving 42% renewable energy in energy consumption and 74% renewable energy in electricity generation; as well as reducing energy consumption by 39.5% by improving energy efficiency.The law also prohibits authorisations for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, instead establishing direct subsidies for biogas, biomethane, hydrogen and other renewable fuels. By 2040 new commercial vehicles must all be zero emission and by 2023 all municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, and all islands, must implement their own climate change mitigation measures.Law 7/2021 on climate change and energy transition establishes 7 main objectives: Carbon neutrality by 2050 Reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 Reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 23% compared to 1990 levels Reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels Improve energy efficiency at least 39.5% Renewable energies should account for at least 74% of electricity generation by 2030 Renewable energies should account for at least 42% of energy consumption by 2030 Paris Agreement Spain signed the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016 and ratified it on 12 June 2017. Prior to this agreement, Spain had signed the Kyoto Protocol on 29 April 1998, which was ratified on 31 May 2002. The last annual conference on climate change took place in Madrid in December 2019.On 23 March 2023, Teresa Ribera, Vice President of the Spanish Government, and Fatih Birol, International Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, announced Madrid will host an international climate and energy summit on 2 October 2023. The goal of the summit is to build a coalition to maintain the commitment reached in the Paris agreement—limiting the global temperature increase to below 1.5 °C (2.7 °F).According to the IEA, global CO2 emissions need to peak before 2025, and drop to net zero by 2050, to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). The summit is confirmation of the Paris agreement and will be useful to provide global decision-makers with the opportunity to send a signal of strength for our common future.In the words of Fatih Birol, the meeting in Madrid will be "the moment to come together in a grand coalition of all stakeholders – encompassing governments, the energy industry, investors and civil society – that are genuinely committed to reducing emissions while safeguarding energy security. We need to send a strong message ahead of COP28 that the 1.5 °C goal is still alive." Society and culture Public awareness As the effects of climate change are being felt more in Spain than in central and northern European countries, Spanish society is more concerned about climate change than countries traditionally considered environmentalist such as Germany or Sweden.In Spain 82% of people think that climate change is the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century. Furthermore, 81% of Spanish people believe that climate change has an impact on their lives, versus 77% of Europeans in general. A majority of Spanish people also believe that their country should rely more on renewable energies.Spanish people also think that the governmental measures are too flexible and that they allow individuals and companies to avoid changing their behaviour. Therefore 58% of Spanish people think that Spain will not succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as set out in the Paris agreement.Among the most popular Spanish solutions against climate change are: educating and improving children's concern for sustainable consumption; the creation of a specific tax for those products and services that contribute the most to climate change; and eliminating short-haul flights, instead promoting high-speed trains. Activism Climate movements in Spain are growing especially among the youth. A slogan used by a wide range of civil society groups including climate activists, workers' unions and fair housing movements is that "without sustainability there is no social justice."Spanish environmental activists have spoken out against plans to expand airports in Madrid and Barcelona; the organisers of these protests have united around a platform called Zeroport.The Fridays for Future movement has also become very popular in Spain. The first demonstration took place at the University of Girona and quickly spread to the rest of the country.In 2019, half a million people took to the streets because of climate change. See also Plug-in electric vehicles in Spain == References ==

g8 climate change roundtable

The G8 Climate Change Roundtable was formed in January 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Its purpose was to address the global climate change issue facing governments, business and civil society. The first meeting was held in Gleneagles, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005, to coincide with the 31st G8 summit. The roundtable was established by twenty-three leading international businesses with the assistance of G8 President and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, to co-operatively engage in a global plan of action. The aim of the group was to ensure that a long-term policy framework was set up to enable consistent and transparent market-based solutions in mitigating climate change, while also addressing issues linked to climate change; such as economic growth, poverty, and adequate energy supplies. Carbon trading is one of the most popular pricing mechanisms used to the reduce greenhouse emissions worldwide. The group devised a Framework for Action which called for technology incentive programs, the establishment of common metrics, for example in energy efficiency, and the expansion of emissions trading schemes. Some of the companies participating include Ford, British Airways, HSBC, Électricité de France and BP. Now, the Climate Change Roundtable has a membership of 150 businesses spread across the globe.Environmentalists raised concerns that the body's statement does not call for targets or include timetables. Friends of the Earth noted that the roundtable represented a major shift by the business community towards efforts to mitigate climate change. Key principles The G8 Climate Change Roundtable stated 5 key points to be addressed: Companies must recognize their responsibility in addressing climate change. The issue of climate change requires further international attention and support. Market forces must be considered in the crafting of a solution, consumer support is needed to solve the problem. Specific policies for the mitigation of climate change. Specific policies which should be adopted by G8 members. For business The G8 Climate Change Roundtable developed 5 key principles for businesses to consider when crafting a climate change mitigation strategy. These principles are: Strategies should be based on scientific and economic facts. Businesses should adopt market based policy frameworks which are transparent and offer consistent price signals in the long-term. Solutions should be adopted globally in order to achieve long-term success. Climate change solutions must not be viewed in isolation from other global challenges, such as ensuring access to energy, expanding availability of clean water, alleviating poverty, and achieving economic growth in emerging markets. Businesses should seek a system wide solution, identifying opportunities for CO2 mitigation throughout the supply chain. For governments The G8 Climate Change Roundtable developed 3 key principles for governments to consider when addressing climate change. Governments should: Focus their resources on measuring the effects of climate change on human, economic and environmental health. Increase their understanding of current and future changes taking place within the global environment. (e.g. sea level rise, sea/ice cover). Quickly and effectively adopt climate stabilization policies with the goal of mitigating future environmental harm. Policy framework The G8 Climate Change Roundtable aimed to create a long-term policy framework which was both transparent and consistent. Through market based solutions such as carbon trading, the Roundtable established a policy framework which now encompasses 150 businesses across the globe. By creating long term value, these members established a market based framework extending to 2030 and indicative signals extending to 2050. This policy framework they hoped would take on a global scale, with consistent policies throughout the various states. The framework was meant to not only mitigate climate change but also promote sustainable development by addressing issues of poverty, energy and economic growth in emerging markets. The Roundtable recommended encouraging technological innovation through performance based incentives. By quickly commercializing low carbon technologies they aimed to mitigate climate change quickly. They noted that by ensuring that climate change mitigation goals aligned with societal goals, governments would be able to optimize greenhouse gas reductions. By ensuring that emerging markets, such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, invest in low carbon economic growth, new technologies can be applied globally while streamlining emerging markets. New investments should align with societal goals, creating partnerships between G8 nations as well as emerging nations. Through such a partnership, members can effectively collaborate on specific projects within countries or rapid dissemination of specific technologies. Members of the new policy framework should establish common metrics. By streamlining greenhouse emissions reporting processes and systems, countries can achieve this goal. Business and G8 governments should use supply chain drivers and the power of procurement to integrate climate change solutions into their global supply chain requirements. By committing to the use of the Roundtable's policy framework throughout the supply chain, optimal greenhouse gas mitigation can be achieved. Participating companies ABB, Fred Kindle, CEO Alcan, Travis Engen, President and CEO BP, John Browne, Group Chief Executive British Airways, Martin Broughton, Chairman BT, Ben Verwaayen, CEO Cinergy, James E. Rogers, chairman, President & CEO Cisco Systems, Robert Lloyd, President, Operations, Europe, Middle East, Africa Deloitte, John Connolly, CEO, UK and Global Managing Director, Deloitte, Touche Tohmatsu Deutsche Bank, Tessen von Heydebreck, Member of the Board of Managing Directors E.ON, Burckhard Bergmann, Member Executive Board of E.ON, CEO of E.ON Ruhrgas EADS, François Auque, Head of Space Division Électricité de France, Pierre Gadonneix, chairman and CEO Eskom, Reuel J. Khoza, Non-Executive Chairman Ford, William Clay Ford, chairman and CEO HP, Mark Hurd, President and CEO HSBC, Sir John Bond, Group Chairman Petrobras, Jose Eduardo de Barros Dutra, President and CEO RAO UESR, Anatoly B. Chubais, CEO Rio Tinto, Paul Skinner, Chairman Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld, President and CEO Swiss Re, Jacques Aigrain, Deputy CEO Toyota, Katsuhiro Nakagawa, Vice Chairman Vattenfall, Lars G. Josefsson, President and CEO Volkswagen, Bernd Pischetsrieder, chairman of the Board of Management See also Conservation ethic Environmental protection Natural capital Natural resource References External links Statement expressing strong support for action to mitigate climate change

global warming controversy

The global warming controversy (or climate change debates) concerns past or present public debates over certain aspects of climate change: whether it is occurring (climate change deniers dispute this), how much has occurred in modern times, what has caused it (attribution of climate change), what its effects will be, whether action should be taken to curb it now or later, and so forth. In the scientific literature, there is a very strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.The controversy is, by now, mostly political rather than scientific: there is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity. Public debates that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases (climate sensitivity). Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States and Australia than globally.Climate change remains an issue of widespread political debate, often split along party political lines, especially in the United States. Scientific consensus Debates around the processes of scientific consensus Authority of the IPCC Deniers have generally attacked either the IPCC's processes, scientist or the synthesis and executive summaries; the full reports attract less attention. Some of the criticism has originated from experts invited by the IPCC to submit reports or serve on its panels. For example, John Christy, a contributing author who works at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, explained in 2007 the difficulties of establishing scientific consensus on the precise extent of human action on climate change: Contributing authors essentially are asked to contribute a little text at the beginning and to review the first two drafts. We have no control over editing decisions. Even less influence is granted the 2,000 or so reviewers. Thus, to say that 800 contributing authors or 2,000 reviewers reached consensus on anything describes a situation that is not reality. Christopher Landsea, a hurricane researcher, said of "the part of the IPCC to which my expertise is relevant" that "I personally cannot in good faith continue to contribute to a process that I view as both being motivated by pre-conceived agendas and being scientifically unsound," because of comments made at a press conference by Kevin Trenberth of which Landsea disapproved. Trenberth said "Landsea's comments were not correct"; the IPCC replied "individual scientists can do what they wish in their own rights, as long as they are not saying anything on behalf of the IPCC".In 2005, the House of Lords Economics Committee wrote, "We have some concerns about the objectivity of the IPCC process, with some of its emissions scenarios and summary documentation apparently influenced by political considerations." It doubted the high emission scenarios and said that the IPCC had "played-down" what the committee called "some positive aspects of global warming". The main statements of the House of Lords Economics Committee were rejected in the response made by the United Kingdom government.On 10 December 2008, a report was released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Minority members, under the leadership of the Senate's most vocal global warming denier Jim Inhofe. It says it summarizes scientific dissent from the IPCC. Many of its statements about the numbers of individuals listed in the report, whether they are actually scientists, and whether they support the positions attributed to them, have been disputed. Emphasizing studies that are regarded as flawed Dennis T. Avery, a food policy analyst at the Hudson Institute, wrote an article titled "500 Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming Scares" published in 2007, by the Heartland Institute. The list was immediately called into question for misunderstanding and distorting the conclusions of many of the named studies and citing outdated, flawed studies that had long been abandoned. Many of the scientists included in the list demanded their names be removed. At least 45 scientists had no idea they were included as "co-authors" and disagreed with the conclusions of the document. The Heartland Institute refused these requests, stating that the scientists "have no right—legally or ethically—to demand that their names be removed from a bibliography composed by researchers with whom they disagree". Debates around details in the science Discussions around locations of temperature measurement stations There have been attempts to raise public controversy over the accuracy of the instrumental temperature record on the basis of the urban heat island effect, the quality of the surface station network, and assertions that there have been unwarranted adjustments to the temperature record.Weather stations that are used to compute global temperature records are not evenly distributed over the planet, and their distribution has changed over time. There were a small number of weather stations in the 1850s, and the number did not reach the current 3000+ until the 1951 to 1990 periodThe 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR) acknowledged that the urban heat island is an important local effect, but cited analyses of historical data indicating that the effect of the urban heat island on the global temperature trend is no more than 0.05 °C (0.09 °F) degrees through 1990. Peterson (2003) found no difference between the warming observed in urban and rural areas.Parker (2006) found that there was no difference in warming between calm and windy nights. Since the urban heat island effect is strongest for calm nights and is weak or absent on windy nights, this was taken as evidence that global temperature trends are not significantly contaminated by urban effects. Pielke and Matsui published a paper disagreeing with Parker's conclusions.In 2005, Roger A. Pielke and Stephen McIntyre criticized the US instrumental temperature record and adjustments to it, and Pielke and others criticized the poor quality siting of a number of weather stations in the United States. A study in 2010 examined the siting of temperature stations and found that those measurement stations that were poorly showed a slight cool bias rather than the warm bias which deniers had postulated.The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature group carried out an independent assessment of land temperature records, which examined issues raised by deniers, such as the urban heat island effect, poor station quality, and the risk of data selection bias. The preliminary results, made public in October 2011, found that these factors had not biased the results obtained by NOAA, the Hadley Centre together with the Climatic Research Unit (HadCRUT) and NASA's GISS in earlier studies. The group also confirmed that over the past 50 years the land surface warmed by 0.911 °C, and their results closely matched those obtained from these earlier studies. Apparent discrepancy for tropospheric temperature increases in the tropics General circulation models and basic physical considerations predict that in the tropics the temperature of the troposphere should increase more rapidly than the temperature of the surface. A 2006 report to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program noted that models and observations agreed on this amplification for monthly and interannual time scales but not for decadal time scales in most observed data sets. Improved measurement and analysis techniques have reconciled this discrepancy: corrected buoy and satellite surface temperatures are slightly cooler and corrected satellite and radiosonde measurements of the tropical troposphere are slightly warmer. Satellite temperature measurements show that tropospheric temperatures are increasing with "rates similar to those of the surface temperature", leading the IPCC to conclude in 2007 that this discrepancy is reconciled. "Antarctica cooling controversy" Global dimming Forecasts confidence The IPCC stated in 2010 it has increased confidence in forecasts coming from General Circulation Models: There is considerable confidence that climate models provide credible quantitative estimates of future climate change, particularly at continental scales and above. This confidence comes from the foundation of the models in accepted physical principles and from their ability to reproduce observed features of current climate and past climate changes. Confidence in model estimates is higher for some climate variables (e.g., temperature) than for others (e.g., precipitation). Over several decades of development, models have consistently provided a robust and unambiguous picture of significant climate warming in response to increasing greenhouse gases. A few scientists believe this confidence in the models' ability to predict future climate is not earned. Funding for scientists who are skeptics or deniers Debates over most effective response to warming Climate change deniers insist on debating whether action (such as the restrictions on the use of fossil fuels to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions) should be taken now or in the near future. Because of the economic ramifications of such restrictions, there are those, including the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, who argue that the negative economic effects of emission controls outweigh the environmental benefits. They state that even if global warming is caused solely by the burning of fossil fuels, restricting their use would have more damaging effects on the world economy than the increases in global temperature. Conversely, the general consensus is that early action to reduce emissions would help avoid much greater economic costs later, and would reduce the risk of catastrophic, irreversible change. Society and culture Media coverage and public opinion The theory that increases in greenhouse gases would lead to an increase in temperature was first proposed by the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius in 1896, but climate change did not arise as a political issue until the 1990s. It took many years for this particular issue to attract any type of popular attention.In the United States, the mass media devoted little coverage to global warming until the drought of 1988, and James E. Hansen's testimony to the Senate, which explicitly attributed "the abnormally hot weather plaguing our nation" to global warming. Global warming in the U.S. gained more attention after the release of the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, featuring Al Gore.The British press also changed its coverage at the end of 1988, following a speech by Margaret Thatcher to the Royal Society advocating action against human-induced climate change. According to Anabela Carvalho, an academic analyst, Thatcher's "appropriation" of the risks of climate change to promote nuclear power, in the context of the dismantling of the coal industry following the 1984–1985 miners' strike was one reason for the change in public discourse. At the same time environmental organizations and the political opposition were demanding "solutions that contrasted with the government's". In May 2013 Charles, Prince of Wales took a strong stance criticising both climate change deniers and corporate lobbyists by likening the Earth to a dying patient. "A scientific hypothesis is tested to absolute destruction, but medicine can't wait. If a doctor sees a child with a fever, he can't wait for [endless] tests. He has to act on what is there."In 2007, the BBC announced the cancellation of a planned television special Planet Relief, which would have highlighted the global warming issue and included a mass electrical switch-off. The editor of BBC's Newsnight current affairs show said: "It is absolutely not the BBC's job to save the planet. I think there are a lot of people who think that, but it must be stopped." Author Mark Lynas said "The only reason why this became an issue is that there is a small but vociferous group of extreme right-wing climate 'sceptics' lobbying against taking action, so the BBC is behaving like a coward and refusing to take a more consistent stance."There are differences between the opinion of scientists and that of the general public. A 2009 poll, in the US by Pew Research Center found "[w]hile 84% of scientists say the earth is getting warmer because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels, just 49% of the public agrees". A 2010 poll in the UK for the BBC showed "Climate scepticism on the rise". Robert Watson found this "very disappointing" and said "We need the public to understand that climate change is serious so they will change their habits and help us move towards a low carbon economy." See also Attitude polarization Climate change conspiracy theory History of climate change policy and politics Manufactured controversy Science wars Skeptical Science Right-wing antiscience Politicization of science == References ==

nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is the sustainable management and use of natural features and processes to tackle socio-environmental issues.These issues include climate change (mitigation and adaptation), water security, water pollution, food security, human health, biodiversity loss, and disaster risk management. The European Commission's definition of NBS states that these solutions are "inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes, and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions". In 2020, the EC definition was updated to further emphasise that "Nature-based solutions must benefit biodiversity and support the delivery of a range of ecosystem services." Through the use of NBS healthy, resilient, and diverse ecosystems (whether natural, managed, or newly created) can provide solutions for the benefit of both societies and overall biodiversity.For instance, the restoration and/or protection of mangroves along coastlines utilizes a Nature-based solution to accomplish several goals. Mangroves moderate the impact of waves and wind on coastal settlements or cities and sequester CO2. They also provide nursery zones for marine life that can be the basis for sustaining fisheries on which local populations may depend. Additionally, mangrove forests can help to control coastal erosion resulting from sea level rise. Similarly, green roofs or walls are Nature-based solutions that can be implemented in cities to moderate the impact of high temperatures, capture storm water, abate pollution, and act as carbon sinks, while simultaneously enhancing biodiversity. Conservation approaches and environmental management initiatives have been carried out for decades. More recently, progress has been made in better articulating the benefits Nature-based solutions can provide for human well-being. Even if the framing of the term itself continues to evolve, examples of Nature-based solutions can already be found all over the world. Recent studies have proposed ways of planning and implementing Nature-based solutions in urban areas, while NBS are increasingly being incorporated into mainstream national and international policies and programmes (e.g. climate change policy, law, infrastructure investment, and financing mechanisms), with increasing attention being given to NBS by the European Commission since 2013, as an integral part of the EU's Research & Innovation policy. The UN has also tried to promote a shift in perspective towards NBS: the theme for World Water Day 2018 was "Nature for Water", while UN-Water's accompanying UN World Water Development Report was titled "Nature-based Solutions for Water". The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, meanwhile, highlighted Nature-based solutions as an effective method to combat climate change and a "Nature Based Solution Coalition" was created, including dozens of countries, led by China and New Zealand. Background Societies increasingly face challenges such as climate change, urbanization, jeopardized food security and water resource provision, and disaster risk. One approach to answer these challenges is to singularly rely on technological strategies. An alternative approach is to holistically manage (socio-)ecological systems in order to sustain and potentially increase the delivery of ecosystem services to human populations. In this context, nature-based solutions (NBS) have recently been put forward by practitioners and quickly thereafter by policymakers. These solutions stress the sustainable use of nature in solving coupled environmental-social-economic challenges. While ecosystem services are often valued in terms of immediate benefits to human well-being and economy, NBS focus on the benefits to people and the environment itself, to allow for sustainable solutions that are able to respond to environmental change and hazards in the long-term. NBS go beyond traditional biodiversity conservation and management principles by "re-focusing" the debate on humans and specifically integrating societal factors such as human well-being and poverty reduction, socio-economic development, and governance principles. With respect to water issues, NBS can, according to the World Water Development Report 2018 by UN-Water, achieve the following: Use natural processes to enhance water availability (e.g., soil moisture retention, groundwater recharge), Improve water quality (e.g., natural wetlands and constructed wetlands to treat wastewater; riparian buffer strips), and Reduce risks associated with water‐related disasters and climate change (e.g., floodplain restoration, green roofs). Related concepts In 2015, the European network BiodivERsA highlighted how NBS relate to concepts like ecosystem approaches and ecological engineering. NBS are strongly connected to ideas such as natural systems agriculture, natural solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, adaptation services, natural infrastructure, green infrastructure, and ecological engineering. For instance, ecosystem-based approaches are increasingly promoted for climate change adaptation and mitigation by organisations like the United Nations Environment Programme and non-governmental organisations such as The Nature Conservancy. These organisations refer to "policies and measures that take into account the role of ecosystem services in reducing the vulnerability of society to climate change, in a multi-sectoral and multi-scale approach".Likewise, natural infrastructure is defined as a "strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, such as forests and wetlands, working landscapes, and other open spaces that conserves or enhances ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations"; and green infrastructure refers to an "interconnected network of green spaces that conserves natural systems and provides assorted benefits to human populations".Similarly, the concept of ecological engineering generally refers to "protecting, restoring (i.e. ecosystem restoration) or modifying ecological systems to increase the quantity, quality, and sustainability of particular services they provide, or to build new ecological systems that provide services that would otherwise be provided through more conventional engineering, based on non-renewable resources". Definitions The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines NBS as actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits, with common societal challenges cited as being climate change, food security, disaster risks, water security, social and economic development as well as human health. Other European groups see NBS as a restoration and infrastructure based approach to providing social, economic and political benefits. Another perspective of NBS is that of solutions that use ecological and environmental services to address contemporary environmental, social and economic challenges.The Nature-based Solutions Initiative, meanwhile, defines NBS as "actions that work with and enhance nature so as to help people adapt to change and disasters". Categories The IUCN proposes to consider NBS as an umbrella concept. Categories and examples of NBS approaches according to the IUCN include: History Many indigenous peoples have recognised the natural environment as playing an important role in human well-being as part of their traditional knowledge systems, but this idea didn't enter into modern scientific literature until the 1970's with the concept of ecosystem services.: 2  The term "Nature-Based Solutions" was put forward by practitioners in the late 2000s, used by international organisations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Bank in the context of finding new solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change effects by working with natural ecosystems rather than relying purely on engineering interventions.: 3 The IUCN referred to NBS in a position paper for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The term was also adopted by European policymakers, in particular by the EC, in a report stressing that NBS can offer innovative means to create jobs and growth as part of a green economy. The term started to make appearances in the mainstream media around the time of the Global Climate Action Summit in California in September 2018. Types In 2014-2015, the European network BiodivERsA mobilized a range of scientists, research donors, and stakeholders, proposing a typology characterizing NBS along two gradients: "How much engineering of biodiversity and ecosystems is involved in NBS", and "How many ecosystem services and stakeholder groups are targeted by a given NBS".The typology highlights that NBS can involve very different actions on ecosystems (from protection, to management, or even the creation of new ecosystems) and is based on the assumption that the higher the number of services and stakeholder groups targeted, the lower the capacity to maximize the delivery of each service and simultaneously fulfil the specific needs of all stakeholder groups. As such, three types of NBS are distinguished (Figure 2): Type 1 – Minimal intervention in ecosystems Type 1 NBS consists of no or minimal intervention in ecosystems, with the objectives of maintaining or improving the delivery of a range of ES both inside and outside of these conserved ecosystems. Examples include the protection of mangroves in coastal areas to limit risks associated to extreme weather conditions and provide benefits and opportunities to local populations; and the establishment of marine protected areas to conserve biodiversity within these areas while exporting biomass into fishing grounds. This type of NBS is connected to, for example, the concept of biosphere reserves which incorporate core protected areas for nature conservation and buffer zones and transition areas where people live and work in a sustainable way. Type 2 – Some interventions in ecosystems and landscapes Type 2 NBS corresponds to management approaches that develop sustainable and multifunctional ecosystems and landscapes (extensively or intensively managed). These types improve the delivery of selected ES compared to what would be obtained through a more conventional intervention. Examples include innovative planning of agricultural landscapes to increase their multi-functionality; using existing agrobiodiversity to increase biodiversity, connectivity, and resilience in landscapes; and approaches for enhancing tree species and genetic diversity to increase forest resilience to extreme events. This type of NBS is strongly connected to concepts like natural systems agriculture, agro-ecology, and evolutionary-orientated forestry. Type 3 – Managing ecosystems in extensive ways Type 3 NBS consists of managing ecosystems in very extensive ways or even creating new ecosystems (e.g., artificial ecosystems with new assemblages of organisms for green roofs and walls to mitigate city warming and clean polluted air). Type 3 is linked to concepts like green and blue infrastructures and objectives like restoration of heavily degraded or polluted areas and greening cities. Type 1 and 2 would typically fall within the IUCN NBS framework, whereas Type 2 and moreover Type 3 are often exemplified by the EC for turning natural capital into a source for green growth and sustainable development. Hybrid solutions Hybrid solutions exist along this gradient both in space and time. For instance, at a landscape scale, mixing protected and managed areas could be required to fulfill multi-functionality and sustainability goals. Similarly, a constructed wetland can be developed as a Type 3 NBS but, when well-established, may subsequently be preserved and surveyed as a Type 1 solution. NBS Classes NBS is a broad group of strategies to use ecosystems as an aid in managing environmental challenges and has a variety of classes that have come before it. In the 1970s a popular approach in the U.S. was that of Best Management Practices (BMP) for using nature as a model for infrastructure and development while the UK had a model for flood management called "sustainable drainage systems". Another framework called "Water Sensitive Urban Design" (WSUD) came out of Australia in the 1990s while Low Impact Development (LID) came out of the U.S. Eventually New Zealand reframed LID to create "Low Impact Urban Design and Development" (LIUDD) with a focus on using diverse stakeholders as a foundation. Then in the 2000s the western hemisphere largely adopted "Green Infrastructure" for stormwater management as well as enhancing social, economic and environmental conditions for sustainability. Objectives and framing The general objective of NBS is clear, namely the sustainable management and use of Nature for tackling societal challenges. However, different stakeholders view NBS from a variety of perspectives. For instance, the IUCN defines NBS as "actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems, which address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits". This framing puts the need for well-managed and restored ecosystems at the heart of NBS, with the overarching goal of "Supporting the achievement of society's development goals and safeguard human well-being in ways that reflect cultural and societal values and enhance the resilience of ecosystems, their capacity for renewal and the provision of services". In the context of the ongoing political debate on jobs and growth (main drivers of the current EU policy agenda), the European Commission underlines that NBS can transform environmental and societal challenges into innovation opportunities, by turning natural capital into a source for green growth and sustainable development. Within this viewpoint, nature-based solutions to societal challenges are "solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions".This is a somewhat broader framing of the concept, placing economy and social assets at the heart of NBS on a par with the importance of sustaining environmental conditions. It shares similarities with the definition proposed by Maes and Jacobs (2015), describing NBS as "any transition to a use of ES with decreased input of non-renewable natural capital and increased investment in renewable natural processes". Under this definition, the development and evaluation of NBS spans three basic requirements: Decreasing fossil fuel input per produced unit; Lowering systemic trade-offs and increasing synergies between ES; and Increasing labour input and jobs.Within this definition, therefore, Nature is seen as a tool to inspire more systemic solutions to societal problems. Whatever the definition used, the promotion of sustainability and the increased role of natural, self-sustained processes relying on biodiversity are inherent characteristics of NBS. They constitute actions easily demonstrable as positive for a wide range of stakeholders, as they bring about benefits at environmental, economic, and societal levels. As a consequence, the concept of NBS is gaining acceptance outside the conservation community (e.g. urban planning) and is now on its way to be mainstreamed into policies and programmes (climate change policy, law, infrastructure investment, and financing mechanisms), although NBS still face many implementation barriers and challenges.The potential of NBS for transformative change towards sustainability has recently been explored. One study found that NBS can drive profound and substantial changes towards sustainability in local social-ecological systems through a combination of nature's values, knowledge, community engagement, and nature protection and sustainable management. Further studies that assess the contributions of NBS towards transformative change at broader scales, for example in relation to planetary boundaries, are needed. Examples Demonstrating the benefits of nature and healthy ecosystems, as well as showcasing the return on investment they can offer, is necessary in order not only to increase awareness, but also to provide support and guidance on how to implement NBS. A large number of initiatives around the world already highlight the effectiveness of NBS approaches to address a wide range of societal challenges. Worldwide The following table shows examples from around the world: India East Kolkata wetlands In 2018, The Hindu reported that the East Kolkata wetlands, the world's largest organic sewage treatment facility, had been used to organically clean the sewage of Kolkata for several decades through the use of algae. This natural system, in use since the 1930s, was discovered by Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, an ecologist and municipal engineer in the 1970s, while he was working in the region. Ghosh worked for decades to protect the wetlands. It had been a practice in Kolkata, one of the five largest cities in India, for the municipal authorities to pump sewage into shallow ponds (bheris). Under the heat of the tropical sun, algae proliferated in these bheris, converting the sewage into clean water, which in turn was used by villagers to grow paddy and vegetables. This almost 100-year-old system treats 750 million litres of wastewater per day, providing livelihoods for 100,000 people in the vicinity. For his work, Ghosh was included in the UN Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1990 and received the Luc Hoffmann award in 2016. Practical implementation There is currently no accepted basis by which a government agency, municipality, or private company can systematically assess the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of a particular nature-based solution. However, a number of studies and reports have proposed principles and frameworks to guide effective and appropriate implementation,: 5  in order to upscale NBS in practice in a variety of situations. One primary principle, for example, is that NBS seek to embrace, rather than replace, nature conservation norms.NBS are also determined by site-specific natural and cultural contexts that include traditional, local and scientific knowledge. Geographic information systems (GIS) can be used as an analysis tool to determine sites that may succeed as NBS. GIS can function in such a way that site conditions including slope gradients, water bodies, land use and soils are taken into account in analyzing for suitability. The resulting maps are often used in conjunction with historic flood maps to determine the potential of floodwater storage capacity on specific sites using 3D modeling tools. Comparison of suitability maps to digital imagery from Google Earth is also often practiced as a way of ensuring that suitability maps are representative of actual conditions. NBS can be implemented alone or in an integrated manner along with other solutions to societal challenges (e.g. technological and engineering solutions) and are applied at the landscape scale. Implementing NBS requires political, economic, and scientific challenges to be tackled. First and foremost, private sector investment is needed to supplement traditional sources of capital such as public funding or philanthropy. The challenge is therefore to provide a robust evidence base for the contribution of nature to economic growth and jobs, and to demonstrate the economic viability of these solutions – compared to technological ones – on a timescale compatible with that of global change. Already, multiple case studies have demonstrated that NBS are more economically viable than traditional technological infrastructures. Furthermore, it requires measures like adaptation of economic subsidy schemes, and the creation of opportunities for conservation finance, to name a few. Indeed, such measures will be needed to scale up NBS interventions and strengthen their impact in mitigating the world's most pressing challenges. Projects supported by the European Union Since 2016, the EU has supported a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform (ThinkNature) to promote the co-design, testing, and deployment of improved and innovative NBS in an integrated way. The creation of such science-policy-business-society interfaces could promote market uptake of NBS. The project is part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, and will run for 3 years. There are a total of 17 international partners involved, including the Technical University of Crete (Project Leader), the University of Helsinki and BiodivERsA. In 2017, as part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union, a conference called "Nature-based Solutions: From Innovation to Common-use" was organized by the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia and the University of Tallinn. This conference aimed to strengthen synergies among various recent initiatives and programs related to NBS launched by the European Commission and by the EU Member States, focusing on policy and governance of NBS, research, and innovation. Nature-based Solutions in the Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement calls on all Parties to recognize the role of natural ecosystems in providing services such as that of carbon sinks. Article 5.2 encourages Parties to adopt conservation and management as a tool for increasing carbon stocks and Article 7.1 encourages Parties to build the resilience of socioeconomic and ecological systems through economic diversification and sustainable management of natural resources. The Agreement refers to Nature (ecosystems, natural resources, forests) in 13 distinct places. An in-depth analysis of all Nationally Determined Contributions submitted to UNFCCC, revealed that around 130 NDCs or 65% of signatories commit to nature-based solutions in their climate pledges, suggesting broad consensus for the role of Nature in helping to meet climate change goals. However, high-level commitments rarely translate into robust, measurable actions on-the-ground. Nature-based solutions at the UN climate action summit in September 2019 In the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, nature-based solutions were one of the main topics covered, and were discussed as an effective method to combat climate change. A "Nature-Based Solution Coalition" was created, including dozens of countries, led by China and New Zealand. Efficacy of NBS A global systemic map of evidence was produced to determine and illustrate the effectiveness of NBS. After sorting through 386 case studies with computer programs, the study found that NBS were just as if not more effective than traditional or alternative flood management strategies. 66% of cases evaluated reported positive ecological outcomes, 24% did not identify a change in ecological conditions and less than 1% reported negative impacts. Furthermore, NBS always had better social and climate change mitigation impacts.Evidence gathered from other case studies supports these claims in that NBS are effective at achieving their desired goals, however one caveat that appears is that green infrastructure, common in NBS practices, must be used in conjunction with traditional grey infrastructure. Using green infrastructure alone or grey infrastructure alone are less effective than when the two are used together. Caveats of efficacy While NBS are successful in flood management, a majority of case studies and examples of NBS are from the Global North, resulting in a lack of data for many medium- and low-income nations. Consequently, many ecosystems and climates are excluded from existing studies as well as cost analyses in these locations. Further research needs to be conducted in the Global South to determine the efficacy of NBS on climate, social and ecological standards. Additionally, it is crucial that grey infrastructures continue to be used with green infrastructures. Multiple studies recognize that while NBS is very effective and improves flood resilience when simulated, it is unable to act alone and must be in coordination with grey infrastructure. When NBS is used alongside grey infrastructure the benefits transcend flood management and improve social conditions, increase carbon sequestration and prepare cities for planning for resilience. See also References External links Nature-based Solutions Initiative - consolidating evidence for the effectiveness of nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation. Nature-based Solutions Policy Platform - explore how the world's nations including nature in their climate change policy. What are nature-based solutions to climate change? An animation produced the Nature-based Solutions Initiative. Video from presentation: Nature-Based Solutions: Pandora box or reconciling concept? (EKLIPSE & BiodivERsA webinar) Sustainable cities: Nature-based solutions in urban design (The Nature Conservancy): https://vimeo.com/155849692 "Nature-Based Solutions". European Commission. Retrieved 2018-01-19. Video: Think Nature: A guide to using nature-based solutions (IUCN) Shortfilm by Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot: Nature Now 2020 Q&A: Can ‘nature-based solutions’ help address climate change? by CarbonBrief. 2021.

list of climate change initiatives

This is a list of climate change initiatives of international, national, regional, and local political initiatives to take action on climate change (global warming). A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a set of strategies intended to guide efforts for climate change mitigation. International initiatives Climate target#Global climate targets United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Kyoto Protocol International Carbon Action Partnership Global Environment Facility Muslim Seven Year Action Plan on Climate Change Paris Agreement Conference of Parties Europe North America National initiatives Local initiatives United States Canada On the municipal and regional level, many cities have created climate action plans. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities coordinates local climate action through a program called Partners for Climate Protection. Provincial plans Regional or municipal plans See also Climate target List of environmental agreements Nationally determined contributions (NDC) Regional climate change initiatives in the United States References Further reading Terry Townshend; Sam Fankhauser; Adam Matthews; Clément Feger; Jin Liu; Thais Narciso. "Legislating Climate Change on a National Level". environmentmagazine.org. Environment. Retrieved October 8, 2016. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2011 External links Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change US Clean Energy States - an alliance of US states working together to promote renewable energy Cities for Climate Protection - reductions in local greenhouse gas emissions, improvements in air quality, and enhanced urban livability Official list of local Climate Action Plans in California for 2019 Kirsten Engel and Barak Orbach, Micro-Motives for State and Local Climate Change Initiatives Harvard Law & Policy Review, Vol. 2, pp. 119–137, 2008 Nigeria climate action plan, [2]

climate change in massachusetts

Climate change in Massachusetts affects both urban and rural environments, including forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and coastal development. The Northeast is projected to warm faster than global average temperatures; by 2035, the Northeast is "projected to be more than 3.6°F (2°C) warmer on average than during the preindustrial era." Impacts of climate change Sea level rise The city of Boston has identified specific projects in East Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston that would raise small parcels of land and use temporary barriers in key locations to prevent flooding during storms, which due to climate change will be higher than present. In 2016, Climate Ready Boston recommended studying the feasibility of a storm tidal barrier for Boston Harbor. The resulting report from the University of Massachusetts Boston Sustainable Solutions Lab concluded that such a barrier would not be cost-effective compared to a larger number of smaller-scale on-shore projects. A 2016 Executive Order established a climate change strategy for the Commonwealth.A 2018 noreaster caused flooding in downtown Boston, Quincy, and Scituate, raising more concerns about the impact of sea level rise. Ecosystems Climate change will affect fishing and farming. Marshlands on the coast of Massachusetts help mitigate storm surges, but development has reduced these crucial ecosystems.There has also been a reduction in traditional state products due to the increased heat and warming waters. Cranberry harvests and maple syrup have been negatively impacted by climate change. Response State laws and legislative action Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law three global warming and energy-related bills that will promote advanced biofuels, support the growth of the clean energy technology industry, and cut the emissions of greenhouse gases within the state. The Clean Energy Biofuels Act, signed in late July, 2008, exempts cellulosic ethanol from the state's gasoline tax, but only if the ethanol achieves a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to gasoline. The act also requires all diesel motor fuels and all No. 2 fuel oil sold for heating to include at least 2% "substitute fuel" by July 2010, where substitute fuel is defined as a fuel derived from renewable non-food biomass that achieves at least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The requirement for both motor diesel fuel and heating oil increases by a percentage point per year until 2013, after which it holds steady 5%. The act also allows the state to expand the requirement to other forms of fuel oil, and it requires the state to work to establish a low-carbon fuel standard under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. In early August 2008, Governor Patrick signed two additional bills: the Green Jobs Act and the Global Warming Solutions Act. The Green Jobs Act will support the growth of a clean energy technology industry within the state, backed by $68 million in funding over 5 years. The Global Warming Solutions Act requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 10%-25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Under the act, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will carry the burdens of determining the baseline level of emissions in 1990 and creating a plan to meet the future emissions limits, including the establishment of interim limits for 2030 and 2040. In December 2019, Massachusetts joined consideration for a multi-state gasoline cap-and-trade program. The plan aims to reduce transportation-related tailpipe emissions, and would levy a tax on fuel companies based on carbon dioxide emissions. The most ambitious version of the plan is projected to reduce the area's tailpipe emissions by 25% between 2022 and 2032. The program is in the public comment phase, with individual states determining whether to participate. The program could begin as early as 2022.In late 2020, Massachusetts released a Decarbonization Roadmap that aims for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The plan calls for major investments in offshore wind and solar energy, heating and cooling upgrades to millions of buildings and would require all new automobiles sold to be zero emissions (electric or hydrogen powered) by 2035. Response by municipalities In addition to state initiatives, several municipalities within Massachusetts have released their own climate action plans, including Boston. Collective buying of electricity The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Medical Center, and the Post Office Square Redevelopment Corporation bundled their electricity purchasing power in 2016 to finance construction of a 6-megawatt solar farm in North Carolina. The City of Boston is planning a similar initiative with cities across the country. Electricity market legislative timeline 1997 Restructuring Act - Opened the electricity market to competition and innovation, setting the stage to over 109,000 clean energy jobs in the state today."1997 Restructuring Act". Act No. 164 of 1 July 1997. 2008 Green Communities Act - Created the Green Communities Program, aimed at providing financial assistance for efficiency and conservation projects at the municipal level. To qualify, a municipality must agree to a streamlined permitting process for new renewable projects and meet other benchmarks."2008 Green Communities Act". Act No. 169 of 1 July 2008. 2016 Energy Diversity Act - Signed into law on August 8, 2016. Sets procurements for 1600 megawatts of offshore wind. These represent the largest purchase of clean energy in the Commonwealth's history."2016 Energy Diversity Act". Act No. 188 of 1 July 2016. Implementation of the 2016 Energy Diversity Act - On August 2, 2018, the electric utility companies signed contracts for an 800-megawatt offshore wind farm to be built by Vineyard Wind at a levelized price of 6.5 cents a kilowatt hour for 20 years. The offshore wind farm will result in 3,600 jobs in the region during the construction phase and has a 2021 in-service date. "2016 Energy Diversity Act". Act No. 188 of 1 July 2016. See also Solar power in Massachusetts Wind power in Massachusetts List of power stations in Massachusetts Plug-in electric vehicles in Massachusetts References Further reading Dupigny-Giroux, L.A.; E.L. Mecray; M.D. Lemcke-Stampone; G.A. Hodgkins; E.E. Lentz; K.E. Mills; E.D. Lane; R. Miller; D.Y. Hollinger; W.D. Solecki; G.A. Wellenius; P.E. Sheffield; A.B. MacDonald; C. Caldwell (2018). "Northeast". In Reidmiller, D.R.; C.W. Avery; D.R. Easterling; K.E. Kunkel; K.L.M. Lewis; T.K. Maycock; B.C. Stewart (eds.). Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (Report). Washington, DC, USA: U.S. Global Change Research Program. pp. 669–742. doi:10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH18.—this chapter of the National Climate Assessment covers Northeast states External links City of Boston sea level rise flood interactive map How will global warming of 2°C affect Massachusetts?, University of Massachusetts Nestor Ramos, At the Edge of a Warming World September 26, 2019 BostonGlobe.com

climate change in norway

Climate change in Norway discusses global warming issues that affect Norway, whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard. All regions and seasons of Norway are expected to become warmer and wetter due to climate change. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the world's largest producer, and exporter, of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East. In 2016, 56 new licenses for oil exploration near the Lofoten islands were issued. However, 98% of Norway's electricity demand is supplied by renewable sources, mostly from hydroelectric power, generated using Norway's extensive freshwater reserves. Emissions are also generated through transportation, although Norway is a world leader in electric vehicles. Warmer temperatures in Norway are causing permafrost and glaciers to retreat, and leading to shifts in precipitation patterns. Climate change is particularly impacting Norway's Arctic region. Biodiversity and forested areas are experiencing shifts due to the phenomenon, with significant implications for the agriculture and economy of the country. Indigenous Sámi people's practices are being impacted by climate change. Norway's government have introduced several social and economic policies towards climate change mitigation, including through carbon capture and storage. Norway wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, partly by investing in projects with emissions reduction abroad. It wants to achieve zero emission in the country by 2050. In 2020, Norway pledged to achieve a 50% - 55% reduction in domestic emissions from the level of 1990 by 2030. Greenhouse gas emissions Energy consumption In 2015, Norway's energy supply reached 1.7 million tonnes – a 311.3% increase since 1990 - and their total domestic consumption was 213 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2015, of which 89 TWh were used by households and services. This was a 2% increase in household consumption, which has been attributed to lower temperatures causing a rise in demand for heating, which also led to a 7% rise in biofuel use from 2014. Due to rising global demand in natural gas and oil, 56 new licences were issued in January 2016 to allow more oil exploration near the Lofoten islands, in addition to the North and Barents seas. This poses a threat to biodiversity and fish stocks in these areas despite numerous promises to improve their environmental ratings and the Paris pledge. On the other hand, 98% of Norway's electricity demand is supplied by renewable energies, 95% of this comes from hydroelectric power. Because of the knowledge that their electricity is supplied by renewable sources and its very low cost as it is produced domestically, consumption in Norway is three times higher than the average European. Electricity consumption equates to approximately 77% of household energy usage in an average detached house. Transportation The transportation sector accounts for one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced in Norway (~16.5 million tons of CO2), with road traffic accounting for ~10 million tons of CO2. Norway's transport mix is heavily influenced by its low population density, narrow shape and long coastline with many small islands. The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has overall responsibility for the civil aviation, public roads and rail transport sector, ferry services forming part of the national road system (i.e. coastal regions), for coastal management, the marine environment and port and sea transport policy. They also have the ability to delegate tasks related to public transport and roads to the designated counties and municipalities. The majority of infrastructure in Norway is publicly owned, with operations often contracted out to private firms. Public transport in and around urban populations is well developed, particularly is Oslo which has one of the most advanced public transportation systems in Europe boasting metro, bus, tram and ferry networks that are all integrated on a zone-based far system with the latest technology. However, regions with low populations do often lack public transport infrastructure, forcing inhabitants to have their own car. Public transport is subsidized by the government. Rail transport Trains produced ~18-36g/km of CO2, depending on capacity of the train. The main railway network in Norway consists of 4,087 km (2,556 mi) of standard gauge lines, of which 242 km (150 mi) is double track and 64 km (40 mi) is high-speed rail (with speeds up to 210 km/h). 2,622 km (64%) is electrified through a 15 kV 162⁄3 Hz AC with overhead wires. This enables significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions given that 98% (134TWh) of Norway's electricity sector is power by renewable energy (129TWh or 95% of which is produced by hydroelectricity). The only sections that are not electrified are the lines north of Miøsa (except the Dovre and Ofoten Line). Diesel locomotives run the non-electrified sections. All of the urban railways use 750 V DC via overhead wires on the tramways and third rail on the Oslo T-bane. The railways transported 73,836,237 passengers’ 3,555 million km in 2015, with the transport of goods seeing 31,585,437 tons of cargo 3,498 million km. Road transport Cars Norway's fleet of electric cars is one of the cleanest in the world due to its high abundance of electricity generated by hydropower (98%). This has steadily grown in interest, with the end of 2016 seeing 5% (135,000) of all passenger cars on Norwegian roads being a plug-in (Figure 2). Government incentives include being exempt from all non-recurring vehicle fees (including purchase tax and 25% VAT on purchase), a tax reduction for plug-in hybrids and free access to road ferries. These in certain municipalities they can park for free and use public transport lanes. This successful integration of policies has seen electric vehicles widely accepted in Norway and the public even had the chance to discuss and propose ideas for the governments NTP. This led to the NTP setting the goal that all new cars; buses and light commercial vehicles should be zero emission vehicles (i.e. all-electric or hydrogen powered) by 2025. However, there have been some side effects with excessively high public subsidies, increased traffic congestion in public transport lanes, shortage of parking spaces for conventional cars (intentional) and loss of revenue for ferry operators. About half of new cars in Norway in January–June 2019 were electric cars and a quarter in the same period 2018.As of March 2020, 55.9% of the car sales in Norway were electric cars, 26.4% were hybrids (with or without plugs). Buses Each county is responsible for the public bus and boat transport in their area, with railways, regional airlines and the Coastal boat all being financed by the state. In 2015, buses transported 356 million passengers over 4 billion passenger km. In an attempt to meet their plan to be carbon-neutral by 2050 (conditional for 2030) Oslo is also converting municipal buses to run on biomethane captured from human waste in order to cut CO2 emissions (saves 44 tons of CO2 per bus per year compared to gas alternatives). Civil aviation Civil aviation produced ~220-455g/km of CO2, depending on capacity of the plane. Norway has 98 airports, of which 51 facilitate public flights, including one heliport. 45/51 are owned by the government through it airport operator, Avinor. Norway is the country in Europe with the most airline trips per capita, and the routes from Oslo to Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger are all amongst the ten busiest in Europe. Contributing factors include poor rail and road infrastructure in areas with a low population density, rugged geography and a limited population in the interior and north. The main gateway by air to Norway is Oslo Airport (Gardermoen), located 50 km north of Oslo and primarily services both major Norwegian airlines; Scandinavian Airlines System and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Water transport Car ferries are vital links across fjords and to islands where there is no fixed connection. There are currently over one hundred car ferry connections in Norway. In 2015, boats transported 11 million passengers to their destination, a 10% growth from 2014. Norway even has started to install battery-electric ferries and has plans to expand the current fleet, powered by the large amount of hydroelectricity. The Coastal Express (known as Hurtigruten) operates daily from Bergen to Kirkenes, stopping at 35 ports. This is pleasing news on a regional and national level but fails to address their huge international fleet as shipping and aircraft regulations where notably absent from the Paris Agreement. Fossil fuel production Norway has a strong ranking of 17 out of 180 countries analyzed in 2016. However, it is one of the world's largest oil exporter and has the largest sovereign fund of any country. In 2015, Norway produced 53.9 million tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with 15.1 million tonnes attributed to oil and gas extraction. This was higher than any other source of emissions, including energy supply, agriculture and road traffic. The total emissions of GHGs increased by 600,000 tonnes since 2014, with emissions from oil and gas extraction increasing by 83.3% since 1990. In more detail, a 25% increase CO2 emissions, 10% decrease in methane, 38% decrease in nitrous oxide; 44.7 million tonnes (Mt) was CO2, 5.5 Mt of CH4, 2.6 Mt of N2O (Figure 1).The petroleum and natural gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf utilizes pipelines totaling 9,481 km to transport products to processing plants and onwards to other European countries. Industrial emissions Mining and quarrying 12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents and 66 TWh were used by the manufacturing mining and quarrying industry in 2015 - a 39% emissions reduction since 1990, second only to oil and gas extraction. This industry is showing a downward trend in emissions, but there was an increase between 2014 and 2015 of 3.1%. Agriculture Higher production and use of fertilizer in 2015 contributed notably to higher CO2 and nitrous oxide emissions, which was also the largest proportion of agricultural emission causes. The agricultural sector emitted 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents, but these emissions have been steadily decreasing since 1990. Impacts on the natural environment Temperature and weather changes All climate scenarios indicate that all season in all regions of Norway will become warmer this century. Low, mean and high projections depict the annual mean temperature rising by 2.3 °C, 3.4 °C and 4.6 °C respectively by 2100 (Table 1). For the mainland, the smallest increase is expected in Western Norway 3.1 °C (1.9-4.2 °C), with the highest being in the northernmost country (Finnmark) of 4.2 °C (3.0-5.4 °C). This is expected to be even larger in offshore territories such as Svalbard and Jan Mayen, some predictions as high at 8 °C.The largest increase is projected during winter, whilst the smallest will occur during summer. This will see an increase in the growing season and corresponding decrease in snow cover over large parts of the country. Hence, warmer seasons will increase in length, whilst winter will become shorter and more sporadic depending on given temperature regions. Thawing permafrost Permafrost is defined as ground, soil or rock, including ice or organic material that remains at or below zero degrees Celsius for at least two consecutive years. The regions in which permafrost occurs occupy ~24% (23 million km2) of the Northern Hemisphere. Modelling suggests that permafrost covers have been warming and thawing since the end of the Little Ice Age c. 120 years ago. Access the current global distribution of permafrost here.Permafrost plays three important roles in the context of climate change; a mechanism for temperature archives, a translator of global warming through subsidence and related impacts and a facilitator of further change through its effect on the global carbon cycle (Figure 2).Due to its climate setting (mild winters, cool summers), mountain permafrost is the dominating permafrost type. In Southern Norway, the lower permafrost extends from 1300 to 1600 metres above sea level (masl). Whilst in the north, mountain permafrost begins around 900masl in the west and as low as 400masl in the east (Finnimark county). The archipelago of Svalbard is also covered by approximately 60% of continuous permafrost and is the only landscape in Scandinavia where people are living directly on permafrost. Ground temperature measurements taken by The University of Oslo and the Meteorological Institute have shown an increase of 1 °C since 1999, with clear evidence of permafrost degradation in test sites shown by the Norwegian Permafrost Database (NORPERM). The lower limit of mountain permafrost are highly sensitive to global warming as their permafrost temperatures are already just below 0 °C and will thaw if current trends continue. Already the wetland areas of northern Norway (palsas and peat plateaus) have air photo and field analysis showcasing reductions of up to 50% in ground ice cover since the 1950s. This results in a considerable loss of permafrost and may trigger an increased emission of greenhouse gases (positive-feedback mechanism) from previously frozen, but now degrading organic material. Most of the permafrost in Norway is situated in uninhabited areas making the impact on society limited. However, glaciations and glacier erosion helped have sculpted mountain areas in Norway, revealing many steep and unstable slopes (i.e. Mt.Nordnes northeast of Tromsø). These slopes tend to lie in the permafrost area and failure of such slopes could affect roads, towns and even trigger localised tsunamis if large rock masses hit fjords or lakes.Melting has even recently caused the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic Circle, to be breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel. Continued melting will cause gas and oil pipelines to crack and buildings to slowly fall apart due to unstable ground. Glacial retreat Most of the glaciers in the Norwegian Arctic are found in Svalbard, where glaciers have a total volume of ~7,000km3 and an area of 36,000km2. On the mainland glaciers only have a volume of 64km3 and an area of 1,000km2. The glaciers in Svalbard are key contributors to sea level rise as the archipelago accounts for 11% of Arctic land ice, apart from Greenland. Melting in Svalbard is extensive and is in line with both Arctic and global trends.Knowledge of glacier volume and ice thickness distribution is important for assessing the cryospheric contribution to sea-level rise, glacier response to global warming and water resource management at the local to national level in Norway. When glaciers melt the white surface of the glaciers that normally reflects solar radiation becomes exposed (underlying dark surfaces), causing a positive feedback mechanism and hence further melting and increase in temperatures. Having experienced a brief period of expansion between 1940-90s as a response to higher winter accumulation, Norwegian glaciers have continued retreating as a result of less snowfall and higher summer temperatures (=more melting). This has led to long-term forecasts where it is expected to see a summer temperature increase of at least 2.3 °C and a significant increase (~16%) by the end of the 21st century. As a result, ~98% of the Norwegian glaciers are likely to disappear and the glacier area may be reduced by ~34% by 2100. This is in line with global glacier volume dramatically decreasing over the rest of the 21st century. Precipitation patterns Strong westerly winds bring moist air masses from the ocean and fall in the form of rain/snow to most of Norway. However, this does vary greatly from coastal areas that could receive more than 3500mm annually down to 300mm in south-eastern Norway and Finnmarksvidda where they are on the leeward side of mountain ranges.Modelled climate data expects mainland Norway to experience annual precipitation increases of around 18% (5-30%) up to 2100, with respect to 1961–1990. The largest variation is expected in autumn (+23%) as precipitation starts to fall as rain rather than snow, with the lowest being in summer 9% (-3 to 17%) as nearly all precipitation already falls in the form of rain. Projections also indicate more days with heavy rainfall and precipitation values in the extreme events all over Norway and in all seasons. This is particularly relevant during winter and autumn where the number of days with heavy rainfall is expected to double.The long-term outlook for the snow season is that it will become increasingly shorter over the century. A reduction of 2-3 month is estimated for low-elevation and coastal areas in west, mid and north Norway (when comparing current (1961-1990) and future climate data (2071-2100)). As winters become shorter, snowfall in autumn and spring will reduce. The decrease in total annual snowfall is smaller with increasing altitude and distance from the coast. Highly mountainous areas may experience slight increases in snowfall. Norjan järvihistoria kollaasi:/sanomlaéhti 40 years The current trends over the last 40 years is unprecedented and if continued Norway would experience annual precipitation changes of 30% over a century. This is 2-3 times higher than predicted. Wind speed Future projections to the year 2100 (compared with 1961–1990) indicate small or no changes for average wind speed. Changes are expected to stay within the range of natural variability and have different effects depending on the scenario. Extreme geostrophic wind speeds are expected to experience a 2-6% decrease over the Norwegian Sea, whereas southern and eastern parts of Northern Europe will see an increase of 2-4%. Sea-level rise In comparison to other parts of the world, Norway and Svalbard will not experience any dramatic effects from a rise in sea level, as the land is still rising after the previous Ice Age and the coast is relatively steep. At the end of the previous Ice Age, a layer of ice up to 3 km thick covered parts of northern Europe and North America. When the ice melted, the significant weight of the ice layer that pushed the Earth's crust down into the mantle began to rise again. Land uplift was greatest immediately after the ice melted, however, it is estimated to continue rising for another 10,000 years. Studies suggest that Norway will experience an approximately 10 cm greater rise in sea level than the global average within the year 2100. Despite great uncertainty from all data, the IPCC calculated a global increase of 10–90 cm during this century. Other studies conducted by the NOU Climate Adaptation in 2009 suggest a 40–95 cm rise in sea level in northern Norway up until 2100, corrected for land uplift. This makes infrastructure long the coast more vulnerable to damage, especially during storm surges. Ecosystems Agricultural land vs forests Agricultural areas account for 3% of the mainland, while the forests are about 37%. Around 47% of the land is located above the tree line.Studies have demonstrated that future long-term warming trends may lead to a longer growing season and hence increasing agricultural yields. This effect would increase progressively from south to north. In Northern Norway this is projected to be in the order of an increase of 1–4 weeks for the period 2021–2050, compared with 1961–1990. A longer season could also increase the use of legumes and more productive perennial forage grasses, vegetables and grains.The relationship between a longer growing season and agriculture is not linear. An extended growing season is still limited by the reduced photoperiod, which terminates growth irrespective of the temperature increase. Thus, there needs to be both prolonged autumn and earlier spring to promote longer growing seasons, whilst taking the risk of frost into account. Frost on snow-free soil leads to thick layers of frozen soil that can prolong lower soil temperatures irrespective of other factors that favor an early start to the season. Increased precipitation in autumn could also complicate harvesting and agricultural practices. The agricultural industry is already exposed to several other issues that could be compounded by global warming. Those are that the farming population is ageing with the younger generation flocking to cities for education and other forms of employment. Furthermore, any reductions in agricultural subsidies and lack of increases in real incomes for farming may exacerbate the problem even further.The most obvious change in forestry will be the expansion of coniferous forests. They will spread northwards and to higher elevations in the next century due to increasing temperatures. Birch forests are expected to exhibit similar trends. This will result in a considerable increase in forested area in northern Norway. A temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius can move the tree line up the mountainside by about 300 m. Biodiversity The Norwegian Arctic is getting warmer and wetter, with large local variations. This is already having observed effects on almost all ecosystems. One is a terrestrial ecosystem, which has led to the earlier migration of birds, earlier sexual maturation in some animals, higher production and reproduction in both plants and animals, and earlier budding and pollen production. This is also evident in forests as warming temperatures leads to a higher tree line. The result of this is an expansion both northwards and upwards of species, particularly coniferous and birch forests. This movement will also cause northern boreal forests to invade tundra ecosystems in the long-term future. Whilst heat-stress is not expected to become a large issue on land, particularly in Northern Norway, warmer conditions will support the spread of disease-bearing insects (especially those limited by the cold temperatures) and invasive species into Norway, thus increasing the vulnerability of native species, livestock and the human population alike.Rising temperatures have affected local Norwegian ecosystems in many ways. Sea ice is diminishing, threatening ice-dependent species quicker than first imagined. The absence of sea ice leads to more rapid warming, due to the feedback mechanisms associated with the absorbance of sunlight. It also leads to a reduction in biodiversity, as several species are dependent on sea ice. For example, ice algae that grow in and under the ice, seals that need sea ice to give birth to their young, polar bears that prey on seals and several species of bird too.The rising temperatures are having direct impacts on freshwater and wetlands biodiversity. Atlantic salmon is a keystone species in rivers along the coast of Norway. Salmon have an upper temperature limit in the twenties so future warming may make it increasingly difficult to maintain current population levels. Higher initial temperatures could lead to increased growth and production in the short-term but ultimately there could be a massive collapse if warming trends continue. This has been made evident by the recent decline in mean individual mass and annual mean length of the fish. It is suggested that the size change of Atlantic salmon is made by the collapse and rebuilding of the pelagic fish abundance in the North Atlantic Ocean, a gradual decrease in zooplankton abundance and climate change. It could also promote genetic abnormalities and the spread of disease such as Pancreas Disease (PD) and Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISA). Furthermore, lake and river surface water temperatures are projected to increase further, resulting in a longer summer stratification period and more cyanobacterial blooms. Furthermore, both the Atlantic salmon and the Arctic charr have experienced changes in abundance. Whilst both species coexist it has been the Arctic charr who seems to be more vulnerable to environmental changes, hence leading to its overall decline in numbers. A rise in sea temperatures will also affect marine, estuarine and intertidal ecosystems. Warmer seawater can lead to more phytoplankton and zooplankton but it is not known if other species can utilise this increase in food stocks. This change also favours species that prefer warmer waters and they will start to out-compete local species. Additionally, increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are leading to ocean acidification, which is expected to continue over the next century to levels not witnessed in the last 20 million years. This may cause the extinction of coral species as the changing water chemistry makes it increasingly difficult for organisms with calcareous shells to form with calcium. The Arctic The Arctic region will warm more rapidly than the global mean, and mean warming over land will be larger than over the ocean, with studies indicating somewhere between 3-12 degrees Celsius with a high degree of uncertainty. Over the last two decades Arctic sea ice and Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover has continued to decrease in extent not exhibited in at least the last 1,450 years. This is expected to continue as global mean surface temperatures increase. The annual mean sea ice extent has decreased in the range of 3.5 to 4.1% per decade (0.45 to 0.51 million square km per decade) over the period 1979–2012. This rate increases to 9.4 to 13.6% per decade (0.73 to 1.07 million square km per decade) for the summer sea ice minimum; hence it is most rapid in summer (Figure 3). Furthermore, IPCCs 5th Synthesis Report illustrates the continued reduction in extent of Arctic July–August–September (summer) average sea ice between 1900 and 2100.Year-round reductions in Arctic sea ice extent are projected by the end of the 21st century from multi-model averages. These reductions range from 43 to 94% in September and from 8-34% in February. Thus, it is very likely that we will see a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in September before mid-century or towards the end of the 21st century depending on our ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. This is as anthropogenic influences have very likely contributed to Arctic sea ice loss since 1979.This is very worrying as sea ice plays a crucial role in regulating the temperature of Earth. Sea ice prevents warming to its high albedo and its ability to reflect the sunlight's rays. However, in the event of less sea ice the ocean then absorbs this heat and continues to increase further warming (positive feedback loop). This affects those animals that rely on sea ice (i.e. polar bears and some seal species). Impacts on people Economic impacts Agriculture A warmer climate will have its pros and cons for the Norwegian agriculture. Higher temperatures combined with new types of plants adapted to the milder climate may yield larger harvests and possibly making two harvests possible per year. The impact of climate change will vary between regions as there are already today a lot of local differences in precipitation etc. An earlier time of snow melting in areas with a dry climate may lead to crops drying out and dying. In wetter regions, further increased precipitation may cause outbreaks of fungus invasion on crops. Forestry The productive forest in Norway is expected to increase considerably due to climate change, but not without complications. Mild winters will reduce the resistance of trees and their frost tolerance. Freeze-thaw cycles will also be more frequent during mild winters, damaging the trees. Pest invasions and diseases are expected to be more frequent as new pests can move rapidly northwards. It is also possible that insects will be able to reproduce one more generation per summer due to higher temperatures, so that for instance the European spruce bark beetle may damage spruce trees with an extra invasion per summer. Social and cultural impacts The Sami people maintain large herds of reindeer. As climate change progresses, the winters in Sámi have become less and less predictable. Increased temperatures lead to more frequent icing on the ground, leaving food inaccessible for the reindeer. Having to move the reindeer to new grazing areas is problematic because of conflicts related to area usage. Unstable early winters already present difficulties when moving the reindeer from the winter grazing areas to the summer grazing areas because lakes and rivers do not properly freeze. The increased humidity and temperature can favour insects and parasitic pests that target reindeer. However, the increased temperatures could have some positives for reindeer herding, as there may be increased plant growth and better food availability during summer grazing. Early springs can also extend the summer grazing season. Mitigation and Adaptation Policies and legislation According to the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015 (biannual report), Norway placed 9/141 in air transport infrastructure, 35/141 in quality of railroad infrastructure, 56/141 in ground and port infrastructure and 74/141 regarding the quality of roads.However, recognizing that 1/3 of Norway's emissions are from transport, the National Transport Plan (NTP) has outlined specific goals to achieve an emission-free transport system;By 2025, all new private cars, buses and light commercial vehicles should be zero-emission vehicles. New heavier vans, 75% of new long-distance buses and 50% of new trucks have until 2030 to achieve zero-emissions. Similarly, by 2030 40% of all ships in short sea shipping should be using biofuels or be at or below zero-emissions. Biofuels will annually replace 1.7 billion liters of fossil fuel by 2030. This alone provides a theoretical reduction in GHGs of ~5 million tons of CO2 equivalents. Greenhouse gas emissions from equipment and raw materials for construction, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure is targeted to be reduced by 40% by 2030. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) Currently, the Norwegian government has set the main goal of its CCS policy to identify measures that can contribute to technology development and cost reductions. Furthermore, they seek to construct at least one full-scale carbon capture demonstration plant by 2020.This was made evident in their recent feasibility studies whereby the Minister of Petroleum and Energy (overall responsibility), Gassnova SF (project coordinator and capture storage) and Gassco AS (transport) identified three potential sites for full-scale CCS projects; a cement factory in Brevik (Norcem AS), an ammonia plan at Herøys in Porsgrunn (Yara Norge AS) and a waste recovery plant at Klemetsrud (Waste-to-Energy Agency in Oslo). However, both Statoil and Gassnova consider an onshore facility, accessed by ship, and a pipeline to ‘Smeaheia’ to be the best solution for CO2 storage. In their statement they highlight that "the costs for planning and investment for such a chain is estimated at between 7.2-12.6 billion kroner (~US$852-1492 million) with an uncertainty of +/- 40% or better". Hence, a full-scale project will not be realised until at least 2022. The Norwegian Government was expected to outline further plans for CCS in the 2017 state budget. CCS is a potential means of mitigating the effects of fossil fuel emissions to global warming and ocean acidification. However, given Norway's power supply is almost 100% renewable (majority coming from hydroelectricity) it is odd that they could also be depicted as world leaders when it comes to CCS technology. This can be explained by several key factors;- Conflict between the large offshore oil and gas industry whose emissions are growing and the relatively high ambition in environmental protection expected by civil society and outlined in climate and energy policy targets - During 1997-2005 there was discussions to introduce natural gas plants into the country's previously emissions-free power supply. This led to CCS becoming the only viable solution to overcome this political conflict. - The realization of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) upon installation of CCS technology led the oil and gas industry-led companies to start up CCS initiatives from the early 1990s (i.e. Statoil's pioneering storage project, separating CO2 from natural gas, at the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea). Social policy The Norwegian government is attempting to tackle global warming directly through an array of national and international plans and policies. Norway has long pledged to play a leading role in negotiations towards a more ambitious international climate change agreement, using their starting point as limiting the average rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (Figure 4). However, Norway is one of the largest exporters of carbon in traded fuels. On a per capita basis, Norway exports of carbon through traded fuels are five times larger than such exports from any other country in the World. Norway's effective contribution to global warming is a lot greater than emissions that are due to its domestic consumption only. This became apparent when almost all countries in the world first became parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. Despite global emissions rising since then, Becoming carbon neutral On 19 April 2007, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced to the Labour Party annual congress that Norway's greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 10 percent more than its Kyoto commitment by 2012, and that the government had agreed to achieve emission cuts of 30% by 2020. He also proposed that Norway should become carbon neutral by 2050, and called upon other rich countries to do likewise. This carbon neutrality would be achieved partly by carbon offsetting, a proposal criticized by Greenpeace, who also called on Norway to take responsibility for the 500m tonnes of emissions caused by its exports of oil and gas. World Wildlife Fund Norway also believes that the purchase of carbon offsets is unacceptable, saying "it is a political stillbirth to believe that China will quietly accept that Norway will buy climate quotas abroad". The Norwegian environmental activist Bellona Foundation believes that Stoltenberg was forced to act due to pressure from anti-European Union members of the coalition government, and called the announcement "visions without content".In January 2008, the Norwegian government went a step further and declared a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. But the government has not been specific about any plans to reduce emissions at home; the plan is based on buying carbon offsets from other countries, and little has actually been done to reduce Norway's emissions, apart from a very successful policy for electric vehiclesNorway's long-term goal has remained to become a carbon neutral country by 2050 (with a conditional target of 2030) through the assistance of the EU emissions trading market, international cooperation on emissions reductions, emissions trading and project-based cooperation. This sentiment has been reflected through their ongoing commitments in international agreements as depicted below. However, this has not come without scrutiny as the country is often questioned for buying itself out of burdensome domestic environmental obligations by purchasing international CO2 quotas and offsetting emissions through the EU trading scheme (despite not being a member of the EU). Sovereign funding Relevant to social policy considerations is the discussion around the use of The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). This is a fund where the surplus profit produced by Norwegian petroleum industry (oil and gas) is deposited. Previously called ‘The Petroleum Fund of Norway’ when it was established in 1990, the fund changed its name in 2006. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) manages the fund, which is part of the Norwegian Central Bank and on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. It is not a normal pension fund in the sense as its financial backing comes from oil profits rather than pensioners. This makes continued investment dependent on the survival of the oil industry, despite the world realizing fossil fuels directly contribute to global warming. As of April 2017, the fund was valued at US$916.9 billion (NOK 7.827 trillion). This makes it the third largest pension fund in the world behind the Social Security Trust Fund (US – value US$2.837 trillion) and the Government Pension Investment Fund (Japan – US$1.103 trilion).Due to the large size of the fund compared to the relative low population of Norway (~5.3 million in 2017), the fund has become a hot political issue. This includes whether the petroleum revenues should be used now rather than save for the future and if carrying out spending would cause inflation. Furthermore, there are arguments over whether the high level of exposure (62.5%) to the highly volatile stock market is financially safe or simply appropriate diversification. More importantly, in regards to global warming and ethical issues, the fund has been question on its investment policy. There is large controversy over the investment policy as current and previous investments have included industries such as arms production, tobacco and fossil fuels. Despite having ethical guidelines that prohibit the investment in companies that directly or indirectly attribute to killing, torture, deprivation of freedom or other violations of human rights, the fund is still allowed to fossil fuel companies and a number of arms-producing companies (excluding nuclear weapons). In 2014, there was significant pressure leading to a parliament investigation as to whether the fund should divest its coal assets in line with it ethical investment mandate. This resulted the fund divesting from energy companies that derive more than 30% of their revenues from coal, 53 companies in total. There is evidence however, that investment into coal actually grew during this period by simply shifting money to those companies who derive <70% of their revenues from coal (i.e. Glencore, BHP and Rio Tinto). In the same year the fund also increased its stake in 59/90 oil and gas companies in which it holds shares in excess of US$30 billion. This gravely disappointed campaigners who argue it should sell of all investments in the fossil fuel industry as they continue to drive global warming and climate change. International cooperation Developed nations like Norway have been instructed to take the lead in reducing their emissions and investing heavily in climate commitments as part of its partnership schemes with developing nations - particularly focusing on clean, renewable energy resources, climate change mitigation/adaptation and food security, primarily funded through the Norwegian Clean Energy for Development initiative launched in 2007 and the International Energy and Climate Change Initiative Energy+ (launched in 2011). For example, in 2010 Norway supported household installation of 80,000 solar home systems in Nepal. Society and culture Public perception and activism There seems to be two stories, one about Norway wanting to be a world leader in global climate change and environmental issues whilst the other tends to favour Norway's oil and gas reserves, claiming that its necessary to extract more oil and gas because of high demand and in order to help the poor who in some parts of the world have no access to energy. This duality therefore sends a very polarised message to the Norwegian public and may be part of the reason why there is a lack of engagement or enthusiasm currently observed around the issue of climate change. The scientific debate Norwegians are not discussing whether or not climate change exists, as that is considered a certainty. Rather issues arise on the timescales at which human actions are affecting the planet and how quickly our planet responds to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. global warming of surface temperatures. The scientific community has even debated the sustainability of different climate technological solutions in the press, i.e. carbon capture and storage, bioenergy and offshore wind power.Increasingly, it is Norwegian climate researchers that are depicted as world leaders in several areas and have produced the most number of publications in the world (per capita). This is also demonstrated by the high numbers of Norwegian researchers serving as authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group reports and other prominent international research organisations. Research on global warming is often being portrayed through the same journalistic principles as other news stories; newsworthiness and contested phenomena. Despite previous attempts at balanced reporting giving rise to a skewed perception of climate skepticism, the debate over anthropogenic climate change in Norway is quite progressive compared to others. So much so that you don't even see conservative politicians or media commentators question mainstream climate science anymore as to them it is clear that the planet is warming. Moreover, the main debate is centered on the timescale of change due to our impacts. Public information systems Norway is a small, politically stable Northern European country with a substantial welfare scheme. The Norwegian media landscape is also based on public and government-funded broadcasting where high uptake is considered important for citizen's knowledge on political issues. This, combined with Norway's access to energy resources, makes it a particularly interesting field of study. This is evident by the huge economic interests associated with the oil and gas industry, leading to the popularity of the Norwegian petro-industrial complex and a public discourse around skepticism towards climate science. On the other hand, Norwegians have had a long history of environmental concern given their stunning nature and widespread popular perception of renewable energy affluence thanks to large hydroelectric resources. This dualism has led to an undercurrent of doubt towards climate change and can pose the question: If the climate issue is such a threat, why aren't the politicians doing anything about it? Nonetheless, the government also gets very little credit for its climate policy.In the past, most people believed that climate change was real. However, perceptions started to shift thanks to an emphasis on ‘balanced reporting’, whereby accounts of scientific controversy made the public ambiguous as to the urgency of the issue. Shifts in public attitude towards climate change have also been shaped by many other key factors. These include news media coverage of changes in nature (nature drama), coverage of presumed experts’ disagreement about global warming (science drama), critical attitudes toward media, observations of political inaction and consideration with respect to everyday life. This lead some to conclude that there is not a lack of public knowledge surrounding global warming, rather that translating this knowledge into action can be regarded as problematic. People often indicated that their behaviour was constrained by a lack of infrastructure and mechanisms, higher prices of environmentally friendly goods, current design promoted private car usage and a lack of disincentives to pollute.Furthermore, a lack of strong proactive policies by the government has fostered widespread frustration within the public arena, as messages of how to address global warming and climate change are often inconsistent. On the one hand it advocated for geographically remote technical fixes (i.e. CCS and biofuels), whilst on the other hand, the public was asked to take on the prime responsibility of reducing emissions. This mentality that there is a lack of visible political action is then often hard to change.Examples of this include public calls for comprehensive policies for electric road transport (currently in force), better and cheaper modes of public transport, political guidance concerning energy efficiency in buildings and willingness to develop renewable energy technologies. This led a study on young people to conclude that individual actions did "not matter much in the global context" and that authorities did not facilitate "contributions from ordinary citizens". Furthermore, they highlighted that they think Norway does have a responsibility to help poor countries but also must mitigate the problem and reduce its own oil production simultaneously.Another strand of research related to climate policy analysed whether support for international climate action is conditional on perceptions of reciprocity. Some studies also suggest that public support for international climate change is more conditional in Norway than in the US or Canada, leading one to suggest that country size and dependence on fossil fuels may be more important than national traditions for multilateral cooperation in predicting unilateral climate action support. The latest opinion polls in Norway however have seen climate change jump to be the second-most important issue on the public's agenda. This is up from sixth place in 2010–2014. Svalbard See also Plug-in electric vehicles in Norway Regional effects of global warming Climate change in Sweden Climate change in Europe == References ==

2015 united nations climate change conference

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.The conference negotiated the Paris Agreement, a global agreement on the reduction of climate change, the text of which represented a consensus of the representatives of the 196 attending parties. The agreement was due to enter into force when joined by at least 55 countries which together represented at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions., a target reached on 4 November 2016. On 22 April 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries signed the agreement in New York, and began adopting it within their own legal systems (through ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession). According to the organizing committee at the outset of the talks, the expected key result was an agreement to set a goal of limiting global warming to "well below 2 °C" Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. The agreement calls for zero net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to be reached during the second half of the 21st century. In the adopted version of the Paris Agreement, the parties will also "pursue efforts to" limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. The 1.5 °C goal will require zero emissions sometime between 2030 and 2050, according to some scientists.Prior to the conference, 146 national climate panels publicly presented a draft of national climate contributions (called "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions", INDCs). These suggested commitments were estimated to limit global warming to 2.7 °C by 2100. For example, the EU suggested INDC is a commitment to a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. The agreement establishes a "global stocktake" which revisits the national goals to "update and enhance" them every five years beginning 2023. However, no detailed timetable or country-specific goals for emissions were incorporated into the Paris Agreement – as opposed to the previous Kyoto Protocol. A number of meetings took place in preparation for COP21, including the Bonn Climate Change Conference, 19 to 23 October 2015, which produced a draft agreement. Background According to the organizing committee of the summit in Paris, the objective of the 2015 conference was to achieve, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, a binding and universal agreement on climate.Pope Francis published an encyclical letter called Laudato si' intended, in part, to influence the conference. The encyclical calls for action against climate change: "Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it." The International Trade Union Confederation has called for the goal to be "zero carbon, zero poverty", and its general secretary Sharan Burrow has repeated that there are "no jobs on a dead planet". Location and participation The location of UNFCCC talks is rotated by regions throughout United Nations countries. The 2015 conference was held at Le Bourget from 30 November to 12 December 2015. To some extent, France served as a model country for delegates attending COP21 because it is one of the few developed countries in the world to decarbonize electricity production and fossil fuel energy while still providing a high standard of living. As of 2012, France generated over 90% of its electricity from zero carbon sources, including nuclear, hydroelectric, and wind. The conference took place two weeks after a series of terrorist attacks in the 10th and 11th Arrondissements of Paris, as well as in Saint-Denis. Martial law was declared and national security was tightened accordingly, with 30,000 police officers and 285 security checkpoints deployed across the country until after the conference ended.The European Union and 195 nations (see list in reference) were the participating parties. Negotiations The overarching goal of the Convention is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase. Since COP 17 this increase is set at 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels. However, Christiana Figueres acknowledged in the closing briefing at the 2012 Doha conference: "The current pledges under the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol are clearly not enough to guarantee that the temperature will stay below 2 °C and there is an ever increasing gap between the action of countries and what the science tells us." During previous climate negotiations, countries agreed to outline actions they intended to take within a global agreement, by 1 October 2015. These commitments are known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs. Together, the INDCs would reduce global warming from an estimated 4–5 °C (by 2100) to 2.7 °C, and reduce emissions per capita by 9% by 2030, while providing hope in the eyes of the conference organizers for further reductions in the future that would allow meeting a 2 °C target.Think-tanks such as the World Pensions Council (WPC) argued that the keys to success lay in convincing officials in the U.S. and China, by far the two largest national emitters: "As long as policy makers in Washington and Beijing didn't put all their political capital behind the adoption of ambitious carbon-emission capping targets, the laudable efforts of other G20 governments often remained in the realm of pious wishes. Things changed for the better on 12 November 2014 when President Obama and General Secretary Xi Jinping agreed to limit greenhouse gases emissions."President Obama insisted on America's essential role in that regard: "We've led by example ... from Alaska to the Gulf Coast to the Great Plains ... we've seen the longest streak of private job creation in our history. We've driven our economic output to all time-highs while driving our carbon pollution down to its lowest level in nearly two decades. And then, with our historic joint announcement with China last year, we showed it was possible to bridge the old divide between developed and developing nations that had stymied global progress for so long ... That was the foundation for success in Paris." Harvard University published a case study on one aspect of the negotiations, focussing on the protection of forests. Outcome On 12 December 2015, the participating 196 countries agreed, by consensus, to the final global pact, the Paris Agreement, to reduce emissions as part of the method for reducing greenhouse gas. In the 12-page document, the members agreed to reduce their carbon output "as soon as possible" and to do their best to keep global warming "to well below 2 degrees C". In the course of the debates, island states of the Pacific, the Seychelles, but also the Philippines, their very existence threatened by sea level rise, had strongly voted for setting a goal of 1.5 °C instead of only 2 °C. France's Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, said this "ambitious and balanced" plan was an "historic turning point" in the goal of reducing global warming. However, some others criticized the fact that significant sections are "promises" or aims and not firm commitments by the countries. Non-binding commitments, lack of enforcement mechanisms The Agreement will not become binding on its member states until 55 parties who produce over 55% of the world's greenhouse gas have ratified the Agreement. There is doubt whether some countries, especially the United States, will agree to do so, though the United States publicly committed, in a joint Presidential Statement with China, to joining the Agreement in 2016.Each country that ratifies the agreement will be required to set a target for emission reduction or limitation, called a "nationally determined contribution", or NDC, but the amount will be voluntary. There will be neither a mechanism to force a country to set a target by a specific date nor enforcement measures if a set target is not met. There will be only a "name and shame" system or, as János Pásztor, the U.N. assistant secretary-general on climate change, told CBS News, a "name and encourage" plan.Some analysts have also observed that the stated objectives of the Paris Agreement are implicitly "predicated upon an assumption – that member states of the United Nations, including high polluters such as China, US, India, Canada, Russia, Indonesia and Australia, which generate more than half the world's greenhouse gas emissions, will somehow drive down their carbon pollution voluntarily and assiduously without any binding enforcement mechanism to measure and control CO2 emissions at any level from factory to state, and without any specific penalty gradation or fiscal pressure (for example a carbon tax) to discourage bad behaviour." Institutional investors' contribution to limiting fossil fuels Speaking at the 5th annual World Pensions Forum held on the sidelines of the COP21 Summit, Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs argued that institutional investors would eventually divest from carbon-reliant firms if they could not react to political and regulatory efforts to halt climate change: "Every energy company in a pension fund's portfolio needs to be scrutinized from purely a financial view about its future, 'Why is this [a company] we would want to hold over a five- to 20-year period?'... If we continue to hold major energy companies that don't have an answer to a basic financial test, we are just gambling. We have to take a fiduciary responsibility – these are not good bets."Some US policy makers concurred, notably Al Gore, insisting that "no agreement is perfect, and this one must be strengthened over time, but groups across every sector of society will now begin to reduce dangerous carbon pollution through the framework of this agreement." Declarations of non-state parties As is usual before such major conferences, major NGOs and groups of governments have drafted and published a wide variety of declarations they intend to seek a consensus on, at the Paris conference itself. These include at least the following major efforts: ICLEI at its World Congress, launched the new Transformative Actions Program (TAP) intended to progress local and subnational action ahead of COP21 to build on its 2005 COP11 (Montreal summit) commitments, Triple Bottom Line framework arising from that, and other local efforts. European capital and large cities for climate action en route to COP 21 Declaration, adopted 26 March 2015 by "representatives of EU capitals and large cities of 28 EU Member States at the Mayors Meeting organized by Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, and Ignazio Marino, Mayor of Rome, who argue that "urban areas exposed to climate change are also essential innovation testing zones", which is the focus of the ICLEI mechanisms, metrics and 2005 declaration. Private, corporate and private-public partnerships At the World Summit of Regions for Climate (WSRC) in Paris 2014, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Founder of R20, invited a coalition of governments, businesses and investors to sign a draft "Paris Declaration" at World Climate Summit in Lima 2014, World Green Economy Summit 2015 in Dubai and COP21. The Shift Project by French business organizations. Indigenous peoples efforts include: Asian indigenous peoples declaration IPACC acting for African indigenous peoples in particular but also worldwide A vast range of groups and peoples "seeking presence in post-2015" development, e.g. the Centre for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous People in Nicaragua Many indigenous polities and sovereignties seeking recognition under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who demanded recognition and change also in 2014 at the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima. In 2015 this will include those with specific grievances, e.g. the Wabanaki Confederacy in its opposition to hydraulic fracturing and Energy East, has announced it will send a diplomatic representative regarding events in 2013 in New Brunswick that highlighted the relative imbalance of power to resist fossil fuel corporations even on unceded lands: "Canada is the home to 75% of the worlds [sic] mining corporations, and they have tended to have relative impunity in the Canadian Courts" - Winona LaDuke Women's Earth and Climate Action Network seeking "powerful submissions by worldwide women" sharing "stories, struggles, solutions and action plans ... [a] women's climate justice mobilization" Countries of the Mediterranean Sea. Dam Bridge, Strait of Gibraltar, S.A. (PPEGSA). The first draft PresaPuente adapting to climate change is designed to protect the Mediterranean from the imminent rising waters caused by the polar thaw. More than 24 countries, over 500 million people, more than 15,000 islands and thousands of kilometres of coast which can be saved from flooding. Solar alliance: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the 2015 G-20 Summit that he, along with French President François Hollande, intends to propose creating an alliance of solar-rich countries similar to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Ahead of the climate summit, the two leaders sent written invitations to over 100 countries to join the coalition proposed to be called the International Agency for Solar Policy and Application (InSPA). A vast range of other activities in preparation to influence the major decisions at the conference. Financing The conference was budgeted to cost €170m (US$186.87m at the time). The French government said that 20% of the cost would be borne by French firms such as EDF, Engie (formerly known as GDF Suez), Air France, Renault-Nissan and BNP Paribas. Sponsors were among others BMW, Avery Dennison, Carbon Trade Exchange, Cool Effect, The Coca-Cola Company, the Climate Resources Exchange and Vattenfall. Demonstrations Around the world, 600,000 took part in demonstrations in favour of a strong agreement, such as the Global Climate March organized by 350.org (and other events such as Alternatiba, Village of Alternatives). Paris had a ban on public gatherings in the wake of recent terrorist attacks (state of emergency), but allowed thousands to demonstrate on 12 December against what they felt was a too-weak treaty. There was also an illegal demonstration in Paris, including violent clashes between police and anarchists; ten policemen were injured and 317 people arrested.On 30 November, the first day of the conference, a "climate strike" was organised by students in over 100 countries; over 50,000 people participate. See also References External links Media related to 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference at Wikimedia Commons Official French website Official UN website Official Paris Climate Conference Gillis, Justin (2015-11-28). "Short Answers to Hard; Questions About Climate Change". NYT. Retrieved 2016-08-10. COP21 questions and answers. Video by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Why COP21 matters, and how climate change impacts sustainable development. Video by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Background on COP21 from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Archived 2020-12-07 at the Wayback Machine A Plan to strengthen the Paris Agreement NOAA State of the Climate

climate of iceland

The climate of Iceland is subpolar oceanic (Köppen climate classification Cfc) near the southern coastal area and tundra (Köppen ET) inland in the highlands. The island lies in the path of the North Atlantic Current, which makes its climate more temperate than would be expected for its latitude just south of the Arctic Circle. This effect is aided by the Irminger Current, which also helps to moderate the island's temperature. The weather in Iceland is notoriously variable.The aurora borealis is often visible at night during the winter. The midnight sun can be experienced in summer on the island of Grímsey off the north coast; the remainder of the country, since it lies just south of the polar circle, experiences a twilight period during which the sun sets briefly, but still has around two weeks of continuous daylight during the summer. Seasons Winter The Icelandic winter is relatively mild for its latitude, owing to maritime influence and proximity to the warm currents of the North Atlantic Gyre. The southerly lowlands of the island average around 0 °C (32 °F) in winter, while the north averages around −10 °C (14 °F). The lowest temperatures in the northern part of the island range from around −25 to −30 °C (−13 to −22 °F). The lowest temperature on record is −39.7 °C (−39.5 °F). Summer The average July temperature in the southern part of the island is 10–13 °C (50–55 °F). Warm summer days can reach 20–25 °C (68–77 °F). The highest temperature recorded was 30.5 °C (86.9 °F) in the Eastern fjords in 1939. Annual average sunshine hours in Reykjavík are around 1300, which is similar to towns in Scotland and Ireland. Winds and storms Iceland, especially inland and during winter, is frequently subject to abrupt and dramatic changes in weather that can sharply reduce visibility, as well as rapidly increasing wind speed and precipitation, and shift temperature. Generally, wind speeds tend to be higher in the highlands, but topographical features can aggravate winds and cause strong gusts in lowland areas. Wind speed in the lowlands reaches 18 m/s (65 km/h) on 10–20 days per year, but on upwards of 50 days per year in places in the highlands. The strongest measured 10-minute sustained wind speed is 62.5 m/s (225 km/h) and the strongest gust 74.2 m/s (267 km/h). Heavy dust storms can be generated by strong glacial winds, and can be very strong. Up to 10 tonnes (11 short tons) of material can be in motion per transect per hour. These storms are very frequent in the early summer in the arid highland areas north of the Vatnajökull glacier.Thunderstorms are extremely rare for any specific location in Iceland, with fewer than five storms per year in the southern part of the island. They are most common in early or late summer. They can be caused by warm air masses coming up from Europe, or deep lows from the southwest in wintertime. Lightning can usually be observed in connection with ash plumes erupting from the island's volcanoes. Vortices, sometimes on the scale of tornadoes, also occur with volcanic eruptions. Landspouts and waterspouts are occasionally observed. Classic mesocyclone derived tornadoes (i.e. forming from supercells) are very rare, but have been observed. Any of these do occasionally cause damage, although the sparse population further reduces the probability of detection and the hazard. Atmospheric pressure There is a persistent area of low pressure near Iceland known as the Icelandic Low, found between Iceland and Greenland. This area affects the amount of air brought into the Arctic to the east, and the amount coming out of the Arctic to the west. It is part of a greater pressure system known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Climatic data Climate change 750 square kilometers of Iceland’s glacier ice has melted since the year 2000. Iceland’s annual CO2 emissions and per capita CO2 emissions rose from 1950 to 2018, but both metrics have been on the decline since 2018. A majority of Iceland’s CO2 emissions come from oil.Most Icelandic glaciers began retreating in the late 1800s, but current modeling studies suggest that glaciers would lose a quarter of their volume in the next hundred years with just a 1°C rise in global temperatures. The models also predict that glaciers could lose sixty percent of their volume if global temperatures rise by 2°C. At this rate, only small ice caps will remain after two hundred years. Some models predict Iceland's glacial mass will shrink a third by 2100.Iceland’s retreating glaciers have global and local consequences. Melting of Iceland’s glaciers could raise sea levels by a centimeter, which could lead to erosion and flooding worldwide. Locally, glacial recession could cause crustal uplift, which could disrupt buildings. Some places in Iceland have already seen the crust rise at a rate of 40 millimeters per year. Okjökull Okjökull is a glacier in Iceland that melted in 2014. Okjökull is Iceland's first glacier to have melted due to climate change. Name change Geologists estimate that Okjökull covered about 6 square miles in the late 1800s, but slowly shrunk until it officially lost its glacier status in 2014. When it "died", the 800 year old glacier's name was changed from Okjökull to Ok. Okjökull was pronounced dead in part due to its decrease in area, but also due to its inability to flow; a body of ice must be able to move to be defined as a glacier. “Jökull” means glacier in Icelandic, so this suffix was removed accordingly. "Funeral" In 2018, a documentary called Not Ok was released by Rice University anthropologists four years after its death. In 2019, roughly one hundred people held a funeral for Okjökull. Iceland’s prime minister at the time, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, was among the attendees.At the funeral, one high school student read a poem and a commemorative plaque, titled "A letter to the future," was placed on a boulder. As of 2022, this plaque was the only one commemorating a glacier lost to climate change. The plaque warned future readers that all of Iceland's glaciers would soon "follow the same path" as Okjökull. Sustainability In an effort to combat the effects climate change has on Iceland’s glaciers, Iceland has worked to make its electricity completely sustainable. As of 2015, nearly all of its electricity comes from renewable energy. Thirteen percent of the country’s electricity comes from geothermal energy—which also heats ninety percent of Iceland’s homes—and the rest comes from hydropower. See also Climate of the Nordic countries Geography of Iceland References External links The dynamic climate of Iceland – A brief description of the country's climate (with maps) Reykjavík, Iceland Forecast: Weather Underground – Weather forecast for Reykjavík

climate and energy

In the 21st century, the earth's climate and its energy policy interact and their relationship is studied and governed by a variety of national and international institutions.The relationships between energy-resource depletion, climate change, health resources and the environment, and the effects that they have on each other, have been subject to numerous scientific studies and research efforts. As a result, a majority of governments see climate and energy as two of the most important policy goals of the twenty first century. The correlation between climate and energy rests on known causal relationships between human population growth, rising energy consumption and land use and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.The concern for climate change control and mitigation has consequently spurred policy makers and scientists to treat energy use and global climate as an inextricable nexus with effects also going in reverse direction and create various initiatives, institutions and think tanks for a high-level treatment of the relationships: Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change (global) Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building (Denmark) Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (US) United States House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (US) European Union climate and energy package (EU) Department of Energy and Climate Change (UK) White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy (US) Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (Australia) Minister for the Environment and Energy (Australia) Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (Germany) Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (UK) City of Oakland Energy and Climate Action Plan (US) Energy and Climate Change Select Committee (UK) San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law (US) Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (United Nations) See also Water-energy nexus Water, energy and food security nexus Urbanization == References ==

psychology of climate change denial

The psychology of climate change denial is the study of why humans engage in climate change denial, despite the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change. The number of people denying climate change was increasing (in 2014), contrary to the increasing volume of scientific evidence and the consensus of scientists that anthropogenic climate change is occurring. Several psychological barriers have been proposed to account for this phenomenon: Distance in time, space, and influence, framing, dissonance, political worldview, cultural theory, limited cognition, age differences, ideologies, comparison with others, sunk costs, views of others and perceived risk, limited behavior, conspiratorial beliefs. Psychological barriers Various psychological factors can impact the effectiveness of communication about climate change, driving potential climate change denial. Psychological barriers, such as emotions, opinions and morals refer to the internal beliefs that a person has which stop them from completing a certain action. In an article by Gifford R., he said "we are hindered by seven categories of psychological barriers, also known as dragons of inaction: limited cognition about the problem, ideological worldviews that tend to preclude pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, comparisons with other key people, sunk costs and behavioral momentum, discordance toward experts and authorities, perceived risk of change, and positive but inadequate behavior change". People don’t necessarily always put these barriers up but, in a way, set themselves up for doubt and fear of change. Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. This is a barrier for most people when it comes to climate change. They are afraid of change because they believe it will be damaging to their life. People are told that the cause of climate change is because we do certain things that are to blame for climate change. We hear and sometimes accept it yet we choose not to make a change or believe in “climate change”. An example would be that, in Iceland, "… Motives predict the purchasing fireworks and the opposition to mitigating action. Noticing public warnings regarding fireworks pollution did not significantly relate to the purchase behavior. The awareness of the harmful effects of firework pollution was, however, the biggest predictor of the support for mitigating action. Despite describing the pleasure derived from fireworks, 57% of the sample favored stricter government regulation, and 27% favored banning the public purpose of fireworks to 'protect them from what they want'." Distance in time, space, and influence Climate change is often portrayed as occurring in the future, whether that be the near or distant future. Many estimations portray climate change effects as occurring by 2050 or 2100, which both seem much more distant in time than they really are, which can create a barrier to acceptance. There is also a barrier created by the distance portrayed in climate change discussions. Effects caused by climate change across the planet do not seem concrete to people living thousands of miles away, especially if they are not experiencing any effects. Climate change is also a complex, abstract concept to many, which can create barriers to understanding. Carbon dioxide is an invisible gas, and it causes changes in overall average global temperatures, both of which are difficult, if not impossible, for one single person to discern. Due to these distances in time, space, and influence, climate change becomes a far-away, abstract issue that does not demand immediate attention. Framing In popular climate discourse framing, the three dominant framing ideas have been apocalypse, uncertainty and high costs/losses. These framings create intense feelings of fear and doom and helplessness. Framing climate change in these ways creates thoughts that nothing can be done to change the trajectory, that any solution will be too expensive and do too little, or that it is not worth trying to find a solution to something we are unsure is happening. Climate change has been framed this way for years, and so these messages are instilled in peoples’ minds, elicited whenever the words “climate change” are brought up. Dissonance Because there is little solid action that people can take on a daily basis to combat climate change, then some believe climate change must not be as pressing an issue as it is made out to be. An example of this phenomenon is that most people know smoking cigarettes is not healthy, yet people continue to smoke cigarettes, and so an inner discomfort is elicited by the contradiction in ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’. A similar cognitive dissonance is created when people know that things like driving, flying, and eating meat are causing climate change, but the infrastructure is not in place to change those behaviors effectively. In order to address this dissonance, climate change is rejected or downplayed. This dissonance also fuels denial, wherein people cannot find a solution to an anxiety-inducing problem, and so the problem is denied outright. Creating stories that climate change is actually caused by something out of humans’ control, such as sunspots or natural weather patterns, or suggesting that we must wait until we are certain of all of the facts about climate change before any action be taken, are manifestations of this fear and consequent denial of climate change."It seems as if people stop paying attention to global climate change when they realize that there are no easy solutions for it. Many people instead judge as serious only those problems for which they think action can be found.”Individuals are alarmed about the dangerous potential futures resulting from a high-energy world in which climate change was occurring, but simultaneously create denial mechanisms to overcome the dissonance of knowing these futures, yet not wanting to change their convenient lifestyles. These denial mechanisms include things like overestimating the costs of changing their lifestyles, blaming others, including government, rather than their own inaction, and emphasizing the doubt that individual action could make a difference within a problem so large. Political worldview In the United States, climate change acceptance or denial is largely based on political affiliation. This is partially caused by the idea that Democrats focus more on tighter government regulations and taxation, which are the basis for most environmental policy. Political affiliation also affects how different people interpret the same facts. The more highly educated an individual is, the more likely they are to rely on their own interpretation and political ideology rather than rely on scientists’ opinions. Therefore, political world views override expert opinion on the interpretation of climate facts and evidence of anthropogenic climate change. Another reason for the discrepancy in climate change denial between liberals and conservatives is the idea that “contemporary environmental discourse is based largely on moral concerns related to harm and care, which are more deeply held by liberals than by conservatives,” whereas if the discourse were framed using moral concerns related to purity that are more deeply held by conservatives, the discrepancy was resolved.Affiliation with a political group, especially in the United States, is a very important personal and social identity for many. Because of this, it is likely that an individual will carry the popular values of their political affiliation, regardless of their personal belief on the matter, solely so they are not ostracized from the group and their identity. A study of climate change denial indicators from public opinion data from ten Gallup surveys from 2001 to 2010 shows that conservative white males in the United States are significantly more likely to deny climate change than other Americans. Furthermore, conservative white males who reported understanding climate change very well were even more likely to deny climate change. This is further proven through another study done in Australia, that showed that when participants had their political identity made salient, through definition and characteristics of supporters, were more likely to deny climate change and reject governmental climate change policies, especially when those participants were aligned with right-wing politics.One telltale worldview that leads to climate change denial is the belief in free enterprise capitalism. The “freedom of the commons”, or the freedom to use natural resources as a public good as it is practiced in free enterprise capitalism destroys important ecosystems and their functions, and so having a stake in this worldview does not correlate with climate change mitigation behaviors. Political worldview plays an important role in environmental policy and action (or inaction). Liberals tend to focus on environmental risks, while conservatives focus on the benefits that economic development brings. Because of these differences in world views, with one political ideology focusing on risks while the other focuses on benefits, conflicting opinions on the acceptance or denial of climate change arise. Cultural theory Conservative white males are much more likely than other Americans to deny the existence of climate change according to public opinion data from Gallup surveys, and the statistical significance remains even whilst controlling for each of the direct effects of race, gender, political ideology, and other control variables. In the initial Flynn et al. study in 1994, this white male effect was due to a smaller subgroup of white males in the sample who self-reported high risk acceptance. People often cognitively process their perceptions regarding risk through their world views and as shared by their in-groups. If information that contradicts these beliefs and risks is presented by perceived out-groups, individuals tend to strongly resist any change to these aforementioned beliefs they have otherwise psychologically invested in—in this case, evidence of climate change is the information they resist. This phenomenon has been coined as identity-protective cognition. This way of thinking allows people to preserve the self-perception benefits they retain through this perceived group membership, and thus they continue to appraise incoming information through a lens that supports beliefs associated with belonging in these groups. Kahan et al. offered strong support for this identity-protective cognition hypothesis through their multivariate analysis, noting that white males are thus likely to dismiss any reported risks of climate change and perceive reported risks of climate change as an out-group challenge to the existing hierarchy socially, politically, or economically. McCright & Dunlap also found a positive relationship between self-reported understanding of global warming and intensity of endorsement of climate change denial beliefs, which underscores the identity-protective cognition hypothesis, in that it further illustrates the system-justifying tendency present in confident, conservative white men. Limited cognition Limited cognition of the human brain, caused by things like the fact that the human brain has not evolved much in thousands of years, and so has not transitioned to caring about the future rather than immediate danger, ignorance, the idea that environments are composed of more elements than humans can monitor, so we only attend to things causing immediate difficulty, which climate change does not seem to do, uncertainty, undervaluing of distant or future risk, optimism bias, and the belief that an individual can do nothing against climate change are all cognitive barriers to climate change acceptance.Inoculation theory This section has an excerpt from Inoculation theory A social psychological theory that uses vaccination terminology and mechanisms to prevent spread of misinformation by “inoculating” with preemptive misinformation. The theory was developed by social psychologist William J. McGuire in 1961 to explain how attitudes and beliefs change, and more specifically, how to keep existing attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of attempts to change them. Researched primarily relative to health, science and politics, newer research is utilizing this theory as a persuasion tactic in reducing misinformation in conspiracy theories and contested science relative to climate science, vaccination, and the COVID-19 pandemic.“Inoculation has been tested experimentally in the context of climate change. When participants were exposed to both consensus information and misinformation casting doubt on the consensus, there was no significant change in acceptance of climate change.” Age differences Youth show a deeper understanding and awareness of climate change than adults and older generations. Younger generations of people typically demonstrate more concern about climate change over older generations, and younger demographics show more negative and pessimistic attitudes towards climate change. However, younger demographics also believe at higher rates than older demographics that climate change can be successfully mitigated by taking action, and are more likely to express interest in taking action in order to help mitigate climate change. About 28% of millennials say that they have taken some kind of action to help with climate change, and 40% have used social media to address climate change in some way, along with 45% of Gen Z youth. Younger generations are also more likely to support and vote for climate change policies than older generations. Ideology and religion Ideologies, including suprahuman powers, technosalvation, and system justification, are all psychological barriers to climate change acceptance. Suprahuman powers describes the belief that humans cannot or should not interfere because they believe a religious deity will not turn on them or will do what it wants to do regardless of their intervention. Technosalvation is the ideology that technologies such as geoengineering will save us from climate change, and so mitigation behavior is not necessary. Another ideological barrier is the ideology of system justification, or the defense and justification of the status quo, so as to not “rock the boat” on a comfortable lifestyle. Comparison with others Social comparisons between individuals build social norms. These social norms then dictate how someone “should” behave in order to align with society’s ideas of “proper” behavior. This barrier also includes perceived inequity, where an individual feels they should not or do not have to act a certain way because they believe no one else acts that way. Sunk costs Financial investment in fossil fuels and other climate change inducing industries is often a reason for denial of climate change. If one accepts that these things cause climate change, they would have to lose their investment, and so continued denial is more acceptable. People are also very invested in their own behavior. Behavioral momentum, or daily habits, are one of the most important barriers to remove for climate change mitigation. Lastly, conflicting values, goals, and aspirations can interfere with the acceptance of climate change mitigation. Because many of the goals held by individuals directly conflict with climate change mitigation strategies, climate change gets pushed to the bottom of their list of values, so as to minimize the extent of its conflict. Views of others and perceived risk If someone is held in a negative light, it is not likely others will take guidance from them due to feelings of mistrust, inadequacy, denial of their beliefs, and reactance against statements they believe threaten their freedom.Several types of perceived risk can occur when an individual is considering changing their behavior to accept and mitigate climate change: functional risk, physical risk, financial risk, social risk, psychological risk, and temporal risk. Due to the perception of all of these risks, the individual may just reject climate change altogether to avoid potential risks completely. Limited behavior One type of limited behavior is tokenism, where after completing one small task or engaging in one small behavior, the individual feels they have done their part to mitigate climate change, when in reality they could be doing much more. Individuals could also experience the rebound effect, where one positive activity is diminished or erased by a subsequent activity (like walking to work all week because you are flying across the country every weekend). Conspiratorial beliefs Climate change denial is commonly rooted in a phenomenon commonly known as conspiracy theory, in which people misattribute events to a secret plot or plan by a powerful group of individuals. The development of conspiracy theories is further prompted by the proportionality bias that results from climate change — an event of mass scale and a great deal of significance — being frequently presented as a result of daily small-scale human behavior; often, individuals are less likely to believe large events of this scale can be so easily explained by ordinary details.This inclination is furthered by a variety of possible strong individually and socially grounded reasons to believe in these conspiracy theories. The social nature of being a human holds influential merit when it comes to information evaluation. Conspiracy theories reaffirm the idea that people are part of moral social groups that have the ability to remain firm in the face of deep-seated threats. Conspiracy theories also feed into the human desire and motivation to maintain one’s level of self-esteem, a concept known as self-enhancement. With climate change in particular, one possibility for the popularity of climate change conspiracy theories is that these theories knee-cap the reasoning that humans are culpable for the degradation of their own world and environment. This allows for maintenance of one’s own self-esteem, and provides strong backing for belief in conspiracy theories. These climate change conspiracy theories pass the social blame to others, which upholds both the self and the in-group as moral and legitimate, making them highly appealing to those who perceive a threat to the esteem of themselves or their group. In a similar vein, much like how conspiracy belief is linked with narcissism, it is also predicted by collective narcissism. Collective narcissism is a belief in the distinction of one’s own group whilst believing that those outside the group do not give the group enough recognition.A variety of factors related to the nature of climate change science itself also enable the proliferation of conspiratorial beliefs. Climate change is a complicated field of science for lay people to make sense of. Research has experimentally indicated that people are used to creating patterns where there are none when they perceive a loss of control in order to return the world to one they can make sense of. Research indicates that people hold stronger beliefs about conspiracies when they exhibit distress as a consequence of uncertainty, which are both prominent when it comes to climate change science. Additionally, in order to meet the psychological desire for clear, cognitive closure, the likes of is not consistently accessible to lay people regarding climate change, people often lean on conspiracy theories. Bearing this in mind, it is also crucial to note that conspiracy belief is conversely lessened in intensity when individuals have their sense of control affirmed.People with certain cognitive tendencies are also more drawn to conspiracy theories about climate change as compared to others. Aside from narcissism as previously mentioned, conspiratorial beliefs are more predominantly found in those who consistently look for meanings or patterns in their world, which often includes those who believe in paranormal activities. Climate change conspiracy disbelief is also linked with lower levels of education and analytic thinking. If a person has a predisposed inclination towards perceiving others’ actions as having been actively done willfully even when no such thing is happening, they are more likely to buy into conspiratorial thinking.Though there are numerous different specific conspiracy theories regarding climate change, there are a few consistent examples found as denoted by researchers Douglas and Sutton. Some people believe that fabricating the existence of climate change for purposes of exerting political influence, while others believe that it is being fabricated in order to alarm governments into financially supporting future research. Some people believe that climate change is a scam on behalf of environmental groups that have bribed scientists in order to protect their financial interests in renewable energy. As referenced in “The Great Global Warming Swindle” documentary from 2007, some believe global warming is a conspiracy crafted in order to promote interests in the nuclear sector. The global COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the increase of conspiratorial beliefs, contested science, skepticism, and overall denial of climate science. Researchers studying science skepticism of vaccination for COVID-19 see direct linkages between this and science skepticism for other large scale domain issues like that of climate science. Rise in contested science and misinformation in the global pandemic has had harmful effects for some, those for example that have ingested Hydroxychloroquine because of widespread misinformation.“COVID has opened everyone’s eyes to the dangers of health misinformation.” Threat to self-interest The realisation that an individual’s actions contribute to climate change can threaten their self-interest and compromise their psychological integrity. The threat to self-interest can often result in ‘denialism’- a refusal to accept and even deny the scientific evidence- manifested across all levels of society. Large organisations that have a strong vested interest in activities directly responsible for climate change, such as fossil fuel companies, may even promote climate change denial through the spread of misinformation.Denial is manifested at the individual level where it is used to protect the self from overwhelming emotional responses to climate change. This is often referred to as ‘soft denial’ or ‘disavowal’ in the relevant literature. Here the dangers of climate change are experienced in a purely intellectual way, resulting in no psychological disturbance: cognition is split off from feeling. Disavowal can be induced by a wide variety of psychological processes including: the diffusion of responsibility, rationalisation, perceptual distortion, wishful thinking and projection. These are all avoidant ways of coping. See also Barriers to pro-environmental behavior == References ==

climate change in antarctica

Temperature change due to climate change in Antarctica is not stable over the whole continent. West Antarctica is warming rapidly, while the inland regions are cooled by the winds in Antarctica. Water in the West Antarctic has warmed by 1 °C since year 1955. Further increase in temperature in water and on land will affect the climate, ice mass and life on the continent and have global implications. Present-day greenhouse gas concentrations are higher than ever according to ice cores from Antarctica, which indicates that warming on this continent is not part of a natural cycle and attributable to anthropogenic climate change. Antarctica has lost 2720 ± 1390 gigatons of ice during the period from 1992 to 2017, and extrapolated predictions are that in year 2100 the sea level will rise by 25 cm just from the water bound in ice in Antarctica. The melting of the Antarctic ice sheet, particularly the West Antarctic, will shift ocean currents and have a global impact. Climate change affects the biodiversity on the continent, although the extent of this is uncertain as many species in Antarctica remain undiscovered. There are documented changes to flora and fauna on the continent already. Changes include increase in population size in plants, and adaptation to new habitat by penguins. Increase in temperature lead to melting of permafrost, which contributes to release of greenhouse gases and chemicals that trapped in the ice. Even with goals and limitations made by the Paris Agreement it might be too late to reverse ice melting in West Antarctica, and future changes in climate in Antarctica will affect all parts of the globe. Impacts on the physical environment Temperature and weather changes Temperatures measured after year 1957 until the early 2000s show a difference in trend on the Antarctic Peninsula and the continental interior. According to a study in 2009, West Antarctica increased in temperature by 0.176 ± 0.06 °C per decade between year 1957 and 2006. Another study in year 2020 show a cooling of the air temperature by 0.7 °C per decade from year 1986 to 2006 at Lake Hoare station. Both studies indicate that change in temperature may alter the wind pattern, and according to another study in year 2020 the westerlies winds around the South Pole have got more intense in the last half of the twentieth century. Same study indicates that the Antarctic Peninsula was the fastest-warming place on Earth, closely followed by West Antarctica, but these trends weakened in the early 21st-century. Conversely, the South Pole in East Antarctica barely warmed last century, but in the last three decades the temperature increase there has been more than three times greater than the global average, warming by 0.61 ± 0.34 °C per decade. In February 2020, the continent recorded its highest temperature of 18.3 °C, which was a degree higher than the previous record of 17.5 °C in March 2015. Models predict that Antarctic temperatures will be up 4 °C, on average, by 2100 and this will be accompanied by a 30% increase in precipitation and a 30% decrease in total sea ice. A main component of climate variability in Antarctica is the Southern Annular Mode, which showed strengthened winds around Antarctica in summer of the later decades of the 20th century, associated with cooler temperatures over the continent. The trend was at a scale unprecedented over the last 600 years; the most dominant driver of this mode of variability is likely the depletion of ozone above the continent.The temperature in the upper layer of the ocean in West Antarctica has warmed 1 °C since 1955. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is warming faster than the whole global ocean. Changes to this current will not only affect Antarctica's climate but also water flow in Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean.There are natural fluctuations in climate, and by studying ice cores in Antarctica it is shown that these fluctuations are correlated to green house concentration in the atmosphere. The fluctuations are referred to glacial and interglacial periods. The concentration of carbon dioxide during glacial periods is 180 parts per million and methane 300 parts per million. During the interglacial periods the concentration is 320 parts per million for carbon dioxide and 790 parts per billion for methane. Today the concentration is 417 parts per million for carbon dioxide (April 2022) and 1,896 parts per billion for methane (April 2022), showing that concentrations today are not within normal fluctuations. Changes in ice mass A 2018 systematic review of all previous studies and data by the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) found that Antarctica lost 2720 ± 1390 gigatons of ice during the period from 1992 to 2017 with an average rate of 109 ± 56 Gt per year, enough to contribute 7.6 millimeters to sea level rise once all detached icebergs melt. Most ice losses occurred in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The study estimates an increase in ice-sheet mass loss from 53 ± 29 Gt per year to 159 ± 26 Gt per year from 1992 to the final five years of the study in the West Antarctica. On the Antarctic Peninsula average loss of ice-sheet mass is estimated to −20 ± 15 Gt per year with an increase in loss of roughly 15 Gt per year after year 2000. In both regions the loss was affected by diminution in ice thickness and floating ice shelves. The results from East Antarctica show uncertainty but estimates an average in gain of 5 ± 46 Gt ice per year during the period of the study.It is expected that Antarctic ice sheets will continue to melt and will have a profound effect on global climate. By the year 2100, 25 centimeters of water will have been added to the world's ocean, as water temperature continues to rise. Ice melt in the future will differ depending on average rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Conclusion on Paris Climate Agreement policies is that if global warming is limited to no more than 2 °C increase, the loss of ice in Antarctica will continue at a current rate until the end of the century. Although, current policies allow warming of 3 °C leading to a fast acceleration in ice loss after 2060 contributing to a global mean sea level rise of 0.5 cm per year by 2100. Scenarios that include even higher emissions will have bigger devastating effects on global mean sea level rise.The Antarctic ice sheet accounts for 90% of the world's ice volume and 70% of all freshwater on Earth. Since the 1950's , there has been a loss of 25000 km2 of ice. Global warming has resulted in rapid mass loss of the Antarctica ice sheet. A study published in 2022 revealed that glacier melting from the Antarctica ice sheet accounted for most of the total freshening occurring in the Southern Ocean. The freshening of the Southern Ocean results in increased stratification and stabilization of the ocean that would weaken overturning circulation and prevent saltier deep water from rising to the surface waters.In October 2023, a study published in Nature Climate Change projected that ocean warming at about triple the historical rate is likely unavoidable in the 21st century, with no significant difference between mid-range emissions scenarios versus achieving the most ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement—suggesting that greenhouse gas mitigation has limited ability to prevent collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Black carbon and effects on albedo Black carbon accumulated on snow and ice reduces the reflection of ice causing it to absorb more energy and accelerate melting. This can create an ice-albedo feedback loop where meltwater itself effects the acceleration of melting because of the affected surface reflection. Black carbon is considered an impurity which goes on to darken snow and other icy surfaces which leads to a reduction in the surface albedo. This causes solar energy to get absorbed at a greater rate which causes an acceleration in the melting of snow. In Antarctica black carbon has been found on Antarctic Peninsula and around Union Glacier with the highest concentrations near anthropic activities. The result of human activities in Antarctica will accelerate snowmelt on the continent, but the speed of melting will differ depending on how far black carbon and other emissions will spread, along with the size of the area that they will cover. A study from 2022 estimate that the seasonal melt during the summer period will start sooner on sites with black carbon because of the reduction in albedo reflection that ranges from 5 to 23 kg/m2. Permafrost Increasing temperatures in Antarctica also leads to melting of permafrost which can release many chemicals. Similar to how soils have a variety of chemical contaminants and nutrients in them, the permafrost in Antarctica traps similar compounds until they melt and the contaminants are released again. These released chemicals change the water chemistry of surface waters, small organisms like micro-algae consume the contaminants, and then bioaccumulation and biomagnification occur throughout the food web. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals can be found in the permafrost and the remobilization of these chemicals will likely have negative consequences on organisms which will then affect the whole ecosystem. Some of the concerning chemicals and observed biological effects are PAH's (carcinogenic, liver damage), PCB's/HCB/DDT (decreased reproductive success, immunohematological disorders), and Hg/Pb/Cd (endocrine disruption, DNA damage, immunotoxicity, reprotoxicity). Understanding what chemicals are trapped in the permafrost and their potential negative effects on Antarctic ecosystems is important because we know that many chemicals will be mobilized from the permafrost as we see increasing temperatures due to climate change. Impacts on ecology Biodiversity In 2010 according to the Register of Antarctic Marine Species, there were known to be 8,806 species that had been discovered up to that point and there could be as many as 17,000 species that live in the Antarctic which means that there are still thousands of species that have yet to be discovered and are part of what makes this biodiverse environment. Many modern molecular techniques have found some species including bivalves, isopods, and pycnogonida in the Antarctic ecosystem. The issue with studies of some of these species is that 90% of the Antarctic region is greater than 1,000 meters deep, and only 30% of the benthic sample locations were found below this depth which indicates that there is a major bias toward testing shallower areas. Cruises such as ANDEEP (Antarctic, benthic deep-sea biodiversity project) has sampled around 11% of the deep sea and they found 585 species of isopod crustaceans that were previously un-described which shows that further research of this deep sea area could really intensify the known biodiversity of the Antarctic.Another major source of biodiversity within ice communities throughout Antarctica are algal communities found located in brine channels. During the summer, the sea ice undergoes a lot of transformation when the ice begins to melt and sub-ice communities are formed. These sub-ice communities are often found in what are known as brine channels that occur when the ice slowly starts to melt and creates channels within the ice that allow for organisms such as carbon-binding algae. This is important because algae is at the base of the food-chain and with these algae, photosynthesis can occur which allows for a sustainable ecosystem and overall a more abundant food-chain. Due to a lack of human population some scientists had assumptions that Antarctic biodiversity might be unaffected by the climate change. The average global temperature has risen by 1 degree celsius since 1880 and many studies have shown that there are adverse effects occurring in biodiverse ecosystems within Antarctica. The big question is how will biodiversity react to the climate shifting even a degree more? An experiment was done to quantify the changes that may occur to the Antarctic ecosystem due to climate change and scientists predicted that if the planet were to go beyond the global mean temperature, for example 3 degrees Celsius more, the local species richness would decline by nearly 17% and the suitable climate area by 50%.Heatwave events in Antarctica are expected to increase in frequency and intensity which can result in the loss of individual species. The absence of predators in these ecosystems could trigger a trophic cascade that would lead to the extinction of secondary species. However, the presence of predators can help buffer the impacts of such warming events.Krill, which are small marine animals, are an essential component in the Antarctic food web. However their numbers are declining over time due to global warming. Their decline has dropped at an alarming rate of 80% since the 1970s. A massive decline in their population could potentially threaten major antarctic species such as penguins, whales, and seals. Plants The continental flora in Antarctica is dominated by lichens, followed by mosses and ice algae. The plants are mainly found in coastal areas in Antarctica. The only vascular plants on continental Antarctica, Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis, are found on the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of changing climatic conditions, adaptation to the new conditions is necessary for the survival of the plants. One way to deal with the problem is to perform fast growth when the conditions are favourable. High concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause climate change with increase in temperature, which leads to (I) increase in water availability, which in turn leads to (II) increase in plant colonization and (III) local-scale population expansion, which leads to (IV) increase in biomass, trophic complexity, and increased terrestrial diversity, and (V) more complex ecosystem structure, and (VI) dominance of biotic factors that drive processes in the ecosystem. Increased photosynthesis because of elevated temperatures has been shown in two maritime vascular species (Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis). Because of increased temperature, the two vascular plants have increased in population size and in their expansion range. Climate change may also have significant effects on indirect processes, for example soil nutrient availability, plant nutrient uptake, and metabolism. Increased photosynthesis has also been found in the three continental mosses Bryum argenteum, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, and Ceratodon purpureus. A drying trend is affecting terrestrial biota in East Antarctica. Drier microclimates have led to reduction in moss health. Because of acute stress, the moss colour has changed. Due to drought and other stressors, many green mosses have turned to red to brown coloration. This indicates a shift away from photosynthesis and growth towards investments in photoprotective pigments. If the environmental conditions improve, the mosses can recover. If photoprotective pigments decline relative to chlorophyll, the stressed mosses will be green again. New healthy moss plants can sprout through moribund turf. At the expense of the endemic species Schistidium antarctici, two desiccation tolerant moss species, Bryum pseudotriquetrum and Ceratodon purpureus, have increased. Significant changes that affect the lichen biota take place on young moraines in the proximity of recently uncovered areas because of retreat of glaciers. The changes in diversity of lichens depend on the humidity of the substrate and on the duration of the snow cover. Habitats that reduce the frequency of occurrence are wet or moist stony soil, rock ledges, moist mosses, and meltwater runnels. Continuous deglaciation has resulted in increased colonization by pioneer lichen species. In the maritime cliff rocks and in the proximity of large penguin colonies, the smallest changes in the lichen biota have been observed. Increase in UV-B radiation because of thinner ozone layer causes damage to cells and photosynthesis. Plants try to defend themselves against increase in ultraviolet radiation with the help of antioxidants. In UV-B exposed plants, the antioxidative enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase are synthesized. The exposed plants also synthesize the non-enzymatic antioxidants ascorbate, carotenoids, and flavonoids. All these antioxidants are also used by humans to protect themselves from the damaging effects by free radicals and reactive oxygen species. Uncertainty of the changing environmental conditions causes difficulties in adaptation and survival for species in Antarctica. Increase in temperature might lead to invasion of alien species and changes of the ecological communities in the Antarctic ecosystem. Increasing UV-B radiation already has a negative impact on Antarctic flora. Animals The marine food web in Antarctica is characterized by few trophic components and low prey diversity. The predator-prey dynamics depend on fluctuations in the relative short food chains. A few key species dominate the marine ecosystems. Antarctic krill (Euphasia superba) and ice krill (Euphasia crystallorophias) are examples of key species. They feed on phytoplankton and are the main food for fish and penguins. Shifts in the periodicity of sea ice cycles because of climate change cause mismatches between earlier phytoplankton blooms, krill development, and availability for penguins. The consequences for many penguins are increase in foraging trips and reduced breeding success. Absence of krill leads to increased population fluctuations and diet switches for penguins. As penguins are highest in the Antarctic food web, they will be severely affected by climate change, but they can respond by acclimation, adaptation, or by range shift. Range shift through dispersal leads to colonization elsewhere, but it leads local extinction. Microevolution is difficult to find for climate change because it is too slow. The most important responses to climate change in Antarctica are poleward shifts, expansion, and range contraction. Ice-obligate penguins are the most affected species, but the near threatened and ice-intolerant gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) has been benefitted. In maritime Antarctica the population of gentoo penguins is rapidly increasing. Due to regional climate changes, they have moved southwards. Now they colonise previously inaccessible territories. Gentoo penguins use mosses as nesting material. This nesting behaviour is new for southern penguin colonies in Antarctica. By dispersal and adaptive nesting behaviour, gentoo penguins have been remarkably successful in population growth. At the borders of the current geographic distributions, the most obvious responses to climate change occur. There the most likely response to climate change is range shift because adaptation and evolution in penguins are too slow. In birds phenological responses are commonly observed, for example shifts in return to breeding places and timing of egg laying. For penguins shift in penguin phenology in response to prey phenology is important. Often common environmental drivers determine the predator-prey synchrony. Climate driven fluctuations that reduce krill availability also reduce the penguin breeding success. Although gentoo penguins share their prey resource with Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) during the breeding season, there is no resource competition between the two species. This implies that current population trends in this region are governed by other factors than competition. The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), which has a long breeding season, is constrained in space and time. In the future phenological changes in penguins are likely to be limited by their genotypes. Possible ecological traps might attract ice-intolerant species to ice-free areas without foraging grounds. In the future fitness will decrease if there are no favourable conditions for life cycle events and no adaptive response. Non-native species Tourism in Antarctica has been significantly increasing for the past 2 decades with 74,401 tourists in the summer of 2019/2020. The increased human activity associated with tourism likely means there is increased opportunity for the introduction of non-native species. The potential for introduction of non-native species in an environment with rising temperatures and decreasing ice cover is especially concerning because there is an increased probability that introduced species will thrive. Climate change will likely reduce the survivability for native species, improving the chance that introduced species will thrive due to decreased competition. Policy limiting the number of tourists and the permitted activities on and around the continent which mitigate the introduction of new species and limit the disturbance to native species will help prevent the introduction and dominance by non-native species. The continued designation of protected areas like Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASMA) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMA) would be one way to accomplish this. Future impacts Even if global temperature rise is limited to the Paris Agreement's stated temperature goals of capping global mean temperature increases to 1.5–2 °C above pre-industrial levels, there is still concern that West Antarctic ice-sheet instability may be already irreversible. If a similar trajectory, still under the global temperature limit goals, persists, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet may also be at risk of permanent destabilization. It has been shown using physics-based computer modeling that even with a 2 °C reduction in global mean temperatures Antarctic ice loss could continue at the same rate as it did in the first two decades of the 21st century. Marine ice sheet instability (MISI) and marine ice cliff instability (MICI) contribute major uncertainty to the future Antarctic ice sheet mass losses. Marine parts of the ice sheet mediate glacial ice flow, and loss of marine parts of the ice sheet (like ice shelves), can accelerate loss of grounded ice. The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explains that ice sheet model simulations that remove all Antarctic ice shelves (and prevent them from reforming) show 2 to 10 meters of sea level equivalent (SLE) mass loss after 500 years due to MISI. Models show the West Antarctic Ice Sheet contributing 2 to 5 meters to this sea level rise, with the majority of the mass loss occurring in the first one to two centuries.The continued effects of climate change are likely to be felt by animal populations as well. Adélie penguins, a species of penguin found only along the coast of Antarctica, may see nearly one-third of their current population threatened by 2060 with unmitigated climate change. Emperor penguin populations may be at a similar risk, with 80% of populations being at risk of extinction by 2100 with no mitigation. With Paris Agreement temperature goals in place, however, that number may decline to 31% under the 2 °C goal or 19% under the 1.5 °C goal. Warming ocean temperatures have also reduced the amount of krill and copepods in the ocean surrounding Antarctica, which has led to the inability of baleen whales to recover from pre-whaling levels. Without a reversal in temperature increases, baleen whales are likely to be forced to adapt their migratory patterns or face local extinction.Finally, the development of Antarctica for the purposes of industry, tourism, or an increase in research facilities may put direct pressure on the continent and threaten its status as largely untouched land. Mitigation and adaptation Climate change is a global issue. Thus, the rising temperatures and associated ice and permafrost melting seen in Antarctica will only be mitigated through global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, policy efforts with regards to Antarctica have focused on adapting to climate change rather than mitigating climate change itself.One realistic way that policy can be used to address climate change effects in Antarctica is by aiming to increase climate change resilience through the protection of ecosystems. Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMA) are areas of Antarctica that are designated by the Antarctic Treaty for special protection of the flora and fauna. Both ASPAs and ASMAs restrict entry but to different extents, with ASPAs being the highest level of protection. Designation of ASPAs has decreased 84% since the 1980s despite a rapid increase in tourism which may pose additional stress on the natural environment and ecosystems. In order to alleviate the stress on Antarctic ecosystems posed by climate change and furthered by the rapid increase in tourism, much of the scientific community advocates for an increase in protected areas like ASPAs to improve Antarctica's resilience to rising temperatures. See also Antarctic sea ice Antarctica cooling controversy References Sources Fox-Kemper, Baylor; Hewitt, Helene T.; Xiao, Cunde; Aðalgeirsdóttir, Guðfinna; et al. (2021). "Chapter 9: Ocean, cryosphere, and sea level change" (PDF). IPCC AR6 WG1 2021. IPCC (2021). Masson-Delmotte, V.; Zhai, P.; Pirani, A.; Connors, S. L.; et al. (eds.). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (PDF). Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press (In Press). External links White Ocean of Ice Antarctica and climate change blog Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate. How much will sea levels rise? on YouTube published on 10 April 2019 PBS NewsHour

drawdown (book)

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming is a 2017 book created, written, and edited by Paul Hawken about climate change mitigation. Other writers include Katharine Wilkinson, and the foreword was written by (hardback edition) Tom Steyer and (paperback) Prince Charles. The book describes solutions arranged in order by broad categories: energy, food, women and girls, buildings and cities, land use, transport, materials, and "coming attractions". The book provides a list of 100 potential solutions and ranks them by the potential amount of greenhouse gases each could cut, with cost estimates and short descriptions.The Guardian notes that the author has had influence in corporate sustainability efforts and that companies such as Interface and Autodesk have backed the project. It was intended that the book be supplemented with an online database, Project Drawdown, which was to compile the numerous types of solutions. Reception Drawdown has been a New York Times bestseller and has received favorable reviews. For example, Kirkus Reviews called the book "an optimistic program for getting out of our current mess".An April 2017 video on C-SPAN described the book as "a collection of policies, plans, and active programs to reduce carbon emissions outside of the purview of the federal government". In the video, Mr. Hawken stated, "the reason we can say 'the most comprehensive plan ever proposed' is that no one's ever proposed a plan... which is sort of astonishing when you think about it." According to an article in Vox, "until 2017, there was no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have". See also Drawdown (climate) – analysis designed to operationalize themes found in the book References External links "Paul Hawken on One Hundred Solutions to the Climate Crisis". Yale E360. Retrieved 2019-09-24. www.drawdown.org, Project Drawdown headquartered in San Francisco, USA www.drawdowneurope.org the Drawdown Europe Research Association project headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

national climate assessment

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is an initiative within the U.S. federal government focused on climate change science, formed under the under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. Background The NCA is a major product of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) which coordinates a team of experts and receives input from a Federal Advisory Committee. NCA research is integrated and summarized in the mandatory ongoing National Climate Assessment Reports. The reports are "extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences. For the Third National Climate Assessment, released in 2014, USGCRP coordinated hundreds of experts and received advice from a sixty-member Federal Advisory Committee. The Fourth NCA (NCA4) was released in two volumes, in October 2017 and in November 2018. General The First National Climate Assessment was published in 2000. Between 2002 and 2009, USGCRP previously known as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), produced 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAPs). The second NCA was published in 2009 and the third was released in 2014. NCA's overarching goal according to their May 20, 2011 engagement strategy summary, "is to enhance the ability of the U.S. to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the global environment (NCA 2011:2)." The vision is to advance an inclusive, broad based, and sustained process for assessing and communicating scientific knowledge of the impacts, risks, and vulnerabilities associated with a changing global climate in support of decision-making across the U.S. According to the USGCRP official website the NCA, Informs the nation about already observed changes, the current status of the climate, and anticipated trends for the future; integrates scientific information from multiple sources and sectors to highlight key findings and significant gaps in our knowledge; establishes consistent methods for evaluating climate impacts in the U.S. in the context of broader global change, and provides input to Federal science priorities and is used by U.S. citizens, communities, and businesses as they create more sustainable and environmentally sound plans for the nation's future. In 2013, the President's Climate Action Plan released by the Executive Office of the President specifically noted the importance of the National Climate Assessments in achieving the goal of "Using Sound Science to Manage Climate Impacts".The next assessment is scheduled to be released is 2023. On August 18, 2017, a 15-member advisory committee that was tasked with writing "concrete guidance" based on the assessment was disbanded. NOAA said that the disbandment of the committee will not "impact the completion of the Fourth National Climate Assessment." Global Change Research Act The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is conducted under the auspices of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The GCRA requires a report to the President and the Congress every four years that integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP); analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and analyzes current trends in global change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years.The Federal government is responsible for producing these reports through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), a collaboration of 13 Federal agencies and departments. National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC) The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC) was a 60-person U.S. Federal Advisory Committee which oversaw the development of the draft Third NCA report and made recommendations about the ongoing assessment process. The committee was sun-set in fall 2014. The Department of Commerce established the NCADAC in December 2010 as per the Federal Advisory Committee Act (1972). 1972. The NCADAC was supported through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The successor Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, established in 2015, was sunsetted by the Trump administration on August 20, 2017. The fifteen-member committee was chaired by Richard H. Moss. National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST) In 1998, the first National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST) was formed under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Global Change Research (SGCR), through the Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources (CENR) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) with members from "government, academia, and private enterprise." Its mandate was to broadly "design and conduct" "national efforts to assess the consequences of climate variability and climate change for the United States." NAST is an advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to help the US Global Change Research Program fulfill its legal mandate under the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The NSTC forwarded the report to the President and Congress for their consideration as required by the Global Change Research Act. Administrative support for the US Global Change Research Program was provided by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation." In their 2001 assessment, the NAST concluded in the United States, "natural ecosystems appear to be the most vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change." In their 2001 report they also described long-term major trends in climate change in the twenty-first century. The first NAST co-chairs were Dr. Jerry M. Melillo of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Tony Janetos, and Thomas Karl. National Climate Assessment Reports First National Climate Assessment (NCA1) 2000 The First National Climate Assessment prepared by National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST), entitled "Climate Change Impacts on the United States: the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change", was released in 2000. The report was a multidisciplinary effort to study and portray in regional detail the potential effects of human-induced global warming on the United States. The project was articulated into some 20 regional studies - each involving dozens of scientific and academic experts as well as representatives of industry and environmental groups. Second National Climate Assessment (NCA2) 2009 The Second National Climate Assessment, entitled "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States", was published in 2009. In addition to synthesizing, evaluating, and reporting on what was known about the potential consequences of climate change, the report also sought to identify potential measures to adapt to climate change and to identify the highest research priorities for the future. Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3) 2014 The Third National Climate Assessment report entitled "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States" was delivered to the Federal Government for review in 2013 and became available to the public in May 2014. The Third NCA report was written by more than 300 authors drawn from academia; local, state, tribal, and Federal governments; and the private and nonprofit sectors. The NCADAC selected these authors based on criteria that included expertise, experience, and ensuring a variety of perspectives. After review by the NCADAC, the draft Third NCA report was released for public review and comment on January 14, 2013. By the time the public comment period closed on April 12, 2013, more than 4000 comments had been received from 644 government, non-profit, and commercial sector employees, educators, students, and the general public.Concurrently, the National Research Council, part of the National Academy of Sciences, reviewed the draft and submitted feedback. The NCADAC produced a final draft of their report and provided it to the federal government for review in late fall of 2013; a final public version of the report was released on May 6, 2014. A number of derivative products, including a printed "Highlights" document, have been produced in addition to the full interactive electronic NCA document that is available on the web.In preparation for the 2014 NCA, the USGCRP began in 2011 to call for wider participation and reinforced the long-term goal of improving climate literacy. Recruitment began in 2011 for NCAnet, a network of organizations working with the NCA, to further engage producers and users of assessment information across the United States. NCAnet was officially established and registered at the Federal Register on April 13, 2012. Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) 2017/2018 In Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) Volume 1, released in October 2017, entitled "Climate Science Special Report" (CSSR), researchers reported that "it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.": 22  A 2018 CRS cited the October 2017 CSSR: "Detection and attribution studies, climate models, observations, paleoclimate data, and physical understanding lead to high confidence (extremely likely) that more than half of the observed global mean warming since 1951 was caused by humans, and high confidence that internal climate variability played only a minor role (and possibly even a negative contribution) in the observed warming since 1951. The key message and supporting text summarizes extensive evidence documented in the peer-reviewed detection and attribution literature, including in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.": 127 : 2  Volume 2 entitled "Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States" was released on November 23, 2018. According to Volume II, "Without substantial and sustained global mitigation and regional adaptation efforts, climate change is expected to cause growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of economic growth over this century." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was "administrative lead agency" in the preparation of the Fourth National Climate Assessment. According to NOAA, "human health and safety" and American "quality of life" is "increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change". The USGCRP team that produced the report included thirteen federal agencies— NOAA, the DOA, DOC, DOD, DOE, HHS, DOI, DOS, DOT, EPA, NASA, NSF, Smithsonian Institution, and the USAID—with the assistance of "1,000 people, including 300 leading scientists, roughly half from outside the government." Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) 2023 NCA5 was published on November 14, 2023.Proposed Chapters (as of February 2022): Earth System Earth System Processes Climate TrendsNational Topics Water Energy Land Cover and Land Use Forests Ecosystems and Biodiversity Coastal Effects Oceans and Marine Resources Agriculture Built Environment Transportation Air Quality Human Health Tribal and Indigenous Peoples International Complex Systems Economics* Human Social Systems*Regions (Northeast, Southeast, U.S. Caribbean, Midwest, ... Alaska, Hawaii and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands)Response (Adaptation, Mitigation) Global Change Information System The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has established the Global Change Information System (GCIS) to better coordinate and integrate the use of federal information products on changes in the global environment and the implications of those changes for society. The GCIS is an open-source, web-based resource for traceable, sound global change data, information, and products. Designed for use by scientists, decision makers, and the public, the GCIS provides coordinated links to a select group of information products produced, maintained, and disseminated by government agencies and organizations. As well as guiding users to global change research products selected by the 13 member agencies, the GCIS serves as a key access point to assessments, reports, and tools produced by the USGCRP. The GCIS is managed, integrated, and curated by USGCRP. See also National Research Council, report on climate change Presidential Climate Action Plan State of the Climate Climate security Notes References External links U.S. Global Change Research Program, Organizational website. 2018 NCA Report volume 1 and volume 2 data, figures, and tables broken out from the 4th National Climate Assessment

2021 united nations climate change conference

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The president of the conference was UK cabinet minister Alok Sharma. Delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the third meeting of the parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (designated CMA1, CMA2, CMA3), and the 16th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP16). The conference was the first since the Paris Agreement of COP21 that expected parties to make enhanced commitments towards mitigating climate change; the Paris Agreement requires parties to carry out a process colloquially known as the 'ratchet mechanism' every five years to provide improved national pledges. The result of COP26 was the Glasgow Climate Pact, negotiated through consensus of the representatives of the 197 attending parties. Owing to late interventions from India and China that weakened a move to end coal power and fossil fuel subsidies, the conference ended with the adoption of a less stringent resolution than some anticipated. Nevertheless, the pact was the first climate deal to explicitly commit to reducing the use of coal. It included wording that encouraged more urgent greenhouse gas emissions cuts and promised more climate finance for developing countries to adapt to climate impacts.In the midst of the conference, on 6 November 2021, a march against inadequate action at the conference, as well as for other climate change-related issues, became the largest protest in Glasgow since anti-Iraq War marches in 2003. Additional rallies took place in 100 other countries. Background Presidency The United Kingdom holds the presidency of COP26 until the start of COP27. Initially, the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, Claire Perry, was appointed as president of the conference, but she was removed on 31 January 2020, several months after she had stepped down as an MP. Former Prime Minister David Cameron and former Foreign Secretary William Hague declined to take the role. On 13 February 2020, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Alok Sharma was appointed. On 8 January 2021, Sharma was succeeded by Kwasi Kwarteng as Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary and moved to the Cabinet Office, in order to focus on the presidency full-time.Nigel Topping, the former CEO of climate change action organization We Mean Business, was appointed the UK Government's High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26.Italy partnered with the UK in leading COP26. For the most part, their role was in preparatory work such as the hosting of a pre-COP session and an event for young people called Youth4Climate 2020: Driving Ambition. These events took place between 28 September and 2 October 2020 in Milan. Postponement Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020 the conference was postponed to 31 October–12 November 2021. Both host countries, Italy and the UK, were heavily affected by the pandemic, and the venue of the conference, the SEC Centre in Glasgow, was converted in May 2020 into a temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients in Scotland.Convention Secretary Patricia Espinosa tweeted that "in light of the ongoing, worldwide effects of COVID-19, holding an ambitious, inclusive, COP26 in November 2020 is not possible." She also indicated that economies restarting would be an opportunity to "shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, just, safe and more resilient." The rearranged date was announced in May 2020. Earlier in 2021, the UK and Italy hosted summits of the G7 and G20 respectively.Independent observers noted that though not directly related, the postponement gave the international community time to respond to the outcome of the United States presidential election, held in November 2020. President Donald Trump had withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement, although this could not take effect until the day after the election; while his Democratic challengers pledged to immediately rejoin and increase ambition to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Joe Biden did so upon being elected as president. At the conference, Biden apologized for Trump's withdrawal from the agreement. Sponsors Previous summits have been sponsored by fossil fuel companies. To reduce this influence, the UK government decided that sponsors "have to have real commitments in place to help them reach net zero in the near future". The first principal partners included three British energy companies and a banking and insurance company. Location and participation Before the summit councils in and around Glasgow pledged to plant 18 million trees during the following decade: the Clyde Climate Forest (CCF) is projected to increase tree coverage in the urban areas of the Greater Glasgow region to 20%.In September 2021, the conference was urged by Climate Action Network to ensure attendees would be able to attend in spite of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the months before the conference, the British government had restrictions on travel from certain countries in place, and COVID passports were required in certain venues. Critics suggested unequal deployment of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide could exclude the participation of representatives of poorer countries most affected by climate change. The UK subsequently relaxed travel rules for delegations. Only four Pacific Islands nations sent delegations due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, with most island nations compelled to send smaller teams than they otherwise would have. Organizers have in place numerous COVID-19 rules for attendees, dependent on vaccination status.On 4 June 2021, a nighttime light projection onto the Tolbooth Steeple was installed, under the Climate Clock initiative. The projected Deadline and Lifeline statistics count the time window before 1.5 °C warming would become inevitable, and the percentage of global energy delivered through renewables, respectively. The Scottish Events Campus (SEC), known as the Blue Zone, temporarily became United Nations territory: the other main venue is the Green Zone at Glasgow Science Centre.The summit was described as receiving "the cleanest electricity in the UK", as 70% was supplied from low-carbon nuclear power from plants in Torness and Hunterston B, while the rest mostly came from wind power. Medical cover The provision of medical services for the event was provided by BASICS Scotland, Amvale Medical and the Scottish Ambulance Service. The medical centre was visited by both Scottish National Clinical Director Jason Leitch and Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf during the conference. Attendees Twenty-five thousand delegates from nearly 200 countries were expected to attend, and around 120 heads of state came. Among the attendees were UN secretary-general António Guterres, United States president Joe Biden, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky Former United States president Barack Obama and English broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough, who was named COP26 People's Advocate, spoke at the summit.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke. Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš denounced the proposed European Union Fit for 55 laws, part of the European Green Deal, saying that the bloc "can achieve nothing without the participation of the largest polluters such as China or the USA".Prince Charles addressed the opening ceremony in person. Queen Elizabeth, having been advised to rest by doctors, addressed the conference by video message. Bill Gates called for a "green industrial revolution" to beat the climate crisis.The fossil fuel industry was the largest delegation at the conference, with 503 people accredited. Non-attendees In October 2021, China's leader Xi Jinping announced he would not be attending the conference in person and instead delivered a written address as the organizers did not provide an opportunity for a video address. With greenhouse gas emissions by China being the world's largest, Reuters said this made it less likely the conference would result in a significant climate deal. However, a Chinese delegation led by climate change envoy Xie Zhenhua did attend. The 2021 global energy crisis intensified pressures on China ahead of the summit. The prime ministers or heads of state of South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Malaysia and Vatican City also did not attend the meeting.Russian president Vladimir Putin said his non-attendance was due to concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi did not attend; a formal request had been made by Struan Stevenson and Iranian exiles of the National Council of Resistance of Iran to the Scotland police, to arrest Raisi for crimes against humanity if he attended based on the legal concept of universal jurisdiction. Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman also did not attend the summit. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who faced international condemnation over rising deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, also decided not to attend the summit personally.The non-attendance of both Putin and Xi received criticism from U.S. president Joe Biden and former American president Barack Obama.Myanmar and Afghanistan were entirely absent; both countries had their UN-recognized governments ousted militarily in 2021. The Myanmar military junta was blocked from entry to the summit. Six exiled Afghan climate experts had their applications rejected by the UNFCCC. Additionally, the island nation of Kiribati did not send participants, while fellow island nations Vanuatu and Samoa registered but did not send a delegation. Ratchet mechanism Under the Paris Agreement, countries submitted pledges called nationally determined contributions, to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Under the framework of the Paris Agreement, each country is expected to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions every five years, to ratchet up the ambition to mitigate climate change. When the Paris Agreement was signed at COP21, the conference of 2020 was set to be the first ratcheting up. Even though the 2020 conference was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of countries still had not updated their pledges by early October 2021. Collective progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement in mitigation, adaptation and finance flows and means of implementation and support will be measured by global stocktakes, the first of which is due to be completed in 2023. Outcomes On 13 November 2021, the participating 197 countries agreed to a new deal, known as the Glasgow Climate Pact, aimed at staving off dangerous climate change.The pact "Reaffirms the Paris Agreement temperature goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels" and "Recognizes that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around midcentury, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gases." However, achieving the target is not ensured, as with existing pledges the emissions in the year 2030 will be 14% higher than in 2010.The final agreement explicitly mentions coal, which is the single biggest contributor to climate change. Previous COP agreements have not mentioned coal, oil or gas, or even fossil fuels in general, as a driver, or major cause of climate change, making the Glasgow Climate Pact the first ever climate deal to explicitly plan to reduce unabated coal power. The wording in the agreement refers to an intention to "phase down" use of unabated coal power, rather than to phase it out. From this wording it implicitly follows that utilizing coal power with "abation" (net-zero emission), e.g. by neutralizing the resulting carbon dioxide via the CO2-to-stone process, need not be reduced. However this carbon capture and storage is too expensive for most coal fired power stations.Over 140 countries pledged to reach net-zero emissions. This includes 90% of global GDP. More than 100 countries, including Brazil, pledged to reverse deforestation by 2030.The final text of the Glasgow Climate Pact include a call to: "accelerating efforts towards... phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies". 34 countries with several banks and financial agencies pledged to stop international funding for "unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022, except in limited and clearly defined circumstances that are consistent with a 1.5°C warming limit and the goals of the Paris Agreement" and increase financing of more sustainable projects, including Canada – the main provider of such finances, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – the biggest financers in European Union.More than 40 countries pledged to move away from coal.The United States and China reached an agreement about cooperation on measures to stop climate change, including lowering methane emissions, phasing out the use of coal, and forest conservation.39 countries and institutions signed the Glasgow Statement, an international agreement to shift international public finance away from fossil fuels towards clean energy. If implemented properly, the Glasgow Statement will shift $28 billion per year from fossil fuels to clean energy.India promised to draw half of its energy requirement from renewable sources by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2070.Governments of 24 developed countries and a group of major car manufacturers such as GM, Ford, Volvo, BYD Auto, Jaguar Land Rover, and Mercedes-Benz have committed to "work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets". Major car manufacturing nations like China, the US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea, as well as Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi, Stellantis, Honda, and Hyundai had not signed up to the pledge.New pledges for financial help for climate change mitigation and adaptation were announced.Climate Action Tracker on 9 November 2021, described the results as follows: the global temperature will rise by 2.7 °C by the end of the century with current policies. The temperature will rise by 2.4 °C if only the pledges for 2030 are implemented, by 2.1 °C if the long-term targets are also achieved and by 1.8 °C if all the announced targets are fully achieved.The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) announced that financial institutions controlling $130 trillion were now signed up to ‘net zero’ emissions pledges by 2050. Negotiations The world leaders' summit was on 1 and 2 November, with each leader giving a national statement.An important goal of the conference organizers is to keep a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) temperature rise within reach. According to the BBC, negotiators who may be key to the dealmaking include Xie Zhenhua, Ayman Shasly, Sheikh Hasina and Teresa Ribera.China said it aims to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2060. It was asked to set a clear earlier date as this would have a very large "positive impact" on the Paris Agreement targets. Officials later said the 2030 target was something to "strive to" and not something to be ensured. Deforestation Leaders of more than 100 countries with around 85% of the world's forests, including Canada, Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United States, agreed to end deforestation by 2030, improving on a similar 2014 agreement by now including Brazil, Indonesia, businesses and more financial resources. Signatories of the 2014 agreement, the New York Declaration on Forests, pledged to half deforestation by 2020 and end it by 2030, however in the 2014-2020 period deforestation increased.Indonesia's environment minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar stated that "forcing Indonesia to zero deforestation in 2030 is clearly inappropriate and unfair". Article 6 Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which describes rules for an international carbon market (such as for trees in the deforestation agreement) and other forms of international cooperation, is being discussed as it is the last piece of the rulebook remaining to be finalized. Although the parties have agreed in principle to avoid double counting of emission reduction across more than one country's greenhouse gas inventory, exactly how much double counting will actually occur remains unclear. Carrying forward pre-2020 Kyoto carbon credits will be discussed, but is highly unlikely to be agreed. Therefore, Article 6 rules could make a big difference to future emissions. Finance Climate finance for adaptation and mitigation was one of the principal topics of negotiation. Poor countries want more money for adaptation, whereas donors prefer to finance mitigation as that has a chance of making a profit. Appointed to the role of Climate Finance Adviser was Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England. The Paris agreement included US$100 billion annually in finance by 2020 for developing countries. However, wealthy countries failed to live up to that promise, with members of the OECD behind in their commitments and unlikely to reach the agreed amount before 2023. A group of large finance companies committed to net zero portfolios and loan books by 2050. Scotland became the first country to contribute to a loss and damage fund. Coal South Africa is set to receive $8.5 billion to end its reliance on coal, details are sparse regarding capping mines, exports and local community support for the workers in the industry. Countries including Chile, Poland, Ukraine, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam also agreed to phase out coal in the 2030s for major economies, and the 2040s for poorer nations. These nations include some of the world's most intensive users of coal. However they do not include the world's largest users of the fuel, China, India, and the United States of America. Japan is to invest $100 million in the transformation of fossil-fired plants into ones based on ammonia and hydrogen fuel. Methane The US and many other countries agreed to limit methane emissions. More than 80 countries signed up to a global methane pledge, agreeing to cut emissions by 30% by the end of the decade. The US and European leaders say tackling the potent greenhouse gas is crucial to keeping warming limited to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Australia, China, Russia, India and Iran did not sign the deal, but it is hoped more countries will join later.Russia demanded sanction relief on green investment projects for energy companies such as Gazprom. Russia's climate envoy Ruslan Edelgeriyev accused Western countries of hypocrisy for urging Russia "to reduce methane leakages and yet we have Gazprom under sanctions". Net-zero targets Many attendees committed to net-zero carbon emissions, with India and Japan making specific commitments at the conference. India, the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide by jurisdiction, set the latest target date planning to be net-zero by 2070. Japan is to offer up to $10 billion in additional funding to support decarbonization in Asia. Earlier in October, China – the largest emitter of carbon dioxide by jurisdiction – had committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, and it was believed by the British government that India would issue a similar commitment. However, this was the first time that a date for carbon neutrality had been given as part of India's climate policy. Green hydrogen has emerged as one of the major areas where companies can collaborate to help decarbonize hard to abate industries. Adaptation Big city mayors concerned about climate – the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group – such as Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, called for more urban climate adaptation, especially in low-income countries. Socioeconomic transformation Agriculture 45 countries, including the UK, U.S., Japan, Germany, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Vietnam, Philippines, Gabon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uruguay, pledged to give more than $4 billion for transition to sustainable agriculture. The organization "Slow Food" expressed concern about the effectivity of the spendings, as they concentrate on technological solutions and reforestation in place of "a holistic agroecology that transforms food from a mass-produced commodity into part of a sustainable system that works within natural boundaries". Transportation The conference placed electric vehicles and pledges for vehicle electrification at the centre, including the electric OX truck, while, according to activists, better investment and political will for sustainable transport modes have not been forced through with the focus not being on public transport and cycling. Fossil fuels A draft text published on 10 November asked governments to accelerate phase-outs and desubsidization of fossil fuels, the largest source of (anthropogenic) global greenhouse gas emissions, but was opposed by several countries with large fossil fuels based economic sectors. Reception Beforehand and at the outset Business leaders and politicians including Jeff Bezos, Prince Charles, Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Angela Merkel who travelled to Glasgow in private airplanes were accused of hypocrisy by commentators and campaigners. Event planners, however, insisted that the conference would be carbon-neutral. Around 400 private jets arrived at Glasgow for the talks.In October 2021, the BBC reported that a huge leak of documents revealed that Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia were among countries asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels. It also showed that some wealthy nations (including Switzerland and Australia) were questioning paying more to poorer states to move to greener technologies. The BBC reported that the lobbying raised questions for the COP26 climate summit. The Australian government has been criticized for hosting a fossil fuel company at the summit, not enhancing its ambitions closer to its capacities, not pledging to reduce methane emissions and not pledging to phase out coal.In an interview shortly before the conference, Greta Thunberg, asked how optimistic she was that the conference could achieve anything, responded "Nothing has changed from previous years really. The leaders will say 'we'll do this and we'll do this, and we will put our forces together and achieve this', and then they will do nothing. Maybe some symbolic things and creative accounting and things that don't really have a big impact. We can have as many COPs as we want, but nothing real will come out of it." Queen Elizabeth II voiced concerns in a private conversation overheard via a hot mic, saying: "It's really irritating when they talk, but they don't do." Protests By 1 November, at the outset of the conference, the climate change activist Greta Thunberg criticized the summit at a protest in Glasgow with members from the organization Fridays for Future, saying "This COP26 is so far just like the previous COPs and that has led us nowhere. They have led us nowhere."On 5 November, a Fridays for Future protest at which Thunberg spoke gathered thousands of people, largely schoolchildren. Attendees supported more immediate and far-reaching action on climate change. Glasgow City Council and most neighbouring councils stated that students would not be punished if parents informed their schools of the absence. On 6 November—the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice—around 100,000 people joined a march in Glasgow, according to BBC News, with coaches and group cycle rides organized for participants to travel from around the United Kingdom. The protests were the largest in Glasgow since anti-Iraq War marches in 2003. A London march drew 10,000 people according to police and 20,000 according to organizers. The Times anticipated that total participants would number over two million. An additional 100 marches took place elsewhere in the country, with a total of 300 protests across 100 countries, according to The Guardian. On 8 November, Fridays for Future activists including Dominika Lasota and Nicole Becker held a protest prior to a speech by former US president Barack Obama, arguing that he had failed to fulfill his promise to provide US$100 billion in climate funding to developing countries. The protestors held banners stating, "Show us the money".Vanessa Nakate and indigenous activists gave speeches at Glasgow. Issues highlighted by protesters included putting corporate interests at the forefront and politicians' failure to address the climate emergency with the required urgency as well as its underlying causes. Kahnawake Mohawk people, ecology scientists, vegan activists, trade unionists and socialists were present at marches. Event organisation One intended participant, the Israeli energy minister Karine Elharrar, was unable to attend on 1 November due to wheelchair accessibility issues.The sustainability of the COP26 menu was criticized by the animal and climate justice group Animal Rebellion, with almost 60% of the menu being meat and dairy based, and dishes labelled as high-carbon being served at food stands. The head of catering at COP26, Lorna Wilson, said that staff had been "working towards" a catering strategy of 95% food from the UK and 5% from abroad. Wilson said the menu was 40% plant-based and 60% vegetarian overall. The event eliminated single-use cups and plastics.There was concern about the inclusion and influence of large delegations of industries, particularly big polluting companies, and financial organizations involved in the causes of greenhouse gas emissions at the conference. Further criticism Further criticisms of the results include that it needs not only commitments but also clear directions for mitigation and adaptation and robust mechanisms put in place for the relevant parties to be held accountable to their commitments. CNBC, BBC, Axios, and CBS News found that financial firms are not prevented from making private investments in fossil fuels, that there is a lack of focus on and transparency of the quality – rather than quantity or amounts – of pledges, that ending deforestation by 2030 is too late, that countries need to publish comprehensive policy-plans on how they will achieve their targets, and that the pledges are not mandatory, with no punishment mechanisms getting established at the conference and apparent content with a "self-regulation" approach for relevant organizations. According to critics, such issues could turn the conference into a "greenwashing" event of empty promises.There is a criticism about the lack of people from most affected people and areas. Kaossara Sani became one of the persons who came from this place and sent her criticism by sending her manifesto to Forbes about what happened in Sahel and her criticism to COP26.Academicians and practitioners on the field have floated several missing links of COP26 particularly the approach to climate change, disasters and public health consequences stemming from the meeting and how the neglect of healthcare will impact the Asia Pacific Region as a whole. Misinformation According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and a network of journalism organizations, the COP meeting became a target for climate misinformation, prominently "narratives of delay". Results On 9 November, Climate Action Tracker reported that the global human civilization is on track for a 2.7 °C temperature increase in the Earth system by the end of the century with current policies. The temperature will rise by 2.4 °C if the pledges for 2030 will be implemented, by 2.1 °C if the long-term targets will be implemented also and by 1.8 °C if in addition all the targets in discussion will be fully implemented. Current targets for 2030 remain "totally inadequate". Coal and natural gas consumption are the main cause for the gap between pledges and policies. They assessed pledges by 40 countries that account for 85% of pledged net-zero emissions cuts and found that only polities responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions – EU, UK, Chile and Costa Rica – have pledged a set of targets that they rated to be "acceptable" for comprehensiveness and for having a published detailed official policy‑plan that describes the steps and ways by which these targets could be realized.On 10 November, it was reported that the United States and China agreed on a framework to reduce carbon emissions by cooperating on measures to lower the use of methane, phase out the use of coal and increased protection of forests.On 11 November, the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC), a group of 22 countries including China and India, asked for the commitment to mitigation to be entirely removed from the draft text, as they apparently argue that developing countries should not be held to the same deadlines as wealthier nations. The request was criticized as illogical and self-defeating as it would end up harming people in developing countries the most and an article in the Daily Beast described the request as an attempt by China to sabotage the draft commitment. China was responsible for around 27% of the world's current GHG emissions in 2019. See also 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference Politics of climate change Climate change in the United Kingdom 2021 in climate change References Further reading "Vietnam Releases Guidance on Implementation of COP26 Commitments". Mayer Brown. 11 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022. "COP26: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Glasgow". Carbon Brief. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2021. External links Official website UNFCCC BBC IPCC Reports Fringe Events

list of climate change video games

A climate change video game, also known as a global warming game, is a type of serious game. As a serious game, it attempts to simulate and explore real life issues to educate players through an interactive experience. The issues particular to a global warming video game are usually energy efficiency and the implementation of green technology as ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus counteract global warming. Global warming games include traditional board games, video games, and other varieties such as role-playing and simulation-assisted multiplayer games. Concept The primary objectives of global warming games are threefold: To develop the player's familiarity and knowledge of the issue of global warming and related issues To make the player aware of the challenges and obstacles that are faced when addressing global warming Occasionally, the games encourage players to develop ideas and solutions to global warmingThe first objective is universal to global warming games. The issues surrounding global warming commonly included are CO2 emissions and the emission of other greenhouse gases, the melting of the polar ice caps, sea-level rise, natural disasters and massive changes to lifestyles caused by global warming. Games that do not go beyond the objective of knowledge and familiarity tend to be designed for younger audiences. Games designed for young children often only have the goal to engage the children enough to excite their attention to focus on these basic concepts. The second objective is integrated into games in a variety of ways. Sometimes demonstrating the challenges of confronting global warming are put directly into the style of gameplay, e.g. to demonstrate the difficulty of international cooperation, players are made to represent different countries and are required to negotiate to fulfill game objectives. Other times, the game includes the challenges as a part of the mechanics, e.g. building 'green factories' is more expensive than building 'black factories.' The final objective is shared by the most interactive and engaging global warming games. Developing solutions to global warming includes two major types of response: mitigation of emissions and global warming's effects, and adaptation to live sustainably in a new climate. Typically players are given a variety of different options so that they may come up with a number of different creative solutions. Sometimes players are even allowed freedom to create their own unique options to integrate into their strategy. Design Climate change games are can be differentiated from other games that depict climate change for entertainment. As a type of serious game, climate change games often engage players with action-oriented goals and explicit challenges relating to the environment to encourage feedback and learning. Impact Climate change games have been identified as a useful educational tool. Meya & Eisenack identified a climate change game as a useful source of experiential learning, with a positive association with student views on political and international co-operation to address climate change. Pfirman et al. observed a game to have higher engagement and as effective in teaching and assessing content on climate change as reading an illustrated article.However, more work is needed to confirm the extent of the impact of climate change games to broader audiences. Kwok notes that educational games may have a bias as they attract players that are already informed and concerned about climate change. Razali et al. have also observed that many climate change games are small and lack the sophistication to inform players on more complex aspects of climate change, such as the carbon cycle. History Climate change games were initially categorized as a subset of simulation video games relating to political and environmental issues. Ulrich identified 31 titles in 1997, with most games intended to instruct a professional or educational audience. A 2013 review by Reckien & Eisenack observed that the number and sophistication of climate change games accelerated in the late 2000s. Notable examples Act to Adapt Act to Adapt, developed by PLAN International, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, and the Philippines Red Cross, is a giant board game that divides 10-30 players into a ‘community team’ and a ‘hazard team.’ The community team must prioritize and protect vulnerable community resources from the hazard team, which represents extreme weather events which become more intense and frequent with each round. The game was created as part of the Y-adapt curriculum, intended to help children understand climate change. Adaptation board game Adaptation board game from Adaptation Scotland is, as the name suggests, a board game for teams of people using dice to move around the board, landing on squares which either cost money or save money due to destructive weather and adaptation investments. At the end of the game, the team with the most money wins. Adaptation Scotland would like players to play after experiencing their “Introduction to Adaptation” presentation, which is regularly updated. Interested parties can request the most recent version by emailing Adaptation Scotland. Cantor's World Cantor's World, created by UNESCO MGIEP (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development) and Fields of View, requires players to act as countries’ chief policymakers, and to set sustainable development goals and then invest in policies to realize those goals. Players are able to see the results of their policies in Gross National Development, Human Development Index and Inclusive Wealth Index, and it focuses on Sustainability Goal #13, “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. The game is intended to be played in universities by students of public policy, economics, and sustainability studies. As of 2023, this game is only available through universities. Carbon City Zero Carbon City Zero is a global warming game published by the climate action charity Possible in January 2021.The game is a collaborative deck-building card game for 1-4 people in which players take on the role of city mayors working to develop sustainable cities by greening transport, transforming industries, and getting their citizens on board. Since its release on Kickstarter, the game has been made available as a free print-and-play download via PnP Arcade and as an online game on Tabletopia. Climate Action Simulation Climate Action Simulation is an interactive, role-playing game co-developed by Climate Interactive, the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, and the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative. for groups to explore the different stakeholders and solutions that need to cooperate in order to take action on climate change. It uses the En-ROADS simulator, allowing participants to assess the impacts of different solutions to climate change. The game mimics a United Nations emergency climate summit to develop a plan limiting global warming through collaboration between government, business, and civil society representatives. Climate Adaptation Game Climate Adaptation Game was developed by Swedish National Knowledge Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Linköping University. In a review published by the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, the authors wrote that “aims to provide an experience of the impact of climate adaptation measures, and illustrates links with selected Agenda 2030 goals, which the player has to consider, while limiting impacts of hazardous climate events. The game design builds on the key goals in Education for Sustainable Development combining comprehensive views, action competence, learner engagement and pluralism. This study draws on game sessions and surveys with high school students in Sweden, and aims to assess to what extent different aspects of the game can support an increased understanding of the needs and benefits of adaptation actions.” Climate Challenge Climate Challenge is a Flash-based simulation game produced by the BBC and developed by Red Redemption Ltd. Players manage the economy and resources of the 'European Nations' as its president, while reducing emissions of CO2 to combat climate change and managing crises. Climate Challenge is an environmental serious game, designed to give players an understanding of the science behind climate change, as well as the options available to policy makers and the difficulties in their implementation. Coral Bleaching Coral Bleaching is a simple online game for young children. Players can experiment with the effects of changing the temperature, level of pollution and storms on bleaching coral. Crabby's Reef Crabby's Reef is a classic arcade-style game created at SeriousGeoGames Lab in the Energy and Environment Institute at the University of Hull, UK. Players search for food and avoid predators. As they advance, they move into a future where increasing ocean acidity makes survival more difficult. Cranky Uncle The Cranky Uncle game was developed by Monash University scientist John Cook, in collaboration with creative agency Goodbeast. It uses cartoons and critical thinking to counter climate change denial. It is available for free on iPhone, Android, and as a browser game. CrowdWater game CrowdWater game is based on data from the CrowdWater app. comes from the Hydrology and Climate group (H2K) within the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich. App users contribute photos of water levels worldwide. Photo pairs from the same site can then be compared to each other in the CrowdWater game to verify the incoming data and to improve the quality of water level time series. Players can earn points, and every month they can win prizes. Software company SPOTTERON developed and maintains the app and handles legal aspects of collecting such data. Dissolving Disasters Dissolving Disasters was designed for the Rockefeller Foundation Workshop Series on Resilience, held in New York City during July and August 2011. This game was developed with support from the American Red Cross (International Services Team), and from a research grant to the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN Action Lab Innovation Fund). Played in an open, rectangular space where players have room to walk, participants act as subsistence farmers facing changing risks due to climate change. EcoChains EcoChains, a board game designed by Joey J. Lee and Stephanie Pfirman and published by Jogolabs, requires players to use action cards to prevent climate change from destroying Artic food chains. Energy Transition Game The Energy Transition Game, intended for a wide range of stakeholders, from financial institutions and government officials to non-government organizations and community members, takes players through the process of developing a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in spite of resistance against such change. Fate of the World Fate of the World is a 2011 Microsoft Windows and Mac OS game developed and published by Red Redemption, the developers of Climate Challenge. It focuses on global governance, with goals ranging from improving living conditions in Africa, to preventing catastrophic climate change, to exacerbating it. It is based around an intricate model of populations, economic production and greenhouse emissions based on real-world data. Flower Flower is a video game developed by Thatgamecompany and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was designed by Jenova Chen and Nicholas Clark and was released in February 2009 on the PlayStation 3, via the PlayStation Network. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game were ported by Bluepoint Games and released in November 2013. An iOS version was released in September 2017, and a Windows version was released in February 2019, both published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was intended as a "spiritual successor" to Flow, a previous title by Chen and Thatgamecompany. In Flower, the player controls the wind, blowing a flower petal through the air using the movement of the game controller. Flying close to flowers results in the player's petal being followed by other flower petals. Approaching flowers may also have side-effects on the game world, such as bringing vibrant color to previously dead fields or activating stationary wind turbines. The game features no text or dialogue, forming a narrative arc primarily through visual representation and emotional cues. Flower was primarily intended to arouse positive emotions in the player, rather than to be a challenging and "fun" game. This focus was sparked by Chen, who felt that the primary purpose of entertainment products like video games was the feelings that they evoked in the audience and that the emotional range of most games was very limited. The team viewed their efforts as creating a work of art, removing gameplay elements and mechanics that were not provoking the desired response in the players. The music, composed by Vincent Diamante, dynamically responds to the player's actions and corresponds with the emotional cues in the game. Flower was a critical success, to the surprise of the developers. Reviewers praised the game's music, visuals, and gameplay, calling it a unique and compelling emotional experience. It was named the "best independent game of 2009" at the Spike Video Game Awards, and won the "Casual Game of the Year" award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Gender and Climate Game Gender and Climate Game is an experiential learning and communication game for teaching the different vulnerabilities of women and men facing climate change. Similar to the Dissolving Disasters game from the same source (see above), players first take on the role of subsistence farmers facing changing risks, and then experience how that role changes with a change of gender. The game was developed with support from the American Red Cross (International Services Team), and from a research grant to the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN Action Lab Innovation Fund). Go Goals! Go Goals!, created by United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, is a board game available in multiple languages that is intended to help children understand the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Greenhouse Gas Game The Greenhouse Gas Game is part of the Y-adapt curriculum intended to help children understand climate change. The game was created by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, and the Philippines Red Cross. Players act as either incoming sunlight heat or as greenhouse gasses to learn how those gasses trap heat, and how that is related to global warming, as well as the hazardous effects of global warming. Invest in the Future Invest in the Future, based on the Flexible Forward-thinking Decision-Making game originally designed by Antidote Games and developed with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre for use with district planners, is a card game combining strategy and story-telling to inspire players to consider climate change as they make sustainable investment choices. It has been redesigned as an experiential learning game for young people in Southeast Asia by the enGAgeMEnt Lab at Emerson College, in collaboration with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Keep Cool Keep Cool is a board game created by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and published by the German company Spieltrieb in November 2004. Up to six players representing the world's countries compete to balance their own economic interests and the world's climate in a game of negotiation. The goal of the game as stated by the authors is to "promote the general knowledge on climate change and the understanding of difficulties and obstacles, and "to make it available for a board game and still retain the major elements and processes." A quantitative-empirical study with more than 200 students shows that Keep Cool facilitates experimental learning about climate change and helps "to develop individual beliefs about sustainable development by experiencing complex system dynamics that are not tangible in everyday life." LogiCity LogiCity is an interactive Flash-based virtual-reality based computer game, produced by Logicom and the National Energy Foundation, an English charity. The game is set in a 3D virtual city with five main activities where players are set the task of reducing the carbon footprint of an average resident. At the end of the game they are taken forward to 2066 to see if they have done enough to save England from the worst problems associated with global climate change. The game's conclusion and focus on 2066 is designed to bring home to players the reality of the changes they may face in their lifetime. In response to low interest in the game, there was an online discussion about revamping the game to make the game and players larger.The game was created as part of Defra's (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Climate Challenge programme to increase public awareness of Climate Change across the country. The National Energy Foundation, Logicom and British Gas also provided support to the game's development. LogiCity is designed to be used both by individuals and in an educational context. It is stated to be suitable for most children from the ages of 10 or 11 upward (English KS3+), although the main target group is young adults aged 16–26. Master that Disaster Master that Disaster was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based on a disaster risk financing game created for the World Bank Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance (DRFI) Program. Players take the role of subsistence farmers, who face changing risks as a result of climate change. They must make individual and collective decisions and then learn the consequences of those decisions. The game is intended for disaster managers, policy makers, and donors, and it should be played in a large room with tables and chairs. Minions of Disruption In the board game Minions of Disruption, developed by Shu Liang, the founder and director of Day of Adaptation, players are colleagues in organizations or neighbors from the same community combating climate minions, Carbions and Climmies, that cause climate change. Players cooperate to activate Zillians, superheros who provide organizations with resilience for a sustainable future. New Shores: a Game for Democracy New Shores: a Game for Democracy, developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions (CRS) sets players on an imaginary island with a lush forest canopy over useful coal deposits that could improve the island's economy. They can either collaborate democratically to achieve the best outcome for all, or serve their own needs, disregarding the welfare of the rest of the island's inhabitants with attendant consequences. Paying for Predictions Support for developing the Paying for Predictions game came from the American Red Cross International Services Team, and from a research grant to the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN Action Lab Innovaton Fund). In a room furnished with tables and chairs, players act as humanitarian workers facing changing climate risks and making individual and collective decisions with consequences. Players can win as individuals or groups: the individual winner has the most resources remaining at the end of the game, and the group winner has the fewest humanitarian crises. The game is intended for a range of professions: disaster managers, volunteers, branch officers, meteorological service authorities, donors, etc. PHUSICOS NBS simulation The PHUSICOS NBS (Nature Based Solutions) simulation was created by the Centre for Systems Solutions (CRS) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) with funding from European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The game is intended for a variety of users, including educators, sustainability experts, public administrators, and members of local communities, and it simulates how nature-based solutions may be developed by stakeholders with varying interests and worldviews. Role playing requires players to consider climate change issues from other stakeholder's viewpoints. Ready Ready, which was developed with help from the American Red Cross International Services Team and a research grant to the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN Action Lab Innovation Fund) is a physical game intended for community members with assistance from disaster managers and volunteers to inspire conversations about location-specific disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction. Rescue Polar Bears Rescue Polar Bears is a board game designed by Darren Black and Huang Yi Ming with art by Collin Wang. Players co-operate with each other by choosing actions and card effects in order to save all the polar bears before the ice they stand on melts. Each player chooses a ship representing a nation, and different ships have different abilities. Shocks and Shields Shocks and Shields was modified by The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre from an activity introduced by the Applied Improvisation Network, and it is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Players experience having to migrate following climate shocks, and the game is intended to create a sense of bonding among participants. Stabilization wedge game The Stabilization Wedge Game, or what is commonly referred to as simply the "wedge game", is a serious game produced by Princeton University's Carbon Mitigation Initiative. The goal of the game creators, Stephen W. Pacala and Robert H. Socolow, is to demonstrate that global warming is a problem which can be solved by implementing today's technologies to reduce CO2 emissions. The object of the game is to keep the next fifty years of CO2 emissions flat, using seven wedges from a variety of different strategies which fit into the stabilization triangle. Survive the Century Survive the Century is a game created in part by Climate Interactive and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in North Carolina, along with other partners. The game takes players through different climate action scenarios and their impacts using science to educate players about the climate-related political, environmental, and social choices humans will face over the next century. It can be played online or via the book version. The 30-Day Minimalism Game Developed by The Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, The 30-Day Minimalism Game requires two or more people to minimize their belongings over the course of a month. Each person gets rid of one thing on the first day of the month, two things on the second, three things on the third, and so on. Each material possession must leave the home by midnight each day. The winner is whoever keeps it going the longest wins. The Climate Game Created by The Financial Times and Infosys challenges players to cut energy-related carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2050. Central to the game's structure was the Net Zero By 2050 report from the International Energy Agency.The game's questions follow the three pathways the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2021 report used for cutting emissions, and they relate to electricity, transport, buildings and industry: the four sectors principally responsible for energy-related CO2 emissions. Answers have a direct impact on both emissions and global temperatures. The Road to 10 Gigatons Developed by Max Pisciotta, Cassandra Xia and John Sanchez, The Road to 10 Gigatons is an interactive online game requiring players to experiment with different atmospheric carbon removal solutions. This is a simple, one-page game, where players move the marker on different types of carbon removal systems to see what what combination would be necessary to remove 10 Gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere by 2050, as recommended by the IPCC. The World's Future The World's Future, developed by the Centre for Systems Solutions (CRS) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), is a card-driven board game intended for everyone from public administrators and members of non-governmental organizations to youths. Players consider tradeoffs, such as whether it's possible to provide food for all without exceeding the boundaries of natural ecosystems, or how we might increase climate change mitigation while generating enough energy to meet everyone's basic essential needs. Urban Climate Architect Urban Climate Architect, created by the Hamburg University Cluster of Excellence CliSAP, is an online climate game specific to the challenges of urban settings. Players can develop the city, adding buildings for residence, commerce and industry as well as natural spaces like parks and ponds while noting the effects such changes have on the city's climate. World Climate Simulation The World Climate Simulation game from Climate Interactive, the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, and the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, is an in-person role-playing exercise of the UN climate change negotiations. Participants learn how nations can address global climate change with the help of Climate Interactive's C-ROADS simulator, which allows users to analyze the results of the game. Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge The Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge is a collaborative effort between Microsoft and Games for Change (G4C), a subgroup of the Serious Games Initiative. The challenge is a worldwide competition to develop a global warming game with Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express software. Winners will be awarded scholarships from Games for Change and Microsoft, and the winning games will have the possibility of being available for download on the Xbox Live Arcade service. The Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge has been cast by Microsoft as a "socially-minded" initiative, joining the larger serious games movement. Suzanne Seggerman, a co-founder of Games for Change, shared these comments in a radio interview: Think about how this next generation of kids could be inspired to be environmentalists and humanitarians. You know I'd like to see also, a thousand little game seeds planted. Not all the games are going to get prizes and not even that many are going to get recognized. But think of this new generation of game-makers and game innovators we're reaching. All these kids who've perhaps never even considered the impact of the environment are going to be getting knee deep in environmental issues. That's really exciting. You know kids really respond to this medium of video games in a way they don't to a newspaper or a heavy documentary. And I think that's the key. It's that we're reaching them on their own turf. See also Climate change in popular culture == References ==

climate council

The Climate Council is Australia's leading climate change communications non-profit organisation and was formed to provide independent, authoritative information on climate change and its solutions to the Australian public. It advocates reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was created by former members of the Climate Commission after it was abolished by the Abbott government in 2013. It is funded by donations from the public. Background The Australian Government, under the ruling Labor Party, formed the Climate Commission in February 2011 to act as an independent advisory group to report on the science of climate change. Following the Australian federal election in September 2013, the Labor Party lost power to the Liberal/National coalition, with Tony Abbott installed as Prime Minister. On 19 September 2013, Abbott instructed his ministers to disband the Climate Commission. Among the reasons given for closing the Commission were to "streamline government processes and avoid duplication of services", and to save the A$1.6 million per year spent in operating the Commission. Responsibility for advising the government on climate change was consolidated under the Bureau of Meteorology. Formation Following the announcement that the Climate Commission was to be wound up, there was a public movement calling for its immediate reinstatement. Former chief commissioner of the Climate Commission, Tim Flannery, along with current CEO and co-founder, Amanda McKenzie, announced on 23 September 2013 that an independent non-profit organisation, the Climate Council, would be launched in its place. The founders of the Climate Council were all former commissioners of the disbanded Climate Commission, including Flannery, Veena Sahajwalla, Lesley Hughes, Will Steffen, and Gerry Hueston. Andrew Stock later joined as the sixth Climate Councillor. The Climate Council now has 11 Councillors - experts in a range of fields including climate science, biology, health, bushfires, business, energy, public policy, and more. Additional Climate Councillors who joined the Council include Greg Mullins, Greg Bourne, Hilary Bambrick, Joëlle Gergis, Cheryl Durrant, and Kate Charlesworth. Funding The startup funding for the Council was raised through crowdfunding, with donations opening at midnight on 23 September 2013. By the end of Tuesday 24 September $218,000 had been given by 7,200 members of the public. Flannery told The Conversation on the Tuesday that the Council intended to raise $500,000 by the end of that first week. By Friday of the first week, in a stronger than expected response, over 20,000 people had donated amounts totalling close to $1 million.The Climate Council continues to rely mostly on donors for funding. The remainder of its funding comes from philanthropic sources. The 2018/19 financial year saw the Climate Council’s number of core members (weekly and monthly regular donors) grow to over 4,800 people with the average regular donation standing at $28. Independence Tim Flannery is frequently cited as having stated that: "Our independence is central to our credibility, so if people do donate, don't try to influence what we do". Mark Wootton of the Climate Institute, speaking in support of the Climate Council, cited the need for an organisation to "hold account perhaps the government at times".As an independent climate science research and communications organisation, the Climate Council is able to provide authoritative, expert advice to the Australian public on climate change and solutions based on the most up-to-date science available. This independence also means that the Climate Council is able to hold Australia's leaders and government to account in pursuing meaningful climate action. For example, during Black Summer, when Australia experience unprecedented bushfires, the Climate Council was a commentator in the media making sure that the connection between the bushfires and climate change were explicitly made. In March 2020, the Climate Council released ‘Summer of Crisis’, the first comprehensive overview of the summer’s devastating impacts. To date, the Climate Council has published over 100 research report. Projects The Climate Council states its mission as "a courageous catalyst propelling Australia towards bold, effective action to tackle the climate crisis." The Climate Council has three goals: making sure climate change remains on the agenda, inspiring public engagement around the energy transition and enable people, businesses, local councils and communities to enact change.In July 2020, the Climate Council released its Clean Jobs Plan jobs modelling with consulting firm AlphaBeta. It identified 12 policy options that could create 76,000 jobs around Australia. The modelling finds 15,000 jobs could be created in installing large-scale renewable energy, such as solar and wind farms. Some 12,000 jobs could be created in ecosystem restoration and another 12,000 jobs in public transport construction. The report was produced to highlight ways to shape Australia's post COVID-19 economic recovery while also addressing the climate crisis.The Climate Council regularly publishes research reports on issues such as extreme weather, climate solutions, health, coal closure and international action. Its reports are used as an source of information for briefing politicians, providing updates to health and emergency services, teaching resources for schools and universities and as background research for the media. The Climate Council has also produced a range of communication guides to help other organisations, professionals and community leaders to communicate with the public about climate change and renewable energy solutions.The Climate Council launched the Cities Power Partnership (CPP) in 2017 to provide councils and communities with the technical expertise and advice to transition to a clean, renewable energy future. The CPP is Australia’s largest local government climate network. Over 125 local governments - representing over 50% of Australians, have joined the Cities Power Partnership. Local councils who join the partnership make five action pledges in either renewable energy, efficiency, transport or working in partnership to tackle climate change. As of 2020, over 650 pledges have been made by local councils to take decisive climate and energy action.Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) is a project supported by the Climate Council, started in 2019. Led by Climate Councillor and former Commissioner of Fire & Rescue NSW, Greg Mullins, ELCA is a coalition of 33 former senior fire and emergency service leaders, representing every fire service in Australia and a number of SES and land management agencies. Their activities aim to protect Australian communities from increasingly frequent and damaging extreme weather events. In July 2020, ELCA released the Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan that provides recommendations about how to better protect Australia from the worsening impacts of climate change. See also Climate change in Australia Climate communication References External links Official website

history of climate change policy and politics

The history of climate change policy and politics refers to the continuing history of political actions, policies, trends, controversies and activist efforts as they pertain to the issue of climate change. Climate change emerged as a political issue in the 1970s, where activist and formal efforts were taken to ensure environmental crises were addressed on a global scale. International policy regarding climate change has focused on cooperation and the establishment of international guidelines to address global warming. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a largely accepted international agreement that has continuously developed to meet new challenges. Domestic policy on climate change has focused on both establishing internal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incorporating international guidelines into domestic law. In the 21st century there has been a shift towards vulnerability based policy for those most impacted by environmental anomalies. Over the history of climate policy, concerns have been raised about the treatment of developing nations. Critical reflection on the history of climate change politics provides "ways to think about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in our short life on the planet". History of climate change mitigation policies History of activism History of climate change denial Political pressure on scientists in the United States Actions under the Bush Administration around 2007 A survey of climate scientists which was reported to the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in 2007, noted "Nearly half of all respondents perceived or personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words 'climate change', 'global warming' or other similar terms from a variety of communications." These scientists were pressured to tailor their reports on global warming to fit the Bush administration's climate change denial. In some cases, this occurred at the request of former oil-industry lobbyist Phil Cooney, who worked for the American Petroleum Institute before becoming chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (he resigned in 2005, before being hired by ExxonMobil). In June 2008, a report by NASA's Office of the Inspector General concluded that NASA staff appointed by the White House had censored and suppressed scientific data on global warming in order to protect the Bush administration from controversy close to the 2004 presidential election.Officials, such as Philip Cooney repeatedly edited scientific reports from US government scientists, many of whom, such as Thomas Knutson, were ordered to refrain from discussing climate change and related topics.Climate scientist James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote in a widely cited New York Times article in 2006, that his superiors at the agency were trying to "censor" information "going out to the public". NASA denied this, saying that it was merely requiring that scientists make a distinction between personal, and official government views, in interviews conducted as part of work done at the agency. When multiple scientists working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made similar complaints; government officials again said they were enforcing long-standing policies requiring government scientists to clearly identify personal opinions as such when participating in public interviews and forums.In 2006, the BBC current affairs program Panorama investigated the issue, and was told, "scientific reports about global warming have been systematically changed and suppressed." According to an Associated Press release on 30 January 2007:Climate scientists at seven government agencies say they have been subjected to political pressure aimed at downplaying the threat of global warming.The groups presented a survey that shows two in five of the 279 climate scientists who responded to a questionnaire complained that some of their scientific papers had been edited in a way that changed their meaning. Nearly half of the 279 said in response to another question that at some point they had been told to delete reference to "global warming" or "climate change" from a report.The survey was published as a joint report the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Government Accountability Project. Politically motivated investigations into historic temperature reconstructions In June 2005, Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Ed Whitfield, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sent letters to three scientists Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes as authors of the studies of the 1998 and 1999 historic temperature reconstructions (widely publicised as the "hockey stick graphs"). In the letters he demanded not just data and methods of the research, but also personal information about their finances and careers, information about grants provided to the institutions they had worked for, and the exact computer codes used to generate their results. Sherwood Boehlert, chairman of the House Science Committee, told his fellow Republican Joe Barton it was a "misguided and illegitimate investigation" seemingly intended to "intimidate scientists rather than to learn from them, and to substitute congressional political review for scientific review". The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) president Ralph Cicerone wrote to Barton proposing that the NAS should appoint an independent panel to investigate. Barton dismissed this offer.On 15 July, Mann wrote giving his detailed response to Barton and Whitfield. He emphasized that the full data and necessary methods information was already publicly available in full accordance with National Science Foundation (NSF) requirements, so that other scientists had been able to reproduce their work. NSF policy was that computer codes are considered the intellectual property of researchers and are not subject to disclosure, but notwithstanding these property rights, the program used to generate the original MBH98 temperature reconstructions had been made available at the Mann et al. public FTP site.Many scientists protested Barton's demands. Alan I. Leshner wrote to him on behalf of the American Association for the Advancement of Science stating that the letters gave "the impression of a search for some basis on which to discredit these particular scientists and findings, rather than a search for understanding", He stated that Mann, Bradley and Hughes had given out their full data and descriptions of methods. A Washington Post editorial on 23 July which described the investigation as harassment quoted Bradley as saying it was "intrusive, far-reaching and intimidating", and Alan I. Leshner of the AAAS describing it as unprecedented in the 22 years he had been a government scientist; he thought it could "have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to work in areas that are politically relevant". Congressman Boehlert said the investigation was as "at best foolhardy" with the tone of the letters showing the committee's inexperience in relation to science.Barton was given support by global warming sceptic Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who said "We've always wanted to get the science on trial ... we would like to figure out a way to get this into a court of law," and "this could work". In his Junk Science column on Fox News, Steven Milloy said Barton's inquiry was reasonable. In September 2005 David Legates alleged in a newspaper op-ed that the issue showed climate scientists not abiding by data access requirements and suggested that legislators might ultimately take action to enforce them.Boehlert commissioned the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to appoint an independent panel which investigated the issues and produced the North Report which confirmed the validity of the science. At the same time, Barton arranged with statistician Edward Wegman to back up the attacks on the "hockey stick" reconstructions. The Wegman Report repeated allegations about disclosure of data and methods, but Wegman failed to provide the code and data used by his team, despite repeated requests, and his report was subsequently found to contain plagiarized content. Climatic Research Unit email controversy (2009) Shift from bipartisanship As recent as the 2000s, climate policy was a bipartisan issue. In the Senate, John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Climate Stewardship Act with Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) in 2003, which aimed to reduce American carbon emissions through policy. In 2005, the Senate also endorsed the view that climate change was happening, and policy needed to be enacted in response to it.With the risk of losses in profit, the fossil fuel industry enlisted scientists to negate any evidence of climate change. According to a 2015 investigation, Exxon knew about the impacts of fossil fuels on the climate as early as 1977. They carried out their own research and senior scientist James Black concluded that Exxon had a 5 to 10-year period before they need to shift energy strategies. In 1988, Exxon publicly maintained the perspective that climate science was controversial and non-conclusive. In 1998, Exxon contributed to the prevention of the United States’ involvement in the Kyoto Protocol, and ultimately China’s and India’s.By 2009, polls shows an increase in partisan belief in climate change. Pew Research Center concluded in a 2023 survey that over the past 10 years, democrats and republicans have grown more divided over the subjects of climate change. In 2016, polls showed one-third of Americans were climate skeptics. Climate skepticism is typically associated with right-wing thought, but national panel studies from 2014 and 2016 show that many US republicans do believe in climate change. This data has led psychological scientists to conclude that congressional lawmakers “support policies from their own party and reactively devalue policies from the opposing party." Development of political concern In the mid-1970s, climate change shifted from a solely scientific issue to a point of political concern. The formal political discussion of global environment began in June 1972 with the UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm. The UNCHE identified the need for states to work cooperatively to solve environmental issues on a global scale.The first World Climate Conference in 1979 framed climate change as a global political issue, giving way to similar conferences in 1985, 1987, and 1988. In 1985, the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG) was formed to offer international policy recommendations regarding climate change and global warming. At the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in 1988, climate change was suggested to be almost as serious as nuclear war and early targets for CO2 emission reductions were discussed.The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) jointly established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. A succession of political summits in 1989, namely the Francophone Summit in Dakar, the Small Island States meeting, the G7 Meeting, the Commonwealth Summit, and the Non-Aligned Meeting, addressed climate change as a global political issue. Partisan division In the late 2000s, the political discourse regarding climate change policy became increasingly polarising. In the United States, the political right has largely opposed climate policy while the political left has favoured progressive action to address environmental anomalies. In a 2016 study, Dunlap, McCright, and Yarosh note the 'escalating polarisation of environmental protection and climate change' discourse in the USA. In 2020, the partisan gap in public opinion regarding the importance of climate change policy was the widest in history. The Pew Research Center found that, in 2020, 78% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans in the USA saw climate policy as a top priority to be addressed by the President and Congress.In Europe, there is growing tension between right-wing interest in migration and left-wing climate advocacy as primary political concerns. The validity of climate change research and climate scepticism have also become partisan issues. Development of international policy Through the creation of multilateral treaties, agreements, and frameworks, international policy on climate change seeks to establish a worldwide response to the impacts of global warming and environmental anomalies. Historically, these efforts culminated in attempts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions on a country-by-country basis. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Janeiro. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was also introduced during the conference. The UNFCCC established the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities, defined Annex 1 and Annex 2 countries, highlighted the needs of vulnerable nations, and established a precautionary approach to climate policy. In accordance with the convention, the first session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-1) was held in Berlin in 1995.In 1997, the third session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-3) passed the Kyoto Protocol, which contained the first legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Kyoto Protocol required Annex 1 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% from 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. At the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-13) in 2007, the Bali Action Plan was implemented to promote a shared vision for the Copenhagen Summit. The Action Plan called for Annex 2 nations to adopt Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). The Bali Conference also raised awareness for the 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.In 2009, the Copenhagen Accord was created at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although not legally binding, the Accord established an agreed-upon goal to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.The Paris Agreement was adopted at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-21) on the 12th of December 2015. It entered into force on the 4th of November 2016. The agreement addressed greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance. Its language was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties at COP-21. As of March 2019, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement and 187 have become party to the agreement. History of climate change adaptation policies See also Climate change mitigation Individual action on climate change Politics of climate change == References ==

green bond

A Green bond (also known as climate bond) is a fixed-income financial instruments (bond) which is used to fund projects that have positive environmental and/or climate benefits. They follow the Green Bond Principles stated by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), and the proceeds from the issuance of which are to be used for the pre-specified types of projects.[1] Like normal bonds, climate bonds can be issued by governments, multi-national banks or corporations and the issuing organization repays the bond and any interest. The main difference is that the funds will be used only for positive climate change or environmental projects. This allows investors to target their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) goals by investing in them. They are similar to Sustainability Bonds but sustainability bonds also need to have a positive social outcome. History Climate bonds were first proposed in the 2000s, and have grown rapidly since then. As of 2016, the total volume of climate bonds was estimated at 160 billions of dollars; of which 70 billions were issued in 2016. The labelled volume of bonds issued in 2019 was US$255 billion. Climate and green bonds have now been issued by thousands of issuers around the world, including sovereigns, banks and companies of all sizes, and local governments. Voters in the City of San Francisco approved a revenue bond authority in 2001, in the form of a city charter amendment (Section 9.107.8) known as the "solar bonds," to finance renewable energy and energy conservation measures on homes, businesses and government buildings. The campaign for solar bonds, Proposition H, was motivated by the need for the city to take meaningful action on climate change. The solar bond authority was being used as part of the city's renewable energy program, administered by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, CleanPowerSF.The European Investment Bank issued an equity index-linked bond in 2007, which became the first fixed income product among socially responsible investments. This "Climate Awareness Bond" structure was used to fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Afterwards, The World Bank became first in the world to issue a labelled "green bond" in 2008, which followed a conventional "plain vanilla" bond structure, contrary to the European Investment Bank's equity-linked Climate Awareness Bond.The green bond market has subsequently increased rapidly in issuance. From 2015 to 2016, the Climate Bonds Initiative reports that there was a 92% increase in green bonds issuance to $92 billion, with different types of issuers starting to issue green bonds. Apple, for example, became the first tech company to issue a green bond in 2016, and Poland became the first sovereign country to issue a green bond at the end of 2016. In 2021, the European Investment Bank was the leading issuer of green and sustainability bonds among multilateral development banks, with sustainability funding reaching €11.5 billion equivalent.In 2020, the UK's first ever local government green bond, for West Berkshire Council, closed after reaching its £1mn target five days early. Announced on Wednesday 14 October 2020, 22% of the funds raised came from West Berkshire residents, who invested an average of £3,500. The Community Municipal Investment attracted 640 investors in total. In September 2021, the UK's inaugural "green gilt" sale drew over £100bn from investors, making it the highest ever for a UK government bond sale.In Canada, The Community Bond, an innovation in social finance that allows benevolent organizations to issues bonds outside of traditional regulatory oversight, is being used as a "Green Bond" by environmental groups like Solarshare to build community owned solar farms, ZooShare to finance a biogas plant, and Hallbar.org as means to finance energy saving home upgrades and LEED certified building construction.In 2022, the European Investment Bank issued EUR 19.9 billion in Climate and Sustainability Awareness Bonds, and increased its climate and sustainability funding portion of overall investment from 21% in 2021 to 45% in 2022. Description Climate bonds are issued in order to raise finance for climate change solutions: climate change mitigation or adaptation related projects or programs. These might be greenhouse gas emission reduction projects ranging from clean energy to energy efficiency, or climate change adaptation projects ranging from building Nile delta flood defences or helping the Great Barrier Reef adapt to warming waters. Like normal bonds, climate bonds can be issued by governments, multi-national banks or corporations. The issuing entity guarantees to repay the bond over a certain period of time, plus either a fixed or variable rate of return.Most climate bonds are asset-backed, or ringfenced, with investors being promised that all funds raised will only go to specified climate-related programs or assets, such as renewable energy plants or climate mitigation focused funding programs.In their UNEP paper on investors and climate change, Mackenzie and Ascui differentiate a climate bond from a green bond: "(A climate bond is) an extension of the green bond concept. Green bonds are issued [...] in order to raise the finance for an environmental project. Climate bonds [are] issued [...] to raise finance for investments in emission reduction or climate change adaptation." The London-based Climate Bonds Initiative provides the world's first Certification program for climate bonds. This has been used as a model for various countries to set up their own green bond listing guidelines. Climate bonds are theme bonds, similar in principle to a railway bond of the 19th century, the war bonds of the early 20th century or the highway bond of the 1960s. Theme bonds are designed to: Allow institutional capital - pension, government, insurance and sovereign wealth funds - to invest in areas seen as politically important to their stakeholders that have the same credit risk and returns profile as standards bonds. Provide a means for governments to direct funding to climate change mitigation. For example, this might be done by choosing to privilege qualifying bonds with preferential tax treatments. Send a political signal to other stakeholders.Otherwise, for operational purposes, theme bonds largely function as conventional debt instruments. They are risk-weighted and credit rated in the usual way based on the creditworthiness of the issuer, and tradable, market conditions permitting, in international secondary bond markets. These instruments can theoretically be issued at all levels of the fixed income market, from sovereigns to corporate. Benefits of green bonds The growth of bond markets provides increasing opportunities to finance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, Nationally Determined Contributions and other green growth projects. A UN conference held on the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021 emphasized the importance of sustainable bonds, and stated that of the approximately €300 trillion of financial assets on the markets, only 1% would be needed to achieve the SDGs. Green bonds are becoming an increasingly prevalent form of green finance, particularly for clean and sustainable infrastructure development and their large funding needs. They offer a vehicle to both access finance from the capital markets and deliver green impacts that can be verified against standards. In developing countries, green bonds are already financing critical projects, including renewable energy, urban mass transit systems and water distribution.Green bonds mobilised over $93 billion in 2016 to projects and assets with positive environmental impacts.Of total global bond issuance, however, this is still around just 1%.According to a report by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network and PricewaterhouseCoopers, a green bond market has three key benefits to a country and its environmental goals and commitments. It increases the finance available for green projects, therefore incentivising an increase in their number. Today, green bonds mainly finance projects within renewable energy, energy efficiency, low-carbon transport, sustainable water, and waste and pollution. It is a viable vehicle for enabling the increasing pool of sustainable investors to access environmental projects. Bonds are an instrument and an approach with which foreign investors are familiar, so these institutions need little new understanding or capacity. Investors are also interested in placing money where the environmental impact achieved is highest per unit of currency, and emerging and developing economies have the potential to offer this where lower project costs exist. It can be a catalyst for further development of the domestic capital market and financial system more broadly beyond environmentally related projects. Demand for green bonds The Business and Sustainable Development Commission describes at least US$12 trillion in market opportunities for business from sustainable business models.The United Nations estimates an annual funding gap of $2.5 trillion is needed for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and of this, US$1 trillion is needed annually for clean energy alone. A large number and broad range of projects and assets that contribute to achieving the 17 SDGs need this funding for their development and operations. One of the SDGs where 'green finance' has been successfully mobilised is on clean energy and climate action. The Paris Agreement on climate change entered into force in November 2016, after 196 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Significant quantities of finance are now needed to convert country commitments (Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs) to implementation and a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. Despite recent increases in volumes of climate finance, a significant funding gap will arise unless new sources and channels of finance are mobilised.Existing international public finance dedicated to climate change is unable to achieve the rapid change required in meeting the finance gap alone. Furthermore, public sector balance sheets do not have the capacity to fund the amounts needed, and so an estimated 80–90% of funding will need to come from the private sector.Bank balance sheets can take only a proportion of the private finance needed so the capital markets have to be leveraged, along with other sources such as insurance and peer-to-peer. According to Guide: New markets for green bonds, the demand for green bonds has grown quickly on the investor side, with asset owners and managers diversifying their investment portfolios and seeking positive impact beyond financial return. In the light of the global commitment to shift to a green and low-carbon economy, the green bond market has the potential to grow substantially, while attracting more diverse issuers and investors. The number of green bonds continue growing daily. Emerging and frontier markets are building the markets, financing facilities, and investment-grade debt and equity products for climate bonds and green investments more aggressively than most Western, developed economies. Green bond reporting The issuance of green bonds has led to considerable debate due to the lack of uniform rules governing them. Two primary voluntary regulatory standards govern the issuance of green bonds: the privately established Green Bond Principles (GBP) by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the publicly organized Green Bond Standard (GBS) by the European Union. Both frameworks aim to achieve standardization within the green bond market, providing a uniform standard for varying stakeholder groups.Despite the increased push for standardization, disparities persist in the issuance of green bonds, their post-reporting practices, and their alignment with issuer climate targets. Many issuers fall short in establishing long-term climate goals, frequently limiting their targets to a 10-year horizon. As a result, one key study found that green bonds predominantly serve short-term objectives, offering limited support for achieving long-term climate goals. Additionally, there is a lack of detailed breakdowns regarding how the capital raised through green bonds is allocated to specific projects, highlighting the need for enhanced transparency and reporting practices. Criticism and controversies The green bond market has attracted international criticism with some questioning the green credentials of certain bonds. This criticism pertains both to the projects that are funded, as well as the sustainability credentials of the issuers. In May 2017, the Climate Bonds Initiative refused to list a "green" bond issued by Repsol. The bonds proceeds would be allocated to initiatives meant to improve the efficiency of the company's oil and gas production operations. The non-governmental organization argued that even though the projects would reduce CO2 emissions, the company's sustainability strategy did not go far enough from an environmental perspective to classify it as green. This criticism was extended to Vigeo Eiris, the company that reviewed the Repsol bond's green credentials. In 2016, Vigeo Eiris was involved in another green bond controversy. They were targeted by Western Sahara Resource Watch, a non-governmental organization backed by a Norwegian trade union, after it reviewed a green bond that would fund the production of solar projects by a Moroccan government agency in the illegally occupied territory of Western Sahara.More generally, the academic community and market participants have identified the susceptibility of voluntary green-labelling to greenwashing and adverse selection as a function of the perceived lack of regulatory oversight and the inherent, albeit anecdotal, capital arbitrage opportunity presented to some issuers through the green pricing premium, or "greenium". In the primary market, this premium can exhibit varying spreads, ranging from -85 to +213 basis points, while the secondary market typically observes a more conservative average "greenium" of -1 to -9 basis points. See also Divestment (for social goals) Green economy Green lending Green money (disambiguation) Greenwashing Social impact bond References External links Climate Bonds Initiative Government magazine on climate bonds Mongabay

2021 in climate change

This article documents events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2021. Summaries 26 February: The United Nations Synthesis Report on Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement stated that "estimated reductions referred to in paragraphs (on greenhouse gas emissions) fall far short of what is required, demonstrating the need for Parties to further strengthen their mitigation commitments under the Paris Agreement". 21 June: the World Meteorological Organization wrote that "2021 is a make-or-break year for climate action, with the window to prevent the worst impacts of climate change—which include ever more frequent more intense droughts, floods and storms—closing rapidly." 28 July: a follow-on to the 2019 World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency noted "an unprecedented surge in climate-related disasters since 2019" and stated there is "mounting evidence that we are nearing or have already crossed tipping points associated with critical parts of the Earth system". 6 September: editors from over 200 health journals published a joint editorial stating "The science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse.... The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 °C and to restore nature." 30 September: UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that "time is running out. Irreversible climate tipping points lie alarmingly close." He called for more ambition as current NDCs will lead to a rise of 2.7 °C, saying that "all leaders must recognize that we are in the middle of a climate emergency". Measurements and statistics 25 January: a review article published in The Cryosphere reported that Earth lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017, 68% being from atmospheric melting and 32% by oceanic melting. The rate of ice loss rose 57% since the 1990s–from 0.8 to 1.2 trillion tonnes per year–raising global sea level 34.6 ±3.1 mm in that time period. 9 February: a study published in Environmental Research concluded that airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) caused by burning fossil fuels causes 8.7 million premature deaths annually, including China (2.4 million), India (2.5 million) and parts of eastern US, Europe and Southeast Asia. 16 February: study results published in the PNAS (study's time period: 1990–2018) reported widespread advances and lengthening of pollen seasons (up to 20 days) and increases in pollen concentrations (up to 21%) across North America, with human forcing of the climate system contributing about 50% of the trend in pollen seasons and about 8% of the trend in pollen concentrations. Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC):25 February: a Nature Geoscience article reported an "unprecedented" (since AD 400) decline in the twentieth century of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which is now in its weakest state in more than 1,000 years. The AMOC redistributes heat on the planet and has a major impact on climate. In particular, weakness in the AMOC, which includes the Florida Current and the Gulf Stream, counteracts its moderating effect on the climate in Europe. 5 August: a study published in Nature Climate Change presented "spatially consistent empirical evidence that, in the course of the last century, the AMOC may have evolved from relatively stable conditions to a point close to a critical transition".February: measurements from Mauna Loa Observatory showed that, for the first time, atmospheric CO2 levels reached 417 parts per million (ppm), a concentration 50% higher than the 278ppm pre-industrial level. 8 March: a study published in Nature Climate Change—studying the combined effects of average global sea level rise and natural and human-induced subsidence—estimated that subsiding coastal locations may locally experience up to four times more relative sea level rise than could be attributed to global sea level rise alone. 17 March: a study by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated that, globally between September 2020 and February 2021, 12.5 million people were displaced by adverse impacts of climate change, the annual average exceeding 20 million. 17 March: a study published in Nature estimated that trawling's disturbance of carbon stored in sea beds can re-mineralize sedimentary carbon into CO2 amounts equivalent to 15–20% of the atmospheric CO2 absorbed by the ocean each year, and comparable to that of terrestrial farming. 18 March: a study accepted for publication in Environmental Research Letters estimated that the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on crop production in Europe roughly tripled over the preceding 50 years, from –2.2 (1964–1990) to -7.3% (1991–2015). 1 April: a study published in Nature Climate Change estimated that anthropogenic climate change has reduced global agricultural total factor productivity by about 21% since 1961, and 26–34% in warmer regions such as Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. 7 April: NOAA reported carbon dioxide levels were higher than at anytime in the past 3.6 million years, in the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period when sea level was about 24 mm (78 ft) higher than today and the average temperature was about 4 °C (7 °F) higher than in pre-industrial times. NOAA's redefinition of "average" and "normal":April: NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) states it will use 1991–2020 as the new 30-year period of record, with "average" numbers of named Atlantic storms rising from 12 to 14, hurricanes from 6 to 7, and major hurricanes remaining at 3; Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific numbers remain unchanged over 1981–2010. May: NOAA's NCEI supersedes weather and climate data from 1981–2010 with data from 1991–2020 to change its designation of "Climate Normal", resulting in fewer days being characterized as having "above normal" temperature.28 April: a study published in Nature attributed 21±3% of the observed sea-level rise from 2000–2019 to melting glaciers (267±16 gigatonnes per year), and identified a mass loss acceleration of 48±16 gigatonnes per year per decade. 11 May: a study published in Nature Communications estimated that land use change affected 32% of the global land area from 1960 to 2019, about four times greater than previously estimated. 20 May: The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme reported that, from 1971 to 2019, the annually averaged Arctic near-surface air temperature increased by 3.1 °C, three times faster than the global average. 21 May: a study published in Geophysical Research Letters reported that, despite greater raw warming in high latitudes, the tropics have greater normalized warming and actually experienced more record-breaking heat events from 1960 to 2019. 24 May: a study published in Nature Geoscience reported mercury in Greenland ice sheet meltwater being two orders of magnitude higher than from Arctic rivers, and, accounting for about 10% of the estimated global riverine flux, estimated it to be globally significant. 31 May: a study published in Nature Climate Change concluded that 37% of warm-season heat-related deaths from 1991 to 2018 can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change and that increased mortality is evident on every continent. 4 June: a study published in Science Advances concluded that previous estimates of CO2 emissions caused by human cultivation of peatlands from 1750 to 2018 should be increased by 18% to account for emissions from cultivated northern peatlands in calculating the carbon budget. 15 June: a study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters reported that satellite and in situ observations independently show an approximate doubling of Earth's Energy Imbalance (EEI) from mid-2005 to mid-2019. 28 July: a study published in Nature Communications revealed a significant positive global energy imbalance based on satellite observations from 2001 to 2020, and concluded that there is less than 1% probability that this imbalance can be explained by natural internal variability of the climate system.31 August: the WMO published an Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970–2019), indicating that the number of disasters has increased by a factor of five, driven by climate change, more extreme weather and improved reporting; but because of improved early warnings and disaster management the number of deaths decreased almost three-fold. 1 September: a study published in Nature found that since 2001, fires in the Amazon rainforest had potentially impacted ranges of 77.3–85.2% of threatened species in the region, reducing the biodiversity that contributes to the ecological and climatic stability of the Amazon Basin. 12 October: a study published in the Proceedings of the NAS estimated a nearly 200% increase in urban heat extremes among 13,115 urban areas from 1983 to 2016. October: The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network's Status of Coral Reefs of the World reported that "between 2009 and 2018, there was a progressive loss amounting to 14% of the coral from the world's coral reefs, which is more than all the coral currently living on Australia's coral reefs". 30 March 2022: Ember's Global Electricity Review reported that in 2021, wind and solar power reached a record 10% of global electricity, with clean power being 38% of supply, more than coal's 36%. However, demand growth rebounded, leading to a record rise in coal power and emissions. 7 April 2022: NOAA reported an annual increase in global atmospheric methane of 17 parts per billion (ppb) in 2021—averaging 1,895.7 ppb in that year—the largest annual increase recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983. The increase during 2020 was 15.3 ppb, itself a record increase. Natural events and phenomena 7 February: a rock-ice avalanche in the Chamoli district in the Indian Himalayan Mountains killed dozens and left hundreds missing. The death count grew to 204, with 27 million cubic meters of rock and ice collapsing. March: a Science Brief review of >90 peer-reviewed scientific articles reported consensus that ocean warming from human-induced climate change is likely fueling more powerful tropical cyclones with increased precipitation rates (through enhanced atmospheric moisture), the increased power and rising sea levels amplifying flooding. Models project that some regions will experience increases in rapid intensification, a poleward migration of the latitude of maximum intensity or a slowing of the forward motion of the storms. Most climate model studies project the annual number of tropical cyclones to decrease or remain approximately the same. 5 March: an article published in Science concluded that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is not an internal multidecadal (40- to 60-year) oscillation distinct from climate noise, but is instead a manifestation of competing time-varying effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols. 11 March: a review article published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change concluded that warming from non-CO2 agents (especially CH4 and N2O) in the Amazon basin largely offsets—and most likely exceeds—the climate change mitigating effect of the region's CO2 uptake. 22 March: a study published in Geophysical Research Letters concluded that accelerated decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS) caused by glacial ice melting was the main driver of a rapid eastward drift of the geographic north pole after the 1990s. 26 March: the full bloom date of cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan—when the majority of buds are open to the skies—occurred earlier than any time since records began in the year 812 CE; historically, the bloom date occurs about 17 April. 9 April: a study published in Nature Communications citing multiple complementary lines of evidence, reported methane-oxidising bacteria (MOB) dwelling in the bark of Melaleuca quinquenervia (a paper bark tree common in Australia) reduced methane emissions by 36±5%. 13 April: a study of fruitflies published in Nature Communications found that the temperature at which male fertility is lost is much lower than critical thermal limits (CTLs) for survival, suggesting that species, especially tropical species, are more vulnerable to extinction than previously presumed, and that evolution and plasticity are unlikely to rescue populations from extinction. 16 April: Science published results of a study of boreal forests, concluding that forest fires shifted tree dominance from slow-growing black spruce to fast-growing deciduous broadleaf trees, resulting in a net increase in carbon storage and suggesting potential mitigation of the feedback effect of boreal forest fires to global warming. 17 April: winds of Typhoon Surigae rapidly intensified by 170 km/h (105 mph) in 36 hours to reach 306 km/h (190 mph), becoming the strongest typhoon, cyclone or hurricane ever observed in February, March, April or May. 14 June: a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that Rocky Mountain subalpine forests are burning more than at any point in the past 2,000 years, with contemporary rates of burning being 22% higher than the maximum rate reconstructed over the past two millennia. 18 June: a study published in Nature Communications—accounting for sea level rise, storm surge, and wave runup at exposed open coasts—estimated that globally aggregated annual overtopping hours had increased by almost 50% over the preceding two decades. Late June: the 2021 Western North America heat wave set a new all-time Canadian temperature record of 49.6 °C (121.28 °F), World Weather Attribution concluding that heat waves of such intensity would be at least 150 times rarer without human-induced climate change. 14 July: a study published in Nature found that the intensification of the dry season and an increase in deforestation seem to promote higher carbon emissions in the eastern Amazon, in line with studies that indicate an increase in tree mortality as a result of climatic changes across Amazonia. 10 August: studying the 2020 heat wave in Siberia, a study published in the PNAS suggested that gas hydrates trapped in carbonate rock formations became unstable, possibly "add(ing) unknown quantities of methane to the atmosphere in the near future"—in addition to that long known to be produced from microbial decay of organic matter. 14 August: the >3000 m peak of the Greenland ice sheet experienced rain for the first known time in recorded history, in one of nine instances in the past 2,000 years in which the temperature exceeded the freezing point. 2 March 2023: a study published in Science said that boreal fires, typically accounting for 10% of global fire CO2 emissions, contributed 23% in 2021, by far the highest fraction since 2000. 2021 was an abnormal year because North American and Eurasian boreal forests synchronously experienced their greatest water deficit. Actions, and goal statements Science and technology 8 February: XPrize announced a competition to bestow its largest-ever prize, $100 million donated by Elon Musk to be awarded in 2025, for technology to remove carbon from air or water. Winning entries must show an ability to scale up to removing billions of metric tons of carbon. February: Porsche announced trials to start in 2022 to develop synthetic fuel that it claims will have the same "well to wheel impact"—CO2 produced throughout manufacture and sale—as electric vehicles. February and earlier: Aptera Motors indicated it would produce in 2021 a three-wheel, highly aerodynamic electric vehicle powered by 34 square feet of solar cells, also having rechargeable batteries. Late February: a Cambridge University study estimated that bitcoin mining energy consumption—at that time on the order of 100 terawatt-hours annually—possessed a carbon footprint equivalent to Argentina's, a figure likely increased by interest in bitcoin in early 2021 from major Wall Street institutions. March: The Guardian reported on the design of "Vortex Bladeless", a curved-top cylindrical turbine whose main body oscillates resonantly with the wind to generate electricity, the design occupying a much smaller footprint than blade-driven wind turbines. 18 March: a feasibility study published in Nature Sustainability described how suspending solar panels above water canals not only reduces evaporation and mitigates land use, but increases the efficiency of the panels due to the water's cooling effect. Reported 30 March: taking advantage of generally stronger winds further from shore, the world's first floating windfarm, a 30 megawatt facility 15 mi (24 km) off Aberdeenshire, Scotland, broke records for energy output. 31 March: a study published in the PNAS concluded that if food waste is diverted from landfills to avoid methane emissions, food-waste-derived n-paraffin volatile fatty acid-based sustainable aviation fuels could enable up to a 165% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil-derived aviation fuels. 9 April: the World Economic Forum described how companies can use microorganisms to convert CO2 into a protein powder for use in animal feed. 14 May: a study published in Science Advances described a distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system achieving a vertical resolution of ~0.65 m (~25 in.) along a fiber-optic cable, a two-order-of-magnitude improvement over discretely-spaced sensor arrangements. In the Greenland ice sheet, the optical fiber system discovered strong spatial heterogeneity in deformation between and within different ice sections. 8 June: a study published in Environmental Research Letters concluded that artificial ocean alkalinisation (AOA), if carried out with sufficient magnitude and duration, can use current technology to reverse the impact of global ocean acidification on the Great Barrier Reef until atmospheric CO2 concentrations return to today's values—possibly centuries in the future. August reports: in the first customer delivery of its type in history, Swedish company Hybrit said it was delivering "green steel" to truck-maker Volvo AB for prototype vehicles, the steel made using renewable electricity and hydrogen rather than coking coal. 8 September: the largest direct air capture plant, collecting about 4,000 tons of atmospheric CO2} a year to store it underground, began operation in Iceland, selling the most expensive carbon offset in the world for as much as almost $1,400 per ton. 5 October: the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded "for the physical modeling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming" to atmospheric physicist Syukuro Manabe (modeled a 40 km (25 mi) high vertical column) and Klaus Hasselmann (developed a model incorporating stochastics (chaotic systems) and identifying human "fingerprints" in climatic effects). Political, economic, legal, and cultural actions From 1 March 2019: the United Nations declared 2021 to be the beginning of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, having an "aim of supporting and scaling up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide and raise awareness of the importance of successful ecosystem restoration".5 January 2021: a Senate run-off election in the U.S. state of Georgia placed the Democratic party in narrow control of both houses of Congress, as both U.S. Senate Democratic candidates from the state of Georgia, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win those elections, improving Democratic President Biden's prospects for implementing climate-related policies. Both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are supporters and advocates the Green New Deal, proposed for the United States. 15 January: France's Total—among Europe's top energy companies that had accelerated plans to cut emissions and build large renewable energy businesses—became the first major global energy company to quit the American Petroleum Institute lobby group, whose largest members resisted investor pressure to diversify to renewables. 20 January: on the afternoon of his inauguration, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a letter re-committing the nation to the 2015 Paris climate accord, reversing Donald Trump's withdrawal that took formal effect on 4 November 2020 (the U.S. had been the only country in the world not signatory to the accord.) The White House website was promptly changed to recite that Biden "will take swift action to tackle the climate emergency", reversing Trump's removing mention of greenhouse gas emissions on his first day in office in 2017. 28 January: General Motors said that by 2035 it will end sale of all gasoline and diesel powered passenger cars and light SUVs (excluding medium and heavy duty trucks), and will sell about 30 types of electric vehicles, and planned to halt and review new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. January: newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden promised to make the federal government's fleet of 645,000 vehicles 100% all-electric by 2030. Late January: NRG Energy announced that it would be indefinitely shutting down the U.S.'s only remaining facility for carbon capture and storage (CCS), generally presented by the fossil fuel industry as a "clean coal" technology. 1 February: ExxonMobil announced it would invest $3 billion through 2025 (about 3% to 4% of its planned annual capital expenditures) on lower-emission energy technologies, primarily carbon capture and storage projects—distinguished from BP and Royal Dutch Shell who are pursuing renewables. Reported in February: Mexico's populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador indicated intentions to pursue fossil fuel projects and curtail clean energy, pursuing energy sovereignty with state-run bodies and relegating private clean energy companies to a secondary role. 16 February: billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates published the book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. 17 February: Ford said that by 2026 its European division, with 5% of that region's passenger car market, will offer only electric and plug-in hybrid models, and by 2030 all its passenger cars will run solely on batteries. 2 March: Volvo said that it will convert its entire lineup to battery power by 2030 and will sell them exclusively online—no longer selling cars with internal combustion engines, including hybrids. 25 March: the Supreme Court of Canada ruled constitutional, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (2018), which required provinces and territories to implement carbon gas pricing systems or adopt one imposed by the federal government. April: JPMorgan Chase set a goal to finance $2.5 trillion over the following 10 years to combat climate change and advance sustainable development, and Citigroup said it would back $1 trillion of similar efforts by 2030. These announcement followed a similar one by Bank of America. 22–23 April: beginning on Earth Day, U. S. President Joe Biden hosted a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate attended by 40 world leaders, aiming to return the U.S. to being a leader in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which CNN called a "stark departure" from the Trump administration. 29 April: Germany's Federal Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the German government must set clear goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2030, stating that existing law placed too much of a burden on future generations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 12 May: The U.S. administration granted final approval to the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm about 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, expected to generate 800 megawatts (enough to power about 400,000 homes), with an ultimate goal to deploy enough offshore wind turbines by 2030 to power 10 million homes. A June 7 article in The New York Times reported that Europe had 5,400 offshore wind turbines, compared to seven (7) in the United States. 28 May: court and shareholder actions succeeded against Shell Oil (Dutch court ordering Shell to cut emissions by 45% within 10 years), Exxon-Mobil (two climate activist hedge fund candidates receiving board positions), and Chevron (shareholders imposing emissions targets). 11–13 June: leaders at the 47th G7 summit reaffirmed their goal to limit global heating to 1.5 °C and promised to cut collective emissions in half by 2030, but did not clearly lay out a plan to raise $100 billion a year for poorer countries to adopt clean energy, and did not agree on a timeline to end use of coal for electric power. 24 June: the European Parliament approved a landmark law to make the EU's greenhouse gas emissions targets legally binding, setting targets to reduce net EU emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels and eliminate net emissions by 2050. 15 July: the government of Greenland decided to cease issuing new licenses for oil and gas exploration "based upon economic calculations, but considerations of the impact on climate and the environment also play a central role in the decision". 18 August: a study published in Nature, considering the effect of ultraviolet radiation on the growth of plants serving as a carbon sink, estimated that the Montreal Protocol's late 1980s prohibition of ozone-depleting chemicals may have prevented an additional 115—235 parts per million of atmospheric CO2, which might have led to a 0.50–1.0 °C increase in global average temperature by 2100. Mid-September: China began enforcing the Kigali Amendment (2016) to the Montreal Protocol, pledging to immediately stop emitting HFC-23, a greenhouse gas 14,600 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. 21 September: China announced it will stop funding overseas coal projects, estimated to affect 54 gigawatts, the cancellation averting about three months worth of global greenhouse gas emissions. 1–12 November: 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), postponed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, resulting in the Glasgow Climate Pact. 10 November: in a case involving mining in a protected region of the Ecuadorian rainforest, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador issued a landmark decision interpreting the country's constitutional provisions to grant rights and confer protections to ecosystems. 8 April 2022: the World Economic Forum reported that for the first time, wind and solar generated more than 10% of electricity globally in 2021, with fifty countries having crossed the 10% threshold. However, power from coal rose 9% to a new record high. Mitigation goal statements 27 January: newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden signed executive orders designed to put the country on a path to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. February: IBM pledged to have net-zero emissions by 2030 (cutting emissions by 65% by 2025 compared to 2010 levels), following similar pledges by Microsoft (to be "carbon negative" by 2030) and Amazon (net-zero by 2040). 21 April: co-legislators of the European Climate Law reached a provisional agreement on a key element of the European Green Deal, which the European Commission said "enshrines the EU's commitment to reaching climate neutrality by 2050 and the intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels". 22 April: At the 2021 Leaders' Climate Summit on Earth Day, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new target for the US, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels. Adaptation goal statements May: A Carbon Disclosure Project survey found that in 2020, about 43% of 800 surveyed cities (combined population: 400 million) did not have a climate adaptation plan. Public opinion and scientific consensus In January, the United Nations Development Programme released results of the Peoples Climate Vote (1.2 million respondents in over 50 countries), which found that 64% said that climate change was an emergency. In June, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and Facebook Data for Good jointly published International Public Opinion on Climate Change, describing beliefs, attitudes, policy preferences, and behaviors of Facebook users in 31 countries and territories worldwide, including knowledge and beliefs, perceived risks, support for government action, economic concerns, and activism. 19 October: based on a review of 3,000 peer-reviewed publications randomly chosen from a dataset of 88,125 published since 2012, a study published in Environmental Research Letters concluded with high statistical confidence that the scientific consensus on human-caused contemporary climate change exceeds 99% in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Projections 24 January, the World Economic Forum listed top 10 risks by likelihood (extreme weather as #1, climate action failure as #2, human environmental damage as #3) and by severity (climate action failure as #2, human environmental damage as #6, extreme weather as #8). 9 February: a Communications Earth & Environment article concluded that emissions reductions must increase by 80% beyond nationally determined contributions (NDCs) (from 1% to 1.8% per year) to meet the 2 °C target of the 2015 Paris Convention. 19 February: a study published in Geophysical Research Letters studied 1952–2011 data on the timing of seasons and projected that, by 2100, summer in the northern mid-latitudes will last nearly half a year and winter will last less than 2 months. 8 March: a study published in Nature Geoscience concluded that "limiting global warming to 1.5  °C will prevent most of the tropics from reaching a TW of 35  °C (95  °F), the limit of human adaptation". 16 March: the International Renewable Energy Agency's Outlook indicated that energy transition investment would have to increase by 30% over planned investment to a total of US$131 trillion between 2021 and 2050—$4.4 trillion/year—to meet 2050 CO2 reduction targets. 8 April: a study published in Geophysical Research Letters projected that limiting 21st-century warming to 2 °C will halve the Antarctic ice shelf area susceptible to collapsing and disintegrating, compared to the 34% of all Antarctic ice shelf loss projected for 4 °C warming. 9 April: a study published in Science Advances used higher resolution climate models that included modeling of ocean eddies, to project that global mean sea level rise at the end of this century would be about 25% lower than previous models. 20 April: a study accepted for publication in Environmental Research Letters concluded that immediately pursuing all presently available methane emission reduction measures could avoid 0.25 °C additional global mean warming by mid-century, and set a path to avoid more than 0.5 °C warming by 2100. 22 April: Swiss re-insurer Swiss Re forecast that, compared to growth levels without climate change, the world will have 11—14% less economic output (as much as $23 trillion less, annually) by 2050. 30 April: a study published in Science Advances projected that the positive feedback effect of crustal rebound as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melts, could cause an 18% amplification of the 21st century's global mean sea level (GMSL) rise, and 1 meter additional GMSL rise over the next millennium. 5 May: a study published in Nature projected that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C would reduce the land ice contribution to sea level rise by 2100 from 25 cm to 13 cm (from 10 to 6 in.), with glaciers responsible for half the sea level rise contribution. 5 May: a study published in Nature used an observationally calibrated ice sheet–shelf model to project that with 2 °C global warming, Antarctic ice loss will continue at its current pace; but that current policies would allow 3 °C warming and give an abrupt jump around 2060 to an order of magnitude increase in the rate of sea-level rise (to 0.5 cm/yr) by 2100. 5 May: a study accepted for publication in Environmental Research Letters reported that greenhouse gas emissions have heated the troposphere and cooled the stratosphere so that stratospheric thickness has shrunk over decades, and projected an additional thinning of 1.3 km by 2080 if Earth follows an RCP 6.0 scenario. 5 May: The United Nations Environment Programme's Global Methane Assessment forecast that human-caused methane emissions can be reduced by up to 45 percent this decade and would avoid nearly 0.3 °C of global warming by 2045, and can be consistent with keeping the 1.5˚C goal for the century. May: Bloomberg NEF projected that by 2027, battery-powered electric vehicle prices would reach price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles in all light vehicle segments in Europe. 20 May: a study published in Nature Communications applied palaeoecological evidence (14,000–3600 years ago) to conclude that alpine areas actually developed less plant biodiversity with the upward advance of forest treelines, the researchers' simulation projecting a substantive decrease in plant biodiversity in response to global warming-related treeline rise. 20 May: the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme reported climate models projecting that the probability of an ice-free Arctic summer is 10 times greater under a 2 °C global warming scenario compared with a 1.5 °C scenario. 26 May: an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences projected that under RCP 8.5 ("business as usual" scenario), the temperature experienced by an average human will change more in coming decades than over the past six millennia; the mean human-experienced temperature rise by 2070 will amount to an estimated 7.5 °C—about 2.3 times the mean global temperature rise; and 3.5 billion people will be exposed to mean annual temperature ≥29.0 °C−presently found in 0.8% of the global land surface (mainly the Sahara) but projected to cover 19% of global land in 2070. 29 July: a study published in Nature Communications estimated that adding 4,434 metric tons of CO2—the lifetime emissions of 3.5 average Americans—will cause one excess death globally between 2020 and 2100. The study included only heat-related mortality impacts, and not indirect impacts such as flooding, storms, and crop failures. Significant publications WGI AR6 (9 August 2021). "Climate Change 2021 / The Physical Science Basis / Working Group I contribution to the WGI Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" (PDF). IPCC.ch. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2021. (Full report: >250MBytes; all 3,949 pages)Link to Summary for Policymakers (41 pages)Fleming, Sean (19 January 2021). "These are the world's greatest threats in 2021". WEForum.org. World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. U.N. secretariat (26 February 2021). "Nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement — Synthesis Report (Advance Version)" (PDF). unfccc.int. United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2021. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (March 2021). "Global Trends 2040 - A More Contested World" (PDF). DNI.gov. National Intelligence Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2021. Zarnetske, Phoebe L.; Gurevitch, Jessica; Franklin, Janet; Groffman, Peter M.; Harrison, Cheryl S.; Hellmann, Jessica J.; Hoffman, Forrest M.; Kothari, Shan; Robock, Alan; Tilmes, Simone; Visioni, Daniele (13 April 2021). "Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118 (15): e1921854118. Bibcode:2021PNAS..11821854Z. doi:10.1073/pnas.1921854118. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 8053992. PMID 33876741. "Global Methane Assessment / Summary for Decision Makers / Executive Summary" (PDF). UNEP.org. United Nations Environment Programme. 5 May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2021. "The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions / World Energy Outlook Special Report" (PDF). IEA.org. International Energy Agency. May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2021. "Net Zero by 2050 / A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector" (PDF). IEA.org. International Energy Agency. 18 May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 May 2021. (extract and archive thereof) AMAP Secretariat (20 May 2021). "Arctic Climate Change Update 2021: Key Trends and Impacts / Summary for Policy Makers". AMAP.no. Tromsø, Norway: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Sachs, Jeffrey D.; Kroll, Christian; Lafortune, Guillaume; Fulleer, Grayson; Woelm, Finn (June 2021). Sustainable Development Report 2021 / The Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (PDF). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009106559. ISBN 9781009106559. S2CID 236309770. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 June 2021. Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Newsome, Thomas M.; Gregg, Jillian W.; et al. (28 July 2021). "World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2021". BioScience. 71 (9): biab079. doi:10.1093/biosci/biab079. ISSN 0006-3568. Blunden, J.; Boyer, T. (August 2021). Blunden, J.; Boyer, T. (eds.). "State of the Climate in 2020" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 102 (8): S1–S475. Bibcode:2021BAMS..102Q...1B. doi:10.1175/2021BAMSStateoftheClimate.1. S2CID 238760782. (Executive Summary) WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970–2019). Geneva: World Meteorological Organization (WMO). August 2021. ISBN 978-92-63-11267-5. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. (WMO-No. 1267; 90 pp). "The Sixth Status of Corals of the World: 2020 Report". GCRMN.net. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. "State of the Climate in Africa 2020 (WMO-No. 1275)". WMO.int. World Meteorological Organization. 19 October 2021. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. "National Intelligence Estimate / Climate Change and International Responses Increasing Challenges to US National Security Through 2040 (NIC-NIE-2021-10030-A)" (PDF). DNI.gov. National Intelligence Council. 21 October 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2021. UNEP, UNEP DTU Partnership (26 October 2021). "Emissions Gap Report 2021" (PDF). UNEP.org. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2021. "State of Climate in 2021: Extreme events and major impacts (Press Release Number: 31102021)". WMO.int. World Meteorological Organization. 31 October 2021. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Washington Post Staff (13 November 2021). "The Glasgow climate pact, annotated". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. "State of the Global Climate 2021". WMO.int. World Meteorological Organization (WMO-No. 1290). 18 May 2022. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. See also 2021 in the environment and environmental sciences Climatology § History History of climate change policy and politics History of climate change science Politics of climate change § History Timeline of sustainable energy research 2020–present Notes References External links Organizations The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Climate indicators at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Surveys, summaries and report lists Rowlatt, Justin (1 January 2021). "Why 2021 could be turning point for tackling climate change". BBC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. "The Year in Climate News". The New York Times. 22 December 2021. Archived from the original on 27 December 2021. van der Zee, Bibi (31 December 2021). "2021: a year of climate crisis in review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.

2019 in climate change

This article documents events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate change—during the year 2019. Summaries In November, BioScience published a Warning article stating "we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency" and that an "immense increase of scale in endeavors to conserve our biosphere is needed to avoid untold suffering due to the climate crisis". Measurements and statistics NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the WMO reported that 2019 was the second hottest year in its 140-year climate record—0.04°C (0.07°F) cooler than 2016—with the U.K. Met Office ranking it among the three hottest. NOAA also reported that ocean heat content—the amount of heat stored in the upper levels of the ocean—was the highest ever recorded. NOAA also reported that both the Antarctic and Arctic oceans recorded their second smallest average annual sea-ice coverage during the 1979–2019 period of record. The WMO Global Atmosphere Watch in-situ observational network showed that carbon dioxide (410.5±0.2 ppm), methane (1877±2 ppb) and nitrous oxide (332.0±0.1 ppb) reached new highs in 2019, respectively constituting 148%, 260% and 123% of pre-industrial levels. The fire season in Sakha (Siberia) was unprecedented in the 20-year MODIS record in terms of an earlier start and northern extent, with some fires burning only about 11 km from the Chukchi Sea. From March through June, the burned area was greater than 2.9 times the 20-year mean. The Rhodium Group estimated that China contributed over 27% of total 2019 global greenhouse gas emissions (14 of 52 gigatons), surpassing the emissions of all OECD countries combined, though trailing them in per capita emissions; China was followed by the U.S. (11%), India (6.6%), Europe-27 (6.4%). 1 February 2022: a study published in PLOS Climate reported that, in 2019, 57% of the global ocean surface recorded extreme heat, compared to 2% during the second industrial revolution, and that, between the 1980s and 2010s, the global mean normalized heat index increased by 68.23%. Researchers stated that "many parts of the subtropical and midlatitude regions have reached a near-permanent extreme warming state". Events and phenomena Actions and goals Political, economic, cultural actions In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge whose signatory companies pledge net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, stimulating investment in low-carbon products and services. In March, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, also receiving a nomination the following year. In September, Thunberg spoke at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, criticizing world leaders for inaction on climate change. In December, Thunberg was named TIME Person of the Year. In Norway, electric cars comprised 54% of all new vehicle sales for 2019, making it the first country to have sold more electric cars than petrol, hybrid, and diesel engines in a year. The government planned to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025. Mitigation goal statements Adaptation goal statements Public opinion and scientific consensus The consensus among research scientists on anthropogenic global warming grew to 100%, based on a review of 11,602 peer-reviewed articles on "climate change" and "global warming" published in the first 7 months of 2019. A 2019 survey indicated a clear majority of people around the world think climate change is happening and that it is all or partly down to human actions. However, 17% of Americans polled agreed that "the idea of manmade global warming is a hoax that was invented to deceive people", only Saudi Arabia and Indonesia having a higher proportion of people doubtful of manmade climate change. Projections In January, the World Economic Forum listed top 10 risks by likelihood (extreme weather events as #1, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation as #2, man-made environmental damage and disasters as #6) and by impact (failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation as #2, extreme weather events as #3, man-made environmental damage and disasters as #9). Significant publications "Emissions Gap Report 2019" (PDF). UNenvironment.org. U.N. Environment Programme. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2020. Herring, Stephanie C.; Christidis, Nikolaos; Hoell, Andrew; Hoerling, Martin P.; Stott, Peter A., eds. (January 2021). "Explaining Extreme Events or 2019 From a Climate Perspective" (PDF). AMetSoc.net. American Meteorological Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 January 2021. Myers, Joe; Whiting, Kate (16 January 2019). "These are the biggest risks facing our world in 2019". WEForum.org. World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Newsome, Thomas M.; Baarnard, Phoebe; et al. (5 November 2019). "World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency". BioScience. 70 (1): 8–12. doi:10.1093/biosci/biz088. Watts, Nick; Amann, Markus; Arnell, Nigel; Ayeb-Karlsson, Sonja; et al. (13 November 2019). "The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate". The Lancet. 394 (10211): 1836–1878. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32596-6. PMID 31733928. S2CID 207976337. "Arctic Report Card: Update for 2020 / The sustained transformation to a warmer, less frozen and biologically changed Arctic remains clear" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). December 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 December 2020. The Report Card comprises specific reports including:• York, A.; Bhatt, U.S.; Gargulinski, E.; Grabinski, Z.; et al. (December 2020). "Wildland Fire in High Northern Latitudes". NOAA.gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). doi:10.25923/2gef-3964. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. See also Climatology § History History of climate change policy and politics History of climate change science Politics of climate change § History References External links The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

2016 united nations climate change conference

The 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference was an international meeting of political leaders and activists to discuss environmental issues. It was held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 7–18 November 2016. The conference incorporated the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP22), the twelfth meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12), and the first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1). The purpose of the conference was to discuss and implement plans about combatting climate change and to "[demonstrate] to the world that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is underway". Participants work together to come up with global solutions to climate change. The conference was presided over by Salaheddine Mezouar, the Moroccan Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Approximately 20,000 participants were expected to attend. On 2 May 2016, events firm GL Events signed the service contract. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also lent its support to the preparation for COP 22. The W+ Standard Wins the 2016 UNFCCC’s Momentum for Change Award. Background United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The participants in the conference are members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The aim of this convention is to prevent "dangerous human interference with the climate system". It is closely related to both the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification; all three are considered 'Rio Conventions' adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. There are seven steps that the UNFCCC lists as a "summary of the convention". The problem of climate change is recognized as a threat to human safety. Greenhouse gas emissions, especially in industrialized countries, must be reduced and countries are pressured to reduce emissions. Advanced countries must take action to reduce emissions and lead the way for developing nations. Advanced countries will help developing nations by providing financial and technological support. Both advanced and developing countries submit reports on climate change policies and greenhouse gas emissions. In developing countries, clean growth is emphasized as to limit the augmentation of greenhouse gas emissions while the nation industrializes. In order to increase quality of life in the presence of climate change, the convention will address and adapt to adverse effects of climate change when necessary. The Kyoto Protocol The Marrakech Conference is a continuation of regular global summits organised by United Nations following the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol was written in 1997 at COP3, but was not officially adopted until 16 February 2005. It was in effect from 2008 to 2012. It implemented strict regulations to ensure global emission reduction. There are three main mechanisms that a country can utilize to help reduce emissions: international emissions trading, clean development mechanisms, and joint implementation.The Protocol is also meant to assist countries in adapting to the conditions of climate change. Additionally, the UN Climate Change Secretariat receives reports from Parties, verifies transactions, and holds Parties accountable. The UNFCC considers the Kyoto Protocol a "first step" to climate change resistance. The Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement aims to prevent the rise of global temperatures. This is regulated by reports sent in by the Parties, meant to increase transparency of actions taken by both developing nations and advanced ones. It also has measures to increase countries' ability to adapt to conditions of climate change. The means of change that a country can take are called "nationally determined contributions". NDC's are essentially the efforts that each country will take to reduce their emissions. The period of effect for this agreement began on 4 November 2016. So far, it has been ratified by 132 out of 197 Parties at the convention. Preceding COPs 2009: Copenhagen (COP15) The Copenhagen Conference was intended to follow on from Kyoto, and culminated in the Copenhagen Accord, a 3-page text laying out common international intentions regarding climate change (reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, limiting global warming to 2 °C and providing 30 billion dollars for 2010–2012). Despite these goals, the conference was generally considered a failure. 2011: Durban (COP17) The aim of the Durban Conference was to start negotiations from scratch in order to prepare the path for future negotiations. The Ah Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action was created to "close the ambition gap" that existed between greenhouse-gas emission commitments made by nations and the aim to keep climate change below an increase of 2 °C. 2014: Lima (COP20) The priority of the Lima Conference was to redouble efforts to keep to the aim of keeping climate change under an increase of 2 °C between the present day and 2100. The conference opened with a preparatory document on a future COP21 agreement in Paris and by adopting a 37-page text. 2015: Paris (COP21) The 195 countries participating in the conference adopted the first worldwide climate agreement, a binding treaty that aims to limit climate change to a temperature increase of under 2 °C. Attendees The convention's attendees can be sorted into one of three categories: parties, observers, or members of the press/media. Parties There are three distinct groups that a nation can be placed in if they are considered a "party". These are Annex I, Annex II, and Non-Annex I. The organization of parties decides the level of participation of each country. It determines if the country is required to give financial aid to others, how often they must send reports, and the strictness of regulations in their country. The Annex I title refers to industrialized countries involved in either the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1992 or countries in economic transition (EIT). Annex II refers to countries in OECD but not EIT. These parties are required to help less advanced countries financially. They are also expected to take extra measures to transition to climate friendly technologies in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Non-Annex countries are developing and particularly vulnerable to climate change due to location, economic situations, or other issues institutionalized into the country. Another title is "least developed countries". This indicates that the nation is limited in their ability to respond to climate change issues. This label indicates to other parties the extra level of support necessary. Observers Observer organizations include the United Nations Systems and its specialized agencies, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Observer organizations must apply and be accepted by the COP to send representatives to any meeting or presentation related to the UNFCCC. NGOs can be businesses, labor unions, research or academic institutes, native populations, gender-affiliated groups, youth groups, environmental activists, farmers, and agriculturists. Around 2,000 NGOs and 100 IGOs were admitted to the 2016 conference. Once an organization is admitted, they do not have to reapply for the following conference. Observers may submit responses, on behalf of their entire organization, relating to topics or mandates within the conference. Objectives of COP22 Each COP is meant to cooperatively decide on how to deal with climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, each year a different theme is chosen and focused on. The twenty-second session's main subjects were about water management and decarbonizing energy supplies. COP22 took place on 14 and 15 November during the UNFCCC in Marrakech. The ways in which the Paris Agreement will be applied, as well as the agenda for negotiations, were on the agenda for COP22. Nik Gowing, known as a British journalist, chaired the event. African Dimension to COP22 On the margins of COP22, a summit involving "around 30 African heads of state" took place on 16 November 2016 in Marrakesh. This summit focused primarily on climate negotiations, in the backdrop of Africa being the part of the world that is the most threatened by global warming. On a more local note, the city of Marrakesh also took the opportunity to create for itself a greener image; for example, it has provided 300 bicycles for public use as part of a municipal bicycle-sharing scheme. Presentation of SuRe – The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure On 14 November, the Swiss Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) presented the newly launched SuRe – The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure at the Climate Summit for Local and Regional Leaders. GIB participated in a dialogue on "financing the sustainable transition of territories" to contribute to the Marrakech Roadmap for Action definition. 14 November Water Management and Conservation Forum Detailed issues relating to water transportation, infrastructure in the context of water storage, sustainable distribution, innovation for conservation, and accelerating efforts for new technologies. There were four moderators of the event: Raymond van Ermen, a Belgian member of the European Water Partnership; Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore; Edgar Gutiérrez Espeleta, Minister of Environment and Energy in Costa Rica and president, UNEA; Susan Mboya, the President of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation. Decarbonization of Energy Supplies Keynote Panel This panel addressed issues about the utilization of renewable resources, how policy can be used to promote renewable energy markets, and how infrastructure can be improved to accommodate these changes. The moderators include Nik Gowing, British journalist; H.E. Fatima Al Foora of the United Arab Emirates; Lord Gregory Baker of the United Kingdom; Andreas Regnell of Sweden, and Jan Rabe from Siemens AG. Accelerating Urban Mobility Forum Mobility, especially public transportation, was the main focus of this forum. Members discussed possibilities for sustainable public transportation options that were attractive to the user. The main goal was to innovate ways public transportation could become zero emission. The moderators included Nik Gowing, United Kingdom; Andreas Klugescheid, United States; Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, Norway; Glen R. Murray, Canada; Matt Rodriquez, United States. Financing Climate Action Closing Keynote Panel This panel discussed promoting new green products in relation to finance, while also incorporating climate considerations throughout economic systems. The panel members include Eric Usher, Canada; Jochen Flasbarth, Germany; Christian Grossman, Germany; Frederic Samama, France; Mustapha Bakkoury, Morocco; Monica Scatasta, Luxembourg. 15 November Low Carbon Innovation in Emerging Regions Keynote Panel Parties discussed how low emission technology can be integrated within existing infrastructure, how policymakers can implement technology safely, and how the UNFCCC can aid local businesses in the transition to green energy. The moderators include Janos Pasztor, Hungarian; H.E. Nestor Batio Bassiere, Burkina Faso; Diego Pavia; Mafalda Duarte, United States; Elham Ibrahim, Africa. Sustainable Business as a Driver of Change This forum developed ideas on how to create business models that left a minimal carbon footprint on earth. The moderators include Philippe Joubert, Nigeria; Peter Wheeler, UK; Pertti Korhonen, Finland; Paul Simpson, UK; April Crow, US. Impacting Innovation: Accelerating Green Academic Growth This forum discussed how new technologies and innovations must showcase environmentally friendly and sustainable attributes. Additionally, they should help create green jobs and also be able to be incorporated into already existing markets. Moderators include Sue Reid, Indonesia; Paul Isaac Musasizi, Uganda; Eric Olson, US; Yoshioka Tatsuya, Japan.17 November Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN) What Gets Measured Gets Valued: Incentivizing and Measuring Gender Impacts for Sustainable Landscape and Livelihoods The W+ Standard Wins the 2016 UNFCCC’s Momentum for Change Award; Jeannettee Gurung, Phd, Lee A. West. Criticisms and setbacks The inclusion of fossil fuel lobby groups with observer status, including the World Coal Association, the Business Council of Australia, Business Europe, and the Business Roundtable, has been met with criticism. Analysts suggested the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States Presidential race impeded efforts at the congress due to his regressive views on climate change. His stance on climate change was not known.Other criticisms came from environmental campaigners who argued that the Conference was "heavy on rhetoric and light on real progress." The Conference in Paris the year prior was seen as one that provided a foundation for future progress, with the succeeding event in Marrakesh supposed to be turning those promises into action. Additional criticisms depicted the less developed countries as not receiving enough money in order to help them adapt to "changes that are already happening because of global warming." See also CMA 1-2 CMA 1-3 References External links UNFCCC Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action

western canada wilderness committee

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee (often shortened to Wilderness Committee) is a non-profit environmental education organization that aims to protect Canada's wild spaces and species. Paul George, along with Richard Krieger, were the founding directors, and formed the Wilderness Committee in the province of British Columbia in 1980. It now has a membership of over 30,000 people with its head office in Vancouver and field offices in Victoria, British Columbia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Toronto, Ontario. Paul George, the founding Director, has published a history of the organization: Big Trees, Not Big Stumps. Other key campaigners for the Wilderness Committee over the years have been Adriane Carr, Colleen McCrory, Bryan Adams, Randy Stoltmann, Ken Lay, Joe Foy, Andrea Reimer, Ken Wu, Gwen Barlee and Nik Cuff. Mission The Wilderness Committee's Mission is: To protect Canada's bio-diversity through strategic research and grassroots public education. The Wilderness Committee believes that the right, the duty and the ability to act are integral to citizenship. The Wilderness Committee values nature, with all its natural bio-diversity, as absolutely vital to the health of people, communities and the planet. The Wilderness Committee acts with integrity and courage to mobilize citizens to take lawful, democratic action to defend Canada's remaining wilderness and wildlife. The Wilderness Committee has campaigned successfully, alongside other like minded individuals and organizations to protect millions of hectares of Canadian wilderness in over 40 key wilderness areas. Taking action With community-based, grassroots education campaigns, the Wilderness Committee works to protect wild lands, safeguard wild habitats from destruction, defend the well being of and public access to established national and provincial parks, keep wild rivers as a vital part of the natural environment and ensure that people can live and work in healthy communities. Underlying the Wilderness Committee's education work is a belief that citizens have the right, duty and the ability to stand up for the public interest and protect Canada and Earth's bio-diversity. The Wilderness Committee's educational work about pressing environmental issues reaches up to 5 million Canadians per year through door-to-door canvassing, rallies, petition drives, educational publications and the media in order to gain public support and bring about changes in government policy. A strong research and mapping program and strategic alliances support the Wilderness Committee's educational mission. The Wilderness Committee often works closely with other environmental groups, First Nations and community leaders, and conducts regular expeditions into threatened wilderness areas. Wilderness Committee campaigns Campaigns fall within the following areas: 1. Protecting Wild Lands 2. Safeguarding Wildlife 3. Defending Public Lands 4. Preserving the Pacific Coast 5. Supporting Healthy Communities Some current campaigns BC rivers at risk The Wilderness Committee is calling for a moratorium on all private river hydro-power projects in BC. Following the BC provincial government's 2002 Energy Plan, publicly owned BC Hydro was forbidden from producing new sources of hydroelectricity as part of a shift to deregulate and privatize the BC electricity sector. So far private power companies have staked 600 wild creeks and rivers. The Wilderness Committee is calling for a suspension on all private 'run-of river' power projects until they are regionally planned, environmentally appropriate, acceptable to First Nations and publicly owned. Clayoquot Sound This is one of the Wilderness Committee's longest lasting campaigns to protect the largest area of ancient temperate rainforest left on BC's Vancouver Island. With 75% of Vancouver Island's old-growth rainforest already logged, forestry companies continue to push for more logging operations in this rare ancient coastal rainforest. In 2008, forestry company, MaMook Coulson proposed logging in one of Clayoquot Sound's intact areas of ancient forest – the Hesquiat Point Creek Valley – sparking a strong response from the environmental community. Currently, no logging has taken place in the pristine area of Hesquiat Point Creek or any other intact area within Clayoquot Sound. But the conflict over potential logging in Hesquiat Point Creek has renewed the interest in finding a lasting solution for protecting Clayoquot Sound, while providing livelihood opportunities for those who live there. The designation of Clayoquot Sound as an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2000, while a huge step forward, does not provide legislated protection. BC endangered species There are more than 1,600 species and subspecies are at risk of disappearing from BC, mostly due to human-caused degradation of habitat. From peregrine falcons and monarch butterflies to grizzly bears and spotted owls, endangered species such as these are left to fend for themselves against climate change, toxic contamination, urban sprawl, logging and industrial development as there is no stand-alone endangered species law in BC. The Wilderness Committee is calling on the provincial government to enact a law that will protect the habitat of endangered species and identify, protect and establish effective recovery plans for all endangered species across BC. Canadian climate change solutions Around the globe people are mobilizing to meet the challenges of climate change but instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Canada continues to pursue policies that will greatly increase – not decrease – greenhouse gas emissions. Half of Canada's future emissions growth is projected to come from the Alberta and Saskatchewan tar sands. The Wilderness Committee's climate change campaign calls for the deep reduction of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels, with legislated goals on reducing our carbon emissions that are set by the best science available. Stopping the expansion of fossil fuel extraction, like the Canadian tar sands, new coal mines or proposals for oil and gas exploration will address some of the domestic action needed to prevent runaway climate destruction. Stopping highway expansion and increasing investment in public transit, cycling and walking infrastructure and protecting wild lands like forests and wetlands, a significant storage of greenhouse gases, are some of the local solutions proposed by the Wilderness Committee. Manitoba parks Manitoba provincial parks were the most threatened parks in Canada, and some of the most threatened globally. But in 2009 the Wilderness Committee and other supportive individuals and organizations succeeded in convincing the provincial government to stop logging in 79 of Manitoba's 80 provincial parks. The Manitoba's Forest Amendment Act was assented to on June 11, 2009.A license was issued in 2009 by the Manitoba government to build a logging road through the heart of the Grass River Provincial Park, an area that is also home to a newly discovered herd of caribou. In September 2009 the Wilderness Committee filed for a formal appeal against this license. The Wilderness Committee believes the decision to approve the road will have a negative impact on the migration route of the park's woodland caribou, which gained protected status under the province's Endangered Species Act in 2006. Stop old growth logging in BC The Wilderness Committee is calling on the BC government to protect BC's ancient forests by immediately banning logging in the most endangered old-growth forest types and phasing-out old-growth logging from the rest by 2015. The ancient forests provide essential habitat for endangered wildlife such as the spotted owl, marbled murrelet and mountain caribou. According to the Wilderness Committee, BC's second-growth forests could be logged at a slower, more sustainable rate to better protect the environment while still providing wood working jobs. The Wilderness Committee is also calling for a ban on raw log exports to further protect wood worker jobs in BC. Organization The Wilderness Committee has an annual budget of approximately $2 million (CAN). There are about two dozen staff members who carry out various functions, including organizing volunteers, publishing educational materials, campaigning for the protection of nature and financial management. There are also around 20 to 30 contract door-to-door canvassers, who distribute the Wilderness Committee's educational materials and solicit donations and memberships. There are also up to 100 volunteers who work in the mailing rooms, build trails and help with rallies and events throughout the year. Most employees work from the headquarters in Vancouver with other campaign staff and contract canvassing staff also working from field offices in Victoria, Winnipeg, and Toronto. The Wilderness Committee's Mid-Island Branch, headquartered in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island, BC is all volunteer run. Approximately 90% of all Wilderness Committee funding comes from individual donations and membership fees with the remaining funds coming from foundations and grants. All members receive the Wilderness Committee's annual calendar, five to seven newspapers providing information about current campaigns and wilderness areas and 10% discount on all Wilderness Committee products, such as nature-based cards, calendars, posters and books. An elected, nine-member volunteer board of directors who each serve three years in post governs the Wilderness Committee.The Board appoints and gives direction to the Executive Team. The Executive Team carries on the day-to-day management of the Wilderness Committee. It reports to the board of directors and serves as ex officio non-voting members of the board and board committees. History When the Wilderness Committee was founded in 1980 there was little information available to the public on Canadian wilderness issues. Under the leadership of Paul George, the Wilderness Committee began to research, publish and distribute information about threatened Canadian wilderness; especially focusing on the big-treed temperate rainforests of coastal BC. The Wilderness Committee's primary goal was to build grassroots and broad public support for protecting ecosystems and bio-diversity. The Wilderness Committee's first project was the collaborative production of a 1981 full-colour wall calendar featuring 12 endangered wilderness areas in Western Canada, with response tear-offs to a dozen different Canadian environmental groups. In its early years the Wilderness Committee mounted campaigns in collaboration with other groups (e.g., South Moresby/Gwaii Haanas – with the council of the Haida Nation and Islands Protection Society; and the Valhalla Campaign with the Valhalla Wilderness Society). In 1985, the Wilderness Committee initiated a new campaign tactic with its Stein Valley campaign. A hiking trail was constructed into the threatened wilderness area so that citizens, media, scientists and politicians could go there and see the Stein Valley wilderness for themselves. This activity required mobilizing dozens of committed volunteers and moved the Wilderness Committee into an active year-round organization. 1988 was a pivotal year for the Wilderness Committee. It launched its first stand alone campaign to protect Carmanah Valley from industrial logging, and brought national attention to the importance of protecting Canada's big-treed ancient temperate rainforests. The Wilderness Committee initiated its first door-to-door canvass with a focus on Carmanah Valley and from 1988 to 1990 increased its membership from roughly 3,000 to over 30,000. During this campaign the Wilderness Committee honed its skills in public education. Over a 2-year period the Wilderness Committee published and distributed over 1 million copies of the organization's educational tabloid style newspapers, 500,000 Adopt-A-Tree mail-in opinion cards, 10,000 copies of the Wilderness Committee's award-winning book Carmanah – Visions of an Ancient Rainforest, 20,000 posters, 45,000 calendars and thousands of news releases on the Carmanah Valley issue. As part of this campaign the Wilderness Committee also conducted slide-show tours in BC and Ontario, built its first boardwalk wilderness trail, produced the organization's first video, built the world's first upper canopy ancient temperate rainforest research station and supported researchers who discovered hundreds of new insect species in the treetops of the Carmanah Valley. The Wilderness Committee Carmanah Valley campaign ultimately resulted in Provincial Park protection for the whole valley. By 1990 the Wilderness Committee had become the largest membership-based, citizen funded wilderness preservation group in western Canada, largely through its outreach efforts.Wilderness Committee campaigns have helped gain the protection of many important wilderness areas, (2) including critical wildlife habitats and some of the world's last large tracts of old growth temperate rainforest and boreal forest. Notable achievements include playing a key role in gaining protection for South Moresby - Gwaii Hanas (BC), Caribou Mountains Park (AB), South Atikaki (MB), Carmanah Valley (BC), Pinecone/Boise/Burke (BC), Manigotagan River (MB), Stein Valley Nlaka'Pamux (BC), Sooke Hills (BC) and the designation of Clayoquot Sound (BC) as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve, and many other areas resulting in over 40 protected areas in western Canada. Through successful litigation, the Wilderness Committee set significant legal precedents; logging was stopped in Wood Buffalo National Park and Greater Victoria's drinking watershed; established that no logging roads should be built without approved logging permits; guaranteed public access to crown lands; and, most recently, afforded critically endangered species' habitat protection from logging under BC's Forest Practices Code. References External links Official website

climate change in nepal

Climate change in Nepal is a major problem for Nepal as it is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. Globally, Nepal is ranked fourth, in terms of vulnerability to climate change. Floods spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and bring landslides, leaving tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. In the 2020 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, it was judged to be the ninth hardest-hit nation by climate calamities during the period 1999 to 2018. Nepal is a least developed country, with 28.6 percent of the population living in multidimensional poverty. Analysis of trends from 1971 to 2014 by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) shows that the average annual maximum temperature has been increasing by 0.056 °C per year. Precipitation extremes are found to be increasing. A national-level survey on the perception-based survey on climate change reported that locals accurately perceived the shifts in temperature but their perceptions of precipitation change did not converge with the instrumental records. Data reveals that more than 80 percent of property loss due to disasters is attributable to climate hazards, particularly water-related events such as floods, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).The floods of 2018 spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and brought landslides. They have left tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. Nepal experienced flash floods and landslides in August, 2018 across the southern border, amounting to US$600 million in damages. There are reports of land which was once used for growing vegetables, and has become barren. Yak herders struggle to find grazing patches for their animals. Scientists have found that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the Himalayas, where mosquitoes have started to appear in the highlands. Impacts on the natural environment Temperature and weather changes A climate trend analysis of Nepal (1971-2014) shows that the annual maximum temperature trend is significantly positive (0.056oC/yr). All Nepal annual minimum temperature trend is also positive (0.002oC/yr) but it is insignificant.The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on both drought and flooding events have been found, including severe winter drought and excessive monsoon flooding. Climate change has been alarming in the context of global warming. In Nepal, 95% of greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture and forestry sectors; of this, 77% was from the forestry sector only. The consequences of global warming have had the most impact in developing and mountainous countries like Nepal, which has high intensity rainfall during rainy season. It has resulted in heavy floods, landslides and soil erosion. It is also common to find drought in many parts of Nepal that comes from the impacts of climate change and it impacts sectors like forest, water resources, agriculture, human health and biodiversity. Impacts on people Economic impacts Agriculture Altogether 14 glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) occurred between 1935 and 1991. In total, 21 GLOFs have been identified as being potentially dangerous at present. In this way, CC and livelihoods integral part and have vice versa relationship. The low income and subsistence users are about 38% of total population. It is a great challenge to cope with climate change induced hazards and extreme events. The livelihoods of more than 80% of the local people of hilly region are heavily dependent on climate sensitive areas such as agriculture, forest and livestock and on other natural resources such as water and irrigation. Adaptation Nepal's National Adaptation Plan process In 2010, the Government of Nepal approved the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). NAPA was developed as a requirement under the UNFCCC to access funding for the most urgent and immediate adaptation needs from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF). In Nepal, NAPA was developed with three components: preparation and dissemination of NAPA documents, development and maintenance of the Nepal Climate Change Knowledge Management Centre (NCCKMC), and development of the Multi-Stakeholder Climate Change Initiative Coordination Committee (MCCICC). In NAPA, nine integrated projects have been identified as the urgent and immediate national adaptation priority. They are: Promoting community-based adaptation through integrated management of agriculture, water, forest and biodiversity sector Building and enhancing adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities through improved system and access to services related to agriculture development Community-based disaster management for facilitating climate adaptation GLOF monitoring and disaster risk reduction, and forest and ecosystem management for supporting climate-led adaptation innovations Adapting to climate challenges in public health and ecosystem management for climate adaptation Empowering vulnerable communities through sustainable management of water resource and clean energy support, and promoting climate smart urban settlementNAPA's implementation framework envisages that the operating costs will be kept to a minimum and at least 80% of the available financial resources will reach the local level to fund activities on the ground. Stakeholders in Nepal has also started discussing National Adaptation Plans(NAPs), which are medium and long term adaptation plans for the country as decided by UNFCCC.Nepal's NAP process builds on past experience with adaptation planning, including through the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), developed in 2010, and the Framework on Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPA), developed in 2011, which has facilitated development of adaptation plans by Village Development Committees across the country. Nepal launched its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in September 2015. The two main objectives of the NAP are (i) to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts by improving resilience and adaptive capacity, and (ii) to integrate climate change adaptation into new and current policies, programs, activities, and development strategies across all sectors and levels of government.At present, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is executing the NAP process through the project, “Building Capacity to Advance National Adaptation Plan Process in Nepal,” with financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Building on the NAPA formulation and implementation experiences, this project supports the Climate Change Management Division (CCMD) of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, in the NAP formulation process, through a participatory, country-driven, gender-sensitive and multi-sectoral working group approach, emphasizing “leave no one behind” as the guiding principle. To mainstream the interlinked climate change issues into the overall development process, the National Climate Change Policy that came into effect in 2019 identified eight thematic and four cross-cutting areas. Based on that, the NAP formulation process engages eight thematic working groups (TWGs) and four cross-cutting working groups (CWGs) to cover the climate-sensitive approach. In line with the National Climate Change Policy 2019, the project works through the seven Provincial Climate Change Coordination Committees (PC4), one in each province. The PC4 is a medium between the federal and provincial governments concerning climate change. Potentiality of climate change adaptation Response to climate change in Nepal has been growing in recent years with an effort to cope with the changing situation and build resilience capacity into adaptation to climate change. In climate induced vulnerability context, Nepal has developed policy level provision such as the National Adaptation Programme of Action to climate change (NAPA). The NAPA document opened the door to act adaptation activities into country. Under the provision of national level policy, the Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA) national framework was devised out by government. It only mentioned the provision of the implementation mechanism at district or village development committee level to act on climate change adaptation. However, this document is still silent on provision of implementation mechanism at community level. Although the framework does not mention adaptation implementation mechanisms at community level, some community level adaptive strategies are being implemented. These strategies are community based adaptation plans for poor and vulnerable communities with less capacity to cope with disasters and are more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. Adaptation in the agricultural sector Adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector and allied sectors is a major current and future challenge for Nepal. The majority of the population is still dependent on highly climate-sensitive sector like agriculture. In recent years, long drought spells during the monsoon season and increased temperatures and unseasonal heavy rains during winter have caused serious distress to agriculture-dependent communities in many locations. If the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture are to be realized, climate change adaptation interventions need to be implemented in earnest. Goods and services from community forest After 3 decades of CF in Nepal, more than 1.652 million forest lands were handed over to 1.45 million households of 17,685 community forest user group (CFUG) for conservation, management and utilization. CFUG as a common property resource management program in Nepal have resulted in improving forest cover and condition. Institutionally, CFUG are autonomous, independent and accountable institution for conserving, managing and utilizing of natural resources in Nepal legitimized by Forest Act 1992 and Forest Regulation 1995 of Nepal. The additional advantages are, effective protection, wise use of resources, plantation, forest fire control, and more effective contribution to local development and economic generation. It enhanced biodiversity, water flow and soil stability. More than 90% of villagers report that their forests are in better condition than a decade ago. Furthermore, CFs are able to meet poor and vulnerable households' daily subsistence needs for forest products such as firewood, fodder and timber. Apart from this, growing forests capture and store carbon that are contributing to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Because of, user groups have institutionally developed after CF handed over. Furthermore, the landscape of hills of Nepal drastically transformed into greenery. Such types of changes have positive impact on carbon sequestration which has contributed in reducing effects of climate change. It is not only the CF contributing in climate change adaptation by providing goods and services, the CFUGs have also been used as local institutions for adaptation planning. Constraints to adaptation A report on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Nepal has identified the major constraints to adaptation in Nepal are: Dependence on Subsistence Agriculture Challenging Geophysical Conditions Population Growth in Urban Centers Institutional Failures and Weaknesses Constantly Changing Organizational Structures High Turnover of Government Personnel Failures of Public Institutions Ineffective to Nonexistent Coordination Deficient CapacityTraditional top-down decision-making processes have become inadequate, due to their inability to create appropriate solutions for local communities. Nepal's forest cover, condition and quality are being improved. This is the success of only through three way partnership such as communities from bottom-up function, government and donors from top-down function and NGOs, civil society network from outside-in. In this situation, CFUGs have to be involved in mainstreaming to implement climate change adaptation. It is due to they are playing the key role in proactive in investing their funds, climate change knowledge transfer and policy feedback to adopt to the impact of climate change. Policy shall be emphasized the establishing groups around the resources that are indispensable for the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups to access diversification opportunity. It is necessary to bridge this gap; bottom-up approaches may produce the best results by building on local experiences and knowledge. For this, building-up the capacity of groups and their poor and vulnerable communities on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pertinent. In addition to this, focus needs to be given on institutional development, capacity building and awarding CFUGs for their good work on forest development and bio-diversity protection which ultimately contributes to ecological and environment balance. Society and culture Gender In Nepal, women are also responsible for the traditional daily household chores including food production, household water supply and energy for heating. However, these tasks are likely to become more time-consuming and difficult, as the impacts of climate change increase, if women have to travel farther to collect items. This proves to be an additional stressor for women, increasing their risk to health hazards and illnesses, and in turn increasing their vulnerability to climate change. == References ==

climate change (children's book)

Climate Change is a forthcoming children's book co-authored by Charles III, the King of the United Kingdom, Tony Juniper, the Chair of Natural England, and climate scientist Emily Shuckburgh. The book is published by Ladybird Books and scheduled for release in March 2023. Aimed at those aged between seven and eleven, it discusses climate change and the various threats that face the environment. The book was launched at a reception held at Buckingham Palace on 17 February 2023, and attended by politicians, businesspeople and indigenous leaders from around the world.Charles had previously collaborated with Juniper and Shuckburgh on a book for adults, also titled Climate Change, and published by Ladybird in 2017. The information was updated and rewritten for the 2023 version to make it accessible to children. Juniper has described Climate Change as a way of "trying to bring the facts to the fingertips of the people who've got most to gain by finding solutions in time". == References ==

city

A city is a human settlement of a notable size. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability. Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas—creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, climate change, and global health. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. Other important traits of cities besides population include the capital status and relative continued occupation of the city. For example, country capitals such as Athens, Beijing, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, New Delhi, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. reflect the identity and apex of their respective nations. Some historic capitals, such as Kyoto, Yogyakarta, and Xi'an, maintain their reflection of cultural identity even without modern capital status. Religious holy sites offer another example of capital status within a religion; examples include Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Haridwar, and Prayagraj. Meaning A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status, which may be conferred by a central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory.National censuses use a variety of definitions – invoking factors such as population, population density, number of dwellings, economic function, and infrastructure – to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some jurisdictions set no such minima. In the United Kingdom, city status is awarded by the Crown and then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a cathedral, resulting in some very small cities such as Wells, with a population of 12,000 as of 2018, and St Davids, with a population of 1,841 as of 2011.) According to the "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas.The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city. A typical city has professional administrators, regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support the government workers. (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically horizontal relationships in a tribe or village accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or the leadership of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or a combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations. The degree of urbanization is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)". This metric was "devised over years by the European Commission, OECD, World Bank and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by the United Nations ... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison". Etymology The word city and the related civilization come from the Latin root civitas, originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with urbs, meaning 'city' in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek polis—another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis.In toponymic terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'city or town' and ὄνομα 'name'). Geography Urban geography deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure. Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of the land surface of the Earth. Site Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of rail transport in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river.Urban areas as a rule cannot produce their own food and therefore must develop some relationship with a hinterland that sustains them. Only in special cases such as mining towns which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them. Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations. Center The vast majority of cities have a central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek term temenos or if fortified as a citadel. These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider sphere of influence. Today cities have a city center or downtown, sometimes coincident with a central business district. Public space Cities typically have public spaces where anyone can go. These include privately owned spaces open to the public as well as forms of public land such as public domain and the commons. Western philosophy since the time of the Greek agora has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic public sphere. Public art adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. Parks and other natural sites within cities provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical built environments. Urban green spaces are another component of public space that provides the benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks. Internal structure The urban structure generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains the form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape. Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to city planning. In a radial structure, main roads converge on a central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of town walls and citadels marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring roads moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as Moscow, this pattern is still clearly visible. A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the grid plan, has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Indus Valley civilization built Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by Kautilya, and aligned with the compass points. The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies a grid plan with specialized districts used across the Hellenistic Mediterranean. Urban areas The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the city proper in a form of development sometimes described critically as urban sprawl. Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of the term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary.Metropolitan areas include suburbs and exurbs organized around the needs of commuters, and sometimes edge cities characterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped into metropolitan statistical areas for purposes of demography and marketing.) Some cities are now part of a continuous urban landscape called urban agglomeration, conurbation, or megalopolis (exemplified by the BosWash corridor of the Northeastern United States.) History The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements, such as Çatalhöyük, is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization.The cities of Jericho, Aleppo, Faiyum, Yerevan, Athens, Matera, Damascus, and Argos are among those laying claim to the longest continual inhabitation.Cities, characterized by population density, symbolic function, and urban planning, have existed for thousands of years. In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by the development of agriculture, which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a social division of labor (with concomitant social stratification) and trade. Early cities often featured granaries, sometimes within a temple. A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing), to use as communal seasonal shelters, to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization, or to their inherent economic function. Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as Alexander the Great founded and created them with zeal. Ancient times Jericho and Çatalhöyük, dated to the eighth millennium BC, are among the earliest proto-cities known to archaeologists. However, the Mesopotamian city of Uruk from the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to the Uruk period.In the fourth and third millennium BC, complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Egypt. Excavations in these areas have found the ruins of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, dense populations, but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Among the early Old World cities, Mohenjo-Daro of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan, existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a sophisticated sanitation system. China's planned cities were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial microcosms.The Ancient Egyptian cities known physically by archaeologists are not extensive. They include (known by their Arab names) El Lahun, a workers' town associated with the pyramid of Senusret II, and the religious city Amarna built by Akhenaten and abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented and stratified fashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes.In Mesopotamia, the civilization of Sumer, followed by Assyria and Babylon, gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written in cuneiform. The Phoenician trading empire, flourishing around the turn of the first millennium BC, encompassed numerous cities extending from Tyre, Cydon, and Byblos to Carthage and Cádiz. In the following centuries, independent city-states of Greece, especially Athens, developed the polis, an association of male landowning citizens who collectively constituted the city. The agora, meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis. Rome was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of its empire, Rome transformed and founded many cities (Colonia), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society.In the ancient Americas, early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica. In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization, Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari, Chimu, and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru. It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between the 30th and 18th centuries BC. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the Olmec and spreading to the Preclassic Maya, the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec, Andean civilizations, Mayan, Mississippians, and Pueblo peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as Mexico City, in the same location as Tenochtitlan; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in New Mexico, such as Acoma Pueblo near the Albuquerque metropolitan area and Taos Pueblo near Taos; while others like Lima are located nearby ancient Peruvian sites such as Pachacamac. Jenné-Jeno, located in present-day Mali and dating to the third century BC, lacked monumental architecture and a distinctive elite social class—but nevertheless had specialized production and relations with a hinterland. Pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa. Other early urban centers in sub-Saharan Africa, dated to around 500 AD, include Awdaghust, Kumbi-Saleh the ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao. Middle Ages In the remnants of the Roman Empire, cities of late antiquity gained independence but soon lost population and importance. The locus of power in the West shifted to Constantinople and to the ascendant Islamic civilization with its major cities Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba. From the 9th through the end of the 12th century, Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million. The Ottoman Empire gradually gained control over many cities in the Mediterranean area, including Constantinople in 1453. In the Holy Roman Empire, beginning in the 12th century, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Basel, Zurich, and Nijmegen became a privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of the Imperial Estates governing the empire with the emperor through the Imperial Diet.By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy, medieval communes developed into city-states including the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa. In Northern Europe, cities including Lübeck and Bruges formed the Hanseatic League for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later challenged and eclipsed by the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent, Ypres, and Amsterdam. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan. In the first millennium AD, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over 1,000 km2 and possibly supporting up to one million people. Early modern In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the Peace of Westphalia in the seventeenth century. Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade. However, most towns remained small. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism. Industrial age The growth of the modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as London became the capital of a world empire and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for manufacturing. In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the introduction of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas. Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated with overcrowding, occupational hazards of industry, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation, and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Factories and slums emerged as regular features of the urban landscape. Post-industrial age In the second half of the 20th century, deindustrialization (or "economic restructuring") in the West led to poverty, homelessness, and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a "Rust Belt" and cities such as Detroit, Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink, contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion. Such cities have shifted with varying success into the service economy and public-private partnerships, with concomitant gentrification, uneven revitalization efforts, and selective cultural development. Under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans continuing today, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization and become the world's leading manufacturer.Amidst these economic changes, high technology and instantaneous telecommunication enable select cities to become centers of the knowledge economy. A new smart city paradigm, supported by institutions such as the RAND Corporation and IBM, is bringing computerized surveillance, data analysis, and governance to bear on cities and city dwellers. Some companies are building brand-new master-planned cities from scratch on greenfield sites. Urbanization Urbanization is the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until the 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring markets and small-scale manufacturing. With the agricultural and industrial revolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and demographic expansion. In England, the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. In 1900, 15% of the world's population lived in cities. The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents.Urbanization rapidly spread across Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs reported in 2014 that for the first time, more than half of the world population lives in cities.Latin America is the most urban continent, with four-fifths` of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live in shantytowns (favelas, poblaciones callampas, etc.). Batam, Indonesia, Mogadishu, Somalia, Xiamen, China, and Niamey, Niger, are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%. In general, the more developed countries of the "Global North" remain more urbanized than the less developed countries of the "Global South"—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting. The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers (and 300 million fewer country dwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa.Megacities, cities with populations in the multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign capital arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as the relocation of major businesses from Europe and North America, attracting immigrants from near and far. A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, with usually contain a super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions.Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground.Urbanization can create rapid demand for water resources management, as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and the volume of sewage begins to exceed manageable levels. Government The local government of cities takes different forms including prominently the municipality (especially in England, in the United States, India, and other British colonies; legally, the municipal corporation; municipio in Spain and Portugal, and, along with municipalidad, in most former parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires) and the commune (in France and Chile; or comune in Italy). The chief official of the city has the title of mayor. Whatever their true degree of political authority, the mayor typically acts as the figurehead or personification of their city.Legal conflicts and issues arise more frequently in cities than elsewhere due to the bare fact of their greater density. Modern city governments thoroughly regulate everyday life in many dimensions, including public and personal health, transport, burial, resource use and extraction, recreation, and the nature and use of buildings. Technologies, techniques, and laws governing these areas—developed in cities—have become ubiquitous in many areas. Municipal officials may be appointed from a higher level of government or elected locally. Municipal services Cities typically provide municipal services such as education, through school systems; policing, through police departments; and firefighting, through fire departments; as well as the city's basic infrastructure. These are provided more or less routinely, in a more or less equal fashion. Responsibility for administration usually falls on the city government, but some services may be operated by a higher level of government, while others may be privately run. Armies may assume responsibility for policing cities in states of domestic turmoil such as America's King assassination riots of 1968. Finance The traditional basis for municipal finance is local property tax levied on real estate within the city. Local government can also collect revenue for services, or by leasing land that it owns. However, financing municipal services, as well as urban renewal and other development projects, is a perennial problem, which cities address through appeals to higher governments, arrangements with the private sector, and techniques such as privatization (selling services into the private sector), corporatization (formation of quasi-private municipally-owned corporations), and financialization (packaging city assets into tradeable financial public contracts and other related rights). This situation has become acute in deindustrialized cities and in cases where businesses and wealthier citizens have moved outside of city limits and therefore beyond the reach of taxation. Cities in search of ready cash increasingly resort to the municipal bond, essentially a loan with interest and a repayment date. City governments have also begun to use tax increment financing, in which a development project is financed by loans based on future tax revenues which it is expected to yield. Under these circumstances, creditors and consequently city governments place a high importance on city credit ratings. Governance Governance includes government but refers to a wider domain of social control functions implemented by many actors including non-governmental organizations. The impact of globalization and the role of multinational corporations in local governments worldwide, has led to a shift in perspective on urban governance, away from the "urban regime theory" in which a coalition of local interests functionally govern, toward a theory of outside economic control, widely associated in academics with the philosophy of neoliberalism. In the neoliberal model of governance, public utilities are privatized, the industry is deregulated, and corporations gain the status of governing actors—as indicated by the power they wield in public-private partnerships and over business improvement districts, and in the expectation of self-regulation through corporate social responsibility. The biggest investors and real estate developers act as the city's de facto urban planners.The related concept of good governance places more emphasis on the state, with the purpose of assessing urban governments for their suitability for development assistance. The concepts of governance and good governance are especially invoked in emergent megacities, where international organizations consider existing governments inadequate for their large populations. Urban planning Urban planning, the application of forethought to city design, involves optimizing land use, transportation, utilities, and other basic systems, in order to achieve certain objectives. Urban planners and scholars have proposed overlapping theories as ideals for how plans should be formed. Planning tools, beyond the original design of the city itself, include public capital investment in infrastructure and land-use controls such as zoning. The continuous process of comprehensive planning involves identifying general objectives as well as collecting data to evaluate progress and inform future decisions.Government is legally the final authority on planning but in practice, the process involves both public and private elements. The legal principle of eminent domain is used by the government to divest citizens of their property in cases where its use is required for a project. Planning often involves tradeoffs—decisions in which some stand to gain and some to lose—and thus is closely connected to the prevailing political situation.The history of urban planning dates to some of the earliest known cities, especially in the Indus Valley and Mesoamerican civilizations, which built their cities on grids and apparently zoned different areas for different purposes. The effects of planning, ubiquitous in today's world, can be seen most clearly in the layout of planned communities, fully designed prior to construction, often with consideration for interlocking physical, economic, and cultural systems. Society Social structure Urban society is typically stratified. Spatially, cities are formally or informally segregated along ethnic, economic, and racial lines. People living relatively close together may live, work, and play in separate areas, and associate with different people, forming ethnic or lifestyle enclaves or, in areas of concentrated poverty, ghettoes. While in the US and elsewhere poverty became associated with the inner city, in France it has become associated with the banlieues, areas of urban development that surround the city proper. Meanwhile, across Europe and North America, the racially white majority is empirically the most segregated group. Suburbs in the West, and, increasingly, gated communities and other forms of "privatopia" around the world, allow local elites to self-segregate into secure and exclusive neighborhoods.Landless urban workers, contrasted with peasants and known as the proletariat, form a growing stratum of society in the age of urbanization. In Marxist doctrine, the proletariat will inevitably revolt against the bourgeoisie as their ranks swell with disenfranchised and disaffected people lacking all stake in the status quo. The global urban proletariat of today, however, generally lacks the status of factory workers which in the nineteenth century provided access to the means of production. Economics Historically, cities rely on rural areas for intensive farming to yield surplus crops, in exchange for which they provide money, political administration, manufactured goods, and culture. Urban economics tends to analyze larger agglomerations, stretching beyond city limits, in order to reach a more complete understanding of the local labor market.As hubs of trade, cities have long been home to retail commerce and consumption through the interface of shopping. In the 20th century, department stores using new techniques of advertising, public relations, decoration, and design, transformed urban shopping areas into fantasy worlds encouraging self-expression and escape through consumerism.In general, the density of cities expedites commerce and facilitates knowledge spillovers, helping people and firms exchange information and generate new ideas. A thicker labor market allows for better skill matching between firms and individuals. Population density enables also sharing of common infrastructure and production facilities; however, in very dense cities, increased crowding and waiting times may lead to some negative effects.Although manufacturing fueled the growth of cities, many now rely on a tertiary or service economy. The services in question range from tourism, hospitality, entertainment, and housekeeping to grey-collar work in law, financial consulting, and administration.According to a scientific model of cities by Professor Geoffrey West, with the doubling of a city's size, salaries per capita will generally increase by 15%. Culture and communications Cities are typically hubs for education and the arts, supporting universities, museums, temples, and other cultural institutions. They feature impressive displays of architecture ranging from small to enormous and ornate to brutal; skyscrapers, providing thousands of offices or homes within a small footprint, and visible from miles away, have become iconic urban features. Cultural elites tend to live in cities, bound together by shared cultural capital, and themselves play some role in governance. By virtue of their status as centers of culture and literacy, cities can be described as the locus of civilization, human history, and social change.Density makes for effective mass communication and transmission of news, through heralds, printed proclamations, newspapers, and digital media. These communication networks, though still using cities as hubs, penetrate extensively into all populated areas. In the age of rapid communication and transportation, commentators have described urban culture as nearly ubiquitous or as no longer meaningful.Today, a city's promotion of its cultural activities dovetails with place branding and city marketing, public diplomacy techniques used to inform development strategy; attract businesses, investors, residents, and tourists; and to create shared identity and sense of place within the metropolitan area. Physical inscriptions, plaques, and monuments on display physically transmit a historical context for urban places. Some cities, such as Jerusalem, Mecca, and Rome have indelible religious status and for hundreds of years have attracted pilgrims. Patriotic tourists visit Agra to see the Taj Mahal, or New York City to visit the World Trade Center. Elvis lovers visit Memphis to pay their respects at Graceland. Place brands (which include place satisfaction and place loyalty) have great economic value (comparable to the value of commodity brands) because of their influence on the decision-making process of people thinking about doing business in—"purchasing" (the brand of)—a city.Bread and circuses among other forms of cultural appeal, attract and entertain the masses. Sports also play a major role in city branding and local identity formation. Cities go to considerable lengths in competing to host the Olympic Games, which bring global attention and tourism. Paris, a city known for its cultural history, is the site of the next Olympics in the summer of 2024. Warfare Cities play a crucial strategic role in warfare due to their economic, demographic, symbolic, and political centrality. For the same reasons, they are targets in asymmetric warfare. Many cities throughout history were founded under military auspices, a great many have incorporated fortifications, and military principles continue to influence urban design. Indeed, war may have served as the social rationale and economic basis for the very earliest cities.Powers engaged in geopolitical conflict have established fortified settlements as part of military strategies, as in the case of garrison towns, America's Strategic Hamlet Program during the Vietnam War, and Israeli settlements in Palestine. While occupying the Philippines, the US Army ordered local people to concentrate in cities and towns, in order to isolate committed insurgents and battle freely against them in the countryside.During World War II, national governments on occasion declared certain cities open, effectively surrendering them to an advancing enemy in order to avoid damage and bloodshed. Urban warfare proved decisive, however, in the Battle of Stalingrad, where Soviet forces repulsed German occupiers, with extreme casualties and destruction. In an era of low-intensity conflict and rapid urbanization, cities have become sites of long-term conflict waged both by foreign occupiers and by local governments against insurgency. Such warfare, known as counterinsurgency, involves techniques of surveillance and psychological warfare as well as close combat, and functionally extends modern urban crime prevention, which already uses concepts such as defensible space.Although capture is the more common objective, warfare has in some cases spelled complete destruction for a city. Mesopotamian tablets and ruins attest to such destruction, as does the Latin motto Carthago delenda est. Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and throughout the Cold War, nuclear strategists continued to contemplate the use of "counter-value" targeting: crippling an enemy by annihilating its valuable cities, rather than aiming primarily at its military forces. Climate change Infrastructure Urban infrastructure involves various physical networks and spaces necessary for transportation, water use, energy, recreation, and public functions. Infrastructure carries a high initial cost in fixed capital but lower marginal costs and thus positive economies of scale. Because of the higher barriers to entry, these networks have been classified as natural monopolies, meaning that economic logic favors control of each network by a single organization, public or private.Infrastructure in general plays a vital role in a city's capacity for economic activity and expansion, underpinning the very survival of the city's inhabitants, as well as technological, commercial, industrial, and social activities. Structurally, many infrastructure systems take the form of networks with redundant links and multiple pathways, so that the system as a whole continue to operate even if parts of it fail. The particulars of a city's infrastructure systems have historical path dependence because new development must build from what exists already.Megaprojects such as the construction of airports, power plants, and railways require large upfront investments and thus tend to require funding from the national government or the private sector. Privatization may also extend to all levels of infrastructure construction and maintenance.Urban infrastructure ideally serves all residents equally but in practice may prove uneven—with, in some cities, clear first-class and second-class alternatives. Utilities Public utilities (literally, useful things with general availability) include basic and essential infrastructure networks, chiefly concerned with the supply of water, electricity, and telecommunications capability to the populace.Sanitation, necessary for good health in crowded conditions, requires water supply and waste management as well as individual hygiene. Urban water systems include principally a water supply network and a network (sewerage system) for sewage and stormwater. Historically, either local governments or private companies have administered urban water supply, with a tendency toward government water supply in the 20th century and a tendency toward private operation at the turn of the twenty-first. The market for private water services is dominated by two French companies, Veolia Water (formerly Vivendi) and Engie (formerly Suez), said to hold 70% of all water contracts worldwide.Modern urban life relies heavily on the energy transmitted through electricity for the operation of electric machines (from household appliances to industrial machines to now-ubiquitous electronic systems used in communications, business, and government) and for traffic lights, street lights, and indoor lighting. Cities rely to a lesser extent on hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline and natural gas for transportation, heating, and cooking. Telecommunications infrastructure such as telephone lines and coaxial cables also traverse cities, forming dense networks for mass and point-to-point communications. Transportation Because cities rely on specialization and an economic system based on wage labor, their inhabitants must have the ability to regularly travel between home, work, commerce, and entertainment. City dwellers travel by foot or by wheel on roads and walkways, or use special rapid transit systems based on underground, overground, and elevated rail. Cities also rely on long-distance transportation (truck, rail, and airplane) for economic connections with other cities and rural areas.City streets historically were the domain of horses and their riders and pedestrians, who only sometimes had sidewalks and special walking areas reserved for them. In the West, bicycles or (velocipedes), efficient human-powered machines for short- and medium-distance travel, enjoyed a period of popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century before the rise of automobiles. Soon after, they gained a more lasting foothold in Asian and African cities under European influence. In Western cities, industrializing, expanding, and electrifying public transit systems, and especially streetcars enabled urban expansion as new residential neighborhoods sprung up along transit lines and workers rode to and from work downtown.Since the mid-20th century, cities have relied heavily on motor vehicle transportation, with major implications for their layout, environment, and aesthetics. (This transformation occurred most dramatically in the US—where corporate and governmental policies favored automobile transport systems—and to a lesser extent in Europe.) The rise of personal cars accompanied the expansion of urban economic areas into much larger metropolises, subsequently creating ubiquitous traffic issues with the accompanying construction of new highways, wider streets, and alternative walkways for pedestrians. However, severe traffic jams still occur regularly in cities around the world, as private car ownership and urbanization continue to increase, overwhelming existing urban street networks.The urban bus system, the world's most common form of public transport, uses a network of scheduled routes to move people through the city, alongside cars, on the roads. The economic function itself also became more decentralized as concentration became impractical and employers relocated to more car-friendly locations (including edge cities). Some cities have introduced bus rapid transit systems which include exclusive bus lanes and other methods for prioritizing bus traffic over private cars. Many big American cities still operate conventional public transit by rail, as exemplified by the ever-popular New York City Subway system. Rapid transit is widely used in Europe and has increased in Latin America and Asia.Walking and cycling ("non-motorized transport") enjoy increasing favor (more pedestrian zones and bike lanes) in American and Asian urban transportation planning, under the influence of such trends as the Healthy Cities movement, the drive for sustainable development, and the idea of a carfree city. Techniques such as road space rationing and road use charges have been introduced to limit urban car traffic. Housing The housing of residents presents one of the major challenges every city must face. Adequate housing entails not only physical shelters but also the physical systems necessary to sustain life and economic activity.Homeownership represents status and a modicum of economic security, compared to renting which may consume much of the income of low-wage urban workers. Homelessness, or lack of housing, is a challenge currently faced by millions of people in countries rich and poor. Because cities generally have higher population densities than rural areas, city dwellers are more likely to reside in apartments and less likely to live in a single-family home. Ecology Urban ecosystems, influenced as they are by the density of human buildings and activities, differ considerably from those of their rural surroundings. Anthropogenic buildings and waste, as well as cultivation in gardens, create physical and chemical environments which have no equivalents in the wilderness, in some cases enabling exceptional biodiversity. They provide homes not only for immigrant humans but also for immigrant plants, bringing about interactions between species that never previously encountered each other. They introduce frequent disturbances (construction, walking) to plant and animal habitats, creating opportunities for recolonization and thus favoring young ecosystems with r-selected species dominant. On the whole, urban ecosystems are less complex and productive than others, due to the diminished absolute amount of biological interactions.Typical urban fauna includes insects (especially ants), rodents (mice, rats), and birds, as well as cats and dogs (domesticated and feral). Large predators are scarce. However, in North America, large predators such as coyotes and white-tailed deer roam in urban wildlife Cities generate considerable ecological footprints, locally and at longer distances, due to concentrated populations and technological activities. From one perspective, cities are not ecologically sustainable due to their resource needs. From another, proper management may be able to ameliorate a city's ill effects. Air pollution arises from various forms of combustion, including fireplaces, wood or coal-burning stoves, other heating systems, and internal combustion engines. Industrialized cities, and today third-world megacities, are notorious for veils of smog (industrial haze) that envelop them, posing a chronic threat to the health of their millions of inhabitants. Urban soil contains higher concentrations of heavy metals (especially lead, copper, and nickel) and has lower pH than soil in the comparable wilderness.Modern cities are known for creating their own microclimates, due to concrete, asphalt, and other artificial surfaces, which heat up in sunlight and channel rainwater into underground ducts. The temperature in New York City exceeds nearby rural temperatures by an average of 2–3 °C and at times 5–10 °C differences have been recorded. This effect varies nonlinearly with population changes (independently of the city's physical size). Aerial particulates increase rainfall by 5–10%. Thus, urban areas experience unique climates, with earlier flowering and later leaf dropping than in nearby countries.Poor and working-class people face disproportionate exposure to environmental risks (known as environmental racism when intersecting also with racial segregation). For example, within the urban microclimate, less-vegetated poor neighborhoods bear more of the heat (but have fewer means of coping with it).One of the main methods of improving the urban ecology is including in the cities more urban green spaces: parks, gardens, lawns, and trees. These areas improve the health and well-being of the human, animal, and plant populations of the cities. Well-maintained urban trees can provide many social, ecological, and physical benefits to the residents of the city.A study published in Nature's Scientific Reports journal in 2019 found that people who spent at least two hours per week in nature were 23 percent more likely to be satisfied with their life and were 59 percent more likely to be in good health than those who had zero exposure. The study used data from almost 20,000 people in the UK. Benefits increased for up to 300 minutes of exposure. The benefits are applied to men and women of all ages, as well as across different ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and even those with long-term illnesses and disabilities. People who did not get at least two hours – even if they surpassed an hour per week – did not get the benefits. The study is the latest addition to a compelling body of evidence for the health benefits of nature. Many doctors already give nature prescriptions to their patients. The study didn't count time spent in a person's own yard or garden as time in nature, but the majority of nature visits in the study took place within two miles of home. "Even visiting local urban green spaces seems to be a good thing," Dr. White said in a press release. "Two hours a week is hopefully a realistic target for many people, especially given that it can be spread over an entire week to get the benefit." World city system As the world becomes more closely linked through economics, politics, technology, and culture (a process called globalization), cities have come to play a leading role in transnational affairs, exceeding the limitations of international relations conducted by national governments. This phenomenon, resurgent today, can be traced back to the Silk Road, Phoenicia, and the Greek city-states, through the Hanseatic League and other alliances of cities. Today the information economy based on high-speed internet infrastructure enables instantaneous telecommunication around the world, effectively eliminating the distance between cities for the purposes of the international markets and other high-level elements of the world economy, as well as personal communications and mass media. Global city A global city, also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovation, and markets. Saskia Sassen used the term "global city" in her 1991 work, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo to refer to a city's power, status, and cosmopolitanism, rather than to its size. Following this view of cities, it is possible to rank the world's cities hierarchically. Global cities form the capstone of the global hierarchy, exerting command and control through their economic and political influence. Global cities may have reached their status due to early transition to post-industrialism or through inertia which has enabled them to maintain their dominance from the industrial era. This type of ranking exemplifies an emerging discourse in which cities, considered variations on the same ideal type, must compete with each other globally to achieve prosperity.Critics of the notion point to the different realms of power and interchange. The term "global city" is heavily influenced by economic factors and, thus, may not account for places that are otherwise significant. Paul James, for example argues that the term is "reductive and skewed" in its focus on financial systems.Multinational corporations and banks make their headquarters in global cities and conduct much of their business within this context. American firms dominate the international markets for law and engineering and maintain branches in the biggest foreign global cities.Large cities have a great divide between populations of both ends of the financial spectrum. Regulations on immigration promote the exploitation of low- and high-skilled immigrant workers from poor areas. During employment, migrant workers may be subject to unfair working conditions, including working overtime, low wages, and lack of safety in workplaces. Transnational activity Cities increasingly participate in world political activities independently of their enclosing nation-states. Early examples of this phenomenon are the sister city relationship and the promotion of multi-level governance within the European Union as a technique for European integration. Cities including Hamburg, Prague, Amsterdam, The Hague, and City of London maintain their own embassies to the European Union at Brussels.New urban dwellers are increasingly transmigrants, keeping one foot each (through telecommunications if not travel) in their old and their new homes. Global governance Cities participate in global governance by various means including membership in global networks which transmit norms and regulations. At the general, global level, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a significant umbrella organization for cities; regionally and nationally, Eurocities, Asian Network of Major Cities 21, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities the National League of Cities, and the United States Conference of Mayors play similar roles. UCLG took responsibility for creating Agenda 21 for culture, a program for cultural policies promoting sustainable development, and has organized various conferences and reports for its furtherance.Networks have become especially prevalent in the arena of environmentalism and specifically climate change following the adoption of Agenda 21. Environmental city networks include the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme, the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA), the Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the Transition Towns network.Cities with world political status as meeting places for advocacy groups, non-governmental organizations, lobbyists, educational institutions, intelligence agencies, military contractors, information technology firms, and other groups with a stake in world policymaking. They are consequently also sites for symbolic protest. South Africa has one of the highest rate of protests in the world. Pretoria, a city in South Africa had a rally where 5 thousand people took part in order to advocate for increasing wages to afford living costs. United Nations System The United Nations System has been involved in a series of events and declarations dealing with the development of cities during this period of rapid urbanization. The Habitat I conference in 1976 adopted the "Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements" which identifies urban management as a fundamental aspect of development and establishes various principles for maintaining urban habitats. Citing the Vancouver Declaration, the UN General Assembly in December 1977 authorized the United Nations Commission Human Settlements and the HABITAT Centre for Human Settlements, intended to coordinate UN activities related to housing and settlements. The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro resulted in a set of international agreements including Agenda 21 which establishes principles and plans for sustainable development. The Habitat II conference in 1996 called for cities to play a leading role in this program, which subsequently advanced the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. In January 2002 the UN Commission on Human Settlements became an umbrella agency called the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or UN-Habitat, a member of the United Nations Development Group. The Habitat III conference of 2016 focused on implementing these goals under the banner of a "New Urban Agenda". The four mechanisms envisioned for effecting the New Urban Agenda are (1) national policies promoting integrated sustainable development, (2) stronger urban governance, (3) long-term integrated urban and territorial planning, and (4) effective financing frameworks. Just before this conference, the European Union concurrently approved an "Urban Agenda for the European Union" known as the Pact of Amsterdam.UN-Habitat coordinates the U.N. urban agenda, working with the UN Environmental Programme, the UN Development Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank.The World Bank, a U.N. specialized agency, has been a primary force in promoting the Habitat conferences, and since the first Habitat conference has used their declarations as a framework for issuing loans for urban infrastructure. The bank's structural adjustment programs contributed to urbanization in the Third World by creating incentives to move to cities. The World Bank and UN-Habitat in 1999 jointly established the Cities Alliance (based at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.) to guide policymaking, knowledge sharing, and grant distribution around the issue of urban poverty. (UN-Habitat plays an advisory role in evaluating the quality of a locality's governance.) The Bank's policies have tended to focus on bolstering real estate markets through credit and technical assistance.The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO has increasingly focused on cities as key sites for influencing cultural governance. It has developed various city networks including the International Coalition of Cities against Racism and the Creative Cities Network. UNESCO's capacity to select World Heritage Sites gives the organization significant influence over cultural capital, tourism, and historic preservation funding. Representation in culture Cities figure prominently in traditional Western culture, appearing in the Bible in both evil and holy forms, symbolized by Babylon and Jerusalem. Cain and Nimrod are the first city builders in the Book of Genesis. In Sumerian mythology Gilgamesh built the walls of Uruk. Cities can be perceived in terms of extremes or opposites: at once liberating and oppressive, wealthy and poor, organized and chaotic. The name anti-urbanism refers to various types of ideological opposition to cities, whether because of their culture or their political relationship with the country. Such opposition may result from identification of cities with oppression and the ruling elite. This and other political ideologies strongly influence narratives and themes in discourse about cities. In turn, cities symbolize their home societies.Writers, painters, and filmmakers have produced innumerable works of art concerning the urban experience. Classical and medieval literature includes a genre of descriptiones which treat of city features and history. Modern authors such as Charles Dickens and James Joyce are famous for evocative descriptions of their home cities. Fritz Lang conceived the idea for his influential 1927 film Metropolis while visiting Times Square and marveling at the nighttime neon lighting. Other early cinematic representations of cities in the twentieth century generally depicted them as technologically efficient spaces with smoothly functioning systems of automobile transport. By the 1960s, however, traffic congestion began to appear in such films as The Fast Lady (1962) and Playtime (1967).Literature, film, and other forms of popular culture have supplied visions of future cities both utopian and dystopian. The prospect of expanding, communicating, and increasingly interdependent world cities has given rise to images such as Nylonkong (New York, London, Hong Kong) and visions of a single world-encompassing ecumenopolis. See also Lists of cities List of adjectivals and demonyms for cities Lost city Metropolis Compact city Megacity Settlement hierarchy Urbanization Cities portal Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links World Urbanization Prospects, Website of the United Nations Population Division (archived 10 July 2017) Urban population (% of total) – World Bank website based on UN data. Degree of urbanization (percentage of urban population in total population) by continent in 2016 – Statista, based on Population Reference Bureau data. Human Geography at Curlie Urban and Regional Planning at Curlie

environmental impact of agriculture

The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice. Farming communities that try to reduce environmental impacts through modifying their practices will adopt sustainable agriculture practices. The negative impact of agriculture is an old issue that remains a concern even as experts design innovative means to reduce destruction and enhance eco-efficiency. Though some pastoralism is environmentally positive, modern animal agriculture practices tend to be more environmentally destructive than agricultural practices focused on fruits, vegetables and other biomass. The emissions of ammonia from cattle waste continue to raise concerns over environmental pollution.When evaluating environmental impact, experts use two types of indicators: "means-based", which is based on the farmer's production methods, and "effect-based", which is the impact that farming methods have on the farming system or on emissions to the environment. An example of a means-based indicator would be the quality of groundwater, which is affected by the amount of nitrogen applied to the soil. An indicator reflecting the loss of nitrate to groundwater would be effect-based. The means-based evaluation looks at farmers' practices of agriculture, and the effect-based evaluation considers the actual effects of the agricultural system. For example, the means-based analysis might look at pesticides and fertilization methods that farmers are using, and effect-based analysis would consider how much CO2 is being emitted or what the nitrogen content of the soil is.The environmental impact of agriculture involves impacts on a variety of different factors: the soil, water, the air, animal and soil variety, people, plants, and the food itself. Agriculture contributes to a number larger of environmental issues that cause environmental degradation including: climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, dead zones, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste. Because of agriculture's importance to global social and environmental systems, the international community has committed to increasing sustainability of food production as part of Sustainable Development Goal 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". The United Nations Environment Programme's 2021 "Making Peace with Nature" report highlighted agriculture as both a driver and an industry under threat from environmental degradation. By agricultural practice Animal agriculture Irrigation Pesticides Plastics By environmental issue Climate change Deforestation Deforestation is clearing the Earth's forests on a large scale worldwide and resulting in many land damages. One of the causes of deforestation is clearing land for pasture or crops. According to British environmentalist Norman Myers, 5% of deforestation is due to cattle ranching, 19% due to over-heavy logging, 22% due to the growing sector of palm oil plantations, and 54% due to slash-and-burn farming.Deforestation causes the loss of habitat for millions of species, and is also a driver of climate change. Trees act as a carbon sink: that is, they absorb carbon dioxide, an unwanted greenhouse gas, out of the atmosphere. Removing trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and leaves behind fewer trees to absorb the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the air. In this way, deforestation exacerbates climate change. When trees are removed from forests, the soils tend to dry out because there is no longer shade, and there are not enough trees to assist in the water cycle by returning water vapor back to the environment. With no trees, landscapes that were once forests can potentially become barren deserts. The tree's roots also help to hold the soil together, so when they are removed, mudslides can also occur. The removal of trees also causes extreme fluctuations in temperature.In 2000 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) found that "the role of population dynamics in a local setting may vary from decisive to negligible," and that deforestation can result from "a combination of population pressure and stagnating economic, social and technological conditions." Genetic engineering Pollutants Soil degradation Soil degradation is the decline in soil quality that can be a result of many factors, especially from agriculture. Soils hold the majority of the world's biodiversity, and healthy soils are essential for food production and adequate water supply. Common attributes of soil degradation can be salting, waterlogging, compaction, pesticide contamination, a decline in soil structure quality, loss of fertility, changes in soil acidity, alkalinity, salinity, and erosion. Soil erosion is the wearing away of topsoil by water, wind, or farming activities. Topsoil is very fertile, which makes it valuable to farmers growing crops. Soil degradation also has a huge impact on biological degradation, which affects the microbial community of the soil and can alter nutrient cycling, pest and disease control, and chemical transformation properties of the soil. Soil erosion Large scale farming can cause large amounts of soil erosion. 25 to 40 percent of eroded soil ends up in water sources. Soil that carries pesticides and fertilizers pollutes the bodies of water it enters. In the United States and Europe especially, large-scale agriculture has grown and small-scale-agriculture has shrunk due to financial arrangements such as contract farming. Bigger farms tend to favour monocultures, overuse water resources, and accelerate deforestation and soil quality decline. A study from 2020 by the International Land Coalition, together with Oxfam and World Inequality Lab, found that 1% of land owners manage 70% of the world's farmland. The highest discrepancy can be found in Latin America, where the poorest 50% own just 1% of the land. Small landowners, as individuals or families, tend to be more cautious in land use compared to large landowners. As of 2020, however, the proportion of small landowners has been decreasing since the 1980s. Currently, the largest share of smallholdings can be found in Asia and Africa. Tillage erosion Waste Plasticulture is the use of plastic mulch in agriculture. Farmers use plastic sheets as mulch to cover 50-70% of the soil and allow them to use drip irrigation systems to have better control over soil nutrients and moisture. Rain is not required in this system, and farms that use plasticulture are built to encourage the fastest runoff of rain. The use of pesticides with plasticulture allows pesticides to be transported easier in the surface runoff towards wetlands or tidal creeks. The runoff from pesticides and chemicals in the plastic can cause serious deformations and death in shellfish as the runoff carries the chemicals toward the oceans.In addition to the increased runoff that results from plasticulture, there is also the problem of the increased amount of waste from the plastic mulch itself. The use of plastic mulch for vegetables, strawberries, and other row and orchard crops exceeds 110 million pounds annually in the United States. Most plastic ends up in the landfill, although there are other disposal options such as disking mulches into the soil, on-site burying, on-site storage, reuse, recycling, and incineration. The incineration and recycling options are complicated by the variety of the types of plastics that are used and by the geographic dispersal of the plastics. Plastics also contain stabilizers and dyes as well as heavy metals, which limits the number of products that can be recycled. Research is continually being conducted on creating biodegradable or photodegradable mulches. While there has been a minor success with this, there is also the problem of how long the plastic takes to degrade, as many biodegradable products take a long time to break down. Issues by region The environmental impact of agriculture can vary depending on the region as well as the type of agriculture production method that is being used. Listed below are some specific environmental issues in various different regions around the world. Hedgerow removal in the United Kingdom. Soil salinisation, especially in Australia. Phosphate mining in Nauru Methane emissions from livestock in New Zealand. See Climate change in New Zealand. Environmentalists attribute the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico as being encouraged by nitrogen fertilization of the algae bloom. Coupled systems from agricultural trade leading to regional effects from cascading effects and spillover systems. Environmental factor (Socioeconomic Drivers Section) Sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is the idea that agriculture should occur in a way such that we can continue to produce what is necessary without infringing on the ability for future generations to do the same. The exponential population increase in recent decades has increased the practice of agricultural land conversion to meet the demand for food which in turn has increased the effects on the environment. The global population is still increasing and will eventually stabilize, as some critics doubt that food production, due to lower yields from global warming, can support the global population. Agriculture can have negative effects on biodiversity as well. Organic farming is a multifaceted sustainable agriculture set of practices that can have a lower impact on the environment at a small scale. However, in most cases organic farming results in lower yields in terms of production per unit area. Therefore, widespread adoption of organic agriculture will require additional land to be cleared and water resources extracted to meet the same level of production. A European meta-analysis found that organic farms tended to have higher soil organic matter content and lower nutrient losses (nitrogen leaching, nitrous oxide emissions, and ammonia emissions) per unit of field area but higher ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions per product unit. It is believed by many that conventional farming systems cause less rich biodiversity than organic systems. Organic farming has shown to have on average 30% higher species richness than conventional farming. Organic systems on average also have 50% more organisms. This data has some issues because there were several results that showed a negative effect on these things when in an organic farming system. The opposition to organic agriculture believes that these negatives are an issue with the organic farming system. What began as a small scale, environmentally conscious practice has now become just as industrialized as conventional agriculture. This industrialization can lead to the issues shown above such as climate change, and deforestation. Regenerative agriculture Techniques Conservation tillage Conservation tillage is an alternative tillage method for farming which is more sustainable for the soil and surrounding ecosystem. This is done by allowing the residue of the previous harvest's crops to remain in the soil before tilling for the next crop. Conservation tillage has shown to improve many things such as soil moisture retention, and reduce erosion. Some disadvantages are the fact that more expensive equipment is needed for this process, more pesticides will need to be used, and the positive effects take a long time to be visible. The barriers of instantiating a conservation tillage policy are that farmers are reluctant to change their methods, and would protest a more expensive, and time-consuming method of tillage than the conventional one they are used to. Biological pest control See also References Works cited HLPE (June 2012). Food security and climate change. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Archived from the original on 12 December 2014. IPCC AR5 WG3 (2014), Edenhofer, O.; et al. (eds.), Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III (WG3) to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Cambridge University Press, archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Further reading Miller, G. T., & Spoolman, S. (2012). Environmental science. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-305-25716-0 Qaim, Matin (2010). "Benefits of genetically modified crops for the poor: household income, nutrition, and health". New Biotechnology. 27 (5): 552–557. doi:10.1016/j.nbt.2010.07.009. ISSN 1871-6784. PMID 20643233. External links Holistic Management International Environmental Impacts of Food Production – Our World in Data Environmental Issues in Animal Agriculture – Choices magazine article Waterlog.info Website with free articles and software on environmental impacts of irrigated agriculture like waterlogging and salinization Environmental Planning on Livestock and Poultry Operations Archived 2011-02-09 at the Wayback Machine describes several different planning processes that can be used on farms. It also includes links to several webcasts. Part of the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center Archived 2010-12-27 at the Wayback Machine

environmental impacts of animal agriculture

The environmental impacts of animal agriculture vary because of the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Despite this, all agricultural practices have been found to have a variety of effects on the environment to some extent. Animal agriculture, in particular meat production, can cause pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, disease, and significant consumption of land, food, and water. Meat is obtained through a variety of methods, including organic farming, free-range farming, intensive livestock production, and subsistence agriculture. The livestock sector also includes wool, egg and dairy production, the livestock used for tillage, and fish farming. Animal agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Cows, sheep, and other ruminants digest their food by enteric fermentation, and their burps are the main source of methane emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry. Together with methane and nitrous oxide from manure, this makes livestock the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. A significant reduction in meat consumption is essential to mitigate climate change, especially as the human population increases by a projected 2.3 billion by the middle of the century. Consumption and production trends Multiple studies have found that increases in meat consumption are currently associated with human population growth and rising individual incomes or GDP, and therefore, the environmental impacts of meat production and consumption will increase unless current behaviours change.Changes in demand for meat will influence how much is produced, thus changing the environmental impact of meat production. It has been estimated that global meat consumption may double from 2000 to 2050, mostly as a consequence of the increasing world population, but also partly because of increased per capita meat consumption (with much of the per capita consumption increase occurring in the developing world). The human population is projected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, and meat production is expected to increase by 40%. Global production and consumption of poultry meat have been growing recently at more than 5% annually. Meat consumption typically increases as people and countries get richer. Trends also vary among livestock sectors. For example, global pork consumption per capita has increased recently (almost entirely due to changes in consumption within China), while global consumption per capita of ruminant meats has been declining. Resource use Food production efficiency About 85% of the world's soybean crop is processed into meal and vegetable oil, and virtually all of that meal is used in animal feed. Approximately 6% of soybeans are used directly as human food, mostly in Asia.For every 100 kilograms of food made for humans from crops, 37 kilograms byproducts unsuitable for direct human consumption are generated. Many countries then repurpose these human-inedible crop byproducts as livestock feed for cattle. Raising animals for human consumption accounts for approximately 40% of total agricultural output in industrialized nations. Moreover, the efficiency of meat production varies depending on the specific production system, as well as the type of feed. It may require anywhere from 0.9 and 7.9 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of beef, between 0.1 to 4.3 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of pork, and 0 to 3.5 kilograms of grains to produce 1 kilogram of chicken. FAO estimates, however, that about 2 thirds of the pasture area used by livestock is not convertible to crop-land.Major corporations purchase land in different developing nations in Latin America and Asia to support large-scale production of animal feed crops, mainly corn and soybeans. This practice reduces the amount of land available for growing crops that are fit for human consumption in these countries, putting the local population at risk of food security.According to a study conducted in Jiangsu, China, individuals with higher incomes tend to consume more food than those with lower incomes and larger families. Consequently, it is unlikely that those employed in animal feed production in these regions do not consume the animals that eat the crops they produce. The lack of space for growing crops for consumption, coupled with the need to feed larger families, only exacerbates their food insecurity.According to FAO, crop-residues and by-products account for 24% of the total dry matter intake of the global livestock sector. A 2018 study found that, "Currently, 70% of the feedstock used in the Dutch feed industry originates from the food processing industry." Examples of grain-based waste conversion in the United States include feeding livestock the distillers grains (with solubles) remaining from ethanol production. For the marketing year 2009–2010, dried distillers grains used as livestock feed (and residual) in the US was estimated at 25.5 million metric tons. Examples of waste roughages include straw from barley and wheat crops (edible especially to large-ruminant breeding stock when on maintenance diets), and corn stover. Land use Permanent meadows and pastures, grazed or not, occupy 26% of the earth's ice-free terrestrial surface. Feed crop production uses about one-third of all arable land. More than one-third of U.S. land is used for pasture, making it the largest land-use type in the contiguous United States.In many countries, livestock graze from the land which mostly cannot be used for growing human-edible crops, as seen by the fact that there is three times as much agricultural land as arable land.A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet reduced land use by 75%.Free-range animal production, particularly beef production, has also caused tropical deforestation because it requires land for grazing. The livestock sector is also the primary driver of deforestation in the Amazon, with around 80% of all deforested land being used for cattle farming. Additionally, 91% of deforested land since 1970 has been used for cattle farming. Research has argued that a shift to meat-free diets could provide a safe option to feed a growing population without further deforestation, and for different yields scenarios. However, according to FAO, grazing livestock in drylands “removes vegetation, including dry and flammable plants, and mobilizes stored biomass through depositions, which is partly transferred to the soil, improving fertility. Livestock is key to creating and maintaining specific habitats and green infrastructures, providing resources for other species and dispersing seeds”. Water use Globally, the amount of water used for agricultural purposes exceeds any other industrialized purpose of water consumption. About 80% of water resources globally are used for agricultural ecosystems. In developed countries, up to 60% of total water consumption can be used for irrigation; in developing countries, it can be up to 90%, depending on the region's economic status and climate. According to the projected increase in food production by 2050, water consumption would need to increase by 53% to satisfy the world population's demands for meat and agricultural production.Groundwater depletion is a concern in some areas because of sustainability issues (and in some cases, land subsidence and/or saltwater intrusion). A particularly important North American example of depletion is the High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer, which underlies about 174,000 square miles in parts of eight states of the USA and supplies 30 percent of the groundwater withdrawn for irrigation there. Some irrigated livestock feed production is not hydrologically sustainable in the long run because of aquifer depletion. Rainfed agriculture, which cannot deplete its water source, produces much of the livestock feed in North America. Corn (maize) is of particular interest, accounting for about 91.8% of the grain fed to US livestock and poultry in 2010.: table 1–75  About 14 percent of US corn-for-grain land is irrigated, accounting for about 17% of US corn-for-grain production and 13% of US irrigation water use, but only about 40% of US corn grain is fed to US livestock and poultry.: table 1–38  Irrigation accounts for about 37% of US withdrawn freshwater use, and groundwater provides about 42% of US irrigation water. Irrigation water applied in the production of livestock feed and forage has been estimated to account for about 9 percent of withdrawn freshwater use in the United States.Almost one-third of the water used in the western United States goes to crops that feed cattle. This is despite the claim that withdrawn surface water and groundwater used for crop irrigation in the US exceeds that for livestock by about a ratio of 60:1. This excessive use of river water distresses ecosystems and communities, and drives scores of species of fish closer to extinction during times of drought.A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet reduced water usage by 54%.A study in 2019 focused on linkages between water usage and animal agricultural practices in China. The results of the study showed that water resources were being used primarily for animal agriculture; the highest categories were animal husbandry, agriculture, slaughtering and processing of meat, fisheries, and other foods. Together they accounted for the consumption of over 2400 billion m3 embodied water, roughly equating to 40% of total embodied water by the whole system. This means that more than one-third of China's entire water consumption is being used for food processing purposes, and mostly for animal agricultural practices. Water pollution Water pollution due to animal waste is a common problem in both developed and developing nations. The USA, Canada, India, Greece, Switzerland and several other countries are experiencing major environmental degradation due to water pollution via animal waste.: Table I-1  Concerns about such problems are particularly acute in the case of CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). In the US, a permit for a CAFO requires the implementation of a plan for the management of manure nutrients, contaminants, wastewater, etc., as applicable, to meet requirements under the Clean Water Act. There were about 19,000 CAFOs in the US as of 2008. In fiscal 2014, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded 26 enforcement actions for various violations by CAFOs. Environmental performance of the US livestock industry can be compared with several other industries. The EPA has published 5-year and 1-year data for 32 industries on their ratios of enforcement orders to inspections, a measure of non-compliance with environmental regulations: principally, those under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. For the livestock industry, inspections focused primarily on CAFOs. Of the 32 other industries, (including crop production) had a better 5-year environmental record than the livestock industry, 2 had a similar record, and 25 had a worse record in this respect. For the most recent year of the five-year compilation, livestock production and dry cleaning had the best environmental records of the 32 industries, each with an enforcement order/inspection ratio of 0.01. For crop production, the ratio was 0.02. Of the 32 industries, oil and gas extraction, and the livestock industry had the lowest percentages of facilities with violations. A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet reduced water pollution by 75%.Effective use of fertilizer is crucial to accelerate the growth of animal feed production, which in turn increases the amount of feed available for livestock. However, excess fertilizer can enter water bodies via runoff after rainfall, resulting in eutrophication. The addition of nitrogen and phosphorus can cause the rapid growth of algae, also known as an algae bloom. The reduction of oxygen and nutrients in the water caused by the growth of algae ultimately leads to the death of other species in the ecosystem. This ecological harm has consequences not only for the native animals in the affected water body but also for the water supply for people. Air pollution Animal agriculture is a cause of harmful particulate matter pollution in the atmosphere. This type of production chain produces byproducts; endotoxin, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and particulate matter (PM), such as dust, all of which can negatively impact human respiratory health. Furthermore, methane and CO2—the primary greenhouse gas emissions associated with meat production—have also been associated with respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis, and COPD.A study found that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) could increase perceived asthma-like symptoms for residents within 500 meters. Concentrated hog feeding operations release air pollutants from confinement buildings, manure holding pits, and land application of waste. Air pollutants from these operations have caused acute physical symptoms, such as respiratory illnesses, wheezing, increased breath rate, and irritation of the eyes and nose. That prolonged exposure to airborne animal particulate, such as swine dust, induces a large influx of inflammatory cells into the airways. Those in close proximity to CAFOs could be exposed to elevated levels of these byproducts, which may lead to poor health and respiratory outcomes. Additionally, since CAFOs tend to be located in primarily rural and low-income communities, low-income people are disproportionately affected by these environmental health consequences. [1] Especially when modified by high temperatures, air pollution can harm all regions, socioeconomic groups, sexes, and age groups. Approximately seven million people die from air pollution exposure every year. Air pollution often exacerbates respiratory disease by permeating into the lung tissue and damaging the lungs. Climate change aspects Energy consumption An important aspect of energy use in livestock production is the energy consumption that the animals contribute. Feed Conversion Ratio is an animal's ability to convert feed into meat. The Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) is calculated by taking the energy, protein, or mass input of the feed divided by the output of meat provided by the animal. A lower FCR corresponds with a smaller requirement of feed per meat output, and therefore the animal contributes less GHG emissions. Chickens and pigs usually have a lower FCR compared to ruminants.Intensification and other changes in the livestock industries influence energy use, emissions, and other environmental effects of meat production.Manure can also have environmental benefits as a renewable energy source, in digester systems yielding biogas for heating and/or electricity generation. Manure biogas operations can be found in Asia, Europe, North America, and elsewhere. System cost is substantial, relative to US energy values, which may be a deterrent to more widespread use. Additional factors, such as odour control and carbon credits, may improve benefit-to-cost ratios. Manure can be mixed with other organic wastes in anaerobic digesters to take advantage of economies of scale. Digested waste is more uniform in consistency than untreated organic wastes, and can have higher proportions of nutrients that are more available to plants, which enhances the utility of digestate as a fertiliser product. This encourages circularity in meat production, which is typically difficult to achieve due to environmental and food safety concerns. Greenhouse gas emissions Cows, sheep and other ruminants digest their food by enteric fermentation, and their burps are the main methane emissions from land use, land-use change, and forestry: together with methane and nitrous oxide from manure this makes livestock the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report in 2022 stated that: "Diets high in plant protein and low in meat and dairy are associated with lower GHG emissions. [...] Where appropriate, a shift to diets with a higher share of plant protein, moderate intake of animal-source foods and reduced intake of saturated fats could lead to substantial decreases in GHG emissions. Benefits would also include reduced land occupation and nutrient losses to the surrounding environment, while at the same time providing health benefits and reducing mortality from diet-related non-communicable diseases."A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet reduced emissions by 75%.According to a 2022 study quickly stopping animal agriculture would provide half the GHG emission reduction needed to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 2 °C.The global food system is responsible for one-third of the global anthropogenic GHG emissions, of which meat accounts for nearly 60%. Mitigation options Mitigation options for reducing methane emission from livestock include a change in diet, that is consuming less meat and dairy. A significant reduction in meat consumption will be essential to mitigate climate change, especially as the human population increases by a projected 2.3 billion by the middle of the century. A 2019 report in The Lancet recommended that global meat consumption be reduced by 50 percent to mitigate climate change. A study quantified climate change mitigation potentials of 'high-income' nations shifting diets – away from meat-consumption – and restoration of the spared land, finding that if these were combined they could "reduce annual agricultural production emissions of high-income nations' diets by 61%".In addition to reduced consumption, emissions can also be reduced by changes in practice. One study found that shifting compositions of current feeds, production areas, and informed land restoration could enable greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 34–85% annually (612–1,506 MtCO2e yr−1) without increasing costs or changing diets.Producers can reduce ruminant enteric fermentation using genetic selection, immunization, rumen defaunation, competition of methanogenic archaea with acetogens, introduction of methanotrophic bacteria into the rumen, diet modification and grazing management, among others. The principal mitigation strategies identified for reduction of agricultural nitrous oxide emissions are avoiding over-application of nitrogen fertilizers and adopting suitable manure management practices. Mitigation strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the livestock sector include adopting more efficient production practices to reduce agricultural pressure for deforestation (such as in Latin America), reducing fossil fuel consumption, and increasing carbon sequestration in soils.Measures that increase state revenues from meat consumption/production could enable the use of these funds for related research and development and "to cushion social hardships among low-income consumers". Meat and livestock are important sectors of the contemporary socioeconomic system, with livestock value chains employing an estimated >1.3 billion people. Effects on ecosystems Soils Grazing can have positive or negative effects on rangeland health, depending on management quality, and grazing can have different effects on different soils and different plant communities. Grazing can sometimes reduce, and other times increase, biodiversity of grassland ecosystems. In beef production, cattle ranching helps preserve and improve the natural environment by maintaining habitats that are well-suited for grazing animals. Lightly grazed grasslands also tend to have higher biodiversity than overgrazed or non-grazed grasslands. Overgrazing can decrease soil quality by constantly depleting it of necessary nutrients. By the end of 2002, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) found that 16% of the evaluated 7,437 grazing allotments had failed to meet rangeland health standards because of their excessive grazing use. Overgrazing appears to cause soil erosion in many dry regions of the world. However, on US farmland, soil erosion is much less on land used for livestock grazing than on land used for crop production. According to the US Natural Resources Conservation Service, on 95.1% of US pastureland, sheet and rill erosion are within the estimated soil loss tolerance, and on 99.4% of US pastureland, wind erosion is within the estimated soil loss tolerance.Grazing can affect the sequestration of carbon and nitrogen in the soil. This sequestration helps mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and in some cases, increases ecosystem productivity by affecting nutrient cycling. A 2017 meta-study of the scientific literature estimated that the total global soil carbon sequestration potential from grazing management ranges from 0.3-0.8 Gt CO2eq per year, which is equivalent to 4-11% of total global livestock emissions, but that “Expansion or intensification in the grazing sector as an approach to sequestering more carbon would lead to substantial increases in methane, nitrous oxide and land use change-induced CO2 emissions” Project Drawdown estimates the total carbon sequestration potential of improved managed grazing at 13.72 - 20.92 Gigatons CO2eq between 2020–2050, equal to 0.46-0.70 Gt CO2eq per year. A 2022 peer-reviewed paper estimated the carbon sequestration potential of improved grazing management at a similar level of 0.15-0.70 Gt CO2eq per year. A 2021 peer-reviewed paper found that sparsely grazed and natural grasslands account for 80% of the total cumulative carbon sink of the world’s grasslands, whereas managed grasslands have been a net greenhouse gas source over the past decade. Another peer-reviewed paper found that if current pastureland was restored to its former state as wild grasslands, shrublands, and sparse savannas without livestock this could store an estimated 15.2 - 59.9 Gt additional carbon. A study found that grazing in US virgin grasslands causes the soil to have lower soil organic carbon but higher soil nitrogen content. In contrast, at the High Plains Grasslands Research Station in Wyoming, the soil in the grazed pastures had more organic carbon and nitrogen in the top 30 cm than the soil in non-grazed pastures. Additionally, in the Piedmont region of the US, well-managed grazing of livestock on previously eroded soil resulted in high rates of beneficial carbon and nitrogen sequestration compared to non-grazed grass.In Canada, a review highlighted that the methane and nitrous oxide emitted from manure management comprised 17% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, while nitrous oxide emitted from soils after application of manure, accounted for 50% of total emissions.Manure provides environmental benefits when properly managed. Manure that is deposited on pastures by grazing animals is an effective way to preserve soil fertility. Many nutrients are recycled in crop cultivation by collecting animal manure from barns and concentrated feeding sites, sometimes after composting. For many areas with high livestock density, manure application substantially replaces the application of synthetic fertilizers on surrounding cropland. Manure is also spread on forage-producing land that is grazed, rather than cropped.Also, small-ruminant flocks in North America (and elsewhere) are sometimes used on fields for removal of various crop residues inedible by humans, converting them to food. Small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, can control some invasive or noxious weeds (such as spotted knapweed, tansy ragwort, leafy spurge, yellow starthistle, tall larkspur, etc.) on rangeland. Small ruminants are also useful for vegetation management in forest plantations and for clearing brush on rights-of-way. Other ruminants, like Nublang cattle, are used in Bhutan to help of a species of bamboo, Yushania microphylla, which tends to crowd out indigenous plant species. These represent alternatives to herbicide use. Biodiversity Meat production is considered one of the prime factors contributing to the current biodiversity loss crisis. The 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that industrial agriculture and overfishing are the primary drivers of the extinction, with the meat and dairy industries having a substantial impact. The global livestock sector contributes a significant share to anthropogenic GHG emissions, but it can also deliver a significant share of the necessary mitigation effort. FAO estimates that the adoption of already available best practices can reduce emissions by up to 30%.Grazing (especially overgrazing) may detrimentally affect certain wildlife species, e.g. by altering cover and food supplies. The growing demand for meat is contributing to significant biodiversity loss as it is a significant driver of deforestation and habitat destruction; species-rich habitats, such as significant portions of the Amazon region, are being converted to agriculture for meat production. World Resource Institute (WRI) website mentions that "30 percent of global forest cover has been cleared, while another 20 percent has been degraded. Most of the rest has been fragmented, leaving only about 15 percent intact." WRI also states that around the world there is "an estimated 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) of once-productive croplands and pasturelands – an area nearly the size of Russia – are degraded. Restoring productivity can improve food supplies, water security, and the ability to fight climate change." Around 25% to nearly 40% of global land surface is being used for livestock farming.A 2022 report from World Animal Protection and the Center for Biological Diversity found that, based on 2018 data, some 235 million pounds (or 117,500 tons) of pesticides are used for animal feed purposes annually in the United States alone, in particular glyphosate and atrazine. The report emphasizes that 100,000 pounds of glyphosate has the potential to harm or kill some 93% of species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Atrazine, which is banned in 35 countries, could harm or kill at least 1,000 listed species. Both groups involved in the report advocate for consumers to reduce their consumption of animal products and to transition towards plant-based diets in order to reduce the growth of factory farming and protect endangered species of wildlife.A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet reduced wildlife destruction by 66%.In North America, various studies have found that grazing sometimes improves habitat for elk, blacktailed prairie dogs, sage grouse, and mule deer. A survey of refuge managers on 123 National Wildlife Refuges in the US tallied 86 species of wildlife considered positively affected and 82 considered negatively affected by refuge cattle grazing or haying. The kind of grazing system employed (e.g. rest-rotation, deferred grazing, HILF grazing) is often important in achieving grazing benefits for particular wildlife species.The biologists Rodolfo Dirzo, Gerardo Ceballos, and Paul R. Ehrlich write in an opinion piece for Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B that reductions in meat consumption "can translate not only into less heat, but also more space for biodiversity." They insist that it is the "massive planetary monopoly of industrial meat production that needs to be curbed" while respecting the cultural traditions of indigenous peoples, for whom meat is an important source of protein. Aquatic ecosystems Global agricultural practices are known to be one of the main reasons for environmental degradation. Animal agriculture worldwide encompasses 83% of farmland (however, only accounts for 18% of the global calorie intake), and the direct consumption of animals as well as over-harvesting them is causing environmental degradation through habitat alteration, biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and trophic interactions. These pressures are enough to drive biodiversity loss in any habitat, however freshwater ecosystems are showing to be more sensitive and less protected than others and show a very high effect on biodiversity loss when faced with these impacts.In the Western United States, many stream and riparian habitats have been negatively affected by livestock grazing. This has resulted in increased phosphates, nitrates, decreased dissolved oxygen, increased temperature, turbidity, and eutrophication events, and reduced species diversity. Livestock management options for riparian protection include salt and mineral placement, limiting seasonal access, use of alternative water sources, provision of "hardened" stream crossings, herding, and fencing. In the Eastern United States, a 1997 study found that waste release from pork farms has also been shown to cause large-scale eutrophication of bodies of water, including the Mississippi River and Atlantic Ocean (Palmquist, et al., 1997). In North Carolina, where the study was done, measures have since been taken to reduce the risk of accidental discharges from manure lagoons, and since then there has been evidence of improved environmental management in US hog production. Implementation of manure and wastewater management planning can help assure low risk of problematic discharge into aquatic systems.In Central-Eastern Argentina, a 2017 study found large quantities of metal pollutants (chromium, copper, arsenic and lead) in their freshwater streams, disrupting the aquatic biota. The level of chromium in the freshwater systems exceeded 181.5x the recommended guidelines necessary for survival of aquatic life, while Pb was 41.6x, Cu was 57.5x, and As exceeded 12.9x. The results showed excess metal accumulation due to agricultural runoff, the use of pesticides, and poor mitigation efforts to stop the excess runoff.Animal agriculture contributes to global warming, which leads to ocean acidification. This occurs because as carbon emissions increase, a chemical reaction occurs between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean water, causing seawater acidification. The process is also known as the dissolution of inorganic carbon in seawater. This chemical reaction creates an environment that makes it difficult for calcifying organisms to produce protective shells and causes seagrass overpopulation. A reduction in marine life can have an adverse effect on people’s way of life, since limited sea life may reduce food availability and reduce coastal protection against storms. Effects on antibiotic resistance There are concerns about meat production's potential to spread diseases as an environmental impact. Alternatives to meat production and consumption A study shows that novel foods such as cultured meat and dairy, algae, existing microbial foods, and ground-up insects are shown to have the potential to reduce environmental impacts – by over 80%. Various combinations may further reduce the environmental impacts of these alternatives – for example, a study explored solar-energy-driven production of microbial foods from direct air capture. Alternatives are not only relevant for human consumption but also for pet food and other animal feed. Meat reduction and health Meat can be substituted in most diets with a wide variety of foods such as fungi or special "meat substitutes". However, substantially reducing meat intake could result in nutritional deficiencies if done inadequately, especially for children, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women "in low-income countries". A review suggests that the reduction of meat in people's diets should be accompanied by an increase in alternative sources of protein and micronutrients to avoid nutritional deficiencies for healthy diets such as iron and zinc. Meats notably also contain vitamin B12, collagen and creatine. This could be achieved with specific types of foods such as iron-rich beans and a diverse variety of protein-rich foods like red lentils, plant-based protein powders and high-protein wraps, and/or dietary supplements. Dairy and fish and/or specific types of other foods and/or supplements contain omega 3, vitamin K2, vitamin D3, iodine, magnesium and calcium many of which were generally lower in people consuming types of plant-based diets in studies.Nevertheless, reviews find beneficial effects of plant-based diets versus people who consume meat products on health and lifespan or mortality. Meat-reduction strategies Strategies for implementing meat-reduction among populations include large-scale education and awareness building to promote more sustainable consumption styles. Other types of policy interventions could accelerate these shifts and might include "restrictions or fiscal mechanisms such as [meat] taxes". In the case of fiscal mechanisms, these could be based on forms of scientific calculation of external costs (externalities currently not reflected in any way in the monetary price) to make the polluter pay, e.g. for the damage done by excess nitrogen. In the case of restrictions, this could be based on limited domestic supply or Personal (Carbon) Allowances (certificates and credits which would reward sustainable behavior).Relevant to such a strategy, estimating the environmental impacts of food products in a standardized way – as has been done with a dataset of more than 57,000 food products in supermarkets – could also be used to inform consumers or in policy, making consumers more aware of the environmental impacts of animal-based products (or requiring them to take such into consideration). Young adults that are faced with new physical or social environments (for example, moving away from home) are also more likely to make dietary changes and reduce their meat intake. Another strategy includes increasing the prices of meat while also reducing the prices of plant-based products, which could show a significant impact on meat-reduction. A reduction in meat portion sizes could potentially be more beneficial than cutting out meat entirely from ones diet, according to a 2022 study. This study revolved around young Dutch adults, and showed that the adults were more reluctant to cut out meat entirely to make the change to plant-based diets due to habitual behaviours. Increasing and improving plant-based alternatives, as well as the education about plant-based alternatives, proved to be one of the most effective ways to combat these behaviours. The lack of education about plant-based alternatives is a road-block for most people - most adults do not know how to properly cook plant-based meals or know the health risks/benefits associated with a vegetarian diet - which is why education among adults is important in meat-reduction strategies.In the Netherlands, a meat tax of 15% to 30% could show a reduction of meat consumption by 8% to 16%. as well as reducing the amount of livestock by buying out farmers. In 2022, the city of Haarlem, Netherlands announced that advertisements for factory-farmed meat will be banned in public places, starting in 2024.A 2022 review concluded that "low and moderate meat consumption levels are compatible with the climate targets and broader sustainable development, even for 10 billion people".In June 2023, the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism published a review of all available evidence and accompanying policy recommendations to promote sustainable food consumption and reducing meat intake. They reported that the evidence supports policy interventions on pricing (including "meat taxes, and pricing products according to their environmental impacts, as well as lower taxes on healthy and sustainable alternatives"), availability and visibility, food composition, labelling and the social environment. They also stated: People choose food not just through rational reflection, but also based on many other factors: food availability, habits and routines, emotional and impulsive reactions, and their financial and social situation. So we should consider ways to unburden the consumer and make sustainable, healthy food an easy and affordable choice. Pigs See also Agroecology Animal-free agriculture Animal–industrial complex Carbon tax Meat price Cultured meat Economic vegetarianism Factory farming divestment Environmental impact of agriculture Environmental impact of fishing Environmental vegetarianism Food vs. feed Stranded assets in the agriculture and forestry sector Sustainable agriculture Sustainable diet Veganism == References ==

environmental impact of fashion

The fashion industry, particularly manufacture and use of apparel and footwear, is a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution. The rapid growth of fast fashion has led to around 80 billion items of clothing being consumed annually, with about 85% of clothes consumed in United States being sent to landfill.Less than one percent of clothing is recycled to make new clothes. The industry produces an estimated 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The production and distribution of the crops, fibers, and garments used in fashion all contribute to differing forms of environmental pollution, including water, air, and soil degradation. The textile industry is the second greatest polluter of local freshwater in the world, and is culpable for roughly one-fifth of all industrial water pollution. Some of the main factors that contribute to this industrial caused pollution are the vast overproduction of fashion items, the use of synthetic fibers, the agriculture pollution of fashion crops, and the proliferation of microfibers across global water sources.Efforts have been made by some retailers and consumers to promote sustainable fashion practices, such as reducing waste, improving energy and water efficiency, and using primarily eco-friendly materials. Counter movements, such as slow fashion, have also developed as a response to the growth of fast fashion. Fast fashion Fast fashion is defined as "an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers." While traditional fashion processes usually take about 6 months to design, manufacture, and market products, fast fashion completes these processes in several weeks, allowing the quickly-changing demands of consumers to be met.The amount of new garments bought by Americans has tripled since the 1960s. Globalization has encouraged the rapid growth of the fast fashion industry. Global retail sales of apparel in 2019 reached 1.9 trillion U.S dollars, a new high – this number is expected to double to three trillion U.S. dollars by the year 2030. The world consumes more than 80 billion items of clothing annually. Production and disposal of waste One concern with fast fashion is the clothes waste it produces. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 15.1 million tons of textile clothing waste was produced in 2013 alone. In the United States, 64.5% of textile waste is discarded in landfills, 19.3% is incinerated with energy recovery, only 16.2% is recycled. When textile clothing ends up in landfills, chemicals on the clothes such as the dye can leech into the ground and cause environmental damage. When unsold clothing is burned, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere. According to a report from the World Bank Group, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of yearly global carbon emissions. In 2019, France announced that it was making an effort to prevent companies from this practice of burning unsold fashion items. Fashion is produced at such high and fast rates, that more than 40% of fashion goods are sold at a markdown. The packaging of clothing also contributes to the waste produced by the fashion industry. As online shopping, both for clothing and for other items, has become common, the amount of waste produced has totaled about 75 million tons in the United States alone. Many packaging materials are also non-recyclable. Slow fashion Slow fashion is a movement that seeks to oppose fast fashion, focusing on the production and sale of sustainable clothing created with eco-friendly materials. The movement encourages purchasing clothing from local sources as opposed to large brands, as these locally-made pieces are often of a higher quality and will last longer than factory-made clothing, and will reduce pollution caused by the disposal of clothes. The slow fashion movement also challenges the ethical issues of fast fashion, such as the underpaying and overworking of factory workers, who often come from low-income countries. Synthetic fibers and natural fibers Polyester Polyester was one of the most popular fibers used in fashion in 2017, found in about 60% of garments in retail stores and equalling about 21.3 million tons of polyester fiber. There was a 157% increase of polyester clothing consumption from 2000 to 2015. Synthetic polyester is made from a chemical reaction of coal, petroleum, air, and water, two of which are fossil fuels. When coal is burned it creates heavy amounts of air pollution containing carbon dioxide. When petroleum is usedit creates several air pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. The creation of polyester creates pollution, in addition to waste from the finished product at the end of its life cycle. Polyester is non-biodegradable meaning it can never be converted by bacteria to a state that will not damage the environment. Washing polyester clothing leads to shedding of microfiber plastics which enter water systems, including oceans. Cotton Cotton is the most common crop in the world aside from food. Half of all textiles produced are made of the fiber.Cotton is a water-intensive crop, requiring 3644 cubic meters of water to grow one ton of fiber, or 347 gallons per pound. Growing cotton requires 25% of insecticides and 10-16% of pesticides of what is used globally every year. Half of the top pesticides used in growing cotton in the US are deemed likely to be carcinogenic by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Cotton production degrades the quality of the soil, leading to exhausted fields and expansion into new areas. Expansion into new areas leads to the destruction of local habitats and the associated pollution affects biodiversity. Animal fibers and textiles Animal-based fibers such as wool and leather were responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. Cattle have digestive systems that use a process known as foregut fermentation, which creates the greenhouse gas methane as a byproduct. In addition to the CH4 released from the ruminants, CO2 and N2O are released into the atmosphere as byproducts of raising the animals. In total, 44% of emissions caused by livestock are from enteric fermentation, 41% comes from the feed needed to raise the livestock, 10% comes from manure, and 5% comes from energy consumption. Energy use here is measured in megajoules needed to produce one kilogram of the given textile. Water use here is measured in liters of water needed to produce one kilogram of the given textile. Marine impact Improperly disposing of clothing can harm the environment, especially through wastewater. Chemicals from decomposing clothing can leach into the air and into the ground, affecting both groundwater and surface water. Aside from plastic pollution, textiles also contributes significantly to marine pollution. Unlike plastic, textile pollution's impact on marine life occurs in its various supply chain processes. Pollutants like pesticides and clothing manufacturing chemicals cling to particles that accumulate in the waters ecosystem and consequently enter into human food chains. Microfiber pollution Plastic and synthetic textile are both created from a chemical structure called polymer. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines polymer as “a chemical compound or mixture of compounds formed by polymerization and consisting essentially of repeating structural units.” For plastic, the common polymer found is PET, polyethylene (PE), or polypropylene (PP), whereas for textile, the polymer found the most abundant in the collection of waste is polyester and nylon textiles.Textiles shed microfibers at every stage of their life cycle, from production, to use, to end of life disposal. These fibers end up in the soil, air, lakes, and oceans. Microfiber pollution has existed as long as the textile industry has, but only recently has it come under public scrutiny. The Ocean Wise Conservation Association produced a study discussing the textile waste. For polyester, it stated that on average, humans shed around 20 to 800 mg micro polyester waste for every kg textile washed. A smaller amount for nylon is found; for every kg of fabrics washed, around 11 to 63 mg of nylon microfiber waste are shed into bodies of water. Washing synthetic textiles releases microplastics and microfibers into the oceans. This type of waste is most commonly found from washing machine cycles, where fibers of clothes fall loose during the tumbling process. An individual domestic load of laundry can shed up to 700,000 microfibers.The Association also released a study stating that on average, households in the United States and Canada produce around 135 grams of microfibers, which is equivalent to 22 kilotons of microfibers released to the wastewater annually. These wastewater will go through various waste water treatment plants, however, around 878 tons of those 22 kilotons were left untreated and hence, thrown into the ocean.Textiles are the main source of microfibers in the environment. Thirty five percent of the microplastics that are found in marine ecosystems, such as shorelines, are from synthetic microfibers and nanofibers. Such microfibers affect marine life in that fish or other species in the marine ecosystems consume them, which end up in the intestine and harm the animals. Microfibers have been found in the digestive tracts of widely consumed fish and shellfish. These fish are then consumed by humans, which leads to the absorption of micro pollutants in the fish in a process called biomagnification. Predators of the affected marine species are also harmed, as they ingest the microfibers previously ingested by their prey. The yearly shellfish consumption of microplastics was found to be 11,000 pieces, and microfibers were found in eighty three percent of fish caught in one lake in Brazil. Further, about two thirds of synthetic fibers from clothing production will be found in the ocean from 2015 to 2050. In one study, the food consumption rates decreased in crabs who were eating food with plastic microfibers, which further lead to the available energy for growth to also decrease.Techniques to address the environmental impacts of the fashion industry include a marine algal bioabsorbent, which could be used for dye removal through rich algal surface chemistry through heteroatom containing functional groups. Many techniques or potential solutions are difficult in their implementation, for instance the accuracy of marine sediment techniques to detect microplastics is not sufficiently tested among different soil samples or sources. Eutrophication Clothing often contains non-organic, excessively farmed cotton which is grown with chemicals that are known to cause eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process in which fresh water sources such as lakes and rivers become overly enriched with nutrients. This causes a dense growth of plant life that is harmful to the ecosystem, such as algae blooms. Algal blooms deplete levels of oxygen in water as they decompose, resulting in changes to the ecosystem, either through the die-off of aquatic creatures or populations moving as water becomes uninhabitable. Algal blooms can also make bodies of water unsuitable for both human consumption and recreation. Two of the main ingredients in pesticides are nitrates and phosphates, and when pesticides leak into stream systems surrounding the cropland via runoff, the nitrates and phosphates contribute to water eutrophication. Water use The fashion industry consumes a large amount of water to produce fabrics and manufacture garments every year. The global fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water per year, or 20 trillion gallons. This is four percent of all freshwater withdrawal globally. This amount is set to double by 2030 if it follows the current trend. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the fashion industry is responsible for 20 percent of global wastewater. Manufacturing a single pair of Levi jeans, will on average, consume about 3,781 liters of water. On average, producing one kilogram of textiles requires 200 liters of water. Sustainability efforts The consumer use phase in the life cycle of clothing and other textiles is a significant area of impact,f yet is often overlooked. While there is minimal research into energy efficient washers and dryers as a method of reducing impact on the consumer side, wearing garments for 9 months longer could cut overall waste by 22% and water use by 33%. On the producer side, choosing to make garments in popular colors and designs that consumers are more likely to buy is both a financially and environmentally responsible choice. Designing clothing that is more likely to be purchased can reduce waste on the production side. In 2018 the fashion retailer H&M ended up with $4.3 billion of unsold merchandise. Other retailers, such as Patagonia, have made efforts to create more sustainable clothing by using eco-friendly materials, such as organically-farmed cotton and polyester made from recycled plastic bottles.In order to extend the life cycle of garments and slow rates of production and overconsumption, business models such as 'clothing libraries' have been considered. These businesses collect pieces both from local shops and companies, and allow customers, who pay for a monthly subscription, to borrow clothes for a certain period of time. Business startups such as these have been tested in the Netherlands and Sweden, but there are concerns that clothing libraries will have little to no effect on reducing the effects of fast fashion. See also Digital Product Passport Environmental sustainability of vintage fashion Greenhouse gas emissions by sector References Further reading Ross, Robert J. S. (2004). Slaves to Fashion: Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops. University of Michigan Press. doi:10.3998/mpub.15439. ISBN 978-0-472-10941-8. JSTOR 10.3998/mpub.15439. S2CID 155579591. Project MUSE book 7116. Hassanzadeh, Sanaz; Hasani, Hossein (2017). "A Review on Milkweed Fiber Properties as a High-Potential Raw Material in Textile Applications". Journal of Industrial Textiles. 46 (6): 1412–1436. doi:10.1177/1528083715620398. S2CID 137942362. Debnath, Sanjoy (2015). "Great Potential of Stinging Nettle for Sustainable Textile and Fashion". Handbook of Sustainable Luxury Textiles and Fashion. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes. pp. 43–57. doi:10.1007/978-981-287-633-1_3. ISBN 978-981-287-632-4.

human impact on the environment

Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic environmental impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society (as in the built environment) is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, neoliberal economic policies and rapid economic growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss, have been proposed as representing catastrophic risks to the survival of the human species.The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian geologist Alexey Pavlov, and it was first used in English by British ecologist Arthur Tansley in reference to human influences on climax plant communities. The atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen introduced the term "Anthropocene" in the mid-1970s. The term is sometimes used in the context of pollution produced from human activity since the start of the Agricultural Revolution but also applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment. Many of the actions taken by humans that contribute to a heated environment stem from the burning of fossil fuel from a variety of sources, such as: electricity, cars, planes, space heating, manufacturing, or the destruction of forests. Human overshoot Overconsumption Overconsumption is a situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem. It can be measured by the ecological footprint, a resource accounting approach which compares human demand on ecosystems with the amount of planet matter ecosystems can renew. Estimates indicate that humanity's current demand is 70% higher than the regeneration rate of all of the planet's ecosystems combined. A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to environmental degradation and the eventual loss of resource bases. Humanity's overall impact on the planet is affected by many factors, not just the raw number of people. Their lifestyle (including overall affluence and resource use) and the pollution they generate (including carbon footprint) are equally important. In 2008, The New York Times stated that the inhabitants of the developed nations of the world consume resources like oil and metals at a rate almost 32 times greater than those of the developing world, who make up the majority of the human population. Human civilization has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants. The world's chickens are triple the weight of all the wild birds, while domesticated cattle and pigs outweigh all wild mammals by 14 to 1. Global meat consumption is projected to more than double by 2050, perhaps as much as 76%, as the global population rises to more than 9 billion, which will be a significant driver of further biodiversity loss and increased Greenhouse gas emissions. Population growth and size Some scholars, environmentalists and advocates have linked human population growth or population size as a driver of environmental issues, including some suggesting this indicates an overpopulation scenario. In 2017, over 15,000 scientists around the world issued a second warning to humanity which asserted that rapid human population growth is the "primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats." According to the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, released by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in 2019, human population growth is a significant factor in contemporary biodiversity loss. A 2021 report in Frontiers in Conservation Science proposed that population size and growth are significant factors in biodiversity loss, soil degradation and pollution.Some scientists and environmentalists, including Pentti Linkola, Jared Diamond and E. O. Wilson, posit that human population growth is devastating to biodiversity. Wilson for example, has expressed concern when Homo sapiens reached a population of six billion their biomass exceeded that of any other large land dwelling animal species that had ever existed by over 100 times.However, attributing overpopulation as a cause of environmental issues is controversial. Demographic projections indicate that population growth is slowing and world population will peak in the 21st century, and many experts believe that global resources can meet this increased demand, suggesting a global overpopulation scenario is unlikely. Other projections have the population continuing to grow into the next century. While some studies, including the British government's 2021 Economics of Biodiversity review, posit that population growth and overconsumption are interdependent, critics suggest blaming overpopulation for environmental issues can unduly blame poor populations in the Global South or oversimplify more complex drivers, leading some to treat overconsumption as a separate issue.Advocates for further reducing fertility rates, among them Rodolfo Dirzo and Paul R. Ehrlich, argue that this reduction should primarily affect the "overconsuming wealthy and middle classes," with the ultimate goal being to shrink "the scale of the human enterprise" and reverse the "growthmania" which they say threatens biodiversity and the "life-support systems of humanity." Fishing and farming The environmental impact of agriculture varies based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Ultimately, the environmental impact depends on the production practices of the system used by farmers. The connection between emissions into the environment and the farming system is indirect, as it also depends on other climate variables such as rainfall and temperature. There are two types of indicators of environmental impact: "means-based", which is based on the farmer's production methods, and "effect-based", which is the impact that farming methods have on the farming system or on emissions to the environment. An example of a means-based indicator would be the quality of groundwater that is affected by the amount of nitrogen applied to the soil. An indicator reflecting the loss of nitrate to groundwater would be effect-based.The environmental impact of agriculture involves a variety of factors from the soil, to water, the air, animal and soil diversity, plants, and the food itself. Some of the environmental issues that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste. Fishing The environmental impact of fishing can be divided into issues that involve the availability of fish to be caught, such as overfishing, sustainable fisheries, and fisheries management; and issues that involve the impact of fishing on other elements of the environment, such as by-catch and destruction of habitat such as coral reefs. According to the 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report, overfishing is the main driver of mass species extinction in the oceans.These conservation issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. There is a growing gap between how many fish are available to be caught and humanity's desire to catch them, a problem that gets worse as the world population grows.Similar to other environmental issues, there can be conflict between the fishermen who depend on fishing for their livelihoods and fishery scientists who realize that if future fish populations are to be sustainable then some fisheries must reduce or even close.The journal Science published a four-year study in November 2006, which predicted that, at prevailing trends, the world would run out of wild-caught seafood in 2048. The scientists stated that the decline was a result of overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors that were reducing the population of fisheries at the same time as their ecosystems were being degraded. Yet again the analysis has met criticism as being fundamentally flawed, and many fishery management officials, industry representatives and scientists challenge the findings, although the debate continues. Many countries, such as Tonga, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and international management bodies have taken steps to appropriately manage marine resources.The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released their biennial State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture in 2018 noting that capture fishery production has remained constant for the last two decades but unsustainable overfishing has increased to 33% of the world's fisheries. They also noted that aquaculture, the production of farmed fish, has increased from 120 million tonnes per year in 1990 to over 170 million tonnes in 2018.Populations of oceanic sharks and rays have been reduced by 71% since 1970, largely due to overfishing. More than three-quarters of the species comprising this group are now threatened with extinction. Irrigation The environmental impact of irrigation includes the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the ensuing effects on natural and social conditions at the tail-end and downstream of the irrigation scheme. The impacts stem from the changed hydrological conditions owing to the installation and operation of the scheme. An irrigation scheme often draws water from the river and distributes it over the irrigated area. As a hydrological result it is found that: the downstream river discharge is reduced the evaporation in the scheme is increased the groundwater recharge in the scheme is increased the level of the water table rises the drainage flow is increased.These may be called direct effects. Effects on soil and water quality are indirect and complex, and subsequent impacts on natural, ecological and socio-economic conditions are intricate. In some, but not all instances, water logging and soil salinization can result. However, irrigation can also be used, together with soil drainage, to overcome soil salinization by leaching excess salts from the vicinity of the root zone.Irrigation can also be done extracting groundwater by (tube)wells. As a hydrological result it is found that the level of the water descends. The effects may be water mining, land/soil subsidence, and, along the coast, saltwater intrusion. Irrigation projects can have large benefits, but the negative side effects are often overlooked.Agricultural irrigation technologies such as high powered water pumps, dams, and pipelines are responsible for the large-scale depletion of fresh water resources such as aquifers, lakes, and rivers. As a result of this massive diversion of freshwater, lakes, rivers, and creeks are running dry, severely altering or stressing surrounding ecosystems, and contributing to the extinction of many aquatic species. Agricultural land loss Lal and Stewart estimated global loss of agricultural land by degradation and abandonment at 12 million hectares per year. In contrast, according to Scherr, GLASOD (Global Assessment of Human-Induced Soil Degradation, under the UN Environment Programme) estimated that 6 million hectares of agricultural land per year had been lost to soil degradation since the mid-1940s, and she noted that this magnitude is similar to earlier estimates by Dudal and by Rozanov et al. Such losses are attributable not only to soil erosion, but also to salinization, loss of nutrients and organic matter, acidification, compaction, water logging and subsidence. Human-induced land degradation tends to be particularly serious in dry regions. Focusing on soil properties, Oldeman estimated that about 19 million square kilometers of global land area had been degraded; Dregne and Chou, who included degradation of vegetation cover as well as soil, estimated about 36 million square kilometers degraded in the world's dry regions. Despite estimated losses of agricultural land, the amount of arable land used in crop production globally increased by about 9% from 1961 to 2012, and is estimated to have been 1.396 billion hectares in 2012.Global average soil erosion rates are thought to be high, and erosion rates on conventional cropland generally exceed estimates of soil production rates, usually by more than an order of magnitude. In the US, sampling for erosion estimates by the US NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is statistically based, and estimation uses the Universal Soil Loss Equation and Wind Erosion Equation. For 2010, annual average soil loss by sheet, rill and wind erosion on non-federal US land was estimated to be 10.7 t/ha on cropland and 1.9 t/ha on pasture land; the average soil erosion rate on US cropland had been reduced by about 34% since 1982. No-till and low-till practices have become increasingly common on North American cropland used for production of grains such as wheat and barley. On uncultivated cropland, the recent average total soil loss has been 2.2 t/ha per year. In comparison with agriculture using conventional cultivation, it has been suggested that, because no-till agriculture produces erosion rates much closer to soil production rates, it could provide a foundation for sustainable agriculture.Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires. This is considered to be an important topic of the 21st century due to the implications land degradation has upon agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effects on food security. It is estimated that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. Meat production Environmental impacts associated with meat production include use of fossil energy, water and land resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and in some instances, rainforest clearing, water pollution and species endangerment, among other adverse effects. Steinfeld et al. of the FAO estimated that 18% of global anthropogenic GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions (estimated as 100-year carbon dioxide equivalents) are associated in some way with livestock production. FAO data indicate that meat accounted for 26% of global livestock product tonnage in 2011.Globally, enteric fermentation (mostly in ruminant livestock) accounts for about 27% of anthropogenic methane emissions, Despite methane's 100-year global warming potential, recently estimated at 28 without and 34 with climate-carbon feedbacks, methane emission is currently contributing relatively little to global warming. Although reduction of methane emissions would have a rapid effect on warming, the expected effect would be small. Other anthropogenic GHG emissions associated with livestock production include carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption (mostly for production, harvesting and transport of feed), and nitrous oxide emissions associated with the use of nitrogenous fertilizers, growing of nitrogen-fixing legume vegetation and manure management. Management practices that can mitigate GHG emissions from production of livestock and feed have been identified.Considerable water use is associated with meat production, mostly because of water used in production of vegetation that provides feed. There are several published estimates of water use associated with livestock and meat production, but the amount of water use assignable to such production is seldom estimated. For example, "green water" use is evapotranspirational use of soil water that has been provided directly by precipitation; and "green water" has been estimated to account for 94% of global beef cattle production's "water footprint", and on rangeland, as much as 99.5% of the water use associated with beef production is "green water". Impairment of water quality by manure and other substances in runoff and infiltrating water is a concern, especially where intensive livestock production is carried out. In the US, in a comparison of 32 industries, the livestock industry was found to have a relatively good record of compliance with environmental regulations pursuant to the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, but pollution issues from large livestock operations can sometimes be serious where violations occur. Various measures have been suggested by the US Environmental Protection Agency, among others, which can help reduce livestock damage to streamwater quality and riparian environments.Changes in livestock production practices influence the environmental impact of meat production, as illustrated by some beef data. In the US beef production system, practices prevailing in 2007 are estimated to have involved 8.6% less fossil fuel use, 16% less greenhouse gas emissions (estimated as 100-year carbon dioxide equivalents), 12% less withdrawn water use and 33% less land use, per unit mass of beef produced, than in 1977. From 1980 to 2012 in the US, while population increased by 38%, the small ruminant inventory decreased by 42%, the cattle-and-calves inventory decreased by 17%, and methane emissions from livestock decreased by 18%; yet despite the reduction in cattle numbers, US beef production increased over that period.Some impacts of meat-producing livestock may be considered environmentally beneficial. These include waste reduction by conversion of human-inedible crop residues to food, use of livestock as an alternative to herbicides for control of invasive and noxious weeds and other vegetation management, use of animal manure as fertilizer as a substitute for those synthetic fertilizers that require considerable fossil fuel use for manufacture, grazing use for wildlife habitat enhancement, and carbon sequestration in response to grazing practices, among others. Conversely, according to some studies appearing in peer-reviewed journals, the growing demand for meat is contributing to significant biodiversity loss as it is a significant driver of deforestation and habitat destruction. Moreover, the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by IPBES also warns that ever increasing land use for meat production plays a significant role in biodiversity loss. A 2006 Food and Agriculture Organization report, Livestock's Long Shadow, found that around 26% of the planet's terrestrial surface is devoted to livestock grazing. Palm oil Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil, found in oil palm trees, which are native to West and Central Africa. Initially used in foods in developing countries, palm oil is now also used in food, cosmetic and other types of products in other nations as well. Over one-third of vegetable oil consumed globally is palm oil. Habitat loss The consumption of palm oil in food, domestic and cosmetic products all over the world means there is a high demand for it. To meet this, oil palm plantations are created, which means removing natural forests to clear space. This deforestation has taken place in Asia, Latin America and West Africa, with Malaysia and Indonesia holding 90% of global oil palm trees. These forests are home to a wide range of species, including many endangered animals, ranging from birds to rhinos and tigers. Since 2000, 47% of deforestation has been for the purpose of growing oil palm plantations, with around 877,000 acres being affected per year. Impact on biodiversity Natural forests are extremely biodiverse, with a wide range of organisms using them as their habitat. But oil palm plantations are the opposite. Studies have shown that oil palm plantations have less than 1% of the plant diversity seen in natural forests, and 47–90% less mammal diversity. This is not because of the oil palm itself, but rather because the oil palm is the only habitat provided in the plantations. The plantations are therefore known as a monoculture, whereas natural forests contain a wide variety of flora and fauna, making them highly biodiverse. One of the ways palm oil could be made more sustainable (although it is still not the best option) is through agroforestry, whereby the plantations are made up of multiple types of plants used in trade – such as coffee or cocoa. While these are more biodiverse than monoculture plantations, they are still not as effective as natural forests. In addition to this, agroforestry does not bring as many economic benefits to workers, their families and the surrounding areas. Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) The RSPO is a non-profit organisation that has developed criteria that its members (of which, as of 2018, there are over 4,000) must follow to produce, source and use sustainable palm oil (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil; CSPO). Currently, 19% of global palm oil is certified by the RSPO as sustainable. The CSPO criteria states that oil palm plantations cannot be grown in the place of forests or other areas with endangered species, fragile ecosystems, or those that facilitate the needs of local communities. It also calls for a reduction in pesticides and fires, along with several rules for ensuring the social wellbeing of workers and the local communities. Ecosystem impacts Environmental degradation Human activity is causing environmental degradation, which is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. As indicated by the I=PAT equation, environmental impact (I) or degradation is caused by the combination of an already very large and increasing human population (P), continually increasing economic growth or per capita affluence (A), and the application of resource-depleting and polluting technology (T).According to a 2021 study published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, roughly 3% of the planet's terrestrial surface is ecologically and faunally intact, meaning areas with healthy populations of native animal species and little to no human footprint. Many of these intact ecosystems were in areas inhabited by indigenous peoples. Habitat fragmentation According to a 2018 study in Nature, 87% of the oceans and 77% of land (excluding Antarctica) have been altered by anthropogenic activity, and 23% of the planet's landmass remains as wilderness.Habitat fragmentation is the reduction of large tracts of habitat leading to habitat loss. Habitat fragmentation and loss are considered as being the main cause of the loss of biodiversity and degradation of the ecosystem all over the world. Human actions are greatly responsible for habitat fragmentation, and loss as these actions alter the connectivity and quality of habitats. Understanding the consequences of habitat fragmentation is important for the preservation of biodiversity and enhancing the functioning of the ecosystem.Both agricultural plants and animals depend on pollination for reproduction. Vegetables and fruits are an important diet for human beings and depend on pollination. Whenever there is habitat destruction, pollination is reduced and crop yield as well. Many plants also rely on animals and most especially those that eat fruit for seed dispersal. Therefore, the destruction of habitat for animal severely affects all the plant species that depend on them. Mass extinction Biodiversity generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth, and is represented by the number of different species there are on the planet. Since its introduction, Homo sapiens (the human species) has been killing off entire species either directly (such as through hunting) or indirectly (such as by destroying habitats), causing the extinction of species at an alarming rate. Humans are the cause of the current mass extinction, called the Holocene extinction, driving extinctions to 100 to 1000 times the normal background rate. Though most experts agree that human beings have accelerated the rate of species extinction, some scholars have postulated without humans, the biodiversity of the Earth would grow at an exponential rate rather than decline. The Holocene extinction continues, with meat consumption, overfishing, ocean acidification and the amphibian crisis being a few broader examples of an almost universal, cosmopolitan decline in biodiversity. Human overpopulation (and continued population growth) along with overconsumption, especially by the super-affluent, are considered to be the primary drivers of this rapid decline. The 2017 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity stated that, among other things, this sixth extinction event unleashed by humanity could annihilate many current life forms and consign them to extinction by the end of this century. A 2022 scientific review published in Biological Reviews confirms that a biodiversity loss crisis caused by human activity, which the researchers describe as a sixth mass extinction event, is currently underway.A June 2020 study published in PNAS argues that the contemporary extinction crisis "may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilization, because it is irreversible" and that its acceleration "is certain because of the still fast growth in human numbers and consumption rates." Decline in biodiversity Defaunation is the loss of animals from ecological communities.It has been estimated that from 1970 to 2016, 68% of the world's wildlife has been destroyed due to human activity. In South America, there is believed to be a 70 percent loss. A May 2018 study published in PNAS found that 83% of wild mammals, 80% of marine mammals, 50% of plants and 15% of fish have been lost since the dawn of human civilization. Currently, livestock make up 60% of the biomass of all mammals on earth, followed by humans (36%) and wild mammals (4%). According to the 2019 global biodiversity assessment by IPBES, human civilization has pushed one million species of plants and animals to the brink of extinction, with many of these projected to vanish over the next few decades.When plant biodiversity declines, the remaining plants face diminishing productivity. Biodiversity loss threatens ecosystem productivity and services such as food, fresh water, raw materials and medicinal resources.A 2019 report that assessed a total of 28,000 plant species concluded that close to half of them were facing a threat of extinction. The failure of noticing and appreciating plants is regarded as "plant blindness", and this is a worrying trend as it puts more plants at the threat of extinction than animals. Our increased farming has come at a higher cost to plant biodiversity as half of the habitable land on Earth is used for agriculture, and this is one of the major reasons behind the plant extinction crisis. Invasive species Invasive species are defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as non-native to the specific ecosystem, and whose presence is likely to harm the health of humans or the animals in said system. Introductions of non-native species into new areas have brought about major and permanent changes to the environment over large areas. Examples include the introduction of Caulerpa taxifolia into the Mediterranean, the introduction of oat species into the California grasslands, and the introduction of privet, kudzu, and purple loosestrife to North America. Rats, cats, and goats have radically altered biodiversity in many islands. Additionally, introductions have resulted in genetic changes to native fauna where interbreeding has taken place, as with buffalo with domestic cattle, and wolves with domestic dogs. Human Introduced Invasive Species Cats Domestic and feral cats globally are particularly notorious for their destruction of native birds and other animal species. This is especially true for Australia, which attributes over two-thirds of mammal extinction to domestic and feral cats, and over 1.5 billion deaths to native animals each year. Because domesticated outside cats are fed by their owners, they can continue to hunt even when prey populations decline and they would otherwise go elsewhere. This is a major problem for places where there is a highly diverse and dense number of lizards, birds, snakes, and mice populating the area. Roaming outdoor cats can also be attributed to the transmission of harmful diseases like rabies and toxoplasmosis to the native wildlife population. Burmese Python Another example of a destructive introduced invasive species is the Burmese Python. Originating from parts of Southeast Asia, the Burmese Python has made the most notable impact in the Southern Florida Everglades of the United States. After a breeding facility breach in 1992 due to flooding and snake owners releasing unwanted pythons back into the wild, the population of the Burmese Python would boom in the warm climate of Florida in the following years. This impact has been felt most significantly at the southernmost regions of the Everglades. A study in 2012 compared native species population counts in Florida from 1997 and found that raccoon populations declined 99.3%, opossums 98.9%, and rabbit/fox populations effectively disappeared Coral reef decline Water pollution Domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater can be treated in wastewater treatment plants for treatment before being released into aquatic ecosystems. Treated wastewater still contains a range of different chemical and biological contaminants which may influence surrounding ecosystems. Impacts on climate Climate change Contemporary climate change is the result of increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, which is caused primarily by combustion of fossil fuel (coal, oil, natural gas), and by deforestation, land use changes, and cement production. Such massive alteration of the global carbon cycle has only been possible because of the availability and deployment of advanced technologies, ranging in application from fossil fuel exploration, extraction, distribution, refining, and combustion in power plants and automobile engines and advanced farming practices. Livestock contributes to climate change both through the production of greenhouse gases and through destruction of carbon sinks such as rain-forests. According to the 2006 United Nations/FAO report, 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions found in the atmosphere are due to livestock. The raising of livestock and the land needed to feed them has resulted in the destruction of millions of acres of rainforest and as global demand for meat rises, so too will the demand for land. Ninety-one percent of all rainforest land deforested since 1970 is now used for livestock. Potential negative environmental impacts caused by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are rising global air temperatures, altered hydrogeological cycles resulting in more frequent and severe droughts, storms, and floods, as well as sea level rise and ecosystem disruption. Acid deposition The fossils that are burned by humans for energy usually come back to them in the form of acid rain. Acid rain is a form of precipitation which has high sulfuric and nitric acids which can occur in the form of a fog or snow. Acid rain has numerous ecological impacts on streams, lakes, wetlands and other aquatic environments. It damages forests, robs the soil of its essential nutrients, releases aluminium to the soil, which makes it very hard for trees to absorb water.Researchers have discovered that kelp, eelgrass and other vegetation can effectively absorb carbon dioxide and hence reducing ocean acidity. Scientists, therefore, say that growing these plants could help in mitigating the damaging effects of acidification on marine life. Ozone depletion Disruption of the nitrogen cycle Of particular concern is N2O, which has an average atmospheric lifetime of 114–120 years, and is 300 times more effective than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. NOx produced by industrial processes, automobiles and agricultural fertilization and NH3 emitted from soils (i.e., as an additional byproduct of nitrification) and livestock operations are transported to downwind ecosystems, influencing N cycling and nutrient losses. Six major effects of NOx and NH3 emissions have been identified: decreased atmospheric visibility due to ammonium aerosols (fine particulate matter [PM]) elevated ozone concentrations ozone and PM affects human health (e.g. respiratory diseases, cancer) increases in radiative forcing and global warming decreased agricultural productivity due to ozone deposition ecosystem acidification and eutrophication. Technology impacts The applications of technology often result in unavoidable and unexpected environmental impacts, which according to the I = PAT equation is measured as resource use or pollution generated per unit GDP. Environmental impacts caused by the application of technology are often perceived as unavoidable for several reasons. First, given that the purpose of many technologies is to exploit, control, or otherwise "improve" upon nature for the perceived benefit of humanity while at the same time, the myriad of processes in nature have been optimized and are continually adjusted by evolution, any disturbance of these natural processes by technology is likely to result in negative environmental consequences. Second, the conservation of mass principle and the first law of thermodynamics (i.e., conservation of energy) dictate that whenever material resources or energy are moved around or manipulated by technology, environmental consequences are inescapable. Third, according to the second law of thermodynamics, order can be increased within a system (such as the human economy) only by increasing disorder or entropy outside the system (i.e., the environment). Thus, technologies can create "order" in the human economy (i.e., order as manifested in buildings, factories, transportation networks, communication systems, etc.) only at the expense of increasing "disorder" in the environment. According to several studies, increased entropy is likely to correlate to negative environmental impacts. Mining industry The environmental impact of mining includes erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes. In some cases, additional forest logging is done in the vicinity of mines to increase the available room for the storage of the created debris and soil.Even though plants need some heavy metals for their growth, excess of these metals is usually toxic to them. Plants that are polluted with heavy metals usually depict reduced growth, yield and performance. Pollution by heavy metals decreases the soil organic matter composition resulting in a decline in soil nutrients which then leads to a decline in the growth of plants or even death.Besides creating environmental damage, the contamination resulting from leakage of chemicals also affect the health of the local population. Mining companies in some countries are required to follow environmental and rehabilitation codes, ensuring the area mined is returned to close to its original state. Some mining methods may have significant environmental and public health effects. Heavy metals usually exhibit toxic effects towards the soil biota, and this is through the affection of the microbial processes and decreases the number as well as activity of soil microorganisms. Low concentration of heavy metals also has high chances of inhibiting the plant's physiological metabolism. Energy industry The environmental impact of energy harvesting and consumption is diverse. In recent years there has been a trend towards the increased commercialization of various renewable energy sources. In the real world, consumption of fossil fuel resources leads to global warming and climate change. However, little change is being made in many parts of the world. If the peak oil theory proves true, more explorations of viable alternative energy sources, could be more friendly to the environment. Rapidly advancing technologies can achieve a transition of energy generation, water and waste management, and food production towards better environmental and energy usage practices using methods of systems ecology and industrial ecology. Biodiesel The environmental impact of biodiesel includes energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and some other kinds of pollution. A joint life cycle analysis by the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Energy found that substituting 100% biodiesel for petroleum diesel in buses reduced life cycle consumption of petroleum by 95%. Biodiesel reduced net emissions of carbon dioxide by 78.45%, compared with petroleum diesel. In urban buses, biodiesel reduced particulate emissions 32 percent, carbon monoxide emissions 35 percent, and emissions of sulfur oxides 8%, relative to life cycle emissions associated with use of petroleum diesel. Life cycle emissions of hydrocarbons were 35% higher and emission of various nitrogen oxides (NOx) were 13.5% higher with biodiesel. Life cycle analyses by the Argonne National Laboratory have indicated reduced fossil energy use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions with biodiesel, compared with petroleum diesel use. Biodiesel derived from various vegetable oils (e.g. canola or soybean oil), is readily biodegradable in the environment compared with petroleum diesel. Coal mining and burning The environmental impact of coal mining and -burning is diverse. Legislation passed by the US Congress in 1990 required the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a plan to alleviate toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants. After delay and litigation, the EPA now has a court-imposed deadline of 16 March 2011, to issue its report. Surface coal mining has the greatest impact on the environment due to its unique extraction process requiring drilling and blasting, which releases macro amounts of airborne particles into the air. This airborne particulate matter releases harmful toxins into the atmosphere such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. These toxins then lead to many detrimental health effects such as respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular disease. Although coal is the most widely utilized source of energy around the world, the burning of coal emits poisonous toxins into the air, leading to various health ailments of the skin, blood and lung diseases, and various forms of cancer, while also contributing to global warming by the emission of these toxins into the environment. The technology for mining activity has advanced over the years, leading to an increase in mine waste leading to more pollution problems, according to the Safe Drinking Water Foundation Electricity generation Nuclear power The environmental impact of nuclear power results from the nuclear fuel cycle processes including mining, processing, transporting and storing fuel and radioactive fuel waste. Released radioisotopes pose a health danger to human populations, animals and plants as radioactive particles enter organisms through various transmission routes. Radiation is a carcinogen and causes numerous effects on living organisms and systems. The environmental impacts of nuclear power plant disasters such as the Chernobyl disaster, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the Three Mile Island accident, among others, persist indefinitely, though several other factors contributed to these events including improper management of fail safe systems and natural disasters putting uncommon stress on the generators. The radioactive decay rate of particles varies greatly, dependent upon the nuclear properties of a particular isotope. Radioactive Plutonium-244 has a half-life of 80.8 million years, which indicates the time duration required for half of a given sample to decay, though very little plutonium-244 is produced in the nuclear fuel cycle and lower half-life materials have lower activity thus giving off less dangerous radiation. Oil shale industry The environmental impact of the oil shale industry includes the consideration of issues such as land use, waste management, water and air pollution caused by the extraction and processing of oil shale. Surface mining of oil shale deposits causes the usual environmental impacts of open-pit mining. In addition, the combustion and thermal processing generate waste material, which must be disposed of, and harmful atmospheric emissions, including carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Experimental in-situ conversion processes and carbon capture and storage technologies may reduce some of these concerns in future, but may raise others, such as the pollution of groundwater. Petroleum The environmental impact of petroleum is often negative because it is toxic to almost all forms of life. Petroleum, a common word for oil or natural gas, is closely linked to virtually all aspects of present society, especially for transportation and heating for both homes and for commercial activities. Reservoirs The environmental impact of reservoirs is coming under ever increasing scrutiny as the world demand for water and energy increases and the number and size of reservoirs increases. Dams and the reservoirs can be used to supply drinking water, generate hydroelectric power, increasing the water supply for irrigation, provide recreational opportunities and flood control. However, adverse environmental and sociological impacts have also been identified during and after many reservoir constructions. Although the impact varies greatly between different dams and reservoirs, common criticisms include preventing sea-run fish from reaching their historical mating grounds, less access to water downstream, and a smaller catch for fishing communities in the area. Advances in technology have provided solutions to many negative impacts of dams but these advances are often not viewed as worth investing in if not required by law or under the threat of fines. Whether reservoir projects are ultimately beneficial or detrimental—to both the environment and surrounding human populations— has been debated since the 1960s and probably long before that. In 1960 the construction of Llyn Celyn and the flooding of Capel Celyn provoked political uproar which continues to this day. More recently, the construction of Three Gorges Dam and other similar projects throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America have generated considerable environmental and political debate. Wind power Manufacturing Cleaning agents The environmental impact of cleaning agents is diverse. In recent years, measures have been taken to reduce these effects. Nanotechnology Nanotechnology's environmental impact can be split into two aspects: the potential for nanotechnological innovations to help improve the environment, and the possibly novel type of pollution that nanotechnological materials might cause if released into the environment. As nanotechnology is an emerging field, there is great debate regarding to what extent industrial and commercial use of nanomaterials will affect organisms and ecosystems. Paint The environmental impact of paint is diverse. Traditional painting materials and processes can have harmful effects on the environment, including those from the use of lead and other additives. Measures can be taken to reduce environmental impact, including accurately estimating paint quantities so that wastage is minimized, use of paints, coatings, painting accessories and techniques that are environmentally preferred. The United States Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and Green Star ratings are some of the standards that can be applied. Paper Plastics Some scientists suggest that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans. A December 2020 study published in Nature found that human-made materials, or anthropogenic mass, exceeds all living biomass on earth, with plastic alone outweighing the mass of all terrestrial and marine animals combined. Pesticides The environmental impact of pesticides is often greater than what is intended by those who use them. Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including nontarget species, air, water, bottom sediments, and food. Pesticide contaminates land and water when it escapes from production sites and storage tanks, when it runs off from fields, when it is discarded, when it is sprayed aerially, and when it is sprayed into water to kill algae.The amount of pesticide that migrates from the intended application area is influenced by the particular chemical's properties: its propensity for binding to soil, its vapor pressure, its water solubility, and its resistance to being broken down over time. Factors in the soil, such as its texture, its ability to retain water, and the amount of organic matter contained in it, also affect the amount of pesticide that will leave the area. Some pesticides contribute to global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. Pharmaceuticals and personal care Transport The environmental impact of transport is significant because it is a major user of energy, and burns most of the world's petroleum. This creates air pollution, including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a significant contributor to global warming through emission of carbon dioxide, for which transport is the fastest-growing emission sector. By subsector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming.Environmental regulations in developed countries have reduced the individual vehicles emission; however, this has been offset by an increase in the number of vehicles, and more use of each vehicle. Some pathways to reduce the carbon emissions of road vehicles considerably have been studied. Energy use and emissions vary largely between modes, causing environmentalists to call for a transition from air and road to rail and human-powered transport, and increase transport electrification and energy efficiency. Other environmental impacts of transport systems include traffic congestion and automobile-oriented urban sprawl, which can consume natural habitat and agricultural lands. By reducing transportation emissions globally, it is predicted that there will be significant positive effects on Earth's air quality, acid rain, smog and climate change.The health impact of transport emissions is also of concern. A recent survey of the studies on the effect of traffic emissions on pregnancy outcomes has linked exposure to emissions to adverse effects on gestational duration and possibly also intrauterine growth. Aviation The environmental impact of aviation occurs because aircraft engines emit noise, particulates, and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming. Despite emission reductions from aircraft engines and more fuel-efficient and less polluting turbofan and turboprop engines, the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation. In the EU, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87% between 1990 and 2006. Among other factors leading to this phenomenon are the increasing number of hypermobile travellers and social factors that are making air travel commonplace, such as frequent flyer programs.There is an ongoing debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme, with a view to ensuring that the total external costs of aviation are taken into account. Roads The environmental impact of roads includes the local effects of highways (public roads) such as on noise pollution, light pollution, water pollution, habitat destruction/disturbance and local air quality; and the wider effects including climate change from vehicle emissions. The design, construction and management of roads, parking and other related facilities as well as the design and regulation of vehicles can change the impacts to varying degrees. Shipping The environmental impact of shipping includes greenhouse gas emissions and oil pollution. In 2007, carbon dioxide emissions from shipping were estimated at 4 to 5% of the global total, and estimated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to rise by up to 72% by 2020 if no action is taken. There is also a potential for introducing invasive species into new areas through shipping, usually by attaching themselves to the ship's hull. The First Intersessional Meeting of the IMO Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships took place in Oslo, Norway on 23–27 June 2008. It was tasked with developing the technical basis for the reduction mechanisms that may form part of a future IMO regime to control greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, and a draft of the actual reduction mechanisms themselves, for further consideration by IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). Military General military spending and military activities have marked environmental effects. The United States military is considered one of the worst polluters in the world, responsible for over 39,000 sites contaminated with hazardous materials. Several studies have also found a strong positive correlation between higher military spending and higher carbon emissions where increased military spending has a larger effect on increasing carbon emissions in the Global North than in the Global South. Military activities also affect land use and are extremely resource-intensive.The military does not solely have negative effects on the environment. There are several examples of militaries aiding in land management, conservation, and greening of an area. Additionally, certain military technologies have proven extremely helpful for conservationists and environmental scientists.As well as the cost to human life and society, there is a significant environmental impact of war. Scorched earth methods during, or after war have been in use for much of recorded history but with modern technology war can cause a far greater devastation on the environment. Unexploded ordnance can render land unusable for further use or make access across it dangerous or fatal. Light pollution Artificial light at night is one of the most obvious physical changes that humans have made to the biosphere, and is the easiest form of pollution to observe from space. The main environmental impacts of artificial light are due to light's use as an information source (rather than an energy source). The hunting efficiency of visual predators generally increases under artificial light, changing predator prey interactions. Artificial light also affects dispersal, orientation, migration, and hormone levels, resulting in disrupted circadian rhythms. Fast fashion Fast fashion has become one of the most successful industries in many capitalist societies with the increase in globalisation. Fast fashion is the cheap mass production of clothing, which is then sold on at very low prices to consumers. Today, the industry is worth £2 trillion. Environmental impacts In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, the fast fashion industry contributes between 4–5 billion tonnes per year, equating to 8–10% of total global emissions. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning it causes heat to get trapped in the atmosphere, rather than being released into space, raising the Earth's temperature – known as global warming.Alongside greenhouse gas emissions the industry is also responsible for almost 35% of microplastic pollution in the oceans. Scientists have estimated that there are approximately 12–125 trillion tonnes of microplastic particles in the Earth's oceans. These particles are ingested by marine organisms, including fish later eaten by humans. The study states that many of the fibres found are likely to have come from clothing and other textiles, either from washing, or degradation.Textile waste is a huge issue for the environment, with around 2.1 billion tonnes of unsold or faulty clothing being disposed per year. Much of this is taken to landfill, but the majority of materials used to make clothes are not biodegradable, resulting in them breaking down and contaminating soil and water.Fashion, much like most other industries such as agriculture, requires a large volume of water for production. The rate and quantity at which clothing is produced in fast fashion means the industry uses 79 trillion litres of water every year. Water consumption has proven to be very detrimental to the environment and its ecosystems, leading to water depletion and water scarcity. Not only do these affect marine organisms, but also human's food sources, such as crops. The industry is culpable for roughly one-fifth of all industrial water pollution. Society and culture Warnings by the scientific community There are many publications from the scientific community to warn everyone about growing threats to sustainability, in particular threats to "environmental sustainability". The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity in 1992 begins with: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course". About 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including most Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences, signed this warning letter. The letter mentions severe damage to the atmosphere, oceans, ecosystems, soil productivity, and more. It said that if humanity wants to prevent the damage, steps need to be taken: better use of resources, abandonment of fossil fuels, stabilization of human population, elimination of poverty and more. More warning letters were signed in 2017 and 2019 by thousands of scientists from over 150 countries which called again to reduce overconsumption (including eating less meat), reducing fossil fuels use and other resources and so forth. See also References Bibliography Further reading Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Books, 2005 and 2011 (ISBN 9780241958681). Georgian, Samuel; Hameed, Sarah; Morgan, Lance; Amon, Diva J.; Sumaila, U. Rashid; Johns, David; Ripple, William J. (2022). "Scientists' warning of an imperiled ocean". Biological Conservation. 272: 109595. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109595. S2CID 249142365. Goudie, Andrew (2006). The human impact on the natural environment: past, present, and future. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405127042. Ivanova, Diana; Stadler, Konstantin; Steen-Olsen, Kjartan; Wood, Richard; Vita, Gibran; Tukker, Arnold; Hertwich, Edgar G. (18 December 2015). "Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption". Journal of Industrial Ecology. 20 (3): 526–536. doi:10.1111/jiec.12371. S2CID 155524615. Lovelock, James (2009). The Vanishing Face of Gaia. Basic Books. ISBN 0465019072 The Garden of Our Neglect: How Humans Shape the Evolution of Other Species 5 July 2012 Scientific American Sutherland W. et al. (2015). What Works in Conservation, Open Book Publishers, ISBN 9781783741571. External links Climate Science Special Report – US Global Change Research Program The Sixth Extinction on YouTube (PBS Digital Studios, 17 November 2014) Human activities that harm the Environment (Energy Physics) Archived 24 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine www.worldometers.info Equation: Human Impact on Climate Change (2017) & Yale University Environment in multiple crises – report. BBC. 12 February 2019. The sixth mass extinction, explained. The Week. 17 February 2019. Ending the Colonization of the Non-Human World. Biological Conservation. 9 November 2022.

environmental issues

Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recover in the present situation, and catastrophic if the ecosystem is projected to certainly collapse. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on the individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the environment and humans. Environmentalism is a social and environmental movement that addresses environmental issues through advocacy, legislation education, and activism.Environment destruction caused by humans is a global, ongoing problem. Water pollution also cause problems to marine life. Most scholars think that the project peak global world population of between 9-10 billion people, could live sustainably within the earth's ecosystems if human society worked to live sustainably within planetary boundaries. The bulk of environmental impacts are caused by excessive consumption of industrial goods by the world's wealthiest populations. The UN Environmental Program, in its "Making Peace With Nature" Report in 2021, found addressing key planetary crises, like pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss, was achievable if parties work to address the Sustainable Development Goals. Types Major current environmental issues may include climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, and resource depletion. The conservation movement lobbies for protection of endangered species and protection of any ecologically valuable |natural areas]], genetically modified foods and global warming. The UN system has adopted international frameworks for environmental issues in three key issues, which has been encoded as the "triple planetary crises": climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Human impact Degradation Conflict Costs Action Justice Law Assessment Movement Organizations Environmental issues are addressed at a regional, national or international level by government organizations. The largest international agency, set up in 1972, is the United Nations Environment Programme. The International Union for Conservation of Nature brings together 83 states, 108 government agencies, 766 Non-governmental organizations and 81 international organizations and about 10,000 experts, scientists from countries around the world. International non-governmental organizations include Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and World Wide Fund for Nature. Governments enact environmental policy and enforce environmental law and this is done to differing degrees around the world. Film and television There are an increasing number of films being produced on environmental issues, especially on climate change and global warming. Al Gore's 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth gained commercial success and a high media profile. See also Citizen science Ecotax Environmental impact statement Index of environmental articles Triple planetary crisisIssues List of environmental issues (includes mitigation and conservation)Specific issues References Works cited External links Media related to Environmental problems at Wikimedia Commons

environmental impact of cocoa production

The environmental impact of cocoa production includes deforestation, soil contamination, and herbicide resistance. The majority of cocoa farms are now located in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Background Cocoa beans are a high demand consumer item all over the world. They are used in products such as chocolate, candy bars, drinks and cocoa powder. However, cocoa farming and the production of cocoa beans are extremely fragile and labour-intensive processes. The cocoa trees are also called Cacao trees. The process begins with a Cacao plant, or Theobroma cacao, in which the beans are extracted from pods that grow directly on the cocoa trees branches. Each pod contains roughly 30 to 50 beans. After the beans are extracted they must go through a time-consuming process of natural fermenting and drying. The farming process of cocoa can damage the environment depending on the practices of the farmer, as well as be limited by the environment itself. Global Climate Change, for example, causes longer drought seasons making it more difficult for farmers to plant and sustain new Cacao trees. Most of the environmental impact comes from carbon dioxide emissions. Process of farming Cocoa farming can only occur 15 degrees north or south of the Equator. It can take approximately three years after planting for the trees to be fruitful enough to harvest the pods. Cocoa pods are pollinated by tiny flies called midges. Ripe cocoa pods, which are yellow in colour, are then cut down from the trees using a machete. Use of a machete in this fashion, termed machete technology, prevents disease from spreading among cocoa pods, and thereby decreases the need for pesticides. The pods can be very low on branches and easily accessible or higher up on thick branches. Once they are gathered, they are sliced open and the cocoa beans are extracted from the pods. The beans are then spread out, usually between banana leaves, for a number of days to ferment. Next, the seeds are placed in the sun to dry for several more days. After drying, they are gathered, placed into bags and taken to collection offices. From there, they are shipped around the world to be processed into end products. Environmental impacts Full sun cocoa Cocoa farms are generally very small , family owned and operated businesses. There are approximately 4.5 million cocoa farms around the world. The majority of cocoa farms are located in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. In Ghana, Cocoa contributes 64% of all exports. Traditional cocoa farms are planted in the shade among other crops and trees. They are especially found in the tropical rainforest areas. Farming cocoa beans is a long process and many factors can affect the farm's yield. Farms' cocoa crop outputs struggle to match the increasing demand for chocolate. It is estimated that the demand for chocolate will increase twofold by the year 2050. Farmers have shifted towards unsustainable, less environmentally conscious practices to meet these demands. About 90% of cacao grown worldwide is on small family farms. Cocoa bean prices are so low that farmers have to focus on increasing their yields and making more money from their relatively small plots of land. This leads to intensification of land use, sun growth, and use of child labor. Some farmers have shifted their crops out of the shade and into direct sunlight. This practice yields a greater quantity in a short period and at lower quality. Cacao trees with no shade tend to accumulate more weeds as well as be more susceptible to diseases such as Witches Broom and Frosty Pod Rot. If the crops begin to accumulate pests, farmers use large amounts of herbicides to rid the crops of these pests. The herbicides used damage the land and the health of the sprayers applying the herbicide. Excessive spraying of pesticides can also cause the weeds and insects to build up a resistance which will eventually create more harm to the crops. Sun cultivation of cocoa may require clearing overstory as well as understory, which contributes to deforestation and habitat loss. Deforestation Cocoa farming also contributes to rainforest and old-growth forest deforestation. By clearing land in these forests, farmers decrease the biodiversity and interactions between the many different organisms that naturally live in the area. Many wildlife habitats are destroyed and the plant species diversity is drastically reduced. Nutrients begin to leach out of the soil due to poor irrigation and inadequate soil protection, which can increase the erosion of the soil. The more intense the farming practices are, the more damaging they are to the ecosystem. Cocoa farming becomes a destructive circle as farmers wear out the soils and cut further into the forest to obtain fresh land. All of these processes stress the Cacao trees and result in lower yields, giving the opposite effect to what the farmers expect from these practices. Some of the forests in Ghana and other Cocoa producing countries have been declared protected by the government after observing the Tropical Rainforest destruction. However, with a shortage of fresh land to plant Cacao trees, some farmers are beginning to illegally cut down parts of these protected forests. It has been estimated that approximately 50% of these protected forests have been cut down.On 13 September 2017 NGO Mighty Earth released a report documenting findings that Cargill, Olam International and Barry Callebaut purchase cocoa grown illegally in national parks and other protected forests in the Ivory Coast to feed demand from large chocolate companies like Mars, Hershey's, Nestlé, Mondelez, Lindt and Ferrero.The report accused the companies of endangering the forest habitats of chimpanzees, elephants and the many other wildlife populations by purchasing cocoa linked to deforestation. As a result of cocoa production, 7 of the 23 Ivorian protected areas have been almost entirely converted to cocoa. Cargill, Olam International and Barry Callebaut were notified of the findings of Mighty Earth’s investigation and did not deny that the company sourced its cocoa from protected areas in the Ivory Coast. Proposed solutions Through groups and programs such as the World Cocoa Foundation, Rainforest Alliance, Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy, and activities of regional NGOs like Conservation Alliance, IITA and Solidaridad cocoa farming can return to its sustainable roots through education programs and help in finding ecologically and economically sound resources to further their farming. As a last resort, some programs will help farmers to access pest control products such as biocides as an alternative to the harmful pesticides being used. Other programs promote proper irrigation, composting, suitable soil management, and intercropping, meaning planting other trees and fruit crops in the surrounding land of the Cacao trees. Some farmers will burn old, fermented pods and place them back on the soil as a form of composting and fertilizer. To stop the process of deforestation, it is suggested that farmers replant on their current land while using the practices previously mentioned. Shade-grown cocoa Cacao pods evolved to grow in the shade of a highly biodiverse rainforest canopy. It has been suggested that Cocoa farmers go back to the original and natural ways of farming, by planting within the natural tree-cover and without cutting down existing trees. When an area has already been clearcut another possibility exists. Planting trees, especially fruit filled trees around and within the plantation, helps with growth of Cacao plants. These trees can provide shade to the Cacao plants and be a source of oxygen replenishment to the environment. Additionally, planting cacao under taller trees protects the more fragile cacao from direct sunlight, which greatly increases the length of its productivity and makes the cacao tree less vulnerable to disease. Another benefit of such companion planting is the increase in potential habitats for birds and insects. If the shade trees are fruit-bearing, this can also provide additional income to the farmer. However, simplifying such shade-cover may threaten biodiversity. Therefore, maintaining the complexity of shade structures is paramount in combatting losses of biodiversity.Shade trees return organic matter to the soil through falling leaf litter and decaying branches. The shade provided by these trees also helps to keep soil moist in dry seasons which results in less damaging irrigation practices. Shade trees will raise the amount of infiltration and slow erosion of the soil. Since shade inhibits the growth of weeds, farmers are able to use less or perhaps no pesticides which can decrease the occurrences of Witches Broom in these crops. Cacao plants that grow in the shade provide the environment with more biodiversity, allowing natural populations and habitats to flourish. Finally, shade can be extremely helpful in keeping and lengthening the productivity of old growth Cacao plants. See also Children in cocoa production Cocoa production in Ivory Coast Cocoa production in Ghana The Dark Side of Chocolate, a 2010 documentary References External links Anim-Kwapong, G. J., Frimpong, E. B. (2004) Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment Under the Netherlands Climate Change Studies Assistance Programme Phase 2 (NCCSAP2): Vulnerability of agriculture to climate change- impact of climate change on cocoa production. Ghana, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana. Asase, A., Ofori-Frimpong, K., Ekpe, P.K. (2009). Fa. African Journal of Ecology, 48(2), 338–346. Bentley, J.W., Boa, E., Stonehouse, J. (2004). Neighbor Trees: Shade, Intercropping and Cacao in Ecuador. Human Ecology, 32(2), 241–270. Bisseleua, D.H.B., Missoup, A.D., Vidal, S. (2009). Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification. Conservation Biology, 23(5), 1176–1184. England, P. (1993). Forest Protection and the Rights of Cocoa Farmers in Western Ghana. Journal of African Law, 37(2), 164–176. The European Chocolate and Cocoa Industry. (n.d.). Cocoa Farming: an Overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20131229002738/http://www.cocoafarming.org.uk/cocoa_farming_bw_v8_uk.pdf Gyimah-Brempong, K., Konadu Apraku, K. (1987). Structural Change in Supply Response of Ghanaian Cocoa Production: 1933–1983. The Journal of Developing Areas, 22(1), 59–70. Padwick, N. (2010). Fair Farming. Farmers Weekly, 152(9), 88–89. Piasentin, F., Klare-Repnik, L. (2004). Gro-Cocoa: Global Research on Cocoa. https://web.archive.org/web/20100706222044/http://www.cabi.org/Uploads/File/Gro%20Cocoa%20pdfs/gro-cocoa5.pdf Rice, R.A., Greenburg, R. (2000). Cacao Cultivation and the Conservation of Biological Diversity. Ambio, 29(3), 167–173. Slomkowski, K. (2005). "Chocolate's Dark Side". E: The Environmental Magazine. 16 (6): 33–342. Styles, R. (21 January 2011). Green Business: Divine. http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/green_business/736265/green_business_divine.html World Cocoa Foundation. (n.d.) Sustainability Principles and Goals. https://web.archive.org/web/20120216033534/http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/sustainability-principles-and-goals/ Profile on Roundtable for a Sustainable Cocoa Economy. http://shapingsustainablemarkets.iied.org/roundtable-sustainable-cocoa-economy

environmental impact of pig farming

The environmental impact of pig farming is mainly driven by the spread of feces and waste to surrounding neighborhoods, polluting air and water with toxic waste particles. Waste from pig farms can carry pathogens, bacteria (often antibiotic resistant), and heavy metals that can be toxic when ingested. Pig waste also contributes to groundwater pollution in the forms of groundwater seepage and waste spray into neighboring areas with sprinklers. The contents in the spray and waste drift have been shown to cause mucosal irritation, respiratory ailment, increased stress, decreased quality of life, and higher blood pressure. This form of waste disposal is an attempt for factory farms to be cost efficient. The environmental degradation resulting from pig farming presents an environmental injustice problem, since the communities do not receive any benefit from the operations, and instead, suffer negative externalities, such as pollution and health problems. The United States Agriculture and Consumer Health Department has stated that the "main direct environmental impact of pig production is related to the manure produced. Around the world Australia Australia is home to one of the largest pork industries in the world with farms across Australia collectively containing over 300,000 pigs but there are high levels of water pollution. China Pork is the most popular meat in China. Intensive pig farming leads to smog and water pollution in some Chinese regions. According to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, livestock farming is the leading cause of water pollution in the country. France Swine farm manure leads to toxic algal blooms in the French region of Brittany. Netherlands The Netherlands has one of the densest livestock sectors in the world. In 2019, a Dutch court halted the expansion of pig and other farms to prevent nitrogen pollution, which had led to algal blooms, smog, and soil acidification. United States The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls intensive farms above a certain threshold concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). In the 1970s, a series of laws, known as "Murphy's Laws", were passed in North Carolina to eliminate the sales tax on hog farm equipment and to prevent authorities from using authority to prevent and address odor issues. After the passage of Murphy’s Laws and other similar bills, there was a rapid increase in industry in North Carolina, where the population of swine was estimated around 9-10 million. Each of those hogs produces eight times the feces as a human, causing a crucial need for regulation and maintenance for that waste.Regulation and laws could not keep up with the rapid explosion of the hog farming and spread of CAFOs in the early 2000s, which has caused severe harm and health impacts over time. Furthermore, agencies with jurisdiction over CAFOs are typically environmental or natural resource state-run agencies, as opposed to local health departments. This is an advantage for addressing environmental impacts but a disadvantage for human health concerns, as the majority of local health issues get overlooked by state-run agencies. Additionally, although there are laws and regulations in place, such as the Swine Farm Environmental Performance Standards Act, which prohibits new waste lagoons and mandates that new CAFOs must use technology that will prevent discharge of waste, these regulations do not mandate for existing CAFOs to clean up or regulate the pollutants within their lagoons. These regulations also make it more costly to clean up these wastes and prevent other consequential harms, without actually assisting farms in shouldering these costs, making it difficult for them to actually act on these regulations. Ag-gag laws have made it even more difficult for farms to be held accountable for their actions, and for communities to have a transparent view of farm operations. These laws forbid the undercover video-taping or documenting of farms without the consent of the farm's owner. These laws are targeted at keeping animal rights and environmental activists away from the most damaging farm operations. These laws emerged in the 90's and are now in effect in North Carolina, Utah, Missouri, Idaho, and Iowa, and is being considered in at least five states. These bills have the potential to exacerbate animal abuse on these large scale farms and CAFOs, as well as threaten community health, social justice, and consumer health by restricting organizations and individuals from sharing pertinent information about the food supply.The EPA does require that operations with qualified number of pigs must demonstrate that there is no runoff from their farm, in order for them to acquire a permit. But, this regulation varies from state to state and most of the time, enforcement only happens in response to citizen complaints, rather than active monitoring. Further, locally developed policies often have inefficient resources and abilities to enforce regulation, and often don't address transboundary issues that arise with pig operations that exist across multiple states. And with Federal laws such as the Clean Water and Clean Air act, regulation is delegated to state agencies, but these agencies don't usually take on active regulation until the damage has been done. Further, many operations are exempt because they have been grandfathered in, meaning they have been in operation for so long that they are not subject to the new laws. North Carolina In 2014, National Geographic wrote a piece on the extent of the contamination in North Carolina. Swine sales in the state (second largest pork producer in the nation) were nearly $3 billion in 2012, and the state received attention in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd caused waste pods on the swine ponds to overflow, polluting the water supply. National Geographic suggested that despite the execution of a $17 million research project on waste in the area, no one in the state seemed to know what to do with the pig waste, which was a huge issue considering that there are nearly as many pigs as people. Nearly two decades later when Hurricane Florence hit the coast of North Carolina in 2018, hog waste remained a major concern. According to the NC Pork Council, 98% of hog lagoons experienced minimal impact. The NC Department of Environmental Quality identified six hog farms with anaerobic lagoons that suffered structural damage and 28 farms that had lagoons overflow due to the floodwater. Effects on water quality Many intensive pig farms store the swine waste in vats often referred to as lagoons. These lagoons often contain pathogens such as salmonella, pharmaceuticals like antibiotics and antimicrobials, as well as nitrogen and phosphorus. This can lead to widespread pollution within the watershed the farm is located within, if the water from these lagoons leaches out into the soil and trickles down into the water table beneath. Unlike human sewage, which is always treated with chemical and mechanical filtration, the waste from these lagoons is untreated when it is released back to the environment. Spills are the most common contributor to pollution, but regardless of spills, toxic nutrients like nitrates and ammonia can seep into the water table located just below the surface, infecting the groundwater that nearby communities drink. It has been estimated that 35,000 miles of river across over 20 states has been contaminated by manure leakage. Some of the causes for the environmental problems are inadequate sewage treatment and lack of developing technologies. Many farms lack adequate wastewater treatment systems, which release untreated wastewater to release into the environment in the form of contamination.Some spills and leakage of contaminated waste are not accidental. In 2014, Mark Devries used spy drones to expose pig farms in North Carolina that were spraying untreated fecal waste into the surrounding areas, allowing the waste to dissipate into far-off communities. Smithfield Foods, the company responsible for one such factory, claimed this was a tactic used to fertilize its fields. It is true that historically hog feces have been used as fertilizer and can be done safely and without runoff, but the magnitude was described by Dan Whittle, a former senior policy associate at the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as a "mass imbalance", with far too great a magnitude of fecal matter being sprayed for the crops being generated to not have significant spill off into neighboring plots of land. Many residents of the surrounding areas of such farms complain that the industrially concentrated fecal matter creates an unbearable odor of a different magnitude than typical farm manure. Charlotte Savage, a resident who lives on a property separated from the Smithfield farm by an 80-foot path of forest, reported seeing her husband Julian faint at one point due to the smell, and that their house was also once surrounded by a three foot deep puddle of fecal matter. This was described as a common occurrence in this community and many others. Effects on air quality Communities located near factory pig farms experience negative health and environmental effects due to several factors associated with industrial pig farming. One main issue that arises out of intensive animal agriculture is the waste that the huge number of animals produce. Pig waste is similar to human waste; filled with bacteria and high amounts of ammonia. At most intensive pig farms, hog waste is kept in large open-air pits called lagoons where waste is broken down by anaerobic bacteria and then sprayed onto crops as fertilizer. This is called the lagoon and sprayfield system and remains legal in the United States, including in states like North Carolina where there have been on-going efforts in the NC legislature to ban open-air lagoon and sprayfield system practices in the state and replace these with more environmentally sound waste management practices.The waste then reaches neighboring towns, resulting in civilians not being able to even leave their house in order to avoid pig waste filled air. People living in nearby towns have suffered a variety of adverse health effects including respiratory diseases, infections, increased risk of cancer, and other health risks.The nitrogen from pig waste can also contribute to acid rain in the local areas; team of scientists from the US Agricultural Research Service and the US Department of the Environment has examined and noted that within wastewater lagoons in North and South Carolina, there are a host of genes involved in the process of turning ammonia into nitrogen.One case study, conducted by Environmental Health Perspectives, sought to prove that malodor and pollutant concentrations from swine operations are associated with stress, altered mood, and increased blood pressure. For two weeks, adult volunteers living near swine operations in North Carolina sat outside for ten minutes twice a day. They reported levels of hog odor, and recorded their blood pressure. The study found that like noise and other similar environmental stressors, the malodors from the swine operations were likely associated with an increase in blood pressure, which could contribute to an increase in chronic hypertension. Disease spread There are many documented incidences of disease outbreaks occurring due to the presence of pig farms in a given community, particularly industrial pig farms. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a type of anti-biotic resistant bacteria) outbreaks have been correlated to an individual working in a pig farm, likely attributed to the strong antibiotics often used in industrialized pig farms. Other diseases can also spread in pig farms such as Salmonella, Toxoplasma, and Campylobacter. Many of these diseases are preventable given proper safety precautions such as washing hands and clothes, wearing face masks, and covering any open wounds when coming into contact with pigs. Improvements in farmer education about diseases are often cited as the reason for the lack of increase in disease outbreaks in North Carolina despite an increase in pig population by a factor of four in the years leading up to 1998. In popular culture In The Simpsons Movie, Homer Simpson dumps a silo of pig manure into a lake near the town of Springfield, provoking an environmental catastrophe that leads the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to quarantine Springfield with a giant glass dome. See also Cultured meat Environmental impact of meat production Environmental impact of fishing == References ==

agriculture in new zealand

In New Zealand, agriculture is the largest sector of the tradable economy. The country exported NZ$46.4 billion worth of agricultural products (raw and manufactured) in the 12 months to June 2019, 79.6% of the country's total exported goods. The agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector directly contributed $12.653 billion (or 5.1%) of the national GDP in the 12 months to September 2020, and employed 143,000 people, 5.9% of New Zealand's workforce, as of the 2018 census.New Zealand is unique in being the only developed country to be totally exposed to the international markets since subsidies, tax concessions and price supports for the agricultural sector were removed in the 1980s. However, as of 2017, the New Zealand Government still provides state investment in infrastructure which supports agriculture.Pastoral farming is the major land use, but a significant amount of land is also devoted to horticulture. New Zealand is a member of the Cairns Group, which is seeking to have free trade in agricultural goods. History Following their settlement of New Zealand in the 13th century, the Māori people developed economic systems involving hunting, foraging, and agriculture. The Māori people valued land and especially horticulture, with many and various traditional Māori proverbs and legends emphasise the importance of gardening. European and American explorers, missionaries and settlers introduced new animals and plants from 1769, and mass European settlement and land transfer led in the second half of the 19th century to an agricultural system featuring large Australian-style pastoral runs raising sheep. Immigrant land-hunger, innovations in refrigeration in the 1880s and the rise of dairying fostered the land reforms of John McKenzie in the 1890s, permitting an agricultural landscape of smaller family-based farms which became New Zealand's 20th-century agricultural norm (the oft-repeated cliché trumpets that agriculture/farming/farmers constitute "the backbone of the [New Zealand] economy") - challenged only in recent years by the growth in large-scale commercial industrial agriculture and in lifestyle blocks.The Department of Agriculture controlled all meat-exporting slaughterhouses. By 1921 there were 32 abattoir inspectors and 86 inspectors of meat works. New Zealand mutton was marked as government inspected and pure.The government offered a number of subsidies during the 1970s to assist farmers after the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community and by the early 1980s government support provided some farmers with 40 percent of their income. In 1984 the Labour government ended all farm subsidies under Rogernomics, and by 1990 the agricultural industry became the most deregulated sector in New Zealand. To stay competitive in the heavily subsidised European and US markets New Zealand farmers had to increase the efficiency of their operations. Pastoral farming In Northland, the major form of pastoral farming is beef cattle. In the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and West Coast regions, dairy cattle predominate. Through the rest of New Zealand, sheep farming is the major rural activity, with beef cattle farming in the hills and high country, and dairying increasing in Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Dairy farming There were 6.26 million dairy cattle in New Zealand as of June 2019. For the 2019–20 season, 4.92 million cows were milked in 11,179 herds, producing 21.1 billion litres (4.6×109 imp gal; 5.6×109 US gal) of raw milk containing 1.9 million tonnes of milk solids (protein and milkfat). Dairy farms covered an effective area of 17,304 km2 (6,681 sq mi), around 6.46% of New Zealand's total land area.The dairy cattle farming industry employed 39,264 people as of the 2018 census, 1.6% of New Zealand's workforce, making it the country's tenth-largest employment industry. Around 56% of dairy farms in New Zealand are owner-operated as of 2015, while 29% are operated by sharemilkers and 14% are operated by contract milkers. Herd-owning sharemilkers (formerly 50:50 sharemilkers) own their own herd, and are responsible for employing workers and the day-to-day operations of the farm, in return for receiving a percentage (typically 50%) of the milk income. Variable order sharemilkers do not own their own herd, and receive a lower percentage (typically 20-30%) of the milk income, while contract milkers are paid a fixed price per unit of milk.Dairy farming in New Zealand is primarily pasture-based. Dairy cattle primarily feed on grass, supplemented by silage, hay and other crops during winter and other times of slow pasture growth. The dairy farming year in New Zealand typically runs from 1 June to 31 May. The first day of the new year, known as "Moving Day" or "Gypsy Day", sees a large-scale migration as sharemilkers and contract milkers take up new contracts and move herds and equipment between farms. Calving typically takes place in late winter (July and August), and cows are milked for nine months before being dried off in late autumn (April and May). Some farms employ winter milking, either wholly or partly, with calving in late summer and early autumn (February and March).Dairy farmers sell their milk to processors and are paid per kilogram of milk solids (kgMS). In the 2019–20 season, processors paid an average of $7.20 per kgMS (excluding GST), with the payout varying between $6.25 and $9.96 per kgMS depending on the processor. Fonterra is the main processor of milk in New Zealand, processing 82 percent of all milk solids as of 2018. Other large dairy companies are Open Country Dairy (7.4%), Synlait and Westland Milk Products (3.4% each), Miraka (1.4%), Oceania Dairy (1.1%), and Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company (0.7%).Only 3% of dairy production is consumed domestically, with the rest exported. New Zealand is the world's largest exporter of whole milk powder and butter, and the third-largest exporter (behind the European Union and the United States) of skim milk powder and cheese. Sheep farming There were 26.82 million sheep in New Zealand as of June 2019. The sheep population peaked at 70.3 million sheep in 1982 and has steadily declined ever since.In the 12 months to December 2020, 19.11 million lambs and 3.77 million adult sheep were processed, producing 362,250 tonnes of lamb and 97,300 tonnes of hogget and mutton. 164,000 tonnes of clean wool was produced in 2006–7. Around 95% of sheep meat and 90% of wool production is exported, with the rest consumed domestically. In 2019, domestic consumption of lamb and mutton was 3.6 kg (7.9 lb) per capita. Beef farming There were 3.89 million beef cattle in New Zealand as of June 2019.In the 12 months to December 2020, 1.59 million adult beef cattle and 1.15 million adult dairy cattle were processed, producing 698,380 tonnes of beef. In addition, 1.86 million calves and vealers were processed, producing 30,150 tonnes of veal. Around 80% of beef and veal is exported, with the remaining 20% consumed domestically. In 2019, domestic consumption of beef and veal was 11.6 kg (26 lb) per capita. Pig farming In the first half of the 20th century, pigs were often farmed alongside dairy cattle. Most dairy processors collected cream only, so dairy farmers separated the whole milk into cream and skim milk and fed the pigs the skim milk. In the 1950s and 60s, improved technology saw dairy processors switch to collecting whole milk. Pig farming subsequently became specialised and the majority of farms moved to grain-producing areas such as Canterbury.There were 255,900 pigs in New Zealand in June 2019. Canterbury is by far the largest pig-farming region with 161,600 pigs, 63.1% of the national population.Pigs are usually kept indoors, either in gestation crates, farrowing crates, fattening pens, or group housing.In the 12 months to December 2020, 636,700 pigs were processed, producing 44,950 tonnes of meat. In 2019, domestic consumption of pork, ham and bacon was 18.9 kg (42 lb) per capita. Domestic production only meets around 45% of demand, with imported pork, ham and bacon, mainly from the European Union, North America and Australia, supplementing domestic supply. A small amount of meat is exported to supply nearby Pacific Island nations. Poultry farming There were 3.87 million laying hens in New Zealand in June 2022, producing 1,100 million eggs annually.Before the 1960s, chicken meat was largely a by-product of the egg industry; chickens for sale were generally cockerels or spent hens. The introduction of broiler chickens in the 1960s saw the meat industry grow from 8,000 tonnes per year in 1962 to over 40,000 tonnes in the mid-1980s. In the late 1990s, chicken overtook beef as the most-consumed meat in New Zealand. In the 12 months to December 2020, 118.7 million chickens were raised for meat, producing 217,200 tonnes of chicken meat.Chickens account for over 98% of the country's poultry production, with turkeys and ducks accounting for the majority of the rest. Around 500,000 turkeys and 200,000 ducks are sold per year, with 90% of turkeys sold in the weeks preceding Christmas.In 2019, domestic consumption of chicken and other poultry was 41.1 kg (91 lb) per capita. Most of the poultry meat produced in New Zealand is consumed domestically. Due to biosecurity restrictions, importing poultry meat and eggs into New Zealand is prohibited. Other pastoral farming Deer farming has increased dramatically from a herd of 150,000 in 1982 to 1.59 million in 2006, with 1,617 deer farms occupying 218,000 hectares of land in 2005. $252 million of venison was exported in the year ending 30 September 2007. New Zealand is the largest exporter of farmed venison in the world. In the 1970s and 80s there was a huge industry carrying out live deer recovery from forested areas of New Zealand. The deer are a pest animal that has a negative impact on the biodiversity of New Zealand. The deer-farm stock was bred from the recovered wild animals.Goats are also farmed for meat, milk, and mohair, and to control weeds. Horticulture New Zealand has around 125,200 hectares (309,000 acres) of horticultural land. Total horticultural exports in 2019 were valued at $6,200 million, of which $4,938 million (79.6%) come from three products: kiwifruit, wine, and apples. Fruit Fruit growing occupies around 68,300 ha (169,000 acres) of land as of 2017. The largest crops by planted area are wine grapes (33,980 ha), kiwifruit (11,700 ha), apples (8,620 ha), avocadoes (3,980 ha), berries (2,320 ha), and stone fruit (2,140 ha).Wine grapes occupied 39,935 ha (98,680 acres) of land as of 2020, with the largest regions being Marlborough (27,808 ha), Hawke's Bay (5,034 ha), and Central Otago (1,930 ha). The largest varieties are sauvignon blanc (25,160 ha), pinot noir (5,642 ha), chardonnay (3,222 ha), pinot gris (2,593 ha) and merlot (1,087 ha). Wine exports totalled $1,807 million in 2019.Kiwifruit is primarily grown in the Bay of Plenty, especially around Te Puke, but is also grown in small quantities in the Northland, Auckland, Gisborne and Tasman regions. The fruit is picked in the autumn (March to May) and kept in coolstore until sold or exported. The New Zealand kiwifruit season runs from April to December; during the off-season, kiwifruit is imported to fulfil domestic demand. There are around 2,750 kiwifruit growers, producing 157.7 million trays (567,720 tonnes) in the year to June 2019. Around 545,800 tonnes of kiwifruit was exported in the same period worth $2,302 million, making kiwifruit New Zealand's largest horticultural export by value.Apples are primarily grown in the Hawke's Bay and Tasman regions. The two largest apple cultivars are Royal Gala and Braeburn, followed by Fuji, Scifresh (Jazz), Cripps Pink, Scired (Pacific Queen), and Scilate (Envy). All except Fuji and Cripps Pink were developed in New Zealand from cross-breeding or, in the case of Braeburn, a chance seedling. Around 12% of apples are consumed domestically, 28% are processed domestically (mainly into juice), and 60% are exported. Around 395,000 tonnes of apples, worth $829 million, were exported in the year to December 2019.Avocados are primarily grown in the subtropical areas of Northland and Bay of Plenty. Around 60% of the crop is exported, with $104.3 million worth of avocadoes being exported in the year to December 2019.Stone fruit, including peaches and nectarines, apricots, plums, and cherries, is primarily grown in Central Otago and Hawke's Bay. While apricots and cherries are exported, most stone fruit is consumed domestically.In 2019, fresh fruit exports totalled $3,392 million while processed fruit exports (excluding wine) totalled $138 million. Vegetables Outdoor vegetable growing occupies around 45,200 ha (112,000 acres) of land as of 2017, with Indoor vegetable growing occupying another 264 ha (650 acres). The largest crops by planted area are potatoes (9,450 ha), onions (6,010 ha), squash (5,790 ha), peas and beans (4,700 ha), sweet corn (3,870 ha), and brassicas (3,630 ha). The largest indoor crops are tomatoes (84 ha) and capsicums (61 ha).Auckland (namely Pukekohe), Manawatū-Whanganui (namely Ohakune and the Horowhenua district), and Canterbury are the major growing regions for potatoes, onions, brassicas (e.g. cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower), leafy vegetables (e.g. lettuce, silverbeet and spinach), and carrots and parsnips. Southland also grows a significant proportion of potatoes and carrots, and the Matamata area in Waikato and Hawke's Bay also grow a significant proportion of onions. Squash is mainly grown in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay. Sweet corn is mainly grown in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Canterbury. Kūmara (sweet potato) is almost exclusively grown in Northland.Due to their short shelf-life, most fresh vegetables are grown for domestic consumption and processing, with those exported mainly supplying nearby Pacific Island nations. The largest vegetable exports are longer-life fresh vegetables such as onions and squash, along with processed vegetables such as french fries and potato chips, and frozen and canned peas, beans and sweet corn. In 2019, fresh vegetable exports totalled $304 million while processed vegetable exports totalled $396 million. Seeds and flowers Seeds and flowers are primarily grown in Canterbury, Auckland, Otago and Southland. In 2019, New Zealand exported $90 million of seeds, $43 million of bulbs and live plants, and $20 million of cut flowers. Arable crops Almost all hay and silage is consumed on the same farm as it is produced. Most supplementary feed crops are grown in the South Island, where the colder climate forces additional feeding of stock during winter. Cereals Cereal crops occupies around 124,000 hectares (310,000 acres) of land as of June 2019. The largest crops by planted area are barley (55,500 ha), wheat (45,000 ha), maize (16,700 ha) and oats (2,100 ha).The majority of wheat, barley and oats is grown in the South Island, namely the Canterbury, Southland and Otago regions. Canterbury alone grows approximately 80-90% of the country's wheat, 68% of its barley and 60% of its oats. In contrast, almost all of the country's maize is grown in the North Island.Wheat, barley and oats are grown both for human consumption, malting, and for stock feed. Maize is grown as animal feed or for silage. Forestry Milling of New Zealand's extensive native forests was one of the earliest industries in the settlement of the country. The long, straight hardwood from the kauri was ideal for ship masts and spars. As the new colony was established, timber was the most common building material, and vast areas of native forest were cleared. Rimu, tōtara, matai, and miro were the favoured timbers. The Monterrey Pine, Pinus radiata was introduced to New Zealand in the 1850s. It thrived in the conditions, reaching maturity in 28 years, much faster than in its native California. It was found to grow well in the infertile acidic soil of the volcanic plateau, where attempts at agriculture had failed. The Government initiated planting of exotic forests in 1899 at Whakarewarewa, near Rotorua. This was to address growing timber shortages as slow-growing native forests were exhausted. In the 1930s, vast areas of land were planted in Pinus radiata by relief workers. The largest tract was the 188,000-hectare Kāingaroa forest, the largest plantation forest in the world. As the major forests matured, processing industries such as the Kinleith Mill at Tokoroa and the Tasman Mill at Kawerau were established. Plantation forests of various sizes can now be found in all regions of New Zealand except Central Otago and Fiordland. In 2006 their total area was 1.8 million hectares, with 89% in Pinus radiata and 5% in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Log harvesting in 2006 was 18.8 million m3, down from 22.5 million m3 in 2003. This is projected to rise as high as 30 million m3 as newer forests mature. The value of all forestry exports (logs, chips, sawn timber, panels and paper products) for the year ended 31 March 2006 was $NZ 3.62 billion. This is projected to rise to $4.65 billion by 2011. Australia accounts for just over 25% of export value, mostly paper products, followed by Japan, South Korea, China and the United States. Within the New Zealand economy, forestry accounts for approximately 4% of national GDP. On the global stage, the New Zealand forestry industry is a relatively small contributor in terms of production, accounting for 1% of global wood supply for industrial purposes. Aquaculture Aquaculture started in New Zealand in the late 1960s and is dominated by mussels, oysters and salmon. In 2007, aquaculture generated about NZ$360 million in sales on an area of 7,700 hectares with a total of $240 million earned in exports. In 2006, the aquaculture industry in New Zealand developed a strategy aimed at achieving a sustainable annual billion NZ dollar business by 2025. In 2007, the government reacted by offering more support to the growing industry. Beekeeping New Zealand had 2,602 beekeepers at the end of 2007, who owned 313,399 hives. Total honey production was 9700 tonnes. Pollen, beeswax, and propolis are also produced. Beekeepers provide pollination services to horticulturalists, which generates more income than the products of bee culture. Approximately 20–25,000 queen bees, and 20 tonnes of packaged bees (which include worker bees and a queen) are exported live each year. Environmental issues Both the original Māori people and the European colonists made huge changes to New Zealand over a relatively short time. Māori burned forest to flush out game and to encourage the growth of bracken fern, which was used as a food source, and practised agriculture using plants they brought from tropical Polynesia. The Europeans logged and burned off a third of the forest cover to convert land to pastoral farming. In 1993, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research summarised available data on the quality of water in rivers. They concluded that "lowland river reaches in agriculturally developed catchments are in poor condition" reflecting "agriculturally derived diffuse and point source waste inputs in isolation or in addition to urban or industrial waste inputs". The key contaminants identified in lowland rivers were dissolved inorganic nitrogen, dissolved reactive phosphorus and faecal contamination. Small streams in dairy farming areas were identified as being in very poor condition. New Zealand's rivers and lakes are becoming increasingly nutrient enriched and degraded by nitrogen, animal faecal matter, and eroded sediment. Many waterways are now unsafe for swimming. Fish and Game New Zealand launched a "dirty dairying" campaign to highlight the effect of intensive agriculture on waterways. Fonterra, the largest dairy company in New Zealand, in conjunction with government agencies responded with the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord. In 2009, the Crafar Farms group of dairy farms in the North Island became known as the 'poster boys for dirty dairying' after a string of prosecutions in the Environment Court for unlawful discharges of dairy effluent.In 2004 the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a report on the environmental effects of farming in New Zealand. It noted that the trend was towards an increasing pressure on New Zealand's natural capital. Between 1994 and 2002 the number of dairy cows increased by 34% and the land area used grew by just 12% resulting in a more intensive land use. In the same period synthetic fertiliser use across all sectors grew by 21% and urea use grew by 160%.Almost half of the greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand are due to the agricultural sector. A portion of this is due to methane from belching ruminants. An agricultural emissions research levy was proposed, quickly becoming known as the "Fart Tax". The proposed levy encountered opposition from the farming sector and the National Party, resulting in plans for the levy being abandoned. The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium was formed as an alternative to imposing the levy on farmers. Organic farming Organic farming practices began on a commercial scale in the 1980s and is now an increasing segment of the market with some of the larger companies such as Wattie's becoming involved. Agricultural pests A number of plant and animal introductions into New Zealand has reduced the income from farming. Tight border controls to improve biosecurity have been put into place to ensure any new and unwanted pests and diseases do not enter the country. Monitoring is done around sea and airports to check for any incursions. Animal pests The common brushtail possum was introduced from Australia to establish a fur trade. It soon became one of New Zealand's most problematic invasive species because of the huge effect on the biodiversity of New Zealand, as well affecting agricultural production, as it is a vector for bovine tuberculosis. The disease is now endemic in possums across approximately 38 per cent of New Zealand (known as 'vector risk areas'). In these areas, nearly 70 per cent of new herd infections can be traced back to possums or ferrets. The Biosecurity Act 1993, which established a National Pest Management Strategy, is the legislation behind control of the disease in New Zealand. The Animal Health Board (AHB) operates a nationwide programme of cattle testing and possum control with the goal of eradicating M. bovis from wild vector species across 2.5 million hectares – or one quarter – of New Zealand's at-risk areas by 2026 and, eventually, eradicating the disease entirely.Possums are controlled through a combination of trapping, ground-baiting and, where other methods are impractical, aerial treatment with 1080 poison.From 1979 to 1984, possum control was stopped due to lack of funding. In spite of regular and frequent TB testing of cattle herds, the number of infected herds snowballed and continued to increase until 1994. The area of New Zealand where there were TB wild animals expanded from about 10 to 40 per cent. That possums are such effective transmitters of TB appears to be facilitated by their behaviour once they succumb to the disease. Terminally ill TB possums will show increasingly erratic behaviour, such as venturing out during the daytime to get enough food to eat, and seeking out buildings in which to keep warm. As a consequence they may wander onto paddocks, where they naturally attract the attention of inquisitive cattle and deer. This behaviour has been captured on video.The introduced Canada goose became prolific and began to adversely affect pastures and crops. In 2011 restrictions on hunting them were dropped to allow them to be culled. Plant pests Gorse was introduced as a hedgerow plant but has become the most expensive agricultural plant pest costing millions of dollars in efforts to control its spread over farmland. Other serious pasture and crop land plant pests are nodding thistle (Carduus nutans), Californian thistle (Cirsium arvense), ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), broom (Cytisus scoparius), giant buttercup (Ranunculus acris), fat-hen (Chenopodium album), willow weed (Polygonum persicaria), and hawkweed (Hieracium species). Biosecurity Because of its geographical isolation New Zealand is free of some pest and diseases that are problematic for agricultural production in other countries. With a high level of international trade and large numbers of inbound tourists biosecurity is of great importance since any new pest or diseases brought into the country could potentially have a huge effect on the economy of New Zealand. There have been no outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in New Zealand. If an outbreak did occur there is potential for severe economic losses given that agricultural exports are a large segment of exports. New Zealand has strict biosecurity measures in place to prevent the introduction of unwanted pests and diseases. In 2017, some cattle near Oamaru in the South Island were found to be Mycoplasma bovis positive, see 2017 Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. Tenure review Many areas of the high country of the South Island were set up as large sheep and cattle stations in the late 19th century. Much of this land was leased from The Crown but after the passing of the Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998 the leases were reviewed. Environmentalists and academics raised concerns about the process saying that farmers were gaining an advantage and that conservation issues were not being resolved. Farmers were concerned that environmentalists and academics used the tenure review process to lock land up for conservation purposes without regard to the property rights of farmers or planning for how to manage that land in the future, and much land has been degraded by pests and weeds since it was retired from farming. Policy, promotion and politics The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), the government agency responsible for the agricultural sector, has both policy and operational arms. Federated Farmers, a large and influential lobby group, represents farmers' interests. It has a voluntary membership which stands at over 26,000. The Soil & Health Association of New Zealand, established in 1941, promotes organic food and farming. The New Zealand Young Farmers, a national organisation formed in 1927 with regional clubs throughout the country, runs the annual Young Farmer Contest. Irrigation New Zealand, a national body representing farmers who use irrigation as well as the irrigation industry, opposes water conservation orders. Foreign ownership Almost 180,000 hectares of farming land was purchased or leased by foreign interests between 2010 and 2021. The United States is the biggest nation owning land in New Zealand, China is second.There is opposition to foreign ownership in New Zealand, The populist New Zealand First party is the largest party opposed to foreign ownership. In a 2011 Poll found that 82% believed foreign ownership of farms and agriculture land was a "bad thing". Only 10% believed it a "good thing" and 8% were unsure. Future of New Zealand agriculture There are two main views on the immediate future of New Zealand agriculture. One is that, due to fast-rising consumer demand in India and China, the world is entering a golden age for commodities, and New Zealand is well placed to take advantage of this. The other view is that New Zealand will only gain limited rewards from this boom because of increasing production competition from developing countries. For New Zealand to remain competitive, farmers will either have to intensify production to remain commodity producers (increasing stock and fertiliser per hectare) or, instead, become producers of higher value, more customised products.AgResearch Ltd (New Zealand's largest Crown Research Institute) believes that new technologies will allow New Zealand farmers to double their output by 2020, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and other detrimental environmental impacts associated with farming practices. Impact on New Zealand culture Rural New Zealand has affected the culture of New Zealand. Country Calendar is a factual television programme about farming methods and country life, and is watched by both rural and urban New Zealanders. The show first premièred on 6 March 1966, and is the country's longest-running locally-made television series.The gumboot, a waterproof boot commonly used by farmers and others, is a cultural icon with Taihape hosting an annual Gumboot Day. Fred Dagg, a comedy character created by John Clarke, was a stereotypical farmer wearing a black singlet, shorts and gumboots. Number 8 wire is used for fencing and has become part of the cultural lexicon. It is used for all manner of tasks and it describes the do it yourself mentality of New Zealanders. Agricultural and Pastoral shows A fixture in many rural towns, the annual Agricultural and Pastoral (A&P) show organises competitions for the best livestock and farm produce. Carnivals, sideshows, equestrian events and craft competitions also take place in association with A&P shows. See also References Further reading A lasting Legacy – A 125-year history of New Zealand Farming since the first Frozen Meat Shipment, Ed. Colin Williscroft PMP, NZ Rural Press Limited, Auckland, 2007 External links Ministry for Primary Industries Statistics New Zealand – Primary production page MPI Biosecurity New Zealand Organics Aotearoa New Zealand Soil & Health Association of New Zealand Country-Wide magazine – In-depth information helping farmers make more money (based in New Zealand) The Deer Farmer – The Deer Farmer Business Independent: The world's premier deer farming journal (based in New Zealand) The Farmer in New Zealand (1941 Centennial publication) The TBfree New Zealand programme

environmental impact of cannabis cultivation

Environmental impact of cannabis cultivation includes all the environmental issues which occur as a result of cannabis cultivation. Cannabis agriculture is a massive industry in its scope and extent, yet its environmental impact is much less researched than comparable agricultural products produced at this scale. Many countries around the world are liberalizing their cannabis policy which will make the industry grow, and as the industry grows, so does the urgency to respond to special considerations in environmental impact for this industry. History The history of framing cannabis production as an issue of drug use has suppressed discussion about cannabis production as a massive agricultural sector. In places where cannabis is legal to product, discussing environmental impact is still challenging because so many other issues related to cannabis distract from the conversation.Indoor cultivation of cannabis is common and research intensive. A 2012 study estimated that 1% of energy production in the United States is for cannabis production, giving cannabis a substantial carbon footprint. That same study could not identify energy analysts or policymakers who had addressed the issue. The study noted that indoor cultivation is mostly a consequence of illegality, and if cannabis were legal, then outdoor cultivation would greatly lower this use of electricity.A United Nations report compared the environmental impact of cannabis against other drugs and found that cannabis pollutes less with dangerous chemicals. Black market cannabis production does tend to disrupt fragile and remote environments due to the farmers hiding the crop rather than using conventional farmland.Cannabis plants can produce volatile organic compound in great enough amounts to increase the criteria air pollutants in indoor and outdoor environments. This could create an occupational health hazard in areas with large numbers of plants.Cannabis in California is a frequent focus of study. One study found that cannabis production diverts water from watersheds. Encroachment in public land has been a frequent occurrence. Various legal pressures in California has led some production to be indoors. Getting quality data in California has been a challenge.Cannabis in comparison to other crops could be an environmental benefit.There is a trend towards an increase in the number of cultivators who are using sustainable methods for growing cannabis. To improve the soil, they mainly use: special AACT inoculations, growing companion crops, and even grazing goats, which loosen and aerate the soil with their hooves, and their droppings are used as a natural fertilizer. Energy Usage Most regulated cannabis in the United States is grown indoors. Growing market-quality cannabis indoors requires intensive production conditions supported by a continuous input of electricity. Indoor cannabis cultivation requires climate management to produce optimal growing conditions, including specialized lighting, water management, and HVAC systems. These indoor environmental controls prevent crop loss and optimize yield, but often demand large amounts of electricity. Cannabis cultivation consumed approximately 0.11 percent of all electricity used in the US in 2017, while regulated cultivators used 0.03 percent. However, actual electricity consumption by cannabis cultivators may be much higher— up to and potentially exceeding 1 percent of total US electricity consumption.Some cannabis cultivators manage their electricity consumption by integrating power generation sources like solar panels. They may also utilize LED lighting and other efficiency measures to lower energy usage. However, energy investments are expensive and significant capital is required up front to integrate. == References ==

agriculture in myanmar

Agriculture in Myanmar (also known as Burma) is the main industry in the country, accounting for 60 percent of the GDP and employing some 65 percent of the labour force. Burma was once Asia's largest exporter of rice, and rice remains the country's most crucial agricultural commodity.Other main crops include pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, sugarcane, lumber, and fish. Moreover, livestock are raised as both a source of food and labour. Agricultural products Crops Rice Corn Pulses Peas Onions Groundnuts Niger seeds Sesame Spices - coriander, ginger, turmeric, red chili Sugarcane Lumber – see Forestry (below) Methods Historically and at present, the primary method for rendering arable land is the slash-and-burn method (also known as "shifting cultivation" or "swiddening"). This involves setting fire to areas of primary forest or secondary forest to create fields where crops can be cultivated. After these fields are used for a time and the nutrients in the soil are used up, the land is abandoned and allowed to grow freely. Growth begins in the one to three years following the land's abandonment, and within 10 to 20 years it is once again able to hold an established secondary forest.Sometimes, this arable land is converted into rice paddies, a common agricultural technique in southern and eastern Asia. In Burma, the paddies are flooded only occasionally by rivers, while a majority of the time farmers rely on the monsoon season for the necessary water. The paddies have an "impermeable subsoil", on top of which is a saturated layer of mud, and lastly around 4–6 inches of water. Livestock Farmers in Burma raise livestock for both food and labour purposes. This includes cattle, water buffalo, goats, sheep, oxen, chickens, and pigs. Oxen and water buffalo are used as draft animals throughout the country, while most cattle are raised in the dryer northern regions. Goats are kept by farmers in pasture for their milk.Farmers in Burma were affected by the outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu strand in Asia. Initially, the Mandalay and Sagaing regions of Burma were affected, and this resulted in the culling of several thousand chickens, quails and their eggs. However, as of 2006, the country's livestock officials announced a plan to fund the restocking of birds and feed for the affected poultry farms. Fishing Fishing makes up a fair portion of Burma's food production. Fishing occurs in both salt and freshwater, and it is estimated that there are up to 300 species in the Burmese fresh waters. Of these, there are several endemic species, including the Indostromus paradoxus of the Indawgyi Lake in Northern Burma. Moreover, dried and salted fish is an integral part of the country's cuisine, and the primary source of protein in the Burmese diet.In Burma, there are several types of fisheries, including coastal or inshore fisheries, and offshore or deep-sea fisheries. A majority of these fish are harvested by commercial means, which includes the use of trawling nets, purse seins, driftnet and gillnet. A minority still use traditional techniques, such as hook-and-line, cast net, bag net, trammel gill net, lift net, and traps. In 2003, trawling accounted for 40% of fish caught.In the 1980s, the Burmese government sought to encourage deep-sea fishing, and since then there has been a steady increase in the yearly catches. In 1989, Thai companies were given permission to fish in the coastal waters of Burma, using trawlers to harvest fish. Forestry Though Burma's neighbours, such as India, China, and Thailand, have depleted most of their forests, and despite slash-and-burn techniques, Burma is still considered to be relatively rich in forests and the resources they provide. It is considered by some to be "the last frontier of biodiversity in Asia." In Burma, teak, acadia, bamboo, and ironwood are raised, harvested, and exported. The country is the leading supplier of teak in the international market, and is a substantial supplier of bamboo. Economic significance Agriculture and the processing of agricultural products provides a majority of the employment and income in Burma, producing around 60% of the national GDP and employing as many as 65% of the population. While Burma yields more than enough food to feed its entire population, many still go hungry for lack of purchasing power.As of 2007, Burma's main countries of export were Thailand (receiving 44%), India (14.5%), China (7%), and Japan (6%). By 2010, China had become a key export partner, receiving 97% of Burmese-produced corn and 9% of beans and pulses. These figures came as a result of increasing Chinese demand and an increasingly healthy trading relationship.Since 2001, total agricultural exports have been down: in 2001–2002 Burma exported 939,000 tons of rice and 1,035,000 tons of pulses, whereas in 2010–2011 536,000 tons of rice and 920,000 tons of pulses were exported. This could be the result of increased demand for these products within the country, as opposed to a response to decreased production. The decrease in emphasis on exporting agricultural goods could reflect a response to the fluctuating value of the Burmese kyat as it relates to other nations' currencies. Instead, attention was directed towards creating "non-traded services," like construction, or to the production of goods with a high "price to cost ratio," like gems, jade and natural gas. Environmental impact At present, there is debate over the environmental impact of the varied farming methods used in Burma. Some credit slash-and-burn farming methods with "destroying the forests of the country, causing soil erosion and depletion of fertility," considering it to be reckless deforestation. Recently, the Burmese Government has increased its attempted regulation of farming practices, and this includes banning slash-and-burn tactics in some villages.However, some consider forcing a change from slash-and-burn methods to the more commercial methods of "permanent" agriculture to be even worse for the environment. They assert that the slash-and-burn method completes part of a cycle of forestation wherein a new secondary forest is allowed to grow once the land has been cultivated. Thus, devoting an area completely to a particular crop disrupts this pattern and renders the land completely unusable after a period of time.Because farmers in Burma rely on the monsoon season as their primary water source, they are subject to the recent fluctuating weather patterns. For example, the Burmese rice crop was negatively affected by a record high rainfall during the prolonged 2011 monsoon season which resulted in a projected 10 percent drop in production. References Widana, Anura (2014). Shifting Cultivation in Chin state : Challenges and opportunities. Acumen, pp 30–37. https://issuu.com/myanmaracumen/docs/april_55c4ec9bd275ec Further reading Siok-Hwa Cheng (1968). The Rice Industry of Burma, 1852-1940. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 277–285. ISBN 978-981-230-439-1. Widana, Anura (2014). Shifting Cultivation in Chin state : Challenges and opportunities. Acumen, pp 30–37. https://issuu.com/myanmaracumen/docs/april_55c4ec9bd275ec

social and environmental impact of palm oil

Palm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many farmers in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. It is locally used as cooking oil, exported for use in much commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. It produces up to 10 times more oil per unit area than soybeans, rapeseed or sunflowers.Oil palms produce 38% of the world's vegetable-oil output on 5% of the world's vegetable-oil farmland. Palm oil plantations, typically monoculture crops are under increasing scrutiny for their effects on the environment, including loss of carbon-sequestering, biodiverse forest land. There is also concern over displacement and disruption of human and animal populations due to palm oil cultivation. Statistics An estimated 1.5 million small farmers grow the crop in Indonesia, along with about 500,000 people directly employed in the sector in Malaysia, plus those connected with related industries.As of 2006, the cumulative land area of palm oil plantations is approximately 11,000,000 hectares (42,000 sq mi). In 2005 the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, responsible for about half of the world's crop, estimated that they manage about half a billion perennial carbon-sequestering palm trees. Demand for palm oil has been rising and is expected to climb further. Between 1967 and 2000 the area under cultivation in Indonesia expanded from less than 2,000 square kilometres (770 sq mi) to more than 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi). Deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil (and illegal logging) is so rapid that a 2007 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report said that most of the country's forest might be destroyed by 2022. The rate of forest loss has declined in the past decade.Global production is forecast at a record 46.9m tonnes in 2010, up from 45.3m in 2009, with Indonesia providing most of the increase. Social issues Oil palm is a valuable economic crop and provides a source of employment. It allows small landholders to participate in the cash economy and often results in improvements to local infrastructure and greater access to services such as schools and health facilities. In some areas, the cultivation of oil palm has replaced traditional practices, often due to the higher income potential of palm oil. The modernisation of cultivation practices has led to issues including food insecurity. This issue stems from the intensive use of land which leads to soil degradation. As a result, the ability for locals to produce their own food has dwindled and they are having to look for food in other areas as they can no longer rely exclusively on their land.However, in some cases, land has been developed by oil palm plantations without consultation or compensation of the Indigenous Peoples occupying the land. This has occurred in Papua New Guinea, Colombia, and Indonesia. In the Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo, there has been debate over whether there was an appropriate level of consultation with the Long Teran Kanan community prior to the development of local land for palm oil plantations. Appropriation of native lands has led to conflict between the plantations and local residents in each of these countries.According to a 2008 report by NGOs including Friends of the Earth, palm oil companies have also reportedly used force to acquire land from Indigenous communities in Indonesia. Additionally, some Indonesian oil palm plantations are dependent on imported labor or undocumented immigrants, which has raised concerns about the working conditions and social impacts of these practices. Issues regarding the exploitation of child labor have also been a major concern. Deforestation Habitat loss The production of palm oil requires intensive deforestation and this has led to a gradual loss of flora and fauna in the areas where land is cleared for the cultivation of palm oil. Tropical rainforests in countries including Malaysia and Indonesia have been the most ideal countries to have large palm oil plantations as they provide the most suitable climate with ample rainfall and sunshine throughout the year. Between the years 1990 and 2005, the total land in Malaysia used for palm oil cultivation increased by 2.4 million ha and reached 4.2 million ha. During that period, over 1.1 million ha of tropical rainforest was lost. The diverse biodiversity that each rainforest possesses has been diminishing at a rapid rate as fauna is often very fragile and easily affected by deforestation. Animal wildlife has been most affected in areas where significant amounts of land, for commercial palm oil purposes, have been cleared to allow the trees to be planted. Animals have been forced to relocate and have increasingly come into contact with humans as they have started to roam around the surrounding villages in search for food. Some animals have not been able to adapt and relocate elsewhere, leading to their populations decreasing significantly and this has disrupted the symbiotic relationships that the flora and fauna have with their habitat. Deforestation negatively affects biodiversity when forests are converted into plantations and leaves relatively low species richness in primary forests compared to undisturbed forests. One species of particular concern is the critically endangered Bornean orangutan. A notable study in 2018 showed that from 1999 to 2015, over 100,000 orangutans were lost due to unsustainable natural resource exploitation (including the palm oil industry). This number was obtained by tracking the number of nests over this 16 year study period. Results show that nests declined from 22.5 nests per kilometer at the start of the study, to 10.1 nests per kilometer by the end of the study. On the other hand E. guineensis cultivation also helps to push species invasions further, e.g. Anoplolepis gracilipes in southeast Asia. Biodiversity suffers in almost all taxa – Room 1975 and Fayle et al 2010 find so for ants, Danielsen and Heegaard 1995 for bats and primates, Liow et al 2001 for bees, Chung et al 2000 for beetles, Peh et al 2006 for birds, Davis and Philips 2005 for dung beetles, Hassall et al 2006 for isopods, Glor et al 2001 for lizards, Chang et al 1997 for mosquitoes, Chey 2006 for moths, and Bernard et al 2009 for small mammals. Almost all taxa also suffer loss of abundance but there are exceptions, species which increase abundance but still lose species richness – Davis and Philips 2005 find so in dung beetles, Hassall et al 2006 in isopods, Glor et al 2001 in lizards and Danielsen and Heegaard 1995 in bats. The very unusual exception is bees, which Liow et al 2001 find lose abundance but gain species diversity in oil palm. Soil degradation The process of removing existing flora and planting palm oil trees is detrimental for the quality of the soil in the ground. When the existing flora is removed to make way for the new plants, the soil surrounding it is often eroded away. When palm oil trees are planted, large amounts of fertilisers and pesticides are used to ensure rapid growth and the health of each tree. Younger palm oil trees absorb more valuable nutrients from the soil which degrades the quality of the soil. As the nutrients are absorbed by the young trees, there is a depletion in nutrients and consequently, there is a lower level of remaining nutrients for other trees. This problem is also another cause for the increased use of fertilisers during the palm oil production process. Distances between adjacent palm oil trees in plantations have also been designed to be very close in order to optimise use of the limited space available. This has further impacted soil quality because as the trees grow, they require more minerals and water from the soil. Due to the close distances between trees, there is a limited supply of nutrients that the trees can depend on which leads to the plantation workers supplying the trees with higher amounts of fertilisers, pesticides and water. This process further harms the state of the soil and makes it challenging for existing flora and fauna to survive in the area. Tuma et al 2019 find replacement of forest with oil palm plantations reduces the number of bioturbator species, although not the actual volume of bioturbation performed.In tropical countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where a majority of palm oil plantations are located, there are continual rain showers and sun exposure throughout the day. Palm oil plantations that are geographically located close to rivers have exacerbated impacts on surrounding local communities. This is due to the increased use of fertilisers and pesticides which has led to higher amounts of both being washed away by the frequent rain into rivers. This is an issue because rivers are central to the daily lives of local villagers. They use water from the river for personal consumption and also use the river as a source of food, which makes them vulnerable to the residue from fertilisers and pesticides. The untreated water that the local villagers are exposed to can potentially cause detrimental health effects, including diseases such as cholera, E. coli and lead poisoning.The damage from soil erosion and poor soil quality has also affected the livelihoods of many local villagers that live close to these palm oil plantations as they can no longer depend solely on their land for the cultivation of food and timber. Local villagers are now inclined to find new sources of food and materials for shelter. As a result, local villagers have been indirectly forced to move out and relocate depending on the extent of the loss of the plants and animals native to the area. This has led to economic complications as governments now need to reallocate their resources to support these typically marginalised communities. Other environmental issues In Indonesia, rising demand for palm oil and timber has led to the clearing of tropical forest land in Indonesian national parks. According to a 2007 report published by UNEP, at the rate of deforestation at that time, an estimated 98 percent of Indonesian forest would be destroyed by 2022 due to legal and illegal logging, forest fires and the development of palm oil plantations.Malaysia, the second largest producer of palm oil has pledged to conserve a minimum of 50 percent of its total land area as forests. As of 2010, 58 percent of Malaysia was forested.Palm oil cultivation has been criticised for: Greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation in tropical areas accounts for an estimated 10 percent of manmade CO2 emissions, and is a driver toward dangerous climate change. Habitat destruction, leading to the demise of critically endangered species (e.g. the Sumatran elephant, Sumatran tiger, the Sumatran rhinoceros, and the Sumatran orangutan). Reduced biodiversity, including damage to biodiversity hotspots. Cultivating crops on land that belongs to indigenous people in the Sarawak and Kalimantan states on the island of Borneo and the Malaysian state of Sabah. The increase in outbreaks of zoonotic diseases is linked with deforestation in tropical countries. Water pollution In some states where oil palm is established, lax enforcement of environmental legislation leads to encroachment of plantations into riparian strips, and release of pollutants such as palm oil mill effluent (POME) into the environment. POME is a waste product created during the final stages of palm oil extraction. The process of waste management can be highly difficult and costly. As a result, one common method of disposal involves discharge into nearby water reservoirs. POME contains high nutrient concentrations and can foster the growth of algae blooms, which deplete oxygen levels and can have negative implications for aquatic life, and consequently alter ecosystems.More environment-friendly practices have been developed. Among those approaches is anaerobic treatment of POME, which might allow for biogas (methane) production and electricity generation, but it is very difficult to maintain optimum growth conditions for the anaerobic organisms that break down acetate to methane (primarily Methanosaeta concilii, a species of Archaea). Greenhouse gas emissions Damage to peatland, partly due to palm oil production, is claimed to contribute to environmental degradation, including four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and eight percent of all global emissions caused annually by burning fossil fuels, due to the clearing of large areas of rainforest for palm oil plantations. Many Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests lie atop peat bogs that store great quantities of carbon. Forest removal and bog drainage to make way for plantations releases this carbon. A study reveals that the conversion of peatlands contributes between 16.6 and 27.9 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions from Malaysia and Indonesia combined. The process of draining peatlands and the growth of young palms results in 50 percent greater greenhouse gas emissions when compared to mature plantations. This is a growing concern among ecologists and environmentalists as more tropical peatlands are being converted into plantations due to land shortage, in order to meet the increasing demand for palm oil.Researchers are looking for possible, more environmentally friendly, solutions and ways to help the situation and have suggested that if enough land is conserved and there remain large enough areas of primary forest reserves, the effects of the palm oil industry may not have as much of an impact on wildlife and biodiversity. Environmental groups like Greenpeace, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and Amnesty International are also taking part in advocating bans on unsustainable palm oil crops and the companies that purchase these exports. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace claim that this deforestation produces far more emissions than biofuels remove. Greenpeace identified Indonesian peatlands—unique tropical forests whose dense soil can be burned to release carbon emissions—which are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations. Greenpeace argues the peatlands represent massive carbon sinks, and they claim the destruction already accounts for four percent of annual global CO₂ emissions. However, according to the Tropical Peat Research Laboratory, at least one measurement has shown that oil palm plantations are carbon sinks because oil palms convert carbon dioxide into oxygen just as other trees do, and, as reported in Malaysia's Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, oil palm plantations contribute to Malaysia's net carbon sink.Greenpeace recorded peatland destruction in the Indonesian province of Riau on the island of Sumatra, home to 25 percent of Indonesia's palm oil plantations. Greenpeace claims this would have devastating consequences for Riau's peatlands, which have already been degraded by industrial development and store a massive 14.6 billion tonnes of carbon, roughly one year's greenhouse gas emissions.Environmentalists and conservationists have been called upon to team up with palm oil companies to purchase small tracts of existing palm plantation, so they can use the profits to create privately owned nature reserves. It has been suggested that this is a more productive strategy than the current confrontational approach that threatens the livelihoods of millions of smallholders. Haze Haze, a form of air pollution, is a major recurrent issue across Southeast Asia, partly linked to burning of rainforest and peat swamp forest to clear land for palm oil plantations. National differences Indonesia and Malaysia In the two countries responsible for over 80% of world oil palm production, Indonesia and Malaysia, smallholders account for 35–40% of the total area of planted oil palm and as much as 33% of the output. Elsewhere, as in West African countries that produce mainly for domestic and regional markets, smallholders produce up to 90% of the annual harvest.As a result of Malaysia's commitment to retain natural forest cover on at least 50% of the nation's land, the growth of new palm oil plantations has slowed in recent years. According to Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok, significant expansion of palm oil is no longer possible, therefore Malaysian farmers are now focusing on increasing production without expansion.In January 2008, the CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council wrote a letter to the Wall Street Journal stating that Malaysia was aware of the need to pursue a sustainable palm oil industry. Since then the Malaysian government, along with palm oil companies, have increased production of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). Malaysia has been recognized by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as the largest producer of CSPO, producing 50% of the world's supply, and accounting for 40% of CSPO growers worldwide. Indonesia produces 35% of the world's CSPO.In Indonesia, the Indigenous Peoples' Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) under the direction of Mina Susana Setra has fought for policies that find balance between economic need and indigenous people's rights. 99% of the palm oil concessions in the country concern land that is occupied by indigenous people. In 2012, AMAN led an advocacy team which won a Constitutional Court case recognizing customary land rights; however, implementation of programs that protect indigenous rights, the environment and developers have failed to come to fruition except in limited cases. Africa In Africa, the situation is very different compared to Indonesia or Malaysia. In its Human Development Report 2007-2008, the United Nations Development Program says production of palm oil in West Africa is largely sustainable, mainly because it is undertaken on a smallholder level without resorting to diversity-damaging monoculture. The United Nations Food and Agriculture program is encouraging small farmers across Africa to grow palm oil, because the crop offers opportunities to improve livelihoods and incomes for the poor. Increasing demand Food and cosmetics companies, including ADM, Unilever, Cargill, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Kraft and Burger King, are driving the demand for new palm oil supplies, demand was partly driven by a need for a replacement for high trans fat content oils.Although palm oil is used in the production of biofuels and proposals have been made to use it in large installations, a 2012 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded that the increase in palm oil production is related to food demands, not biofuel demands. Biodiesel Biodiesel made from palm oil grown on sustainable non-forest land and from established plantations reduces greenhouse gas emissions. According to Greenpeace, clearing peatland to plant oil palms releases large amounts of greenhouse gasses, and that biodiesel produced from oil palms grown on this land may not result in a net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, research by Malaysia's Tropical Peat Research Unit has found that oil palm plantations developed on peatland produce lower carbon dioxide emissions than forest peat swamp. However, it has been suggested that this research unit was commissioned by politicians who have interests in the palm oil industry.In 2011, eight of Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) plantations were certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification System (ISCC), becoming part of Asia's first ISCC certified supply and production chain for palm biodiesel. This certification system complies with the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive (RED). In 2012, the European Commission approved the RSPO's biofuel certification scheme allowing certified sustainable palm oil biofuel to be sold in Europe. Sustainability At least 17.4% of palm oil fruit produced globally in 2016 complied with voluntary sustainability standards such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Rainforest Alliance, and organic.The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), founded in 2004, works to promote the production of sustainably sourced palm oil through involvement with growers, processors, food companies, investors and NGOs. Beginning in 2008, palm oil that meets RSPO introduced standards has been designated "certified sustainable palm oil" (CSPO). Within two years of implementation, CSPO-designated palm oil comprised 7 percent of the global palm oil market. As of October 2012, 12 percent of palm oil has been certified by the RSPO. However, in the first year of CSPO certification only 30 percent of sustainable oil was marketed as CSPO.In The Economist in 2010, the RSPO was criticized for not setting standards for greenhouse-gas emissions for plantations and because its members account for only 40 percent of palm oil production. In a 2007 report, Greenpeace was critical of RSPO-member food companies saying that they are "dependent on suppliers that are actively engaged in deforestation and the conversion of peatlands".Following a contribution of $1 billion from Norway, in May 2010, Indonesia announced a two-year suspension on new agreements to clear natural forests and peatlands. Additionally, Indonesia announced plans to create its own organization similar to the RSPO, which, as a government certification system, will introduce mandatory regulation for all Indonesian palm oil producers.In 2011, Malaysia began developing a national certification, the "Malaysia sustainable palm oil" (MSPO) certification, to improve involvement in sustainable palm oil production nationwide. The certification program, aimed at small and medium-sized producers, is expected to be launched in 2014. Malaysia has initiated its own environmental assessment on oil palm industry based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches. LCA has been applied to assess the environmental impact of production of oil palm seedlings, oil palm fresh fruit bunches, crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil and refined palm oil. The assessment on downstream industries such as bio-diesel, was also conducted. In July 2020 scientists show via detailed analysis of satellite images that certified "sustainable" palm oil production resulted in deforestation of tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo and endangered mammals' habitat degradation in the past 30 years. Carbon credit programs Oil palm producers are eligible to take part in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) programs in which developed nations invest in clean energy projects in developing nations to earn carbon credits to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.Investors have been cautious about investing in palm oil biofuel projects because of the impact the expansion of oil palm plantations has had on tropical rain forests, but according to the South East Asian CDM development company YTL-SV Carbon, many CDM projects in the palm oil sector focus on improving use of waste products to reduce gas emissions and do not contribute to the establishment of new oil palm plantations. SPOTT: ESG policy transparency assessments Palm oil output has been gradually increasing since the end of the twentieth century, with a 15-fold rise between 1980 and 2014. (IUCN, 2021). Aside from the main producing countries of Indonesia and Malaysia, Latin American countries are beginning to play a larger role in the global palm oil industry. SPOTT is a free, online platform that evaluates commodity producers, processors, and traders on their public disclosure on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.SPOTT evaluates the public disclosure of 100 palm oil producers, processors, and traders in terms of their organization, policies, and practices relating to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. To track their growth over time, each company is given a percentage score. For palm oil, timber and pulp, and natural rubber companies, SPOTT assessments follow three complete frameworks of best practice indicators. Each framework includes precise scoring criteria for over 100 indicators that are grouped into ten categories. The SPOTT indicators were created by ZSL in consultation with technical consultants to ensure that they are closely matched with related programs such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.For a more detailed explanation of assessment scores, click here Policies and pledges made by the company may not be carried out effectively on the ground. Although the media monitor on each company's page may provide some insight, independent due diligence should include measures to analyze implementation levels. Use of sustainable oil by corporations The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) publishes an annual report on the use of sustainable palm oil by major corporations. In the 2011 report, 31 of the 132 companies surveyed received a top score for their use of sustainable palm oil. This represents an increase from 2009, the first year the report was issued, where no companies received top scores.The WWF reports that 87 companies have committed to using only sustainable palm oil by 2015, including Unilever and Nestlé, both of which committed to exclusively using sustainable palm oil following demonstrations and urgings from environmental organizations in the late 2000s. However, according to the WWF, the overall growth in the use of sustainable palm oil is too slow.Retailers who have made commitments to offering products containing sustainable oil, including Walmart and Carrefour, have attributed the slow rate of growth in the availability of sustainable palm oil to a lack of consumer interest and awareness in products made with sustainable palm oil. These companies have expressed concern about the potential impact of low consumer demand on the cost and future availability of sustainable palm oil. Persuading governments It may be possible to persuade governments of nations that produce competing products to enact protectionist legislation against the products of deforestation, an approach that was presented in a report by the National Farmers Union (United States) and Avoided Deforestation Partners. The 2010 report estimates that protecting the 13,000,000 hectares (50,000 sq mi) of mostly tropical forest that are lost annually worldwide would boost American agricultural revenue by $190–270 billion between 2012 and 2030. However, several conservation groups, including Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy, presented a rebuttal to the report, stating that it was "based on the assumption, totally unfounded, that deforestation in tropical countries can be easily interrupted, and its conclusions are therefore also unrealistic." See also 2015 Southeast Asian haze Environmental issues with energy Food vs. fuel Southeast Asian haze Sustainable biofuel The Burning Season, a 2008 documentary that highlights deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil plantationsCompanies: Criticisms of Cargill Wilmar International References Further reading Butler, R. A.; Laurance, W. F (2009). "Is oil palm the next emerging threat to the Amazon?" (PDF). Tropical Conservation Science. 2 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1177/194008290900200102. S2CID 37419639. How the Palm Oil Industry is Cooking the Climate (PDF). Netherlands: Greenpeace International. November 2007. "Burning down the House: How Unilever and other global brands continue to fuel Indonesia's fires". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Zuckerman, Jocelyn C. (2021). Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything―and Endangered the World. The New Press. ISBN 978-1620975237. External links Greening the World with Palm Oil? – an in-depth analysis on palm oil's impact on the environment, Mongabay.com, January 26, 2011 Cooking the Climate Archived 2008-11-22 at the Wayback Machine – a Greenpeace report on the palm oil industry Palm oil publications from Greenpeace Palm Oil from Project Regeneration Bruce Parry's Penan documentary showing the social and environmental impact of palm plantations in Malaysia "The slippery business of palm oil" – The Guardian, November 6, 2008 "Palm oil: the biofuel of the future driving an ecological disaster now" – The Guardian, April 4, 2006 "Palm Oil and Tropical Deforestation: Is There a Sustainable Solution?" Archived 2016-11-20 at the Wayback Machine – Union of Concerned Scientists

nitrogen crisis in the netherlands

The nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands (Dutch: stikstofcrisis) is an ecological and legal crisis that has been defined as such since 2019, following a ruling by the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State. Introduction At the root of the crisis lie the effects of human impact on the nitrogen cycle. In the Netherlands, the soil is burdened by a very high deposition of reactive nitrogen compounds, in particular ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Of these, ammonia poses the biggest issue. It is released to the air by animal manure. Nitrogen oxides are emitted by internal combustion engines, such as those in motor vehicles, airplanes and industry. The release of nitrogen compounds in large quantities is a form of nutrient pollution and leads to undesirable effects on the quality of soil, water, air, and nature through the process of eutrophication.In essence, the nitrogen crisis is the successor to the acid rain problem of the 1980s. Acid rain is caused by the deposition of ammonia and nitrogen oxides, but also sulfur dioxide (SO2). From 1980 to 2020, the emission of sulfur dioxide was reduced by 80%. The emission of nitrogen compounds was also reduced by 50%. The emission of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been steadily decreasing ever since 1980. However, the reduction in the emission of ammonia came to a standstill around 2010, the last year of the fourth Balkenende cabinet.In 2015, the Dutch government under the second Rutte cabinet launched a new program to reduce nitrogen pollution, the Integrated Approach to Nitrogen (Dutch: Programma Aanpak Stikstof, PAS). History 2019 Court of State ruling When the nitrogen crisis came to a head in 2019, it already had a long history, both legal and ecological. The first European standards were set as early as 1991. European Union member states are obliged to comply with the Habitats Directive, which states that a 'favourable conservation status' must be aimed for in Natura 2000 areas. In May 2017, the Council of State submitted a number of preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice, which in November 2018 provided a further explanation of the relevant provisions of the Habitats Directive. On 29 May 2019, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State ruled on this basis that the government's use of the Integrated Approach to Nitrogen (PAS) was invalid when granting permits due to the anticipation of future reductions in nitrogen deposition. As a result, the PAS could no longer be used for granting nitrogen permits in the vicinity of Natura 2000 areas. This ruling led to the immediate suspension of various projects (mainly housing, which aggravated the ongoing Dutch housing shortage), and the government had to urgently seek solutions. Although nitrogen pollution had been an issue for many years, the Council of State's ruling promptly suspended an estimated 18,000 construction projects. Later official recommendations and decisions In June 2020, the Advisory Committee on the Nitrogen Problem under former Deputy Prime Minister Johan Remkes published a report titled Niet alles kan overal ("Not Everything Is Possible Everywhere") which recommended reducing nationwide emissions of NH3 and NOx by 50% compared to 2019, for a long-term solution (up to 2030). The NH3 should be reduced even further in certain areas close to natural areas. As of July 2021, construction projects could proceed without nitrogen testing under the so-called bouwvrijstelling ("construction exemption"). However, this exemption was overturned by the Council of State in November 2022, and a "protracted nitrogen crisis" continues. Protests and political developments In the wake of the 2019 ruling and related government policies, a sizeable farmers' protest movement arose, which saw livestock farmers using tractors to block major Dutch roads and occupy public spaces.In response to these protests, the agrarian and right-wing populist political party Farmer–Citizen Movement (Dutch: BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB) was founded in October 2019. In the 2021 general election, it pledged for the creation of a "Ministry of the Countryside" (Dutch: ministerie van Platteland) located at least 100 kilometers from The Hague and a removal of the ban on neonicotinoids. In addition, the party calls for right-to-farm laws, which would allow for farmers to have more say on agricultural expansion matters, in response to local opposition to pig and goat farms over public health, environmental and agricultural concerns. In 2023, the BBB won the provincial elections and became the party with the largest number of seats in the Dutch Senate following the Senate election. See also Human impact on the nitrogen cycle Environmental impact of agriculture Environmental skepticism == References ==

environmental impact assessment

Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental impact assessment" is usually used when applied to actual projects by individuals or companies and the term "strategic environmental assessment" (SEA) applies to policies, plans and programmes most often proposed by organs of state. It is a tool of environmental management forming a part of project approval and decision-making. Environmental assessments may be governed by rules of administrative procedure regarding public participation and documentation of decision making, and may be subject to judicial review. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider the environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project. The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an environmental impact assessment as "the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made". EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to a predetermined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision-makers to account for environmental values in their decisions and to justify those decisions in light of detailed environmental studies and public comments on the potential environmental impacts. History Environmental Impact Assessments commenced in the 1960s, as part of increasing environmental awareness. An EIA is prepared to estimate the effects of a proposed development or construction project. EIA provides technical evaluations that are intended to contribute to more objective decision making. In the United States, EIA obtained formal status in 1969, with the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). EIAs have been used increasingly around the world. The number of environmental assessments filed every year "has vastly overtaken the number of more rigorous Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)." An environmental assessment is a "mini-Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) designed to provide sufficient information to allow the agency to decide whether the preparation of a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is necessary." Methods General and industry specific assessment methods are available including: Industrial products – Product environmental life cycle analysis (LCA) is used for identifying and measuring the impact of industrial products on the environment. These EIAs consider activities related to extraction of raw materials, ancillary materials, equipment; production, use, disposal and ancillary equipment. Genetically modified plants – Specific methods available to perform EIAs of genetically modified organisms include GMP-RAM and INOVA. Fuzzy logic – EIA methods need measurement data to estimate values of impact indicators. However, many of the environment impacts cannot be quantified, e.g. landscape quality, lifestyle quality and social acceptance. Instead, information from similar EIAs, expert judgment and community sentiment are employed. Approximate reasoning methods known as fuzzy logic can be used. A fuzzy arithmetic approach has also been proposed and implemented using a software tool (TDEIA). Follow-up At the end of the project, an audit evaluates the accuracy of the EIA by comparing actual to predicted impacts. The objective is to make future EIAs more valid and effective. Two primary considerations are: Scientific – to examine the accuracy of predictions and explain errors Management – to assess the success of mitigation in reducing impactsAudits can be performed either as a rigorous assessment of the null hypothesis or with a simpler approach comparing what actually occurred against the predictions in the EIA document.After an EIA, the precautionary and polluter pays principles may be applied to decide whether to reject, modify or require strict liability or insurance coverage to a project, based on predicted harms.The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol is a sector-specific method for checking the quality of Environmental and Social assessments and management plans. Around the world Australia The history of EIA in Australia could be linked to the enactment of the U.S. National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970, which made the preparation of environmental impact statements a requirement. In Australia, one might say that the EIA procedures were introduced at a State Level prior to that of the Commonwealth (Federal), with a majority of the states having divergent views to the Commonwealth. One of the pioneering states was New South Wales, whose State Pollution Control Commission issued EIA guidelines in 1974. At a Commonwealth (i.e. Federal) level, this was followed by passing of the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 (Cth) in 1974. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) superseded the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 (Cth) and is the current central piece for EIA in Australia on a Commonwealth (i.e. Federal) level. An important point to note is that this federal legislation does not override the validity of the States or Territories environmental and development assessments and approvals; rather the EPBC Act runs as a parallel to the State/Territory Systems. Overlap between federal and state requirements is addressed via bilateral agreements or one-off accreditation of state processes, as provided for in the EPBC Act. The Commonwealth Level The EPBC Act provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places. It defines this as matters of "national environmental significance". The following are the nine matters of such significance: World Heritage properties; National Heritage places; Wetlands of international importance (listed under the Ramsar Convention); Listed threatened species and ecological communities; Migratory species protected under international agreements; Commonwealth marine areas; the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park; Nuclear actions (including uranium mining); and Water resources, in relation with coal seam gas development and large coal mining development.In addition to this, the EPBC Act aims at providing a streamlined national assessment and approval process for activities. These activities could be by the Commonwealth, or its agents, anywhere in the world or activities on Commonwealth land; and activities that are listed as having a 'significant impact' on matters of 'national environment significance'.The EPBC Act comes into play when a person (a proponent) wants an action (often called "a proposal" or "a project") assessed for environmental impacts under the EPBC Act, he or she must refer the project to the Department of the Environment and Energy (Commonwealth). This referral is then released to the public and the relevant state, territory and Commonwealth ministers, for comment on whether the project is likely to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance. The Department of the Environment and Energy assess the process and makes recommendation to the minister or the delegate for the feasibility. The final discretion on the decision remains of the minister, which is not solely based on matters of national environmental significance but also on the consideration of social and economic impact of the project.The Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Energy cannot intervene in a proposal if it has no significant impact on one of the eight matters of national environmental significance, regardless of any other undesirable environmental impacts. This is primarily due to the division of powers between the states and the Federal government, and the Australian Government environment minister not being able to overturn a state decision.There are strict civil and criminal penalties for the breach of EPBC Act. Depending on the kind of breach, civil penalty (maximum) may go up to $550,000 for an individual and $5.5 million for a body corporate, or for criminal penalty (maximum) of seven years imprisonment and/or penalty of $46,200. The State and Territory Level Australian Capital Territory (ACT) EIA provisions within Ministerial Authorities in the ACT are found in the Chapters 7 and 8 of the Planning and Development Act 2007 (ACT). EIA in ACT was previously administered with the help of Part 4 of the Land (Planning and Environment) Act 1991 (Land Act) and Territory Plan (plan for land-use). Note that some EIA may occur in the ACT on Commonwealth land under the EPBC Act (Cth). Further provisions of the Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988 (Cth) may also be applicable particularly to national land and "designated areas". New South Wales (NSW) In New South Wales, the Environment Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) establishes two pathways for EIA. The first is under Division 5.2 of the EP&A Act, which provides for EIA of 'State Significant Infrastructure' projects (from June 2011, this Part replaced the previous Part 3A, which previously covered EIA of major projects). The second is under Part 4 of the EP&A Act dealing with development assessments for local, regional, and State Significant Developments (other than State Significant Infrastructure). Northern Territory (NT) The EIA process in Northern Territory is chiefly administered under the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA). Although EAA is the primary tool for EIA in Northern Territory, there are further provisions for proposals in the Inquiries Act 1985 (NT). Queensland (QLD) There are four main EIA processes in Queensland. Firstly, under the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (IPA) for development projects other than mining. Secondly, under the Chapter 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) (EP Act) for some mining and petroleum activities. Thirdly, under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 (Qld) (State Development Act) for 'significant projects'. Finally, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) for 'controlled actions'.South Australia (SA) The local governing tool for EIA in South Australia is the Development Act 1993 (SA). There are three levels of assessment possible under the Act in the form of an environment impact statement (EIS), a public environmental report (PER) or a Development Report (DR). Tasmania (TAS) In Tasmania, an integrated system of legislation is used to govern development and approval process, this system is a mixture of the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 (Tas) (EMPC Act), Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (Tas) (LUPA Act), State Policies and Projects Act 1993 (Tas) (SPPA), and Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal Act 1993 (Tas). Victoria (VIC) The EIA process in Victoria is intertwined with the Environment Effects Act 1978 (Vic) and the Ministerial Guidelines for Assessment of Environmental Effects (made under the s 10 of the EE Act). Western Australia (WA) Part 4 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) provides the legislative framework for the EIA process in Western Australia. The EPA Act oversees the planning and development proposals and assesses their likely impacts on the environment. Canada In Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada (Minister of Transportation),(SCC 1992) La Forest J of the Supreme Court of Canada described environmental impact assessment in terms of the proper scope of federal jurisdiction with respect to environments matters,"Environmental impact assessment is, in its simplest form, a planning tool that is now generally regarded as an integral component of sound decision-making." Supreme Court Justice La Forest cited (Cotton & Emond 1981, p. 245), "The basic concepts behind environmental assessment are simply stated: (1) early identification and evaluation of all potential environmental consequences of a proposed undertaking; (2) decision making that both guarantees the adequacy of this process and reconciles, to the greatest extent possible, the proponent's development desires with environmental protection and preservation."La Forest referred to (Jeffery 1989, 1.2,1.4) and (Emond 1978, p. 5) who described "...environmental assessments as a planning tool with both an information-gathering and a decision-making component" that provide "...an objective basis for granting or denying approval for a proposed development."Justice La Forest addressed his concerns about the implications of Bill C-45 regarding public navigation rights on lakes and rivers that would contradict previous cases.(La Forest 1973, pp. 178–80)The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 (CEAA 2012) "and its regulations establish the legislative basis for the federal practice of environmental assessment in most regions of Canada." CEAA 2012 came into force July 6, 2012 and replaces the former Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (1995). EA is defined as a planning tool to identify, understand, assess and mitigate, where possible, the environmental effects of a project. Opposition Environmental Lawyer Dianne Saxe argued that the CEAA 2012 "allows the federal government to create mandatory timelines for assessments of even the largest and most important projects, regardless of public opposition." On 3 August 2012 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency designated nine projects: Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel (JRP) 18 months; Marathon Platinum Group Metals and Copper Mine Project (JRP): 13 months; Site C Clean Energy Project (JRP) 8.5 months; Deep Geologic Repository Project (JRP) 17 months; Enbridge Northern Gateway Project (JRP) 18 months; Jackpine Mine Expansion Project (JRP) 11.5 months; Pierre River Mine Project: 8 months; New Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine Project (JRP) 7.5 months; Frontier Oil Sands Mine Project (JRP) 8.5 months; EnCana/Cenovus Shallow Gas Infill Project (JRP) 5 months.Saxe compares these timelines with environmental assessments for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. Thomas R. Berger, Royal Commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry (9 May 1977), worked extremely hard to ensure that industrial development on Aboriginal people's land resulted in benefits to those indigenous people.On 22 April 2013, NDP MP Megan Leslie issued a statement claiming that the Harper government's recent changes to "fish habitat protection, the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act", along with gutting existing laws and making cuts to science and research, "will be disastrous, not only for the environment but also for Canadians' health and economic prosperity." On 26 September 2012, Leslie argued that with the changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that came into effect 6 July 2012, "seismic testing, dams, wind farms and power plants" no longer required any federal environmental assessment. She also claimed that because the CEAA 2012—which she claimed was rushed through Parliament—dismantled the CEAA 1995, the Oshawa ethanol plant project would no longer have a full federal environmental assessment. Mr. Peter Kent (Minister of the Environment) explained that the CEAA 2012 "provides for the Government of Canada and the Environmental Assessment Agency to focus on the large and most significant projects that are being proposed across the country." The 2,000 to 3,000-plus smaller screenings that were in effect under CEAA 1995 became the "responsibility of lower levels of government but are still subject to the same strict federal environmental laws." Anne Minh-Thu Quach, MP for Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC, argued that the mammoth budget bill dismantled 50 years of environmental protection without consulting Canadians about the "colossal changes they are making to environmental assessments." She claimed that the federal government is entering into "limited consultations, by invitation only, months after the damage was done." China The Environmental Impact Assessment Law (EIA Law) requires that an environmental impact assessment be completed prior to project construction. However, if a developer completely ignores this requirement and builds a project without submitting an environmental impact statement, the only penalty is that the environmental protection bureau (EPB) may require the developer to do a make-up environmental assessment. If the developer does not complete this make-up assessment within the designated time, only then is the EPB authorized to fine the developer. Even so, the possible fine is capped at a maximum of about US$25,000, a fraction of the overall cost of most major projects. The lack of more stringent enforcement mechanisms has resulted in a significant percentage of projects not completing legally required environmental impact assessments prior to construction.China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) used the legislation to halt 30 projects in 2004, including three hydro-power plants under the Three Gorges Project Company. Although one month later (Note as a point of reference, that the typical EIA for a major project in the USA takes one to two years.), most of the 30 halted projects resumed their construction, reportedly having passed the environmental assessment, the fact that these key projects' construction was ever suspended was notable.A joint investigation by SEPA and the Ministry of Land and Resources in 2004 showed that 30–40% of the mining construction projects went through the procedure of environment impact assessment as required, while in some areas only 6–7% did so. This partly explains why China has witnessed so many mining accidents in recent years.SEPA alone cannot guarantee the full enforcement of environmental laws and regulations, observed Professor Wang Canfa, director of the centre to help environmental victims at China University of Political Science and Law. In fact, according to Wang, the rate of China's environmental laws and regulations that are actually enforced is estimated at barely 10%. Egypt Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) EIA is implemented in Egypt under the umbrella of the Ministry of state for environmental affairs. The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) is responsible for the EIA services.In June 1997, the responsibility of Egypt's first full-time Minister of State for Environmental Affairs was assigned as stated in the Presidential Decree no.275/1997. From thereon, the new ministry has focused, in close collaboration with the national and international development partners, on defining environmental policies, setting priorities and implementing initiatives within a context of sustainable development.According to the Law 4/1994 for the Protection of the Environment, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) was restructured with the new mandate to substitute the institution initially established in 1982. At the central level, EEAA represents the executive arm of the Ministry.The purpose of EIA is to ensure the protection and conservation of the environment and natural resources including human health aspects against uncontrolled development. The long-term objective is to ensure a sustainable economic development that meets present needs without compromising future generations ability to meet their own needs. EIA is an important tool in the integrated environmental management approach.EIA must be performed for new establishments or projects and for expansions or renovations of existing establishments according to the Law for the Environment. EU A wide range of instruments exist in the Environmental policy of the European Union. Among them the European Union has established a mix of mandatory and discretionary procedures to assess environmental impacts. Directive (85/337/EEC) on Environmental Impact Assessments (known as the EIA Directive) was first introduced in 1985, amended in 1997, amended again in 2003 following EU signature of the 1998 Aarhus Convention, and once more in 2009.The initial Directive of 1985 and its three amendments have been codified in Directive 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011.In 2001, the issue was enlarged to include the assessment of plans and programmes by the so-called Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive (2001/42/EC), which was amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of 16 April 2014. Under the EU directive, a compliant EIA must provide certain information in seven key areas: Description of the project Description of actual project and site description Break the project down into its key components, i.e. construction, operations, decommissioning For each component list all of the sources of environmental disturbance For each component all the inputs and outputs must be listed, e.g., air pollution, noise, hydrology Alternatives that have been considered Examine alternatives that have been considered Example: in a biomass power station, will the fuel be sourced locally or nationally? Description of the environment List of all aspects of the environment that may be affected by the development Example: populations, fauna, flora, air, soil, water, humans, landscape, cultural heritage This section is best carried out with the help of local experts, e.g. the RSPB in the UK Description of the significant effects on the environment The word significant is crucial here as the definition can vary 'Significant' must be defined The most frequent method used here is use of the Leopold matrix The matrix is a tool used in the systematic examination of potential interactions Example: in a windfarm development a significant impact may be collisions with birds Mitigation This is where EIA is most useful Once section 4 is complete, it is obvious where impacts are greatest Using this information in ways to avoid negative impacts should be developed Best working with the developer with this section as they know the project best Using the windfarm example again, construction might take place outside of bird nesting seasons, or removal of hardstanding on a potentially contaminated land site might take place outside of the rainy season. Non-technical summary (EIS) The EIA is in the public domain and be used in the decision-making process It is important that the information is available to the public This section is a summary that does not include jargon or complicated diagrams It should be understood by the informed lay-person Lack of know-how/technical difficulties This section is to advise any areas of weakness in knowledge It can be used to focus areas of future research Some developers see the EIA as a starting block for poor environmental managementIn 2021, ESG reporting requirements changed in the EU and UK. The EU started enforcing the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR), which was created with the purpose of unifying climate risk disclosures across the private sector by 2023. It also requires businesses to report on "principal adverse impacts" for society and the environment. Annexed projects All projects are either classified as Annex 1 or Annex 2 projects. Those lying in Annex 1 are large scale developments such as motorways, chemical works, bridges, power stations, etc. These always require an EIA under the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (85,337,EEC as amended). Annex 2 projects are smaller in scale than those referred to in Annex 1. Member States must determine whether these project shall be made subject to an assessment subject to a set of criteria set out in Annex 3 of codified Directive 2011/92/EU. The Netherlands EIA was implemented in Dutch legislation on September 1, 1987. The categories of projects which require an EIA are summarised in Dutch legislation, the Wet milieubeheer. The use of thresholds for activities makes sure that EIA is obligatory for those activities that may have considerable impacts on the environment.For projects and plans which fit these criteria, an EIA report is required. The EIA report defines a.o. the proposed initiative, it makes clear the impact of that initiative on the environment and compares this with the impact of possible alternatives with less a negative impact. United Kingdom The EU Directives concerning environmental impact assessment are implemented in England through the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, which also apply to projects serving national defence purposes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Hong Kong EIA in Hong Kong is regulated by the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance 1997, which became effective in 1998.The original proposal to construct the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line overground across the Long Valley failed to get through EIA, and the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation had to change its plan and build the railway underground. In April 2011, the EIA of the Hong Kong section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was found to have breached the ordinance, and was declared unlawful. The appeal by the government was allowed in September 2011. However, it was estimated that this EIA court case had increased the construction cost of the Hong Kong section of the bridge by HK$6.5 billion in money-of-the-day prices. Iraq The Ministry of Environment (MOE) of the federal government of Iraq is in charge of issuing environmental compliance certificates based on an EIA report prepared by professional consultant and thoroughly reviewed by the MOE. Any project or activity prior to its establishment or even already existing project has to be approved and obtain such certificate from the MOE. Projects are classified into 3 categories; “A”, “B” and “C”. EIA reporting is usually obligatory for those projects and activities falling under categories “A” (large-scale) and “B” (small-scale) that may have considerable impacts on environment.Examples of “A” category activities include dams and reservoirs, forestry production projects, industrial plants, irrigation, drainage and flood control, land clearance and leveling, port and harbor development, river basin development, thermal power and hydro-power development, manufacture, transportation and use of pesticides or other hazardous materials, hazardous waste management and disposal... etc. Examples of “B” category activities include agro-industries, electrical transmission, renewable energy, rural electrification, tourism, rehabilitation or maintenance of highway or rural roads, rehabilitation or modification of existing industrial facilities... etc. Preparation of an EIA report is usually exempt for projects falling under category “C” which may have low to no impact on environment, such as small fish breeding ponds, institutional development, most human resources projects...etc.The main environmental legislation in Iraq is: Law No.64 for cities and land use (1965), Law No.21 for noise prevention (1966), Law No.25 for system of rivers and other water resources protection (1967), Law No.99 for ionized radiation (1980), Law No.89 for public health (drinking water provision, sanitation and environmental monitoring (1981), Law No.79 for protection and improvement of environment (1986), Environmental criteria for agricultural, industrial and public service projects (1990), Law No.3 for protection and improvement of environment (1997), Law No.2 for water systems protection (2001), Law No.44 for creation of Ministry of Environment instead of the council of protection and improvement of environment (2003), Law No.27 for environmental protection and improvement (2009), Law No.4 for protection of ambient air system (2012).Meanwhile, Environmental Protection and Improvement Board in the regional government of Kurdistan in the northern Iraq (Erbil, Duhok, Sulaimany and Garmyan) is responsible of issuing Environmental compliance certificate, the board was established according to law No.3 Environmental protection and improvement board in Iraqi Kurdistan Region (2010). The board is responsible of issuing such certificate for all projects and activities except of petroleum operation which EIA process is organized and implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional government. The same Iraqi environmental legislation mentioned is adopted but the procedure for EIA in Iraqi-Kurdistan region government may differ from the one in the Federal government of Iraq. India The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of India has been in a great effort in Environmental Impact Assessment in India. The main laws in action are the Water Act(1974), the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972), the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1981) and the Environment (Protection) Act (1986), Biological Diversity Act(2002). The responsible body for this is the Central Pollution Control Board.Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies need a significant amount of primary and secondary environmental data. Primary data are those collected in the field to define the status of the environment (like air quality data, water quality data etc.). Secondary data are those collected over the years that can be used to understand the existing environmental scenario of the study area. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies are conducted over a short period of time and therefore the understanding of the environmental trends, based on a few months of primary data, has limitations. Ideally, the primary data must be considered along with the secondary data for complete understanding of the existing environmental status of the area. In many EIA studies, the secondary data needs could be as high as 80% of the total data requirement. EIC is the repository of one-stop secondary data source for environmental impact assessment in India.The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) experience in India indicates that the lack of timely availability of reliable and authentic environmental data has been a major bottleneck in achieving the full benefits of EIA. The environment being a multi-disciplinary subject, a multitude of agencies are involved in collection of environmental data. However, no single organization in India tracks available data from these agencies and makes it available in one place in a form required by environmental impact assessment practitioners. Further, environmental data is not available in enhanced forms that improve the quality of the EIA. This makes it harder and more time-consuming to generate environmental impact assessments and receive timely environmental clearances from regulators. With this background, the Environmental Information Centre (EIC) has been set up to serve as a professionally managed clearinghouse of environmental information that can be used by MoEF, project proponents, consultants, NGOs and other stakeholders involved in the process of environmental impact assessment in India. EIC caters to the need of creating and disseminating of organized environmental data for various developmental initiatives all over the country.EIC stores data in GIS format and makes it available to all environmental impact assessment studies and to EIA stakeholders.In 2020, the Government of India proposed a new EIA 2020 Draft, which was widely criticized for heavily diluting the EIA. Many Environmental groups started a campaign demanding the withdrawal of the Draft, in face of these campaigns, the Government of India resorted to banning/blocking the websites of these groups. Malaysia In Malaysia, Section 34A, Environmental Quality Act, 1974 requires developments that have significant impact to the environment are required to conduct the Environmental impact assessment. Nepal In Nepal, EIA has been integrated in major development projects since the early 1980s. In the planning history of Nepal, the sixth plan (1980–85), for the first time, recognized the need for EIA with the establishment of Environmental Impact Study Project (EISP) under the Department of Soil Conservation in 1982 to develop necessary instruments for integration of EIA in infrastructure development projects. However, the government of Nepal enunciated environment conservation-related policies in the seventh plan (NPC, 1985–1990). To enforce this policy and make necessary arrangements, a series of guidelines were developed, thereby incorporating the elements of environmental factors right from the project formulation stage of the development plans and projects and to avoid or minimize adverse effects on the ecological system. In addition, it has also emphasized that EIAs of industry, tourism, water resources, transportation, urbanization, agriculture, forest and other developmental projects be conducted.In Nepal, the government's Environmental Impact Assessment Guideline of 1993 inspired the enactment of the Environment Protection Act (EPA) of 1997 and the Environment Protection Rules (EPR) of 1997 (EPA and EPR have been enforced since 24 and 26 June 1997 respectively in Nepal) to internalizing the environmental assessment system. The process institutionalized the EIA process in development proposals and enactment, which makes the integration of IEE and EIA legally binding to the prescribed projects. The projects, requiring EIA or IEE, are included in Schedules 1 and 2 of the EPR, 1997 (GoN/MoLJPA 1997). New Zealand In New Zealand, EIA is usually referred to as Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE). The first use of EIA's dates back to a Cabinet minute passed in 1974 called Environmental Protection and Enhancement Procedures. This had no legal force and only related to the activities of government departments. When the Resource Management Act was passed in 1991, an EIA was required as part of a resource consent application. Section 88 of the Act specifies that the AEE must include "such detail as corresponds with the scale and significance of the effects that the activity may have on the environment". While there is no duty to consult any person when making a resource consent application (Sections 36A and Schedule 4), proof of consultation is almost certain required by local councils when they decide whether or not to publicly notify the consent application under Section 93. Pakistan The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency is an executive agency of the Government of Pakistan managed by the Ministry of Climate Change. The agency is charged with protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Parliament. The Directorate of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) is tasked with implementing the Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) - 1997, specifically Section 12 and Review of IEE/EIA Regulations 2000. This Directorate comprises two sections namely EIA or Monitoring and Environment Engineering And Technology Transfer. All public and private sector developmental projects that fall under any of the Schedules of Regulations have to obtain environmental approval in respect of their projects. The EIA/Monitoring Section also conducts post-environmental approval monitoring to ascertain the compliance status of the Environment Management Plan (EMP). Russian Federation As of 2004, the state authority responsible for conducting the State EIA in Russia has been split between two Federal bodies: 1) Federal service for monitoring the use of natural resources – a part of the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment and 2) Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Control. The two main pieces of environmental legislation in Russia are the Federal Law 'On Ecological Expertise', 1995 and the 'Regulations on Assessment of Impact from Intended Business and Other Activity on Environment in the Russian Federation', 2000. Federal Service for monitoring the use of natural resourcesIn 2006, the parliament committee on ecology in conjunction with the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment, created a working group to prepare a number of amendments to existing legislation to cover such topics as stringent project documentation for building of potentially environmentally damaging objects as well as building of projects on the territory of protected areas. There has been some success in this area, as evidenced from abandonment of plans to construct a gas pipe-line through the only remaining habitat of the critically endangered Amur leopard in the Russian Far East. Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear ControlThe government's decision to hand over control over several important procedures, including state EIA in the field of all types of energy projects, to the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Control has caused major controversy and elicited criticism from environmental groups, which have blamed the government for giving nuclear power industry control over the state EIA.The main problem concerning State EIA in Russia is the clear differentiation of jurisdiction between the two above-mentioned Federal bodies. Sri Lanka The National Environmental Act, 1998 requires environmental impact assessment for large scale projects in sensitive areas. It is enforced by the Central Environmental Authority. Ukraine The new law of Ukraine on evaluation of impact on surroundings prescribes the requirements of environmental safety, rational use of national resources, minimizing of harmful impact on surroundings in the process of making managerial decisions about planned activity. The designing of the conclusion of evaluation of impact is a result of its conducting. The key moment of the law on evaluation of impact on surroundings is a substitution of conclusion of state environmental expertise on the conclusion of evaluation of impact on surroundings. Business entity is forbidden to conduct or to start its planned activity without the conclusion of impact on surroundings. United States The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), enacted in 1970, established a policy of environmental impact assessment for federal agency actions, federally funded activities or federally permitted/licensed activities that in the U. S. is termed "environmental review" or simply "the NEPA process." The law also created the Council on Environmental Quality, which promulgated regulations to codify the law's requirements. Under United States environmental law an Environmental Assessment (EA) is compiled to determine the need for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Federal or federalized actions expected to subject or be subject to significant environmental impacts will publish a Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS as soon as significance is known. Certain actions of federal agencies must be preceded by the NEPA process. Contrary to a widespread misconception, NEPA does not prohibit the federal government or its licensees/permittees from harming the environment, nor does it specify any penalty if an environmental impact assessment turns out to be inaccurate, intentionally or otherwise. NEPA requires that plausible statements as to the prospective impacts be disclosed in advance. The purpose of NEPA process is to ensure that the decision maker is fully informed of the environmental aspects and consequences prior to making the final decision. Environmental assessment An environmental assessment (EA) is an environmental analysis prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act to determine whether a federal action would significantly affect the environment and thus require a more detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The certified release of an Environmental Assessment results in either a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or an EIS.The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which oversees the administration of NEPA, issued regulations for implementing the NEPA in 1979. Eccleston reports that the NEPA regulations barely mention preparation of EAs. This is because the EA was originally intended to be a simple document used in relatively rare instances where an agency was not sure if the potential significance of an action would be sufficient to trigger preparation of an EIS. But today, because EISs are so much longer and complicated to prepare, federal agencies are going to great effort to avoid preparing EISs by using EAs, even in cases where the use of EAs may be inappropriate. The ratio of EAs that are being issued compared to EISs is about 100 to 1.In July 2020, President Donald Trump moved to significantly weaken NEPA. CEQ published a final rule which limits the duration of EAs to 1 year and EISs to 2 years. The rule also exempts a number of projects from review entirely and prevents the consideration of cumulative environmental impacts, including those caused by climate change. The rule went into effect on September 14, 2020 and is the first update to the CEQ regulations since their promulgation in 1978. Content The Environmental Assessment is a concise public document prepared by the federal action agency that serves to: briefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare an EIS or a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) Demonstrate compliance with the act when no EIS is required facilitate the preparation of an EIS when a FONSI cannot be demonstratedThe Environmental Assessment includes a brief discussion of the purpose and need of the proposal and of its alternatives as required by NEPA 102(2)(E), and of the human environmental impacts resulting from and occurring to the proposed actions and alternatives considered practicable, plus a listing of studies conducted and agencies and stakeholders consulted to reach these conclusions. The action agency must approve an EA before it is made available to the public. The EA is made public through notices of availability by local, state, or regional clearing houses, often triggered by the purchase of a public notice advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation in the proposed activity area. Structure The structure of a generic Environmental Assessment is as follows: Summary Introduction Background Purpose and Need for Action Proposed Action Decision Framework Public Involvement Issues Alternatives, including the Proposed Action Alternatives Mitigation Common to All Alternatives Comparison of Alternatives Environmental Consequences Consultation and Coordination Procedure The EA becomes a draft public document when notice of it is published, usually in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposal. There is a 15-day review period required for an Environmental Assessment (30 days if exceptional circumstances) while the document is made available for public commentary, and a similar time for any objection to improper process. Commenting on the Draft EA is typically done in writing or email, submitted to the lead action agency as published in the notice of availability. An EA does not require a public hearing for verbal comments. Following the mandated public comment period, the lead action agency responds to any comments, and certifies either a FONSI or a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS in its public environmental review record. The preparation of an EIS then generates a similar but more lengthy, involved and expensive process. Environmental impact statement The adequacy of an environmental impact statement (EIS) can be challenged in federal court. Major proposed projects have been blocked because of an agency's failure to prepare an acceptable EIS. One prominent example was the Westway landfill and highway development in and along the Hudson River in New York City. Another prominent case involved the Sierra Club suing the Nevada Department of Transportation over its denial of the club's request to issue a supplemental EIS addressing air emissions of particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants in the case of widening U.S. Route 95 through Las Vegas. The case reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which led to construction on the highway being halted until the court's final decision. The case was settled prior to the court's final decision.Several state governments that have adopted "little NEPAs," state laws imposing EIS requirements for particular state actions. Some of those state laws such as the California Environmental Quality Act refer to the required environmental impact study as an environmental impact report.This variety of state requirements produces voluminous data not just upon impacts of individual projects, but also in insufficiently researched scientific domains. For example, in a seemingly routine Environmental Impact Report for the city of Monterey, California, information came to light that led to the official federal endangered species listing of Hickman's potentilla, a rare coastal wildflower. Transboundary application Environmental threats do not respect national borders. International pollution can have detrimental effects on the atmosphere, oceans, rivers, aquifers, farmland, the weather and biodiversity. Global climate change is transnational. Specific pollution threats include acid rain, radioactive contamination, debris in outer space, stratospheric ozone depletion and toxic oil spills. The Chernobyl disaster, precipitated by a nuclear accident on April 26, 1986, is a stark reminder of the devastating effects of transboundary nuclear pollution.Environmental protection is inherently a cross-border issue and has led to the creation of transnational regulation via multilateral and bilateral treaties. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE or Stockholm Conference) held in Stockholm in 1972 and the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED or Rio Summit, Rio Conference, or Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 were key in the creation of about 1,000 international instruments that include at least some provisions related to the environment and its protection.The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) was negotiated to provide an international legal framework for transboundary EIA.However, as there is no universal legislature or administration with a comprehensive mandate, most international treaties exist parallel to one another and are further developed without the benefit of consideration being given to potential conflicts with other agreements. There is also the issue of international enforcement. This has led to duplications and failures, in part due to an inability to enforce agreements. An example is the failure of many international fisheries regimes to restrict harvesting practises. Criticism According to Jay et al., EIA is used as a decision-aiding tool rather than decision-making tool. There is growing dissent about them as their influence on decisions is limited. Improved training for practitioners, guidance on bestpractice and continuing research have all been proposed.EIAs have been criticized for excessively limiting their scope in space and time. No accepted procedure exists for determining such boundaries. The boundary refers to 'the spatial and temporal boundary of the proposal's effects'. This boundary is determined by the applicant and the lead assessor, but in practice, almost all EIAs address only direct and immediate on-site effects.Development causes both direct and indirect effects. Consumption of goods and services, production, use and disposal of building materials and machinery, additional land use for activities of manufacturing and services, mining and refining, etc., all have environmental impacts. The indirect effects of development can be much higher than the direct effects examined by an EIA. Proposals such as airports or shipyards cause wide-ranging national and international effects, which should be covered in EIAs.Broadening the scope of EIA can benefit the conservation of threatened species. Instead of concentrating on the project site, some EIAs employed a habitat-based approach that focused on much broader relationships among humans and the environment. As a result, alternatives that reduce the negative effects to the population of whole species, rather than local subpopulations, can be assessed.Thissen and Agusdinata have argued that little attention is given to the systematic identification and assessment of uncertainties in environmental studies which is critical in situations where uncertainty cannot be easily reduced by doing more research. In line with this, Maier et al. have concluded on the need to consider uncertainty at all stages of the decision-making process. In such a way decisions can be made with confidence or known uncertainty. These proposals are justified on data that shows that environmental assessments fail to predict accurately the impacts observed. Tenney et al. and Wood et al. have reported evidence of the intrinsic uncertainty attached to EIAs predictions from a number of case studies worldwide. The gathered evidence consisted of comparisons between predictions in EIAs and the impacts measured during, or following project implementation. In explaining this trend, Tenney et al. have highlighted major causes such as project changes, modelling errors, errors in data and assumptions taken and bias introduced by people in the projects analyzed. Some approaches to deal with uncertainty in EIA have been reviewed in.There has also been criticism on the EIAs in the United States not addressing environmental justice concerns sufficiently. Yakuba writes "However, environmental history provides evidence that political process and special interests govern the attainment of the EJ goal by way of inadequate adherence to the NEPA provisions. Public participation (PP) is a principal requirement for achieving environmental justice and constitutes a pivotal determinant of EIA outcome."Most recent analyses indicated that the persistent problem may have its roots in socio-cultural settings, and environment-nurturing cultural value should be regarded as one among major progressive cultures, and its implementation will need to engage the corporate sector. See also References Sources Notes Further reading External links European Commission - EIA website European Commission-funded project on Impact Assessment Tools Environmental Impact Assessment at the University of Sydney International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment UNU Open Educational Resource on EIA: A Course Module, Wiki and Instructional Guide ELM EIA Law Matrix ~ Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

agricultural subsidy

An agricultural subsidy (also called an agricultural incentive) is a government incentive paid to agribusinesses, agricultural organizations and farms to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities, and influence the cost and supply of such commodities. Examples of such commodities include: wheat, feed grains (grain used as fodder, such as maize or corn, sorghum, barley and oats), cotton, milk, rice, peanuts, sugar, tobacco, oilseeds such as soybeans and meat products such as beef, pork, and lamb and mutton.A 2021 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization found $540 billion was given to farmers every year between 2013 and 2018 in global subsidies. The study found these subsidies are harmful in numerous ways. In wealthy countries, they damage health by promoting the overconsumption of meat. In under-developed countries they encourage overconsumption of low-nutrition staples, such as rice. Subsidies also contribute to the climate crisis, by encouraging deforestation; and they also drive inequality because smallholder farmers, many of whom are women, are excluded. According to UNDP head, Achim Steiner, redirecting subsidies would boost the livelihoods of 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide by creating a more level playing field with large-scale agricultural enterprises. A separate report, by the World Resources Institute in August 2021, said without reform, farm subsidies "will render vast expanses of healthy land useless". History On the earliest known interventions in farming markets was the English Corn Laws, which regulated the import and export of grain in Great Britain and Ireland for centuries. The laws were repealed in 1846. Agricultural subsidies in the twentieth century were originally designed to stabilize markets, help low-income farmers, and aid rural development. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as part of the New Deal in 1933. At the time the economy was in a severe depression and farmers were experiencing the lowest agricultural prices since the 1890s. The plan was to increase prices for a range of agricultural products by paying farmers to destroy some of their livestock or not use some of their land - known as land idling. This led to a reduction in supply and smaller agricultural surpluses. Initially seven products were controlled: (corn, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, tobacco and milk). Unlike traditional subsidies that promote the growth of products, this process boosted agricultural prices by limiting the growth of these crops. In Europe, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was launched in 1962 to improve agricultural productivity. According to the European Commission, the act aims to Support farmers and improve agricultural productivity, so that consumers have a stable supply of affordable food Ensure that European Union (EU) farmers can make a reasonable living Help tackling climate change and the sustainable management of natural resources Maintain rural areas and landscapes across the EU Keep the rural economy alive by promoting jobs in farming, agri-foods industries and associated sectors By region Canada Canadian agricultural subsidies are currently controlled by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Financial subsidies are offered through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Programs. The Canadian Agricultural Partnership began in April 2018 and is planned to take place over five years with a combined federal, provincial and territorial investment of three billion dollars. Some programs offered surround issues including AgriAssurance, agricultural leveraging programs, promoting diversity in agriculture, crop and livestock insurance, marketing activities, risk mitigation, and more. Before the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, agricultural subsidies were organized under the Growing Forward 2 partnership from 2013 to 2018. European Union In 2010, the EU spent €57 billion on agricultural development, of which €39 billion was spent on direct subsidies. Agricultural and fisheries subsidies form over 40% of the EU budget. Since 1992 (and especially since 2005), the EU's Common Agricultural Policy has undergone significant change as subsidies have mostly been decoupled from production. The largest subsidy is the Single Farm Payment. Malawi Increases in food and fertilizer prices have underlined the vulnerability of poor urban and rural households in many developing countries, especially in Africa, renewing policymakers' focus on the need to increase staple food crop productivity. A study by the Overseas Development Institute evaluates the benefits of the Malawi Government Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Programme, which was implemented in 2006–2007 to promote access to and use of fertilizers in both maize and tobacco production to increase agricultural productivity and food security. The subsidy was implemented by means of a coupon system which could be redeemed by the recipients for fertilizer types at approximately one-third of the normal cash price. According to policy conclusions of the Overseas Development Institute the voucher for coupon system can be an effective way of rationing and targeting subsidy access to maximize production and economic and social gains. Many practical and political challenges remain in the program design and implementation required to increase efficiency, control costs, and limit patronage and fraud. New Zealand New Zealand is reputed to have the most open agricultural markets in the world after radical reforms started in 1984 by the Fourth Labour Government stopped all subsidies. In 1984 New Zealand's Labor government took the dramatic step of ending all farm subsidies, which then consisted of 30 separate production payments and export incentives. This was a truly striking policy action, because New Zealand's economy is roughly five times more dependent on farming than is the U.S. economy, measured by either output or employment. Subsidies in New Zealand accounted for more than 30 percent of the value of production before reform, somewhat higher than U.S. subsidies today. And New Zealand farming was marred by the same problems caused by U.S. subsidies, including overproduction, environmental degradation and inflated land prices. As the country is a large agricultural exporter, continued subsidies by other countries are a long-standing bone of contention, with New Zealand being a founding member of the 20-member Cairns Group fighting to improve market access for exported agricultural goods. Turkey United States The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the 2002 Farm Bill, addressed a great variety of issues related to agriculture, ecology, energy, trade, and nutrition. Signed after the September 11th attacks of 2001, the act directs approximately $16.5 billion of government funding toward agricultural subsidies each year. This funding has had a great effect on the production of grains, oilseeds, and upland cotton. The United States paid allegedly around $20 billion in 2005 to farmers in direct subsidies as "farm income stabilization" via farm bills. Overall agricultural subsidies in 2010 were estimated at $172 billion by a European agricultural industry association; however, the majority of this estimate consists of food stamps and other consumer subsidies, so it is not comparable to the 2005 estimate.Agricultural policies of the United States are changed, incrementally or more radically, by Farm Bills that are passed every five years or so. Statements about how the program works might be right at one point in time, at best, but are probably not sufficient for assessing agricultural policies at other points in time. For example, a large part of the support to program crops has not been linked directly to current output since the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127). Instead, these payments were tied to historical entitlement, not current planting. For example, it is incorrect to attribute a payment associated with the wheat base area to wheat production now because that land might be allocated to any of a number of permitted uses, including held idle. Over time, successive Farm Bills have linked these direct payments to market prices or revenue, but not to production. In contrast, some programs, like the Marketing Loan Program that can create something of a floor price that producers receive per unit sold, are tied to production. That is, if the price of wheat in 2002 was $3.80, farmers would get an extra 58¢ per bushel (52¢ plus the 6¢ price difference). Fruit and vegetable crops are not eligible for subsidies.Corn was the top crop for subsidy payments prior to 2011. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated that billions of gallons of ethanol be blended into vehicle fuel each year, guaranteeing demand, but US corn ethanol subsidies were between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion per year. Producers also benefited from a federal subsidy of 51 cents per gallon, additional state subsidies, and federal crop subsidies that had brought the total to 85 cents per gallon or more. However, the federal ethanol subsidy expired 31 December 2011. Asia Farm subsidies in Asia remain a point of contention in global trade talks. China In 2016, China provided $212 billion in agricultural subsidies. In 2018, China increased their subsidies for soybean farmers in their northeastern provinces. Corn farmers, however, received reduced subsidies due to Beijing's 2017 policy that set out to reduce its huge stockpile. Soybean farmers in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia provinces will receive more subsidies from Beijing than corn farmers. The cutting of corn acreage and the lifting of soybean acreage came in 2016 as a push from China to re-balance grain stocks. Subsidies for agriculture machinery and equipment will also be provided by Beijing to farmers. Indonesia In 1971, as a method of expanding the rice supply in Indonesia, the government began subsidizing fertilizer to farmers after the discovery and introduction of new, high-yielding rice varieties. In 2012, Indonesia provided $28 billion in agricultural subsidies. Japan Over the 2000s, Japan has been reforming its generous agricultural subsidy regime to support more business-oriented farmers. Yet, subsidies remain high in international comparison. In 2009, Japan paid US$46.5 billion in subsidies to its farmers, and continued state support of farmers in Japan remains a controversial topic. In 2012, Japan provided $65 billion in agricultural subsidies. South Korea South Korea has made attempts to reform its agricultural sector, despite resistance from vested interests. In 2012, South Korea provided approximately $20 billion in agricultural subsidies. India Agricultural subsidy in India primarily consists of subsidies like, fertilizer, irrigation, equipment, credit subsidy, seed subsidy, export subsidy etc. Subsidy on fertilizers is provided by the Central government whereas subsidy on water and irrigation is provided by the local State governments. Drawing on the most recent estimates, annual central government subsidies to farmers would be of the order of ₹120,500 crore (equivalent to ₹1.4 trillion or US$18 billion in 2023) as the sum of fertilizer subsidies (₹70,000 crore (equivalent to ₹820 billion or US$10 billion in 2023), 2017/18), credit subsidies (₹20,000 crore (equivalent to ₹240 billion or US$2.9 billion in 2023), 2017/18), crop insurance subsidies (₹6,500 crore (equivalent to ₹77 billion or US$960 million in 2023), 2018/19) and expenditures towards price support (₹24,000 crore (equivalent to ₹280 billion or US$3.5 billion in 2023) estimated for 2016/17). Total subsidies to farmers in India is in the range of $45 billion to 50 billion, to the tune of 2%-2.5% of GDP. But per farmer the subsidy just about touches $48 in India, compared to over $7,000 in the U.S. Armenia Direct subsidies, of the Ministry of Agriculture, include subsidies for fertilizers, improved seed, agricultural chemicals, and fuel. The purpose of subsidies is to aid the smallest farmers in the sector. In particular, the maximum loan size for interest subsidies is minimal, and only farms with less than 3 ha are eligible for fuel, fertilizer, chemical, and seed subsidies. For loans of up to 3 million drams (about US$6,185 at current exchange rates), subsidies decrease interest rates from 10%–12% to 4%–6% in an effort to support Armenia's smaller farms. Impact of subsidies Global food prices and international trade Although some critics and proponents of the World Trade Organization have noted that export subsidies, by driving down the price of commodities, can provide cheap food for consumers in developing countries, low prices are harmful to farmers not receiving the subsidy. Because it is usually wealthy countries that can afford domestic subsidies, critics argue that they promote poverty in developing countries by artificially driving down world crop prices.Generally, developing countries have a comparative advantage in producing agricultural goods, but low crop prices encourage developing countries to be dependent buyers of food from wealthy countries. So local farmers, instead of improving the agricultural and economic self-sufficiency of their home country, are forced out of the market and perhaps even off their land. This occurs as a result of a process known as "international dumping" in which subsidized farmers are able to "dump" low-cost agricultural goods on foreign markets at costs that un-subsidized farmers cannot compete with. Agricultural subsidies often are a common stumbling block in trade negotiations. In 2006, talks at the Doha round of WTO trade negotiations stalled because the US refused to cut subsidies to a level where other countries' non-subsidized exports would have been competitive.Others argue that a world market with farm subsidies and other market distortions (as happens today) results in higher food prices, rather than lower food prices, as compared to a free market.In 2002 Mark Malloch Brown, former head of the United Nations Development Programme, estimated that farm subsidies cost poor countries about US$50 billion a year in lost agricultural exports: It is the extraordinary distortion of global trade, where the West spends $360 billion a year on protecting its agriculture with a network of subsidies and tariffs that costs developing countries about US$50 billion in potential lost agricultural exports. Fifty billion dollars is the equivalent of today's level of development assistance. Poverty in developing countries The impact of agricultural subsidies in developed countries upon developing-country farmers and international development is well documented. Agricultural subsidies can help drive prices down to benefit consumers, but also mean that unsubsidised developing-country farmers have a more difficult time competing in the world market; and the effects on poverty are particularly negative when subsidies are provided for crops that are also grown in developing countries since developing-country farmers must then compete directly with subsidised developed-country farmers, for example in cotton and sugar. The IFPRI has estimated in 2003 that the impact of subsidies costs developing countries $24 billion in lost incomes going to agricultural and agro-industrial production; and more than $40 billion is displaced from net agricultural exports. Moreover, the same study found that the least developed countries have a higher proportion of GDP dependent upon agriculture, at around 36.7%, thus may be even more vulnerable to the effects of subsidies. It has been argued that subsidised agriculture in the developed world is one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth in the developing world; which has an indirect impact on reducing the income available to invest in rural infrastructure such as health, safe water supplies and electricity for the rural poor. The total amount of subsidies that go towards agriculture in OECD countries far exceeds the amount that countries provide in development aid. In the case of Africa, it is estimated that a 1% increase in its total agricultural exports could lift its GDP by $70 billion, nearly five times what the region is provided in total foreign aid. Haiti and US rice imports Haiti is an excellent example of a developing country negatively affected by agricultural subsidies in the developed world. Haiti is a nation with the capacity to produce rice and was at one time self-sufficient in meeting its own needs. At present, Haiti does not produce enough to feed its people; 60 percent of the food consumed in the country is imported. Following advice to liberalize its economy by lowering tariffs, domestically produced rice was displaced by cheaper subsidized rice from the United States. The Food and Agriculture Organization describes this liberalization process as being the removal of barriers to trade and a simplification of tariffs, which lowers costs to consumers and promotes efficiency among producers.Opening up Haiti's economy granted consumers access to food at a lower cost; allowing foreign producers to compete for the Haitian market drove down the price of rice. However, for Haitian rice farmers without access to subsidies, the downward pressure on prices led to a decline in profits. Subsidies received by American rice farmers, plus increased efficiencies, made it impossible for their Haitian counterparts to compete. According to Oxfam and the International Monetary Fund, tariffs on imports fell from 50 percent to three percent in 1995 and the nation is currently importing 80 percent of the rice it consumes.The United States Department of Agriculture notes that since 1980, rice production in Haiti has been largely unchanged, while consumption on the other hand, is roughly eight times what it was in that same year. Haiti is among the top three consumers of long grain milled rice produced in the United States.As rice farmers struggled to compete, many migrated from rural to urban areas in search of alternative economic opportunities. Impact on nutrition One peer-reviewed research suggests that any effects of US farm policies on US obesity patterns must have been negligible. However, some critics argue that the artificially low prices resulting from subsidies create unhealthy incentives for consumers. For example, in the US, cane sugar was replaced with cheap corn syrup, making high-sugar food cheaper; beet and cane sugar are subject to subsidies, price controls, and import tariffs that distort the prices of these products as well. The lower price of energy-dense foods such as grains and sugars could be one reason why low-income people and food insecure people in industrialized countries are more vulnerable to being overweight and obese. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, meat and dairy production receive 63% of subsidies in the United States, as well as sugar subsidies for unhealthy foods, which contribute to heart disease, obesity and diabetes, with enormous costs for the health sector.Market distortions due to subsidies have led to an increase in corn fed cattle rather than grass fed. Corn fed cattle require more antibiotics and their beef has a higher fat content. Cross-border movement of businesses Tariffs on sugar have also caused large candy makers in the US to relocate to Canada and Mexico, where sugar is often half to a third the price. The Dominican Republic Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), though, has had little impact in this area. The sugar issue causing alarm had reasoning due to what plausible effects could come through the tariffs as well as the undetermined future of these types of negotiations considering sugar importation in the United States. Due to various continuing disputes in trade, Mexico began to have fewer exports of sugar into the United States, where the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allowed. Those who left and sought out other companies for sugar have leaned marginally more towards Canada than Mexico. The tariffs are what keeps the large pressure from competition from south of the Rio Grande at bay. Non-farming companies Subsidies are also given to companies and individuals with little connection to traditional farming. It has been reported that the largest part of the sum given to these companies flow to multinational companies like food conglomerates, sugar manufacturers and liquor distillers. For example, in France, the single largest beneficiary was the chicken processor Groupe Doux, at €62.8m, and was followed by about a dozen sugar manufacturers which together reaped more than €103m. Public economics implications Government intervention, through agricultural subsidies, interferes with the price mechanism which would normally determine commodity prices, often creating crop overproduction and market discrimination. Journalist Michael Pollan argues that corn became a prime crop for over-production (and thus subsidies) due to it having a wide genetic variability and flexibility; historical uses of corn as food and as a commodity fueled its growth with capitalism. As a result of overproduction and falling prices, farmers were subsidized with direct payments from the government. The pressure to produce massive swaths of corn, however, resulted in farmers tending to monocrop agriculture. As Pollan argues, this not only pushed many small farms out of business, but also resulted in paradoxical "food deserts".Subsidies are also an inefficient use of taxpayer's money. For instance, in 2006, the Department of Agriculture estimated that the average farm household income was $77,654 or about 17% higher than the average US household income. From a public economics perspective, subsidies of any kind work to create a socially and politically acceptable equilibrium that is not necessarily Pareto efficient. Environmental implications A study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization found 87% of the $540bn farmers given every year between 2013 and 2018 in global subsidies are harmful to both people and environment. The monoculture system associated with subsidized large-scale production has been implicated as a contributory factor in Colony Collapse Disorder which has affected bee populations. Bee pollination is an essential ecosystem service essential for the production of many varieties of fruits and vegetables. Subsidies often go towards subsidising meat production which has other nutritional and environmental implications; and it has been found that out of the $200Bn subsidies to subsidise crops from 1995 to 2010 around two-thirds of this went to animal feed, tobacco and cotton production. On the other hand, farmers producing fruits and vegetables received no direct subsidies. The environmental impact of meat production is high due to the resource and energy requirements that go into production of feed for livestock throughout their lifespan, for example, a kilogram of beef uses about 60 times as much water as an equivalent amount of potato. The subsidies contribute to meat consumption by allowing for an artificially low cost of meat products. Alternatives Liberals argue that subsidies distort incentives for the global trade of agricultural commodities in which other countries may have a comparative advantage. Allowing countries to specialize in commodities in which they have a comparative advantage in and then freely trade across borders would therefore increase global welfare and reduce food prices. Ending direct payments to farmers and deregulating the farm industry would eliminate inefficiencies and deadweight loss created by government intervention. However, others disagree, arguing that a more radical transformation of agriculture is needed, one guided by the notion that ecological change in agriculture cannot be promoted without comparable changes in the social, political, cultural and economic arenas that conform and determine agriculture. The organized peasant and indigenous based agrarian movements, e.g. Via Campesina, take take action by arguing that only by changing the export-led, free-trade based, industrial agriculture model of large farms can halt what they call the downward spiral of poverty, low wages, rural-urban migration, hunger and environmental degradation. See also Subsidies For All! Perverse agricultural subsidies Protectionism Free trade Agricultural policy Price support Farm gate value 2007–2008 world food price crisis Electrical energy efficiency on United States farms References Further reading Farm Commodity Programs: A Short Primer, a Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, 20 June 2002. External links You Are What You Grow – Article on farm subsidies from The New York Times.

environmental effects of irrigation

The environmental effects of irrigation relate to the changes in quantity and quality of soil and water as a result of irrigation and the subsequent effects on natural and social conditions in river basins and downstream of an irrigation scheme. The effects stem from the altered hydrological conditions caused by the installation and operation of the irrigation scheme. Amongst some of these problems is depletion of underground aquifers through overdrafting. Soil can be over-irrigated due to poor distribution uniformity or management wastes water, chemicals, and may lead to water pollution. Over-irrigation can cause deep drainage from rising water tables that can lead to problems of irrigation salinity requiring watertable control by some form of subsurface land drainage. However, if the soil is under irrigated, it gives poor soil salinity control which leads to increased soil salinity with the consequent buildup of toxic salts on the soil surface in areas with high evaporation. This requires either leaching to remove these salts and a method of drainage to carry the salts away. Irrigation with saline or high-sodium water may damage soil structure owing to the formation of alkaline soil. Direct effects An irrigation scheme draws water from groundwater, rivers, lakes or overland flow, and distributes it over a certain area. Hydrological, or direct, effects of doing this include reduction in downstream river flow, increased evaporation in the irrigated area, increased level in the water table as groundwater recharge in the area is increased and flow increased in the irrigated area. Likewise, irrigation has immediate effects on the provision of moisture to the atmosphere, inducing atmospheric instabilities and increasing downwind rainfall, or in other cases modifies the atmospheric circulation, delivering rain to different downwind areas. Increases or decreases in irrigation are a key area of concern in precipitationshed studies, that examine how significant modifications to the delivery of evaporation to the atmosphere can alter downwind rainfall. Indirect Effects Indirect effects are those that have consequences that take longer to develop and may also be longer-lasting. The indirect effects of irrigation include the following: Waterlogging Soil salination Ecological damage Socioeconomic impactsThe indirect effects of waterlogging and soil salination occur directly on the land being irrigated. The ecological and socioeconomic consequences take longer to happen but can be more far-reaching. Some irrigation schemes use water wells for irrigation. As a result, the overall water level decreases. This may cause water mining, land/soil subsidence, and, along the coast, saltwater intrusion. Irrigated land area worldwide occupies about 16% of the total agricultural area and the crop yield of irrigated land is roughly 40% of the total yield. In other words, irrigated land produces 2.5 times more product than non-irrigated land. Adverse impacts Reduced river flow The reduced downstream river flow may cause: reduced downstream flooding disappearance of ecologically and economically important wetlands or flood forests reduced availability of industrial, municipal, household, and drinking water reduced shipping routes. Water withdrawal poses a serious threat to the Ganges. In India, barrages control all of the tributaries to the Ganges and divert roughly 60 percent of river flow to irrigation reduced fishing opportunities. The Indus River in Pakistan faces scarcity due to the over-extraction of water for agriculture. The Indus is inhabited by 25 amphibian species and 147 fish species of which 22 are found nowhere else in the world. It harbors the endangered Indus river dolphin, one of the world's rarest mammals. Fish populations, the main source of protein and overall life support systems for many communities, are also being threatened reduced discharge into the sea, which may have various consequences like coastal erosion (e.g. in Ghana) and saltwater intrusion in delta's and estuaries (e.g. in Egypt, see Aswan dam). Current water withdrawal from the river Nile for irrigation is so high that, despite its size, in dry periods the river does not reach the sea. The Aral Sea has suffered an "environmental catastrophe" due to the interception of river water for irrigation purposes. Increased groundwater recharge, waterlogging, soil salinity Increased groundwater recharge stems from the unavoidable deep percolation losses occurring in the irrigation scheme. The lower the irrigation efficiency, the higher the losses. Although fairly high irrigation efficiencies of 70% or more (i.e. losses of 30% or less) can occur with sophisticated techniques like sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation, or by well managed surface irrigation, in practice the losses are commonly in the order of 40% to 60%. This may cause the following issues: rising water tables increased storage of groundwater that may be used for irrigation, municipal, household, and drinking water by pumping from wells waterlogging and drainage problems in villages, agricultural lands, and along roads - with mostly negative consequences. The increased level of the water table can lead to reduced agricultural production. shallow water tables - a sign that the aquifer is unable to cope with the groundwater recharge stemming from the deep percolation losses where water tables are shallow, the irrigation applications are reduced. As a result, the soil is no longer leached and soil salinity problems develop stagnant water tables at the soil surface are known to increase the incidence of water-borne diseases like malaria, filariasis, yellow fever, dengue, and schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) in many areas. Health costs, appraisals of health impacts and mitigation measures are rarely part of irrigation projects, if at all. to mitigate the adverse effects of shallow water tables and soil salinization, some form of watertable control, soil salinity control, drainage and drainage system is needed as drainage water moves through the soil profile it may dissolve nutrients (either fertilizer-based or naturally occurring) such as nitrates, leading to a buildup of those nutrients in the ground-water aquifer. High nitrate levels in drinking water can be harmful to humans, particularly infants under 6 months, where it is linked to "blue-baby syndrome" (see Methemoglobinemia). Reduced downstream river water quality Owing to drainage of surface and groundwater in the project area, which waters may be salinized and polluted by agricultural chemicals like biocides and fertilizers, the quality of the river water below the project area can deteriorate, which makes it less fit for industrial, municipal and household use. It may lead to reduced public health. Polluted river water entering the sea may adversely affect the ecology along the seashore (see Aswan dam). The natural contribution of sediments can be eliminated by the detention of sediments behind the dams critical to surface water irrigation diversions. Sedimentation is an essential part of the ecosystem that requires the natural flux of the river flow. This natural cycle of sediment dispersion replenishes the nutrients in the soil, which will, in turn, determine the livelihood of the plants and animals that rely on the sediments carried downstream. The benefits of heavy deposits of sedimentation can be seen in large rivers like the Nile River. The sediment from the delta has built up to form a giant aquifer during flood season and retains water in the wetlands. The wetlands that are created and sustained due to built-up sediment at the basin of the river are a habitat for numerous species of birds. However, heavy sedimentation can reduce downstream river water quality and can exacerbate floods upstream. This has been known to happen in the Sanmenxia reservoir in China. The Sanmenxia reservoir is part of a larger man-made project of hydroelectric dams called the Three Gorge Project In 1998, uncertain calculations and heavy sediment greatly affected the reservoir’s ability to properly fulfill its flood-control function This also reduces the downstream river water quality. Shifting more towards mass irrigation installments in order to meet more socioeconomic demands is going against the natural balance of nature, and use water pragmatically- use it where it is found Affected downstream water users Downstream water users often have no legal water rights and may fall victim to the development of irrigation. Pastoralists and nomadic tribes may find their land and water resources blocked by new irrigation developments without having legal recourse. Flood-recession cropping may be seriously affected by the upstream interception of river water for irrigation purposes. In Baluchistan, Pakistan, the development of new small-scale irrigation projects depleted the water resources of nomadic tribes traveling annually between Baluchistan and Gujarat or Rajasthan, India After the closure of the Kainji dam, Nigeria, 50 to 70 per cent of the downstream area of flood-recession cropping was lost Lost land use opportunities Irrigation projects may reduce the fishing opportunities of the original population and the grazing opportunities for cattle. The livestock pressure on the remaining lands may increase considerably, because the ousted traditional pastoralist tribes will have to find their subsistence and existence elsewhere, overgrazing may increase, followed by serious soil erosion and the loss of natural resources. The Manatali reservoir formed by the Manantali dam in Mali intersects the migration routes of nomadic pastoralists and destroyed 43000 ha of savannah, probably leading to overgrazing and erosion elsewhere. Further, the reservoir destroyed 120 km2 of forest. The depletion of groundwater aquifers, which is caused by the suppression of the seasonal flood cycle, is damaging the forests downstream of the dam. Groundwater mining with wells, land subsidence When more groundwater is pumped from wells than replenished, storage of water in the aquifer is being mined and the use of that water is no longer sustainable. As levels fail, it becomes more difficult to extract water and pumps will struggle to maintain the design flow rate and may consume more energy per unit of water. Eventually, it may become so difficult to extract groundwater that farmers may be forced to abandon irrigated agriculture. Some notable examples include: The hundreds of tubewells installed in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, with World Bank funding have operating periods of 1.4 to 4.7 hours/day, whereas they were designed to operate 16 hours/day In Baluchistan, Pakistan, the development of tubewell irrigation projects was at the expense of the traditional qanat or karez users groundwater-related subsidence of the land due to mining of groundwater occurred in the United States at a rate of 1m for every 13m that the water table was lowered Homes at Greens Bayou near Houston, Texas, where 5 to 7 feet of subsidence has occurred, was flooded during a storm in June 1989 as shown in the picture Simulation and prediction The effects of irrigation on the water table, soil salinity and salinity of drainage and groundwater, and the effects of mitigative measures can be simulated and predicted using agro-hydro-salinity models like SaltMod and SahysMod Case studies In India 2.19 million ha of land has been reported to suffer from waterlogging in irrigation canal commands. Also, 3.47 million ha were reported to be seriously salt-affected, In the Indus Plains in Pakistan, more than 2 million hectares of land are waterlogged. The soil of 13.6 million hectares within the Gross Command Area was surveyed, which revealed that 3.1 million hectares (23%) were saline. 23% of this was in Sindh and 13% in the Punjab. More than 3 million ha of water-logged lands have been provided with tube-wells and drains at the cost of billions of rupees, but the reclamation objectives were only partially achieved. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) states that 38% of the irrigated area is now waterlogged and 14% of the surface is too saline for use In the Nile delta of Egypt, drainage is being installed in millions of hectares to combat the water-logging resulting from the introduction of massive perennial irrigation after completion of the High Dam at Assuan In Mexico, 15% of the 3 million ha of irrigable land is salinized and 10% is waterlogged In Peru some 0.3 million ha of the 1.05 million ha of irrigable land suffers from degradation (see Irrigation in Peru). Estimates indicate that roughly one-third of the irrigated land in the major irrigation countries is already badly affected by salinity or is expected to become so in the near future. Present estimates for Israel are 13% of the irrigated land, Australia 20%, China 15%, Iraq 50%, Egypt 30%. Irrigation-induced salinity occurs in large and small irrigation systems alike FAO has estimated that by 1990 about 52 million ha of irrigated land will need to have improved drainage systems installed, much of it subsurface drainage to control salinity Reduced downstream drainage and groundwater quality The downstream drainage water quality may deteriorate owing to leaching of salts, nutrients, herbicides and pesticides with high salinity and alkalinity. There is the threat of soils converting into saline or alkali soils. This may negatively affect the health of the population at the tail-end of the river basin and downstream of the irrigation scheme, as well as the ecological balance. The Aral Sea, for example, is seriously polluted by drainage water. The downstream quality of the groundwater may deteriorate in a similar way as the downstream drainage water and have similar consequences Mitigation of adverse effects Irrigation can have a variety of negative impacts on ecology and socioeconomy, which may be mitigated in a number of ways. These include siting the irrigation project in a location that minimizes negative impacts. The efficiency of existing projects can be improved and existing degraded croplands can be improved rather than establishing a new irrigation project Developing small-scale, individually owned irrigation systems as an alternative to large-scale, publicly owned and managed schemes. The use of sprinkler irrigation and micro-irrigation systems decreases the risk of waterlogging and erosion. Where practicable, using treated wastewater makes more water available to other users Maintaining flood flows downstream of the dams can ensure that an adequate area is flooded each year, supporting, amongst other objectives, fishery activities. Delayed environmental impacts It often takes time to accurately predict the impact that new irrigation schemes will have on the ecology and socioeconomy of a region. By the time these predictions are available, a considerable amount of time and resources may have already been expended in the implementation of that project. When that is the case, the project managers will often only change the project if the impact would be considerably more than they had originally expected. Case study in Malawi Frequently irrigation schemes are seen as extremely necessary for socioeconomic well-being especially in developing countries. One example of this can be demonstrated from a proposal for an irrigation scheme in Malawi. Here it was shown that the potential positive effects of the irrigation project that was being proposed "outweighed the potential negative impacts". It was stated that the impacts would mostly "be localized, minimal, a short term occurring during the construction and operation phases of the Project". In order to help alleviate and prevent major environmental impacts, they would use techniques that minimize the potential negative impacts. As far as the region's socioeconomic well-being, there would be no "displacement and/or resettlement envisioned during the implementation of the project activities". The original primary purposes of the irrigation project were to reduce poverty, improve food security, create local employment, increase household income and enhance the sustainability of land use.Due to this careful planning, this project was successful both in improving the socioeconomic conditions in the region and ensuring that land and water are sustainable into the future. See also Environmental issues with agriculture Environmental impacts of reservoirs Alkali soils Irrigation in viticulture Routing (hydrology) Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education Further reading T.C. Dougherty and A.W. Hall, 1995. Environmental impact assessment of irrigation and drainage projects. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 53. ISBN 92-5-103731-0. On line: http://www.fao.org/docrep/v8350e/v8350e00.htm R.E. Tillman, 1981. Environmental guidelines for irrigation. New York Botanical Garden Cary Arboretum. A comparative survey of dam-induced resettlement in 50 cases by Thayer Scudder and John Gray External links Download of simulation and prediction model SaltMod from: [9] Download of simulation and prediction model SahysMod from: [10] "SaltMod: A tool for the interweaving of irrigation and drainage for salinity control": [11] "Modern interferences with traditional irrigation in Baluchistan": [12] == References ==

agriculture in scotland

Agriculture in Scotland includes all land use for arable, horticultural or pastoral activity in Scotland, or around its coasts. The first permanent settlements and farming date from the Neolithic period, from around 6,000 years ago. From the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BCE, arable land spread at the expense of forest. From the Iron Age, beginning in the seventh century BCE, there was use of cultivation ridges and terraces. During the period of Roman occupation there was a reduction in agriculture and the early Middle Ages were a period of climate deterioration resulting in more unproductive land. Most farms had to produce a self-sufficient diet, supplemented by hunter-gathering. More oats and barley were grown, and cattle were the most important domesticated animal. From c. 1150 to 1300, the Medieval Warm Period allowed cultivation at greater heights and made land more productive. The system of infield and outfield agriculture may have been introduced with feudalism from the twelfth century. The rural economy boomed in the thirteenth century, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off in incomes to be followed by a slow recovery in the fifteenth century. The early modern era saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century. The closing decade of the seventeenth century saw a slump, followed by four years of failed harvests, in what is known as the "seven ill years", but these shortages would be the last of their kind. After the Union of 1707 there was a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. Introductions included haymaking, the English plough, new crops, crop rotation and encloses were introduced. The resulting Lowland Clearances saw hundreds of thousands of cottars and tenant farmers from central and southern Scotland lose access to land and either become landless agricultural workers or emigrate to the growing industrial cities or elsewhere. The later Highland Clearances involved the eviction of many traditional tenants as lands were enclosed, principally for sheep farming. In the first phase, many Highlanders were relocated as crofters, living on very small rented farms which required other employment to be found. In the twentieth century Scottish agriculture became more susceptible to world markets. There were dramatic price rises in the First World War, but a slump in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by more rises in World War II. In 1947 annual price reviews were introduced in an attempt to stabilise the market. There was a drive in UK agriculture to greater production until the late 1970s, resulting in intensive farming. There was increasing mechanisation and farming became less labour-intensive. UK membership of the European Economic Community from 1972 began a change in orientation for Scottish farming. Some sectors became viable only with subsidies. A series of reforms to the CAP from the 1990s attempted to control over-production, limit incentives for intensive farming and mitigate environmental damage. A dual farm structure has emerged with agriculture divided between large commercial farms and small pluralised and diversified holdings. Roughly 79 per cent of Scotland’s total land area is under agricultural production. Cereals accounted for 78 per cent of the land area, while livestock numbers have been falling in recent years. Around 15 per cent of the total land area of Scotland is forested, most in public ownership controlled by the Forestry Commission. Total income from farming has been rising since the turn of the millennium. Aquaculture production is focused on the West and North of the country. Some farm businesses rely on sources of income other than from farming. Scottish agriculture employs around 1.5 per cent of the workforce and contributes to around 1 per cent of the Scottish economy. Topography and climate The defining factor in the geography of Scotland is the distinction between the Highlands and Islands in the north and west and the Lowlands in the south and east. The Highlands are further divided into the Northwest Highlands and the Grampian Mountains by the fault line of the Great Glen. The Lowlands are divided into the fertile belt of the Central Lowlands and the higher terrain of the Southern Uplands, which included the Cheviot Hills, over which the border with England runs. The Central Lowland belt averages about 50 miles in width, and contains most of the good quality agricultural land. Scotland is half the size of England and Wales in area, but with its many inlets, islands and inland lochs, it has roughly the same amount of coastline at 4,000 miles. Only a fifth of Scotland is less than 60 metres above sea level.Scotland's soils are diverse for a relatively small country due to the variation in geology, topography, climate, altitude and land use history. There are very productive arable soils in the east of the country, including some of the most productive for wheat and barley of anywhere in the world. Scotland's soils differ from much of the rest of the UK and Europe and they provide valuable habitats for wildlife and flora. They are largely naturally acidic in nature with high concentrations of organic carbon. They are predominantly coarse textured and often exhibit poor drainage.The climate of Scotland is temperate and very changeable, but rarely extreme. Scotland is warmed by the North Atlantic Drift and given the northerly location of the country, experiences much milder conditions than areas on similar latitudes. Average temperatures are lower than in the rest of Great Britain. Western coastal areas of Scotland are warmer than the east and inland areas, due to the influence of the Atlantic currents, and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea. Rainfall totals vary widely across Scotland—the western highlands of Scotland are one of the wettest places in the UK with annual rainfall up to 4,577 mm (180.2 in). In comparison, much of eastern Scotland receives less than 870 mm (34.3 in) annually; lying in the rain shadow of the western uplands. Annual average sunshine totals vary from as little as 711–1140 hours in the Highlands and the north-west up to 1471–1540 hours on the extreme eastern and south-western coasts. Wind prevails from the south-west, bringing warm, wet and unstable air from the Atlantic. The windiest areas of Scotland are in the north and west, with parts of the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland experiencing over 30 days with gales per year. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, also known as European windstorms, are a common feature of the autumn and winter in Scotland. History Prehistory Mesolithic hunter-gatherer encampments formed the first known settlements in Scotland around 8500 BCE. These were highly mobile boat-using people making tools from bone, stone and antlers. In the Neolithic period, around 6,000 years ago, there is evidence of permanent settlements and farming. Archaeological evidence indicates that the two main sources of food were grain and cow's milk. From the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BCE, arable land spread at the expense of forest. From the Iron Age, beginning in the seventh century BCE, there is evidence of hill forts in southern Scotland that are associated with cultivation ridges and terraces. Souterrains, small underground constructions, may have been for storing perishable agricultural products. Aerial photography reveals extensive prehistoric field systems that underlie existing boundaries in some Lowland areas, suggesting that the fertile plains were already densely exploited for agriculture. During the period of Roman occupation there was re-growth of birch, oak and hazel for five centuries, suggesting a decline of population and agriculture. Middle Ages The early Middle Ages were a period of climate deterioration resulting in more land becoming unproductive. Most farms had to produce a self-sufficient diet of meat, dairy products and cereals, supplemented by hunter-gathering. Farming was based around a single homestead or a small cluster of three or four homes, each probably containing a nuclear family. The climate meant that more oats and barley were grown than corn (here meaning wheat) and cattle were the most important domesticated animal. In the period c. 1150 to 1300, warm dry summers and less severe winters allowed cultivation at much greater heights above sea level and made land more productive. Arable farming grew significantly, but was still more common in low-lying areas than in high-lying areas such as the Highlands, Galloway and the Southern Uplands. The system of infield and outfield agriculture, a variation of open field farming widely used across Europe, may have been introduced with feudalism from the twelfth century and would continue until the eighteenth century. Crops were bere (a form of barley), oats and sometimes wheat, rye and legumes. The more extensive outfield was used for oats. By the late Medieval period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, allocated in run rigs to tenant farmers, known as husbandmen. Runrigs usually ran downhill so that they included both wet and dry land. Most ploughing was done with a heavy wooden plough with an iron coulter, pulled by oxen, which were more effective and cheaper to feed than horses. Key crops included kale, hemp and flax. Sheep and goats were probably the main sources of milk, while cattle were raised for meat. The rural economy appears to have boomed in the thirteenth century and in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death was still buoyant, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off in incomes to be followed by a slow recovery in the fifteenth century. Early modern era As feudal distinctions declined in the early modern era, the barons and tenants-in-chief merged to form a new identifiable group, the lairds. With the substantial landholders of the yeomen, these heritors were the major landholding orders. Those with property rights included husbandmen, lesser landholders and free tenants. Many young people, both male and female, left home to become domestic and agricultural servants. The early modern era also saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, of colder and wetter weather, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century. Almost half the years in the second half of the sixteenth century saw local or national scarcity, necessitating the shipping of large quantities of grain from the Baltic. In the early seventeenth century famine was relatively common, with four periods of famine prices between 1620 and 1625. The English invasions of the 1640s had a profound impact on the Scottish economy. Under the Commonwealth, the country was relatively highly taxed, but gained access to English markets. After the Restoration the formal frontier with England was re-established, along with its customs duties. Economic conditions were generally favourable from 1660 to 1688, as land owners promoted better tillage and cattle-raising. The closing decade of the seventeenth century there was a slump in trade with the Baltic and France and changes in the Scottish cattle trade, followed by four years of failed harvests (1695, 1696 and 1698-9), known as the "seven ill years". The shortages of the 1690s would be the last of their kind. Agricultural revolution Increasing contacts with England after the Union of 1707 led to a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. The English plough was introduced and foreign grasses, the sowing of rye grass and clover. Turnips and cabbages were introduced, lands enclosed and marshes drained, lime was put down to combat soil acidity, roads built and woods planted. Drilling and sowing and crop rotation were introduced. The introduction of the potato to Scotland in 1739 provided a crop with a high yield, producing 3 to 5 times more calories per acre than a cereal crop.: 13  Enclosures began to displace the run rig system. The first result of these changes were the Lowland Clearances.The botanist John Hope complained about British naturalists who were enthusiastically exploring the landscape of colonial America while "absolutely inattentive to the natural productions of our native country". He founded the Society for the Importation of Foreign Seeds and Plants pursuing, as Carl Linnaeus did in Lapland, the adaptation of valuable cash crop plants to the Highlands.Agricultural improvement spread north and west, mostly over the period 1760 to 1850 as the Highland Clearances. Many farming tenants were evicted and offered tenancies in crofting communities, with their former possessions converted into large-scale sheep farms. Crofts were intended to be too small to support the occupants, so forcing them to work in other industries, such as fishing, quarrying or kelping. In the 1840 and 1850s Scotland suffered its last major subsistence crisis, when the potato blight that caused the Great Famine of Ireland reached the Highlands in 1846. This gave rise to the second phase of the Highland clearances, when landlords provided assisted passages for their tenants to emigrate in a desperate effort to rid themselves of a redundant population that was dependent on famine relief. Twentieth century In the twentieth century Scottish agriculture became susceptible to the ups and downs of world markets. There were dramatic price rises in the First World War, but a slump in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by more rises in World War II. In 1947 annual price reviews were introduced in an attempt to stabilise the market. After World War II there was a drive in UK agriculture to greater production until the late 1970s, resulting in intensive farming. More areas of marginal land were brought into production. There was increasing mechanisation of Scottish agriculture and farming became less labour-intensive. The UK membership of the European Economic Community (later the European Union) in 1972 began a change in orientation for Scottish farming. Some sectors, particularly hill sheep farming, became viable only with subsidies. A series of reforms to the CAP from the 1990s attempted to control over-production, limit incentives for intensive farming and mitigate environmental damage. A dual farm structure emerged, with agriculture divided between large commercial farms and small pluralised and diversified holdings. Modern agriculture Land use At the time of the June 2013 agricultural census the total area of agricultural holdings in Scotland was 5.6 million hectares, equal to 73 per cent of Scotland’s total land area. Just over half of this was rough grazing, with about a quarter taken up by grass, and about ten per cent used for crops or left fallow. The remainder was made up of woodland, ponds, yards or other uses. There was a further 580,000 hectares of common grazing, which if included made the total area 6.2 million hectares, or 79 per cent of Scotland’s total land area. Because of the persistence of feudalism and the land enclosures of the nineteenth century, the ownership of most land is concentrated in relatively few hands (some 350 people own about half the land). As a result, in 2003 the Scottish Parliament passed Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 that empowered tenant farmers and communities to purchase land even if the landlord did not want to sell.In June 2013, of crops grown in Scotland (excluding grass), cereals accounted for 78 per cent of the land area, with nearly three-quarters of that being barley (340,000 hectares). Wheat was also significant (87,000 hectares), along with oilseed rape (34,000 hectares), oats (32,000 hectares) and potatoes (29,000 hectares). Amongst fruit and vegetables, a total of 911 hectares of strawberries were grown, mainly under cover, which was the largest source of income amongst horticulture crops. The major areas of cereal production were Grampian, Tayside, Borders, Lothian and Fife. Livestock numbers have been falling in recent years. The trend began at the turn of the millennium in the case of pigs and sheep and dates to the mid-1970s in the case of cattle. In June 2013 there were 6.6 million sheep, 1.8 million cattle and 308,000 pigs, the lowest numbers since the 1940 and 1950s. Poultry numbers have tended to fluctuate over the last 25 years, but were down to 14.2 million in 2013.About 13,340 km² of land in Scotland is forested representing around 15 per cent of the total land area of Scotland. The majority of forests are in public ownership, with forestry policy being controlled by the Forestry Commission. The biggest plantations and timber resources are to be found in Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside, Argyll and the area governed by Highland Council. The economic activities generated by forestry in Scotland include planting and harvesting as well as sawmilling, the production of pulp and paper and the manufacture of higher value goods. Forests, especially those surrounding populated areas in Central Scotland also provide a recreation resource. Income and employment Total income from farming (TIFF) has been rising since the turn of the millennium. It was estimated at £700 million in 2012, being made up of £2.9 billion in outputs and £570 million in support payments, offset by £2.8 billion in costs. The initial estimate of TIFF for 2013 was £830 million, an increase largely linked to the improved weather. TIFF per annual work unit increased to £31,000, similar to the value in 2011. Aquaculture production is focused on the West and North of the country. The total output of aquaculture was estimated in 2011 at around £434 million per year, including around £412 million for farmed Atlantic salmon, £14.34 million for rainbow trout and £7.7 million for shellfish. Brown trout, sea trout, halibut and Arctic charr are also farmed in Scotland.Some farm businesses rely on sources of income other than from farming, including contracting work, hosting mobile phone masts, tourism and recreation and financial support from grants and subsidies. Analysis of the Farm Accounts Survey suggests that, excluding support from grants and subsidies, the average farm made a loss of £16,000 in 2012. However, calculations from TIFF suggest that, excluding support, the sector still made a small profit.Government figures indicate that in 2013 Scottish agriculture employed around 1.5 per cent of the workforce and contributes around 1 per cent of the Scottish economy. Other studies suggest the employment rate to be around 8 per cent of the total rural population, and in terms of numbers the estimates indicate that around 68,000 people are directly employed or self-employed in agriculture, while around 200,000 people are related to a variety of activities related to agriculture. In the Highlands and Islands, around 10 per cent of the workforce are engaged in agriculture and livestock products contribute around 70 per cent of the output. Education The West of Scotland Agricultural College formed in 1899, the East of Scotland Agricultural College in 1901, and the North of Scotland Agricultural College in 1904; these colleges amalgamated to form the Scottish Agricultural College in 1990. Environmental protection Site-specific nature conservations began in the UK with the creation of the Nature Conservancy in 1948, which later became the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC). It moved from a research-based advisory group to become a campaigning body. The 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act excluded Scotland, but introduced the concept of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which were to become a key part of managing nature conservation. A Countryside Commission Scotland (CSS) was established under the Countryside Scotland Act, 1967. The SSSI were strengthened by the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which for the first time introduced the concept of payments to farmers for inactivity in relation to specific sites and shifted the burden of proof from conservationist having to prove harm, to landholders having to prove that harm was not taking place. The NCC was broken up in 1991 and in Scotland was merged with CSS to produce Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), under a UK-wide Joint Nature Conservation Committee. SNH has a remit for both land and nature conservation and a responsibility towards sustainability and to the consideration of the needs of the Scottish people. Rights of way In Scotland, a right of way is a route over which the public has been able to pass unhindered for at least 20 years. The route must link two "public places", such as villages, churches or roads. Unlike in England and Wales there is no obligation on Scottish local authorities to signpost or mark a right of way. However, the charity Scotways, formed in 1845 to protect rights of way, records and signs the routes. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives everyone statutory access rights to most land and inland water in Scotland, to non-motorized traffic, making the existence of rights of way less important in terms of access to land in Scotland. Certain categories of land are excluded from this presumption of open access, such as railway land, airfields and private gardens. See also Macaulay Institute Agriculture in the United Kingdom National Farmers' Union of Scotland National Museum of Rural Life Royal Highland Show Scottish Agricultural Science Agency Scottish Crofting Federation Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department Scottish Land Court == References ==

agriculture in madagascar

Agriculture employs the majority of Madagascar's population. Mainly involving smallholders, agriculture has seen different levels of state organisation, shifting from state control to a liberalized sector. Rice is the main produce and main export crop of Madagascar. It is mainly planted in a terraced paddy system in the central highlands. Other major subsistence crops include cassava, corn, and sweet potato, while coffee, cloves, vanilla and other cash crops are exported. Among livestock, zebu account for most of the cattle, while pigs, sheep and poultry are also raised. Fishing is popular, and aquaculture has grown in importance. Madagascar has seen high rates of deforestation, and the illegal extraction of highly valued timber species such as mahogany, ebony, and rosewood threatens native stands. The traditional slash-and-burn agriculture (tavy) together with population growth put increasing pressure on the native and very diverse flora of Madagascar. Production Madagascar produced, in 2018: 4 million tons of rice; 3.1 million tons of sugarcane; 2.5 million tons of cassava; 1 million tons of sweet potato; 388 thousand tons of vegetable; 383 thousand tons of banana; 300 thousand tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava); 257 thousand tons of potato; 230 thousand tons of taro; 215 thousand tons of maize; 93 thousand tons of pineapple; 86 thousand tons of beans; 83 thousand tons of orange; 73 thousand tons of coconut;In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like coffee (57 thousand tons), clove (23 thousand tons), cocoa (11 thousand tons), cashew (7 thousand tons) and vanilla (3 thousand tons). Seasons and geography Agriculture in Madagascar is heavily influenced by the island's rainfall, which is generally abundant on the whole East coast, decreases sharply on the highlands, and falls to less than 500 mm per year in the South and South-West. The main growing season starts with the first rains in October – November. The cropping calendar greatly varies from region to region, according to the very different climatic conditions, soils and altitude. Farming statistics There are 2,4 million farms of which the large majority are smallholders. This sector is characterized by farms not exceeding 1,3 hectares on average, fragmented (which hampers mechanization), with a large variety of crops, extensive practices, traditional varieties, limited equipment and infrastructures and poor water control, producing barely enough to feed their families. Agricultural production is not constrained by lack of cultivable land. In fact, out of the 41 million hectares of agricultural land, only 3.5 million hectares are cultivated annually. The remainder of the area is under pastures (37.3 million ha) and forest (13 million ha). Irrigation would be possible over 1.5 million hectares of which about 1.1 million are somehow irrigated, with wide areas needing rehabilitation and investmentsFood crop production is the most important agriculture sub-sector accounting for around 75 percent of the cultivated area (2009). Rice is the staple food, covering 1.34 million hectares throughout the country – with the exception of some semi-arid areas in the South and in the South-West – under both rain-fed and irrigated systems. Other food crops include maize (mainly grown in the South and Central-East regions), cassava, sorghum (in the South), beans, groundnut, sweet potatoes and a wide variety of vegetables. Cassava is an important component of the smallholder's risk reduction strategy because it is drought tolerant and resistant to disease. Cassava, sweet potato and maize are the main source of calories in the lean season (from September to January). Groundnut is cultivated on sandy soils in most locations and makes an important contribution to household diet and income. The main cash crops are cotton, vanilla, coffee, litchi, pepper, tobacco, groundnut, sugar cane, sisal, clove and ylang-ylang. In general, levels of production and revenue of smallholders remain low due to a combination of multiple negative factors including land tenure insecurity, weak organisation of the agricultural filières, low intensity inputs use, no mechanization, and low soil productivity due to land degradation (especially erosion in the highlands). Nevertheless, rice production has increased from 2.4 million tons in 1990 to 4.0 million tons in 2009 thanks to the increase of both cultivated area (15 percent) and yields (40 percent). Shifting cultivation Traditional farming methods vary from one ethnic group or location to another, according to population density, climate, water supply. The most intensive form of cultivation is practiced among the Betsileo and Merina groups of the central highlands, where population densities are the highest. At the other extreme are the extensive slash-and-burn methods of brush clearing and shifting cultivation in the south and the east. In the forested areas of the eastern coast, the Betsimisaraka and Tanala peoples also practice irrigated rice culture where possible. The dominant form of land use, however, is shifting cultivation by the slash-and-burn method, known as tavy. The smaller trees and brush are cut down and left to dry, then burned just before the rainy season. The cleared area is usually planted with mountain rice and corn. After two or three years of cultivation, the fields are usually left fallow and are gradually covered by secondary vegetation known as savoka. After ten or twenty years, the area may be cultivated again. Because the slash-and-burn method destroys the forest and other vegetation cover, and promotes erosion, it has been declared illegal. Government assistance is offered to those cultivators who prepare rice paddies instead, and those practicing tavy are fined or, in extreme cases, imprisoned. Despite the penalties, and much to the chagrin of forestry agents, tavy continues to be practiced. Even those who cultivate wet paddies often practice tavy on the side. The crop cycle for tavy is shorter than for irrigated rice, and generations of experience have taught that it is one of the few forms of insurance against the droughts that occur about every three years. Moreover, the precipitous slopes and heavy, irregular rains make it difficult to maintain affordable and controllable irrigation systems. A similar system of shifting cultivation is practiced in the arid, sparsely populated regions of the extreme south and southwest. The dry brush or grassland is burned off, and drought-resistant sorghum or corn is sown in the ashes. In the Antandroy and some Mahafaly areas, however, the main staples of subsistence--cassava, corn, beans, and sorghum—are also grown around the villages in permanent fields enclosed by hedges. Dry-season cultivation in empty streambeds is practiced largely on the western coast and in the southwest and is called baiboho. The crops are sown after the last rising of the waters during the rainy seasons, and after the harvest fresh alluvial deposits naturally replenish the soil. Lima beans (also known as Cape peas) are raised by this system on the Mangoky River system delta, along with tobacco and a number of newer crops. Types of produce Rice The Betsileo are probably the most efficient traditional rice farmers. They construct rice paddies on narrow terraces ascending the sides of steep valleys in the southern portion of the central highlands, creating an intricate landscape reminiscent of Indonesia or the Philippines. The irrigation systems use all available water, which flows through narrow canals for considerable distances. Some rice paddies cover no more than a few square meters. Only those surfaces that cannot be irrigated are planted in dryland crops. In parts of the central highlands two rice crops a year can be grown, but not on the same plot. The Betsileo use a variety of local species that can be sown at different times, employing irrigation to grow some varieties in the dry season and waiting for the rainy season to plant others. The fields surrounding the typical Betsileo village often represent a checkerboard of tiny plots in different stages of the crop cycle. The cultivation cycle begins with the repair of irrigation and drainage canals and plowing, which is performed with a longhandled spade or hoe. Manure or fertilizer is then spread over the field. If the supply of manure or artificial fertilizer is limited, only the seedbeds are fertilized. After fertilizing, family and neighbors join in a festive trampling of the fields, using cattle if available. Occasionally, trampling takes the place of plowing altogether. If the rice is to be sown broadcast, it may be done on the same day as trampling. In the more advanced areas, the seedlings are raised in protected seedbeds and transplanted later. Rice-farming techniques among the Merina resemble those of the Betsileo but are usually less advanced and intensive. The Merina territory includes some areas where land is more plentiful, and broader areas permit less laborious means of irrigation and terracing. Although rice is still the dominant crop, more dryland species are grown than in the Betsileo region, and greater use is made of the hillsides and grasslands. Livestock and fishing Livestock is widespread, with about 60 percent of rural families depending on it for their income. Animal production is dominated by extensive livestock rearing, pigs and poultry. There is also a growing modern poultry industry around the main cities. In 2008, livestock accounted for 9.7 million of head of cattle, 2 million sheep and goats, 1.4 million pigs, and 26 million poultry. Overall, meat production was estimated at 251,000 tons; milk, 530,000 tons; and hen eggs, 19,000 tons. Zebus are also used for agricultural work for puddling rice fields as well as for ploughing and pulling carts. The high prevalence of disease is the main constraint undermining an increase of production. For example, Newcastle disease is a major ubiquitous problem for poultry, Anthrax affects cattle, and Classical and African swine fever affect pigs. Overall, the performances of this sub-sector are poor, with the exception of some filières (milk, small animals). Both on the highlands and on the coasts, many farmers use fishing as a complement to agriculture and livestock, but it remains characterized by the use of rudimentary tools and materials and inadequate conservation. Madagascar has enormous potential in the fisheries sector (notably along its western coast in the province of Toliara). There is also a good potential for the development of shrimps and prawns rising and for freshwater aquaculture (mainly for common carp and tilapia) in paddy fields, ponds and cages. In 2008, captures of fishery and aquaculture production totalled 130,000 tons About 35,000 tons of fishery products are exported every year. More than 50 percent are exported toward the European countries, the rest, toward Japan, Mauritius and some Asian countries.The traditional livestock-raising peoples are the Bara, Sakalava, and other groups of the south and the west, where almost every family owns some zebu cattle. The common practice is to allow the animals to graze almost at will, and the farmers take few precautions against the popular custom of cattle stealing. These farmers are also accustomed to burning off the dry grass to promote the growth of new vegetation for animal feed. The cattle generally are slaughtered only for ceremonial occasions, but these are so frequent that the per capita meat consumption among the cattle herders is very high. Fishing is popular as a sideline by farmers who supplement their farm produce with fish from freshwater rivers, lakes, and ponds. Perhaps two-thirds of the total yearly catch is consumed for subsistence; transportation costs to the capital make the price of marketed fish prohibitively expensive to other domestic consumers. The introduction of tilapia fish from the African mainland in the 1950s increased inland aquaculture. Many families, particularly in the central highlands, have established fish ponds to raise carp, black bass, or trout. The breeding of fish in rice fields, however, requires sophisticated water control and a strong guard against dynamiting, poisoning, and poaching, which remain chronic problems. Timber Extensive stands of ebony, rosewood and mahogany flourish on the East coast. In 2009, the timber cut was approximately 25 million cubic metres (880×10^6 cu ft). Wood production is from natural forests and is almost entirely consumed locally for fuel and construction. Bush fires and illegal logging further exacerbate the loss of forest areas, which is estimated at the rate of 330,000 hectares (820,000 acres) per year. Aquaculture Policy and development The 1984–85 agricultural census estimated that 8.7 million people live in the rural areas and that 65 percent of the active poption within these areas lives at the subsistence level. The census also noted that average farm size was 1.2 hectares, although irrigated rice plots in the central highlands were often 0.5 hectares. Only 5.2 percent (3,000,000 hectares (7,400,000 acres)) of the country's total land area of 58.2 million hectares is under cultivation; of this hectarage, less than 2 million hectares are permanently cultivated. Agriculture is critical to Madagascar's economy in that it provides nearly 80 percent of exports, constituting 33 percent of GDP in 1993, and in 1992 employed almost 80 percent of the labor force. Moreover, 50.7 percent (300,000 square kilometers) of the total landmass of 592,000 square kilometers supports livestock rearing, while 16 percent (484,000 hectares) of land under cultivation is irrigated. State control of production The government significantly reorganized the agricultural sector of the economy beginning in 1972. Shortly after Ratsiraka assumed power, the government announced that holdings in excess of 500 hectares would be turned over to landless families, and in 1975 it reported that 500,000 hectares of land had been processed under the program. The long-range strategy of the Ratsiraka regime was to create collective forms of farm management, but not necessarily of ownership. By the year 2000, some 72 percent of agricultural output was to come from farm cooperatives, 17 percent from state farms, and only 10 percent from privately managed farms. Toward this end, the Ministry of Agricultural Production coordinated with more than seventy parastatal agencies in the areas of land development, agricultural extension, research, and marketing activities. However, these socialist-inspired rural development policies, which led to a severe decline in per capita agricultural output during the 1970s, were at the center of the liberalization policies of the 1980s and the structural adjustment demands of the IMF and the World Bank. The evolution of rice production—the main staple food and the dominant crop—offers insight into some problems associated with agricultural production that were compounded by the Ratsiraka years. Rice production grew by less than 1 percent per year during the 1970–79 period, despite the expansion of the cultivated paddy area by more than 3 percent per year. Moreover, the share of rice available for marketing in the rapidly growing urban areas declined from 16 or 17 percent of the total crop in the early 1970s to about 11 or 12 percent during the latter part of the decade. As a result, Madagascar became a net importer of rice beginning in 1972, and by 1982 was importing nearly 200,000 tons per year—about 10 percent of the total domestic crop and about equal to the demand from urban customers. The inefficient system of agricultural supply and marketing, which since 1972 increasingly had been placed under direct state control, was a major factor inhibiting more efficient and expanded rice production. From 1973 to 1977, one major parastatal agency, the Association for the National Interest in Agricultural Products (Société d'Intérêt National des Produits Agricoles—SINPA), had a monopoly in collecting, importing, processing, and distributing a number of commodities, most notably rice. Corruption leading to shortages of rice in a number of areas caused a scandal in 1977, and the government was forced to take over direct responsibility for rice marketing. In 1982 SINPA maintained a large share in the distribution system for agricultural commodities; it subcontracted many smaller parastatal agencies to handle distribution in certain areas. The decreasing commercialization of rice and other commodities continued, however, suggesting that transportation bottlenecks and producer prices were undermining official distribution channels. Liberalization To promote domestic production and reduce foreign imports of rice, the Ratsiraka regime enacted a series of structural adjustment reforms during the 1980s. These included the removal of government subsidies on the consumer purchase price of rice in 1984 and the disbanding of the state marketing monopoly controlled by SINPA in 1985. Rice growers responded by moderately expanding production by 9.3 percent during the latter half of the 1980s from 2.18 million tons in 1985 to 2.38 million tons in 1989, and rice imports declined dramatically by 70 percent between 1985 and 1989. However, the Ratsiraka regime failed to restore self-sufficiency in rice production (estimated at between 2.8 million to 3.0 million tons), and rice imports rose again in 1990. In 1992 rice production occupied about two-thirds of the cultivated area and produced 40 percent of total agricultural income, including fishing, which was next with 19 percent, livestock raising, and forestry. In February 1994, Cyclone Geralda hit Madagascar just as the rice harvesting was to start and had a serious impact on the self-sufficiency goal. In addition, the southern tip of Madagascar suffered from severe drought in late 1993, resulting in emergency assistance to 1 million people from the United Nations (UN) World Food Program (WFP). This WFP aid was later transformed into a food-for-work program to encourage development. Other food crops have witnessed small increases in production from 1985 to 1992. Cassava, the second major food crop in terms of area planted (almost everywhere on the island) and probably in quantity consumed, increased in production from 2.14 million tons in 1985 to 2.32 million tons in 1992. During this same period, corn production increased from 140,000 tons to 165,000 tons, sweet potato production increased from 450,000 tons to 487,000 tons, and bananas dropped slightly from 255,000 tons to 220,000 tons. Export crops Several export crops are also important to Madagascar's economy. Coffee prices witnessed a boom during the 1980s, making coffee the leading export crop of the decade; in 1986 coffee earned a record profit of US$151 million. Prices within the coffee market gradually declined during the remainder of the 1980s, and earnings reached a low of US$28 million in 1991 although they rebounded to US$58 million in 1992. Cotton traditionally has been the second major export crop, but most output during the early 1980s was absorbed by the local textile industry. Although cotton output rose from 27,000 tons in 1987 to 46,000 tons in 1988, once again raising the possibility of significant export earnings, the combination of drought and a faltering agricultural extension service in the southwest contributed to a gradual decline in output to only 20,000 tons in 1992. Two other export crops--cloves and vanilla—have also declined in importance from the 1980s to the 1990s. Indonesia, the primary importer of Malagasy cloves, temporarily halted purchases in 1983 as a result of sufficient domestic production, and left Madagascar with a huge surplus. A collapse in international prices for cloves in 1987, compounded by uncertain future markets and the normal cyclical nature of the crop, has led to a gradual decline in production from a high of 14,600 tons in 1991 to 7,500 tons in 1993. Similarly, the still state-regulated vanilla industry (state-regulated prices for coffee and cloves were abolished in 1988–89) found itself under considerable financial pressure after 1987 because Indonesia reentered the international market as a major producer and synthetic competitors emerged in the two major markets of the United States and France. As a result, vanilla production has declined from a high of 1,500 tons in 1988 and 1989 to only 700 tons in 1993. However, in recent years, there has been a resurgence of vanilla. Cacao is also a major export crop in the Ambanja region in the northwest. Fisheries and livestock The fisheries sector, especially the export of shrimp, is the most rapidly growing area of the agricultural economy. This production is making up for lost revenues and potential structural decline within the ailing coffee, vanilla, and clove trade. Since 1988 total fish production has expanded nearly 23 percent from 92,966 tons to 114,370 tons in 1993. The export of shrimp constituted an extremely important portion of this production, providing export earnings of US$48 million in 1993. It is estimated by Aqualma, the major multinational corporation in the shrimp industry, that expansion into roughly 35,000 hectares of swampland on the country's west coast may allow for the expansion of production from the current 6,500 tons and US$40 million in revenues to nearly 75,000 tons and US$400 million in revenues by the end of the 1990s. The prospects are also good for promoting greater levels of fish cultivation in the rice paddies, and exports of other fish products, most notably crab, tuna, and lobster, have been rising. Livestock production is limited in part because of traditional patterns of livestock ownership that have hampered commercialization. Beef exports in the early 1990s decreased because of poor government marketing practices, rundown slaughtering facilities, and inadequate veterinary services. Approximately 99 percent of cattle are zebu cattle. In 1990 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimated that Madagascar had 10.3 million cattle, 1.7 million sheep and goats, and some 21 million chickens. Environmental impact Most of the historical farming in Madagascar has been conducted by indigenous peoples. The French colonial period disturbed a very small percentage of land area, and even included some useful experiments in sustainable forestry. Slash-and-burn techniques, a component of some shifting cultivation systems have been practised by the inhabitants of Madagascar for centuries. As of 2006 some of the major agricultural products from slash-and-burn methods are wood, charcoal and grass for Zebu grazing. These practises have taken perhaps the greatest toll on land fertility since the end of French rule, mainly due to population growth pressures. The Madagascar dry deciduous forests have been preserved generally better than the eastern rainforests or the high central plateau, presumably due to historically less population density and scarcity of water; moreover, the present day lack of road access further limits human access. There has been some slash-and-burn activity in the western dry forests, reducing forest cover and the soil nutrient content. Slash-and-burn is a method sometimes used by shifting cultivators to create short term yields from marginal soils. When practiced repeatedly, or without intervening fallow periods, the nutrient poor soils may be exhausted or eroded to an unproductive state. Further protection of Madagascar's forests would assist in preservation of these diverse ecosystems, which have a very high ratio of endemic organisms to total species. A switch to slash-and-char would considerably advance preservation, while the ensuing biochar would also greatly benefit the soil if returned to it while mixed with compostable biomass such as crop residues. This would lead to the creation of terra preta, a soil among the richest on the planet and the only one known to regenerate itself (although how this happens exactly is still a mystery). The nascent carbon trading market may further bring direct economical benefits for the operators, since charcoal is a prime sequester of carbon and burying it spread in small pieces, as terra preta requires, is a most efficient guarantee that it will remain harmless for many thousands of years. See also Agroecology Food Security in Madagascar References Messerli, Peter (2000). "Use of Sensitivity Analysis to Evaluate Key Factors for Improving Slash-and-Burn Cultivation Systems on the Eastern Escarpment of Madagascar". Mountain Research and Development. 20: 32–41. doi:10.1659/0276-4741(2000)020[0032:UOSATE]2.0.CO;2. Retrieved December 7, 2008.Jarosz, Lucy (October 1993). "Defining and Explaining Tropical Deforestation: Shifting Cultivation and Population Growth in Colonial Madagascar (1896–1940)". Economic Geography. Clark University. 69 (4): 366–379. doi:10.2307/143595. JSTOR 143595. PMID 12318844. External links Ministry of Agriculture of Madagascar website Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery of Madagascar website FAO Aquastat. FAO. Country Brief for Madagascar Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine FAO. Evaluation des ressources forestières mondiales 2010. Rapport national Madagascar, Rome 2010 FAO. National Aquaculture Sector Overview Madagascar FAO. Statistical Yearbook 2010 UNDP. Plan Cadre des Nations Unies pour l’Assistance au Développement UNDAF Madagascar 2008–2011, Juin 2007 Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division.

agriculture in indonesia

Agriculture in Indonesia is one of the key sectors within the Indonesian economy. In the last 50 years, the sector's share in national gross domestic product has decreased considerably, due to the rise of industrialisation and service sector. Nevertheless, for the majority of Indonesian households, farming and plantation remains as a vital income generator. In 2013, the agricultural sector contributed 14.43% to national GDP, a slight decline from 2003's contribution which was 15.19%. In 2012, the agricultural sector provides jobs to approximately 49 million Indonesians, representing 41% of the country's total labor force.Currently, approximately 30% of Indonesia's land area is used for agriculture. Indonesian agriculture sector is supervised and regulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.The agricultural sector of Indonesia consists of: Large plantations, either owned by state or private companies; Smallholder production modes, mostly family owned and run by traditional agricultural households.Industrial scale export commodities such as palm oil and rubber, are mainly supplied by large plantations, while the small scale farmers focus on horticultural commodities such as rice, corn, soybeans, Mango, fruits and vegetables in order to meet the food consumption of the local and regional population.Located in the tropical region, Indonesia enjoys abundant rain and sunshine most of the time, which are important elements for agricultural products to thrive. The country possesses vast and abundant arable fertile soils. As one of the world's major agricultural nation, the country offers wide diversity of tropical products and important agricultural commodities; which include palm oil, natural rubber, cocoa, coffee, tea, cassava, rice and tropical spices. At present, Indonesia is also the world's largest producer of palm oil, cloves, and cinnamon, the 2nd largest producer of nutmeg natural rubber cassava vanilla and coconut oil, the 3rd largest producer of rice and cocoa, the 4th largest producer of coffee. the 5th largest tobacco producer. and the 6th largest producer of tea. History In Indonesian history, agricultural pursuits spanned for some millennia with some traces still observable in some parts of the archipelago. The hunter-gatherer society still exist in interior Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and Papua (Indonesian New Guinea) such as the Kombai people, while they were a sophisticated rice-cultivating community, the remnants of Hindu-Buddhist polity can still be observed in Bali through their subak irrigation system. Ancient era Agriculture in Indonesia started as a means to grow and provide food. Rice, coconut, sugar palm, taro, tubers, shallots and tropical fruits were among the earliest produce being cultivated in the archipelago. Evidence of wild rice cultivation on the island of Sulawesi dates back from 3000 BCE. Rice has been a staple food for Indonesians for a millennia and holds a central place in Indonesian culture and cuisine. The importance of rice in Indonesian culture is demonstrated through the reverence of Dewi Sri, the rice goddess of ancient Java and Bali. Traditionally, the agricultural cycles linked to rice cultivation were celebrated through rituals, such as Sundanese Seren Taun or the "rice harvest festival." In Bali, the traditional subak irrigation system was created to ensure that there is adequate water supply for rice paddies. The irrigation system was managed by priests and created around "water temples". Indonesian vernacular architecture also recognizes numbers of lumbung or rice barns styles, such as Sundanese leuit, Sasak style rice barn, Toraja's tongkonan shape, to Minangkabau's rangkiang. Rice-growing shapes the landscape, is sold at markets, and is served in most meals. While some panels of the bas-reliefs on temple walls, such as Borobudur and Prambanan, describe agricultural activities, Javanese stone inscriptions which can be traced back from the 8th century, describes the king placing a levy on rice. Next to rice, the bas-reliefs of Borobudur describe other indigenous agricultural products as well, like banana (musa paradisiaca), coconut (Cocos nucifera), sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum'), Java apple (Syzygium samarangense), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), durian (Durio zibethinus) and mangosteen (Mangifera indica). Local kingdoms in Indonesia were among the earliest polities to participate in global spice trade. The ancient maritime empires of Srivijaya (7th to 11th century) and Majapahit (13th to 15th century) for example, were actively involved in spice trade with China, India and the Middle East. Ports of Sunda and Banten were important centers of pepper trade back in the 14th to 17th centuries. Colonial era Certain endemic Indonesian spices such as nutmeg which is indigenous to the Banda Islands and cloves were highly sought in the West, and prompted the European Age of Exploration. The Portuguese were the earliest Europeans who established their presence in the archipelago by the early 16th century. The Portuguese, through Spanish intermediaries, introduced the New World's products such as chili pepper, maize, papaya, peanuts, potato, tomato, rubber and tobacco into the archipelago's soil.The surge of the global spice trade was what led European traders reach the Indonesian archipelago who were in search for direct sources of valuable spices, at the same time, cut through middlemen in Asia (Arabs and Indian merchants) and in Europe (Italian merchants). By the early 17th century, Dutch East India Company (VOC) began to establish its influence within the archipelago, by building trading offices, warehouses and forts in Amboina and Batavia. By then, VOC monopolized the spice commodity trade, especially pepper and nutmeg, and actively pursued its shares in intra-Asian trades with India and China. VOC further established sugar plantations in Java. By the turn of the 19th century, VOC was declared bankrupt and was nationalized by the Dutch as Dutch East Indies. This event officially marked the Dutch colonial period in the archipelago. In the mid-19th century, the Dutch East Indies government implemented cultuurstelsel which required a portion of agricultural production lands to be devoted to export crops. The cultivation system was enforced in Java and other parts of Indonesia by the Dutch colonial government between 1830 and 1870. Indonesian historians refer to it as Tanam Paksa ("Enforcement Planting"). The Dutch introduced numbers of cash crops and commodities to create and establish an economic engine in its colony. Establishment of sugarcane, coffee, tea, tobacco, quinine, rubber and palm oil plantations was also expanded in the colony.During the Dutch East Indies era, the agriculture sector was regulated by the Departement van Landbouw (1905), Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel (1911) and Departement van Ekonomische Zaken (1934). Republic era In 1942, Dutch East Indies fell under the control of the Japanese Empire. During the Japanese occupation, the agriculture sector was overseen by the Gunseikanbu Sangyobu. During World War II (1942—1945), the Indies experienced hardships which included agricultural scarcity and famine. Rice yields and plantation commodities were controlled by the Japanese empire's military authority. The plantation business which was a major economic sector, was relatively shut down during the Pacific War and the ensuing Indonesian war of independence (1945—1949). All efforts in the agricultural sector was focused in meeting basic needs for food (rice) and clothing (cotton). The Imperial Japanese authority attempted to increase rice and cotton production in the occupied Indies by mobilizing labor. However, scarcity of these essential commodities prevailed and resulted to famine and clothing shortage. The Indonesian Republic declared its independence on 17 August 1945. Indonesia became a member of United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1948. The partnership was strengthened with the opening of a FAO country office in 1978. The agriculture sector of the republic has been supervised and regulated by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. The Indonesian Republic also nationalized many of its colonial economic infrastructures, institutions and businesses and inherited the agricultural system of its predecessor, the Dutch East Indies.In the 1960s until the 1980s, the republic made every effort to develop a post-war agricultural sector and led to the sector's significant expansion. During the Suharto era, the government launched the transmigration program that relocated landless farmers from the overpopulated Java to the less populated Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua, thus expanded agricultural farms in the outer islands of the territory.The most significant indicator of growth is the expansion of palm oil plantations, which became the new form of transmigration program. Currently, Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil and the leading producer of coffee, rubber and cocoa. However, Indonesia still has vast tracts of idle lands which can potentially be developed into farmlands. These cover 40 million hectares of degraded forest areas that have turned into grasslands after being abandoned by logging concessionaires. Agricultural commodities are known for its economic resilience and are among the first to recover from the impacts of global financial meltdown. With a large number of its population still working in the agriculture segment, Indonesia has great potentials of attracting foreign investments. Production Indonesia produced in 2018: 115.2 million tons of palm oil (largest producer in the world); 83.0 million tons of rice (3rd largest producer in the world, behind China and India); 30.2 million tons of maize (6th largest producer in the world); 21.7 million tons of sugar cane (12th largest producer in the world); 18.5 million tons of coconut (largest producer in the world); 16.1 million tons of cassava (6th largest producer in the world); 7.2 million tons of banana (5th largest producer in the world); 3.6 million tons of natural rubber (2nd largest producer in the world, just behind Thailand); 3.0 million tons of mango (including mangosteen and guava) (4th largest producer in the world, only behind India, China and Thailand); 2.5 million tons of chili pepper (4th largest producer in the world, behind China, Mexico and Turkey); 2.5 million tons of orange (8th largest producer in the world); 1.8 million tons of pineapple (5th largest producer in the world, only behind Costa Rica, Philippines, Brazil and Thailand); 1.8 million tons of sweet potato (6th largest producer in the world); 1.5 million tons of onion (14th largest producer in the world); 1.4 million tons of cabbage; 1.2 million tonnes of potato; 976 thousand tons of tomatoes; 953 thousand tons of soy; 939 thousand tons of beans; 887 thousand tons of papaya (5th largest producer in the world, only behind India, Brazil, Mexico and Dominican Republic); 722 thousand tons of coffee (3rd largest producer in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam); 593 thousand tons of cocoa (3rd largest producer in the world, just behind Ivory Coast and Ghana); 410 thousand tons of avocado (4th largest producer in the world, only behind Mexico, Dominican Republic and Peru);In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as leeks (573 thousand tons), eggplant (551 thousand tons), cucumber (433 thousand tons), ginger (207 thousand tons), cashew nuts (136 thousand tons, 10th largest producer in the world), cloves (123 thousand tons), areca nut (128 thousand tonnes), kapok fruit (196 thousand tons), tea (141 thousand tons), tobacco (181 thousand tons, 6th largest producer in the world) etc. Food products The agriculture sector plays a vital role in food production and food security and in supplying the needs of a huge Indonesian population. Seafood In 2015, the total production of seafood reached about 22.31 million metric tons, valued at around 18.10 billion US dollars. For capture of wild fish (both inland and marine), the production trend was steady in 2011–2015, while there was a steep increase in the production from aquaculture during the same period. Rice Rice is a staple food in the Indonesian diet, as typical Indonesian meal consists of richly flavored side dishes, meat or poultry and vegetables, surrounding a pile of steamed rice. Indonesia is the 3rd largest rice producer in the world after China and India. However, because of Indonesia's large population, the rice it produces is consumed internally. As a vital necessity for Indonesian households, the government is responsible to regulate rice price and availability through Indonesian Bureau of Logistics (Bulog), which ensure its continuous supply and price stability. To ensure food security, the government fills the gap by importing from neighboring countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Horticulture Horticulture, which covers fruits and vegetables production, holds an important role in the local Indonesian economy and in the attainment of food security. Indonesia possesses a variety of horticultural products. Its native fruits include durian, mangosteen, rambutan, salak, banana, jackfruit, mango, kedondong, jambu air, buni, jamblang and kecapi. The bulk of fruits and vegetables needed by consumers are supplied by local traditional farmers. The products prices are highly dependent on seasonal availability and proximity to production centers, due to transportation and cargo infrastructure restrictions. As a result, prices of horticulture products vary greatly throughout Indonesia. Prices might be cheaper in Bandung and Bukittinggi as they are closer to horticulture farms but are significantly more expensive in Pekanbaru and Balikpapan which are located far from production centers. Recently, owing to a varied Indonesian topography, non-tropical horticultural products such as apple, strawberry, honeydew, grapes and dragon fruit are grown in the cooler mountainous region of Indonesia. The mountainous region around Malang in East Java is the production center for apple and dragon fruit, while those around Bandung in West Java are the production centers for strawberry, honeydew and mushroom. Despite its being home to the world's 4th largest population making it a huge market for horticultural products, the horticultural sector in Indonesia is deemed as under-performing which leads to the necessity of importing fruits and vegetables. Local Indonesian farmers face a difficult situation — the imported horticultural products are often cheaper and has a better quality than locally grown ones. Compared to neighboring countries with a well-developed horticultural sector like Thailand, Indonesia has much to improve. Currently, Indonesia imports much of its horticultural needs from Thailand (durian, carrot and chili pepper), China (garlic, orange and pear) and from the United States (soybean and apple). To protect local farmers, the Indonesian government applied protectionist policies on import settings for horticultural products, as well as restricting ports of entry. Spice is an essential element in Indonesian cuisine. In Indonesian, spice is called rempah, while the mixture of spices is called bumbu, they are chopped finely or ground into paste using traditional stone mortar and pestle, and spread over vegetables, meat, poultry, fish and seafood to add aroma and taste. Known as the "Spice Islands", the Indonesian islands of Maluku contributed to the introduction of its native spices to the world. Spices such as pala (nutmeg/mace), cengkeh (clove), daun pandan (pandan leaves), kluwek (Pangium edule) and laos (galangal) are native to Indonesia. However, surprisingly nutmeg, mace and cloves are seldom used in Indonesian cuisine.It is likely that lada hitam (black pepper), kunyit (turmeric), sereh (lemongrass), salam koja (curry leaf), bawang merah (shallot), kayu manis (cinnamon), kemiri (candlenut), ketumbar (coriander), and asam jawa (tamarind) were introduced from India or mainland Southeast Asia, while jahe (ginger), daun bawang (scallions) and bawang putih (garlic) were introduced from China. Those spices from mainland Asia were introduced early, in ancient times, thus they became integral ingredients in Indonesian cuisine. While the New World spices such as chili pepper and tomato were introduced by Portuguese and Spanish traders during the age of exploration in the 16th century. Commodities Palm oil Indonesia is both the world's biggest producer and consumer of the commodity, providing about half the world supply. Oil palm plantations stretch across 6 million hectares. Palm oil is the essential ingredients to produces cooking oil, as well as other food and cosmetics products. The country also aimed to be the largest palm-based biofuel production center. Coconut Coconut plays an important role in Indonesian cuisine as well as its economy. Coconut milk is an important common ingredients in numbers of Indonesian favourites, including rendang and soto. According to figures published in December 2009 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is the world's second largest producer of coconuts, producing 15,319,500 tonnes in 2009. Rubber Indonesian rubber industry take its root in colonial Dutch East Indies; in the early 20th century the rubber plantation in the colony was booming, largely owed to the advent of natural rubber tire industry to supply the growing automotive industry in the United States and Europe. Currently, Indonesia's rubber production is the world's second-largest after Thailand. Natural rubber is an important export commodity that earn foreign exchange, with increasing production trend. In fact, ASEAN nations are among the largest natural rubber producers; the combined rubber yield of three ASEAN members — Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia — accounts for nearly 66 percent of global total rubber production. However, compared to neighbouring countries, Indonesia's productivity level is lower (1,080 kg/ha), compared to Thailand (1,800 kg/ha), Vietnam (1,720 kg/ha) and Malaysia (1,510 kg/ha). Majority of rubber estates in Indonesia are smallholder farmers, which retain for about 85 percent. This fact implied that the government and large private estates took a minor role in Indonesian rubber industry. Another problem is the lack of rubber processing facilities and manufacturing industry. In Indonesia, only a half of the natural rubber that is absorbed internally goes to the rubber products factories — while the rest are sold and exported as raw materials. Rubber processing facilities include tire manufacturing industry, followed by rubber gloves, rubber thread, footwear, retread tires, medical gloves, rubber carpets and various rubber tools. Coffee In 2014, Indonesia was the fourth largest producer of coffee. Coffee in Indonesia began with its colonial history, and has played an important part in the growth of the country. Indonesia's geographic location is considered as ideal for coffee plantations. It is located near the equator and with numerous mountainous regions across the islands which creates suitable micro-climates for the growth and production of coffee.Indonesia produced an estimated 540,000 metric tons of coffee in 2014. Of this total, estimated 154,800 tons was required for domestic consumption in the 2013–2014 financial year. Of the exports, 25% are arabica beans; the balance is robusta. Tea Indonesia is the world sixth largest tea producer. Tea production in Indonesia began in the 18th century, introduced by the Dutch as cash crop. Indonesia produced 150,100 tonnes of tea in 2013. However, 65% of that was exported from the country, which suggests Indonesians relatively low tea consumption. Large parts of tea produced in Indonesian mainly is black tea, although small amounts of green tea are also produced. Moreover, most of Indonesian tea varieties do not enjoy global recognition, thus much of them are merely used in blends — mixed with other teas. Tobacco Indonesia is the fifth largest tobacco producer in the world, and also the fifth largest tobacco market in the world, and in 2008 over 165 billion cigarettes were sold in the country. Environmental issues As agricultural pursuits altered the natural landscapes; from rainforest, peat lands and swamps into arable lands, certainly it poses natural and environmental consequences. Environmental problems such as deforestation and forest and plantation fires, caused by forestry and agricultural sectors in Indonesia, continues to be a persisting problem that need to be addressed and solved. Deforestation The deforestation in Indonesia is caused by logging industry, either legal or illegal, and in turn also contributed by the conversion of natural rainforest into agricultural lands, especially palm oil plantation. The large-scale expansion of palm oil plantations has been accused as the culprit behind the clearance of Indonesian rainforests, which destroyed critical habitat for endangered species like rhinos, elephants, tigers and orangutans. Much of this endemic species have been pushed to the verge of extinction. This practice has raised international scrutiny on palm oil industry in Indonesia, especially from World Wide Fund for Nature, and raised the demand on sustainable palm oil production and certification. Forest and plantation fires Indonesian palm oil plantations' poor practice and poor environmental responsibility, has led to massive haze problem annually. Since 1997 Indonesia has been struggling to contain forest fires, especially on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Haze occurs annually during the dry season and is largely caused by illegal agricultural fires due to slash-and-burn practices in Indonesia, especially in the provinces of South Sumatra and Riau on Indonesia's Sumatra island, and Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo. The haze that occurred in 1997 was one of the most severe; dense hazes occurred again in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2013, and the worst was in 2015, killing dozens of Indonesians as a result of respiratory illnesses and road accidents due to poor visibility. Climate change See also Rice production in Indonesia Palm oil production in Indonesia Coconut production in Indonesia Coffee production in Indonesia References External links Ministry of Agriculture of Republic of Indonesia

intensive animal farming

Intensive animal farming, industrial livestock production, and macro-farms, also known by opponents as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while minimizing costs. To achieve this, agribusinesses keep livestock such as cattle, poultry, and fish at high stocking densities, at large scale, and using modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption. There are issues regarding whether intensive animal farming is sustainable in the social long-run given its costs in resources. Analysts also raise issues about its ethics.There is a continuing debate over the benefits, risks and ethics of intensive animal farming. The issues include the efficiency of food production, animal welfare, health risks and the environmental impact (e.g. agricultural pollution and climate change). History Intensive animal farming is a relatively recent development in the history of agriculture, utilizing scientific discoveries and technological advances to enable changes in agricultural methods that increase production. Innovations from the late 19th century generally parallel developments in mass production in other industries in the latter part of the Industrial Revolution. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which allowed chickens to be raised indoors. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible. Agricultural production across the world doubled four times between 1820 and 1975 (1820 to 1920; 1920 to 1950; 1950 to 1965; and 1965 to 1975) to feed a global population of one billion human beings in 1800 and 6.5 billion in 2002.: 29  During the same period, the number of people involved in farming dropped as the process became more automated. In the 1930s, 24 percent of the American population worked in agriculture compared to 1.5 percent in 2002; in 1940, each farm worker supplied 11 consumers, whereas in 2002, each worker supplied 90 consumers.: 29 The era of factory farming in Britain began in 1947 when a new Agriculture Act granted subsidies to farmers to encourage greater output by introducing new technology, in order to reduce Britain's reliance on imported meat. The United Nations writes that "intensification of animal production was seen as a way of providing food security." In 1966, the United States, United Kingdom and other industrialized nations, commenced factory farming of beef and dairy cattle and domestic pigs. From its American and West European heartland, intensive animal farming became globalized in the later years of the 20th century and is still expanding and replacing traditional practices of stock rearing in an increasing number of countries. In 1990 intensive animal farming accounted for 30% of world meat production and by 2005,this had risen to 40%. Types Intensive farms hold large numbers of animals, typically cows, pigs, turkeys, geese, or chickens, often indoors, typically at high densities. The aim is to produce large quantities of meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Food is supplied in place. Methods employed to maintain health and improve production may include the use of disinfectants, antimicrobial agents, anthelmintics, hormones and vaccines; protein, mineral and vitamin supplements; frequent health inspections; biosecurity; and climate-controlled facilities. Physical restraints, for example, fences or creeps, are used to control movement or actions regarded as undesirable. Breeding programs are used to produce animals more suited to the confined conditions and able to provide a consistent food product.Intensive production of livestock and poultry is widespread in developed nations. For 2002–2003, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates of industrial production as a percentage of global production were 7 percent for beef and veal, 0.8 percent for sheep and goat meat, 42 percent for pork, and 67 percent for poultry meat. Industrial production was estimated to account for 39 percent of the sum of global production of these meats and 50 percent of total egg production. In the US, according to its National Pork Producers Council, 80 million of its 95 million pigs slaughtered each year are reared in industrial settings.: 29 Chickens The major milestone in 20th-century poultry production was the discovery of vitamin D, which made it possible to keep chickens in confinement year-round. Before this, chickens did not thrive during the winter (due to lack of sunlight), and egg production, incubation, and meat production in the off-season were all very difficult, making poultry a seasonal and expensive proposition. Year-round production lowered costs, especially for broilers.At the same time, egg production was increased by scientific breeding. After a few false starts, (such as the Maine Experiment Station's failure at improving egg production) success was shown by Professor Dryden at the Oregon Experiment Station.Improvements in production and quality were accompanied by lower labor requirements. In the 1930s through the early 1950s, 1,500 hens provided a full-time job for a farm family in America. In the late 1950s, egg prices had fallen so dramatically that farmers typically tripled the number of hens they kept, putting three hens into what had been a single-bird cage or converting their floor-confinement houses from a single deck of roosts to triple-decker roosts. Not long after this, prices fell still further and large numbers of egg farmers left the business. This fall in profitability was accompanied by a general fall in prices to the consumer, allowing poultry and eggs to lose their status as luxury foods. Robert Plamondon reports that the last family chicken farm in his part of Oregon, Rex Farms, had 30,000 layers and survived into the 1990s. However, the standard laying house of the current operators is around 125,000 hens. The vertical integration of the egg and poultry industries was a late development, occurring after all the major technological changes had been in place for years (including the development of modern broiler rearing techniques, the adoption of the Cornish Cross broiler, the use of laying cages, etc.). By the late 1950s, poultry production had changed dramatically. Large farms and packing plants could grow birds by the tens of thousands. Chickens could be sent to slaughterhouses for butchering and processing into prepackaged commercial products to be frozen or shipped fresh to markets or wholesalers. Meat-type chickens currently grow to market weight in six to seven weeks, whereas only fifty years ago it took three times as long. This is due to genetic selection and nutritional modifications (but not the use of growth hormones, which are illegal for use in poultry in the US and many other countries, and have no effect). Once a meat consumed only occasionally, the common availability and lower cost has made chicken a common meat product within developed nations. Growing concerns over the cholesterol content of red meat in the 1980s and 1990s further resulted in increased consumption of chicken. Today, eggs are produced on large egg ranches on which environmental parameters are well controlled. Chickens are exposed to artificial light cycles to stimulate egg production year-round. In addition, forced molting is commonly practiced in the US, in which manipulation of light and food access triggers molting, in order to increase egg size and production. Forced molting is controversial, and is prohibited in the EU.On average, a chicken lays one egg a day, but not on every day of the year. This varies with the breed and time of year. In 1900, average egg production was 83 eggs per hen per year. In 2000, it was well over 300. In the United States, laying hens are butchered after their second egg laying season. In Europe, they are generally butchered after a single season. The laying period begins when the hen is about 18–20 weeks old (depending on breed and season). Males of the egg-type breeds have little commercial value at any age, and all those not used for breeding (roughly fifty percent of all egg-type chickens) are killed soon after hatching. The old hens also have little commercial value. Thus, the main sources of poultry meat 100 years ago (spring chickens and stewing hens) have both been entirely supplanted by meat-type broiler chickens. Pigs In America, intensive piggeries (or hog lots) are a type of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), specialized for the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight. In this system, grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are confined in sow stalls (gestation crates) and give birth in farrowing crates. The use of sow stalls has resulted in lower production costs and concomitant animal welfare concerns. Many of the world's largest producers of pigs (such as U.S. and Canada) use sow stalls, but some nations (such as the UK) and U.S. states (such as Florida and Arizona) have banned them. Intensive piggeries are generally large warehouse-like buildings. Indoor pig systems allow the pig's condition to be monitored, ensuring minimum fatalities and increased productivity. Buildings are ventilated and their temperature regulated. Most domestic pig varieties are susceptible to heat stress, and all pigs lack sweat glands and cannot cool themselves. Pigs have a limited tolerance to high temperatures and heat stress can lead to death. Maintaining a more specific temperature within the pig-tolerance range also maximizes growth and growth to feed ratio. In an intensive operation pigs will lack access to a wallow (mud), which is their natural cooling mechanism. Intensive piggeries control temperature through ventilation or drip water systems (dropping water to cool the system). Pigs are naturally omnivorous and are generally fed a combination of grains and protein sources (soybeans, or meat and bone meal). Larger intensive pig farms may be surrounded by farmland where feed-grain crops are grown. Alternatively, piggeries are reliant on the grains industry. Pig feed may be bought packaged or mixed on-site. The intensive piggery system, where pigs are confined in individual stalls, allows each pig to be allotted a portion of feed. The individual feeding system also facilitates individual medication of pigs through feed. This has more significance to intensive farming methods, as the close proximity to other animals enables diseases to spread more rapidly. To prevent disease spreading and encourage growth, drug programs such as antibiotics, vitamins, hormones and other supplements are preemptively administered. Indoor systems, especially stalls and pens (i.e. 'dry', not straw-lined systems) allow for the easy collection of waste. In an indoor intensive pig farm, manure can be managed through a lagoon system or other waste-management system. However, odor remains a problem which is difficult to manage. The way animals are housed in intensive systems varies. Breeding sows spend the bulk of their time in sow stalls during pregnancy or farrowing crates, with their litters, until market. Piglets often receive range of treatments including castration, tail docking to reduce tail biting, teeth clipped (to reduce injuring their mother's nipples, gum disease and prevent later tusk growth) and their ears notched to assist identification. Treatments are usually made without pain killers. Weak runts may be slain shortly after birth. Piglets also may be weaned and removed from the sows at between two and five weeks old and placed in sheds. However, grower pigs – which comprise the bulk of the herd – are usually housed in alternative indoor housing, such as batch pens. During pregnancy, the use of a stall may be preferred as it facilitates feed-management and growth control. It also prevents pig aggression (e.g. tail biting, ear biting, vulva biting, food stealing). Group pens generally require higher stockmanship skills. Such pens will usually not contain straw or other material. Alternatively, a straw-lined shed may house a larger group (i.e. not batched) in age groups. Cattle Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the family Bovidae, in the subfamily Bovinae, and descended from the aurochs (Bos primigenius). They are raised as livestock for their flesh (called beef and veal), dairy products (milk), leather and as draught animals. As of 2009–2010 it is estimated that there are 1.3–1.4 billion head of cattle in the world. The most common interactions with cattle involve daily feeding, cleaning and milking. Many routine husbandry practices involve ear tagging, dehorning, loading, medical operations, vaccinations and hoof care, as well as training and sorting for agricultural shows and sales.Once cattle obtain an entry-level weight, about 650 pounds (290 kg), they are transferred from the range to a feedlot to be fed a specialized animal feed which consists of corn byproducts (derived from ethanol production), barley, and other grains as well as alfalfa and cottonseed meal. The feed also contains premixes composed of microingredients such as vitamins, minerals, chemical preservatives, antibiotics, fermentation products, and other essential ingredients that are purchased from premix companies, usually in sacked form, for blending into commercial rations. Because of the availability of these products, a farmer using their own grain can formulate their own rations and be assured the animals are getting the recommended levels of minerals and vitamins. There are many potential impacts on human health due to the modern cattle industrial agriculture system. There are concerns surrounding the antibiotics and growth hormones used, increased E. coli contamination, higher saturated fat contents in the meat because of the feed, and also environmental concerns.As of 2010, in the U.S. 766,350 producers participate in raising beef. The beef industry is segmented with the bulk of the producers participating in raising beef calves. Beef calves are generally raised in small herds, with over 90% of the herds having less than 100 head of cattle. Fewer producers participate in the finishing phase which often occurs in a feedlot, but nonetheless there are 82,170 feedlots in the United States. Aquaculture Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), also called integrated aquaculture, is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilizers, food) for another, making aquaculture intensive. Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish and shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices).The system is multi-trophic as it makes use of species from different trophic or nutritional level, unlike traditional aquaculture.Ideally, the biological and chemical processes in such a system should balance. This is achieved through the appropriate selection and proportions of different species providing different ecosystem functions. The co-cultured species should not just be biofilters, but harvestable crops of commercial value. A working IMTA system should result in greater production for the overall system, based on mutual benefits to the co-cultured species and improved ecosystem health, even if the individual production of some of the species is lower compared to what could be reached in monoculture practices over a short-term period. Regulation In various jurisdictions, intensive animal production of some kinds is subject to regulation for environmental protection. In the United States, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) that discharges or proposes to discharge waste requires a permit and implementation of a plan for management of manure nutrients, contaminants, wastewater, etc., as applicable, to meet requirements pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act. Some data on regulatory compliance and enforcement are available. In 2000, the US Environmental Protection Agency published 5-year and 1-year data on environmental performance of 32 industries, with data for the livestock industry being derived mostly from inspections of CAFOs. The data pertain to inspections and enforcement mostly under the Clean Water Act, but also under the Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Of the 32 industries, livestock production was among the top seven for environmental performance over the 5-year period, and was one of the top two in the final year of that period, where good environmental performance is indicated by a low ratio of enforcement orders to inspections. The five-year and final-year ratios of enforcement/inspections for the livestock industry were 0.05 and 0.01, respectively. Also in the final year, the livestock industry was one of the two leaders among the 32 industries in terms of having the lowest percentage of facilities with violations. In Canada, intensive livestock operations are subject to provincial regulation, with definitions of regulated entities varying among provinces. Examples include Intensive Livestock Operations (Saskatchewan), Confined Feeding Operations (Alberta), Feedlots (British Columbia), High-density Permanent Outdoor Confinement Areas (Ontario) and Feedlots or Parcs d'Engraissement (Manitoba). In Canada, intensive animal production, like other agricultural sectors, is also subject to various other federal and provincial requirements. In the United States, farmed animals are excluded by half of all state animal cruelty laws including the federal Animal Welfare Act. The 28-hour law, enacted in 1873 and amended in 1994 states that when animals are being transported for slaughter, the vehicle must stop every 28 hours and the animals must be let out for exercise, food, and water. The United States Department of Agriculture claims that the law does not apply to birds. The Humane Slaughter Act is similarly limited. Originally passed in 1958, the Act requires that livestock be stunned into unconsciousness prior to slaughter. This Act also excludes birds, who make up more than 90 percent of the animals slaughtered for food, as well as rabbits and fish. Individual states all have their own animal cruelty statutes; however many states have right-to-farm laws that serve as a provision to exempt standard agricultural practices.In the United States there is an attempt to regulate farms in the most realistic way possible. The easiest way to effectively regulate the most animals with a limited number of resources and time is to regulate the large farms. In New York State many Animal Feeding Operations are not considered CAFOs since they either have less than 300 cows. These farms are not regulated to the level that CAFOs are. This can lead to pollution and nutrient leaching. The EPA website illustrates the scale of this problem by saying in New York State's Bay watershed there are 247 animal feeding operations and only 68 of them are State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permitted CAFOs. In Ohio animal welfare organizations reached a negotiated settlement with farm organizations while in California, Proposition 2, Standards for Confining Farm Animals, an initiated law was approved by voters in 2008. Regulations have been enacted in other states and plans are underway for referendum and lobbying campaigns in other states.An action plan was proposed by the USDA in February 2009, called the Utilization of Manure and Other Agricultural and Industrial Byproducts. This program's goal is to protect the environment and human and animal health by using manure in a safe and effective manner. In order for this to happen, several actions need to be taken and these four components include: Improving the Usability of Manure Nutrients through More Effective Animal Nutrition and Management Maximizing the Value of Manure through Improved Collection, Storage, and Treatment Options Utilizing Manure in Integrated Farming Systems to Improve Profitability and Protect Soil, Water, and Air Quality Using Manure and Other Agricultural Byproducts as a Renewable Energy SourceIn 2012 Australia's largest supermarket chain, Coles, announced that as of January 1, 2013, they will stop selling company branded pork and eggs from animals kept in factory farms. The nation's other dominant supermarket chain, Woolworths, has already begun phasing out factory farmed animal products. All of Woolworth's house brand eggs are now cage-free, and by mid-2013 all of their pork will come from farmers who operate stall-free farms.In June 2021, the European Commission announced the plan of a ban on cages for a number of animals, including egg-laying hens, female breeding pigs, calves raised for veal, rabbits, ducks, and geese, by 2027. Controversies and criticisms Advocates of factory farming claim that factory farming has led to the betterment of housing, nutrition, and disease control over the last twenty years; however, these claims have been debunked. It has been shown that factory farming harms wildlife, the environment, creates health risks, abuses animals, exploits workers (in particular undocumented workers), and raises very severe ethical issues. Animal welfare In the UK, the Farm Animal Welfare Council was set up by the government to act as an independent advisor on animal welfare in 1979 and expresses its policy as five freedoms: from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury or disease; to express normal behavior; from fear and distress.There are differences around the world as to which practices are accepted and there continue to be changes in regulations with animal welfare being a strong driver for increased regulation. For example, the EU is bringing in further regulation to set maximum stocking densities for meat chickens by 2010, where the UK Animal Welfare Minister commented, "The welfare of meat chickens is a major concern to people throughout the European Union. This agreement sends a strong message to the rest of the world that we care about animal welfare."Factory farming is greatly debated throughout Australia, with many people disagreeing with the methods and ways in which the animals in factory farms are treated. Animals are often under stress from being kept in confined spaces and will attack each other. In an effort to prevent injury leading to infection, their beaks, tails and teeth are removed. Many piglets will die of shock after having their teeth and tails removed, because painkilling medicines are not used in these operations. Factory farms are a popular way to gain space, with animals such as chickens being kept in spaces smaller than an A4 page.For example, in the UK, debeaking of chickens is deprecated, but it is recognized that it is a method of last resort, seen as better than allowing vicious fighting and ultimately cannibalism. Between 60 and 70 percent of six million breeding sows in the U.S. are confined during pregnancy, and for most of their adult lives, in 2 by 7 ft (0.61 by 2.13 m) gestation crates. According to pork producers and many veterinarians, sows will fight if housed in pens. The largest pork producer in the U.S. said in January 2007 that it will phase out gestation crates by 2017. They are being phased out in the European Union, with a ban effective in 2013 after the fourth week of pregnancy. With the evolution of factory farming, there has been a growing awareness of the issues amongst the wider public, not least due to the efforts of animal rights and welfare campaigners. As a result, gestation crates, one of the more contentious practices, are the subject of laws in the U.S., Europe and around the world to phase out their use as a result of pressure to adopt less confined practices. Death rates for sows have been increasing in the US from prolapse, which has been attributed to intensive breeding practices. Sows produce on average 23 piglets a year.In the United States alone, over 20 million chickens, 330,000 pigs and 166,000 cattle die during transport to slaughterhouses annually, and some 800,000 pigs are incapable of walking upon arrival. This is often due to being exposed to extreme temperatures and trauma. Human health impact According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), farms on which animals are intensively reared can cause adverse health reactions in farm workers. Workers may develop acute and chronic lung disease, musculoskeletal injuries, and may catch infections that transmit from animals to human beings (such as tuberculosis).Pesticides are used to control organisms which are considered harmful and they save farmers money by preventing product losses to pests. In the US, about a quarter of pesticides used are used in houses, yards, parks, golf courses, and swimming pools and about 70% are used in agriculture. However, pesticides can make their way into consumers' bodies which can cause health problems. One source of this is bioaccumulation in animals raised on factory farms."Studies have discovered an increase in respiratory, neurobehavioral, and mental illnesses among the residents of communities next to factory farms."The CDC writes that chemical, bacterial, and viral compounds from animal waste may travel in the soil and water. Residents near such farms report problems such as unpleasant smell, flies and adverse health effects.The CDC has identified a number of pollutants associated with the discharge of animal waste into rivers and lakes, and into the air. Antibiotic use in livestock may create antibiotic-resistant pathogens; parasites, bacteria, and viruses may be spread; ammonia, nitrogen, and phosphorus can reduce oxygen in surface waters and contaminate drinking water; pesticides and hormones may cause hormone-related changes in fish; animal feed and feathers may stunt the growth of desirable plants in surface waters and provide nutrients to disease-causing micro-organisms; trace elements such as arsenic and copper, which are harmful to human health, may contaminate surface waters.Zoonotic diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, are increasingly linked to environmental changes associated with intensive animal farming. The disruption of pristine forests driven by logging, mining, road building through remote places, rapid urbanisation and population growth is bringing people into closer contact with animal species they may never have been near before. According to Kate Jones, chair of ecology and biodiversity at University College London, the resulting transmission of disease from wildlife to humans is now "a hidden cost of human economic development".Intensive farming may make the evolution and spread of harmful diseases easier. Many communicable animal diseases spread rapidly through densely spaced populations of animals and crowding makes genetic reassortment more likely. However, small family farms are more likely to introduce bird diseases and more frequent association with people into the mix, as happened in the 2009 flu pandemic.In the European Union, growth hormones are banned on the basis that there is no way of determining a safe level. The UK has stated that in the event of the EU raising the ban at some future date, to comply with a precautionary approach, it would only consider the introduction of specific hormones, proven on a case-by-case basis. In 1998, the EU banned feeding animals antibiotics that were found to be valuable for human health. Furthermore, in 2006 the EU banned all drugs for livestock that were used for growth promotion purposes. As a result of these bans, the levels of antibiotic resistance in animal products and within the human population showed a decrease.The international trade in animal products increases the risk of global transmission of virulent diseases such as swine fever, BSE, foot and mouth and bird flu. In the United States, the use of antibiotics in livestock is still prevalent. The FDA reports that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in 2009 were administered to livestock animals, and that many of these antibiotics are identical or closely related to drugs used for treating illnesses in humans. Consequently, many of these drugs are losing their effectiveness on humans, and the total healthcare costs associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections in the United States are between $16.6 billion and $26 billion annually.Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been identified in pigs and humans raising concerns about the role of pigs as reservoirs of MRSA for human infection. One study found that 20% of pig farmers in the United States and Canada in 2007 harbored MRSA. A second study revealed that 81% of Dutch pig farms had pigs with MRSA and 39% of animals at slaughter carried the bug were all of the infections were resistant to tetracycline and many were resistant to other antimicrobials. A more recent study found that MRSA ST398 isolates were less susceptible to tiamulin, an antimicrobial used in agriculture, than other MRSA or methicillin susceptible S. aureus. Cases of MRSA have increased in livestock animals. CC398 is a new clone of MRSA that has emerged in animals and is found in intensively reared production animals (primarily pigs, but also cattle and poultry), where it can be transmitted to humans. Although dangerous to humans, CC398 is often asymptomatic in food-producing animals.A 2011 nationwide study reported nearly half of the meat and poultry sold in U.S. grocery stores – 47 percent – was contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria – 52 percent – were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics. Although Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen. The senior author of the study said, "The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today."In April 2009, lawmakers in the Mexican state of Veracruz accused large-scale hog and poultry operations of being breeding grounds of a pandemic swine flu, although they did not present scientific evidence to support their claim. A swine flu which quickly killed more than 100 infected persons in that area, appears to have begun in the vicinity of a Smithfield subsidiary pig CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation). Environmental impact Intensive factory farming has grown to become the biggest threat to the global environment through the loss of ecosystem services and global warming. It is a major driver to global environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. The process in which feed needs to be grown for animal use only is often grown using intensive methods which involve a significant amount of fertiliser and pesticides. This sometimes results in the pollution of water, soil and air by agrochemicals and manure waste, and use of limited resources such as water and energy at unsustainable rates. Entomophagy is evaluated by many experts as a sustainable solution to traditional livestock, and, if intensively farmed on a large-scale, would cause a far-lesser amount of environmental damage. Industrial production of pigs and poultry is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions and is predicted to become more so. On intensive pig farms, the animals are generally kept on concrete with slats or grates for the manure to drain through. The manure is usually stored in slurry form (slurry is a liquid mixture of urine and feces). During storage on farm, slurry emits methane and when manure is spread on fields it emits nitrous oxide and causes nitrogen pollution of land and water. Poultry manure from factory farms emits high levels of nitrous oxide and ammonia.Large quantities and concentrations of waste are produced. Air quality and groundwater are at risk when animal waste is improperly recycled.Environmental impacts of factory farming include: Deforestation for animal feed production Unsustainable pressure on land for production of high-protein/high-energy animal feed Pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer manufacture and use for feed production Unsustainable use of water for feed-crops, including groundwater extraction Pollution of soil, water and air by nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser used for feed-crops and from manure Land degradation (reduced fertility, soil compaction, increased salinity, desertification) Loss of biodiversity due to eutrophication, acidification, pesticides and herbicides Worldwide reduction of genetic diversity of livestock and loss of traditional breeds Species extinctions due to livestock-related habitat destruction (especially feed-cropping) Labor Small farmers are often absorbed into factory farm operations, acting as contract growers for the industrial facilities. In the case of poultry contract growers, farmers are required to make costly investments in construction of sheds to house the birds, buy required feed and drugs – often settling for slim profit margins, or even losses. Research has shown that many immigrant workers in concentrated animal farming operations (CAFOs) in the United States receive little to no job-specific training or safety and health information regarding the hazards associated with these jobs. Workers with limited English proficiency are significantly less likely to receive any work-related training, since it is often only provided in English. As a result, many workers do not perceive their jobs as dangerous. This causes inconsistent personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and can lead to workplace accidents and injuries. Immigrant workers are also less likely to report any workplace hazards and injuries. Market concentration The major concentration of the industry occurs at the slaughter and meat processing phase, with only four companies slaughtering and processing 81 percent of cows, 73 percent of sheep, 57 percent of pigs and 50 percent of chickens. This concentration at the slaughter phase may be in large part due to regulatory barriers that may make it financially difficult for small slaughter plants to be built, maintained or remain in business. Factory farming may be no more beneficial to livestock producers than traditional farming because it appears to contribute to overproduction that drives down prices. Through "forward contracts" and "marketing agreements", meatpackers are able to set the price of livestock long before they are ready for production. These strategies often cause farmers to lose money, as half of all U.S. family farming operations did in 2007.In 1967, there were one million pig farms in America; as of 2002, there were 114,000.: 29 Many of the nation's livestock producers would like to market livestock directly to consumers but with limited USDA inspected slaughter facilities, livestock grown locally can not typically be slaughtered and processed locally. Demonstrations From 2011 to 2014 each year between 15,000 and 30,000 people gathered under the theme We are fed up! in Berlin to protest against industrial livestock production. See also References External links Anomaly, Jonathan (2015). "What's Wrong with Factory Farming?" (PDF). Public Health Ethics. 8 (3): 246–334. doi:10.1093/phe/phu001. hdl:10161/9733. PMC 9757169. PMID 36540869. S2CID 39813493. Crawford, Dorothy (2018). Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped our History. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Animals Used for Food, Animal Ethics National Agriculture Law Center – Animal Feeding Operations Calls to reform food system: 'Factory farming belongs in a museum'. The Guardian. May 24, 2017.

agricultural pollution

Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pollution may come from a variety of sources, ranging from point source water pollution (from a single discharge point) to more diffuse, landscape-level causes, also known as non-point source pollution and air pollution. Once in the environment these pollutants can have both direct effects in surrounding ecosystems, i.e. killing local wildlife or contaminating drinking water, and downstream effects such as dead zones caused by agricultural runoff is concentrated in large water bodies. Management practices, or ignorance of them, play a crucial role in the amount and impact of these pollutants. Management techniques range from animal management and housing to the spread of pesticides and fertilizers in global agricultural practices, which can have major environmental impacts. Bad management practices include poorly managed animal feeding operations, overgrazing, plowing, fertilizer, and improper, excessive, or badly timed use of pesticides. Pollutants from agriculture greatly affect water quality and can be found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and groundwater. Pollutants from farming include sediments, nutrients, pathogens, pesticides, metals, and salts. Animal agriculture has an outsized impact on pollutants that enter the environment. Bacteria and pathogens in manure can make their way into streams and groundwater if grazing, storing manure in lagoons and applying manure to fields is not properly managed. Air pollution caused by agriculture through land use changes and animal agriculture practices have an outsized impact on climate change, and addressing these concerns was a central part of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land. Mitigation of agricultural pollution is a key component in the development of a sustainable food system. Abiotic sources Pesticides Pesticides and herbicides are applied to agricultural land to control pests that disrupt crop production. Soil contamination can occur when pesticides persist and accumulate in soils, which can alter microbial processes, increase plant uptake of the chemical, and are toxic to soil organisms. The extent to which the pesticides and herbicides persist depends on the compound's unique chemistry, which affects sorption dynamics and resulting fate and transport in the soil environment. Pesticides can also accumulate in animals that eat contaminated pests and soil organisms. In addition, pesticides can be more harmful to beneficial insects, such as pollinators, and to natural enemies of pests (i.e. insects that prey on or parasitize pests) than they are to the target pests themselves. Pesticide leaching Pesticide leaching occurs when pesticides mix with water and move through the soil, ultimately contaminating groundwater. The amount of leaching is correlated with particular soil and pesticide characteristics and the degree of rainfall and irrigation. Leaching is most likely to happen if using a water-soluble pesticide, when the soil tends to be sandy in texture; if excessive watering occurs just after pesticide application; if the adsorption ability of the pesticide to the soil is low. Leaching may not only originate from treated fields, but also from pesticide mixing areas, pesticide application machinery washing sites, or disposal areas. Fertilizers Fertilizers are used to provide crops with additional sources of nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, that promote plant growth and increase crop yields. While they are beneficial for plant growth, they can also disrupt natural nutrient and mineral biogeochemical cycles and pose risks to human and ecological health. Nitrogen Nitrogen fertilizers supply plants with forms of nitrogen that are biologically available for plant uptake; namely NO3− (nitrate) and NH4+ (ammonium). This increases crop yield and agricultural productivity, but it can also negatively affect groundwater and surface waters, pollute the atmosphere, and degrade soil health. Not all nutrient applied through fertilizer are taken up by the crops, and the remainder accumulates in the soil or is lost as runoff. Nitrate fertilizers are much more likely to be lost to the soil profile through runoff because of its high solubility and like charges between the molecule and negatively charged clay particles. High application rates of nitrogen-containing fertilizers combined with the high water-solubility of nitrate leads to increased runoff into surface water as well as leaching into groundwater, thereby causing groundwater pollution. Nitrate levels above 10 mg/L (10 ppm) in groundwater can cause "blue baby syndrome" (acquired methemoglobinemia) in infants and possibly thyroid disease and various types of cancer. Nitrogen fixation, which converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to more biologically available forms, and denitrification, which converts biologically available nitrogen compounds to N2 and N2O, are two of the most important metabolic processes involved in the nitrogen cycle because they are the largest inputs and outputs of nitrogen to ecosystems. They allow nitrogen to flow between the atmosphere, which is around 78% nitrogen) and the biosphere. Other significant processes in the nitrogen cycle are nitrification and ammonification which convert ammonium to nitrate or nitrite and organic matter to ammonia respectively. Because these processes keep nitrogen concentrations relatively stable in most ecosystems, a large influx of nitrogen from agricultural runoff can cause serious disruption. A common result of this in aquatic ecosystems is eutrophication which in turn creates hypoxic and anoxic conditions – both of which are deadly and/or damaging to many species. Nitrogen fertilization can also release NH3 gases into the atmosphere which can then be converted into NOx compounds. A greater amount of NOx compounds in the atmosphere can result in the acidification of aquatic ecosystems and cause various respiratory issues in humans. Fertilization can also release N2O which is a greenhouse gas and can facilitate the destruction of ozone (O3) in the stratosphere. Soils that receive nitrogen fertilizers can also be damaged. An increase in plant available nitrogen will increase a crop's net primary production, and eventually, soil microbial activity will increase as a result of the larger inputs of nitrogen from fertilizers and carbon compounds through decomposed biomass. Because of the increase in decomposition in the soil, its organic matter content will be depleted which results in lower overall soil health. Mitigation A study identified "11 key measures" that can reduce nitrogen chemicals pollution of air and water from croplands. Its prioritized measures include use of enhanced-efficiency fertilizers (EEFs), soil amendments, crop legume rotation and application of buffer zones. As a meta-measure, the study proposes "innovative policies such as a nitrogen credit system (NCS) could be implemented to select, incentivize and, where necessary, subsidize the adoption of these measures".One alternative to standard nitrogen fertilizers are Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEF). There are several types of EEFs but they generally fall within two categories, slow release fertilizers or nitrification inhibitor fertilizers. Slow release fertilizers are coated in a polymer that delays and slows the release of nitrogen into agricultural systems. Nitrification inhibitors are fertilizers that are coated in a sulfur compound that is very hydrophobic, this help to slow the release of nitrogen. EEFs provide a lower and more steady flow of nitrogen into the soil and may reduce nitrogen leaching and volatilization of NOx compounds, however the scientific literature shows both effectiveness and ineffectiveness at reducing nitrogen pollution. Phosphorus The most common form of phosphorus fertilizer used in agricultural practices is phosphate (PO43-), and it is applied in synthetic compounds that incorporate PO43- or in organic forms such as manure and compost. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient in all organisms because of the roles it plays in cell and metabolic functions such as nucleic acid production and metabolic energy transfers. However, most organisms, including agricultural crops, only require a small amount of phosphorus because they have evolved in ecosystems with relatively low amounts of it. Microbial populations in soils are able to convert organic forms of phosphorus to soluble plant available forms such as phosphate. This step is generally bypassed with inorganic fertilizers because it is applied as phosphate or other plant available forms. Any phosphorus that is not taken up by plants is adsorbed to soil particles which helps it remain in place. Because of this, it typically enters surface waters when the soil particles it is attached to are eroded as a result of precipitation or stormwater runoff. The amount that enters surface waters is relatively low in comparison to the amount that is applied as fertilizer, but because it acts as a limiting nutrient in most environments, even a small amount can disrupt an ecosystem's natural phosphorus biogeochemical cycles. Although nitrogen plays a role in harmful algae and cyanobacteria blooms that cause eutrophication, excess phosphorus is considered the largest contributing factor due to the fact that phosphorus is often the most limiting nutrient, especially in freshwaters. In addition to depleting oxygen levels in surface waters, algae and cyanobacteria blooms can produce cyanotoxins which are harmful to human and animal health as well as many aquatic organisms.The concentration of cadmium in phosphorus-containing fertilizers varies considerably and can be problematic. For example, mono-ammonium phosphate fertilizer may have a cadmium content of as low as 0.14 mg/kg or as high as 50.9 mg/kg. This is because the phosphate rock used in their manufacture can contain as much as 188 mg/kg cadmium (examples are deposits on Nauru and the Christmas islands). Continuous use of high-cadmium fertilizer can contaminate soil and plants. Limits to the cadmium content of phosphate fertilizers has been considered by the European Commission. Producers of phosphorus-containing fertilizers now select phosphate rock based on the cadmium content. Phosphate rocks contain high levels of fluoride. Consequently, the widespread use of phosphate fertilizers has increased soil fluoride concentrations. It has been found that food contamination from fertilizer is of little concern as plants accumulate little fluoride from the soil; of greater concern is the possibility of fluoride toxicity to livestock that ingest contaminated soils. Also of possible concern are the effects of fluoride on soil microorganisms. Radioactive elementsThe radioactive content of the fertilizers varies considerably and depends both on their concentrations in the parent mineral and on the fertilizer production process. Uranium-238 concentrations range can range from 7 to 100 pCi/g in phosphate rock and from 1 to 67 pCi/g in phosphate fertilizers. Where high annual rates of phosphorus fertilizer are used, this can result in uranium-238 concentrations in soils and drainage waters that are several times greater than are normally present. However, the impact of these increases on the risk to human health from radionuclide contamination of foods is very small (less than 0.05 mSv/y). Organic contaminants Manures and biosolids contain many nutrients consumed by animals and humans in the form of food. The practice of returning such waste products to agricultural land presents an opportunity to recycle soil nutrients. The challenge is that manures and biosolids contain not only nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, but they may also contain contaminants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). There is a wide variety and vast quantity of PPCPs consumed by both humans and animals, and each has unique chemistry in terrestrial and aquatic environments. As such, not all have been assessed for their effects on soil, water, and air quality. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has surveyed sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants across the US to assess levels of various PPCPs present. Metals The major inputs of heavy metals (e.g. lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury) into agricultural systems are fertilizers, organic wastes such as manures, and industrial byproduct wastes. Inorganic fertilizers especially represent an important pathway for heavy metals to enter soils. Some farming techniques, such as irrigation, can lead to accumulation of selenium (Se) that occurs naturally in the soil, which can result in downstream water reservoirs containing concentrations of selenium that are toxic to wildlife, livestock, and humans. This process is known as the "Kesterson Effect", eponymously named after the Kesterson Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley (California, US), which was declared a toxic waste dump in 1987. Heavy metals present in the environment can be taken up by plants, which can pose health risks to humans in the event of consuming affected plants. Some metals are essential to plant growth, however an abundance can have adverse effects on plant health. Steel industry wastes, which are often recycled into fertilizers due to their high levels of zinc (essential to plant growth), can also include the following toxic metals: lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and nickel. The most common toxic elements in this type of fertilizer are mercury, lead, and arsenic. These potentially harmful impurities can be removed during fertilizer production; however, this significantly increases cost of fertilizer. Highly pure fertilizers are widely available, and perhaps best known as the highly water-soluble fertilizers containing blue dyes. Fertilizers such as these are commonly used around households, such as Miracle-Gro. These highly water-soluble fertilizers are used in the plant nursery business and are available in larger packages at significantly less cost than retail quantities. There are also some inexpensive retail granular garden fertilizers made with high purity ingredients, limiting production. Land management Soil erosion and sedimentation Agriculture contributes greatly to soil erosion and sediment deposition through intensive management or inefficient land cover. It is estimated that agricultural land degradation is leading to an irreversible decline in fertility on about 6 million ha of fertile land each year. The accumulation of sediments (i.e. sedimentation) in runoff water affects water quality in various ways. Sedimentation can decrease the transport capacity of ditches, streams, rivers, and navigation channels. It can also limit the amount of light penetrating the water, which affects aquatic biota. The resulting turbidity from sedimentation can interfere with feeding habits of fishes, affecting population dynamics. Sedimentation also affects the transport and accumulation of pollutants, including phosphorus and various pesticides. Tillage and nitrous oxide emissions Natural soil biogeochemical processes result in the emission of various greenhouse gases, including nitrous oxide. Agricultural management practices can affect emission levels. For example, tillage levels have also been shown to affect nitrous oxide emissions. Organic farming in mitigation Biotic sources Greenhouse gases from fecal waste The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted that 18% of anthropogenic greenhouse gases come directly or indirectly from the world's livestock. This report also suggested that the emissions from livestock were greater than that of the transportation sector. While livestock do currently play a role in producing greenhouse gas emissions, the estimates have been argued to be a misrepresentation. While the FAO used a life-cycle assessment of animal agriculture (i.e. all aspects including emissions from growing crops for feed, transportation to slaughter, etc.), they did not apply the same assessment for the transportation sector.Alternate sources claim that FAO estimates are too low, stating that the global livestock industry could be responsible for up to 51% of emitted atmospheric greenhouse gasses rather than 18%. Critics say the difference in estimates come from the FAO's use of outdated data. Regardless, if the FAO's report of 18% is accurate, that still makes livestock the second-largest greenhouse-gas-polluter. A PNAS model showed that even if animals were completely removed from U.S. agriculture and diets, U.S. GHG emissions would be decreased by 2.6% only (or 28% of agricultural GHG emissions). This is because of the need replace animal manures by fertilizers and to replace also other animal coproducts, and because livestock now use human-inedible food and fiber processing byproducts. Moreover, people would suffer from a greater number of deficiencies in essential nutrients although they would get a greater excess of energy, possibly leading to greater obesity. Biopesticides Biopesticides are pesticides derived from natural materials (animals, plants, microorganisms, certain minerals). As an alternative to traditional pesticides, biopesticides can reduce overall agricultural pollution because they are safe to handle, usually do not strongly affect beneficial invertebrates or vertebrates, and have a short residual time. Some concerns exist that biopesticides may have negative impacts on populations of nontarget species, however.In the United States, biopesticides are regulated by EPA. Because biopesticides are less harmful and have fewer environmental effects than other pesticides, the agency does not require as much data to register their use. Many biopesticides are permitted under the National Organic Program, United States Department of Agriculture, standards for organic crop production. Introduced species Invasive species The increasing globalization of agriculture has resulted in the accidental transport of pests, weeds, and diseases to novel ranges. If they establish, they become an invasive species that can impact populations of native species and threaten agricultural production. For example, the transport of bumblebees reared in Europe and shipped to the United States and/or Canada for use as commercial pollinators has led to the introduction of an Old World parasite to the New World. This introduction may play a role in recent native bumble bee declines in North America. Agriculturally introduced species can also hybridize with native species resulting in a decline in genetic biodiversity and threaten agricultural production.Habitat disturbance associated with farming practices themselves can also facilitate the establishment of these introduced organisms. Contaminated machinery, livestock and fodder, and contaminated crop or pasture seed can also lead to the spread of weeds.Quarantines (see biosecurity) are one way in which prevention of the spread of invasive species can be regulated at the policy level. A quarantine is a legal instrument that restricts the movement of infested material from areas where an invasive species is present to areas in which it is absent. The World Trade Organization has international regulations concerning the quarantine of pests and diseases under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. Individual countries often have their own quarantine regulations. In the United States, for example, the United States Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS) administers domestic (within the United States) and foreign (importations from outside the United States) quarantines. These quarantines are enforced by inspectors at state borders and ports of entry. Biological control The use of biological pest control agents, or using predators, parasitoids, parasites, and pathogens to control agricultural pests, has the potential to reduce agricultural pollution associated with other pest control techniques, such as pesticide use. The merits of introducing non-native biocontrol agents have been widely debated, however. Once released, the introduction of a biocontrol agent can be irreversible. Potential ecological issues could include the dispersal from agricultural habitats into natural environments, and host-switching or adapting to utilize a native species. In addition, predicting the interaction outcomes in complex ecosystems and potential ecological impacts prior to release can be difficult. One example of a biocontrol program that resulted in ecological damage occurred in North America, where a parasitoid of butterflies was introduced to control gypsy moth and browntail moth. This parasitoid is capable of utilizing many butterfly host species, and likely resulted in the decline and extirpation of several native silk moth species.International exploration for potential biocontrol agents is aided by agencies such as the European Biological Control Laboratory, the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS), the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, and the International Organization for Biological Control of Noxious Plants and Animals. In order to prevent agricultural pollution, quarantine and extensive research on the organism's potential efficacy and ecological impacts are required prior to introduction. If approved, attempts are made to colonize and disperse the biocontrol agent in appropriate agricultural settings. Continual evaluations on their efficacy are conducted. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) Genetic contamination and ecological effects GMO crops can, however, result in genetic contamination of native plant species through hybridization. This could lead to increased weediness of the plant or the extinction of the native species. In addition, the transgenic plant itself may become a weed if the modification improves its fitness in a given environment.There are also concerns that non-target organisms, such as pollinators and natural enemies, could be poisoned by accidental ingestion of Bt-producing plants. A recent study testing the effects of Bt corn pollen dusting nearby milkweed plants on larval feeding of the monarch butterfly found that the threat to populations of the monarch was low.The use of GMO crop plants engineered for herbicide resistance can also indirectly increase the amount of agricultural pollution associated with herbicide use. For example, the increased use of herbicide in herbicide-resistant corn fields in the mid-western United States is decreasing the amount of milkweeds available for monarch butterfly larvae.Regulation of the release of genetic modified organisms vary based on the type of organism and the country concerned. GMO as a tool of pollution reduction While there may be some concerns regarding the use of GM products, it may also be the solution to some of the existing animal agriculture pollution issues. One of the main sources of pollution, particularly vitamin and mineral drift in soils, comes from a lack of digestive efficiency in animals. By improving digestive efficiency, it is possible to minimize both the cost of animal production and the environmental damage. One successful example of this technology and its potential application is the Enviropig.The Enviropig is a genetically modified Yorkshire pig that expresses phytase in its saliva. Grains, such as corn and wheat, have phosphorus that is bound in a naturally indigestible form known as phytic acid. Phosphorus, an essential nutrient for pigs, is then added to the diet, since it can not be broken down in the pigs digestive tract. As a result, nearly all of the phosphorus naturally found in the grain is wasted in the feces, and can contribute to elevated levels in the soil. Phytase is an enzyme that is able to break down the otherwise indigestible phytic acid, making it available to the pig. The ability of the Enviropig to digest the phosphorus from the grains eliminates the waste of that natural phosphorus (20-60% reduction), while also eliminating the need to supplement the nutrient in feed. Animal management Manure management One of the main contributors to air, soil and water pollution is animal waste. According to a 2005 report by the USDA, more than 335–million tons of "dry matter" waste (the waste after water is removed) is produced annually on farms in the United States. Animal feeding operations produce about 100 times more manure than the amount of human sewage sludge processed in US municipal waste water plants each year. Diffuse source pollution from agricultural fertilizers is more difficult to trace, monitor and control. High nitrate concentrations are found in groundwater and may reach 50 mg/litre (the EU Directive limit). In ditches and river courses, nutrient pollution from fertilizers causes eutrophication. This is worse in winter, after autumn ploughing has released a surge of nitrates; winter rainfall is heavier increasing runoff and leaching, and there is lower plant uptake. EPA suggests that one dairy farm with 2,500 cows produces as much waste as a city with around 411,000 residents. The US National Research Council has identified odors as the most significant animal emission problem at the local level. Different animal systems have adopted several waste management procedures to deal with the large amount of waste produced annually. The advantages of manure treatment are a reduction in the amount of manure that needs to be transported and applied to crops, as well as reduced soil compaction. Nutrients are reduced as well, meaning that less cropland is needed for manure to be spread upon. Manure treatment can also reduce the risk of human health and biosecurity risks by reducing the amount of pathogens present in manure. Undiluted animal manure or slurry is one hundred times more concentrated than domestic sewage, and can carry an intestinal parasite, Cryptosporidium, which is difficult to detect but can be passed to humans. Silage liquor (from fermented wet grass) is even stronger than slurry, with a low pH and very high biological oxygen demand. With a low pH, silage liquor can be highly corrosive; it can attack synthetic materials, causing damage to storage equipment, and leading to accidental spillage. All of these advantages can be optimized by using the right manure management system on the right farm based on the resources that are available. Manure treatment Composting Composting is a solid manure management system that relies on solid manure from bedded pack pens, or the solids from a liquid manure separator. There are two methods of composting, active and passive. Manure is churned periodically during active composting, whereas in passive composting it is not. Passive composting has been found to have lower green house gas emissions due to incomplete decomposition and lower gas diffusion rates. Solid-liquid separation Manure can be mechanically separated into a solid and liquid portion for easier management. Liquids (4–8% dry matter) can be used easily in pump systems for convenient spread over crops and the solid fraction (15–30% dry matter) can be used as stall bedding, spread on crops, composted or exported. Anaerobic digestion and lagoons Anaerobic digestion is the biological treatment of liquid animal waste using bacteria in an area absent of air, which promotes the decomposition of organic solids. Hot water is used to heat the waste in order to increase the rate of biogas production. The remaining liquid is nutrient rich and can be used on fields as a fertilizer and methane gas that can be burned directly on the biogas stove or in an engine generator to produce electricity and heat. Methane is about 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, which has significant negative environmental effects if not controlled properly. Anaerobic treatment of waste is the best method for controlling the odor associated with manure management.Biological treatment lagoons also use anaerobic digestion to break down solids, but at a much slower rate. Lagoons are kept at ambient temperatures as opposed to the heated digestion tanks. Lagoons require large land areas and high dilution volumes to work properly, so they do not work well in many climates in the northern United States. Lagoons also offer the benefit of reduced odor and biogas is made available for heat and electric power.Studies have demonstrated that GHG emissions are reduced using aerobic digestion systems. GHG emission reductions and credits can help compensate for the higher installation cost of cleaner aerobic technologies and facilitate producer adoption of environmentally superior technologies to replace current anaerobic lagoons. See also References This article incorporates public domain material from Jasper Womach. Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition (PDF). Congressional Research Service.

green revolution

The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields. These changes in agriculture began in developed countries in the early 20th Century and spread globally till the late 1980s. In the late 1960s, farmers began incorporating new technologies such as high-yielding varieties of cereals, particularly dwarf wheat and rice, and the widespread use of chemical fertilizers (to produce their high yields, the new seeds require far more fertilizer than traditional varieties), pesticides, and controlled irrigation. At the same time, newer methods of cultivation, including mechanization, were adopted, often as a package of practices to replace traditional agricultural technology. This was often in conjunction with loans conditional on policy changes being made by the developing nations adopting them, such as privatizing fertilizer manufacture and distribution.Both the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation were heavily involved in its initial development in Mexico. A key leader was agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the "Father of the Green Revolution", who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. He is credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. Another important scientific figure was Yuan Longping, whose work on hybrid rice varieties is credited with saving at least as many lives. The basic approach was the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers. As crops began to reach the maximum improvement possible through selective breeding, genetic modification technologies were developed to allow for continued efforts.The Green Revolution is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other global scale use of resources at unsustainable rates. History Use of the term The term "Green Revolution" was first used by William S. Gaud, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in a speech on 8 March 1968. He noted the spread of the new technologies as: These and other developments in the field of agriculture contain the makings of a new revolution. It is not a violent Red Revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a White Revolution like that of the Shah of Iran. I call it the Green Revolution. Development in Mexico Mexico has been called the 'birthplace' and 'burial ground' of the Green Revolution. It began with great promise and it has been argued that "during the twentieth century two 'revolutions' transformed rural Mexico: the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) and the Green Revolution (1940–1970)."The genesis of the Green Revolution was a lengthy visit in 1940 by U.S. Vice President-elect Henry A. Wallace, who had served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture during President Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms, and before government service, had founded a company, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, that had revolutionized the hybridization of seed corn to greatly increase crop yields. He became appalled at the meager corn yields in Mexico, where 80 percent of the people lived off the land, and a Mexican farmer had to work as much as 500 hours to produce a single bushel of corn, about 50 times longer than the typical Iowa farmer planting hybrid seed. Wallace persuaded the Rockefeller Foundation to fund an agricultural station in Mexico to hybridize corn and wheat for arid climates, and to lead it, he hired a young Iowa agronomist named Norman Borlaug.The project was supported by the Mexican government under new President Manuel Ávila Camacho, and the U.S. government, the United Nations, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). For the U.S. government, its neighbor Mexico was an important experimental case in the use of technology and scientific expertise in agriculture that became the model for international agricultural development. Mexico sought to transform agricultural productivity, particularly with irrigated rather than dry-land cultivation in its northwest, to solve its problem of lack of food self-sufficiency. In the center and south of Mexico, where large-scale production faced challenges, agricultural production languished. Increased production promised food self-sufficiency in Mexico to feed its growing and urbanizing population with the increase in a number of calories consumed per Mexican. The science of hybridization was seen as a valuable way to feed the poor and would relieve some pressure of the land redistribution process. In general, the success of "Green Revolution" depended on the use of machinery for cultivation and harvest, on large-scale agricultural enterprises with access to credit (often from foreign investors), government-supported infrastructure projects, and access to low-wage agricultural workers.Within eight years of Wallace's visit, Mexico had no need to import food, for the first time since 1910; within 20 years, corn production had tripled, and wheat production had increased five-fold. Within 30 years, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ultimately saving two billion people from starvation.Mexico was the recipient of knowledge and technology of the Green Revolution, and it was an active participant with financial supports from the government for agriculture and Mexican agronomists. In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the government had redistributed land to peasants in some parts of the country which had broken the back of the hacienda system. During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940), land reform in Mexico reached its apex in the center and south of Mexico. Agricultural productivity had fallen significantly by the 1940s.After Borlaug's agricultural station was established, in 1941, a team of U.S. scientists, Richard Bradfield (Cornell University), Paul C. Mangelsdorf (Harvard University), and Elvin Charles Stakman (under whom Borlaug had studied at the University of Minnesota) surveyed Mexican agriculture to recommend policies and practices. In 1943, the Mexican government founded the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which became a base for international agricultural research. Agriculture in Mexico had been a sociopolitical issue, a key factor in some regions' participation in the Mexican Revolution. It was also a technical issue enabled by a cohort of trained agronomists who advised peasants how to increase productivity. In the post-World War II era, the government sought development in agriculture that bettered technological aspects of agriculture in regions not dominated by small-scale peasant cultivators. This drive for agricultural transformation brought Mexico self-sufficiency in food, and in the political sphere during the Cold War, helped stem unrest and the appeal of Communism.The Mexican government created the Mexican Agricultural Program (MAP) to be the lead organization in raising productivity. Mexico became the showcase for extending the Green Revolution to other areas of Latin America and beyond, into Africa and Asia. New breeds of maize, beans, and wheat produced bumper crops with additional inputs (such as fertilizer and pesticides) and careful cultivation. Many Mexican farmers who had been dubious about the scientists or hostile to them (often a mutual relationship of discord) came to see the scientific approach to agriculture as worth adopting.The requirements for the full package of inputs of new strains of seeds, fertilizer, synthetic pesticides, and water were often not within the reach of small-scale farmers. The application of pesticides could be hazardous for farmers. Their use often damaged the local ecology, contaminating waterways and endangering the health of workers and newborns.One of the participants in the Mexican experiment, Edwin J. Wellhausen, summarized the factors leading to its initial success. These include: high yield plants without disease resistivity, adaptability, and ability to use fertilizers; improved use of soils, adequate fertilizers, and control of weeds and pests; and "a favorable ratio between the cost of fertilizers (and other investments) to the price of the produce." IR8 rice and the Philippines In 1960 the Government of the Republic of the Philippines with the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation established the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). A rice crossing between Dee-Geo-woo-gen and Peta was done at IRRI in 1962. In 1966, one of the breeding lines became a new cultivar: IR8 rice. IR8 required the use of fertilizers and pesticides, but produced substantially higher yields than the traditional cultivars. Annual rice production in the Philippines increased from 3.7 to 7.7 million tons in two decades. The switch to IR8 rice made the Philippines a rice exporter for the first time in the 20th century, though imports still exceeded exports, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. From 1966 to 1986, the Philippines imported around 2,679,000 metric tons and exported only 632,000 metric tons of milled rice. Start in India In 1961, Norman Borlaug was invited to India by the adviser to the Indian Minister of Agriculture Dr. M. S. Swaminathan. Despite bureaucratic hurdles imposed by India's grain monopolies, the Ford Foundation and Indian government collaborated to import wheat seed from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The state of Punjab was selected by the Indian government to be the first site to try the new crops because of its reliable water supply, the presence of Indus plains which make it one of the most fertile plains on earth, and a history of agricultural success. India began its own Green Revolution program of plant breeding, irrigation development, and financing of agrochemicals.India soon adopted IR8 rice. In 1968, Indian agronomist S.K. De Datta published his findings that IR8 rice yielded about 5 tons per hectare with no fertilizer, and almost 10 tons per hectare under optimal conditions. This was 10 times the yield of traditional rice. IR8 was a success throughout Asia, and dubbed the "Miracle Rice". IR8 was also developed into Semi-dwarf IR36. In the 1960s, rice yields in India were about two tons per hectare; by the mid-1990s, they had risen to 6 tons per hectare. In the 1970s, rice cost about $550 a ton; in 2001, it cost under $200 a ton. India became one of the world's most successful rice producers, and is now a major rice exporter, shipping nearly 4.5 million tons in 2006. Green Revolution in China China's large and increasing population meant that increasing food production, principally rice, was a top priority for the Chinese government. When the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party made it a priority to pursue agricultural development. They sought to solve China's food security issues by focusing on traditional crop production, biological pest control, the implementation of modern technology and science, creating food reserves for the population, high-yield seed varieties, multi-cropping, controlled irrigation, and protecting food security. This began with the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, which ended private land ownership and gave land back to the peasants. Unlike with Mexico, the Philippines, India, or Brazil, the beginning of China's unique Green Revolution were unrelated to the American "Green Revolution." Rather, it was characterized by the government's sponsorship of agricultural research in concert with peasant knowledge and feedback, earlier international research, nature-based pest control and many other non-industrial agricultural practices, in order to feed the rapidly growing population. Prominent in the development of productive hybrid rice was Yuan Longping, whose research hybridized wild strains of rice with existing strains. He has been dubbed "the father of hybrid rice", and was considered a national hero in China. Chinese rice production met the nation's food security needs, and today they are a leading exporter of rice. In recent years, however, extensive use of ground water for irrigation has drawn down aquifers and extensive use of fertilizers has increased greenhouse gas emissions. China has not expanded the area of cultivable land, China's unique high yields per hectare gave China the food security it sought. In 1979, there were 490 million Chinese people living in poverty. In 2014, there were only 82 million. Half of China's population had once been hungry and in poverty, but by 2014, only 6% remained so. Brazil's agricultural revolution Brazil's vast inland cerrado region was regarded as unfit for farming before the 1960s because the soil was too acidic and poor in nutrients, according to Norman Borlaug. However, from the 1960s, vast quantities of lime (pulverised chalk or limestone) were poured on the soil to reduce acidity. The effort went on for decades; by the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being spread on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. As a result, Brazil has become the world's second biggest soybean exporter. Soybeans are also widely used in animal feed, and the large volume of soy produced in Brazil has contributed to Brazil's rise to become the biggest exporter of beef and poultry in the world. Several parallels can also be found in Argentina's boom in soybean production as well. Problems in Africa There have been numerous attempts to introduce the successful concepts from the Mexican and Indian projects into Africa. These programs have generally been less successful. Reasons cited include widespread corruption, insecurity, a lack of infrastructure, and a general lack of will on the part of the governments. Yet environmental factors, such as the availability of water for irrigation, the high diversity in slope and soil types in one given area are also reasons why the Green Revolution is not so successful in Africa.A recent program in western Africa is attempting to introduce a new high-yielding 'family' of rice varieties known as "New Rice for Africa" (NERICA). NERICA varieties yield about 30% more rice under normal conditions, and can double yields with small amounts of fertilizer and very basic irrigation. However, the program has been beset by problems getting the rice into the hands of farmers, and to date the only success has been in Guinea, where it currently accounts for 16% of rice cultivation.After a famine in 2001 and years of chronic hunger and poverty, in 2005 the small African country of Malawi launched the "Agricultural Input Subsidy Program" by which vouchers are given to smallholder farmers to buy subsidized nitrogen fertilizer and corn seeds. Within its first year, the program was reported to have had extreme success, producing the largest corn harvest of the country's history, enough to feed the country with tons left over. The program has advanced yearly ever since. Various sources claim that the program has been an unusual success, hailing it as a "miracle". Malawi experienced a 40% drop in corn production in 2015 and 2016.A 2021, a randomized control trial on temporary subsidies for corn farmers in Mozambique found that adoption of Green Revolution technology led to increased yields in both the short- and long-term. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research In 1970, the year that Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize, foundation officials proposed a worldwide network of agricultural research centers under a permanent secretariat. This was further supported and developed by the World Bank; on 19 May 1971, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established, co-sponsored by the FAO, IFAD, and UNDP. CGIAR has added many research centers throughout the world. CGIAR has responded, at least in part, to criticisms of Green Revolution methodologies. This began in the 1980s, and mainly was a result of pressure from donor organizations. Methods like agroecosystem analysis and farming system research have been adopted to gain a more holistic view of agriculture. Agricultural production and food security According to a 2012 review in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the existing academic literature, the Green Revolution "contributed to widespread poverty reduction, averted hunger for millions of people, and avoided the conversion of thousands of hectares of land into agricultural cultivation." Technologies The Green Revolution spread technologies that already existed, but had not been widely implemented outside industrialized nations. Two kinds of technologies were used in the Green Revolution, on the issues of cultivation and breeding. The technologies in cultivation are targeted at providing excellent growing conditions, which include modern irrigation projects, pesticides, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. The breeding technologies aimed at improving crop varieties developed through science-based methods including hybrids, combining modern genetics with plant-breeding trait selections. High-yielding varieties The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of novel wheat cultivars. Agronomists bred high-yielding varieties of corn, wheat, and rice. HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties. Since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing genes were bred into their genomes. A Japanese dwarf wheat cultivar Norin 10 developed by Japanese agronomist Gonjiro Inazuka, which was sent to Orville Vogel at Washington State University by Cecil Salmon, was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars. In the 1960s, with a food crisis in Asia, the spread of high-yielding variety rice greatly increased.Dr. Norman Borlaug, the "Father of the Green Revolution", bred rust-resistant cultivars which have strong and firm stems, preventing them from falling over under extreme weather at high levels of fertilization. CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo – International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvements) conducted these breeding programs and helped spread high-yielding varieties in Mexico and countries in Asia like India and Pakistan. These programs led to the doubling of harvests in these countries.Plant scientists figured out several parameters related to the high yield and identified the related genes which control the plant height and tiller number. With advances in molecular genetics, the mutant genes responsible for Arabidopsis thaliana genes (GA 20-oxidase, ga1, ga1-3), wheat reduced-height genes (Rht) and a rice semidwarf gene (sd1) were cloned. These were identified as gibberellin biosynthesis genes or cellular signaling component genes. Stem growth in the mutant background is significantly reduced leading to the dwarf phenotype. Photosynthetic investment in the stem is reduced dramatically as the shorter plants are inherently more stable mechanically. Assimilates become redirected to grain production, amplifying in particular the effect of chemical fertilizers on commercial yield.High-yielding varieties significantly outperform traditional varieties in the presence of adequate irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers. In the absence of these inputs, traditional varieties may outperform high-yielding varieties. Therefore, several authors have challenged the apparent superiority of high-yielding varieties not only compared to the traditional varieties alone, but by contrasting the monocultural system associated with high-yielding varieties with the polycultural system associated with traditional ones. Production increases By one 2021 estimate, the Green Revolution increased yields by 44% between 1965 and 2010. Cereal production more than doubled in developing nations between the years 1961–1985. Yields of rice, corn, and wheat increased steadily during that period. The production increases can be attributed equal to irrigation, fertilizer, and seed development, at least in the case of Asian rice.While agricultural output increased as a result of the Green Revolution, the energy input to produce a crop has increased faster, so that the ratio of crops produced to energy input has decreased over time. Green Revolution techniques also heavily rely on agricultural machinery and chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and defoliants; which, as of 2014, are derived from crude oil, making agriculture increasingly reliant on crude oil extraction. Effects on food security The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon fueled irrigation. The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global population growth — it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use. According to ICIS Fertilizers managing editor Julia Meehan, "People don't realise that 50% of the world's food relies on fertilisers."The world population has grown by about five billion since the beginning of the Green Revolution and many believe that, without the Revolution, there would have been greater famine and malnutrition. India saw annual wheat production rise from 10 million tons in the 1960s to 73 million in 2006. The average person in the developing world consumes roughly 25% more calories per day now than before the Green Revolution. Between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the globe, world grain production increased by 160%.The production increases fostered by the Green Revolution are often credited with having helped to avoid widespread famine, and for feeding billions of people.There are also claims that the Green Revolution has decreased food security for a large number of people. One claim involves the shift of subsistence-oriented cropland to cropland oriented towards production of grain for export or animal feed. For example, the Green Revolution replaced much of the land used for pulses that fed Indian peasants for wheat, which did not make up a large portion of the peasant diet. Food security Malthusian criticism Some criticisms generally involve some variation of the Malthusian principle of population. Such concerns often revolve around the idea that the Green Revolution is unsustainable, and argue that humanity is now in a state of overpopulation or overshoot with regards to the sustainable carrying capacity and ecological demands on the Earth. A 2021 study found, contrary to the expectations of the Malthusian hypothesis, that the Green Revolution led to reduced population growth, rather than an increase in population growth.Although many people die each year as a direct or indirect result of hunger and poor nutrition, Malthus's more extreme predictions have failed to materialize. In 1798 Thomas Malthus made his prediction of impending famine. The world's population had doubled by 1923 and doubled again by 1973 without fulfilling Malthus's prediction. Malthusian Paul R. Ehrlich, in his 1968 book The Population Bomb, said that "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980" and "Hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs." Ehrlich's warnings failed to materialize when India became self-sustaining in cereal production in 1974 (six years later) as a result of the introduction of Norman Borlaug's dwarf wheat varieties.However, Borlaug was well aware of the implications of population growth. In his Nobel lecture he repeatedly presented improvements in food production within a sober understanding of the context of population. "The green revolution has won a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation; it has given man a breathing space. If fully implemented, the revolution can provide sufficient food for sustenance during the next three decades. But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only. Most people still fail to comprehend the magnitude and menace of the "Population Monster"...Since man is potentially a rational being, however, I am confident that within the next two decades he will recognize the self-destructive course he steers along the road of irresponsible population growth..." Famine To some modern Western sociologists and writers, increasing food production is not synonymous with increasing food security, and is only part of a larger equation. For example, Harvard professor Amartya Sen wrote that large historic famines were not caused by decreases in food supply, but by socioeconomic dynamics and a failure of public action. Economist Peter Bowbrick disputes Sen's theory, arguing that Sen relies on inconsistent arguments and contradicts available information, including sources that Sen himself cited. Bowbrick further argues that Sen's views coincide with that of the Bengal government at the time of the Bengal famine of 1943, and the policies Sen advocates failed to relieve the famine. Quality of diet Some have challenged the value of the increased food production of Green Revolution agriculture. These monoculture crops are often used for export, feed for animals, or conversion into biofuel. According to Emile Frison of Bioversity International, the Green Revolution has also led to a change in dietary habits, as fewer people are affected by hunger and die from starvation, but many are affected by malnutrition such as iron or vitamin-A deficiencies. Frison further asserts that almost 60% of yearly deaths of children under age five in developing countries are related to malnutrition.The strategies developed by the Green Revolution focused on fending off starvation and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but did not give sufficient relevance to nutritional quality. High yield cereal crops have low quality proteins, with essential amino acid deficiencies, are high in carbohydrates, and lack balanced essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and other quality factors.High-yield rice, introduced since 1964 to poverty-ridden Asian countries, such as the Philippines, was found to have inferior flavor and be more glutinous and less savory than their native varieties, causing its price to be lower than the average market value.In the Philippines the heavy use of pesticides in rice production, in the early part of the Green Revolution, poisoned and killed off fish and weedy green vegetables that traditionally coexisted in rice paddies. These were nutritious food sources for many poor Filipino farmers prior to the introduction of pesticides, further impacting the diets of locals. Political impact A critic of the Green Revolution, American journalist Mark Dowie argues that "the primary objective of the program was geopolitical: to provide food for the populace in undeveloped countries and so bring social stability and weaken the fomenting of communist insurgency." Citing internal Foundation documents, Dowie states that the Ford Foundation had a greater concern than Rockefeller in this area. Socioeconomic impacts The development from traditional agriculture to Green Revolution agriculture led to the widespread establishment of rural credit institutions. Smaller farmers often went into debt, which in many cases resulted in a loss of their farmland. The increased level of mechanization on larger farms, possible by the Green Revolution, removed a large source of employment from the rural economy.The new economic difficulties of smallholder farmers and landless farm workers led to increased rural-urban migration. The increase in food production led to cheaper food for urban dwellers.According to a 2021 study, the Green Revolution substantially increased income. A delay in the Green Revolution by ten years would have cost 17% of GDP per capita, whereas if the Green Revolution had never happened, it could have reduced GDP per capita in the developing world by half. Environmental impact Biodiversity The spread of Green Revolution agriculture affected both agricultural biodiversity (or agrodiversity) and wild biodiversity. There is little disagreement that the Green Revolution acted to reduce agricultural biodiversity, as it relied on just a few high-yield varieties of each crop. This has led to concerns about the susceptibility of a food supply to pathogens that cannot be controlled by agrochemicals, as well as the permanent loss of many valuable genetic traits bred into traditional varieties over thousands of years. To address these concerns, massive seed banks such as Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's (CGIAR) International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (now Bioversity International) have been established (see Svalbard Global Seed Vault). There are varying opinions about the effect of the Green Revolution on wild biodiversity. One hypothesis speculates that by increasing production per unit of land area, agriculture will not need to expand into new, uncultivated areas to feed a growing human population. However, land degradation and soil nutrients depletion have forced farmers to clear forested areas in order to maintain production. A counter-hypothesis speculates that biodiversity was sacrificed because traditional systems of agriculture that were displaced sometimes incorporated practices to preserve wild biodiversity, and because the Green Revolution expanded agricultural development into new areas where it was once unprofitable or too arid. For example, the development of wheat varieties tolerant to acid soil conditions with high aluminium content permitted the introduction of agriculture in sensitive Brazilian ecosystems such as Cerrado semi-humid tropical savanna and Amazon rainforest in the geoeconomic macroregions of Centro-Sul and Amazônia.The world community has clearly acknowledged the negative aspects of agricultural expansion as the 1992 Rio Treaty, signed by 189 nations, has generated numerous national Biodiversity Action Plans which assign significant biodiversity loss to agriculture's expansion into new domains. The Green Revolution has been criticized for an agricultural model which relied on a few staple and market profitable crops, and pursuing a model which limited the biodiversity of Mexico. One of the critics against these techniques and the Green Revolution as a whole was Carl O. Sauer, a geography professor at the University of California, Berkeley. According to Sauer these techniques of plant breeding would result in negative effects on the country's resources, and the culture: "A good aggressive bunch of American agronomists and plant breeders could ruin the native resources for good and all by pushing their American commercial stocks... And Mexican agriculture cannot be pointed toward standardization on a few commercial types without upsetting native economy and culture hopelessly... Unless the Americans understand that, they'd better keep out of this country entirely. That must be approached from an appreciation of native economies as being basically sound". Greenhouse gas emissions Studies indicate that the Green Revolution has substantially increased emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2. High yield agriculture has dramatic effects on the amount of carbon cycling in the atmosphere. The way in which farms are grown, in tandem with the seasonal carbon cycling of various crops, could alter the impact carbon in the atmosphere has on global warming. Wheat, rice, and soybean crops account for a significant amount of the increase in carbon in the atmosphere over the last 50 years.Poorly regulated applications of nitrogen fertilizer that exceed the amount used by plants, such as broadcast applications of urea, result in emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, and in water pollution. As the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri summarized in 2022, "food systems emit approximately one third of the world’s greenhouse gases and contribute to the alarming decline in the number of animal and plant species. Intensive industrial agriculture and export-oriented food policies have driven much of this damage. Ever since governments started adopting the Green Revolution in the 1950s, the world's food systems have been increasingly designed along industrial models, the idea being that, if people are able to purchase industrial inputs, then they can produce a large amount of food. Productivity was not measured in terms of human and environmental health, but exclusively in terms of commodity output and economic growth. This same system disrupted carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles because it requires farmers to depend on fossil fuel- based machines and chemical inputs, displacing long-standing regenerative and integrated farming practices." The IPCC's synthesis of recent findings states similarly "intensive agriculture during the second half of the 20th century led to soil degradation and loss of natural resources and contributed to climate change." They further specify, "while the Green Revolution technologies substantially increased the yield of few crops and allowed countries to reduce hunger, they also resulted in inappropriate and excessive use of agrochemicals, inefficient water use, loss of beneficial biodiversity, water and soil pollution and significantly reduced crop and varietal diversity." Dependence on non-renewable resources Most high intensity agricultural production is highly reliant on agricultural machinery and transport, as well as the production of pesticides and nitrates that all require energy. Nitrogen fertilizer is a direct fossil fuel product processed primarily from natural gas. It is estimated that no more than 3.7 billion people of the current world population could be fed without this single fossil fuel agricultural input. Moreover, the essential mineral nutrient phosphorus is often a limiting factor in crop cultivation, while phosphorus mines are rapidly being depleted worldwide. Land use A 2021 study found that the Green Revolution led to a reduction in land used for agriculture. Health impact Studies have found that the Green Revolution substantially reduced infant mortality in the developing world. A 2020 study of 37 developing countries found that the diffusion of modern crop varieties "reduced infant mortality by 2.4–5.3 percentage points (from a baseline of 18%), with stronger effects for male infants and among poor households." Another 2020 study found that high yield crop varieties reduced infant mortality in India, with particularly large effects for rural children, boys and low-caste children.Consumption of pesticides and fertilizer agrochemicals associated with the Green Revolution may have adverse health impacts. For example, pesticides may increase the likelihood of cancer. Poor farming practices including non-compliance to usage of masks and over-usage of the chemicals compound this situation. In 1989, WHO and UNEP estimated that there were around 1 million human pesticide poisonings annually. Some 20,000 (mostly in developing countries) ended in death, as a result of poor labeling, loose safety standards etc. A 2014 study found that Indian children who were exposed to higher quantities of fertilizer agrochemicals experienced more adverse health impacts. Punjab case A Greenpeace Research Laboratories investigation of 50 villages in Muktsar, Bathinda and Ludhiana districts revealed that twenty percent of the sampled wells had nitrate levels above WHO limits for drinking water. The 2009 study linked the nitrate pollution with high use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Second Green Revolution Although the Green Revolution has been able to improve agricultural output briefly in some regions in the world, its yield rates have been declining, while its social and environmental costs become more clearly apparent. As a result, many organizations continue to invent new ways to rectify, significantly augment or replace the techniques already used in the Green Revolution. Frequently quoted inventions are the System of Rice Intensification, marker-assisted selection, agroecology, and applying existing technologies to agricultural problems of the developing world. The most recent IPCC reports present only four models for sustainable agriculture: agroecology, conservation agriculture, integrated production systems, and organic farming - all marking dramatic departures from Green Revolution practices. In low-, middle-, and even high income countries hunger and malnutrition is rapidly rising. It is projected that global populations by 2050 will increase by one-third and as such will require a 70% increase in the production of food. As such, although the phrase "Second Green Revolution" is common, all such developments are largely a retirement of original Green Revolution practices and principles. Evergreen Revolution The term 'Evergreen Revolution' was coined by Indian agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan in 1990, though he has stated that the concept dates back to as early as 1968. It aims to represent an added dimension to the original concepts and practices of the green revolution, the ecological dimension. Swaminathan has described it as "productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm". The concept has evolved into a combination of science, economics, and sociology. In 2002, American biologist E.O. Wilson observed that: [emphasis added] The problem before us is how to feed billions of new mouths over the next several decades and save the rest of life at the same time, without being trapped in a Faustian bargain that threatens freedom and security. No one knows the exact solution to this dilemma. The benefit must come from an Evergreen Revolution. The aim of this new thrust is to lift food production well above the level obtained by the Green Revolution of the 1960s, using technology and regulatory policy more advanced and even safer than those now in existence.However, despite Swaminathan's prominent role in India's adoption of Green Revolution agriculture, the 'Evergreen' concept largely reflects the failures of the original project. Although a relatively lesser known term, its substance largely reflects the consensus positions outlined in recent IPCC and other synthetic reports. See also References Notes Citations Sources Further reading Cotter, Joseph (2003). Troubled Harvest: Agronomy and Revolution in Mexico, 1880–2002. Westport, CT: Prager Deb, Debal, "Restoring Rice Biodiversity", Scientific American, vol. 321, no. 4 (October 2019), pp. 54–61. Harwood, Andrew (14 June 2013). "Development policy and history: lessons from the Green Revolution". Hurt, R. Douglas. The Green Revolution in the Global South: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences. Nexus Series. Tuscaloosa: University Alabama Press, 2020. ISBN 978-0-8173-2051-5. Jain, H.K. (2010). Green revolution: history, impact and future. Houston: Studium Press. ISBN 978-1441674487. A brief history, for general readers. Lewis-Nang'ea, Amanda. Review of Hurt, R. Douglas, The Green Revolution in the Global South: Science, Politics, and Unintended Consequences. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. February, 2021. http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55547 Perkins, John H. "The Rockefeller Foundation and the green revolution, 1941–1956." Agriculture and Human Values 7.3 (1990): 6–18. online Randhawa, M.S. 1974. Green Revolution. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Singh, Pratibha (2017). "India's Evergreen Revolution". Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society. 5 (2): 70–79. Yadav, O. P.; Singh, D. V.; Dhillon, B. S.; Mohapatra, Trilochan (2019). "India's evergreen revolution in cereals". Current Science. 116 (11): 1805–1808. doi:10.18520/cs/v116/i11/1805-1808. S2CID 189922600. External links Norman Borlaug talk transcript, 1996 on Internet Archive The Green Revolution in the Punjab, by Vandana Shiva Africa's Turn: A New Green Revolution for the 21st Century, Rockefeller Foundation Moseley, W. G. (14 May 2008). "In search of a better revolution". Minneapolis StarTribune. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Rowlatt, Justin (1 December 2016). "IR8: The Miracle Rice Which Saved Millions of Lives". BBC News. Retrieved 1 December 2016. About the 50th anniversary of the rice strain.

plasticulture

Plasticulture is the practice of using plastic materials in agricultural applications. The plastic materials themselves are often and broadly referred to as "ag plastics". Plasticulture ag plastics include soil fumigation film, irrigation drip tape/tubing, plastic plant packaging cord, nursery pots and bales, but the term is most often used to describe all kinds of plastic plant/soil coverings. Such coverings range from plastic mulch film, row coverings, high and low tunnels (polytunnels), to plastic greenhouses. Plastic used in agriculture was expected to include 6.7 million tons of plastic in 2019 or 2% of global plastic production. Plastic used in agriculture is hard to recycle because of contamination by agricultural chemicals. Moreover, plastic degradation into microplastics is damaging to soil health, microorganisms and beneficial organisms like earthworms. Current science is not clear if there are negative impacts on food or once food grown in plasticulture is eaten by humans. Because of these impacts, some governments, like the European Union under the Circular Economy Action Plan, are beginning to regulate its use and plastic waste produced on farms. Types of plastics used Polyethylene (PE) is the plastic film used by the majority of growers because of its affordability, flexibility and easy manufacturing. It comes in a variety of thicknesses, such as a low density form (LDPE) as well as a linear low density form (LLDPE). These can be modified by addition of certain elements to the plastic that give it properties beneficial to plant growth such as reduced water loss, UV stabilization to cool soil and prevent insects, elimination of photosynthetically active radiation to prevent weed growth, IR opacity, antidrip/antifog, and fluorescence.Polypropylene (PP) is often used for agricultural plant packaging cord. Applications Greenhouses and walk-in tunnel covers A greenhouse is a large structure in which it is possible to stand and work with automated ventilation. High tunnels are hoop houses, manually ventilated by rolling up the sides. Greenhouse and high tunnel films are usually within the parameters of 80-220μm thick and 20m wide, and have a life span between 6–45 months dependent on several factors. Monolayer polyethylene films are better suited for less extreme environmental conditions, while multilayer covers made of three layers, one EVA19 layer inserted between two low-density polyethylene layers has been shown to have a better performance under harsh conditions. Small tunnel covers Small tunnel covers are about 1m wide and 1m high, and have a thinner polyethylene film than the large tunnel covers, usually below 80μm. Their lifetime is also shorter than that of the larger versions; they usually have a usable life span of 6–8 months. Use of small tunnels is less popular than both the more expensive but durable greenhouses/walk-in tunnels and the cheaper plastic mulch. Plastic mulch Plastic mulching is when a thin plastic film is placed over the ground, poking holes at regular intervals for seeds to be planted in, or placing it directly over plants in the beginning stages of growth. The films remain in place for the duration of the cultivation (usually 2–4 months) and usually have a thickness of 12-80μm. The main functions of plastic mulch are to insulate and maintain a consistent temperature and humidity of the soil, preventing evaporation of moisture from the soil, minimization of seedtime and harvest, prevent weed growth, and to prevent erosion. Pigmented or colourless films can be used, each with specific advantages and disadvantages over the other.Black films prevent weed growth, but do not transmit light to heat up the soil; clear films transmit light and heat the soil, but promote weed growth. Photosensitive films have been developed that are pigmented to prevent weed growth, but still transmit light to heat the soil. These photosensitive films are more costly than either the clear or black polyethylene sheeting. Black plastic mulch controls evaporation from the soil and improves soil water retention. Plastic mulching proved to reduce irrigation requirements in pepper by 14-29% because of elimination of soil evaporation.Flowering time was also reduced in okra when black plastic mulch was used; the plants reached 50% flowering 3–6 days earlier than un-mulched plots. Plant height in okra was significantly increased with black plastic mulch use compared to those grown in bare soil. Evaporation from soil accounts for 25-50% of water used in irrigation, using plastic mulch prevents much of this evaporation and thus reduces the amount of water needed to grow the crop. This conservation of water makes plastic mulch favourable for farmers in dry and arid climates where water is a limited resource. As the second most used ag plastic in the world, the volume of plastic mulch used every year is estimated at 700,000t. Origins and development around the world The first use of plastic film in agriculture was in an effort to make a cheaper version of a glasshouse. In 1948 Professor E.M. Emmert built the first plastic greenhouse, a wooden structure covered with cellulose acetate film. He later switched this to a more effective polyethylene film. After this introduction of plastic film to agriculture it began being used at a larger scale around the world by the early 1950s to replace paper for mulching vegetables.By 1999 almost 30 million acres worldwide were covered in plastic mulch. Only a small percentage of this was in the United States (185 000 acres), the majority of this plastic growth was happening in economically poor areas of the world and previously unproductive desert regions, such as Almeria in southern Spain.The largest concentrations of greenhouses around the world are mainly found in two areas, with 80% throughout the Far East (China, Japan, Korea), and 15% in the Mediterranean basin. The area of greenhouse cover is still increasing at a fast rate, during the last decade it is estimated that it has been growing by 20% every year. Areas such as the Middle East and Africa are growing in their use of plastic greenhouses by 15-20% per year, compared to the weak growth in more developed and economically stable areas such as Europe. China leads the world's growth at 30% per year, translating into a volume of plastic film reaching 1,000,000 t/year. In 2006 80% of the area covered by plastic mulch is found in China where it has a growth rate of 25% per year; this is the highest in the world.Since its introduction in the 1950s, plastic film has been designed and developed to increase produce yield, increase produce size and shorten growth time. Developments in plastic film include durability, optical (ultraviolet, visible, near infrared, and middle infrared) properties, and the antidrip or antifog effect. Recent developments in this area include UV-blocking, NIR-blocking, fluorescent, and ultrathermic films. Large-scale usage in southern Spain The use of plasticulture in agriculture is growing rapidly, perhaps nowhere more visibly than around Almería in southern Spain. The eastern approaches to Almería, north of the airport, are densely covered, as is a large area further northeast, surrounding the towns of Campohermoso, Los Pipaces and Los Grillos (close to Níjar). The densest concentration lies about 20 km southwest of Almería, where almost the entire Campo de Dalías, a low-lying cape, is now under plastic (an estimated area of 20,000 hectares). Further west, a similar, but smaller, coastal plain around Carchuna, southeast of Motril, is similarly enveloped. The technique is not restricted to the plains; it is also applied to wide terraces on the sides of shallow valleys, as the valley north of Castell de Ferro shows. Elsewhere along the Costa Tropical and the Costa del Sol, particularly between Almería and Málaga, fruit trees growing on terraces in steeper valleys may be covered with vast tents of plastic netting. Environmental aspects As (non-biodegradable) plastics are used in agriculture, there is a risk of it ending up in the soil, thus polluting it in the process. Recycling One significant component of plasticulture is the disposal of used ag plastics. Technologies exist which allow for ag plastics to be recycled into plastic resins for reuse in the plastics manufacturing industry.Recycling of plastic mulch is difficult because the mulch is often wet or dirty. Thin mulch breaks down quickly, and can be impossible to pick up for recycling once degraded. Legislation on plastic use in agriculture In the European Union, Directive 2008/98/EC on waste management is in place, of which article 8 states "each member state may introduce the ERP concept into its own legal framework in addition to deciding how to encourage manufacturers to participate in the prevention, re-use, recycling and recovery of used plastic products." In addition, in 2018, the European Commission published a communication laying out a strategy for plastics in a circular economy. It mentioned curbing plastic waste and littering, for instance by reducing single-use plastics, tackling sources of marine litter at sea, restricting the use of oxo-degradable plastics and curbing micro-plastics pollution. In 2020, the EU finally released its Circular Economy Action Plan. It included a set of measures to reduce plastic litter and address the presence of microplastics in the environment. It also expressed addressing sustainability issues by developing a policy framework on biodegradable or compostable plastics. See also Agriculture and Agronomy portal Bioplastics Environmental impact of agriculture Soil contamination Cleanup options for contaminated soil Plastic pollution Plastisphere References Further reading Hulse, Sara (2000). Plastics product recycling: a Rapra industry analysis report. iSmithers Rapra Publishing. 1859572227, 9781859572221 Shemilt, L.W. (1983). Chemistry and world food supplies: The Final frontier. Int. Rice Res. Inst. 0080292429, 9780080292427 Otey, F.H. (1983). Starch-based plastics and related products for agriculture. External links American Society for Plasticulture Plasticulture

agroecosystem

Agroecosystems are the ecosystems supporting the food production systems in farms and gardens. As the name implies, at the core of an agroecosystem lies the human activity of agriculture. As such they are the basic unit of study in Agroecology, and Regenerative Agriculture using ecological approaches. Like other ecosystems, agroecosystems form partially closed systems in which animals, plants, microbes, and other living organisms and their environment are interdependent and regularly interact. They are somewhat arbitrarily defined as a spatially and functionally coherent unit of agricultural activity.An agroecosystem can be seen as not restricted to the immediate site of agricultural activity (e.g. the farm). That is, it includes the region that is impacted by this activity, usually by changes to the complexity of species assemblages and energy flows, as well as to the net nutrient balance. Agroecosystems, particularly those managed intensively, are characterized as having simpler species composition, energy and nutrient flows than "natural" ecosystems. Likewise, agroecosystems are often associated with elevated nutrient input, much of which exits the farm leading to eutrophication of connected ecosystems not directly engaged in agriculture. Utilization Forest gardens are probably the world's oldest and most resilient agroecosystem.Some major organizations are hailing farming within agroecosystems as the way forward for mainstream agriculture. Current farming methods have resulted in over-stretched water resources, high levels of erosion and reduced soil fertility. According to a report by the International Water Management Institute and the United Nations Environment Programme, there is not enough water to continue farming using current practices; therefore how critical water, land, and ecosystem resources are used to boost crop yields must be reconsidered. The report suggested assigning value to ecosystems, recognizing environmental and livelihood tradeoffs, and balancing the rights of a variety of users and interests, as well addressing inequities that sometimes result when such measures are adopted, such as the reallocation of water from poor to rich, the clearing of land to make way for more productive farmland, or the preservation of a wetland system that limits fishing rights.One of the major efforts of disciplines such as agroecology is to promote management styles that blur the distinction between agroecosystems and "natural" ecosystems, both by decreasing the impact of agriculture (increasing the biological and trophic complexity of the agricultural system as well as decreasing the nutrient inputs/outflow) and by increasing awareness that "downstream" effects extend agroecosystems beyond the boundaries of the farm (e.g. the Corn Belt agroecosystem includes the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico). In the first case, polyculture or buffer strips for wildlife habitat can restore some complexity to a cropping system, while organic farming can reduce nutrient inputs. Efforts of the second type are most common at the watershed scale. An example is the National Association of Conservation Districts' Lake Mendota Watershed Project, which seeks to reduce runoff from the agricultural lands feeding into the lake with the aim of reducing algal blooms. See also Further reading Loucks, Orie (November 1977). "Emergence of Research on Agro-Ecosystems". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 8: 173–192. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.08.110177.001133. Seabrook, Wendy, 2022, How to Choose Regenerative Practices – that Work. Learning from Nature == References ==

farm water

Farm water, also known as agricultural water, is water committed for use in the production of food and fibre and collecting for further resources. In the US, some 80% of the fresh water withdrawn from rivers and groundwater is used to produce food and other agricultural products. Farm water may include water used in the irrigation of crops or the watering of livestock. Its study is called agricultural hydrology. Water is one of the most fundamental parts of the global economy. In areas without healthy water resources or sanitation services, economic growth cannot be sustained. Without access to clean water, nearly every industry would suffer, most notably agriculture. As water scarcity grows as a global concern, food security is also brought into consideration. A recent example of this could be the drought in California; for every $100 spent on foods from this state, a consumer is projected to pay up to $15 additionally. Livestock water use Livestock and meat production have some of the largest water footprints of the agricultural industry, taking nearly 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef and 576 gallons for pork. About 108 gallons of water are needed to harvest one pound of corn. Livestock production is also one of the most resource-intensive agricultural outputs. This is largely due to their large feed conversion ratio. Livestock's large water consumption may also be attributed to the amount of time needed to raise an animal to slaughter. Again, in an invalid contrast to corn, which grows to maturity in about 100 days, about 995 days are needed to grow cattle. The global "food animal" population is just over 20 billion creatures; with 7+ billion humans, this equates to about 2.85 animals per human. Cattle The beef and dairy industries are the most lucrative branches of the U.S. agricultural industry, but they are also the most resource intensive. To date, beef is the most popular of the meats; the U.S. alone produced 25.8 billion pounds in 2013. In this same year, 201.2 billion pounds of milk were produced. These cattle are mostly raised in centralized animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. Typically, a mature cow consumes 7 to 24 gallons of water a day; lactating cows require about twice as much water. The amount of water that cattle may drink in a day also depends upon the temperature. Cattle have a feed conversion ratio of 6:1, for every six pounds of food consumed, the animal should gain one pound. Thus, there is also a substantial "indirect" need for water in order to grow the feed for the livestock. Growing the amount of feed grains necessary for raising livestock accounts for 56 percent of the U.S water consumption. Of a 1,000 pound cow, only 430 pounds make it to the retail markets. This 18 percent loss, creates an even greater demand for cattle, being that CAFOs must make up for this lost profitable weight, by increasing the number of cows that they raise. Water scarcity is not necessarily a new issue, however, cattle ranchers in America have been cutting herd sizes since the 1950s in efforts to curb water and manufacturing costs. This shift has led to more efficient feeding and health methods, allowing ranchers to harvest more beef per animal. The rising popularity of these CAFOs are creating a larger demand for water, however. Grass-fed or grazing cows consume about twelve percent more water through the ingestion of live plants, than those cows who are fed dried grains. Poultry and fowl Water is one of the most crucial aspects of poultry raising, as like all animals, they use this to carry food through their system, assist in digestion, and regulate body temperature. Farmers monitor flock water consumption to measure the overall health of their birds. As birds grow older they consume more feed and about three times as much water because they are three times larger. In just three weeks, a 1000-bird flock's water consumption should increase by about 10 gallons a day. Water consumption is also influenced by temperature. In hot weather, birds pant to keep cool, thus losing much of their water. A study based in Ohio showed that 67% of water sampled near poultry farms contained antibiotics. Horticulture water use With modern advancements, crops are being cultivated year round in countries all around the world. As water usage becomes a more pervasive global issue, irrigation practices for crops are being refined and becoming more sustainable. While several irrigation systems are used, these may be grouped into two types: high flow and low flow. These systems must be managed precisely to prevent runoff, overspray, or low-head drainage. Scarcity of water in agriculture About 60 years ago, the common perception was that water was an infinite resource. At that time, fewer than half the current number of people were on the planet. Standard of living was not as high, so individuals consumed fewer calories, and ate less meat, so less water was needed to produce their food. They required a third of the volume of water presently taken from rivers. Today, the competition for water resources is much more intense, because nearly eight billion people are now on the planet, and their consumption of meat and vegetables is rising. Competition for water from industry, urbanisation, and biofuel crops is rising congruently. To avoid a global water crisis, farmers will have to make strides to increase productivity to meet growing demands for food, while industry and cities find ways to use water more efficiently.Successful agriculture is dependent upon farmers having sufficient access to water, but water scarcity is already a critical constraint to farming in many parts of the world. Physical water scarcity is where not enough water is available to meet all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function effectively. Arid regions frequently suffer from physical water scarcity. It also occurs where water seems abundant, but where resources are over-committed. This can happen where hydraulic infrastructure is over-developed, usually for irrigation. Symptoms of physical water scarcity include environmental degradation and declining groundwater. Economic scarcity, meanwhile, is caused by a lack of investment in water or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand for water. Symptoms of economic water scarcity include a lack of infrastructure, with people often having to fetch water from rivers for domestic and agricultural uses. Some 2.8 billion people currently live in water-scarce areas. In developed countries, environmental regulations restrict water availability by redirecting water to aid endangered species, such as snail darters. Sustainable water use While water use affects environmental degradation and economic growth, it is also sparking innovation regarding new irrigation methods. In 2006, the USDA predicted that if the agricultural sector improved water efficiency by just 10%, farms could save upwards of $200 million per year. Many of the practices that cut water use are cost effective. Farmers who use straw, compost, or mulch around their crops can reduce evaporation by about 75%, though the input costs are neither inexpensive nor readily available in some areas. This would also reduce the number of weeds and save a farmer from using herbicides. Mulches or ground covers also allow the soils to absorb more water by reducing compaction. The use of white or pale gravel is also practiced, as it reduces evaporation and keeps soil temperatures low by reflecting sunlight.In addition to reducing water loss at the sink, more sustainable ways to harvest water also can be used. Many modern small (nonindustrial) farmers are using rain barrels to collect the water needed for their crops and livestock. On average, rainwater harvesting where rain is frequent reduces the cost of water in half. This would also greatly reduce the stress on local aquifers and wells. Because farmers use the roofs of their buildings to gather this water, this also reduced rainwater runoff and soil erosion on and around their farms. == References ==

environmental impact of concrete

The environmental impact of concrete, its manufacture, and its applications, are complex, driven in part by direct impacts of construction and infrastructure, as well as by CO2 emissions; between 4-8% of total global CO2 emissions come from concrete. Many depend on circumstances. A major component is cement, which has its own environmental and social impacts and contributes largely to those of concrete. The cement industry is one of the main producers of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Concrete causes damage to the most fertile layer of the earth, the topsoil. Concrete is used to create hard surfaces which contribute to surface runoff that may cause soil erosion, water pollution and flooding. Conversely, concrete is one of the most powerful tools for proper flood control, by means of damming, diversion, and deflection of flood waters, mud flows, and the like. Light-colored concrete can reduce the urban heat island effect, due to its higher albedo. However, original vegetation results in even greater benefit. Concrete dust released by building demolition and natural disasters can be a major source of dangerous air pollution. The presence of some substances in concrete, including useful and unwanted additives, can cause health concerns due to toxicity and (usually naturally occurring) radioactivity. Wet concrete is highly alkaline and should always be handled with proper protective equipment. Concrete recycling is increasing in response to improved environmental awareness, legislation, and economic considerations. Conversely, the use of concrete mitigates the use of alternative building materials such as wood, which is a natural form of carbon sequestering. Carbon dioxide emissions and climate change The cement industry is one of the two largest producers of carbon dioxide (CO2), creating up to 5% of worldwide man-made emissions of this gas, of which 50% is from the chemical process and 40% from burning fuel. The CO2 produced for the manufacture of structural concrete (using ~14% cement) is estimated at 410 kg/m3 (~180 kg/tonne @ density of 2.3 g/cm3) (reduced to 290 kg/m3 with 30% fly ash replacement of cement). The CO2 emission from the concrete production is directly proportional to the cement content used in the concrete mix; 900 kg of CO2 are emitted for the fabrication of every ton of cement, accounting for 88% of the emissions associated with the average concrete mix. Cement manufacture contributes greenhouse gases both directly through the production of carbon dioxide when calcium carbonate is thermally decomposed, producing lime and carbon dioxide, and also through the use of energy, particularly from the combustion of fossil fuels. One area of the concrete life cycle worth noting is its very low embodied energy per unit mass. This is primarily because the materials used in concrete construction, such as aggregates, pozzolans, and water, are relatively plentiful and can often be drawn from local sources. This means that transportation only accounts for 7% of the embodied energy of concrete, while cement production accounts for 70%. Concrete has a total embodied energy of 1.69 GJ/tonne, lower per unit mass than most common building materials besides wood. However, concrete structures often have high masses, so this comparison is not always directly relevant to decision making. Additionally, this value is based only on mix proportions of up to 20% fly ash. It is estimated that a 1% replacement of cement with fly ash represents a 0.7% reduction in energy consumption. With some proposed mixes containing as much as 80% fly ash, this could represent a considerable energy saving.A 2022 report from the Boston Consulting Group found that investments in greener forms of cement would lead to greater greenhouse gas reductions, per dollar, than investments in many other green technologies—though investments in plant-based meat alternatives would reap considerably greater reductions than even this. Mitigation Design improvements There is a growing interest in reducing carbon emissions related to concrete from both the academic and industrial sectors, especially with the possibility of future carbon tax implementation. Several approaches to reducing emissions have been suggested. Cement production and use One reason why the carbon emissions are so high is because cement has to be heated to very high temperatures in order for clinker to form. A major culprit of this is alite (Ca3SiO5), a mineral in concrete that cures within hours of pouring and is therefore responsible for much of its initial strength. However, alite also has to be heated to 1,500 °C in the clinker-forming process. Some research suggests that alite can be replaced by a different mineral, such as belite (Ca2SiO4). Belite is also a mineral already used in concrete. It has a roasting temperature of 1,200 °C, which is significantly lower than that of alite. Furthermore, belite is actually stronger once concrete cures. However, belite takes on the order of days or months to set completely, which leaves concrete weak for longer. Current research is focusing on finding possible impurity additives, like magnesium, that might speed up the curing process. It is also worthwhile to consider that belite takes more energy to grind, which may make its full life of impact similar to or even higher than alite.Another approach has been the partial replacement of conventional clinker with such alternatives as fly ash, bottom ash, and slag, all of which are by-products of other industries that would otherwise end up in landfills. Fly ash and bottom ash come from thermoelectric power plants, while slag is a waste from blast furnaces in the ironworks industry. These materials are slowly gaining popularity as additives, especially since they can potentially increase strength, decrease density, and prolong durability of concrete.The main obstacle to wider implementation of fly ash and slag may be largely due to the risk of construction with new technology that has not been exposed to long field testing. Until a carbon tax is implemented, companies are unwilling to take the chance with new concrete mix recipes even if this reduces carbon emissions. However, there are some examples of "green" concrete and its implementation. One instance is a concrete company called Ceratech that has started manufacturing concrete with 95% fly ash and 5% liquid additives. Another is the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, which was constructed with a novel mixture of concrete that included different compositions of Portland cement, fly ash, and slag depending on the portion of the bridge and its material properties requirements. Several startup companies are developing and testing alternative cement production methods. Sublime of Somerville, Massachusetts uses a no-kiln electrochemical process, and Fortera of San Jose, California captures carbon dioxide from conventional plants to make a new kind of cement. Blue Planet of Los Gatos, California captures emitted carbon dioxide to produce synthetic concrete. CarbonCure Technologies of Halifax, Nova Scotia has retrofitted its carbon mineralization systems at hundreds of concrete plants around the world, injecting and permanently storing carbon dioxide in concrete as it is being mixed.Furthermore, the production of concrete requires large amounts of water, and global production accounts for almost a tenth of worldwide industrial water use. This amounts to 1.7 percent of total global water withdrawal. A study that appeared in Nature Sustainability in 2018 predicts that concrete production will in the future increase pressure on water resources in regions susceptible to drought conditions, writing, "In 2050, 75% of the water demand for concrete production will likely occur in regions that are expected to experience water stress". Carbon concrete Carbonatation, sometimes called carbonation, is the formation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) by chemical reaction, which, if used in concrete, can sequester carbon dioxide. The speed of carbonation depends primarily on the porosity of the concrete and its moisture content. Carbonation in concrete pores happens only at a relative humidity (RH) of 40-90%—when RH is higher than 90%, carbon dioxide cannot enter the concrete pores, and when RH is lower than 40%, CO2 cannot be dissolved in water. Concrete can be carbonated by two main methods: weathering carbonation and early age carbonation.Weathering carbonation occurs in concrete when calcium compounds react with carbon dioxide ( CO 2 {\displaystyle {\ce {CO2}}} ) from the atmosphere and water ( H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {H2O}}} ) in the concrete pores. The reaction is as follows. First, through chemical weathering, CO2 reacts with water in the concrete pores to form carbonic acid: CO 2 + H 2 O ↽ − − ⇀ H 2 CO 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {CO2 + H2O <=> H2CO3}}} Carbonic acid then reacts with calcium hydroxide to form calcium carbonate and water: Ca ( OH ) 2 + H 2 CO 3 ↽ − − ⇀ CaCO 3 + 2 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {Ca(OH)2 + H2CO3 <=> CaCO3 + 2H2O}}} Once the calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) has sufficiently carbonated, the main component of cement, calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H), can be decalcified, i.e., liberated calcium oxide ( CaO {\displaystyle {\ce {CaO}}} ) can carbonate: Early age carbonation is when CO2 is introduced to the early stages of fresh premix concrete or upon initial curing, which can occur both naturally through exposure or be artificially accelerated by augmenting a direct intake of CO2. Gaseous carbon dioxide is converted to solid carbonates and can be permanently stored in concrete. The reactions of CO2 and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) in cement was described in 1974 in cement chemist notation (CCN) as: A Canadian company patented and commercialized a novel technology that uses early age carbonation to sequester CO2. This is achieved by directly injecting recycled liquid carbon dioxide from third-party industrial emitters into the concrete wet-mix stage during the manufacturing process. CO2 is then chemically mineralized, sequestering the greenhouse gas pollutant in concrete infrastructure, buildings, roads, etc. for long periods of time. In a study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the authors created a model showing that sequestered CO2 improved the compressive strength of concrete while reducing CO2 emissions, thus allowing for a cement loading reduction while also having a "4.6% reduction in the carbon footprint".Another proposed method of capturing emissions is to absorb CO2 in the curing process through the use of an admixture—specifically, a dicalcium silicate in 𝛾 phase—as the concrete cures. The use of fly ash or another suitable substitute could theoretically bring CO2 emissions below 0 kg/m3, compared to Portland cement concrete emissions of 400 kg/m3. The most effective method of production of this concrete would use the exhaust gas of a power plant, where an isolated chamber could control temperature and humidity.In August 2019, reduced CO2 cement was announced which "reduces the overall carbon footprint in precast concrete by 70%". The base of the cement is primarily wollastonite ( CaSiO 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSiO3}}} ) and rankinite ( 3 CaO ⋅ 2 SiO 2 {\displaystyle {\ce {3CaO . 2SiO2}}} ), in contrast to traditional Portland cement, based on alite ( 3 CaO ⋅ SiO 2 {\displaystyle {\ce {3CaO . SiO2}}} ) and belite ( 2 CaO ⋅ SiO 2 {\displaystyle {\ce {2CaO . SiO2}}} ). The patented process of reduced-emissions concrete manufacture begins with the bonding of particles through liquid phase sintering, also referred to as reactive hydrothermal liquid-phase densification (rHLPD). A solution of water and CO2 penetrates the particles, reacting in ambient conditions to form a bond which creates reduced-lime, non-hydraulic calcium silicate cement (CSC). The difference between traditional Portland concrete and these carbonated calcium silicate concrete (CSC-C) lies in the final curing process reaction between a water-CO2 solution and a family of calcium-silicate. According to a study of one reduced-emissions cement, called Solidia, "CSC-C curing is a mildly exothermic reaction in which the low-lime calcium silicates in the CSC react with CO2 in the presence of water to produce calcite (CaCO3) and silica (SiO2) as follows: CaSiO 3 + CO 2 ⟶ CaCO 3 + SiO 2 {\displaystyle {\ce {CaSiO3 + CO2 -> CaCO3 + SiO2}}} "However, as early age carbonation methods have gained recognition due to their substantial carbon sequestration proficiencies, some authors have argued that the effect of early-age carbonation curing may succumb to weathering carbonation later on. For example, a 2020 article writes, "Experimental results suggest that early-age carbonated concretes with high w/c ratios (>0.65) are more likely to be affected by weathering carbonation". The article cautions that this may weaken its strength abilities in the corrosion stages during life service. Italian company Italcementi designed a kind of cement that is supposedly alleviating air pollution by breaking down pollutants that come in contact with the concrete, through the use of titanium dioxide absorbing ultraviolet light. Some environmental experts nevertheless remain skeptical and wonder if the special material can "eat" enough pollutants to make it financially viable. Jubilee Church in Rome is built from this kind of concrete.Another aspect to consider in carbon concrete is surface scaling due to cold climatic conditions and exposure to de-icing salt and freeze-thaw cycles (frost weathering). Concrete produced by carbonation curing also shows superior performance when subject to physical degradations, e.g., freeze-thaw damage, particularly due to a pore densification effect enabled by the precipitation of carbonation productsThe vast majority of CO2 emissions from concrete come from cement manufacturing. Therefore, methods to reduce cement materials in each concrete mix are the only known methods to reduce the emissions. Photocatalysis to reduce smog Titanium dioxide (TiO2), a semiconductor material shown to exhibit photocatalytic behavior, has been used to remove nitrogen oxides (denoted NOx) from the atmosphere. NOx species, i.e., nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, are atmospheric gases that contribute to acid rain and smog formation, both of which are the result of urban pollution. Since NOx formation only occurs at high temperatures, nitrogen oxides are typically produced as a byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion. In addition to contributing to urban pollution events, NOx has been demonstrated to cause a wide variety of adverse health and environmental effects, including triggering respiratory distress, reacting with other atmospheric chemicals to form harmful products such as ozone, nitroarenes, and nitrate radicals, and contributing to the greenhouse effect. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a maximum NOx concentration of 40 μg/m3. One proposed route of decreasing NOx concentrations, especially in urban settings, is to use photocatalytic TiO2 mixed into concrete to oxidize NO and NO2 to form nitrate. In the presence of light, TiO2 generates electrons and holes that allow for NO to oxidize into NO2 and NO2 to then form HNO3 (nitric acid) via a hydroxyl radical attack. The molecule adsorption reactions are given below: O2 + ⬚ → Oads H2O + ⬚ → H2Oads NO + ⬚ → NOads NO2 + ⬚ → NO2adsGeneration of holes and electrons via TiO2 activation is described below: TiO2 + hν → e− + h+Trapping of electron/hole: h+ + H2Oads → OH· + H+ e− + O2ads → O2−Hydroxyl radical attack: NOads + OH· → HNO2 HNO2 + OH· → NO2ads + H2O NO2ads + OH· → NO3− + H+Electron and hole recombination: e− + h+ → heatAnother pathway for the oxidation of nitrogen uses UV irradiation to form NO3. Embedded solar cells Dye-sensitized solar cells embedded in concrete has been proposed as a method of reducing the carbon and energy footprints of buildings. The usage of embedded solar cells allows for on-site energy generation, which when coupled with batteries, would provide constant power throughout the day. The top layer of the concrete would be a thin layer of dye-sensitized solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells are particularly attractive due to its ease of mass production, either via roll-printing or painting, and a reasonably high efficiency of 10%. One example of the commercialization of this concept is the German company Discrete, which produces a dye-sensitized solar cell embedded concrete product. Their process uses a spray-coating method to apply organic dyes that generate electricity onto concrete. Energy storage Energy storage has become an important consideration for many renewable energy generation methods, especially for popular methods such as solar or wind energy, both of which are intermittent energy producers that require storage for constant use. Currently, 96% of the world’s energy storage comes from pumped hydro, which uses excess generated electricity to pump water up a dam and then allowed to fall and turn turbines that produce electricity when the demand exceeds generation. The problem with pumped hydro, however, is that the setup requires specific geographies that can be difficult to find. A similar concept that uses cement instead of water has been realized by Energy Vault, a Swiss startup. They created a setup that uses an electric crane surrounded by stacks of 35-ton concrete blocks, which can be produced using waste products, to store energy by using excess energy generation to power the crane to lift and stack the concrete blocks. When energy is needed, the blocks are allowed to fall and the rotated motor would send energy back to the grid. The setup would have a storage capacity of 25-80 MWh. Other improvements There are many other improvements to concrete that do not deal directly with emissions. Recently, much research has gone into "smart" concretes: concretes that use electrical and mechanical signals to respond to changes in loading conditions. One variety uses carbon fiber reinforcement which provides an electrical response that can be used to measure strain. This allows for monitoring the structural integrity of the concrete without installing sensors.The road construction and maintenance industry consumes tons of carbon-intensive concrete every day to secure road-side and urban infrastructure. As populations grow this infrastructure is becoming increasingly vulnerable to impact from vehicles, creating an ever increasing cycle of damage and waste and ever increasing consumption of concrete for repairs (roadworks are now seen around our cities on almost a daily basis). A major development in the infrastructure industry involves the use of recycled petroleum waste to protect the concrete from damage and enable infrastructure to become dynamic, able to be easily maintained and updated without disturbance to the existing foundations. This simple innovation preserves the foundations for the entire lifespan of a development. Another area of concrete research involves the creation of certain “waterless” concretes for use in extraplanetary colonization. Most commonly, these concretes use sulfur to act as a non-reactive binder, allowing for construction of concrete structures in environments with no or very little water. These concretes are in many ways indistinguishable from normal hydraulic concrete: they have similar densities, can be used with currently existing metal reinforcement, and they actually gain strength faster than normal concrete This application has yet to be explored on Earth, but with concrete production representing as much as two-thirds of the total energy usage of some developing countries, any improvement is worth considering. Changes in use Concrete is one of the world's oldest man-made building materials. Over the years, significant environmental limitations have been placed on the creation and use of concrete due to its carbon footprint. Manufacturers responded to these limitations by altering concrete's production processes, and recycling old concrete rubble to use as aggregate in new concrete mixtures to reduce these emissions. Concrete has immersed from natural resources into man-made processes; evidence of the use of concrete dates back over 8,000 years ago. Today, many construction companies and concrete manufacturers have cut the use of Portland cement in their mixtures due to its production process emitting significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Alternatives to concrete There are in fact many alternatives to concrete. One being Green concrete that is produced by recycled waste materials from various industries , another being Ashcrete, a material made from a mix of lime and water that acts similar to cement. Black furnace slag is also a strong alternative made from molten iron slag into water, along with Micro Silica, Papercrete, composite cement, and post-consumer glass.Depending on the amounts required or used overall and the amounts needed, in combination with other materials, for structural stability per building, many other materials also have a substantial negative impact on the environment. For instance, while research and development to reduce these emissions are ongoing, steel accounted for ~8 % of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions as of 2021. Clay Mixtures of clay are an alternative construction material to concrete that have a lower environmental footprint. In 2021, the first prototype 3D printed house, Tecla, printed from locally-sourced soil and water as well as fibers from rice husks and a binder was completed. Such buildings could be very inexpensive, well-insulated, stable and weatherproof, climate-adaptable, customizable, get produced rapidly, require only very little easily-learnable manual labor, require less energy, produce very little waste and reduce carbon emissions from concrete. Surface runoff Surface runoff, when water runs off impervious surfaces, such as non-porous concrete, can cause severe soil erosion and flooding. Urban runoff tends to pick up gasoline, motor oil, heavy metals, trash and other pollutants from sidewalks, roadways and parking lots. Without attenuation, the impervious cover in a typical urban area limits groundwater percolation and causes five times the amount of runoff generated by a typical woodland of the same size. A 2008 report by the United States National Research Council identified urban runoff as a leading source of water quality problems.In an attempt to counteract the negative effects of impervious concrete, many new paving projects have begun to use pervious concrete, which provides a level of automatic stormwater management. Pervious concrete is created by careful laying of concrete with specifically designed aggregate proportions, which allows for surface runoff to seep through and return to the groundwater. This both prevents flooding and contributes to groundwater replenishment. If designed and layered properly, pervious concrete and other discreetly paved areas can also function as an automatic water filter by preventing certain harmful substances like oils and other chemicals from passing through. Unfortunately there are still downsides to large scale applications of pervious concrete: its reduced strength relative to conventional concrete limits use to low-load areas, and it must be laid properly to reduce susceptibility to freeze-thaw damage and sediment buildup. Urban heat Both concrete and asphalt are the primary contributors to what is known as the urban heat island effect. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 55% of the world’s population reside in urban areas and 68% of the world’s population is projected to be urban by 2050; also, "the world is projected to add 230 billion m2 (2.5 trillion ft2) of buildings by 2060, or an area equal to the entire current global building stock. This is the equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the planet every 34 days for the next 40 years". As a result, paved surfaces represent a major concern because of the additional energy consumption and air pollution they cause.The potential of energy saving within an area is also high. With lower temperatures, the demand for air conditioning theoretically decreases, saving energy. However, research into the interaction between reflective pavements and buildings has found that, unless the nearby buildings are fitted with reflective glass, solar radiation reflected off pavements can increase building temperatures, increasing air conditioning demands.Moreover, heat transfer from pavements, which cover about one-third of a typical U.S. city, can also influence local temperatures and air quality. Hot surfaces warm the city air through convection, so using materials that absorb less solar energy, such as high-albedo pavements, can reduce the flow of heat into the urban environment and moderate the UHIE. Albedos range from about 0.05 to about 0.35 for currently used pavement material surfaces. Over a typical life service, pavement materials that begin with high albedo tend to lose reflectance, while those with low initial albedo may gain reflectanceThe Design Trust for Public Space found that by slightly raising the albedo value in New York City, beneficial effects such as energy savings could be achieved., by replacement of black asphalt with light-colored concrete. However, in winter this may be a disadvantage as ice will form more easily and remain longer on light colored surfaces as they will be colder due to less energy absorbed from the reduced amount of sunlight in winter.Another aspect to consider is thermal comfort effect, as well as the need for more mitigation strategies, which don’t threat the health and wellbeing of pedestrians particularly during heat waves. A study that appeared in Building and Environment in 2019 performed experiments to project the impact of heat waves and high albedo materials interactions in the northern Italian city of Milan. By calculating the "Mediterranean Outdoor Comfort Index" (MOCI) in presence of a heat wave, where high albedo materials was used in all surfaces. The study identified a deterioration of the microclimate where high amounts of high albedo materials were located. The use of the high albedo materials was found to "lead to the establishment of multiple inter-reflections and a consequent increase in micrometeorological variables such as average radiant temperatures and air temperatures. To be more detailed, these changes lead to an increase in the MOCI that in the afternoon hours can even reach 0.45 units".Overall urban configurations should remain of concern when making decisions as people are exposed to weather and thermal confort conditions. The use of high albedo materials within an urban environment can be of positive effect with proper combination of other technologies and strategies such as: vegetation, reflective materials, etc. Urban heat mitigation measures could minimize impacts on microclimate as well as human and wildlife habitats. Concrete dust Building demolition and natural disasters such as earthquakes often release a large amount of concrete dust into the local atmosphere. Concrete dust was concluded to be the major source of dangerous air pollution following the Great Hanshin earthquake. Toxic and radioactive contamination The presence of some substances in concrete, including useful and unwanted additives, can cause health concerns. Natural radioactive elements (K, U, Th, and Rn) can be present in various concentration in concrete dwellings, depending on the source of the raw materials used. For example, some stones naturally emit Radon, and Uranium was once common in mine refuse. Toxic substances may also be unintentionally used as the result of contamination from a nuclear accident. Dust from rubble or broken concrete upon demolition or crumbling may cause serious health concerns depending also on what had been incorporated in the concrete. However, embedding harmful materials in concrete is not always dangerous and may in fact be beneficial. In some cases, incorporating certain compounds such as metals in the hydration process of cement immobilizes them in a harmless state and prevents them from being released freely elsewhere. Handling precautions Handling of wet concrete must always be done with proper protective equipment. Contact with wet concrete can cause skin chemical burns due to the caustic nature of the mixture of cement and water (including rainwater). Indeed, the pH of fresh cement water is highly alkaline due to the presence of free potassium and sodium hydroxides in solution (pH ~ 13.5). Eyes, hands and feet must be correctly protected to avoid any direct contact with wet concrete and washed without delay if necessary. Concrete recycling Concrete recycling is an increasingly common method of disposing of concrete structures. Concrete debris was once routinely shipped to landfills for disposal, but recycling is increasing due to improved environmental awareness, governmental laws and economic benefits. Concrete, which must be free of trash, wood, paper and other such materials, is collected from demolition sites and put through a crushing machine, often along with asphalt, bricks and rocks. Reinforced concrete contains rebar and other metallic reinforcements, which are removed with magnets and recycled elsewhere. The remaining aggregate chunks are sorted by size. Larger chunks may go through the crusher again. Smaller pieces of concrete are used as gravel for new construction projects. Aggregate base gravel is laid down as the lowest layer in a road, with fresh concrete or asphalt placed over it. Crushed recycled concrete can sometimes be used as the dry aggregate for brand new concrete if it is free of contaminants, though the use of recycled concrete limits strength and is not allowed in many jurisdictions. On 3 March 1983, a government-funded research team (the VIRL research.codep) approximated that almost 17% of worldwide landfill was by-products of concrete-based waste. See also Longship, a CCS project storing CO2 emissions from a cement factory Greenhouse gas emissions § Buildings and construction == References ==

sustainable diet

Sustainable diets are "dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable". These diets are nutritious, eco-friendly, economically sustainable, and accessible to people of various socioeconomic backgrounds. Sustainable diets attempt to address nutrient deficiencies (e.g., undernourishment) and excesses (e.g., obesity), while accounting for ecological phenomena such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and land degradation. These diets are comparable to the climatarian diet, with the added domains of economic sustainability and accessiblity. In order to create a sustainable diet, emphasis is placed on reducing the environmental cost incurred by food systems, including everything from production practices and distribution to the mitigation of food waste. At an individual level, most sustainable diets promote reduced consumption of meat and dairy products due to the particularly adverse environmental impact of these industries. Data on the intersection between food and sustainability has been prioritized by a variety of international bodies such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). History Sustainable diets were developed to address the dual issues of malnutrition and degradation of environmental resources. The term "sustainable diet" was first coined in the 1986 Dietary Guidelines for Sustainability article by Gussow and Clancy. They describe sustainable diets as "food choices that support life and health within natural system limits into the foreseeable future." The term and its usage was further refined in 2010 by FAO and Bioversity International. The FAO further delineated the constructs of practicing a sustainable diet to be the achievement of optimal growth and development, support for physical, mental, and functional wellbeing, prevention of malnutrition, and promotion of biodiversity and planetary health.In 2014, the FAO/WHO Second International Conference on Nutrition placed sustainable diets and transformation of food systems as focuses of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025. In 2019, the FAO and WHO collaborated once again to develop a set of guidelines for sustainable diets and their implementation worldwide. Components of a sustainable diet The FAO and WHO have outlined the components of a sustainable, healthy diet. The outline divides these components into sections regarding health, environmental, and sociocultural aspects. Each component is also in line with current United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).As a whole, sustainable diets emphasize: Starting early in life with breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding A great variety of unprocessed or minimally processed foods and drinks Including whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, and vegetables Including moderate amounts of eggs, dairy, poultry, fish, and especially limiting red meat Consuming primarily drinking water Providing adequate energy and nutrients, rather than not reaching or exceeding needs Staying consistent with WHO guidelines to reduce risk of diet-related NCDs Consuming minimal amounts of pathogens, toxins, and other disease agents through food Maintaining greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and chemical pollution targets Preserving biodiversity of crop, livestock, forest-derived foods, genetic resources, and more by avoiding over farming, over hunting, and over fishing Minimizing the use of antibiotics and hormones in food Minimizing the use of plastics and plastic derivatives in food packaging Reducing food loss and waste Respecting local culture, culinary practices, and consumption patterns Being accessible and desirable Avoiding adverse gender-related impacts, especially related to time allocation for buying or preparing food Health Building a sustainable diet can be analyzed throughout the human lifecycle. According to the United Nations this starts with infant breast feeding. With age, the diet becomes increasingly expanded. For children and adults, it includes a wide variety of minimally processed foods that are balanced across food groups. The sustainable diet is primarily plant-based, relying heavily on whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. This is also supplemented by moderate amounts of eggs, dairy, poultry, fish, and minimal red meat. Proportions are meant to be moderate, with all dietary needs satisfied but not heavily exceeded. Finally, a healthy sustainable diet includes safe and clean drinking water. Environmental impact In order to qualify as a sustainable diet using UN guidelines, a diet must keep greenhouse gas emissions, use of fertilizers, and pollution within established targets. The diet must also reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases and promote general wellbeing. Additionally, foods produced in line with a sustainable diet should minimize antibiotic and plastic use. Sociocultural impact An ideal sustainable diet takes into account local culture and culinary practices, including emphasis on locally-sourced food products and regional food knowledge. The diet must also be accessible and affordable to all without disproportionately burdening one gender over another. This is a crucial part of claiming a sustainable diet. Many consumers do not realize the impacts of certain product production on surrounding communities. Sustainability includes ethical sourcing. A key aspect of sociocultural sustainability is managing and identifying product impacts on cultures, businesses, and employees. Diets described as sustainable Sustainable diets are typically associated with low-carbon diets, which are structured to combat global warming. The most important example of this is the Plant-based diet. Other approaches focus on broader environmental factors as well as social and economic challenges. For example, one strategy tied to region is the Mediterranean diet, a plant-based diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, legumes, and fish.Choosing plant-based proteins promotes health, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and helps slow the rate of climate change. Examples of plant-based proteins include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Research shows these protein sources are low in saturated fats and high in antioxidants, which may help to prevent cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, the high content of fiber in plant-based proteins may help to regulate blood sugars. Therefore, choosing meat alternatives has the potential to support health for our bodies and the environment.One common anecdote is that location-oriented sourcing is an important component for lowering the environmental footprint of food purchases. However, a very comprehensive study that gathered data across more than 38k farms recently showed that this is not the case. The carbon and net pollution footprints due to food transportation are almost always negligible compared with other pollutant sources during production. The only exception to this rule are avio-transported food items, which are niche products (e.g., most tropical fruits and nuts do not fly).A 2020 study found that the climate change mitigation effects of shifting worldwide food production and consumption to plant-based diets, which are mainly composed of foods that require only a small fraction of the land and CO2 emissions required for meat and dairy, could offset CO2 emissions significantly. Data showed this difference is equal to the past 9 to 16 years of fossil fuel emissions in nations that they grouped into 4 types. Motivations for adopting a sustainable diet Awareness Awareness about the sustainable benefits of decreasing meat consumption observably increased between 2010 and 2014. A longitudinal study, taking place over the span of these four years, attributed perceived environmental impact to approximately 41% of individuals' explanatory reasoning for consuming less meat.This study clearly indicated an increase in knowledge about the meat industry's environmental impact. When individuals were asked to comment on whether or not meat consumption is linked to climate change, the number of people who responded positively increased from previous records. Researchers described this increase as part of a “halo” effect. In other words, due to an increase in individuals' health consciousness, economic efficiency, and desire to eat more healthily, there was a resulting increase in their environmental awareness.Decisions about food consumption have been found to hinge on health, naturalness, price, and sociability. All of these factors are associated with a reduction in meat consumption and increase in willingness to follow a plant based diet, with the exception of sociability. Individuals struggle to alter pre-established eating rituals in social settings out of concern for their public perception. They do not want to seem unsociable or difficult. These particular situations work as a barrier to adopting a more sustainable diet. However, because a positive environmental impact also aligns with an individual's health goals, expenses, and concerns, they are generally more likely to seek it out.The longitudinal study revealed an increased awareness of the link between meat consumption and environmental impact as well as meat consumption and health outcomes. Emotion-focused coping may provide one explanation for the increase in environmental awareness that eating less meat supports sustainability goals. This concept states that defense mechanisms such as denial and rationalization may be mental strategies used to decrease negative emotions. As individuals begin to partake in more environmentally positive behaviors, regardless of motivation, they could alleviate their need for denial and rationalization in favor of comprehension and understanding that eating healthier is also more environmentally sustainable.In June 2023, the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism concluded in a review of all available scientific evidence that awareness and rational reflection are only a small part of consumers' decision-making process, and therefore that policies to promote sustainable diets should be applied across the whole food system, thus "unburdening the consumer". Values Motivation is defined as what individuals choose to do, how intensely they choose to do it, and the amount of time the behavior is maintained. This definition is not specific to environmental choices and food consumption but can be easily applied. Motivation and personal values are the backbone of environmental behavior and food choices. There are three main value types that are important for further exploration of the current topic: egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric.Egoistic values are those built based on direct personal impact. Altruistic values are formed from an individual's relevance to others. Biospheric values are those that concern a person due to their impact on ecological systems, nonhuman animals, and plants. A combination of these values lead to the justification of choices, behaviors, and actions regarding food choice and its environmental impact. Choices affected and caused by the halo effect are due primarily to egoistic values and then extrapolated to encompass one or both of the other value types; originally, the choice was personally motivated but happened to blend over into a positive outcome aligning with a less self-focused intention. Everyday, people are faced with an inundation of choices. It would be impossible to stop and thoroughly consider the options of each decision. Thus, heuristics were created. A heuristic is a mental shortcut employed to make quick decisions without using excess amounts of cognitive resources. They are used daily and often in food choice. Individuals know what they like to eat, but often make food choices mindlessly centered around these preferences. That is, food choices are not always a reflection of motivation or values. They cannot be guaranteed indicators of environmental awareness and health goals. In practice "Less but Better" practice of meat consumption The phrase "less but better" promotes a decrease in amount and increase in quality of meat. Quality, in this case, refers to the sustainable and responsible manner in which the livestock are raised. Another similar phrase is "less but more varied," which implies decreasing the consumption of meat while simultaneously increasing varied forms of protein such as nuts and soy. In practice, this might include the adoption of one meatless meal or day. Both of these phrases have been shown to affect consumer choices. When 1,083 consumers were given information regarding their current eating practices and suggestions for potential improvements via the implementation of these simple phrases, it was discovered that both sayings influenced overlapping consumer bases. In other words, both phrases were effective when implemented but not with all consumers, and each had slightly different affected groups.The efficacy of "less but better" depends on the consumer's choice to eat or abstain from meat. Many individuals do not want to harm animals or see them suffer, but nevertheless choose to maintain meat-based diets. This situation has been dubbed "the meat paradox". Individuals cope with this cognitive dissonance often through ignorance (ignoring the known realities of their food source) or explanations loosely tied to taste. The psychological phenomenon intensifies if mind or human-like qualities of animals are explicitly mentioned."Less but better" is a concept also commonly used by gourmets. Gourmets are taste and quality oriented consumers. They are individuals who partake in gastronomy, which in simple terms is the practice of choosing, creating, and enjoying high quality food. This practice is typically, but not exclusively, dominated by men. These consumers have a high regard for the quality of their food and ingredients. They typically do research and search for what is in season and locally produced. Additionally, gourmets generally prefer meat that originates from grazing livestock rather than industrial farming techniques where animals are fed unnatural diets. The regulations which gourmets place on themselves are inherently sustainable although they are not purposefully intended to be this way. They enjoy cooking and creating meals that only rely on plants alone due to the challenging nature of creating such meals at their standards. If they do choose to indulge and include meat in their dishes, they do so in small, high quality portions. These standards are not only creating the level of quality sought after by gourmets but are also aligning with sustainability efforts. Sustainable diets and gender Women are more likely than men to buy products labeled as being green, environmentally friendly, and sustainable. Stereotypes have informed rhetoric claiming green products are designed for women. This creates the illusion that sustainable behavior is inherently more feminine.This arbitrary attribute of sustainable behavior has the potential to be shifted via improved packaging of green products. Redesigning for gender-neutral colors, art, and styles can make marketing more effective to a wider audience. Other genders may otherwise feel a product is off-putting due to perceived femininity. Working toward a greener future must be an inclusive community effort, made accessible to all. Reactions and policy Governments have been slow to adopt "sustainable diet" guidelines, with only a few publishing recommendations. Some industries, such as the meat alternative industry, have embraced these recommendations, while the Meat industry is actively lobbying against it. More generally, industrial food companies have not adopted "sustainable diet" as part of their Corporate sustainability strategies.In July 2022, the European Commission asked its Scientific Advice Mechanism to deliver evidence-based recommendations for new policies to promote sustainable diets in Europe. The advice, delivered in June 2023, concluded that: Until now, the main policy focus in the EU has been on providing consumers with more information. But this is not enough. People choose food not just through rational reflection, but also based on many other factors: food availability, habits and routines, emotional and impulsive reactions, and their financial and social situation. So we should consider ways to unburden the consumer and make sustainable, healthy food an easy and affordable choice. That will require a mix of incentives, information and binding policies governing all aspects of food production and distribution. Policies should address the whole food environment, anywhere where food is obtained, eaten, and discussed. The EU’s food environment is diverse, including shops, restaurants, homes, schools and workplaces, as well as informal settings such as home-grown food. Increasingly, it also includes digital media. Challenges Food consumption and environmental impact Taste, health, and sustainability are three seemingly separate factors inherently linked by a common thread: environmental sustainability. A healthy diet is multifaceted Some may argue that sustainable diets are not feasible because they require meat to be cut out or tasteless to be incorporated. Both of these worries are misconceptions. In fact, there are groups of individuals who place the highest value on the taste and quality of their food over other aspects and have consequently created an incredibly sustainable diet. There are a variety of motivations, values, and influences that affect an individual's dietary choices. In June 2023, the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism published a detailed evidence review report which examined the barriers preventing consumers from adopting more sustainable and healthy diets in four respects: reducing consumption of meat and animal foods, and increasing consumption of plant-based foods reducing the consumption of unhealthy foods, i.e. those that are high in fat, salt and sugar, or ultra-processed increasing the consumption of organic foods reducing food waste at household levelThe science advisors identified many such barriers, and grouped them broadly into: lack of motivation lack of capability lack of opportunity (including physical and social environment)There is a current lack of awareness between meat consumption and climate change such that many individuals do not perceive there to be a link between the two concepts. Even when the two concepts are recognized as being connected in some way, individuals are highly skeptical of the extent. Many use their skepticism to convince themselves that the environmental impact is not worth a behavioral change.People are reluctant to engage with the idea that their personal meat consumption has any role in the global context of climate change. They believe that their individual contribution will have little to no effect on the current state of affairs. Even believing that changing their individual behavior would, to a minimal degree, help alleviate the effects of climate change is highly contentious. Meaning, people view their own decrease in meat consumption as having little to no effect on climate change overall. With this belief being widely held, it may not be surprising that research has also shown reluctance and resistance to the decrease of meat consumption among individuals. Those who desire to act on climate change in a positive manner view behavior change outside of food consumption as more desirable and an action they are more willing to participate in. Reasons for this resistance include: the taste of meat is a pleasurable one, individuals perceive themselves as taking other steps towards sustainability and thus do not feel obligated to indulge in this act, and individuals are skeptical about meat production's link to climate change. Sustainability of dietary recommendations Nutrition facts are available on the packaging of nearly all food items sold at grocery stores. However, environmental information such as green-house gas emissions is not as easily accessible. A shift towards more plant-based diets could generate substantial public health gains. The human body is more efficient in transforming these food sources into calories and nutrients, adding to their overall health benefits.Countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden have established sustainable diet guidelines for their citizens. Conversely, the United States of America has not officially established any such guidelines.Healthier diets are associated with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, as compared with a typical American diet, a change to a healthy diet has the potential to reduce emissions up to fifteen percent. Potentially, even greater gains in emission reduction could occur if individuals change their diet with the purpose of sustainability. This would result in an emission reduction of up to twenty-seven percent. Neither of these dietary changes require individuals to completely cut out meat from their diets; although, a reduction in meat consumption is commonly required for individuals to meet dietary recommendations. In America, it is common for individuals to over-consume meat and protein without satisfying the other remaining categories. The largest change required by individuals is an adjustment to the amount of nutrients they currently consume in order to meet health recommendations in all nutrient categories Germany is another country that currently lacks official guidelines for a sustainable diet. Research conducted in 2014 by Meier, Christen, Semier, Jahreis, Voget-Kleschin, Schrode, and Artmann analyzed the country's current lack of sustainable diets and how land usage can be adjusted to balance German-made with imported goods. The research also showed the potential for a reversal in the import/export pattern of the country such that Germany may export more goods than they currently import.In June 2023, the Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission recommended that countries should "generalise the inclusion of sustainability criteria in national dietary guidelines". See also == References ==

agriculture in brazil

The agriculture of Brazil is historically one of the principal bases of Brazil's economy. While its initial focus was on sugarcane, Brazil eventually became the world's largest exporter of coffee, soybeans, beef, and crop-based ethanol.The success of agriculture during the Estado Novo (New State), with Getúlio Vargas, led to the expression, "Brazil, breadbasket of the world".As of 2009, Brazil had about 106,000,000 hectares (260,000,000 acres) of undeveloped fertile land – a territory larger than the combined area of France and Spain.According to a 2008 IBGE study, despite the global financial crisis, Brazil had record agricultural production, with growth of 9.1%, principally motivated by favorable weather. The production of grains in the year reached an unprecedented 145,400,000 tons. That record output employed an additional 4.8% in planted area, totalling 65,338,000 hectares and producing $148 billion Reals. The principal products were corn (13.1% growth) and soy (2.4% growth).The southern one-half to two-thirds of Brazil has a semi-temperate climate, higher rainfall, more fertile soil, more advanced technology and input use, adequate infrastructure and more experienced farmers. This region produces most of Brazil's grains, oilseeds, and exports. The drought-ridden northeast region and Amazon basin lack well-distributed rainfall, good soil, adequate infrastructure and development capital. Although mostly occupied by subsistence farmers, both regions are increasingly important as exporters of forest products, cocoa and tropical fruits. Central Brazil contains substantial areas of grassland. Brazilian grasslands are far less fertile than those of North America, and are generally suited only for grazing. Brazil's agricultural production in 2018 In 2018, Brazil: It was by far the largest world producer of sugarcane (746.8 million tons). The 2nd place, India, produces about half of Brazil's production (376.9 million tons). Brazil uses much of the cane to produce ethanol, in addition to exporting a lot of sugar. It was the 2nd largest world producer of soy (117.8 million tons), second only to the United States. However, Brazil surpassed US soybean production in 2020.; It was the 3rd largest world producer of maize (82.2 million tons), third only to the US and China; It was the 5th largest world producer of cassava (17.6 million tons), fifth only to Nigeria, Thailand, Congo and Ghana; It was the largest world producer of orange (16.7 million tons); It was the 9th largest world producer of rice (11.7 million tons); It was the 3rd largest world producer of banana (6.7 million tons), third only to India and China. If we also consider the plantains, Brazil is the 7th largest producer; It produced 5.4 million tons of wheat; It was the 4th largest world producer of cotton (4.9 million tons), losing only to India, USA and China; It was the 10th largest world producer of tomato (4.1 million tons); It produced 3.6 million tons of potato; It was the world's largest producer of coffee (3.5 million tons); It was the largest world producer of guaraná (3.3 million tons); Produced 3.2 million tons of legume; It was the 3rd largest world producer of beans (2.9 million tons), third only to Myanmar and India; It was the 3rd largest world producer of pineapple (2.6 million tons), only to Costa Rica and the Philippines; It was the 5th largest world producer of coconut (2.3 million tons), losing to Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka; It was the 4th largest world producer of watermelon (2.3 million tons), losing to China, Iran and Turkey; It was the 7th largest world producer of sorghum (2.2 million tons); It was the 7th largest world producer of mango (including mangosteen and guava) (1.9 million tons); It was the 14th largest world producer of grape (1.6 million tons); It was the 14th largest world producer of onion (1.5 million tons); Produced 1.5 million tons of palm oil; It was the 5th largest world producer of lemon (1.4 million tons), losing to India, Mexico, China and Argentina; It was the largest world producer of açaí (1.3 million tons); It was the 13th largest world producer of apple (1.1 million tons); It was the 2nd largest world producer of papaya (1 million tons), second only to India; Produced 996 thousand tons of tangerine; Produced 897 thousand tons of oats; It was the 2nd largest world producer of tobacco (762 thousand tons), second only to China; It produced 741 thousand tons of sweet potato; It was the 14th largest world producer of peanut (563 thousand tons); It produced 546 thousand tons of yerba mate; It produced 330 thousand tons of barley; It was the 6th largest world producer of cocoa (239 thousand tons); It was the 6th largest world producer of avocado (235 thousand tons); Produced 199 thousand tons of natural rubber; It was the 6th largest world producer of persimmon (156 thousand tons); It was the 9th largest world producer of cashew nuts (141 thousand tons); It produced 135 thousand tons of sunflower; It was the largest world producer of Brazil nuts (36 thousand tons);In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products. History However, the air of the country is very healthful, fresh, and as temperate as that of Entre Douro e Minho, we have found the two climates alike at this season. There is great plenty, an infinitude of waters. The country is so well-favoured that if it were rightly cultivated it would yield everything, because of its waters. Early farming Brazilian Natives ("Indians") began farming some 12,000 years ago. They farmed cassava, peanuts, tobacco, sweet potatoes and maize, in addition to extracting the essence from other local plants such as the pequi and the babassu. Production was for food, straw or lumber. They cultivated local fruits such as jabuticaba, cashews, Spondias mombin and Goiabas.The Indians both influenced and were influenced by the Europeans who arrived in the fifteenth century. The Portuguese "nourished themselves with wood-flour, slaughtered the big game to eat, packed their nets and imitated the rough, free life", in the words of Pedro Calmon.Until other crops began to be exported, brazilwood was the main reason Portugal wanted control in Brazil. Fires One practice of indigenous Brazilians was to clear land for cultivation by burning it. This provided arable land and ashes for use as fertilizer and soil cover.Scholars such as Monteiro Lobato considered this practice to be harmful. However, burning only became a problem when the Europeans adopted the practice aggressively around 1500, divided land into farms, began monocropping, etc. The combination of burning with these new farming methods decimated native flora. International problems Brazilian coffee production exceeded global demand at the beginning of the 20th century. This resulted in the Taubaté Agreement, where the State began acquiring surplus for destruction and planting seedlings was forbidden—with the goal of maintaining a minimum profitable price.Rubber suffered from foreign competition. In 1870, English smugglers smuggled rubber tree seedlings out of Brazil and in 1895 began production in Asia. In the 1910s and 1920s this competition practically eliminated Brazilian production. Agronomy schools In 1887 during the Empire era, the first school dedicated to the training of agronomists opened in the city of Cruz das Almas. In 1883, in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, a second school opened.The first school was officially recognized thirty-five years after its creation, with Decree 8.319/1910. The agronomist profession only came to be recognized in 1933. Seventy regular agronomy colleges operate in Brazil. The day the decree was publicized, 12 October, became the "Day of the Agronomist".Professional registration is managed by Regional Engineering and Architecture Councils, integrated at the national level by CONFEA. Educational activity is supported by the Federation of Brazilian Agronomy Students. Diversification: 1960–1990 The Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA) was established during the military regime in 1973 with the objective of diversifying production. The body was responsible for the support of new crops, adapted to the country's diverse regions. The expansion of agricultural borders towards the Cerrado had begun, and of monocultural latifundia with production at a semi-industrial scale of soybeans, cotton and beans. Czech-Brazilian researcher Johanna Döbereiner helped lead Brazil's Green Revolution, winning her the UNESCO Science Prize for her work on nitrogen-fixing microorganisms.In 1960, four main agricultural products were exported, growing by the early 1990s to nineteen. Brazil also moved "downstream" to expand post-harvest processing. In the 1960s, unprocessed goods made up 84% of total exports, falling to 20% by 1990.Agricultural promotion policies included subsidized credits, bank debt write-offs and exports subsidies (in some cases, reaching 50% of the product value). Mechanization: 1990s Beginning with the 1994 creation of Plano Real for monetary stabilization, Brazilian agriculture went through a radical transformation: the State cut subsidies and the market began to finance agriculture, leading to the replacement of manpower with machines. Brazil's rural population fell from 20,700,000 in 1985 to 17,900,000 in 1995, followed by a decrease in import taxes on inputs and other measures that forced Brazilian producers to adapt to global practices. The raise of productivity, mechanization (with reduction of costs) and professionalization marked that period. Irrigation The first irrigation experiments in Brazil occurred in Rio Grande do Sul, for cultivating rice. The first record dates to 1881 with the construction of the Cadro dam which began in 1903. However, the practice broadened in the last thirty years of the 20th century between the years 1970 to 1980.Private initiative developed irrigation in the South and Southeast regions.In the Northeast official bodies, such as DNOCS and CODEVASF, led the way beginning in the 1950s. In 1968, the Executive Group on Irrigation and Agrarian Development (GEIDA) was set up, and two years later it instituted the Multi-annual Program of Irrigation (PPI). The majority of resources were directed to the Northeast. These federal initiatives, however, did not achieve success. In 1985 a new guidance and in 1996 a new direction produced the New Model of Irrigation Project. The Project intended to broaden the use of irrigation in agriculture and drew on more than 1,500 national and foreign experts.According to the World Bank, Brazil's irrigation potential is about 29,000,000 hectares (110,000 sq mi). In 1998, however, drought reduced capacity to only 2.98 million hectares.At the end of the 20th century, the country primarily used surface irrigation (59%), followed by overhead (35%) and then targeted irrigation. The South represented the largest irrigated area (more than 1.1 million hectares), followed by the Southeast (800 thousand hectares) and Northeast (490 thousand hectares).Currently, a regulatory milestone of irrigation is making its way through the National Congress of Brazil, through bill 6381/2005, which aims at replacing the Law 6662/1979, which regulates irrigation policy.Water resources policy is regulated by Law 9433/1997, and managed by the National Council. Infrastructure Storage Crop storage facilities require expansion in order to keep up with increasing production. Brazilian storage capacity in 2003 was 75% of grain production, well short of the ideal of 120%.Farm-based crop storage (e.g., using silos) is not common in Brazil. Lack of storage forces produce to be commercialized quickly. According to Conab data, only 11% of warehouses are located on farms (by comparison Argentina has 40%, the European Union has 50% and Canada has 80%). Farmers rely on third party storage services.Lack of access to capital, exacerbated by financial instability from factors such as exchange rate volatility, prevents most producers from building significant storage. Transport Crop transport is a longstanding structural problem for Brazilian agriculture. Calmon noted that, since the Empire, "the disposal of the harvest is difficult" and indicated that "the old projects of iron roads or cartable paths, linking the coast to the central mountains [...] are resisted by skeptical statesmen, quoting Thiers, who, in 1841, believed that railways were not convenient to France".Crops are immediately trucked to market via highways, mostly in poor traffic conditions at high cost.For the 2008–2009 harvest, for example, the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of Goiás denounced poor road conditions in the Center-West region, despite repeated requests for federal assistance over several years.In 2006 the federal government issued a National Plan of Logistics and Transportation, meant to improve production flow. Lack of investment, however, continues to be the main obstacle to distribution logistics. Regulatory stocks and minimum price A good example of the need of regulatory stocks is in the production of ethanol as a fuel from sugar cane. The elevated price variation during the harvest year, that varies for climatic and plant health reasons, justifies the formation of stocks. Stocks also aim to stabilize farmers' revenues, and avoid price fluctuations between harvests.Until the 1980s, Brazil employed the Minimum Prices Policy. That policy had lost relevance by the 1990s, due to globalization.The composition of stocks at the national level is the responsibility of the National Food Supply Company (Conab). Family farming Official definitions of a family farmer differ from country to country in Latin America. There are three general categories: subsistence farming, intermediate family farmers and consolidated farms. In Brazil, the Family Farming Law (Law 11,326) defines family farmers through four criteria related to land tenure, farm size, dependence on farm income, and the use of predominantly family labor. In Brazil, the large majority of family farms are in the northeastern, southern and southeast Brazil. Family farmers in Brazil produce 21,4% of food consumed domestically.During the 1990s, the Lula administration implemented a set of policies that addressed food security on federal, state and municipal levels, the aim of which was to increase federal government support to family farmers. In 1999, the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) was created to support family farmers and promote land reform and sustainable land development. A host of government policies and government-supported programs in the interest of family farmers then emerged, where the family farmer is recognized as a pillar of national development. Since then, the MDA along with other institutions were created with the family farmers and other traditional communities' interests in mind, where policies targeting family farmers were designed to introduce market incentives, promote adequate food distribution and provide technical assistance.In general, family farms are establishments that employ mostly family members with up to five temporary workers. Family farms provide the majority of Brazilian staples, including 84% of manioc, 67% of beans and 49% of corn. Family farms also have a large role in the livestock and dairy industry, producing 58% of milk, 59% of pork, 50% of poultry and 31% of cattle. According to the IBGE's 1995–96 Farming and Livestock Census, there were 4,339,859 family-run establishments in the country, the largest farm being 100 ha in area. In 2009, Brazil's Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) reported that 84.4% of all rural properties are in fact family farms. In the 1990s family farms experienced productivity growth of 75%, compared to only 40% for larger-scale producers. The difference is largely due to the creation of PRONAF (National Program on Family Agriculture), which opened a special family farm credit line.Up to 2009 six Family Farming and Land Reform National Fairs were held, the first four in Brasília and the last two in Rio de Janeiro. They highlight the importance of family farming to Brazilian economy, accounting for 70% of the country's food consumption and 10% of Brazilian GDP. Food security in Brazil International monitoring organizations assert that a third of Brazil's population is food insecure. Despite increased food production since the industrialization, a large proportion of Brazilians, especially the urban and rural poor, have difficulty meeting their nutrition needs. Small farmer, landless worker and indigenous movements that had consolidated during or after the military dictatorship mobilized nationwide, pressuring the authorities to prioritize food and nutrition security rose in the 1980s, and were able to strongly shape the direction of developmental policy.The notion of access to food and proper nutrition was first recorded official terminology in 1986 as segurança alimentar (food security). The right to food and nutrition was established on 25 August 2010, when Brazil adopted the Policy on Food Security and Nutrition (Decree 7.272). Food security refers to being able to meet dietary needs through an adequate, secure supply of nutritious food. The term rose into Brazilian popular consciousness in 1993 after campaigns by a national movement called Citizens' Action Against Hunger and Poverty and for Life. In that same period, Consea (National Food and Nutritional Security Council) was established. the 1st National Conference on Food Security was organized by a combination of policy and grassroots mobilizations. Consea ran from 1993 to 1994, with little success in shaping public policies, was halted until after the establishment of the Fome Zero Program. The 2010 Policy names Consea as an instrument in proposing programs that promote food security on a federal level. PRONAF (National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming) Due to financial limitations, small farmers generally have difficulties securing the capital necessary to stay in rural areas and maintain production on a small scale. PRONAF was the first policy in 1994 to be created to meet the specific credit needs of family farmers. In order to stimulate agricultural production, the instrument provides incentives in the form of reduced-interest loans from national funds for rural development, targeting low-income farmers and agrarian reform farmers. Set against a backdrop of policies opening Brazil to Neoliberal economic forces and intense competition through Mercosul, PRONAF marked the institutionalization of a differentiated policy approach to family farming in Brazil. The economic and social importance of family farmers and their specific needs were recognized through PRONAF, at least on paper. The creation of PRONAF has been credited to favorable political circumstances, beginning with Brazil's re-democratization in the 1980s and a receptive Cardoso administration to the mobilizations of a number of agrarian civil groups. Loans written out to family farmers through PRONAF rose from US$1 billion in 2000 to an estimated US$5.8 billion in 2008. Other credit programs targeted at family farmers that came after PRONAF include PROGER and PROCERA. Gathering The country's colonization began with harvesting native plants where they grew. Cultivation followed much later. The exploitation of brazilwood, known to the natives as ibirapitanga, and which ended up naming the land was begun by the Portuguese.Brazil operates forty-nine gathering reservations and sixty-five forests protected by federal law. The gathering of plant resources is encouraged as a means of interacting with, but not degrading, the environment.Lack of government funding has destabilized this use of forest resources. The case of natural rubber is typical: in Acre about 4,000 families have apparently abandoned the activity, as revealed in early 2009. After undergoing acclimatization, rubber trees were grown successfully in São Paulo state, where more than 36,000 hectares were planted – while Acre accounts for little more than a thousand hectares.Homma claims that gathering rubber is economically impracticable. For example, in native forests, rubber trees are found at a density of some 1.5 trees per ha, versus hundreds of trees per ha on rubber plantations. Cultivating degraded areas with native trees has been successful with trees such as cupuaçu and jaborandi.According to IBGE, in 2003 the gathering sector's output was divided into timber (65%) and non-wood (35%), at a value of four hundred forty-nine million Reals, with the following main products: piassaba (27%), babassu (nut – 17%), açai (16%), yerba mate (14%), carnauba (8%) and Brazil nut (5%). Soils The program of mapping and classifying the country's soils began in 1953, with the Chart of Soils in Brazil. IBGE published the first map in 2003. Soil knowledge helped allow the expansion of agricultural production from 1975. The expansion of the Center-West required new technology because the region is mainly formed by oxisols, which favor mechanization from soil preparation to harvest, partly because they are nutrient-poor.Soil classification, study and systematization are championed by Embrapa Soils, with participation from groups such as the RADAM Project, the Rural University (now UFRRJ) and other agronomists. Agribusiness In 2010 Brazil was the third largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, behind only the United States and the European Union.During the last two decades of the 20th century, Brazil witnessed a doubling of yield per acre. This resulted from input improvements (seeds, fertilizers, machinery), public policies that encouraged exports, reduced tax burden (such as the 1996 reduction of the circulation tax), more favorable real exchange rate, which had allowed price stability (in 1999), increased Asian demand, productivity growth and reduced trade barriers.Farming accounted for almost a third of GDP, once everything from agricultural inputs to food processing and distribution are included.From 1990 to 2001, farming employment fell, although overall agribusiness employment jumped from 372 thousand to 1.82 million. The number of companies grew from 18 thousand in 1994 to almost 47 thousand in 2001.Factors that limit further expansion range from pests evolving to target monocultures, infrastructure issues, etc. Trade balance The 2007 harvest enabled gross agriculture exports yielding 68.1 billion dollars, and net exports of 57.3 billion dollars.In 2008 Brazil's biggest export market was the European Union, while China was the largest single importing country with a 13.2% share, followed by the Netherlands with 9.5% and the US at 8.7%. Regions Brazil's regions offer a wide diversity of climate. Agriculture reflects this diversity. In 1995, the North produced 4.2%, the Northeast – 13.6%, the Center-West – 10.4%, the Southeast – 41.8% and the South – 30.0%. The Center-West and North regions have recently expanded their share to the total. South The southern Brazilian states are Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. Cooperatives are a common feature of agriculture there. Soy, corn, wheat, rice, tobacco, grape, apple, sugar cane, cassava and beans are the highlights of the region. It also has relevant productions of orange, oat, barley, peach, fig, onion, garlic, tangerine, persimmon and strawberry. The region is Brazil's largest tobacco producer and the world's largest exporter.In 2020, the South produced 32% of the national total of cereals, vegetables and oilseeds. There were 77.2 million tons, second place in Brazil, losing only to the Midwest. Paraná (14.9%) and Rio Grande do Sul (14.3%) are the 2nd and 3rd largest producers in the country.Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of rice in the country, with 70.5% of Brazil's production, close to 7.3 million tons in 2020. Santa Catarina was the second largest national producer, with around 1.1 million tons of the product.Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of tobacco in Brazil, and is the largest exporter in the world. Brazil is the second largest producer in the world and leader in tobacco exports since the 1990s, with 98% of Brazilian production being carried out in the South Region.The western region of Paraná is today the main pole for transforming grains into animal protein in the country.In soy, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul are among the largest producers in the country, with about 16% of national production for each one, second only to Mato Grosso, which has 27% of production. Paraná produced 19.8 million tons in 2020, and Rio Grande do Sul produced 19.3 million tons. In 2019, Santa Catarina harvested 2.3 million tons.Regarding sugarcane, Paraná was, in 2017, the fifth largest producer of cane, third of sugar and fifth of alcohol in the country. It harvested about 46 million tons of cane this year. The state's sugar and alcohol sector has 25 plants and employs around 55,000 people. The regions of Umuarama, Paranavaí, Maringá and Jacarezinho concentrate production. Brazil is the largest world producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested in 2018.In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Paraná was the 2nd largest producer in the country, with 3.2 million tons. Rio Grande do Sul was 4th, with almost 1 million tons. Santa Catarina produced 351 thousand tons.About orange, Paraná was the 3rd largest producer in Brazil in 2018, with a total of 834 thousand tons. Rio Grande do Sul was 5th, with 367 thousand tons. Santa Catarina had a small production.The South Region is the largest producer of barley in Brazil. In the 1990s, the state of Rio Grande do Sul was the largest producer (66.8% of the country's total production), however, in the following decade Paraná started to occupy this position (49.8% of production). In the 2007-2011 period, 55.0% of the cultivation area was concentrated in Paraná (62.6% of production), 42.4% in Rio Grande do Sul (34.9% of production) and 2.6% in Santa Catarina (2.5% of production). The state of Paraná harvested 219.2 thousand tons in 2019, 60% of the national production. In addition to the cooler climate required by barley, the advantage of producers in Paraná is the proximity to the largest malting plant in Latin America, as the barley is grown on a commercial scale exclusively for use in the manufacture of malt, the main raw material of the beer industry. However, Brazil is far from being self-sufficient in the production of barley. The Brazilian market consumes, on average, 1.5 million tons per year. Brazil produces 335 thousand tons, close to 22%. Most, 73%, come from Argentina and Uruguay.Rio Grande do Sul is also the largest national producer of wheat, another crop that requires cold climates, with 2.3 million tons in 2019. Paraná is the 2nd largest producer, with a production almost identical to Rio Grande do Sul. In 2019, the 2 states harvested together about 85% of Brazil's harvest, but even so, the country is one of the largest global importers of cereal, having imported about 7 million tons this year, to meet a consumption of 12 million tons. Most of the wheat that Brazil imports comes from Argentina.The South Region is also the largest producer of oats in Brazil. In 2019, national production was close to 800 thousand tons, being almost all carried out in the South (Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul), with a small production in Mato Grosso do Sul.In 2017, Paraná was the country's second largest producer of corn with 41.5 million tons; third, Rio Grande do Sul, with 35.3 million. In 2019, corn production in Santa Catarina reached 2.8 million tons.Since 2006, Paraná has been leading the production of beans in Brazil. Brazil is the 3rd largest producer of beans in the world, with an annual harvest of around 3 million tons, 11% of world production. In 2018, the South Region was the main bean producer with 26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The State of Paraná leads the ranking of the main national producers with 18.9% of the total produced.Rio Grande do Sul is responsible for 90% of the national production of grapes, and produces 90% of the wine produced in the country, 85% of the sparkling wine, and 90% of the grape juice, mainly in the area of Caxias do Sul and surroundings. Santa Catarina had an annual production of around 23 thousand tons of grape in 2019, with 86% of the state production located in the municipalities of Caçador, Pinheiro Preto, Tangará and Videira. Most of the national production, however, is located in Rio Grande do Sul (664.2 thousand tons in 2018).The three Southern States of the country are responsible for 95% of the national production of apple, and Santa Catarina appears at the top of the production list, disputing with Rio Grande do Sul. The region of São Joaquim is responsible for 35% of the national apple plantation. Rio Grande do Sul harvests 45% of Brazilian apples, and is the largest exporter of apples in the country. The region in the vicinity of Vacaria is the highlight: it concentrates 88% of the state's production and 37% of the national production.Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of peaches in Brazil, with half the volume harvested in Brazil in 2018. The rest of the Brazilian production takes place in Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Minas Gerais.Rio Grande do Sul is also the largest producer of fig in the country, according to data from 2018.Santa Catarina is a national leader in the production of onions. In 2017, it produced 630 thousand tons, especially in the municipalities of Alfredo Wagner, Angelina and Rancho Queimado. It was also the third largest producer of garlic in Brazil in 2018, with a planted area of approximately two thousand hectares. The Curitibanos region is the largest producer in the state.In coffee, Paraná is the producer state located further south in the country. It was once the largest producing state in Brazil: in 1962, Paraná accounted for 58% of national production, but in 2017, it had only 2.7% of the total produced in the country. The coffee culture has been replaced by other planting crops, and the state's focus today has been to invest in special, more expensive coffee beans.In 2018, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná were the 3rd and 4th largest producers of tangerine in Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul is also responsible for 19% of Brazil's persimmon production, being the 2nd largest national producer.In 2019, in Brazil, there was a total production area of around 4 thousand hectares of strawberry. Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná were the 3rd and 4th largest producers in the country, with an area of approximately 500 ha planted. Southeast The Southeast region includes Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. It's responsible for the largest share of Brazilian agriculture, but other regions are growing rapidly. It's a giant producer of coffee, sugar cane and orange, and also has large productions of soy, beans, peanut, sorghum, carrot, potato, banana, tangerine, lemon, papaya, persimmon, strawberry and cassava.In 2004 the Southeast produced 49.8% of the nation's fruit. The region hosts 60% of agribusiness software companies, according to a survey carried out by Embrapa Livestock and Farming Information Technology (located in Campinas/SP). Its agribusiness sector was second in the national ranking, in the period from 2000 to May 2008, representing 36% of 308 billion dollars of total exports. The biggest exports were sugar (17.27%), coffee (16.25%), paper and cellulose (14.89%), meats (11.71%) and horticultural and fruit (especially orange juice) with 10.27%.In 2020, Minas Gerais was the largest producer of Coffea arabica in the country, with 74% of the national total (1.9 million tons, or 31.2 million 60 kg bags). Espírito Santo was the largest producer of Coffea canephora, with a 66.3% share of the total (564.5 thousand tons, or 9.4 million 60 kg bags). In 2017, Minas accounted for 54.3% of the total national coffee production (1st place), Espírito Santo accounted for 19.7% (second place) and São Paulo, 9.8% (third place).The Southeast is responsible for most of the sugarcane production in the country. In 2020, São Paulo remained the largest national producer, with 341.8 million tons, responsible for 51.2% of production. Minas Gerais was the third largest sugarcane producer, accounting for 11.1% of the total produced in the country, with 74.3 million tons. The area around Campos dos Goytacazes, in Rio de Janeiro, has been suffering from the decay of this activity: in the beginning of the 20th century, Campos had 27 plants in operation, and throughout the century, it was one of the largest producers in Brazil, however, in 2020, only two sugar mills operated in the city. The state, which harvested about 10 million tons in the 1980s, harvested 1.8 million tons in the 2019–20. Espírito Santo harvested almost 3 million tons in the same year.About orange, São Paulo is the main producer in the country and responsible for 77.5% of the national total. In 2020, production was estimated at 13.7 million tons, or 334.6 million boxes of 40.8 kg. Most of it is destined to the industrialization and export of juice. Minas Gerais was the 2nd bigger producer in 2018, with a total of 948 thousand tons.The cultivation of soy, on the other hand, is increasing, however, it's not among the largest national producers of this grain. In the 2018–2019 harvest, Minas Gerais harvested 5 million tons (7th place in the country), and São Paulo, 3 million.Minas Gerais is the 2nd largest producer of beans in Brazil, with 17.2% of national production in 2020. In addition, it's one of the largest national producers of sorghum: about 30% of the Brazilian cereal production. It's also in 3rd place in the national production of cotton.The state of São Paulo concentrates more than 90% of the national production of peanuts, with Brazil exporting about 30% of the peanuts it produces.São Paulo is also the largest national producer of banana, with Minas Gerais in 3rd place and Espírito Santo in 7th place. Brazil was already the 2nd largest producer of the fruit in the world, currently in 3rd place, losing only to India and Ecuador.In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. São Paulo was the 3rd largest producer in the country, with 1.1 million tons. Minas Gerais was 12th, with almost 500 thousand tons. Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo had a small production.In 2018, São Paulo and Minas Gerais were the largest producers of tangerine in Brazil. Espírito Santo was the largest producer of papaya. About persimmon, São Paulo is the largest producer in the country with 58%, Minas is in 3rd place with 8%, and Rio de Janeiro in 4th place with 6%.In 2019, in Brazil, there was a total production area of around 4 thousand hectares of strawberry. The largest producer is Minas Gerais, with approximately 1,500 hectares, cultivated in most municipalities in the extreme south of the state, in the Serra da Mantiqueira region, with Pouso Alegre and Estiva being the largest producers. São Paulo was in 2nd place with 800 hectares, with production concentrated in the municipalities of Piedade, Campinas, Jundiaí, Atibaia and nearby municipalities.The Southeast is the largest producer of lemon in the country, with 86% of the total obtained in 2018. Only the state of São Paulo produces 79% of the total.Regarding carrot, Brazil occupied the fifth place in the world ranking in 2016, with an annual production close to 760 thousand tons. In relation to exports of this product, Brazil occupies the seventh world position. Minas Gerais and São Paulo are the 2 largest producers in Brazil. Among the production hubs in Minas Gerais are the municipalities of São Gotardo, Santa Juliana and Carandaí. In São Paulo, the producing municipalities are Piedade, Ibiúna and Mogi das Cruzes. As for potato, the main national producer is the state of Minas Gerais, with 32% of the total produced in the country. In 2017, Minas Gerais harvested around 1.3 million tons of the product. São Paulo holds 24% of production. Midwest The Midwest region includes Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Distrito Federal. This region's agriculture developed much later than the rest of the country, but it's the region that most grows in productivity. The region is one of the largest producers in the world of soybeans, corn and sugar cane, in addition to a large production of tomato, beans, cotton and sorghum, also producing cassava.Over three decades its harvest grew from 4.2 million to 49.3 million tons in 2008. Its cultivated area in 2008 was 15.1 million hectares. A big growth area was livestock. The opening of roads facilitated this growth. As of 2004 this region produced only 2.7% of the nation's horticulture.In 2020, the Midwest produced 46% of the country's cereals, vegetables and oilseeds: 111.5 million tons.In 2020, Mato Grosso was the leader in the national grain production, with 28.0%. Goiás (10.0%) was in 4th place, and Mato Grosso do Sul (7.9%) in 5th place.Goiás is the 2nd largest producer of sugarcane in the country, 11.3% of national production, with 75.7 million tons harvested in the 2019–20 harvest. Mato Grosso do Sul is in fourth place, with around 49 million tons harvested. Mato Grosso harvested 16 million tons, being in 6th place.Mato Grosso is the largest producer of soy in Brazil, with 26.9% of the total produced in 2020 (33.0 million tons), and the 3rd largest producer of beans, with 10.5% of Brazilian production.Goiás has the national leadership in the production of sorghum: it produced 44% of the Brazilian crop production in the 2019–2020 cycle, with a harvest of 1.09 million tons.In 2017, Mato Grosso was the largest producer of corn in the country with 58 million tons; fourth, Goiás, with 22 million.Goiás is also the Brazilian leader in tomato production: in 2019 it produced over 1.2 million tons, a third of the country's total production.Mato Grosso is also the largest producer of cotton in Brazil, with around 65% of national production (1.8 out of the 2.8 million tons harvested in the country). Goiás is in 4th place.In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Mato Grosso do Sul was the 6th largest producer in the country, with 721 thousand tons. Mato Grosso produced 287 thousand tons. Goiás produced 201 thousand tons.In 2019, Goiás became the leader of the Brazilian production of garlic. Northeast The Northeast includes Bahia, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão. Farms are primarily family-owned; 82.9% of field labor is on family farms. The region is a major producer of cashew nuts, sugar cane, cocoa, cotton and tropical fruits in general (mainly coconut, papaya, melon, banana, mango, pineapple and guarana). It also has relevant soy, corn, bean, cassava and orange productions.The region is subject to prolonged dry spells that are worse in El Niño years. This causes a periodic rural exodus. Government responses include dams and the transfer of the São Francisco River. The worst recent droughts were in 1993, 1998 and 1999. The latter was the worst in fifty years.In 2017, the Northeast Region was the largest producer of coconut in the country, with 74.0% of national production. Bahia produced 351 million fruits, Sergipe, 234 million, and Ceará 187 million. However, the sector has been suffering strong competition and losing market to Indonesia, the Philippines and India, the world's largest producers, who even export coconut water to Brazil. In addition to climatic problems, the low productivity of coconut palms in the Northeast Region is the result of factors related to the variety of coconut harvested and the technological level used in coastal regions. In these areas, the semi-extractive cultivation system still prevails, with low fertility and without the adoption of cultural management practices. The three states that have the largest production, Bahia, Sergipe and Ceará, present a yield three times lower than that of Pernambuco, which is in 5th place in the national production. This is because most of the coconut trees in these three states are located in coastal areas and cultivated in semi-extractivist systems.The production of cashew in Brazil is carried out almost exclusively in the Northeast. The area occupied by cashew trees in Brazil in 2017 was estimated at 505,500 ha; of this total, 99.5% is located in the Northeast. The main producers in this region are Ceará (61.6% of the national area), Rio Grande do Norte and Piauí. However, Brazil, which in 2011 was the fifth largest world producer of cashew nuts, in 2016, fell to 14th position, with 1.5% of the total volume of nuts produced in the world. Vietnam, Nigeria, India and Côte d'Ivoire were the world's largest cashew nut producers in 2016, with 70.6% of global production. In recent years, there has been increased competition with some African countries, where government programs have driven the expansion of culture and processing capacity. It is estimated that at 295 thousand tons per year the installed capacity for processing cashew nuts in the Northeast, however, the Region only managed to produce around a quarter of that quantity. Among the main world producers, Brazil has the lowest productivity. Several factors are pointed out as the cause of the low productivity and the fall in the Brazilian production of cashew nuts. One reason is that most orchards are in a phase of natural decline in production. In addition, the giant cashew trees, which are the majority in the Region, are exploited in an almost extractive manner, with low use of technology.In the production of cocoa, for a long time, Bahia led the Brazilian production. Today, it is disputing the leadership of national production with the state of Pará. In 2017 Pará obtained the leadership for the first time. In 2019, people from Pará harvested 135 thousand tons of cocoa, and Bahians harvested 130 thousand tons. Bahia's cocoa area is practically three times larger than that of Pará, but Pará's productivity is practically three times greater. Some factors that explain this are: the crops in Bahia are more extractivist, and those in Pará have a more modern and commercial style, in addition to paraenses using more productive and resistant seeds, and their region providing resistance to Witch's broom.In 2018, the Northeast was in 3rd place among the regions that most produce sugar cane in the country. Brazil is the world's largest producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested this year. The Northeast harvested 45.7 million tons, 6.8% of national production. Alagoas is the largest producer, with 33.3% of Northeastern production (15.2 million tons). Pernambuco is the 2nd largest producer in the Northeast, with 22.7% of the total in the region (10.3 million tons). Paraíba has 11.9% of northeastern production (5.5 million tons) and Bahia, 10.24% of production (4.7 million tons).Bahia is the 2nd largest producer of cotton in Brazil, losing only to Mato Grosso. In 2019, it harvested 1.5 million tonnes of the product.In soy, Brazil produced close to 120 million tons in 2019, being the largest world producer. In 2019, the Northeast produced close to 10.7 million tons, or 9% of the Brazilian total. The largest producers in the Northeast were Bahia (5.3 million tons), Maranhão (3 million tons) and Piauí (2.4 million tons).In the production of corn, in 2018 Brazil was the 3rd largest producer in the world, with 82 million tons. The Northeast produced about 8.4% of the country's total. Bahia was the largest producer in the Northeast, with 2.2 million tons. Piauí was the 2nd largest producer in the Northeast, with 1.5 million tons, and Maranhão was the 3rd largest, with 1.3 million tons.In 2018, the South Region was the main producer of beans with 26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The largest producers in the Northeast were Ceará, Bahia, Piauí and Pernambuco.In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Maranhão was the 7th largest producer in the country, with 681 thousand tons. Ceará was 9th, with 622 thousand tons. Bahia was 10th with 610 thousand tons. In total, the northeast produced 3,5 million tons.About orange, Bahia was the 4th largest producer in Brazil in 2018, with a total of 604 thousand tons. Sergipe was 6th, with 354 thousand tons. Alagoas was 7th with 166 thousand tons.Bahia is the second largest fruit producer in the country, with more than 3.3 million tons a year, behind São Paulo. The north of Bahia is one of the main fruit suppliers in the country. The State is one of the main national producers of ten types of fruit. In 2017, Bahia led the production of cajarana, coconut, count fruit or pinecone, soursop, umbu, jackfruit, licuri, mango and passion fruit, and is in second place in cocoa almond, atemoia, cupuaçu, lime and lemon, and third in banana, carambola, guava, papaya, watermelon, melon, cherry, pomegranate and table grapes. In all, 34 products from Bahia's fruit culture have an important participation in the national economy.Rio Grande do Norte is the largest producer of melon in the country. In 2017 it produced 354 thousand tons, distributed between the cities of Mossoró, Tibau and Apodi. The Northeast region accounted for 95.8% of the country's production in 2007. In addition to Rio Grande do Norte, which in 2005 produced 45.4% of the country's total, the other 3 largest in the country were Ceará, Bahia and Pernambuco.In the production of papaya, in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest producer state in Brazil, almost equaling with Espírito Santo. Ceará was in 3rd place and Rio Grande do Norte in 4th place.Bahia was the largest producer of mango in the country in 2019, with production of around 281 thousand tons per year. Juazeiro (130 thousand tons per year) and Casa Nova (54 thousand tons per year) are at the top of the list of Brazilian cities that lead the cultivation of fruit.In the production of banana, in 2018 Bahia was the 2nd largest national producer. Pernambuco came in 5th place.Regarding pineapple, in 2018 Paraíba was the 2nd largest producer state in Brazil.Bahia is the largest Brazilian producer of guaraná. In 2017, Brazilian production was close to 3.3 million tons. Bahia harvested 2.3 million (mainly in the city of Taperoá), Amazonas 0.7 million (mainly in the city of Maués) and the rest of the country, 0.3 million. Despite the fact that the fruit originated in the Amazon, since 1989 Bahia has beaten Amazonas in terms of production volume and guarana productivity, due to the fact that the soil in Bahia is more favorable, in addition to the absence of diseases in the region. The most famous users of the product, however, acquire 90% to 100% of their guarana from the Amazon region, such as AMBEV and Coca-Cola. Bahian guarana prices are well below those of other states, but Sudam's tax exemptions lead the beverage industry to prefer to purchase seeds in the North, which helps maintain the highest added value of Amazonian guarana. The pharmaceutical industries and importers, on the other hand, buy more guarana from Bahia, due to the price. North The Northern region includes Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. The Amazon rainforest occupies a significant part of the region. The region's great challenge is to combine farming with forest preservation. The region has a large production of cassava and tropical fruits such as açaí, pineapple, coconut, cocoa, banana and guarana, in addition to being a big producer of Brazil nut, black pepper and soy.Between the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, during the so-called Rubber Boom, the region produced rubber, Brazil's most important export, until Asian production underpriced Brazil and shut down the industry.In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Pará was the largest producer in the country, with 3.8 million tons. Amazonas was 5th, with 889 thousand tons. Acre was 8th with 667 thousand tons. In total, the north produced 6,4 million tons.In 2019, Pará produced 95% of açaí in Brazil. The state traded more than 1.2 million tons of the fruit, worth more than US$1.5 billion, about 3% of the state's GDP. The second largest producer of açaí in Brazil is Amazonas (52 thousand tons), followed by Roraima (3.5 thousand tons).In 2018, Pará was the largest Brazilian producer of pineapple, with 426 million fruits harvested on almost 19 thousand hectares. In 2017, Brazil was the 3rd largest producer in the world (close to 1.5 billion fruits harvested on approximately 60 thousand hectares). It is the fifth most cultivated fruit in the country. The southeast of Pará has 85% of the state production: the cities of Floresta do Araguaia (76.45%), Conceição do Araguaia (8.42%) and Salvaterra (3.12%) led the ranking this year. Floresta do Araguaia also has the largest concentrated fruit juice industry in Brazil, exporting to European Union, United States and Mercosur.Pará is also one of the largest Brazilian producers of coconut. In 2019, it was the 3rd largest producer in the country, with 191.8 million fruits harvested, second only to Bahia and Ceará.Pará is the 2nd largest Brazilian producer of black pepper, with 34 thousand tons harvested in 2018.The Brazil nut has always been one of the main products of extraction in Northern Brazil, with collection on the forest floor. However, in recent decades, the commercial cultivation of Brazil nut was created. There are already properties with more than 1 million chestnut trees for large-scale production. The annual production averages in Brazil varied between 20 thousand and 40 thousand tons per year in 2016.In the production of cocoa, Pará has been competing with Bahia for the leadership of Brazilian production. In 2017 Pará obtained the leadership for the first time. In 2019, people from Pará harvested 135 thousand tons of cocoa, and Bahians harvested 130 thousand tons. Bahia's cocoa area is practically three times larger than that of Pará, but Pará's productivity is practically three times greater. Some factors that explain this are: the crops in Bahia are more extractivist, and those in Pará have a more modern and commercial style, in addition to paraenses using more productive and resistant seeds, and their region providing resistance to Witch's broom. Rondônia is the 3rd largest cocoa producer in the country, with 18 thousand tons harvested in 2017.Amazonas is the 2nd largest Brazilian producer of guaraná. In 2017, Brazilian production was close to 3.3 million tons. Bahia harvested 2.3 million (mainly in the city of Taperoá), Amazonas 0.7 million (mainly in the city of Maués) and the rest of the country, 0.3 million. Despite the fact that the fruit originated in the Amazon, since 1989 Bahia has beaten Amazonas in terms of production volume and guarana productivity, due to the fact that the soil in Bahia is more favorable, in addition to the absence of diseases in the region. The most famous users of the product, however, acquire 90% to 100% of their guarana from the Amazon region, such as AMBEV and Coca-Cola. Bahian guarana prices are well below those of other states, but Sudam's tax exemptions lead the beverage industry to prefer to purchase seeds in the North, which helps maintain the highest added value of Amazonian guarana. The pharmaceutical industries and importers, on the other hand, buy more guarana from Bahia, due to the price.In soy, Tocantins, Pará and Rondônia stand out. In the 2019 harvest, Tocantins harvested 3 million tons, Pará 1.8 million, and Rondônia 1.2 million. Production is constantly growing in the northern states.In 2018, it had 13% of the national production of banana: Pará, the largest state in the North in the production of this fruit, occupied the 6th national position. Products The principal agricultural products of Brazil include cattle, coffee, cotton, corn, rice, soy, wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, beans, floriculture, fruit, forestry, vegetables and cassava. Cattle Brazil in 2005 produced around 8.7 million tonnes of beef, becoming world export leader in 2003 after surpassing Australia. Cattle herds are concentrated in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Minas Gerais. Together they account for over 46% of Brazilian cattle with more than 87 million head.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Brazilian beef production grew on average 6.1% a year from 1990 to 2003, and reached 7.6 million tonnes. In 2003, Brazil exported over 1.4 million tonnes of beef, earning around $1.5 billion. Leather exports that year passed the $1 billion mark.In 2019, Brazil was the holder of the second largest herd of cattle in the world, 22.2% of the world herd, only behind India. In 2018, the country was also the second largest producer of beef, responsible for 15.4% of global production (10 million tons). In 2016, Brazilian beef exports in natura totaled 1.08 million tons with a value of R $4.35 billion. In 2019, beef was the 6th most important product in Brazil's export basket (almost 3% of Brazilian exports, totaling U $6.5 billion). Coffee In 2020, Minas Gerais was the largest producer of Coffea arabica in the country, with 74% of the national total (1.9 million tons, or 31.2 million 60 kg bags). Espírito Santo was the largest producer of Coffea canephora, with a 66.3% share of the total (564.5 thousand tons, or 9.4 million 60 kg bags). In 2017, Minas accounted for 54.3% of the total national coffee production (1st place), Espírito Santo accounted for 19.7% (second place) and São Paulo, 9.8% (third place).In 2018, Brazil produced 3.5 million tons of coffee, being the largest producer in the world. The states that produce the most are mainly Minas Gerais (33.46 million bags) and Espírito Santo (13.6 million bags), followed by São Paulo (6.15 million bags), Bahia (4,13 million bags), Rondônia (2.43 million bags) and Paraná (937.6 thousand bags). In 2019, coffee was the 10th most important product in Brazil's export basket (2% of exports, at a value of U $4.5 billion). Cotton Yield increases were sufficient to substantially increase output between the 1960s and the twenty-first century, despite reduced acreage. In the 1990s production moved from the South and Southeast regions to the Center-West and to the West of Bahia. Exports began in 2001.Brazil's entry in the cotton market led them to charge the US with illegal subsidies and tariffs. The Brazilian plea went to the World Trade Organization in 2002. WTO approved sanctions in 2009.In 2018, Brazil produced 4.9 million tons of cotton, being the 4th largest producer in the world. The states that produce the most are, mainly, Mato Grosso and Bahia (where most of the national production is), followed by Minas Gerais and Goiás. In 2019, cotton was the 19th most important product in Brazil's export basket, at a value of U $2.6 billion. Corn Brazilian corn has two harvests per year. The main harvest is during the rainy season and a second, "dry cultivation" harvest follows during the dry season. In the South the main harvest is in late August; while in the Southeast and Center-West, it happens in October and November and in the Northeast, by year end. The second harvest is in Paraná, São Paulo and in the Center-West, in February and March.In 2018, Brazil produced 82.2 million tons of corn, being the 3rd largest producer in the world The states that produce the most are: Mato Grosso, Paraná, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul. In 2019, corn was the 5th most important product on the Brazilian export basket, with 3.3% of national exports in 2019, worth U $7.3 billion. Rice In the 1980s Brazil evolved from exporting to importing rice in small quantities to meet domestic demand. In the following decade, it became one of the main importers, reaching two million tons, equivalent to 10% of domestic demand by 1997–8. Uruguay and Argentina are the main suppliers of the cereal to the country.In 1998, farmers planted 3.845 million ha, decreasing by 2008, to 2.847 million. Production grew from 11.582 million tons to an estimated 12.177 million tons.Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of rice in the country, with 70.5% of Brazil's production, close to 7.3 million tons in 2020. Santa Catarina was the second largest national producer, with around 1.1 million tons of the product. Soybean Soybean production began in 1882. From the beginning of the 20th century soy was used for animal fodder. In 1941, grain production surpassed forage use, becoming the main focus. Brazilian soybean production increased more than 3000% between 1970 and 2005. Yield increased 37.8% from 1990 to 2005. Soybean and soybean derivatives exports in 2005 alone earned over US$9 billion for Brazil.Brazil harvested in 2020 a total of 131 million tons, being the world's largest producer. Soy is the most important product on the country's export basket: it is the 1st place on the list, with 12% of the country's exports, at a value of U $26 billion in 2019; the country also exports soybean meal, which is the 8th most exported product (2.6% of Brazilian exports, worth U $5.8 billion in 2019) and soy oil (1.0 million tonnes in 2019, worth U $0.7 billion).Mato Grosso is the largest producer of soy in Brazil, with 26.9% of the total produced in 2020 (33.0 million tons). Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul were the second and third largest producers in the country, with about 16% of national production for each one. Paraná produced 19.8 million tons in 2020, and Rio Grande do Sul produced 19.3 million tons. Goiás is the 4th largest producer, with 13 million tons; Mato Grosso do Sul in 5th with 10.5 million tons; Bahia in 6th with 5.3 million tons; Minas Gerais in 7th with 5 million tons; Maranhão, São Paulo and Tocantins in 8th to 10th places with 3 million tons each; Piauí in 11th with 2.4 million tons and Santa Catarina in 12th with 2.3 million tons. Wheat Two of Brazil's coldest states, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, account for over 90% of wheat production. Brazil imports around US$700 million in wheat every year.Rio Grande do Sul is the largest national producer of wheat, with 2.3 million tons in 2019. Paraná is the 2nd largest producer, with a production almost identical to Rio Grande do Sul. In 2019, the 2 states harvested together about 85% of Brazil's harvest, but even so, the country is one of the largest global importers of cereal, having imported about 7 million tons this year, to meet a consumption of 12 million tons. Most of the wheat that Brazil imports comes from Argentina. Sugarcane During the colonial period, Brazil depended heavily on sugarcane and continued to lead world sugarcane production into the twenty-first century.Production is concentrated (90%) in São Paulo, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Paraná.Brazil harvested 558 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2007, representing a growth of 17.62% over 2006. For 2008, Brazil harvested 648,921,280 tonnes, of which total 89% was used for sugar and ethanol production. The other 11% was used for cachaça and rapadura production, as animal feed and as seeds. Ethanol production in 2008 was predicted to reach 26.4 billion litres.Brazil is the largest world producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested in 2018. The Southeast is responsible for most of the sugarcane production in the country. In 2020, São Paulo remained the largest national producer, with 341.8 million tons, responsible for 51.2% of production. Goiás is the 2nd largest producer of sugarcane in the country, 11.3% of national production, with 75.7 million tons harvested in the 2019–20 harvest. Minas Gerais was the third largest sugarcane producer, accounting for 11.1% of the total produced in the country, with 74.3 million tons. Mato Grosso do Sul is in fourth place, with around 49 million tons harvested. Paraná was, in 2017, the fifth largest producer of cane, third of sugar and fifth of alcohol in the country. It harvested about 46 million tons of cane this year. Mato Grosso harvested 16 million tons, being in 6th place.In 2019, sugar was the 9th most important product on the Brazilian export basket (2% of exports, at a value of U $4.6 billion). Tobacco Brazil is the world's second largest tobacco producer, and the largest exporter since 1993, with about 1.7 billion dollars of turnover. The largest export region is Rio Grande do Sul. The Southern region accounts for 95% of external production. It exports 60 to 70% of output. According to Michiel Baud, In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, tobacco was a highly prized commodity within the colonial Portuguese Empire. It played a crucial role in acquiring African slaves for the rapidly expanding sugar industry. Brazil shipped "fumo de corda" —tobacco sweetened with honey and twisted into rolls—to trade for slaves in western Africa. Tobacco production took place on small farms called fazendas. Everyone regardless of age, race, or status (free or enslaved), participated in growing tobacco. However the actual twisting and rolling was left to the slaves. The Portuguese Crown's monopolistic trade practices and heavy taxation contributed to a movement for independence in Brazil, leading to its declaration on 7 September 1822. The British prohibition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade after 1807 resulted in a sharp decline in the exports to Africa. As a consequence, tobacco leaves (fumo em folha) were exported to Europe instead of Africa, with Bahian tobacco gaining popularity among German cigar enthusiasts. Beans Brazil was the world's largest producer of beans, accounting for 16.3% of the total, 18.7 million tons in 2005, according to FAO. Historically most beans came from small producers. Yield in some cases exceeded three thousand kilos per ha.Bean acreage decreased from 1984 to 2004 by 25%, while output increased by 16%. It is cultivated throughout the country and harvests come year round.Brazil imports 100 thousand tons of beans per year.Since 2006, Paraná has been leading the production of beans in Brazil. Brazil is the 3rd largest producer of beans in the world, with an annual harvest of around 3 million tons, 11% of world production. In 2018, the South Region was the main bean producer with 26.4% of the total, followed by the Midwest (25.4%), Southeast Region (25.1%), Northeast (20.6%) and North (2.5%). The State of Paraná leads the ranking of the main national producers with 18.9% of the total produced. Floriculture and ornamentals Some three thousand six hundred producers cultivate flowers and ornamental plants in an area of 4,800 ha.It employs about one hundred twenty thousand people, of which 80% are women, and about 18% are family farms.The producers from fifteen states are represented by the Brazilian Institute of Floriculture (IBRAFLOR), with government support.Floriculture began in the 1870s, led by the son of Jean Baptiste Binot, who had come to the country to decorate the Imperial Palace, and whose orchidarium was internationally acknowledged. In 1893, Reggie Dierberger founded a flower company, which later became the Boettcher, pioneers of rose production.In 1948 Dutch immigrants founded a cooperative in Holambra, a city that still hosts flower production.Since 2000 the Program of Development of Flowers and Ornamental Plants of the Ministry of Agriculture began. The largest producer is São Paulo state, followed by Santa Catarina, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Ceará, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Goiás, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Amazonas and Pará. Fruits and perennials The main fruits grown in Brazil are, in alphabetical order: Abiu, açaí, acerola, alligator-apple, apple, atemoya, bacaba, bacuri, banana, biriba, blueberry, brazil plum, brazil nut, breadfruit, cajá, camu camu, cantaloupe, cashew, citrus (orange, lemon, lime, etc.), coconut, cupuaçu, fig, guava, grapes, jambo, jocote, kiwi, mangaba, mango, mangosteen, mulberry, muruci, nectarine, papaya, passionfruit, patawa, peach, pear, pequi, persimmon, physalis, pineapple, pine nuts, plum, rambutan, raspberry, sapodilla, sapote, sorva, soursop, starfruit, strawberry, tucuma, walnut, and watermelon.In 2002 the fruit sector grossed 9.6 billion dollars – 18% of Brazil's total. National production is higher than 38 million tons, cultivated on 3.4 million hectares. Between 1990 and 2004 exports grew 183% in value, 277% in quantity and 915% net.Every ten thousand dollars invested in fruit production generates three direct jobs and two indirect jobs.Brazil is the world's third largest fruit producer, behind China (157 million tons) and India (with 54 million). Oranges and bananas account for 60% of Brazilian output.The Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Apex-Brasil), the IBRAF and Carrefour supermarket partnered to develop the Brazilian Fruit Festival, with editions in countries such as Poland and Portugal, from 2004 to 2007. Banana Banana is produced across the country. It is the second-largest fruit crop. In 2003, 510 thousand hectares were planted, yielding 6.5 million tons, repeated in 2004. In descending order, the largest producers were São Paulo (with one million one hundred seventy-eight thousand tons), Bahia (764 thousand tons) and Pará (697 thousand tons).In 2018, São Paulo was the biggest productor in Brazil, with 1 million tons. Bahia harvested 825 thousand tons, Minas Gerais 767 thousand tons, Santa Catarina 709 thousand tons and Pernambuco 429 thousand tons. The country's production was 6,752 million tons. Cocoa Cocoa was once one of Brazil's main export crops, particularly for Bahia. Production gradually diminished. In 2002 Bahia accounted for 84% of Brazil's cocoa, according to IBGE, planting more than 548 thousand hectares planted with the crop.Brazil changed from exporting to importing cocoa in 1992. According to FAO the country, between 1990 and 2003, fell from ninth to seventeenth in the main world producers' ranking.Bahian cocoa shows how a pest and the lack of plant health care may affect a crop. In this case a disease called witch's broom was directly responsible for falling production, which started in the year 1989. A severe decline endured until 1999, when resistant varieties were introduced. Despite this, in 2007 Bahian production started to decline again, whilst the Paraense raised its share.Today, Bahia is disputing the leadership of national production with the state of Pará. In 2017 Pará obtained the leadership for the first time. In 2019, people from Pará harvested 135 thousand tons of cocoa, and Bahians harvested 130 thousand tons. Bahia's cocoa area is practically three times larger than that of Pará, but Pará's productivity is practically three times greater. Some factors that explain this are: the crops in Bahia are more extractivist, and those in Pará have a more modern and commercial style, in addition to paraenses using more productive and resistant seeds, and their region providing resistance to witch's broom. Citrus Citrus includes oranges, limes, tangerines, lemons, etc. Oranges are the most relevant in agriculture.In 2004 Brazil produced 18.3 million tons of oranges, 45% of the fruit harvest.São Paulo state accounts for 79% of orange production and is the largest producer and exporter of orange juice, responsible for half of global production. 97% is exported.Brazil and the US are the world's largest citrus producers, with 45% of the total, while South Africa, Spain and Israel compete in oranges and tangerines.Brazilian orange juice is equivalent to 80% of world exports, the largest market share for any Brazilian agricultural product. Forestry and wood Commercial forestry produced 65% of Brazilian wood products in 2003, up from 52% the year earlier as it gradually replaced traditional gathering.Eucalyptus is the most popular species for reforestation. It is harvested for plywood and cellulose production. In 2001 the country cultivated three million hectares with this tree; another 1.8 million hectares were planted with pine, a species better adapted to the climate of the South and Southeast.Native species have received increasing attention as an alternative to eucalyptus and pine. In 2007, the National Plan of Forestry with Native Species and Agroforestry Systems (PENSAF) was launched, in an integrated effort between the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), among others.In 2003 the country produced 2.149 million tons of wood for charcoal; 75% from Minas Gerais. Charcoal from vegetable gathering added 2.227 million tons, the largest part (35%) from Pará. Firewood production occupied 47.232 million square meters, with Bahia the biggest producer.Brazil is the seventh largest global producer of cellulose of all kinds, and the largest of short fiber cellulose. In 2005 the country exported 5.2 million tons and produced 6 million, generating revenues of 3.4 billion dollars.In 2006 the Management of Public Forests Law was enacted. It subsidizes legal wood production to reduce illegal deforestation, and encouraging the timber sector to adopt sustainable practices. Vegetables Brazilian vegetable production in 2004 was estimated at 11.696 billion Reais. It occupied 176 thousand hectares, yielding 16.86 million tons. The major producing regions were the South and Southeast, with 75% of the total. This sector employs between eight and ten million workers.The vegetable section of Embrapa, with headquarters in Distrito Federal, was created in 1978 and in 1981 renamed the National Center of Research on Vegetables (CNPH). It occupies 487 ha with laboratories, administrative and support buildings, with 45 ha devoted to experimental vegetable production, of which 7 support organic production.In 2007 Brazil exported 366,213 tons of vegetable crops, which yielded 240 million dollars. Among these, thirteen thousand tons of potatoes, twenty thousand tons of tomatoes, 37 thousand tons of onions. Other export vegetables included ginger, peas, cucumbers, capsicum, mustard, carrots and garlic. Tomato Brazilian tomato production ranked sixth globally and first in South America in 2000. 1999 output reached a record of 1.29 million tons for tomato pulp.In 2005, production increased to 3.3 million tons, ranking ninth globally behind China, US, Turkey, Italy, Egypt, India, Spain and Iran. The largest states in 2004 were Goiás (871 thousand tons), São Paulo (749 thousand tons), Minas Gerais (622 thousand), Rio de Janeiro (203 thousand) and Bahia (193 thousand).Success in Goiás' and Minas Gerais' Cerrado allowed the region to expand from 31% to 84% of production, from 1996 to 2001. The development of localized hybrid varieties raised productivity. Onion Small farmers are responsible for more than half of the country's production.Juazeiro, in Bahia, and Petrolina, in Pernambuco are neighboring towns, separated by São Francisco River. They have the highest yield, using irrigation to achieve 24 tons per hectare, versus the Brazilian average of seventeen. In 2006, the two cities 200 thousand tons surpassed that of the other states, behind only Santa Catarina (355 thousand tons). Cassava Brazil is the world's second largest cassava producer, at 12.7%. Exports comprise only .5%. Average exports in 2000 and 2001 were thirteen million, one hundred thousand tons, generating revenue above six hundred million dollars.It is cultivated in all regions and is used for both human and animal consumption. Manioc is farmed for human consumption, including flour and starch. That production chain generates about a million direct jobs, and some ten million jobs overall.Forecasts for 2002 were for 22.6 million tons on 1.7 million hectares. The largest producers were Pará (17.9%), Bahia (16.7%), Paraná (14.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (5.6%) and Amazonas (4.3%) . Controversies Land use changes In some areas, such as in the Amazon rainforest, forest is being cleared to make room for soy and palm oil production, and for making grassland, used for grazing cattle. By 1995, 70% of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970 had been converted to cattle ranching. Much of the remaining deforestation within the Amazon has resulted from farmers clearing land (sometimes using the slash-and-burn method) for small-scale subsistence agriculture or mechanized cropland producing soy, palm, and other crops.The cattle sector of the Brazilian Amazon, incentivized by the international beef and leather trades, has been responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the region, or about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the world's largest single driver of deforestation.In September 2019, Carlos Nobre, expert on the Amazon and climate change in Brazil, warned that at the current rates of deforestation, we are 20 to 30 years off from reaching a tipping point that could turn big parts of the Amazon forest into a dry savanna, especially in the southern and northern Amazon. Slave and child labor According to data from the Department of Labor of the United States, twenty-first century Brazil ranks third in occurrences of illegal working arrangements (tied with India and Bangladesh). Eight of thirteen violations were prevalent in agribusiness, especially in livestock, sisal, sugar cane, rice, tobacco and charcoal. Despite its position, the country's performance was praised, and between 1995 and 2009 approximately 35,000 workers were freed from degrading conditions.The International Labour Organization (ILO) recognized the Brazilian effort to fight such practices, which focus on preventing/correcting misbehavior via a system of fines.Among the causes of illegal working arrangements were poverty and misinformation.A Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC), would compensate landowners for losses resulting from ending such practices.In 2014 however, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs issued a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor where Brazil was classified as one of the 74 countries involved in child labor and forced labor practices. The report lists 16 products including cotton, cashews, pineapples, rice and sugarcane the production of which still employs children. Soil erosion A large part of the Southeast and Northeast region of the country is made up of granitic and gneiss rock formations, covered by a layer of regolith, very susceptible to soil erosion and gully formation. Bertoni and Neto point out this condition as one of Brazil's highest environmental dangers, and a large part of them result from human activities.Soil erosion removes nutrients and causes the loss of structure, texture and the decrease of infiltration rates and water retention.Plowing and herbicides to control undesirable weeds leave the soil exposed and susceptible to erosion – either by loss of topsoil (which is richer in nutrients), or from gullies. The lost soil fills rivers and reservoirs with silt. One solution is no-till farming, a practice not in wide use. Pesticide The world's four thousand agrochemicals are produced in about 15,000 different formulations, 8,000 of which are licensed in Brazil. They include insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, vermifuges, and also solvents and sanitizers. They are widely used to protect crops from pests, disease and invading species. Indiscriminate use causes unnecessary accumulation of those substances in the soil, water (springs, groundwater, reservoirs) and air.Brazil uses an average of 3.2 kg of agrochemicals per hectare – ranking tenth globally, in some studies, and fifth, in others. São Paulo state is Brazil's largest user, and the largest producer, comprising 80% of the total. Mitigation techniques include farmer education, and the development of resistant species, better farming techniques, biological pest control, among others.In 2007 tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries showed the highest rates of contamination by agrochemicals. Farmer awareness is low and few comply with rules on the use of these substances, such as Individual Protection Equipment (EPI).According to information from Anvisa, Brazilian farming uses at least ten types of agrochemicals prohibited in other markets, such as the European Union and the US. In September 2019, Brazil's Agriculture Ministry approved 63 pesticides for commercial use as the government seeks to decrease a backlog of applications for new agricultural chemicals. According to an investigation by Unearthed, more than 1,200 pesticides and weedkillers, including 193 containing chemicals banned in the EU, have been registered in Brazil between 2016 and 2019. Genetically modified crops The country is the third largest user in the world in growing genetically modified crops. The main commodities using this biotechnology are soy, cotton and, since 2008, maize.Several national and international NGOs, such as Greenpeace, MST or Contag, are opposed to the practice. Criticisms include market loss, negative environmental impacts and dominance by large businesses. Entities linked to agribusiness, however, counter with the results of studies carried out by the Brazilian Association of Seeds and Saplings (Abrasem) in 2007 and 2008, affirming "social-environmental advantages observed in the other countries which have adopted agricultural biotechnology far longer".Federal Justice decided that foods containing more than 1 percent of modified genes must be labeled to inform consumers. Impact on genetic diversity The Amazon rainforest is a source of essential genes for crops, livestock, pollination, biological control, cleaning water and soil regeneration. See also Animal husbandry in Brazil List of countries by sugarcane production List of countries by soybean production List of countries by coffee production List of countries by citrus production List of countries by maize production List of countries by papaya production List of countries by pineapple production List of countries by tobacco production List of countries by cotton production List of countries by cassava production List of countries by coconut production List of countries by lemon production List of countries by cacao production List of countries by avocado production List of countries by rice production List of countries by tomato production List of countries by grape production List of countries by apple production List of countries by garlic production List of countries by potato production International wheat production statistics List of countries by barley production References Further reading Barona, Elizabeth, et al. "The role of pasture and soybean in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon." Environmental Research Letters 5.2 (2010): 024002. onlineDias, Lívia C.P., et al. "Patterns of land use, extensification, and intensification of Brazilian agriculture." Global change biology 22.8 (2016): 2887-2903. online Ferreira Filho, Joaquim Bento de Souza, and Carlos Eduardo de Freitas Vian. "The evolving role of large and medium farms on Brazilian agriculture." Agricultural Economics 47.S1 (2016): 215-225. online Ferrante, Lucas, and Philip M. Fearnside. "Brazil’s new president and ‘ruralists’ threaten Amazonia’s environment, traditional peoples and the global climate." Environmental Conservation 46.4 (2019): 261-263. online Freyre, Gilberto. The masters and the slaves: A study in the development of Brazilian civilization (Univ of California Press, reprint 1986). onlineMcNeill, John R. "Agriculture, forests, and ecological history: Brazil, 1500–1984." Environmental Review 10.2 (1986): 122-133. Rogers, Thomas D. The deepest wounds: a labor and environmental history of sugar in Northeast Brazil (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2010) online. Sauer, Sérgio, and Sergio Pereira Leite. "Agrarian structure, foreign investment in land, and land prices in Brazil." n The New Enclosures: Critical Perspectives on Corporate Land Deals (Routledge, 2013) pp. 267-292.Schuh, G. Edward, The Agricultural Development of Brazil (Praeger Publisher, 1970), 456 pp. online Vale, Petterson, et al. "The expansion of intensive beef farming to the Brazilian Amazon." Global Environmental Change 57 (2019): 101922. online Valenti, Wagner C., et al. "Aquaculture in Brazil: past, present and future." Aquaculture Reports 19 (2021): 100611. Brazil has over 200,000 freshwater fish farms. online Wolford, Wendy. This land is ours now: Social mobilization and the meanings of land in Brazil (Duke University Press, 2010) online. External links Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Brazilian National Agriculture Confederation

synanthrope

A synanthrope (from ancient Greek σύν sýn "together, with" and ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos "man") is an organism that lives near and benefits from humans and their environmental modifications (see also anthropophilia for animals who live close to humans as parasites). The term synanthrope includes many species regarded as pests or weeds, but does not include domesticated animals. Common synanthrope habitats include houses, gardens, farms, parks, roadsides and rubbish dumps. Zoology Examples of synanthropes are various insect species (ants, lice, silverfish, cockroaches, etc.), house sparrows, rock doves (pigeons), crows, various rodent species, Virginia opossums, raccoons, certain monkey species, coyotes, deer, passerines, and other urban wildlife.The brown rat is counted as one of the most prominent synanthropic animals and can be found in almost every place there are people. Botany Synanthropic plants include pineapple weed, dandelion, chicory, and plantain. Plant synanthropes are classified into two main types - apophytes and anthropophytes. Apophytes are synanthropic species that are native in origin. They can be subdivided into the following: Cultigen apophytes – spread by cultivation methods Ruderal apophytes – spread by development of marginal areas Pyrophyte apophytes – spread by fires Zoogen apophytes – spread by grazing animals Substitution apophytes – spread by logging or voluntary extensionAnthropophytes are synanthropic species of foreign origin, whether introduced voluntarily or involuntarily. They can be subdivided into the following: Archaeophytes – introduced before the end of the 15th century Kenophytes – introduced after the 15th century Ephemerophytes – anthropophytic plants that appear episodically Subspontaneous – voluntarily introduced plants that have escaped cultivation and survived in the wild without further human intervention for a certain period. Adventive – involuntarily introduced plants that have escaped cultivation and survived in the wild without further human intervention for a certain period. Naturalized or Neophytes – involuntarily introduced plants that now appear to thrive along with the native flora indefinitely. See also Urban wildlife Satoyama Social forestry in India Commensalism Escaped plant Adventive plant Assisted migration Introduced species Invasive species Naturalisation Hemerochory Human impact on the environment Environmental impact of agriculture Hemeroby Ecosystem management Native American use of fire in ecosystems Archaeophyte Neophyte Genetic pollution Literature Herbert Sukopp & Rüdiger Wittig (eds.): Urban Ecology . 2nd edition G. Fischer; Stuttgart, Jena, Lübeck, Ulm; 1998: p. 276 ff. ISBN 3-437-26000-6 References External links The Synanthrope Preserve

soil compaction (agriculture)

Soil compaction, also known as soil structure degradation, is the increase of bulk density or decrease in porosity of soil due to externally or internally applied loads. Compaction can adversely affect nearly all physical, chemical and biological properties and functions of soil. Together with soil erosion, it is regarded as the "costliest and most serious environmental problem caused by conventional agriculture."In agriculture, soil compaction is a complex problem in which soil, crops, weather and machinery interact. External pressure due to the use of heavy machinery and inappropriate soil management can lead to the compaction of subsoil, creating impermeable layers within the soil that restrict water and nutrient cycles. This process can cause on-site effects such as reduced crop growth, yield and quality as well as off-site effects such as increased surface water run-off, soil erosion, greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication, reduced groundwater recharge and a loss of biodiversity.Unlike salinization or erosion, soil compaction is principally a sub-surface problem and therefore an invisible phenomenon. Special identification methods are necessary to locate, monitor and manage the problem appropriately. History and current state Soil compaction is not a recent issue. Before the beginning of mechanized agriculture, the usage of plough-pans was associated with soil compaction. However, multiple studies have shown that modern farming techniques increase the risk of harmful soil compaction.The historic data basis for global soil compaction is generally very weak as there are only measurements or estimates for certain regions/countries at certain points in time. In 1991, it was estimated that soil compaction accounted for 4% (68.3 million hectares) of anthropogenic soil degradation worldwide. In 2013, soil compaction was regarded a major reason for soil degradation in Europe (appr. 33 million ha affected), Africa (18 million ha), Asia (10 million ha), Australia (4 million ha), and some areas of North America.More specifically, in Europe approximately 32% and 18% of the subsoils are highly and moderately vulnerable to compaction respectively. Mechanism In healthy, well-structured soils, particles interact with each other forming soil aggregates. The resulting soil structure increases in stability with the number of interactions between soil particles. Water and air fills the voids between soil particles, where water interacts with soil particles forming a thin layer around them. This layer can shield particle-particle interaction thus reducing the stability of soil structure.Mechanic pressure applied to the soil is counterbalanced by an increase of soil particle interactions. This implies a reduction in soil volume by reducing the voids in between soil particles.As a consequence water and air is displaced and soil bulk density increases, resulting in a reduced permeability for water and air.Susceptibility of soil to compaction depends on several factors, which influence soil particle interactions: Soil texture, with fine textured soils (high clay content) being more susceptible to compaction than coarse textured soils. Soil structure, with angular, heterogeneous structures being more stable. Soil water content, a high water content increases susceptibility to compaction as the layer of water on the surface of soil particles shields interactions between soil particles Initial bulk density, dense soils are more resistant to compaction as the number of particle interactions is higher. Organic matter content, increases resistance to compaction as organic matter acts as a buffer, binding minerals and water pH, affects net charges of molecules Causes Soil compaction can occur naturally by the drying and wetting process called soil consolidation, or when external pressure is applied to the soil. The most relevant human-induced causes of soil compaction in agriculture are the use of heavy machineries, tillage practice itself, inappropriate choice of tillage systems, as well as livestock trampling. Use of large and heavy machineries for agriculture often causes not only topsoil but subsoil compaction. Subsoil compaction is more difficult to be regenerated than topsoil compaction. Not only may the weight of machineries i.e. axle load, but also velocity and number of passages affect the intensity of soil compaction. Inflation pressure of wheels and tyres also plays an important role for the degree of soil compaction.Whether heavy machinery is in use or not, tillage practice itself can cause soil compaction. While the major cause of soil compaction in a tillage activity nowadays is due to machineries, the influence of compaction resulting from lighter equipments and animals to the topsoil should not be neglected. Moreover, inappropriate choices of tillage systems may cause unnecessary soil compaction. It should however be noted that tillage activity could reduce topsoil compaction compared to no tillage activity in the long term.Significant livestock trampling resulting from livestock farming on meadows and agricultural land is also viewed major cause of soil compaction. This is not affected whether the grazing is continuous or short term, however it is affected by the intensity of grazing. Effects On-site effects Major effects on soil properties due to soil compaction are reduced air permeability and reduced water infiltration. Main physical negative effects to plants are restricted plant root growth in response to the accumulation of the plant hormone ethylene and accessibility of nutrients due to increase in bulk density and reduced soil pore size. This may lead to an extremely dry topsoil and eventually causes soil to crack because the roots absorb water requiring for transpiration from the upper part of the soil where plants can penetrate with their restricted root depth.Soil chemical properties are influenced by change in soil physical properties. One possible effect is a decrease in oxygen diffusion that causes anaerobic condition. Together with anaerobic condition, increases in soil water saturation can increase denitrification processes in the soil. Possible consequences are an increase in N2O emission, decreases in available nitrogen in soil and reduced efficiency of nitrogen usage by crops. This may cause in an increase of fertilizer use.Soil biodiversity is also influenced by reduced soil aeration. Severe soil compaction may cause reduced microbial biomass. Soil compaction may not influence the quantity, but the distribution of macro fauna that is vital for soil structure including earthworms due to reduction in large pores.All these factors affect plant growth negatively, and thus lead to reduced crop yields in most cases. As soil compaction is persistent, loss of crop yield as one of the "soil compaction costs" may lead to a concern of long term economic loss. Off-site effects Soil compaction and its direct effects are closely interrelated with indirect off-site effects that have a global impact, visible only in the long-term perspective. Accumulating effects may result in complex environmental impacts contributing to ongoing global environmental issues such as erosion, flooding, climate change and loss of biodiversity in soil.Food security Soil compaction causes reductions in crop growth, yield and quality. Locally, these effects may have minor impacts on food security. If one aggregates the losses in food supply due to soil compaction, however, compaction may threaten food security. This is especially relevant for regions that are prone to droughts and floodings. Here, compacted soil may contribute to dry topsoil and increased surface runoff. In addition, climate change can worsen adverse of soil compaction. This is because climate change features events such as heat waves and storms that can increase the risk of droughts and floodings and drainage systems. Climate change and Energy use Soil stores greenhouse gases (GHG). It is seen as a major terrestrial pool of carbon. Providing nutrient cycling and filtering services, soil regulates GHG fluxes. The loss of gases from soil to the atmosphere is often enhanced by the influence of soil compaction on permeability and changes in crop growth. When compacted soils are waterlogged or have an elevated water content, they tend to cause methane (CH4) losses to the atmosphere due to an increased bacteria activity. The release of the GHG nitrous oxide (N2O) originates also from microbiological processes in soil and is reinforced by the use of nitrogen fertilizer on arable land.Furthermore, compacted soil requires an extra energy input. More fuel and fertilizer are used for cultivation compared to uncompacted soil due to restrictions in crop growth resulting from a decreased efficiency in nitrogen use. The production of nitrogen fertilizer is highly energy demanding. Erosion, Flooding and Surface Water The reduced permeability of compacted soil can result in local flooding. When water cannot infiltrate, ponding and water logging pose a general risk for soil erosion by water. On compacted soils, wheel tracks are often the starting point for runoff and erosion. Soil erosion is likely to appear on sloping fields or especially hilly land. This might lead to a transfer of sediments [56] . Except for direct negative effects for farmers, the risk of surface runoff close to wheel tracks affects the off-farm environment indirectly, as it for example redistributes "sediment, nutrients and pesticides within the field and beyond". Especially when the risk of surface soil erosion is heightened, eutrophication of surface waters becomes a big problem due to an increased amount of nutrients. On high risk areas, such as wet soils on slopes, applied slurry can runoff easily. This results in a loss of ammonia, which is polluting surface waters, as it creates a lack of oxygen. Leading so to the death of many species, soil erosion caused by compaction is responsible for a decline in habitat quality and therefore species loss. Groundwater Another off-site effect can be seen with regard to groundwater. The infiltration rate of grassland soil without traffic is five times higher than on soil with severe traffic. A consequence might be a reduced recharge of groundwater. Especially in dryer regions suffering from a lack of water reserves, this poses a crucial risk. In regions where "the subsoil provides a significant proportion of the water required by crops to meet transpiration demands", often being dependent on agriculture, this danger of compaction is most present. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer that is used on compacted soils is more than plants can take up. Thus, the surplus of nitrate in soil tends to leach into groundwater resulting in pollution. Due to a declining filter ability of soil, microbial decomposition of pesticides is restrained and also pesticides are more likely to reach groundwater. Identification methods Soil compaction can be identified either in the field, the laboratory or via remote sensing. In order to get reliable data and results a combination of different methods is necessary as "there is no single universal method available to identify compact soils". In the field Phenomena like waterlogging on the surface or in subsurface layers, visible reduction in porosity and changes of soil structure, soil moisture and soil colour are indicators of soil compaction in the field. A blue-grey soil colour and a smell of hydrogen sulphide can occur in the top soil due to extenuated aeration . An increase in soil strength can be measured with a penetrometer, which is basically a device for measuring the resistance of a soil. Another important indicator of soil compaction is the vegetation itself. By means of patterns of crop growth, pale leaf colours and root growth, it is possible to draw conclusions to the extent of compaction. Especially when trying to identify soil compaction in the field with the measurements mentioned above it has been considered particularly important to make a comparison between potentially compacted soil and uncompacted soil nearby. In the laboratory Soil bulk density, pore-size distribution, water permeability and the relative apparent gas diffusion coefficient give a good overview of the permeability of soils to air and water and therefore on the degree of compaction. Since the coarse pores are most important for water infiltration, gas exchange and transport, focusing on them when measuring the porosity and the diffusion coefficient is recommended. Data gained at a laboratory are reliable as long as a certain amount of samples has been analyzed. That is why it is necessary to gather a large number of soil samples throughout the entire sample plot that is of interest. Remote sensing Remote sensing helps to recognize alterations of soil structure, root growth, water storage capacities and biological activity. "Detection of these features directly on the surface of bare soil or indirectly by the vegetation lead to identification of this type of degradation." This is especially helpful for large areas. As a prevention of soil compaction remote sensing can model the susceptibility of soils by considering soil texture, slope value, water regime and economic factors like the type of farming or the machinery being used. Limitations Soil compaction is often local and depends on many factors that may vary within a few square meters. This makes it very hard to estimate susceptibility of soils to compaction at a large scale. Since methods of remote sensing are not able to identify soil compaction directly there are limitations to identification, monitoring and quantifying, especially on a global scale. Identification methods mentioned above are insufficient for large areas since it is not possible to get a large enough sample size without harming the soil and keeping financial afford to a reasonable level. Avoidance and mitigation It takes several decades for a partial restoration of compacted soil and therefore it is extremely important to take active measures in order to regenerate soil functions. Since soil compaction is very hard to identify and reverse, special attention has to be paid on avoidance and alleviation. Public policy responses The United Nations General Assembly has agreed to jointly combat land degradation. In particular, member states committed themselves to "use and disseminate modern technology for data collection, transmission and assessment on land degradation".The European Union addresses soil compaction by means of the Seventh EU Environment Action Programme, which entered into force in 2014. It recognises that soil degradation is a serious challenge and states that by 2020 land is supposed to be managed sustainably in the entire Union.National governments have regulated agriculture practices in order to mitigate the effect of soil compaction. For instance, in Germany farmers operate under the Federal Soil Conservation Law. The law states that farmers have the obligation of precaution towards soil compaction according to acknowledged good practices. Good practices may vary from case to case, involving a variety of biological, chemical and technical methods. Biological methods The introduction of deep rooting plants are a natural way to regenerate compacted soils. Deep rooting crops provide crop induced wetting and drying cycles that crack the soil, break up impermeable layers of soil by root penetration and increase organic matter. The zaï technique describes a system planting pits that are being dug into poor soil. These pits, with an average diameter of 20–40 cm and a depth of 10–20 cm, are filled with organic matter then seeded after the first rain of the season. This technique conserves soil, captures water, and gradually rehabilitates the structure and health of the underlying soil. A systematic way to regenerate degraded soil (e.g. compacted soil) in the long run is the transformation of conventional farming to agroforestry. Agroforestry systems aims at the stabilization of the annual yield as well as the healthy maintenance of the ecosystem by combining the cultivation of crop plants and trees on the same site. Chemical methods Since soil compaction can lead to a reduced crop growth and therefore to a reduced economic yield the use of fertilizer, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, is increasing. This growing demand causes several problems. Phosphor occurs in marine deposits, magmatic deposits or in guano. Phosphor extracted from marine deposits contains cadmium and uran. Both elements can have toxic effects on soil, plants and hence for humans or animals as consumer. Another opportunity to increase soil fertility besides from using mineral fertilizer is liming. Through liming the pH level and base saturation should be raised to a level more suitable for microorganisms and especially earth worms in the topsoil. Through an increased activity of soil fauna a loosening of the soil and following a higher porosity and improved water and air permeability should be reached. Technical methods Technical methods mainly aim to reduce and control the pressure applied on soil by heavy machinery. First, the idea of controlled wheel traffic is to separate the wheeled tracks and area for plant rooting. Expected is a reduction of area compacted by tyres, reducing negative effects on crop growth. In some areas, GIS-based technology was introduced to better monitor and control the traffic paths.Low tyre pressure is another way to distribute the pressure applied on a greater surface and soften the overall pressure. For an integrated management, computer-based modelling of crop yard for vulnerability to compaction is recommended in order to avoid driving over vulnerable soil.No tillage may contribute to better soil condition as it conserves more water than traditional tillage, however as tillage is a preparation of crop yard for coming seeding or planting process, no tillage does not necessary give a positive result in all cases. Loosening of already compacted soil layers by deep ripping may be beneficial for plant growth and soil condition. See also Land use, land-use change, and forestry == References ==

pepsico

PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of its products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito-Lay, Inc., PepsiCo has since expanded from its namesake product Pepsi Cola to an immensely diversified range of food and beverage brands. The largest and most recent acquisition was Pioneer Foods in 2020 for US$1.7 billion and prior to it was buying the Quaker Oats Company in 2001, which added the Gatorade brand to the Pepsi portfolio and Tropicana Products in 1998. As of January 2021, the company possesses 23 brands that have over US$1 billion in sales annually. PepsiCo has operations all around the world and its products were distributed across more than 200 countries, resulting in annual net revenues of over US$70 billion. PepsiCo is the second-largest food and beverage business in the world based on net revenue, profit, and market capitalization, behind Nestlé. PepsiCo's flagship product, Pepsi Cola has been engaged in a rivalry for generations with Coca-Cola; it is commonly referred to as the cola wars. Although Coca-Cola outsells Pepsi Cola in the United States, PepsiCo within the North American market is the largest food and beverage company by net revenue. Ramon Laguarta has been the chief executive of PepsiCo since 2018. The company's beverage distribution and bottling is conducted by PepsiCo as well as by licensed bottlers in certain regions. Pepsi has been repeatedly criticized by environmentalists for its relationship to negative environmental impacts of agriculture in its supply chain and in its distributing operations, such as palm oil–related deforestation and pesticide use, its use of water resources, and the negative impacts of its packaging—Pepsi's packaging has consistently been one of the top sources of plastic pollution globally. Similarly public health advocates have criticized Pepsi's high-calorie, poor nutrition product lines along with other popular snack and drink manufacturers. In response PepsiCo has made public comments on its commitment to minimizing their impact but has not released public information documenting progress on most of its public commitments. History Origins The soft drink Pepsi was developed by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist and businessman from Duplin County, North Carolina. He coined the name "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898 marketing the drink from his pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina. As his drink gained popularity Bradham founded the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902 and registered a patent for his recipe in 1903. The company was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1919. Bradham's company experienced years of success leading up to World War I. However, sugar rationing during the war and a volatile sugar market in the war's aftermath damaged the company's financial health to such a degree that in 1923, Bradham declared bankruptcy and returned to running pharmacies in North Carolina.On June 8, 1923, the company trademark and secret recipe were purchased by Craven Holding Corporation. In 1931, Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, purchased the Pepsi trademark, business, and goodwill from Craven Holding in association with Charles Guth. Guth was also the president of Loft, Incorporated, a leading candy manufacturer based in Long Island City, New York. Loft ran a network with 115 stores across the Mid Atlantic at the time of Guth's acquisition. Guth used Loft's labs and chemists to reformulate the Pepsi syrup recipe, and he used his position as president of the company to replace Coca-Cola with Pepsi Cola at Loft's shops and restaurants. Guth also used Loft resources to promote Pepsi, and moved the soda company to a location close by Loft's own facilities in New York City.In 1935, the shareholders of Loft sued Guth for his 91% stake of Pepsi-Cola Company in the landmark case Guth v. Loft Inc. Loft won the suit and on May 29, 1941, formally absorbed Pepsi into Loft, which was then re-branded as Pepsi-Cola Company that same year. Loft restaurants and candy stores were spun off at this time.In the early 1960s, Pepsi-Cola's product lines expanded with the creation of Diet Pepsi and purchase of Mountain Dew. In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc. At the time of its foundation, PepsiCo was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in Manhattan, New York. The company's headquarters were relocated to the present location of Purchase, New York in 1970, and in 1986 PepsiCo was reincorporated in the state of North Carolina. After 39 years trading on the New York Stock Exchange, PepsiCo moved its shares to Nasdaq on December 20, 2017. Acquisitions and divestments Between the late-1970s and the mid-1990s, PepsiCo expanded via acquisition of businesses outside of its core focus of packaged food and beverage brands; however it exited these non-core business lines largely in 1997, selling some, and spinning off others into a new company named Tricon Global Restaurants, which later became known as Yum! Brands, Inc. PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold so it could focus on its primary snack food and beverage lines, according to investment analysts reporting on the divestments in 1997. Brands formerly owned by PepsiCo include: Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Hot 'n Now, East Side Mario's, D'Angelo Sandwich Shops, Chevys Fresh Mex, California Pizza Kitchen, Stolichnaya (via licensed agreement), Wilson Sporting Goods, and North American Van Lines.The divestments concluding in 1997 were followed by multiple large-scale acquisitions, as PepsiCo began to extend its operations beyond soft drinks and snack foods into other lines of foods and beverages. PepsiCo purchased the orange juice company Tropicana Products in 1998, and merged with Quaker Oats Company in 2001, adding with it the Gatorade sports drink line and other Quaker Oats brands such as Chewy Granola Bars and Aunt Jemima, among others.In August 2009, PepsiCo made a US$7 billion offer to acquire the two largest bottlers of its products in North America: Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. In 2010 this acquisition was completed, resulting in the formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Pepsi Beverages Company.In February 2011, the company made its largest international acquisition by purchasing a two-thirds (majority) stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, a Russian food company that produces milk, yogurt, fruit juices, and dairy products. When it acquired the remaining 23% stake of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods in October 2011, PepsiCo became the largest food and beverage company in Russia.In July 2012, PepsiCo announced a joint venture with the Theo Muller Group which was named Muller Quaker Dairy. This marked PepsiCo's first entry into the dairy space in the U.S. The joint venture was dissolved in December 2015.On May 25, 2018, PepsiCo announced that it would acquire fruit and veggie snack maker Bare Foods. It will also quarter-own allMotti in late November 2018 and it will be PepsiCo's first owned Tech and Computer Service company. On August 20, 2018, PepsiCo announced that it had entered into agreement to acquire SodaStream. The purchase was completed in December 2018 as part of a strategic plan to steer Pepsi toward offering healthier products.In 2019, PepsiCo sued four small farmers in India US$142,000 each for growing a type of potato it says it owns. Pepsi said they would end the suit if the farmers grew potatoes for them. A number of Farmers' associations are requesting that the government get involved in the case stating that Pepsi is attempting to intimidate people. After pressure from the public as well as state and national governments, PepsiCo withdrew the lawsuit on May 2, 2019. On October 3, 2019, PepsiCo announced that they will leave Indonesia after terminating their partnership with local distributor PT Anugerah Indofood Barokah Makmur (AIBM). Both companies stopped production of PepsiCo products on October 10. This has resulted in KFC and Pizza Hut chains in the country to switch to Coca-Cola products.On December 2, 2019, PepsiCo acquired the snacks brand, BFY Brands, who are going to be folded into the Frito-Lay division.In March 2020, PepsiCo announced that it had entered into agreement to acquire Rockstar Energy for US$3.85 billion.In January 2021, as a plan to fight global warming, PepsiCo announced that it is planning to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, knowing that it had already started generating about 57 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions globally in 2019.On August 3, 2021, PespiCo announced that they have agreed to sell a majority stake in Tropicana, Naked and other North American juice brands to French private equity firm PAI Partners for US$3.3 billion, so that the company can concentrate on its healthy snack food business. Pepsi will hold a 39% stake in the joint venture as well as having exclusive rights to the brand in the USA.In August 2022, PepsiCo acquired a $550 million stake in the energy drink maker Celsius. Competition The Coca-Cola Company has historically been considered PepsiCo's primary competitor in the beverage market, and in December 2005, PepsiCo surpassed The Coca-Cola Company in market value for the first time in 12 years since both companies began to compete. In 2009, The Coca-Cola Company held a higher market share in carbonated soft drink sales within the U.S. In the same year, PepsiCo maintained a higher share of the U.S. refreshment beverage market, however, reflecting the differences in product lines between the two companies. As a result of mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships pursued by PepsiCo in the 1990s and 2000s, its business has shifted to include a broader product base, including foods, snacks, and beverages. The majority of PepsiCo's revenues no longer come from the production and sale of carbonated soft drinks. Beverages accounted for less than 50 percent of its total revenue in 2009. In the same year, slightly more than 60 percent of PepsiCo's beverage sales came from its primary non-carbonated brands, namely Gatorade and Tropicana.PepsiCo's Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats brands hold a significant share of the U.S. snack food market, accounting for approximately 39 percent of U.S. snack food sales in 2009. One of PepsiCo's primary competitors in the snack food market overall is Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International), which in the same year held 11 percent of the U.S. snack market share. Other competitors for soda are RC Cola, Keurig Dr. Pepper, and independent brands varying by region. Soviet Union In 1959, the USSR held an exhibition of Soviet technology and culture in New York. The United States reciprocated with an exhibition in Sokolniki Park, Moscow, which led to the famous kitchen debate. One of the American products exhibited was Pepsi Cola. After obtaining a photo of U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sipping Pepsi, PepsiCo executive Donald Kendall was able to capture the attention of the Soviet people and, in 1972, negotiate a cola monopoly in the USSR. Due to Soviet restrictions on transporting roubles abroad, PepsiCo struck a barter deal whereby Stolichnaya vodka would be exchanged for Pepsi syrup. This deal lasted until 1990, when the USSR and PepsiCo renegotiated a US$3 billion deal to exchange syrup for vodka and a small fleet of decommissioned Soviet warships including 17 submarines, a frigate, a cruiser and a destroyer. This deal fell through before it could take place due to the fall of the Soviet Union and was renegotiated with the former nations of the USSR. The new trade deal included receiving cheese from Russia to supply its Pizza Hut locations and receiving double-hulled tankers from Ukraine. The deal also originated an erroneous factoid which claims that, after acquiring the Soviet fleet, PepsiCo briefly possessed one of the most powerful navies in the world. This is false because not only did the deal ultimately not take place but it would have only granted PepsiCo "small, old, obsolete, unseaworthy vessels". Finances For the fiscal year 2017, PepsiCo reported earnings of US$4.857 billion, with an annual revenue of US$62.525 billion, an increase of 1.2% over the previous fiscal cycle. PepsiCo's shares traded at over US$109 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$155.9 billion in September 2018. PepsiCo ranked No. 45 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Products and brands PepsiCo's product mix as of 2015 (based on worldwide net revenue) consists of 53 percent foods, and 47 percent beverages. On a worldwide basis, the company's current products lines include several hundred brands that in 2009 were estimated to have generated approximately US$108 billion in cumulative annual retail sales.The primary identifier of a food and beverage industry main brand is annual sales over US$1 billion. As of 2015, 22 PepsiCo brands met that mark, including: Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lay's, Gatorade, Tropicana, 7 Up/Teem, Evervess, Doritos, Brisk, Quaker Foods, Cheetos, Mirinda, Ruffles, Aquafina, Naked, Kevita, Propel, Sobe, H2oh, Sabra, Starbucks (ready to Drink Beverages), Pepsi Max, Tostitos, Sierra Mist (discontinued in 2023 in favor of Starry), Fritos, Walkers, and Bubly. Business divisions The structure of PepsiCo's global operations has shifted multiple times in its history as a result of international expansion, and as of December 2021 it is separated into seven main divisions: PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA), Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), Quaker Foods North America (QFNA), Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia (AMESA) and Asia Pacific, Australia/New Zealand, China (APAC). As of 2015, 73 percent of the company's net revenues came from North and South America; 17 percent from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa; and 10 percent from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. PepsiCo and its combined subsidiaries employed approximately 263,000 people worldwide as of December 2015. PepsiCo Beverages North America This division contributed 35 percent of PepsiCo's net revenue as of 2015, and involves the manufacture (and in some cases licensing), marketing and sales of both carbonated and non-carbonated beverages in North America. The main brands distributed under this division include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, 7 Up (outside the U.S.), Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice, Starry, SoBe Lifewater, Tropicana juice drinks, AMP Energy, Naked Juice, and Izze. Aquafina, the company's bottled water brand, is also marketed and licensed through North America Beverages. In 2015, PepsiCo also introduced Stubborn Soda, a line of carbonated beverages without high fructose corn syrup.PepsiCo also has formed partnerships with several beverage brands it does not own, in order to distribute or market them with its own brands. As of 2010, its partnerships include: Starbucks (Frappuccino, DoubleShot, and Iced Coffee), Unilever's Lipton brand (Lipton Brisk and Lipton Iced Tea), and Dole (licensed juices and drinks). Frito-Lay North America Frito-Lay North America, the result of a merger in 1961 between the Frito Company and the H.W. Lay Company, produces the top-selling line of snack foods in the U.S. Its main brands in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico include Lay's and Ruffles potato chips; Doritos tortilla chips; Tostitos tortilla chips and dips; Cheetos cheese flavored snacks; Fritos corn chips; Rold Gold pretzels; Sun Chips; and Cracker Jack popcorn. Products made by this division are sold to independent distributors and retailers, and are transported from Frito-Lay's manufacturing plants to distribution centers, principally in vehicles owned and operated by the company.The division contributed 23 percent of PepsiCo's net revenue in 2015. Until November 2009, Christopher Furman, President of Ventura Foods Inc., occupied the position of Food Services CEO. Quaker Foods North America Quaker Foods North America, created following PepsiCo's acquisition of the Quaker Oats Company in 2001, manufactures, markets, and sells Quaker Oatmeal, Rice-A-Roni, Cap'n Crunch, and Life cereals, as well as Near East side dishes within North America. This division also owns and produces the Pearl Milling Company brand, which as of 2009 was the top selling line of syrups and pancake mixes within this region.Sabritas and Gamesa are two of PepsiCo's food and snack business lines headquartered in Mexico, and they were acquired by PepsiCo in 1966 and 1990, respectively. Sabritas markets Frito-Lay products in Mexico, including local brands such as Poffets, Rancheritos, Crujitos, and Sabritones. Gamesa is the largest manufacturer of cookies in Mexico, distributing brands such as Emperador, Arcoiris and Marías Gamesa.The division contributed 4 percent of PepsiCo's net revenues in 2015. Latin America PepsiCo's Latin America Foods (Spanish: Snacks América Latina) operations market and sell primarily Quaker- and Frito-Lay/Sabritas/Elma Chips-branded snack foods within Mexico, Central and South America, including Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and other countries in this region. Snacks América Latina purchased Peruvian company Karinto S.A.C. including its production company Bocaditas Nacionales (with three production facilities in Peru) from the Hayashida family of Lima in 2009, adding the Karito brand to its product line, including Cuates, Fripapas, and Papi Frits.The company started a new market strategy to sell its Pepsi Cola product in Mexico, stating that about one-third of the population has difficulty pronouncing "Pepsi". With manufacture and sales of its product under the label 'Pécsi', the advertisement campaign features the Mexican soccer celebrity Cuauhtémoc Blanco. In 2009, PepsiCo had previously used the same strategy successfully in Argentina.Pepsico will market and distribute Starbucks products in several Latin American countries for 2016.The division contributed 13 percent of PepsiCo's net revenues in 2015. Europe PepsiCo began to expand its distribution in Europe in the 1980s, and in 2015 it made up 17 percent of the company's global net revenue. Unlike PepsiCo's Americas business segments, both foods and beverages are manufactured and marketed under one umbrella division in this region, known as PepsiCo Europe. The primary brands sold by PepsiCo in Europe include Pepsi-Cola beverages, Frito-Lay snacks, Tropicana juices, and Quaker food products, as well as regional brands unique to Europe such as Walkers crisps, Copella, Paw Ridge, Snack-a-Jack, Duyvis, and others. PepsiCo also produces and distributes the soft drink 7UP in Europe via license agreement. PepsiCo has 3 sites in South Africa (Isando, Parrow, and Prospecton) which produce Lay's and Simba chips.PepsiCo's European presence expanded in Russia in 2009 as the company announced a US$1B investment, and with its acquisition of Russian juice and dairy product brand Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods in December 2010 and Lebedyansky juice producer in March 2008. According to Reuters, "PepsiCo reported that in 2017, its Russian operations generated net revenue of US$3.23 billion, which made up 5.1 percent of the company's total net revenue." Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, a number of companies faced growing pressure to halt operations in Russia after not initially doing so. On March 8, 2022, PepsiCo announced in a letter from CEO Laguarta the "suspension of the sale of Pepsi-Cola ... our global beverage brands in Russia, including 7 Up and Mirinda ... [and] capital investments and all advertising and promotional activities in Russia." However, PepsiCo maintained it had a "responsibility" to continue to sell "milk and other dairy offerings, baby formula and baby food", and that "[b]y continuing to operate, we will also continue to support the livelihoods of our 20,000 Russian associates and the 40,000 Russian agricultural workers in our supply chain". In July 2022, it was announced that PepsiCo will rebrand its products in Russia to PepsiCo Russian brands such as Evervess and Frustyle, in response to the Russian invasion. In September 2023, the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention listed PepsiCo as a “war sponsor” for continuing to operate in Russia and, in particular, paying taxes. Africa, Middle East, South Asia (AMESA) The AMESA sector consists of the Africa, Middle East and South Asia regions, and features many leading global and local snack brands including Lay's, Cheetos, and Doritos, along with local favorites such as Chipsy (Egypt), Simba (South Africa) and Kurkure (India and Pakistan), as well as various beverage brands including 7UP, Pepsi, Aquafina, Mtn Dew, Mirinda, and Sting. The AMESA sector covers a wide span of developing and emerging markets, including the key countries of Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and South Africa. In 2020, PepsiCo acquired Pioneer Foods, a leading food and beverage company in South Africa, adding its robust, well-known brands including Weet-Bix, Bokomo and Ceres to PepsiCo's portfolio. The Pioneer Foods acquisition is key to PepsiCo's growth strategy across the entire African continent.In addition to the production and sales of several worldwide Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, and Frito-Lay beverage and food product lines (including Pepsi and Doritos), this segment of PepsiCo's business markets regional brands such as Mirinda, Kurkure, and Red Rock Deli, among others. While PepsiCo owns its own manufacturing and distribution facilities in certain parts of these regions, more of this production is conducted via alternate means such as licensing (which it does with Aquafina), contract manufacturing, joint ventures, and affiliate operations. PepsiCo's businesses in these regions, as of 2015, contributed 10 percent to the company's net revenue worldwide.In 1992, the Pepsi Number Fever marketing campaign in the Philippines accidentally distributed 800,000 winning bottle caps for a 1 million peso grand prize, leading to riots and the deaths of five people.In August 2012, PepsiCo signed an agreement with a local Myanmar distributor to sell its soft drinks after a 15-year break to re-enter the country.SodaStream, which PepsiCo acquired in 2018 is based in Israel, while Sabra (which PepsiCo co-owns with the Israeli food conglomerate Strauss Group) holds a 60% market share for hummus sales in the United States as of 2015. The Strauss Group produces and distributes Frito-Lay products in Israel. Asia Pacific, Australia/New Zealand, China (APAC) PepsiCo Australia & New Zealand is located on the Pacific Highway, Chatswood, New South Wales. Corporate governance Headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, with research and development headquarters in Valhalla, New York, PepsiCo's Chairman and CEO is Ramon Laguarta. The board of directors is composed of eleven outside directors as of 2010, including Ray Lee Hunt, Shona Brown, Victor Dzau, Arthur C. Martinez, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, Daniel Vasella, Dina Dublon, Ian M. Cook, Alberto Ibargüen, and Lloyd G. Trotter. Former top executives at PepsiCo include Steven Reinemund, Roger Enrico, D. Wayne Calloway, John Sculley, Michael H. Jordan, Donald M. Kendall, Christopher A. Sinclair, Irene Rosenfeld, David C. Novak, Brenda C. Barnes, and Alfred Steele. On October 1, 2006, former Chief Financial Officer and President Indra Nooyi replaced Steve Reinemund as chief executive officer. Nooyi remained as the corporation's president, and became Chairman of the Board in May 2007, later (in 2010) being named No.1 on Fortune's list of the "50 Most Powerful Women" and No.6 on Forbes' list of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women". PepsiCo received a 100 percent rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the LGBT-advocate group Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report.In November 2014, the firm's president Zein Abdalla announced he would be stepping down from his position at the firm by the end of 2014. In 2017, Ramon Laguarta became the president and became its CEO in 2018. Headquarters The PepsiCo headquarters are located in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, in the town and village of Harrison, New York. It was one of the last architectural works by Edward Durell Stone. It consists of seven three-story buildings. Each building is connected to its neighbor through a corner. The property includes the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens with 45 contemporary sculptures open to the public. Works include those of Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, and Auguste Rodin. Westchester Magazine stated "The buildings' square blocks rise from the ground into low, inverted ziggurats, with each of the three floors having strips of dark windows; patterned pre-cast concrete panels add texture to the exterior surfaces." In 2010 the magazine ranked the building as one of the ten most beautiful buildings in Westchester County.During the 1960s, PepsiCo had its headquarters in 500 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 1956 PepsiCo paid US$2 million for the previous building at the site. PepsiCo built 500 Park Avenue in 1960. In 1966, Mayor of New York City John Lindsay started a private campaign to convince PepsiCo to remain in New York City. Six months later, the company announced that it was moving to 112 acres (45 ha) on the Blind Brook Polo Club in Purchase. Charitable activities PepsiCo has maintained a philanthropic program since 1962 called the PepsiCo Foundation, in which it primarily funds "nutrition and activity, safe water and water usage efficiencies, and education", according to the foundation's website. In 2009, US$27.9 million was contributed through this foundation, including grants to the United Way and YMCA, among others. In 2009, PepsiCo launched an initiative called the Pepsi Refresh Project, For the first time in 23 years, PepsiCo did not invest in Super Bowl advertising for its iconic brand. Instead, the company diverted this US$20 million to the social media-fueled Pepsi Refresh Project: PepsiCo's innovative cause-marketing program in which consumers submitted ideas for grants for health, environmental, social, educational, and cultural causes. in which individuals submit and vote on charitable and nonprofit collaborations. The main recipients of grants as part of the refresh project are community organizations with a local focus and nonprofit organizations, such as a high school in Michigan that—as a result of being selected in 2010—received US$250,000 towards construction of a fitness room. Following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in the spring of 2010, PepsiCo donated US$1.3 million to grant winners determined by popular vote. As of October 2010, the company had provided a cumulative total of US$11.7 million in funding, spread across 287 ideas of participant projects from 203 cities in North America. In late 2010, the refresh project was reported to be expanding to include countries outside of North America in 2011. Working conditions In July 2021, Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo became the subject to media attention over poor working conditions at its plant in Topeka. These conditions, which allegedly include forced overtime and 84-hour workweeks for months, led to a strike involving hundreds of workers at the Topeka location. The strike began on July 5 and ended on July 23, after ratifications of a two-year contract that guarantees workers at least one day off each week and raised wages. Environmental record Rainforests and palm oil PepsiCo Palm Oil Commitments published in May 2014 were welcomed by media as a positive step towards ensuring that the company's palm oil purchases will not contribute to deforestation and human rights abuses in the palm oil industry. NGOs warned that the commitments did not go far enough, and in light of the deforestation crisis in Southeast Asia, have called on the company to close the gaps in its policies immediately. Genetically modified ingredients PepsiCo has contributed US$1,716,300 to oppose the passage of California Proposition 37, which would mandate the disclosure of genetically modified crops used in the production of California food products. PepsiCo believes "that genetically-modified products can play a role in generating positive economic, social and environmental contributions to societies around the world; particularly in times of food shortages." Water usage (India, U.S., U.K.) PepsiCo's usage of water was the subject of controversy in India in the early and mid-2000s, in part because of the company's alleged impact on water usage in a country where water shortages are a perennial issue. In this setting, PepsiCo was perceived by India-based environmental organizations as a company that diverted water to manufacture a discretionary product, making it a target for critics at the time.As a result, in 2003 PepsiCo launched a country-wide program to achieve a "positive water balance" in India by 2009. In 2007, PepsiCo's then-CEO Indra Nooyi made a trip to India to address water usage practices in the country, prompting prior critic Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), to note that PepsiCo "seem(s) to be doing something serious about water now." According to the company's 2009 corporate citizenship report, as well as media reports at the time, the company (in 2009) replenished nearly six billion liters of water within India, exceeding the aggregate water intake of approximately five billion liters by PepsiCo's India manufacturing facilities.Water usage concerns have arisen at times in other countries where PepsiCo operates. In the U.S., water shortages in certain regions resulted in increased scrutiny on the company's production facilities, which were cited in media reports as being among the largest water users in cities facing drought—such as Atlanta, Georgia. In response, the company formed partnerships with non-profit organizations such as the Earth Institute and Water.org, and in 2009 began cleaning new Gatorade bottles with purified air instead of rinsing with water, among other water conservation practices. In the United Kingdom, also in response to regional drought conditions, PepsiCo snacks brand Walkers' reduced water usage at its largest potato chip facility by 45 percent between the years 2001 and 2008. In doing so, the factory used machinery that captured water naturally contained in potatoes, and used it to offset the need for outside water.As a result of water reduction practices and efficiency improvements, PepsiCo in 2009 saved more than 12 billion liters of water worldwide, compared to its 2006 water usage. Environmental advocacy organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council and individual critics such as Rocky Anderson (mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah) voiced concerns in 2009, noting that the company could conserve additional water by refraining from the production of discretionary products such as Aquafina. The company maintained its positioning of bottled water as "healthy and convenient", while also beginning to partially offset environmental impacts of such products through alternate means, including packaging weight reduction. Pesticide regulation (India) PepsiCo's India operations were met with substantial resistance in 2003 and again in 2006, when an environmental organization in New Delhi made the claim that, based on its research, it believed that the levels of pesticides in PepsiCo (along with those from rival The Coca-Cola Company), exceeded a set of proposed safety standards on soft drink ingredients that had been developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. PepsiCo denied the allegations, and India's health ministry has also dismissed the allegations—both questioning the accuracy of the data compiled by the CSE, as it was tested by its own internal laboratories without being verified by outside peer review. The ensuing dispute prompted a short-lived ban on the sale of PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company soft drinks within India's southwestern state of Kerala in 2006; however this ban was reversed by the Kerala High Court one month later.In November 2010, the Supreme Court of India invalidated a criminal complaint filed against PepsiCo India by the Kerala government, on the basis that the beverages did meet local standards at the time of the allegations. The court ruling stated that the "percentage of pesticides" found in the tested beverages was "within the tolerance limits subsequently prescribed in respect of such product" because at the time of testing "there was no provision governing pesticide adulteration in cold drinks." In 2010, PepsiCo was among the 12 multinational companies that displayed "the most impressive corporate social responsibility credentials in emerging markets", as determined by the U.S. Department of State. PepsiCo's India unit received recognition on the basis of its water conservation and safety practices and corresponding results. Packaging and recycling Environmental advocates have raised concern over the environmental impacts surrounding the disposal of PepsiCo's bottled beverage products in particular, as bottle recycling rates for the company's products in 2009 averaged 34 percent within the U.S. In 2019, BreakFreeFromPlastic named PepsiCo a top 10 global plastic polluter for the second year in a row. The company has employed efforts to minimize these environmental impacts via packaging developments combined with recycling initiatives. In 2010, PepsiCo announced a goal to create partnerships that prompt an increase in the beverage container recycling rate in the U.S. to 50 percent by 2018.One strategy enacted to reach this goal has been the placement of interactive recycling kiosks called "Dream Machines" in supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas stations, with the intent of increasing access to recycling receptacles. The use of resin to manufacture its plastic bottles has resulted in reduced packaging weight, which in turn reduces the volume of fossil fuels required to transport certain PepsiCo products. The weight of Aquafina bottles was reduced nearly 40 percent, to 15 grams, with a packaging redesign in 2009. Also in that year, PepsiCo brand Naked Juice began production and distribution of the first 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottle.On March 15, 2011, PepsiCo unveiled the world's first plant-based PET bottle. The bottle is made from plant-based materials, such as switch grass, corn husks, and pine bark, and is 100% recyclable. PepsiCo plans to reuse more by-products of its manufacturing processes such as orange peels and oat hulls in the bottles. PepsiCo has identified methods to create a molecular structure that is the same as normal petroleum-based PET—which will make the new bottle technology, dubbed "Green Bottle", similar to Coke's "PlantBottle" idea from 2009, which feel the same as normal PET. PepsiCo have said to pilot production in 2012, and upon successful completion of the pilot, intends moving to full-scale commercialization, however in 2021 there are still no records of such bottles being produced.In a bid to reduce packaging consumption, in recent years the PepsiCoPartners launched as a service offering carbonated drinks dispensers within the US. The dispensers are currently being trialed in large corporate offices and universities.In 2020 PepsiCo teamed up with French biochemistry startup Carbios in order to promote and establish a new recycling method for used plastic bottles. This method uses enzymes to dissolve plastic very thoroughly and the final leftovers can be used to produce textiles. Energy usage and carbon footprint PepsiCo, along with other manufacturers in its industry, has drawn criticism from environmental advocacy groups for the production and distribution of plastic product packaging, which consumed an additional 1.5 billion US gallons (5,700,000 m3) of petrochemicals in 2008. These critics have also expressed apprehension over the production volume of plastic packaging, which results in the emission of carbon dioxide. Beginning largely in 2006, PepsiCo began development of more efficient means of producing and distributing its products using less energy, while also placing a focus on emissions reduction. In a comparison of 2009 energy usage with recorded usage in 2006, the company's per-unit use of energy was reduced by 16 percent in its beverage plants and 7 percent in snack plants.In 2009, Tropicana (owned by PepsiCo) was the first brand in the U.S. to determine the carbon footprint of its orange juice product, as certified by the Carbon Trust, an outside auditor of carbon emissions. Also in 2009, PepsiCo began the test deployment of so-called "green vending machines", which reduce energy usage by 15 percent in comparison to average models in use. It developed these machines in coordination with Greenpeace, which described the initiative as "transforming the industry in a way that is going to be more climate-friendly to a great degree."PepsiCo has announced a global company goal of transitioning its electricity sources to 100% renewable energy, although they did not specify a specific year of which this goal would hypothetically occur at. PepsiCo has additionally also publicly announced its goal of decreasing its main operation's greenhouse gas emissions by 75% as compared to the 2015 baseline, by 2030. Pepsico has succeeded in achieving 23% of their absolute emissions target reduction as of 2022. Product nutrition According to its 2009 annual report, PepsiCo states that it is "committed to delivering sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet", which it has defined in its mission statement since 2006 as "Performance with Purpose". According to news and magazine coverage on the subject in 2010, the objective of this initiative is to increase the number and variety of healthier food and beverage products made available to its customers, employ a reduction in the company's environmental impact, and to facilitate diversity and healthy lifestyles within its employee base. Its activities in regards to the pursuit of its goals—namely environmental impacts of production and the nutritional composition of its products—have been the subject of recognition from health and environmental advocates and organizations, and at times have raised concerns among its critics. As the result of a more recent focus on such efforts, "critics consider (PepsiCo) to be perhaps the most proactive and progressive of the food companies", according to former New York Times food industry writer Melanie Warner in 2010. Product diversity From its founding in 1965 until the early 1990s, the majority of PepsiCo's product line consisted of carbonated soft drinks and convenience snacks. PepsiCo broadened its product line substantially throughout the 1990s and 2000s with the acquisition and development of what its CEO deemed as "good-for-you" products, including Quaker Oats, Naked Juice, and Tropicana orange juice. Sales of such healthier-oriented PepsiCo brands totaled US$10 billion in 2009, representing 18 percent of the company's total revenue in that year. This movement into a broader, healthier product range has been moderately well received by nutrition advocates; though commentators in this field have also suggested that PepsiCo market its healthier items as aggressively as less-healthy core products.In response to shifting consumer preferences and in part due to increasing governmental regulation, PepsiCo in 2010 indicated its intention to grow this segment of its business, forecasting that sales of fruit, vegetable, whole grain, and fiber-based products will amount to US$30 billion by 2020. To meet this intended target, the company has said that it plans to acquire additional health-oriented brands while also making changes to the composition of existing products that it sells. Ingredient changes in Pepsi Public health advocates have suggested that there may be a link between the ingredient makeup of PepsiCo's core snack and carbonated soft drink products and rising rates of health conditions such as obesity and diabetes. The company aligns with personal responsibility advocates, who assert that food and beverages with higher proportions of sugar or salt content are fit for consumption in moderation by individuals who also exercise on a regular basis.Changes to the composition of its products with nutrition in mind have involved reducing fat content, moving away from trans-fats, and producing products in calorie-specific serving sizes to discourage overconsumption, among other changes. One of the earlier ingredient changes involved sugar and caloric reduction, with the introduction of Diet Pepsi in 1964 and Pepsi Max in 1993—both of which are variants of their full-calorie counterpart, Pepsi. More recent changes have consisted of saturated fat reduction, which Frito-Lay reduced by 50% in Lay's and Ruffles potato chips in the U.S. between 2006 and 2009. Also in 2009, PepsiCo's Tropicana brand introduced a new variation of orange juice (Trop50) sweetened in part by the plant Stevia, which reduced calories by half. Since 2007, the company also made available lower-calorie variants of Gatorade, which it calls "G2". On May 5, 2014, PepsiCo announced that the company would remove brominated vegetable oil from many of its products, but a timeframe was not discussed. Distribution to children As public perception placed additional scrutiny on the marketing and distribution of carbonated soft drinks to children, PepsiCo announced in 2010 that by 2012, it will remove beverages with higher sugar content from primary and secondary schools worldwide. It also, under voluntary guidelines adopted in 2006, replaced "full-calorie" beverages in U.S. schools with "lower-calorie" alternatives, leading to a 95 percent reduction in the 2009 sales of full-calorie variants in these schools in comparison to the sales recorded in 2004. In 2008, in accordance with guidelines adopted by the International Council of Beverages Associations, PepsiCo eliminated the advertising and marketing of products that do not meet its nutrition standards, to children under the age of 12.In 2010, Michelle Obama initiated a campaign to end childhood obesity (titled Let's Move!), in which she sought to encourage healthier food options in public schools, improved food nutrition labeling, and increased physical activity for children. In response to this initiative, PepsiCo, along with food manufacturers Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, General Mills, and others in an alliance referred to as the "Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation", announced in 2010 that the companies will collectively cut one trillion calories from their products sold by the end of 2012 and 1.5 trillion calories by the end of 2015. See also Cola wars Joan Crawford List of assets owned by PepsiCo Pepsi Stuff References External links Official website Business data for PepsiCo, Inc: PepsiCo, FritoLay and Pepsi-Cola Annual Reports (1938-2017), Archive of Annual Reports, Internet Archive

environmental degradation

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.Environmental concerns can be defined as the negative effects of any human activity on the environment. The biological as well as the physical features of the environment are included. Some of the primary environmental challenges that are causing great worry are air pollution, water pollution, natural environment pollution, rubbish pollution, and so on.Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change of the United Nations. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction defines environmental degradation as "the reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs". Environmental degradation comes in many types. When natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted, the environment is degraded. Efforts to counteract this problem include environmental protection and environmental resources management. Mismanagement that leads to degradation can also lead to environmental conflict where communities organize in opposition to the forces that mismanaged the environment. Biodiversity loss Scientists assert that human activity has pushed the earth into a sixth mass extinction event. The loss of biodiversity has been attributed in particular to human overpopulation, continued human population growth and overconsumption of natural resources by the world's wealthy. A 2020 report by the World Wildlife Fund found that human activity – specifically overconsumption, population growth and intensive farming – has destroyed 68% of vertebrate wildlife since 1970. The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, published by the United Nation's IPBES in 2019, posits that roughly one million species of plants and animals face extinction from anthropogenic causes, such as expanding human land use for industrial agriculture and livestock rearing, along with overfishing.Since the establishment of agriculture over 11,000 years ago, humans have altered roughly 70% of the earth's land surface, with the global biomass of vegetation being reduced by half, and terrestrial animal communities seeing a decline in biodiversity greater than 20% on average. A 2021 study says that just 3% of the planet's terrestrial surface is ecologically and faunally intact, meaning areas with healthy populations of native animal species and little to no human footprint. Many of these intact ecosystems were in areas inhabited by indigenous peoples. With 3.2 billion people affected globally, degradation affects over 30% of the world's land area and 40% of land in developing countries.The implications of these losses for human livelihoods and wellbeing have raised serious concerns. With regard to the agriculture sector for example, The State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2019, states that "countries report that many species that contribute to vital ecosystem services, including pollinators, the natural enemies of pests, soil organisms and wild food species, are in decline as a consequence of the destruction and degradation of habitats, overexploitation, pollution and other threats" and that "key ecosystems that deliver numerous services essential to food and agriculture, including supply of freshwater, protection against hazards and provision of habitat for species such as fish and pollinators, are declining." Impacts of environmental degradation on women's livelihoods On the way biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation impact livelihoods, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations finds also that in contexts of degraded lands and ecosystems in rural areas, both girls and women bear heavier workloads. Women's livelihoods, health, food and nutrition security, access to water and energy, and coping abilities are all disproportionately affected by environmental degradation. Environmental pressures and shocks, particularly in rural areas, force women to deal with the aftermath, greatly increasing their load of unpaid care work.This implies, for example, longer journeys to get primary necessities and greater exposure to the risks of human trafficking, rape, and sexual violence. Water degradation One major component of environmental degradation is the depletion of the resource of fresh water on Earth. Approximately only 2.5% of all of the water on Earth is fresh water, with the rest being salt water. 69% of fresh water is frozen in ice caps located on Antarctica and Greenland, so only 30% of the 2.5% of fresh water is available for consumption. Fresh water is an exceptionally important resource, since life on Earth is ultimately dependent on it. Water transports nutrients, minerals and chemicals within the biosphere to all forms of life, sustains both plants and animals, and moulds the surface of the Earth with transportation and deposition of materials.The current top three uses of fresh water account for 95% of its consumption; approximately 85% is used for irrigation of farmland, golf courses, and parks, 6% is used for domestic purposes such as indoor bathing uses and outdoor garden and lawn use, and 4% is used for industrial purposes such as processing, washing, and cooling in manufacturing centres. It is estimated that one in three people over the entire globe are already facing water shortages, almost one-fifth of the world population live in areas of physical water scarcity, and almost one quarter of the world's population live in a developing country that lacks the necessary infrastructure to use water from available rivers and aquifers. Water scarcity is an increasing problem due to many foreseen issues in the future including population growth, increased urbanization, higher standards of living, and climate change.Industrial and domestic sewage, pesticides, fertilizers, plankton blooms, silt, oils, chemical residues, radioactive material, and other pollutants are some of the most frequent water pollutants. These have a huge negative impact on the water and can cause degradation in various levels. Climate change and temperature Climate change affects the Earth's water supply in a large number of ways. It is predicted that the mean global temperature will rise in the coming years due to a number of forces affecting the climate. The amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) will rise, and both of these will influence water resources; evaporation depends strongly on temperature and moisture availability which can ultimately affect the amount of water available to replenish groundwater supplies. Transpiration from plants can be affected by a rise in atmospheric CO2, which can decrease their use of water, but can also raise their use of water from possible increases of leaf area. Temperature rise can reduce the snow season in the winter and increase the intensity of the melting snow leading to peak runoff of this, affecting soil moisture, flood and drought risks, and storage capacities depending on the area.Warmer winter temperatures cause a decrease in snowpack, which can result in diminished water resources during summer. This is especially important at mid-latitudes and in mountain regions that depend on glacial runoff to replenish their river systems and groundwater supplies, making these areas increasingly vulnerable to water shortages over time; an increase in temperature will initially result in a rapid rise in water melting from glaciers in the summer, followed by a retreat in glaciers and a decrease in the melt and consequently the water supply every year as the size of these glaciers get smaller and smaller.Thermal expansion of water and increased melting of oceanic glaciers from an increase in temperature gives way to a rise in sea level. This can affect the freshwater supply to coastal areas as well. As river mouths and deltas with higher salinity get pushed further inland, an intrusion of saltwater results in an increase of salinity in reservoirs and aquifers. Sea-level rise may also consequently be caused by a depletion of groundwater, as climate change can affect the hydrologic cycle in a number of ways. Uneven distributions of increased temperatures and increased precipitation around the globe results in water surpluses and deficits, but a global decrease in groundwater suggests a rise in sea level, even after meltwater and thermal expansion were accounted for, which can provide a positive feedback to the problems sea-level rise causes to fresh-water supply. A rise in air temperature results in a rise in water temperature, which is also very significant in water degradation as the water would become more susceptible to bacterial growth. An increase in water temperature can also affect ecosystems greatly because of a species' sensitivity to temperature, and also by inducing changes in a body of water's self-purification system from decreased amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water due to rises in temperature. Climate change and precipitation A rise in global temperatures is also predicted to correlate with an increase in global precipitation but because of increased runoff, floods, increased rates of soil erosion, and mass movement of land, a decline in water quality is probable, because while water will carry more nutrients it will also carry more contaminants. While most of the attention about climate change is directed towards global warming and greenhouse effect, some of the most severe effects of climate change are likely to be from changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, and soil moisture. It is generally expected that, on average, global precipitation will increase, with some areas receiving increases and some decreases. Climate models show that while some regions should expect an increase in precipitation, such as in the tropics and higher latitudes, other areas are expected to see a decrease, such as in the subtropics. This will ultimately cause a latitudinal variation in water distribution. The areas receiving more precipitation are also expected to receive this increase during their winter and actually become drier during their summer, creating even more of a variation of precipitation distribution. Naturally, the distribution of precipitation across the planet is very uneven, causing constant variations in water availability in respective locations. Changes in precipitation affect the timing and magnitude of floods and droughts, shift runoff processes, and alter groundwater recharge rates. Vegetation patterns and growth rates will be directly affected by shifts in precipitation amount and distribution, which will in turn affect agriculture as well as natural ecosystems. Decreased precipitation will deprive areas of water causing water tables to fall and reservoirs of wetlands, rivers, and lakes to empty. In addition, a possible increase in evaporation and evapotranspiration will result, depending on the accompanied rise in temperature. Groundwater reserves will be depleted, and the remaining water has a greater chance of being of poor quality from saline or contaminants on the land surface.Climate change is resulting into a very high rate of land degradation causing enhanced desertification and nutrient deficient soils. The menace of land degradation is increasing by the day and has been characterized as a major global threat. According to Global Assessment of Land Degradation and Improvement (GLADA) a quarter of land area around the globe can now be marked as degraded. Land degradation is supposed to influence lives of 1.5 billion people and 15 billion tons of fertile soil is lost every year due to anthropogenic activities and climate change. Population growth The human population on Earth is expanding rapidly, which together with even more rapid economic growth is the main cause of the degradation of the environment. Humanity's appetite for resources is disrupting the environment's natural equilibrium. Production industries are venting smoke into the atmosphere and discharging chemicals that are polluting water resources. The smoke includes detrimental gases such as carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. The high levels of pollution in the atmosphere form layers that are eventually absorbed into the atmosphere. Organic compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have generated an opening in the ozone layer, which admits higher levels of ultraviolet radiation, putting the globe at risk. The available fresh water being affected by the climate is also being stretched across an ever-increasing global population. It is estimated that almost a quarter of the global population is living in an area that is using more than 20% of their renewable water supply; water use will rise with population while the water supply is also being aggravated by decreases in streamflow and groundwater caused by climate change. Even though some areas may see an increase in freshwater supply from an uneven distribution of precipitation increase, an increased use of water supply is expected.An increased population means increased withdrawals from the water supply for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, the largest of these being agriculture, believed to be the major non-climate driver of environmental change and water deterioration. The next 50 years will likely be the last period of rapid agricultural expansion, but the larger and wealthier population over this time will demand more agriculture.Population increase over the last two decades, at least in the United States, has also been accompanied by a shift to an increase in urban areas from rural areas, which concentrates the demand for water into certain areas, and puts stress on the fresh water supply from industrial and human contaminants. Urbanization causes overcrowding and increasingly unsanitary living conditions, especially in developing countries, which in turn exposes an increasingly number of people to disease. About 79% of the world's population is in developing countries, which lack access to sanitary water and sewer systems, giving rises to disease and deaths from contaminated water and increased numbers of disease-carrying insects. Agriculture Agriculture is dependent on available soil moisture, which is directly affected by climate dynamics, with precipitation being the input in this system and various processes being the output, such as evapotranspiration, surface runoff, drainage, and percolation into groundwater. Changes in climate, especially the changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration predicted by climate models, will directly affect soil moisture, surface runoff, and groundwater recharge. In areas with decreasing precipitation as predicted by the climate models, soil moisture may be substantially reduced. With this in mind, agriculture in most areas already needs irrigation, which depletes fresh water supplies both by the physical use of the water and the degradation agriculture causes to the water. Irrigation increases salt and nutrient content in areas that would not normally be affected, and damages streams and rivers from damming and removal of water. Fertilizer enters both human and livestock waste streams that eventually enter groundwater, while nitrogen, phosphorus, and other chemicals from fertilizer can acidify both soils and water. Certain agricultural demands may increase more than others with an increasingly wealthier global population, and meat is one commodity expected to double global food demand by 2050, which directly affects the global supply of fresh water. Cows need water to drink, more if the temperature is high and humidity is low, and more if the production system the cow is in is extensive, since finding food takes more effort. Water is needed in the processing of the meat, and also in the production of feed for the livestock. Manure can contaminate bodies of freshwater, and slaughterhouses, depending on how well they are managed, contribute waste such as blood, fat, hair, and other bodily contents to supplies of fresh water.The transfer of water from agricultural to urban and suburban use raises concerns about agricultural sustainability, rural socioeconomic decline, food security, an increased carbon footprint from imported food, and decreased foreign trade balance. The depletion of fresh water, as applied to more specific and populated areas, increases fresh water scarcity among the population and also makes populations susceptible to economic, social, and political conflict in a number of ways; rising sea levels forces migration from coastal areas to other areas farther inland, pushing populations closer together breaching borders and other geographical patterns, and agricultural surpluses and deficits from the availability of water induce trade problems and economies of certain areas. Climate change is an important cause of involuntary migration and forced displacement According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, global greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture exceeds that of transportation. Water management Water management is the process of planning, developing, and managing water resources across all water applications, in terms of both quantity and quality." Water management is supported and guided by institutions, infrastructure, incentives, and information systems The issue of the depletion of fresh water has stimulated increased efforts in water management. While water management systems are often flexible, adaptation to new hydrologic conditions may be very costly. Preventative approaches are necessary to avoid high costs of inefficiency and the need for rehabilitation of water supplies, and innovations to decrease overall demand may be important in planning water sustainability.Water supply systems, as they exist now, were based on the assumptions of the current climate, and built to accommodate existing river flows and flood frequencies. Reservoirs are operated based on past hydrologic records, and irrigation systems on historical temperature, water availability, and crop water requirements; these may not be a reliable guide to the future. Re-examining engineering designs, operations, optimizations, and planning, as well as re-evaluating legal, technical, and economic approaches to manage water resources are very important for the future of water management in response to water degradation. Another approach is water privatization; despite its economic and cultural effects, service quality and overall quality of the water can be more easily controlled and distributed. Rationality and sustainability is appropriate, and requires limits to overexploitation and pollution and efforts in conservation. Consumption Increases As the world's population continues to grow larger by the minute, the demand for natural resources increases as well. With the need for more production of increases comes more damage to the environments and ecosystems those resources are housed in. According to United Nations' population growth predictions, there could be up to 170 million more births by the year 2070. The need for more fuel, energy, food, buildings, and water sources grows with the number of people on the planet. Deforestation As the need for new agricultural areas and road construction increases, the deforestation processes stay in affect. Deforestation is the "removal of forest or stand of trees from land that is converted to non-forest use." (Wikipedia-Deforestation). Since the 1960s close to 50% of tropical forests have been destroyed, but this process is not limited to tropical forest areas. Europe's forests are also destroyed by a number of factors; livestock, insects, diseases, invasive species, and other human activities. A large number of the world's terrestrial biodiversity can be found living in the different types of forests. Tearing down these areas for increased consumption directly decreases the world's biodiversity of plant and animal species native to those areas. Along with the destruction of habitats and ecosystems, the decrease of the world's forest contributes to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. By taking away forested areas, we are limiting the amount of carbon reservoirs, limiting it to the largest ones; the atmosphere and oceans. While one of the biggest reasons for deforestation is for agriculture use for the world's food supply, removing trees from landscapes also increases erosion rates in areas, making it harder to produce crops in those soil types. See also Anthropocene Environmental change Environmental issues Ecological collapse Ecologically sustainable development Eco-socialism Exploitation of natural resources Human impact on the environment I=PAT Restoration ecology United Nations Decade on Biodiversity United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Resources Institute (WRI) Deforestation Sources This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from The State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture − In Brief​, FAO, FAO. References External links Ecology of Increasing Disease Population growth and environmental degradation"Reintegrating Land and Livestock." Union of Concerned Scientists, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/reintegrating-land-and-livestock. "Deforestation and Forest Degradation." IUCN, 7 July 2022, https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/deforestation-and-forest-degradation. Environmental Change in the Kalahari: Integrated Land Degradation Studies for Nonequilibrium Dryland Environments in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers Public Daily Brief Threat: Environmental Degradation Focus: Environmental degradation is contributing to health threats worldwide Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Systems-Water Reactors Herndon and Gibbon Lieutenants United States Navy The First North American Explorers of the Amazon Valley, by Historian Normand E. Klare. Actual Reports from the explorers are compared with present Amazon Basin conditions. World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/DemographicProfiles/Pyramid/900. Environmental Degradation Index by Jha & Murthy (for 174 countries) Zorba, Shereen, and Michal Szymanski. "Rate of Environmental Damage Increasing across the Planet but There Is Still Time to Reverse Worst Impacts If Governments Act Now, UNEP Assessment Says." United Nations, United Nations, 19 May 2016, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/05/rate-of-environmental-damage-increasing-across-planet-but-still-time-to-reverse-worst-impacts/.

environmental impact of pesticides

The environmental effects of pesticides describe the broad series of consequences of using pesticides. The unintended consequences of pesticides is one of the main drivers of the negative impact of modern industrial agriculture on the environment. Pesticides, because they are toxic chemicals meant to kill pest species, can affect non-target species, such as plants, animals and humans. Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, because they are sprayed or spread across entire agricultural fields. Other agrochemicals, such as fertilizers, can also have negative effects on the environment. The negative effects of pesticides are not just in the area of application. Runoff and pesticide drift can carry pesticides into distant aquatic environments or other fields, grazing areas, human settlements and undeveloped areas. Other problems emerge from poor production, transport, storage and disposal practices. Over time, repeat application of pesticides increases pest resistance, while its effects on other species can facilitate the pest's resurgence. Alternatives to heavy use of pesticides, such as integrated pest management, and sustainable agriculture techniques such as polyculture mitigate these consequences, without the harmful toxic chemical application. Environmental modelling indicates that globally over 60% of global agricultural land (~24.5 million km²) is "at risk of pesticide pollution by more than one active ingredient", and that over 30% is at "high risk" of which a third are in high-biodiversity regions. Each pesticide or pesticide class comes with a specific set of environmental concerns. Such undesirable effects have led many pesticides to be banned, while regulations have limited and/or reduced the use of others. The global spread of pesticide use, including the use of older/obsolete pesticides that have been banned in some jurisdictions, has increased overall. History After the end of World War I, the United States shifted its industries from the wartime production of chemicals to synthetic agriculturally used pesticide creation, using pyrethrum, rotenone, nicotine, sabadilla, and quassin as precursors to the expansive usage of pesticides in place today. Synthetic pesticides proved cheap and effective in killing insects, but garnered criticism from NGOs concerned about their effect on human health. In the years directly following World War II rose the creation and use of Aldrin (now banned in most countries), "dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT) in 1939, Dieldrin, β-Benzene Hexachloride (BHC), 2,4- Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), Chlordane and Endrin".While concern for ecotoxicology began with acute poisoning events in the late 19th century; public concern over the undesirable environmental effects of chemicals arose in the early 1960s with the publication of Rachel Carson′s book, Silent Spring. Shortly thereafter, DDT, originally used to combat malaria, and its metabolites were shown to cause population-level effects in raptorial birds. Initial studies in industrialized countries focused on acute mortality effects mostly involving birds or fish. Modern pesticide usage However, true data on pesticide usage remain scattered and/or not publicly available, especially worldwide (3). Some scholars argue the common practice of incident registration is inadequate for understanding the entirety of effects.Today, over 3.5 billion kilograms of synthetic pesticides are used for the world's agriculture in an over $45 billion industry. Current lead agrichemical producers include Syngenta (ChemChina), Bayer Crop Science, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, FMC, ADAMA, Nufarm, Corteva, Sumitomo Chemical, UPL, and Huapont Life Sciences. Bayer CropScience and its acquisition of Monsanto led it to record profits in 2019 of over $10 billion in sales, which herbicide shares growing by 22%, followed closely by Syngenta.In 2016, the United States consumed 322 million pounds [CONVERT] of pesticides banned in the EU, 26 million pounds [CONVERT] of pesticides banned in Brazil and 40 million pounds of pesticides banned in China, with most of banned pesticides banned staying constant or increasing in the United States over the past 25 years according to studies. Scholarly research Since 1990, research interest has shifted from documenting incidents and quantifying chemical exposure to studies aimed at linking laboratory, mesocosm and field experiments. The proportion of effect-related publications has increased. Animal studies mostly focus on fish, insects, birds, amphibians and arachnids.Since 1993, the United States and the European Union have updated pesticide risk assessments, ending the use of acutely toxic organophosphate and carbamate insecticides. Newer pesticides aim at efficiency in target and minimum side effects in nontarget organisms. The phylogenetic proximity of beneficial and pest species complicates the project.One of the major challenges is to link the results from cellular studies through many levels of increasing complexity to ecosystems.The concept (borrowed from nuclear physics) of a half-life has been used for pesticides in plants, and certain authors maintain that pesticide risk and impact assessment models rely on and are sensitive to information describing dissipation from plants. Half-life for pesticides is explained in two NPIC fact sheets. Known degradation pathways are through: photolysis, chemical dissociation, sorption, bioaccumulation and plant or animal metabolism. A USDA fact sheet published in 1994 lists the soil adsorption coefficient and soil half-life for then-commonly used pesticides. Specific pesticide effects Persistent organic pollutants Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are compounds that resist degradation and thus remain in the environment for years. Some pesticides, including aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex and toxaphene, are considered POPs. Some POPs have the ability to volatilize and travel great distances through the atmosphere to become deposited in remote regions. Such chemicals may have the ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify and can biomagnify (i.e. become more concentrated) up to 70,000 times their original concentrations. POPs can affect non-target organisms in the environment and increase risk to humans by disruption in the endocrine, reproductive, and respiratory systems. Environmental effects Air Pesticides can contribute to air pollution. Pesticide drift occurs when pesticides suspended in the air as particles are carried by wind to other areas, potentially contaminating them. Pesticides that are applied to crops can volatilize and may be blown by winds into nearby areas, potentially posing a threat to wildlife. Weather conditions at the time of application as well as temperature and relative humidity change the spread of the pesticide in the air. As wind velocity increases so does the spray drift and exposure. Low relative humidity and high temperature result in more spray evaporating. The amount of inhalable pesticides in the outdoor environment is therefore often dependent on the season. Also, droplets of sprayed pesticides or particles from pesticides applied as dusts may travel on the wind to other areas, or pesticides may adhere to particles that blow in the wind, such as dust particles. Ground spraying produces less pesticide drift than aerial spraying does. Farmers can employ a buffer zone around their crop, consisting of empty land or non-crop plants such as Evergreen trees to serve as windbreaks and absorb the pesticides, preventing drift into other areas. Such windbreaks are legally required in the Netherlands.Pesticides that are sprayed on to fields and used to fumigate soil can give off chemicals called volatile organic compounds, which can react with other chemicals and form a pollutant called ground level ozone. Pesticide use accounts for about 6 percent of total ground level ozone levels. Water In the United States, pesticides were found to pollute every stream and over 90% of wells sampled in a study by the US Geological Survey. Pesticide residues have also been found in rain and groundwater. Studies by the UK government showed that pesticide concentrations exceeded those allowable for drinking water in some samples of river water and groundwater.Pesticide impacts on aquatic systems are often studied using a hydrology transport model to study movement and fate of chemicals in rivers and streams. As early as the 1970s quantitative analysis of pesticide runoff was conducted to predict amounts of pesticide that would reach surface waters.There are four major routes through which pesticides reach the water: it may drift outside of the intended area when it is sprayed, it may percolate, or leach through the soil, it may be carried to the water as runoff, or it may be spilled, for example accidentally or through neglect. They may also be carried to water by eroding soil. Factors that affect a pesticide's ability to contaminate water include its water solubility, the distance from an application site to a body of water, weather, soil type, presence of a growing crop, and the method used to apply the chemical. Water-focused regulations In United States regulation, maximum limits of allowable conce ntrations for individual pesticides in drinking water are set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for public water systems. (There are no federal standards for private wells.) Ambient water quality standards for pesticide concentrations in water bodies are principally developed by state environmental agencies, with EPA oversight. These standards may be issued for individual water bodies, or may apply statewide.The United Kingdom sets Environmental Quality Standards (EQS), or maximum allowable concentrations of some pesticides in bodies of water above which toxicity may occur.The European Union regulates maximum concentrations of pesticides in water. Soil The extensive use of pesticides in agricultural production can degrade and damage the community of microorganisms living in the soil, particularly when these chemicals are overused or misused as chemical compounds build up in the soil. The full impact of pesticides on soil microorganisms is still not entirely understood; many studies have found deleterious effects of pesticides on soil microorganisms and biochemical processes, while others have found that the residue of some pesticides can be degraded and assimilated by microorganisms. The effect of pesticides on soil microorganisms is impacted by the persistence, concentration, and toxicity of the applied pesticide, in addition to various environmental factors. This complex interaction of factors makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the interaction of pesticides with the soil ecosystem. In general, long-term pesticide application can disturb the biochemical processes of nutrient cycling.Many of the chemicals used in pesticides are persistent soil contaminants, whose impact may endure for decades and adversely affect soil conservation.The use of pesticides decreases the general biodiversity in the soil. Not using the chemicals results in higher soil quality, with the additional effect that more organic matter in the soil allows for higher water retention. This helps increase yields for farms in drought years, when organic farms have had yields 20-40% higher than their conventional counterparts. A smaller content of organic matter in the soil increases the amount of pesticide that will leave the area of application, because organic matter binds to and helps break down pesticides.Degradation and sorption are both factors which influence the persistence of pesticides in soil. Depending on the chemical nature of the pesticide, such processes control directly the transportation from soil to water, and in turn to air and our food. Breaking down organic substances, degradation, involves interactions among microorganisms in the soil. Sorption affects bioaccumulation of pesticides which are dependent on organic matter in the soil. Weak organic acids have been shown to be weakly sorbed by soil, because of pH and mostly acidic structure. Sorbed chemicals have been shown to be less accessible to microorganisms. Aging mechanisms are poorly understood but as residence times in soil increase, pesticide residues become more resistant to degradation and extraction as they lose biological activity. Impact on living beings The impact on living beings also affects the non-living environment and humans indirectly. Plants Nitrogen fixation, which is required for the growth of vascular ("higher") plants, is hindered by pesticides in soil. The insecticides DDT, methyl parathion, and especially pentachlorophenol have been shown to interfere with legume-rhizobium chemical signaling. Reduction of this symbiotic chemical signaling results in reduced nitrogen fixation and thus reduced crop yields. Root nodule formation in these plants saves the world economy $10 billion in synthetic nitrogen fertilizer every year.On the other side, pesticides have some direct harmful effect on plant including poor root hair development, shoot yellowing and reduced plant growth. Pollinators Pesticides can kill bees and are strongly implicated in pollinator decline, the loss of species that pollinate plants, including through the mechanism of Colony Collapse Disorder, in which worker bees from a beehive or western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. Application of pesticides to crops that are in bloom can kill honeybees, which act as pollinators. The USDA and USFWS estimate that US farmers lose at least $200 million a year from reduced crop pollination because pesticides applied to fields eliminate about a fifth of honeybee colonies in the US and harm an additional 15%. Animals Many kinds of animals are harmed by pesticides, leading many countries to regulate pesticide usage through Biodiversity Action Plans. Animals including humans may be poisoned by pesticide residues that remain on food, for example when wild animals enter sprayed fields or nearby areas shortly after spraying.Pesticides can eliminate some animals' essential food sources, causing the animals to relocate, change their diet or starve. Residues can travel up the food chain; for example, birds can be harmed when they eat insects and worms that have consumed pesticides. Earthworms digest organic matter and increase nutrient content in the top layer of soil. They protect human health by ingesting decomposing litter and serving as bioindicators of soil activity. Pesticides have had harmful effects on growth and reproduction on earthworms. Some pesticides can bioaccumulate, or build up to toxic levels in the bodies of organisms that consume them over time, a phenomenon that impacts species high on the food chain especially hard. Birds The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 72 million birds are killed by pesticides in the United States each year. Bald eagles are common examples of nontarget organisms that are impacted by pesticide use. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring uncovered the effects of bioaccumulation of the pesticide DDT in 1962. Farmland birds are declining more rapidly than birds of any other biome in North America, a decline that is correlated with intensification and expansion of pesticide usage. In the farmland of the United Kingdom, populations of ten different bird species declined by 10 million breeding individuals between 1979 and 1999, allegedly from loss of plant and invertebrate species on which the birds feed. Throughout Europe, 116 species of birds were threatened as of 1999. Reductions in bird populations have been found to be associated with times and areas in which pesticides are used. DDE-induced egg shell thinning has especially affected European and North American bird populations. From 1990 to 2014 the number of common farmland birds has declined in the European Union as a whole and in France, Belgium and Sweden; in Germany, which relies more on organic farming and less on pesticides the decline has been slower; in Switzerland, which does not rely much on intensive agriculture, after a decline in the early 2000s the level has returned to the one of 1990.In another example, some types of fungicides used in peanut farming are only slightly toxic to birds and mammals, but may kill earthworms, which can in turn reduce populations of the birds and mammals that feed on them.Some pesticides come in granular form. Wildlife may eat the granules, mistaking them for grains of food. A few granules of a pesticide may be enough to kill a small bird. Herbicides may endanger bird populations by reducing their habitat. Furthermore, destruction of native habitat and conversion into other land-use types (e.g. agricultural, residential) contributes to the decline of these birds. Avicides poses a huge threat of direct poisoning of non-target birds. As poisoned birds can fly long distances before they die, death of non-target birds often remains unnoticed. Many countries have no registered pesticides of this group at all. In USA registered avicides belong to restricted use pesticides and can be used only by certified pest control operations. Aquatic life Fish and other aquatic biota may be harmed by pesticide-contaminated water. Pesticide surface runoff into rivers and streams can be highly lethal to aquatic life, sometimes killing all the fish in a particular stream.Application of herbicides to bodies of water can cause fish kills when the dead plants decay and consume the water's oxygen, suffocating the fish. Herbicides such as copper sulfate that are applied to water to kill plants are toxic to fish and other water animals at concentrations similar to those used to kill the plants. Repeated exposure to sublethal doses of some pesticides can cause physiological and behavioral changes that reduce fish populations, such as abandonment of nests and broods, decreased immunity to disease and decreased predator avoidance.Application of herbicides to bodies of water can kill plants on which fish depend for their habitat.Pesticides can accumulate in bodies of water to levels that kill off zooplankton, the main source of food for young fish. Pesticides can also kill off insects on which some fish feed, causing the fish to travel farther in search of food and exposing them to greater risk from predators.The faster a given pesticide breaks down in the environment, the less threat it poses to aquatic life. Insecticides are typically more toxic to aquatic life than herbicides and fungicides. Amphibians In the past several decades, amphibian populations have declined across the world, for unexplained reasons which are thought to be varied but of which pesticides may be a part.Pesticide mixtures appear to have a cumulative toxic effect on frogs. Tadpoles from ponds containing multiple pesticides take longer to metamorphose and are smaller when they do, decreasing their ability to catch prey and avoid predators. Exposing tadpoles to the organochloride endosulfan at levels likely to be found in habitats near fields sprayed with the chemical kills the tadpoles and causes behavioral and growth abnormalities.The herbicide atrazine can turn male frogs into hermaphrodites, decreasing their ability to reproduce. Both reproductive and nonreproductive effects in aquatic reptiles and amphibians have been reported. Crocodiles, many turtle species and some lizards lack sex-distinct chromosomes until after fertilization during organogenesis, depending on temperature. Embryonic exposure in turtles to various PCBs causes a sex reversal. Across the United States and Canada disorders such as decreased hatching success, feminization, skin lesions, and other developmental abnormalities have been reported. Humans Pesticides can enter the body through inhalation of aerosols, dust and vapor that contain pesticides; through oral exposure by consuming food/water; and through skin exposure by direct contact. Pesticides secrete into soils and groundwater which can end up in drinking water, and pesticide spray can drift and pollute the air. The effects of pesticides on human health depend on the toxicity of the chemical and the length and magnitude of exposure. Farm workers and their families experience the greatest exposure to agricultural pesticides through direct contact. Every human contains pesticides in their fat cells. Children are more susceptible and sensitive to pesticides, because they are still developing and have a weaker immune system than adults. Children may be more exposed due to their closer proximity to the ground and tendency to put unfamiliar objects in their mouth. Hand to mouth contact depends on the child's age, much like lead exposure. Children under the age of six months are more apt to experience exposure from breast milk and inhalation of small particles. Pesticides tracked into the home from family members increase the risk of exposure. Toxic residue in food may contribute to a child's exposure. Epidemiological studies have reported adverse effects of certain pesticides at current levels of exposure on children's cognitive development. The chemicals can bioaccumulate in the body over time. Exposure effects can range from mild skin irritation to birth defects, tumors, genetic changes, blood and nerve disorders, endocrine disruption, coma or death. Developmental effects have been associated with pesticides. Recent increases in childhood cancers in throughout North America, such as leukemia, may be a result of somatic cell mutations. Insecticides targeted to disrupt insects can have harmful effects on mammalian nervous systems. Both chronic and acute alterations have been observed in exposes. DDT and its breakdown product DDE disturb estrogenic activity and possibly lead to breast cancer. Fetal DDT exposure reduces male penis size in animals and can produce undescended testicles. Pesticide can affect fetuses in early stages of development, in utero and even if a parent was exposed before conception. Reproductive disruption has the potential to occur by chemical reactivity and through structural changes. Pest resistance Pest rebound and secondary pest outbreaks Non-target organisms can also be impacted by pesticides. In some cases, a pest insect that is controlled by a beneficial predator or parasite can flourish should an insecticide application kill both pest and beneficial populations. A study comparing biological pest control and pyrethroid insecticide for diamondback moths, a major cabbage family insect pest, showed that the pest population rebounded due to loss of insect predators, whereas the biocontrol did not show the same effect. Likewise, pesticides sprayed to control mosquitoes may temporarily depress mosquito populations, they may result in a larger population in the long run by damaging natural controls. This phenomenon, wherein the population of a pest species rebounds to equal or greater numbers than it had before pesticide use, is called pest resurgence and can be linked to elimination of its predators and other natural enemies.Loss of predator species can also lead to a related phenomenon called secondary pest outbreaks, an increase in problems from species that were not originally a problem due to loss of their predators or parasites. An estimated third of the 300 most damaging insects in the US were originally secondary pests and only became a major problem after the use of pesticides. In both pest resurgence and secondary outbreaks, their natural enemies were more susceptible to the pesticides than the pests themselves, in some cases causing the pest population to be higher than it was before the use of pesticide. Alternatives Many alternatives are available to reduce the effects pesticides have on the environment. Alternatives to pesticides include manual removal, applying heat, covering weeds with plastic, placing traps and lures, removing pest breeding sites, maintaining healthy soils that breed healthy, more resistant plants, cropping native species that are naturally more resistant to native pests and supporting biocontrol agents such as birds and other pest predators. In the United States, conventional pesticide use peaked in 1979, and by 2007, had been reduced by 25 percent from the 1979 peak level, while US agricultural output increased by 43 percent over the same period.Biological controls such as resistant plant varieties and the use of pheromones, have been successful and at times permanently resolve a pest problem. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) employs chemical use only when other alternatives are ineffective. IPM causes less harm to humans and the environment. The focus is broader than on a specific pest, considering a range of pest control alternatives. Biotechnology can also be an innovative way to control pests. Strains can be genetically modified (GM) to increase their resistance to pests.Biopesticides such as canola oil and baking soda that contain curtain active ingredients from natural substances are an environmentally friendly alternative for toxic pesticides. There are three categories of biopesticides; microbial pesticides, plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs), and biochemical biopesticides. The alternatives to pesticides include a range of genetic material introduction to plants that target a particular pest, and active ingredients that control the mating and reproduction of certain pests or kill target pests. Biopesticides are affective in small quantities and degrade quickly making them an eco-friendly alternative to pesticides. They are often used in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as well and has been an important component to the UK IPM strategy for its crop protection. Waste and disposal In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests proper use of pesticides and disposal that follows federal or individual state guidance for farmers or commercial users. Commercial users of pesticides are told to follow the disposal instructions on the labels of the pesticides while using necessary safety measures for the disposal of hazardous waste. They are also advised to call for assistance by their local agencies in the disposal of unwanted or unused pesticides.Still are there environmental problems that emerge from runoff and other negative effects of pesticides. Runoff of pesticides into wastewater and pesticide drift into other ecosystems has led to research in the removal and remediation of pesticides in the environment. Research has been done on different methods to treat pesticide pollution including the use of activated carbon absorption and advanced oxidation processes. Different methods of pesticide removal require different costs and can carry different removal outcomes. Some methods require low cost techniques but many result in byproducts that require an extra cost for removal or unwarranted environmental impacts.There is an ongoing research focused on pesticide removal, a 2022 study for example demonstrated excellent removal efficiency of 80% for often used pesticide chlorpyrifos through usage magnetic plant biobots. Activated carbon absorption Due to the properties of activated carbon, different types have been researched as potential treatment for absorbing different pesticide species. Researchers found a use for activated carbon from tangerine seeds in the absorption of pesticides. Researches are utilizing this tangerine seed activated carbon in the removal process of carbamate pesticides that have been linked to an increased risk of cancer and other health risks. Absorption by activated carbon has been found to be a successful and cost-efficient way of removing pesticides. Advanced oxidation process (AOP) Advanced oxidation processes have been used to combat against the problem of pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables. AOP and its technologies have been used in the removal efforts of pesticide pollutants in wastewater using different chemical reactions to target different pollutants. Researchers have found this method of pesticide removal using coupled free chlorine/ultrasound to be successful at removing pesticide residue from vegetables. Activism Pesticide Action Network While dubbed economic and ecologically sound practices by suppliers, the effects of agricultural pesticides can include toxicity, bioaccumulation, persistence, and physiological responses in humans and wildlife, and several international NGOs, such as Pesticide Action Network, have risen in response to the economic activities of these larger transnational corporations. Historically, PAN's contributions targeting the Dirty Dozen have resulted in treaties and global environmental law banning persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as endosulfan, and their campaign work on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) for countries in the Global South to know what hazardous and banned chemicals they might be importing have contributed to the culmination of the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, which went into effect in 2004. PAN's work, according to their website, involves "shifting global aid away from pesticides", in addition to community monitoring and serving as a watchdog for the World Bank policy failures. Additionally, Pesticide Action Network members helped co-author the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), working to center agroecological knowledge and farming techniques as crucial to the future of agriculture. See also Pesticides in the United States Health effects of pesticides References External links National Pesticide Information Center – What happens to pesticides released in the environment? Streaming online video about efforts to reduce pesticide use in rice in Bangladesh. Windows Media Player [1], RealPlayer [2] Reptile Amphibian & Pesticide (RAP) Database EXtension TOXicology NETwork (Extoxnet) – pesticide information profiles. Environmental and health information broken down by type of pesticide

sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services. There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture. When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices. Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint, playing a significant role in causing climate change (food systems are responsible for one third of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions), water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation, deforestation and other processes; it is simultaneously causing environmental changes and being impacted by these changes. Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems. It involves preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources—as well as to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas. Elements of sustainable agriculture can include permaculture, agroforestry, mixed farming, multiple cropping, and crop rotation. Developing sustainable food systems contributes to the sustainability of the human population. For example, one of the best ways to mitigate climate change is to create sustainable food systems based on sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture provides a potential solution to enable agricultural systems to feed a growing population within the changing environmental conditions. Besides sustainable farming practices, dietary shifts to sustainable diets are an intertwined way to substantially reduce environmental impacts. Numerous sustainability standards and certification systems exist, including organic certification, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, GlobalGAP, Bird Friendly, and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C). Definition The term "sustainable agriculture" was defined in 1977 by the USDA as an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:satisfy human food and fiber needs enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agriculture economy depends make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls sustain the economic viability of farm operations enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.Yet the idea of having a sustainable relationship with the land has been prevalent in indigenous communities for centuries before the term was formally added to the lexicon. Aims A common consensus is that sustainable farming is the most realistic way to feed growing populations. In order to successfully feed the population of the planet, farming practices must consider future costs–to both the environment and the communities they fuel. The fear of not being able to provide enough resources for everyone led to the adoption of technology within the sustainability field to increase farm productivity. The ideal end result of this advancement is the ability to feed ever-growing populations across the world. The growing popularity of sustainable agriculture is connected to the wide-reaching fear that the planet's carrying capacity (or planetary boundaries), in terms of the ability to feed humanity, has been reached or even exceeded. Key principles There are several key principles associated with sustainability in agriculture: The incorporation of biological and ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, soil regeneration, and nitrogen fixation into agricultural and food production practices. Using decreased amounts of non-renewable and unsustainable inputs, particularly environmentally harmful ones. Using the expertise of farmers to both productively work the land as well as to promote the self-reliance and self-sufficiency of farmers. Solving agricultural and natural resource problems through the cooperation and collaboration of people with different skills. The problems tackled include pest management and irrigation.It "considers long-term as well as short-term economics because sustainability is readily defined as forever, that is, agricultural environments that are designed to promote endless regeneration". It balances the need for resource conservation with the needs of farmers pursuing their livelihood.It is considered to be reconciliation ecology, accommodating biodiversity within human landscapes.Oftentimes the execution of sustainable practices within farming comes through the adoption of technology and environmentally-focused appropriate technology. Environmental factors Practices that can cause long-term damage to soil include excessive tilling of the soil (leading to erosion) and irrigation without adequate drainage (leading to salinization). The most important factors for a farming site are climate, soil, nutrients and water resources. Of the four, water and soil conservation are the most amenable to human intervention. When farmers grow and harvest crops, they remove some nutrients from the soil. Without replenishment, the land suffers from nutrient depletion and becomes either unusable or suffers from reduced yields. Sustainable agriculture depends on replenishing the soil while minimizing the use or need of non-renewable resources, such as natural gas or mineral ores. A farm that can "produce perpetually", yet has negative effects on environmental quality elsewhere is not sustainable agriculture. An example of a case in which a global view may be warranted is the application of fertilizer or manure, which can improve the productivity of a farm but can pollute nearby rivers and coastal waters (eutrophication). The other extreme can also be undesirable, as the problem of low crop yields due to exhaustion of nutrients in the soil has been related to rainforest destruction. In Asia, the specific amount of land needed for sustainable farming is about 12.5 acres which include land for animal fodder, cereal production as a cash crop, and other food crops. In some cases, a small unit of aquaculture is included (AARI-1996). Nutrients Nitrates Nitrates are used widely in farming as fertilizer. Unfortunately, a major environmental problem associated with agriculture is the leaching of nitrates into the environment. Possible sources of nitrates that would, in principle, be available indefinitely, include: recycling crop waste and livestock or treated human manure growing legume crops and forages such as peanuts or alfalfa that form symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia industrial production of nitrogen by the Haber process uses hydrogen, which is currently derived from natural gas (but this hydrogen could instead be made by electrolysis of water using renewable electricity) genetically engineering (non-legume) crops to form nitrogen-fixing symbioses or fix nitrogen without microbial symbionts.The last option was proposed in the 1970s, but is only gradually becoming feasible. Sustainable options for replacing other nutrient inputs such as phosphorus and potassium are more limited. Other options include long-term crop rotations, returning to natural cycles that annually flood cultivated lands (returning lost nutrients) such as the flooding of the Nile, the long-term use of biochar, and use of crop and livestock landraces that are adapted to less than ideal conditions such as pests, drought, or lack of nutrients. Crops that require high levels of soil nutrients can be cultivated in a more sustainable manner with appropriate fertilizer management practices. Phosphate Phosphate is a primary component in fertilizer. It is the second most important nutrient for plants after nitrogen, and is often a limiting factor. It is important for sustainable agriculture as it can improve soil fertility and crop yields. Phosphorus is involved in all major metabolic processes including photosynthesis, energy transfer, signal transduction, macromolecular biosynthesis, and respiration. It is needed for root ramification and strength and seed formation, and can increase disease resistance.Phosphorus is found in the soil in both inorganic and organic forms and makes up approximately 0.05% of soil biomass. Phosphorus fertilizers are the main input of inorganic phosphorus in agricultural soils and approximately 70%–80% of phosphorus in cultivated soils is inorganic. Long-term use of phosphate-containing chemical fertilizers causes eutrophication and deplete soil microbial life, so people have looked to other sources.Phosphorus fertilizers are manufactured from rock phosphate. However, rock phosphate is a non-renewable resource and it is being depleted by mining for agricultural use: peak phosphorus will occur within the next few hundred years, or perhaps earlier. Potassium Potassium is a macronutrient very important for plant development and is commonly sought in fertilizers. This nutrient is essential for agriculture because it improves water retention, nutrient value, yield, taste, color, texture and disease resistance of crops. It is often used in the cultivation of grains, fruits, vegetables, rice, wheat, millets, sugar, corn, soybeans, palm oil and coffee.Potassium chloride (KCl) represents the most widely source of K used in agriculture, accounting for 90% of all potassium produced for agricultural use. The use of KCl leads to high concentrations of chloride (Clˉ) in soil harming its health due to the increase in soil salinity, imbalance in nutrient availability and this ion's biocidal effect for soil organisms. In consequences the development of plants and soil organisms is affected, putting at risk soil biodiversity and agricultural productivity. A sustainable option for replacing KCl are chloride-free fertilizers, its use should take into account plants' nutrition needs, and the promotion of soil health. Soil Land degradation is becoming a severe global problem. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: "About a quarter of the Earth's ice-free land area is subject to human-induced degradation (medium confidence). Soil erosion from agricultural fields is estimated to be currently 10 to 20 times (no tillage) to more than 100 times (conventional tillage) higher than the soil formation rate (medium confidence)." Almost half of the land on earth is covered with dry land, which is susceptible to degradation. Over a billion tonnes of southern Africa's soil are being lost to erosion annually, which if continued will result in halving of crop yields within thirty to fifty years. Improper soil management is threatening the ability to grow sufficient food. Intensive agriculture reduces the carbon level in soil, impairing soil structure, crop growth and ecosystem functioning, and accelerating climate change. Modification of agricultural practices is a recognized method of carbon sequestration as soil can act as an effective carbon sink.Soil management techniques include no-till farming, keyline design and windbreaks to reduce wind erosion, reincorporation of organic matter into the soil, reducing soil salinization, and preventing water run-off. Land As the global population increases and demand for food increases, there is pressure on land as a resource. In land-use planning and management, considering the impacts of land-use changes on factors such as soil erosion can support long-term agricultural sustainability, as shown by a study of Wadi Ziqlab, a dry area in the Middle East where farmers graze livestock and grow olives, vegetables, and grains.Looking back over the 20th century shows that for people in poverty, following environmentally sound land practices has not always been a viable option due to many complex and challenging life circumstances. Currently, increased land degradation in developing countries may be connected with rural poverty among smallholder farmers when forced into unsustainable agricultural practices out of necessity.Converting big parts of the land surface to agriculture has severe environmental and health consequences. For example, it leads to rise in zoonotic disease (like the Coronavirus disease 2019) due to the degradation of natural buffers between humans and animals, reducing biodiversity and creating larger groups of genetically similar animals.Land is a finite resource on Earth. Although expansion of agricultural land can decrease biodiversity and contribute to deforestation, the picture is complex; for instance, a study examining the introduction of sheep by Norse settlers (Vikings) to the Faroe Islands of the North Atlantic concluded that, over time, the fine partitioning of land plots contributed more to soil erosion and degradation than grazing itself.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that in coming decades, cropland will continue to be lost to industrial and urban development, along with reclamation of wetlands, and conversion of forest to cultivation, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and increased soil erosion. Energy In modern agriculture, energy is used in on-farm mechanisation, food processing, storage, and transportation processes. It has therefore been found that energy prices are closely linked to food prices. Oil is also used as an input in agricultural chemicals. The International Energy Agency projects higher prices of non-renewable energy resources as a result of fossil fuel resources being depleted. It may therefore decrease global food security unless action is taken to 'decouple' fossil fuel energy from food production, with a move towards 'energy-smart' agricultural systems including renewable energy. The use of solar powered irrigation in Pakistan is said to be a closed system for agricultural water irrigation.The environmental cost of transportation could be avoided if people use local products. Water In some areas sufficient rainfall is available for crop growth, but many other areas require irrigation. For irrigation systems to be sustainable, they require proper management (to avoid salinization) and must not use more water from their source than is naturally replenishable. Otherwise, the water source effectively becomes a non-renewable resource. Improvements in water well drilling technology and submersible pumps, combined with the development of drip irrigation and low-pressure pivots, have made it possible to regularly achieve high crop yields in areas where reliance on rainfall alone had previously made successful agriculture unpredictable. However, this progress has come at a price. In many areas, such as the Ogallala Aquifer, the water is being used faster than it can be replenished. According to the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute, several steps must be taken to develop drought-resistant farming systems even in "normal" years with average rainfall. These measures include both policy and management actions: improving water conservation and storage measures providing incentives for selection of drought-tolerant crop species using reduced-volume irrigation systems managing crops to reduce water loss not planting crops at all.Indicators for sustainable water resource development include the average annual flow of rivers from rainfall, flows from outside a country, the percentage of water coming from outside a country, and gross water withdrawal. It is estimated that agricultural practices consume 69% of the world's fresh water. Social factors Rural economic development Sustainable agriculture attempts to solve multiple problems with one broad solution. The goal of sustainable agricultural practices is to decrease environmental degradation due to farming while increasing crop–and thus food–output. There are many varying strategies attempting to use sustainable farming practices in order to increase rural economic development within small-scale farming communities. Two of the most popular and opposing strategies within the modern discourse are allowing unrestricted markets to determine food production and deeming food a human right. Neither of these approaches have been proven to work without fail. A promising proposal to rural poverty reduction within agricultural communities is sustainable economic growth; the most important aspect of this policy is to regularly include the poorest farmers in the economy-wide development through the stabilization of small-scale agricultural economies.In 2007, the United Nations reported on "Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa", stating that using sustainable agriculture could be a tool in reaching global food security without expanding land usage and reducing environmental impacts. There has been evidence provided by developing nations from the early 2000s stating that when people in their communities are not factored into the agricultural process that serious harm is done. The social scientist Charles Kellogg has stated that, "In a final effort, exploited people pass their suffering to the land." Sustainable agriculture mean the ability to permanently and continuously "feed its constituent populations".There are a lot of opportunities that can increase farmers' profits, improve communities, and continue sustainable practices. For example, in Uganda Genetically Modified Organisms were originally illegal, however, with the stress of banana crisis in Uganda where Banana Bacterial Wilt had the potential to wipe out 90% of yield they decided to explore GMOs as a possible solution. The government issued the National Biotechnology and Biosafety bill which will allow scientists that are part of the National Banana Research Program to start experimenting with genetically modified organisms. This effort has the potential to help local communities because a significant portion live off the food they grow themselves and it will be profitable because the yield of their main produce will remain stable. Not all regions are suitable for agriculture. The technological advancement of the past few decades has allowed agriculture to develop in some of these regions. For example, Nepal has built greenhouses to deal with its high altitude and mountainous regions. Greenhouses allow for greater crop production and also use less water since they are closed systems.Desalination techniques can turn salt water into fresh water which allows greater access to water for areas with a limited supply. This allows the irrigation of crops without decreasing natural fresh water sources. While desalination can be a tool to provide water to areas that need it to sustain agriculture, it requires money and resources. Regions of China have been considering large scale desalination in order to increase access to water, but the current cost of the desalination process makes it impractical. Women Women working in sustainable agriculture come from numerous backgrounds, ranging from academia to labour. From 1978-2007, in the United States, the number of women farm operators has tripled. In 2007, women operated 14 percent of farms, compared to five percent in 1978. Much of the growth is due to women farming outside of the "male dominated field of conventional agriculture". Growing your own food The practice of growing food in the backyard of houses, schools, etc., by families or by communities became widespread in the US at the time of World War I, the Great Recession and World War II, so that in one point of time 40% of the vegetables of the USA was produced in this way. The practice became more popular again in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This method permits to grow food in a relatively sustainable way and at the same time can make it easier for poor people to obtain food. Economic factors Costs, such as environmental problems, not covered in traditional accounting systems (which take into account only the direct costs of production incurred by the farmer) are known as externalities.Netting studied sustainability and intensive agriculture in smallholder systems through history.There are several studies incorporating externalities such as ecosystem services, biodiversity, land degradation, and sustainable land management in economic analysis. These include The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study and the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative which seek to establish an economic cost-benefit analysis on the practice of sustainable land management and sustainable agriculture. Triple bottom line frameworks include social and environmental alongside a financial bottom line. A sustainable future can be feasible if growth in material consumption and population is slowed down and if there is a drastic increase in the efficiency of material and energy use. To make that transition, long- and short-term goals will need to be balanced enhancing equity and quality of life. Challenges and debates Barriers The barriers to sustainable agriculture can be broken down and understood through three different dimensions. These three dimensions are seen as the core pillars to sustainability: social, environmental, and economic pillars. The social pillar addresses issues related to the conditions in which societies are born into, growing in, and learning from. It deals with shifting away from traditional practices of agricultural and moving into new sustainable practices that will create better societies and conditions. The environmental pillar addresses climate change and focuses on agricultural practices that protect the environment for future generations. The economic pillar discovers ways in which sustainable agriculture can be practiced while fostering economic growth and stability, with minimal disruptions to livelihoods. All three pillars must be addressed to determine and overcome the barriers preventing sustainable agricultural practices.Social barriers to sustainable agriculture include cultural shifts, the need for collaboration, incentives, and new legislation. The move from conventional to sustainable agriculture will require significant behavioural changes from both farmers and consumers.Cooperation and collaboration between farmers is necessary to successfully transition to sustainable practices with minimal complications. This can be seen as a challenge for farmers who care about competition and profitability. There must also be an incentive for farmers to change their methods of agriculture. The use of public policy, advertisements, and laws that make sustainable agriculture mandatory or desirable can be utilized to overcome these social barriers. Environmental barriers prevent the ability to protect and conserve the natural ecosystem. Examples of these barriers include the use of pesticides and the effects of climate change. Pesticides are widely used to combat pests that can devastate production and plays a significant role in keeping food prices and production costs low. To move toward sustainable agriculture, farmers are encouraged to utilize green pesticides, which cause less harm to both human health and habitats, but would entail a higher production cost. Climate change is also a rapidly growing barrier, one that farmers have little control over, which can be seen through place-based barriers.These place-based barriers include factors such as weather conditions, topography, and soil quality which can cause losses in production, resulting in the reluctance to switch from conventional practices. Many environmental benefits are also not visible or immediately evident. Significant changes such as lower rates of soil and nutrient loss, improved soil structure, and higher levels of beneficial microorganisms take time. In conventional agriculture, the benefits are easily visible with no weeds, pests, etc..., but the long term costs to the soil and surrounding ecosystems are hidden and "externalized". Conventional agricultural practices since the evolution of technology have caused significant damage to the environment through biodiversity loss, disrupted ecosystems, poor water quality, among other harms.The economic obstacles to implementing sustainable agricultural practices include low financial return/profitability, lack of financial incentives, and negligible capital investments. Financial incentives and circumstances play a large role in whether sustainable practices will be adopted. The human and material capital required to shift to sustainable methods of agriculture requires training of the workforce and making investments in new technology and products, which comes at a high cost. In addition to this, farmers practicing conventional agriculture can mass produce their crops, and therefore maximize their profitability. This would be difficult to do in sustainable agriculture which encourages low production capacity. The author James Howard Kunstler claims almost all modern technology is bad and that there cannot be sustainability unless agriculture is done in ancient traditional ways. Efforts toward more sustainable agriculture are supported in the sustainability community, however, these are often viewed only as incremental steps and not as an end. One promising method of encouraging sustainable agriculture is through local farming and community gardens. Incorporating local produce and agricultural education into schools, communities, and institutions can promote the consumption of freshly grown produce which will drive consumer demand.Some foresee a true sustainable steady state economy that may be very different from today's: greatly reduced energy usage, minimal ecological footprint, fewer consumer packaged goods, local purchasing with short food supply chains, little processed foods, more home and community gardens, etc. Different viewpoints about the definition There is a debate on the definition of sustainability regarding agriculture. The definition could be characterized by two different approaches: an ecocentric approach and a technocentric approach. The ecocentric approach emphasizes no- or low-growth levels of human development, and focuses on organic and biodynamic farming techniques with the goal of changing consumption patterns, and resource allocation and usage. The technocentric approach argues that sustainability can be attained through a variety of strategies, from the view that state-led modification of the industrial system like conservation-oriented farming systems should be implemented, to the argument that biotechnology is the best way to meet the increasing demand for food.One can look at the topic of sustainable agriculture through two different lenses: multifunctional agriculture and ecosystem services. Both of approaches are similar, but look at the function of agriculture differently. Those that employ the multifunctional agriculture philosophy focus on farm-centered approaches, and define function as being the outputs of agricultural activity. The central argument of multifunctionality is that agriculture is a multifunctional enterprise with other functions aside from the production of food and fiber. These functions include renewable resource management, landscape conservation and biodiversity. The ecosystem service-centered approach posits that individuals and society as a whole receive benefits from ecosystems, which are called "ecosystem services". In sustainable agriculture, the services that ecosystems provide include pollination, soil formation, and nutrient cycling, all of which are necessary functions for the production of food.It is also claimed sustainable agriculture is best considered as an ecosystem approach to agriculture, called agroecology. Ethics Most agricultural professionals agree that there is a "moral obligation to pursue [the] goal [of] sustainability." The major debate comes from what system will provide a path to that goal because if an unsustainable method is used on a large scale it will have a massive negative effect on the environment and human population. Methods Other practices include growing a diverse number of perennial crops in a single field, each of which would grow in separate seasons so as not to compete with each other for natural resources. This system would result in increased resistance to diseases and decreased effects of erosion and loss of nutrients in the soil. Nitrogen fixation from legumes, for example, used in conjunction with plants that rely on nitrate from the soil for growth, helps to allow the land to be reused annually. Legumes will grow for a season and replenish the soil with ammonium and nitrate, and the next season other plants can be seeded and grown in the field in preparation for harvest. Sustainable methods of weed management may help reduce the development of herbicide-resistant weeds. Crop rotation may also replenish nitrogen if legumes are used in the rotations and may also use resources more efficiently. There are also many ways to practice sustainable animal husbandry. Some of the tools to grazing management include fencing off the grazing area into smaller areas called paddocks, lowering stock density, and moving the stock between paddocks frequently. Intensification An increased production is a goal of intensification. Sustainable intensification encompasses specific agriculture methods that increase production and at the same time help improve environmental outcomes. The desired outcomes of the farm are achieved without the need for more land cultivation or destruction of natural habitat; the system performance is upgraded with no net environmental cost. Sustainable Intensification has become a priority for the United Nations. Sustainable intensification differs from prior intensification methods by specifically placing importance on broader environmental outcomes. By 2018; it was predicted in 100 nations a combined total of 163 million farms used sustainable intensification. The amount of agricultural land covered by this is 453 million ha of land. That amount of land is equal to 29% of farms worldwide. In light of concerns about food security, human population growth and dwindling land suitable for agriculture, sustainable intensive farming practises are needed to maintain high crop yields, while maintaining soil health and ecosystem services. The capacity for ecosystem services to be strong enough to allow a reduction in use of non-renewable inputs whilst maintaining or boosting yields has been the subject of much debate. Recent work in irrigated rice production system of east Asia has suggested that – in relation to pest management at least – promoting the ecosystem service of biological control using nectar plants can reduce the need for insecticides by 70% whilst delivering a 5% yield advantage compared with standard practice.Vertical farming is a concept with the potential advantages of year-round production, isolation from pests and diseases, controllable resource recycling and reduced transportation costs. Water Water efficiency can be improved by reducing the need for irrigation and using alternative methods. Such methods include: researching on drought resistant crops, monitoring plant transpiration and reducing soil evaporation.Drought resistant crops have been researched extensively as a means to overcome the issue of water shortage. They are modified genetically so they can adapt in an environment with little water. This is beneficial as it reduces the need for irrigation and helps conserve water. Although they have been extensively researched, significant results have not been achieved as most of the successful species will have no overall impact on water conservation. However, some grains like rice, for example, have been successfully genetically modified to be drought resistant. Soil and nutrients Soil amendments include using compost from recycling centers. Using compost from yard and kitchen waste uses available resources in the area. Abstinence from soil tillage before planting and leaving the plant residue after harvesting reduces soil water evaporation; It also serves to prevent soil erosion.Crop residues left covering the surface of the soil may result in reduced evaporation of water, a lower surface soil temperature, and reduction of wind effects.A way to make rock phosphate more effective is to add microbial inoculates such as phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms, known as PSMs, to the soil. These solubilize phosphorus already in the soil and use processes like organic acid production and ion exchange reactions to make that phosphorus available for plants. Experimentally, these PSMs have been shown to increase crop growth in terms of shoot height, dry biomass and grain yield.Phosphorus uptake is even more efficient with the presence of mycorrhizae in the soil. Mycorrhiza is a type of mutualistic symbiotic association between plants and fungi, which are well-equipped to absorb nutrients, including phosphorus, in soil. These fungi can increase nutrient uptake in soil where phosphorus has been fixed by aluminum, calcium, and iron. Mycorrhizae can also release organic acids that solubilize otherwise unavailable phosphorus. Pests and weeds Soil steaming can be used as an alternative to chemicals for soil sterilization. Different methods are available to induce steam into the soil to kill pests and increase soil health. Solarizing is based on the same principle, used to increase the temperature of the soil to kill pathogens and pests.Certain plants can be cropped for use as biofumigants, "natural" fumigants, releasing pest suppressing compounds when crushed, ploughed into the soil, and covered in plastic for four weeks. Plants in the Brassicaceae family release large amounts of toxic compounds such as methyl isothiocyanates. Location Relocating current croplands to environmentally more optimal locations, whilst allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to regenerate could substantially decrease the current carbon, biodiversity, and irrigation water footprint of global crop production, with relocation only within national borders also having substantial potential. Plants Sustainability may also involve crop rotation. Crop rotation and cover crops prevent soil erosion, by protecting topsoil from wind and water. Effective crop rotation can reduce pest pressure on crops, provides weed control, reduces disease build up, and improves the efficiency of soil nutrients and nutrient cycling. This reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides. Increasing the diversity of crops by introducing new genetic resources can increase yields by 10 to 15 percent compared to when they are grown in monoculture. Perennial crops reduce the need for tillage and thus help mitigate soil erosion, and may sometimes tolerate drought better, increase water quality and help increase soil organic matter. There are research programs attempting to develop perennial substitutes for existing annual crops, such as replacing wheat with the wild grass Thinopyrum intermedium, or possible experimental hybrids of it and wheat. Being able to do all of this without the use of chemicals is one of the main goals of sustainability which is why crop rotation is a very central method of sustainable agriculture. Related concepts Organic agriculture Organic agriculture can be defined as: an integrated farming system that strives for sustainability, the enhancement of soil fertility and biological diversity whilst, with rare exceptions, prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and growth hormones. Some claim organic agriculture may produce the most sustainable products available for consumers in the US, where no other alternatives exist, although the focus of the organics industry is not sustainability.In 2018 the sales of organic products in USA reach $52.5 billion According to a USDA survey two-thirds of Americans consume organic products at least occasionally. Ecological farming Ecological farming is a concept that focused on the environmental aspects of sustainable agriculture. Ecological farming includes all methods, including organic, which regenerate ecosystem services like: prevention of soil erosion, water infiltration and retention, carbon sequestration in the form of humus, and increased biodiversity. Many techniques are used including no-till farming, multispecies cover crops, strip cropping, terrace cultivation, shelter belts, pasture cropping etc. There are a plethora of methods and techniques that are employed when practicing ecological farming, all having their own unique benefits and implementations that lead to more sustainable agriculture. Crop genetic diversity is one method that is used to reduce the risks associated with monoculture crops, which can be susceptible to a changing climate. This form of biodiversity causes crops to be more resilient, increasing food security and enhancing the productivity of the field on a long-term scale. The use of biodigestors is another method which converts organic waste into a combustible gas, which can provide several benefits to an ecological farm: it can be used as a fuel source, fertilizer for crops and fish ponds, and serves as a method for removing wastes that are rich in organic matter. Because biodigestors can be used as fertilizer, it reduces the amount of industrial fertilizers that are needed to sustain the yields of the farm. Another technique used is aquaculture integration, which combines fish farming with agricultural farming, using the wastes from animals and crops and diverting them towards the fish farms to be used up instead of being leeched into the environment. Mud from the fish ponds can also be used to fertilize crops.Organic Fertilizers can also be employed in an ecological farm, such as animal and green manure. This allows soil fertility to be improved and well-maintained, leads to reduced costs and increased yields, reduces the usage of non-renewable resources in industrial fertilizers (Nitrogen and Phosphorus), and reduces the environmental pressures that are posed by intensive agricultural systems. Precision Agriculture can also be used, which focuses on efficient removal of pests using non-chemical techniques and minimizes the amount of tilling needed to sustain the farm. An example of a precision machine is the false seedbed tiller, which can remove a great majority of small weeds while only tilling one centimeter deep. This minimized tilling reduces the amount of new weeds that germinate from soil disturbance. Other methods that reduce soil erosion include contour farming, strip cropping, and terrace cultivation. Benefits Ecological farming involves the introduction of symbiotic species, where possible, to support the ecological sustainability of the farm. Associated benefits include a reduction in ecological debt and elimination of dead zones. Ecological farming is a pioneering, practical development which aims to create globally sustainable land management systems, and encourages review of the importance of maintaining biodiversity in food production and farming end products. One foreseeable option is to develop specialized automata to scan and respond to soil and plant situations relative to intensive care for the soil and the plants. Accordingly, conversion to ecological farming may best utilize the information age, and become recognised as a primary user of robotics and expert systems. Challenges The challenge for ecological farming science is to be able to achieve a mainstream productive food system that is sustainable or even regenerative. To enter the field of ecological farming, location relative to the consumer, can reduce the food miles factor to help minimise damage to the biosphere by combustion engine emissions involved in current food transportation. Design of the ecological farm is initially constrained by the same limitations as conventional farming: local climate, the soil's physical properties, budget for beneficial soil supplements, manpower and available automatons; however long-term water management by ecological farming methods is likely to conserve and increase water availability for the location, and require far fewer inputs to maintain fertility. Principles Certain principles unique to ecological farming need to be considered. Food production should be ecological in both origin and destiny (the term destiny refers to the post-harvest ecological footprint which results in getting produce to the consumer). Integration of species that maintain ecosystem services whilst providing a selection of alternative products. Minimise food miles, packaging, energy consumption and waste. Define a new ecosystem to suit human needs using lessons from existing ecosystems from around the world. Apply the value of a knowledge-base (advanced data base) about soil microorganisms so that discoveries of the ecological benefits of having various kinds of microorganisms encouraged in productive systems such as Forest Gardens can be assessed and optimised; for example in the case of naturally occurring microorganisms called denitrifiers. Traditional agriculture Often thought of as inherently destructive, slash-and-burn or slash-and-char shifting cultivation have been practiced in the Amazon for thousands of years.Some traditional systems combine polyculture with sustainability. In South-East Asia, rice-fish systems on rice paddies have raised freshwater fish as well as rice, producing an additional product and reducing eutrophication of neighboring rivers. A variant in Indonesia combines rice, fish, ducks and water fern; the ducks eat the weeds that would otherwise limit rice growth, saving labour and herbicides, while the duck and fish manure substitute for fertilizer.Raised field agriculture has been recently revived in certain areas of the world, such as the Altiplano region in Bolivia and Peru. This has resurged in the form of traditional Waru Waru raised fields, which create nutrient-rich soil in regions where such soil is scarce. This method is extremely productive and has recently been utilized by indigenous groups in the area and the nearby Amazon Basin to make use of lands that have been historically hard to cultivate. Other forms of traditional agriculture include agro forestry, crop rotations, and water harvesting. Water harvesting is one of the largest and most common practices, particularly used in dry areas and seasons. In Ethiopia, over half of their GDP and over 80 percent of their exports are attributed to agriculture; yet, it is known for its intense droughts and dry periods. Rain water harvesting is considered to be a low-cost alternative. This type of harvesting collects and stores water from roof tops during high-rain periods for use during droughts. Rainwater harvesting has been a large practice to help the country survive by focusing on runoff irrigation, roof water harvesting, and flood spreading. Indigenous Agriculture in North America Native Americans in the United States practiced sustainable agriculture through their subsistence farming techniques. Many tribes grew or harvested their own food from plants that thrived in their local ecosystems. Native American farming practices are specific to local environments and work with natural processes. This is a practice called Permaculture, and it involves a deep understanding of the local environment. Native American farming techniques also incorporate local biodiversity into many of their practices, which helps the land remain healthy.Many indigenous tribes incorporated Intercropping into their agriculture, which is a practice where multiple crops are planted together in the same area. This strategy allows crops to help one another grow through exchanged nutrients, maintained soil moisture, and physical supports for one another. The crops that are paired in intercropping often do not heavily compete for resources, which helps them to each be successful. For example, many tribes utilized intercropping in ways such as the Three Sisters Garden. This gardening technique consists of corn, beans, and squash. These crops grow in unity as the corn stalk supports the beans, the beans produce nitrogen, and the squash retain moisture. Intercropping also provides a natural strategy for pest management and the prevention of weed growth. Intercropping is a natural agricultural practice that often improves the overall health of the soil and plants, increases crop yield, and is sustainable.One of the most significant aspects of indigenous sustainable agriculture is their traditional ecological knowledge of harvesting. The Anishinaabe tribes follow an ideology known as "the Honorable Harvest". The Honorable Harvest is a set of practices that emphasize the idea that people should "take only what you need and use everything you take." Resources are conserved through this practice because several rules are followed when harvesting a plant. These rules are to never take the first plant, never take more than half of the plants, and never take the last plant. This encourages future growth of the plant and therefore leads to a sustainable use of the plants in the area. Native Americans practiced agroforestry by managing the forest, animals, and crops together. They also helped promote tree growth through controlled burns and silviculture. Often, the remaining ash from these burns would be used to fertilize their crops. By improving the conditions of the forest, the local wildlife populations also increased. Native Americans allowed their livestock to graze in the forest, which provided natural fertilizer for the trees as well. Regenerative agriculture Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil. Practices include, recycling as much farm waste as possible, and adding composted material from sources outside the farm. Alternative methods Permaculture Polyculture There is limited evidence polyculture may contribute to sustainable agriculture. A meta-analysis of a number of polycrop studies found that predator insect biodiversity was higher at comparable yields than conventional in certain two-crop systems with a single cash crop combined with a cover crop.One approach to sustainability is to develop polyculture systems using perennial crop varieties. Such varieties are being developed for rice, wheat, sorghum, barley, and sunflowers. If these can be combined in polyculture with a leguminous cover crop such as alfalfa, fixation of nitrogen will be added to the system, reducing the need for fertilizer and pesticides. Local small-scale agriculture The use of available city space (e.g., rooftop gardens, community gardens, garden sharing, organopónicos, and other forms of urban agriculture) may be able to contribute to sustainability. Some consider "guerrilla gardening" an example of sustainability in action – in some cases seeds of edible plants have been sown in local rural areas. Hydroponics or soil-less culture Hydroponics is an alternative to agriculture that creates the ideal environment for optimal growth without using a dormant medium. This innovative farming technique produces higher crop yields without compromising soil health. The most significant drawback of this sustainable farming technique is the cost associated with development. Standards Certification systems are important to the agriculture community and to consumers as these standards determine the sustainability of produce. Numerous sustainability standards and certification systems exist, including organic certification, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, GlobalGAP, Bird Friendly, and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C). These standards specify rules that producers, manufacturers and traders need to follow so that the things they do, make, or grow do not hurt people and the environment. These standards are also known as Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) that are private standards that require products to meet specific economic, social or environmental sustainability metrics. The requirements can refer to product quality or attributes, but also to production and processing methods, as well as transportation. VSS are mostly designed and marketed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or private firms and they are adopted by actors up and down the value chain, from farmers to retailers. Certifications and labels are used to signal the successful implementation of a VSS. According to the ITC standards map the mostly covered products by standards are agricultural products. Around 500 VSS today apply to key exports of many developing countries, such as coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa, palm oil, timber, cotton, and organic agri-foods. VSS are found to reduce eutrophication, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and natural ecosystem conversion. And thus are considered as a potential tool for sustainable agriculture. The USDA produces an organic label that is supported by nationalized standards of farmers and facilities. The steps for certification consist of creating an organic system plan, which determines how produce will be tilled, grazed, harvested, stored, and transported. This plan also manages and monitors the substances used around the produce, the maintenance needed to protect the produce, and any nonorganic products that may come in contact with the produce. The organic system plan is then reviewed and inspected by the USDA certifying agent. Once the certification is granted, the produce receives an approval sticker from the USDA and the produce is distributed across the U.S. In order to hold farmers accountable and ensure that Americans are receiving organic produce, these inspections are done at least once a year. This is just one example of sustainable certification systems through produce maintenance. Policy Sustainable agriculture is a topic in international policy concerning its potential to reduce environmental risks. In 2011, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, as part of its recommendations for policymakers on achieving food security in the face of climate change, urged that sustainable agriculture must be integrated into national and international policy. The Commission stressed that increasing weather variability and climate shocks will negatively affect agricultural yields, necessitating early action to drive change in agricultural production systems towards increasing resilience. It also called for dramatically increased investments in sustainable agriculture in the next decade, including in national research and development budgets, land rehabilitation, economic incentives, and infrastructure improvement. At the global level During 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, 45 countries pledged to give more than 4 billion dollars for transition to sustainable agriculture. The organization "Slow Food" expressed concern about the effectivity of the spendings, as they concentrate on technological solutions and reforestation en place of "a holistic agroecology that transforms food from a mass-produced commodity into part of a sustainable system that works within natural boundaries."Additionally, the Summit consisted of negotiations that led to heavily reducing CO2 emissions, becoming carbon neutral, ending deforestation and reliance on coal, and limiting methane emissions.In November, the Climate Action Tracker reported that global efforts are on track to for a 2.7 °C temperature increase with current policies, finding that the current targets will not meet global needs as coal and natural gas consumption are primarily responsible for the gap in progress. Since, like-minded developing countries asked for an addendum to the agreement that removed the obligation for developing countries to meet the same requirements of wealthy nations. European Union In May 2020 the European Union published a program, named "From Farm to Fork" for making its agriculture more sustainable. In the official page of the program From Farm to Fork is cited Frans Timmermans the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, saying that: The coronavirus crisis has shown how vulnerable we all are, and how important it is to restore the balance between human activity and nature. At the heart of the Green Deal the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems, and biodiversity; to protect our people's health and well-being, and at the same time to increase the EU's competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a crucial part of the great transition we are embarking upon. The program includes the next targets: Making 25% of EU agriculture organic, by 2030. Reduce by 50% the use of pesticides by 2030. Reduce the use of fertilizers by 20% by 2030. Reduce nutrient loss by at least 50%. Reduce the use of antimicrobials in agriculture and antimicrobials in aquaculture by 50% by 2030. Create sustainable food labeling. Reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. Dedicate to R&I related to the issue €10 billion. United States Policies from 1930 - 2000 The New Deal implemented policies and programs that promoted sustainable agriculture. Under the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1933, it provided farmers payments to create a supply management regime that capped production of important crops. This allowed farmers to focus on growing food and not competing in the market based system. The New Deal also provided a monetary incentive for farmers that left some of their fields unsown or ungrazed to order to improve the soil conditions. The Cooperative Extension Service was also established that set up sharing funding responsibilities amongst the USDA, land-grant universities, and local communities.The 1950s to 1990s was when the government switched its stance on agriculture policy which halted sustainable agriculture. The Agricultural Act of 1954 passed which supported farmers with flexible price supports, but only to commodity programs. The Food and Agricultural Act of 1965 had new income support payments and continued supply controls but reduced priced supports. Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 removed price supports and instead introduced target prices and deficiency payments. It continued to promote commodity crops by lowering interest rates. Food Security Act of 1985 continued commodity loan programs. These policies incentivized profit over sustainability because the US government was promoting farms to maximize their production output instead of placing checks. This meant that farms were being turned into food factories as they became bigger in size and grew more commodity crops like corn, wheat, and cotton. From 1900 to 2002, the number of farms in the US decreased significantly while the average size of a farm went up after 1950.Current Policies In the United States, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA) provides technical and financial assistance for those interested in pursuing natural resource conservation along with production agriculture. With programs like SARE and China-UK SAIN to help promote research on sustainable agriculture practices and a framework for agriculture and climate change respectively. Future Policies Currently, there are policies on the table that could move the US agriculture system into a more sustainable direction with the Green New Deal. This policy promotes decentralizing agrarian governance by breaking up large commodity farms that were created in the 1950s to 1980s. Decentralized governance within the farming community would allow for more adaptive management at local levels to help focus on climate change mitigation, food security, and landscape-scale ecological stewardship. The Green New Deal would invest in public infrastructure to support farmers transition from industrial food regime and acquire agroecological skills. Just like in the New Deal, it would invest in cooperatives and commons to share and redistribute resources like land, food, equipment, research facilities, personnel, and training programs. All of these policies and programs would break down barriers that have prevented sustainable farmers and agriculture from taking place in the United States. Asia China In 2016, the Chinese government adopted a plan to reduce China's meat consumption by 50%, for achieving more sustainable and healthy food system.In 2019, the National Basic Research Program or Program 973 funded research into Science and Technology Backyard (STB). STBs are hubs often created in rural areas with significant rates of small-scale farming that combine knowledge of traditional practices with new innovations and technology implementation. The purpose of this program was to invest in sustainable farming throughout the country and increase food production while achieving few negative environmental effects. The program was ultimately proven to be successful, and the study found that the merging of traditional practices and appropriate technology was instrumental in higher crop yields. India In collaboration with the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), CEEW (council for energy, environment and water), has given an overview of the current state of sustainable agriculture practices and systems (SAPSs) in India. India is aiming to scale-up SAPs, through policymakers, administrators, philanthropists, and other which represent a vital alternative to conventional, input-intensive agriculture. In idea these efforts identify 16 SAPSs – including agroforestry, crop rotation, rainwater harvesting, organic farming and natural farming – using agroecology as an investigative lens. In a conclusive understanding it is realised that sustainable agriculture is far from mainstream in India. Further proposals for several measures for promoting SAPSs, including restructured government support and rigorous evidence generation for benefits and implementation of sustainable farming are ongoing progress in Indian Agriculture. An example of initiatives in India towards exploring the world of sustainable farming has been set by the Sowgood foundation which is a nonprofit founded by educator Pragati Chaswal. It started by teaching primary school children about sustainable farming by helping them farm on small farm strips in suburban farmhouses and gardens. Today many government and private schools in Delhi, India have adopted the sowgood foundation curriculum for sustainable farming for their students. Other countries Israel In 2012, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture found itself at the height of the Israeli commitment to sustainable agriculture policy. A large factor of this policy was funding programs that made sustainable agriculture accessible to smaller Palestinian-Arab communities. The program was meant to create biodiversity, train farmers in sustainable agriculture methods, and hold regular meetings for agriculture stakeholders. This plan was not well-accepted by all as opposers argue that the plan creates a new social construct and a tool for the government to hold more power. History In 1907, the American author Franklin H. King discussed in his book Farmers of Forty Centuries the advantages of sustainable agriculture and warned that such practices would be vital to farming in the future. The phrase 'sustainable agriculture' was reportedly coined by the Australian agronomist Gordon McClymont. The term became popular in the late 1980s. There was an international symposium on sustainability in horticulture by the International Society of Horticultural Science at the International Horticultural Congress in Toronto in 2002. At the following conference at Seoul in 2006, the principles were discussed further.This potential future inability to feed the world's population has been a concern since the English political economist Thomas Malthus in the early 1800s, but has become increasingly important recently. Starting at the very end of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, this issue became widely discussed in the U.S. because of growing anxieties of a rapidly increasing global population. Agriculture has long been the biggest industry worldwide and requires significant land, water, and labor inputs. At the turn of the twenty-first century, experts questioned the industry's ability to keep up with population growth. This debate led to concerns over global food insecurity and "solving hunger". See also Agroecology Climate-smart agriculture Environmental impact of meat production Forest farming Local food Natural farming Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (between the UK and China) Sustainable Commodity Initiative Sustainable development Sustainable energy Sustainable food system Sustainable landscaping References Sources This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from The State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture − In Brief​, FAO, FAO.

effects of climate change on agriculture

There are numerous effects of climate change on agriculture, many of which are making it harder for agricultural activities to provide global food security. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns often result in lower crop yields due to water scarcity caused by drought, heat waves and flooding. These effects of climate change can also increase the currently-rare risk of several regions suffering simultaneous crop failures, which would have significant consequences for the global food supply. Many pests and plant diseases are also expected to either become more prevalent or to spread to new regions. The world's livestock are also expected to be affected by many of the same issues, from greater heat stress to animal feed shortfalls and the spread of parasites and vector-borne diseases.: 746 The increased atmospheric CO2 level from human activities offsets some of the detrimental effects on agriculture due to CO2 fertilization effect. However, it has little effect on C4 crops like maize, and comes at the expense of lower levels of essential micronutrients.: 717  On the coasts, some agricultural land is expected to be lost to sea level rise, while melting glaciers could result in less irrigation water being available. On the other hand, more arable land may become available as frozen land thaws. Other impacts include erosion and changes in soil fertility and the length of growing seasons. Negative impacts on food safety from bacteria like Salmonella or mycotoxin-producing fungi, also increase as the climate warms, increasing costs and food loss.There has been extensive research into the impact of climate change on individual crops, particularly the four staple crops (corn, rice, wheat and soybeans) that are responsible for around two-thirds of all calories consumed by humans (both directly and indirectly as animal feed). Yet, there are still other important uncertainties involved - from future population growth, which will only increase global food demand for the foreseeable future, to the related yet largely separate challenges of soil erosion and groundwater depletion. On the other hand, a range of improvements to agricultural yields, collectively known as the Green Revolution, has already lifted yields per unit of land area by between 250% to 300% since the 1960, and some of that progress may be expected to continue.: 727 Altogether, there is a consensus that global food security will change relatively little in the near-term: 720 million to 811 million people were considered undernourished in 2021, with ~200,000 at a "catastrophic" level of food insecurity. Compared to that figure, climate change is expected to place an extra 8 to 80 million people at risk of hunger by 2050 (depending on the intensity of future warming and the effectiveness of adaptation measures).: 717  Continued economic and agricultural development will likely improve food security for hundreds of millions of people by then. Research and predictions that extend further into the future (to 2100 and beyond) are rather limited, and some scientists have voiced concerns about the impact on food security from currently-unprecedented extreme weather events enabled by the future climate. Nevertheless, published scientific literature includes no expectation of a widespread global famine within the 21st century. A range of measures for climate change adaptation may reduce the risk of negative climate change impacts on agriculture. Those measures include changes in management practices, agricultural innovation, institutional changes, and climate-smart agriculture. To create a sustainable food system, these measures are considered as essential as changes needed to reduce global warming in general. Direct impacts from changing weather patterns Observed changes in adverse weather conditions Agriculture is sensitive to weather, and major events like heatwaves or droughts or heavy rains (also known as low and high precipitation extremes) can cause substantial losses. For example, Australia's farmers are very likely to suffer losses during the El Nino weather conditions, while 2003 European heat wave led to 13 billion euros in uninsured agriculture losses. Climate change is known to increase the frequency and severity of heatwaves, and to make precipitation less predictable and more prone to extremes, but since climate change attribution is still a relatively new field, connecting specific weather events and the shortfalls they cause to climate change over natural variability is often difficult. Exceptions include West Africa, where the climate-induced intensification of extreme weather was found to have already decreased millet yields by 10–20%, and sorghum yields 5–15%. Similarly, it was found that climate change had intensified drought conditions in Southern Africa in 2007, which elevated food prices and caused "acute food insecurity" in the country of Lesotho. Agriculture in Southern Africa was also adversely affected by drought after climate change intensified the impacts of 2014–2016 El Niño event.: 724 In Europe, between 1950 and 2019, heat extremes have become more frequent and also more likely to occur consecutively, while cold extremes have declined. At the same time, Northern Europe and much of Eastern Europe was found to experience extreme precipitation more often, while the Mediterranean became more affected by drought. Similarly, the severity of heatwave and drought impacts on European crop production was found to have tripled over a 50-year period – from losses of 2.2% during 1964–1990 to losses of 7.3% in 1991–2015. In the summer of 2018, heat waves probably linked to climate change greatly reduced average yield in many parts of the world, especially Europe. During the month of August, more crop failures resulted in a rise in global food prices.On the other hand, floods, often linked to climate change, have also had notable adverse effects on agriculture in the recent years. In May 2019, floods shortened corn planting season in the Midwestern United States, lowering the projected yield from 15 billion bushels to 14.2. During the 2021 European floods, estimates pointed to severe damage to the agricultural sector of Belgium, one of the countries hardest hit by the floods, including long-term effects like soil erosion. In China, 2023 research found that extreme rainfall had cost the country about 8% of its rice output over the two preceding decades. This was considered comparable to losses caused by extreme heat over this period. Projected impacts from temperature increase Changes in temperature and weather patterns will alter areas suitable for farming. The current prediction is that temperatures will increase and precipitation will decrease in arid and semi-arid regions (Middle East, Africa, Australia, Southwest United States, and Southern Europe). In addition, crop yields in tropical regions will be negatively affected by the projected moderate increase in temperature (1-2 °C) expected to occur during the first half of the century. During the second half of the century, further warming is projected to decrease crop yields in all regions including Canada and the Northern United States. Many staple crops are extremely sensitive to heat and when temperatures rise over 36 °C (97 °F), soybean seedlings are killed and corn pollen loses its vitality.Higher winter temperatures and more frost-free days in some regions can currently be disruptive, as they can cause phenological mismatch between flowering time of plants and the activity of pollinators, threatening their reproductive success. In the longer term, however, they would result in longer growing seasons. For example, a 2014 study found that maize yields in the Heilongjiang region of China increased by between 7 and 17% per decade as a result of rising temperatures. On the other hand, a year 2017 meta-analysis comparing data from four different methods of estimating impact of warming (two types of climate model, statistical regressions and field experiments where land around certain crops was warmed by a certain amount to compare them with the controls) concluded that on a global scale, warming alone has consistently negative impacts on the yields of four most important crops, suggesting that any increases would be down to precipitation changes and the CO2 fertilization effect. Heat stress of livestock Changes in agricultural water availability and reliability Both droughts and floods contribute to decreases in crop yields. On average, climate change increases the overall amount of water contained in the atmosphere by 7% per every 1 °C (1.8 °F), thus increasing precipitation. However, this increase in precipitation is not distributed evenly in space (atmospheric circulation patterns already cause different areas to receive different amounts of rainfall) or time: heavy rainfall, with the potential to cause floods, becomes more frequent. This means that under the probable mid-range climate change scenario, SSP2-4.5, precipitation events globally will become larger by 11.5%, yet the time between them will increase by an average of 5.1%. Under the highest-emission scenario SSP5-8.5, there will be an 18.5% increase in size of events and 9.6% increase in the duration between them. At the same time, water losses by plants through evotranspiration will increase almost everywhere due to higher temperatures. While the CO2 fertilization effect also reduces such losses by plants, it depends on the area's climate which effect will dominate. As such, the 2020–2023 Horn of Africa drought has been primarily attributed to the great increase in evotranspiration exacerbating the impact of persistent low rainfall, which would have been more manageable in the cooler preindustrial climate.In total, this means that droughts have been occurring more frequently on average because of climate change. Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East, most of the Americas, Australia, South and Southeast Asia are the parts of the globe where droughts are expected to become more frequent and intense in spite of the global increase in precipitation. Droughts disturb terrestrial precipitation, evaporation and soil moisture, and these impacts can be aggravated by population growth and urban expansion spurring on increased demand for water. The ultimate outcome is water scarcity, which results in crop failures and the loss of pasture grazing land for livestock, exacerbating pre-existing poverty in developing countries and leading to malnutrition and potentially famine. Irrigation of crops is able to reduce or even remove the impacts on yields of lower rainfall and higher temperatures - through localised cooling. However, using water resources for irrigation has downsides and is expensive. Further, some sources of irrigation water may become less reliable. This includes irrigation driven by water runoff from glaciers during the summer, as there has already been an observed retreat of glaciers since 1850, and it is expected to continue, depleting the glacial ice and reducing or outright eliminating runoff. In Asia, global warming of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) will reduce the ice mass of Asia's high mountains by about 29-43%,: Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers: In India alone, the river Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people. In the Indus River watershed, these mountain water resources contribute to up to 60% of irrigation outside of the monsoon season, and an additional 11% of total crop production. Since Effects of climate change on the water cycle are projected to substantially increase precipitation in all but the westernmost parts of the watershed, the loss of the glaciers is expected to be offset: however, agriculture in the region will become more reliable on monsoon than ever, and hydropower generation would become less predictable and reliable. Impacts on plants caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 and methane Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affects plants in a variety of ways. Elevated CO2 increases crop yields and growth through an increase in photosynthetic rate, and it also decreases water loss as a result of stomatal closing. Higher yields due to CO2 fertilisation Reduced nutritional value of crops Changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide may reduce the nutritional quality of some crops, with for instance wheat having less protein and less of some minerals.: 439  The nutritional quality of C3 plants (e.g. wheat, oats, rice) is especially at risk: lower levels of protein as well as minerals (for example zinc and iron) are expected.: 1379  Food crops could see a reduction of protein, iron and zinc content in common food crops of 3 to 17%. This is the projected result of food grown under the expected atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels of 2050. Using data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as well as other public sources, the authors analyzed 225 different staple foods, such as wheat, rice, maize, vegetables, roots and fruits.The effect of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on the nutritional quality of plants is not limited only to the above-mentioned crop categories and nutrients. A 2014 meta-analysis has shown that crops and wild plants exposed to elevated carbon dioxide levels at various latitudes have lower density of several minerals such as magnesium, iron, zinc, and potassium.Studies using Free-Air Concentration Enrichment have also shown that increases in CO2 lead to decreased concentrations of micronutrients in crop and non-crop plants with negative consequences for human nutrition, including decreased B vitamins in rice. This may have knock-on effects on other parts of ecosystems as herbivores will need to eat more food to gain the same amount of protein.Empirical evidence shows that increasing levels of CO2 result in lower concentrations of many minerals in plant tissues. Doubling CO2 levels results in an 8% decline, on average, in the concentration of minerals. Declines in magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and other minerals in crops can worsen the quality of human nutrition. Researchers report that the CO2 levels expected in the second half of the 21st century will likely reduce the levels of zinc, iron, and protein in wheat, rice, peas, and soybeans. Some two billion people live in countries where citizens receive more than 60 percent of their zinc or iron from these types of crops. Deficiencies of these nutrients already cause an estimated loss of 63 million life-years annually.Alongside a decrease in minerals, evidence shows that plants contain 6% more carbon, 15% less nitrogen, 9% less phosphorus, and 9% less sulfur at double CO2 conditions. The increase in carbon is mostly attributed to carbohydrates without a structural role in plants – the human-digestable, calorie-providing starch and simple sugars. The decrease in nitrogen translates directly into a decrease in the protein content. As a result, higher CO2 not only reduce a plant's micronutrients, but also the quality of its macronutrient combination. Increasing damages from surface-level ozone Anthropogenic methane emissions have a significant contribution to warming due to the high global warming potential of methane. At the same time, methane also acts as a precursor to surface ozone, which is a significant air pollutant. Its effects include lowering physiological functions and therefore the yield and quality of crops.: 732  Following methane levels, tropospheric ozone levels "increased substantially since the late 19th century",: 732  and according to a 2016 estimate, the four major crops (see later section) experienced yield losses of 5±1.5% relative to a no-climate change scenario due to ozone increases alone, which is nearly half of the negative impacts caused by the other impacts of climate change (10.9±3.2%), and cancels out most of the CO2 fertilization effect (6.5±1.0%).: 724 Changes in the extent and quality of agricultural land Erosion and soil fertility The warmer atmospheric temperatures observed over the past decades are expected to lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle, including more extreme rainfall events. Erosion and soil degradation is more likely to occur. Soil fertility would also be affected by global warming. Increased erosion in agricultural landscapes from anthropogenic factors can occur with losses of up to 22% of soil carbon in 50 years.Climate change will also cause soils to warm. In turn, this could cause the soil microbe population size to dramatically increase 40–150%. Warmer conditions would favor growth of certain bacteria species, shifting the bacterial community composition. Elevated carbon dioxide would increase the growth rates of plants and soil microbes, slowing the soil carbon cycle and favoring oligotrophs, which are slower-growing and more resource efficient than copiotrophs. Agricultural land loss from sea level rise A rise in the sea level would result in an agricultural land loss, in particular in areas such as South East Asia. Erosion, submergence of shorelines, salinity of the water table due to the increased sea levels, could mainly affect agriculture through inundation of low-lying lands. Low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, India and Vietnam will experience major loss of rice crop if sea levels rise as expected by the end of the century. Vietnam for example relies heavily on its southern tip, where the Mekong Delta lies, for rice planting. A one metre rise in sea level will cover several square kilometres of rice paddies in Vietnam.Besides simply flooding agricultural land, sea level rise can also cause saltwater intrusion into freshwater wells, particularly if they are already below sea level. Once the concentration of saltwater exceeds 2-3%, the well becomes unusable. Notably, areas along an estimated 15% of the US coastline already have the majority of local groundwater below the sea level. Thawing of potentially arable land Climate change may increase the amount of arable land by reducing the amount of frozen land. A 2005 study reports that temperature in Siberia has increased three-degree Celsius in average since 1960 (much more than the rest of the world). However, reports about the impact of global warming on Russian agriculture indicate conflicting probable effects: while they expect a northward extension of farmable lands, they also warn of possible productivity losses and increased risk of drought.The Arctic region is expected to benefit from increased opportunities for agriculture and forestry. Response of insects, plant diseases and weeds Climate change will alter pest, plant disease and weed distributions, with potential to reduce crop yields, including of staple crops like wheat, soybeans, and corn. Warmer temperatures can increase the metabolic rate and number of breeding cycles of insect populations. Historically, cold temperatures at night and in the winter months would kill off insects, bacteria and fungi. The warmer, wetter winters are promoting fungal plant diseases like wheat rusts (stripe and brown/leaf) and soybean rust to travel northward. The increasing incidence of flooding and heavy rains also promotes the growth of various other plant pests and diseases. Insect pollinators and pests Climate change is expected to have a negative impact on many insects, greatly reducing their species distribution and thus increasing their risk of going extinct. Around 9% of agricultural production is dependent in some way on insect pollination, and some pollinator species are also adversely affected, with wild bumblebees known to be particularly vulnerable to recent warming.At the same time, insects are the most diverse animal taxa, and some species will benefit from the changes, including notable agricultural pests and disease vectors. Insects that previously had only two breeding cycles per year could gain an additional cycle if warm growing seasons extend, causing a population boom. Temperate places and higher latitudes are more likely to experience a dramatic change in insect populations: for instance, the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic in British Columbia, Canada had killed millions of pine trees, partially because the winters were not cold enough to slow or kill the growing beetle larvae. Likewise, potato tuber moth and Colorado potato beetle are predicted to spread into areas currently too cold for them.Further, effects of climate change on the water cycle often mean that both wet seasons and drought seasons will become more intense. Some insect species will breed more rapidly because they are better able to take advantage of such changes in conditions. This includes certain insect pests, such as aphids and whiteflies: similarly, locust swarms could also cause more damage as the result. A notable example was the 2019–2022 locust infestation focused on East Africa, considered the worst of its kind in many decades.The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a highly invasive plant pest, which can cause have massive damage to crops, especially maize. In the recent years, it has spread to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and this spread is linked to climate change. It is expected that these highly invasive crop pests will spread to other parts of the planet since they have a high capacity to adapt to different environments. Invasive plant species (weeds) A changing climate may favour the more biologically diverse weeds over the monocrops most farms consist of. Characteristics of weeds such as their genetic diversity, cross-breeding ability, and fast-growth rates put them at an advantage in changing climates as these characteristics allow them to adapt readily in comparison to most farm's uniform crops, and give them a biological advantage.Weeds also undergo the same acceleration of cycles as cultivated crops, and would also benefit from CO2 fertilization. Since most weeds are C3 plants, they are likely to compete even more than now against C4 crops such as corn. The increased CO2 levels are also expected to increase the tolerance of weeds to herbicides, reducing their efficiency. However, this may be counteracted by increased temperatures elevating their effectiveness. Plant pathogens Currently, pathogens result in losses of 10-16% of the global harvest and this level is likely to rise as plants are at an ever-increasing risk of exposure to pests and pathogens. Research has shown that climate change may alter the developmental stages of plant pathogens that can affect crops. This includes several pathogens associated with potato blackleg disease (e.g. Dickeya), as they grow and reproduce faster at higher temperatures. The warming is also expected to elevate food safety issues and food spoilage caused by mycotoxin-producing fungi, and bacteria such as Salmonella.Climate change would cause an increase in rainfall in some areas, which would lead to an increase of atmospheric humidity and the duration of the wet seasons. Combined with higher temperatures, these conditions could favour the development of fungal diseases, such as late blight, or bacterial infections such as Ralstonia solanacearum, which may also be able to spread more easily through flash flooding.Climate change has the capability of altering pathogen and host interactions, specifically the rates of pathogen infection and the resistance of the host plant. Also impacted by plant disease are the economic costs associated with growing different plants that might yield less profit as well as treating and managing already diseased crops. For instance, soybean rust is a vicious plant pathogen that can kill off entire fields in a matter of days, devastating farmers and costing billions in agricultural losses. Change in weather patterns and temperature due to climate change leads to dispersal of plant pathogens as hosts migrate to areas with more favourable conditions. This increases crop losses due to diseases. For instance, aphids act as vectors for many potato viruses and will be able to spread further due to increased temperatures. Impacts on crop yields Observed impacts According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report from 2022, there's high confidence that in and of itself, climate change to date has left primarily negative impacts on both crop yields and quality of produce, although there has been some regional variation:: 724  more negative impacts have been observed for some crops in low-latitudes (maize and wheat), while positive impacts of climate change have been observed in some crops in high-latitudes (maize, wheat, and sugar beets).: 8  I.e. during the period 1981 to 2008, global warming has had negative impacts on wheat yield in especially tropical regions, with decreases in average global yields by 5.5%. A study in 2019 tracked ~20,000 political units globally for 10 crops (maize, rice, wheat, soybean, barley, cassava, oil palm, rapeseed, sorghum and sugarcane), providing more detail on the spatial resolution and a larger number of crops than previously studied. It found that crop yields across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Australia had in general decreased because of climate change (compared to the baseline value of 2004–2008 average data), though exceptions are present. The impact of global climate change on yields of different crops from climate trends ranged from -13.4% (oil palm) to 3.5% (soybean). The study also showed that impacts are generally positive in Latin America. Impacts in Asia and Northern and Central America are mixed.While the Green Revolution had ensured the growth of overall crop production per land area of 250% to 300% since the 1960,: 727  with around 44% attributed to newer crop varieties alone, it is believed this growth would have been even greater without the counteracting role of climate change on major crop yields over the same period. Between 1961 and 2021, global agricultural productivity could have been 21% greater than it actually was, if it did not have to contend with climate change. Such shortfalls would have affected food security of vulnerable populations the most:: 724  a study in 2019 showed that climate change has already increased the risk of food insecurity in many food insecure countries. Even in developed countries such as Australia, extreme weather associated with climate change has been found to cause a wide range of cascading spillovers through supply chain disruption, in addition to its primary impact on fruit, vegetable and livestock sectors and the rural communities reliant on them.Between 1961 and 1985, cereal production more than doubled in developing nations, largely due to the development of irrigation, fertilizer, and seed varieties. Even in the absence of further scientific/technological developments, many of the existing advancements have not been evenly distributed, and their spread from the developed world to the developing world is expected to drive some improvements on its own. Further, agricultural expansion has slowed down in the recent years, but this trend is widely expected to reverse in the future in order to maintain the global food supply under all but the most optimistic climate change scenarios consistent with the Paris Agreement. Generalized yield projections In 2007, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report had suggested that global production potential would increase up to around 3 °C (5.4 °F) of globally averaged warming, as productivity increases for cereals in high latitudes would outweigh decreases in the low latitudes and global aggregate yields of rain-fed agriculture would increase by 5–20% in the first half of the 21st century. Warming exceeding this level would very likely see global declines in yields.: 14–15  Since then, subsequent reports had been more negative on the global production potential.The US National Research Council assessed the literature on the effects of climate change on crop yields in 2011, and provided central estimates for key crops.: 160  A meta-analysis in 2014 revealed consensus that yield is expected to decrease in the second half of the century, and with greater effect in tropical than temperate regions. Impacts on yields for four major crops There is a large number of agricultural crops, but not all of them are equally important. Most climate change assessments focus on "four major crops" - maize, rice, wheat and soybeans - which are consumed directly and indirectly, as animal feed (the main purpose of soybeans). The three cereals are collectively responsible for half of the total human calorie intake, and together with soybeans, they account for two thirds. Different methods have been used to project future yields of these crops, and by 2019, the consensus was that warming would lead to aggregate declines of the four. Maize and soybean would decrease with any warming, whereas rice and wheat production might peak at 3 °C (5.4 °F) of warming.: 453 In 2021, a paper which used an ensemble of 21 climate models estimated that under the most intense climate change scenario used at the time, RCP8.5, global yields of these four crops would decline by between 3–12% around 2050 and by 11–25% by the year 2100. The losses were concentrated in what are currently the major agricultural producers and exporters. For instance, even by 2050, some agricultural areas of Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Southeast China, Southern Europe and the United States would suffer production losses of mostly maize and soybeans exceeding 25%. A similar finding - that some major "breadbaskets" would begin to see unequivocal impacts of climate change, both positive and negative, before the year 2040 - had been established in another study from the same year. Since it represents the worst-case scenario of continually increasing emissions with no efforts to reduce them, RCP8.5 is often considered unrealistic, and a less intense RCP4.5 scenario (which still leads to nearly 3 °C (5.4 °F) by century's end, far in excess of the Paris Agreement goals) is now usually considered a better match for the current trajectory. Maize Out of the four crops, maize is considered the most vulnerable to warming, with one meta-analysis concluding that every 1 °C (1.8 °F) of global warming reduces maize yields by 7.4%.It is also a C4 carbon fixation plant, meaning that it experiences little benefit from the increased CO2 levels. When the results from modelling experiments comparing the combined output of latest earth system models and dedicated agricultural crop models were published in 2021, the most notable new finding was the substantial reduction in projected global yields of maize. While the previous generation suggested that under the low-warming scenario, maize productivity would increase by around 5% by the end of the century, the latest had shown a reduction of 6% under the equivalent scenario, SSP1-2.6. Under the high-emission SSP5-8.5, there was a global decline of 24% by 2100, as opposed to the earlier suggestion of a 1% increase. Rice Studies indicate that on their own, temperature changes reduce global rice yields by 3.2% for every 1 °C (1.8 °F) of global warming. Projections become more complicated once the changes in precipitation, CO2 fertilization effect and other factors need to be taken into account: for instance, climate impacts on rice growth in East Asia had been a net positive so far,: 728  although 2023 research suggested that by the end of the century, China could lose up to 8% of its rice yield due to increases in extreme rainfall events alone. As of 2021, global projections of rice yields from the most advanced climate and agricultural models were less consistent than they were for wheat and maize, and less able to identify a clear statistically significant trend. Wheat Climate change impacts on rainfed wheat will vary depending on the region and local climatic conditions. Studies in Iran surrounding changes in temperature and rainfall are representative for several different parts of the world since there exists a wide range of climatic conditions. They range from temperate to hot-arid to cold semi-arid. Scenarios based on increasing temperature by up to 2.5 °C (4.5 °F) and rainfall decreases by up to 25% show wheat grain yield losses can be significant. The losses can be as much as 45% in temperate areas and over 50% in hot-arid areas. But in cold semi-arid areas yields can be increased somewhat (about 15%). Adaptation strategies with the most promise center around dates for seed planting. Late planting in November to January can have significant positive impacts on yields due to the seasonality of rainfall. However, those experiments did not consider the effects of CO2 increases. Globally, temperature changes alone are expected to reduce annual wheat yield by 6% for every 1 °C (1.8 °F) of global warming. However, other factors such as precipitation and the CO2 fertilization effect benefit wheat yields far more. In November 2021, the results from modelling experiments comparing the combined output of latest earth system models and dedicated agricultural crop models were published. While it projected a consistent decrease in future global yields of maize, particularly under greater warming, it found the opposite for wheat yields. When the previous generation of models suggested a 9% increase in global wheat yields by 2100 under the high-emission scenario, the updated results indicate that under its highest-warming SSP5-8.5 scenario, they would increase by 18%. Soybeans Studies have shown that when CO2 levels rise, soybean leaves are less nutritious; therefore plant-eating beetles have to eat more to get their required nutrients. In addition, soybeans are less capable of defending themselves against the predatory insects under high CO2. The CO2 diminishes the plant's jasmonic acid production, an insect-killing poison that is excreted when the plant senses it's being attacked. Without this protection, beetles are able to eat the soybean leaves freely, resulting in a lower crop yield. This is not a problem unique to soybeans, and many plant species' defense mechanisms are impaired in a high CO2 environment.Studies indicate that on their own, temperature changes reduce global soybean yields by 3.1% for every 1 °C (1.8 °F) of global warming. These projections become more complicated once the changes in precipitation, CO2 fertilization effect and other factors need to be taken into account: as of 2021, global projections of soybean yields from the most advanced climate and agricultural models were less able to establish a strong trend when compared to the projections for maize and wheat. Other crops Climate change induced by increasing greenhouse gases is likely to differ across crops and countries. Millet and sorghum Millet and sorghum are not as widely consumed as the four major crops, but they are crucial staples in many African countries. A paper published in the year 2022 found that under the highest-warming SSP5-8.5 scenario, changes in temperature and soil moisture would reduce the aggregate yields of millet, sorghum, maize and soybeans by between 9% and 32%, depending on the model. Notably, this was a less pessimistic result than in the earlier models, which the authors attributed to simulating soil moisture directly, rather than attempting to indirectly account for it by tracking precipitation changes caused by effects of climate change on the water cycle. Lentils (besides soybeans) Climate change induced drought stress in Africa will likely lead to a reduction in the nutritional quality of the common bean. This would primarily impact populations in poorer countries less able to compensate by eating more food, more varied diets, or possibly taking supplements. Potatoes As well as affecting potatoes directly, climate change will also affect the distributions and populations of many potato diseases and pests. For instance, late blight is predicted to become a greater threat in some areas (e.g. in Finland) and become a lesser threat in others (e.g. in the United Kingdom Altogether, one year 2011 estimate suggests that future worldwide potato yield would be 18-32% lower than it was at the time, driven by declines in hotter areas like Sub-Saharan Africa, unless farmers and potato cultivars can adapt to the new environment. Grapevines (wine production) Impacts on livestock rearing Global food security and undernutrition Scientific understanding of how climate change would impact global food security has evolved over time. For the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, the analysis of four main SRES pathways had shown with medium confidence (about 50% certainty)) that trends of social and economic development in three of them (A1, B1, B2) would see the number of undernourished people decline to 100-130 million people by the year 2080, while trends in A2 projected 770 million undernourished - similar to the contemporary (early 21st century) figures of ~700 million people. Once the impact of climate change implied by those scenarios was taken into account, A1, B1 and B2 scenarios would see 100-380 million undernourished by 2080 (still a major decline in hunger from 2006 levels), and A2 would see 740–1,300 million, although there was only low (20% certainty) to medium certainty in these figures. Sub-Saharan Africa would likely overtake Asia as the world's most food-insecure region, primarily due to differing socioeconomic trends.It is difficult to project the impact of climate change on utilization (protecting food against spoilage, being healthy enough to absorb nutrients, etc.) In 2016, a modelling study suggested that by mid-century, the most intense climate change scenario would reduce per capita global food availability by 3.2%, with a 0.7% decrease in red meat consumption and a 4% decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption. According to its numbers, 529,000 people would die between 2010 and 2050 as the result, primarily in South Asia and East Asia: two-thirds of those deaths would be caused by the lack of micronutrients from reduced fruit and vegetable supply, rather than outright starvation. Acting to slow climate change would reduce these projections by up to 71%. Food prices are also expected to become more volatile.As of 2017, around 821 million people had suffered from hunger. This was equivalent to about 11% of the world population: regionally, this included 23.2% of sub-Saharan Africa, 16.5% of the Caribbean and 14.8% of South Asia. In 2021, 720 million to 811 million people were considered undernourished in 2021 (of whom 200,000, 32.3 million and 112.3 million people were at a "catastrophic", "emergency" and "crisis" levels of food insecurity, respectively). In 2020, research suggested that the baseline projected level of socioeconomic development (Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2) would reduce this number to 122 million globally by 2050, even as the population grows to reach 9.2 billion. The impact of climate change would at most increase this 2050 figure by around 80 million, and the negative impact could be reduced to 20 million through enabling easier food trade with measures such as eliminating tariffs. In 2021, a meta-analysis of 57 studies on food security was more pessimistic, suggesting that the year 2050 population at risk of hunger would be around 500 million under SSP2. Some variations of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways with high climate change and a lack of equitable global development instead resulted in an outright increase of global hunger by up to 30% from its 2010 levels.The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report suggests that by 2050, the number of people at risk of hunger will increase under all scenarios by between 8 to 80 million people, with nearly all of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Central America. However, this comparison was done relative to a world where no climate change had occurred, and so it does not rule out the possibility of an overall reduction in hunger risk when compared to present-day conditions.: 717  The earlier Special Report on Climate Change and Land suggested that under a relatively high emission scenario (RCP6.0), cereals may become 1–29% more expensive in 2050 depending on the socioeconomic pathway.: 439  Compared to a scenario where climate change is absent, this would put between 1–181 million people with low income at risk of hunger. There are fewer projections looking beyond 2050. In general, even as climate change would cause increasingly severe effects on food production, most scientists do not anticipate it to result in mass human mortality within this century. This is in part because the studies also anticipate at least some continuation of the ongoing agricultural improvements, yet also because of agricultural expansion. For instance, a 2013 paper estimated that if the high warming of RCP 8.5 scenario was not alleviated by CO2 fertilization effect, it would reduce aggregate yields by 17% by the year 2050: yet, it anticipated that this would be mostly offset through an 11% increase in cropland area. Similarly, one of the assumptions of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways is a significant increase in land allocated to agriculture (and a corresponding decrease in forest and "other natural land" area) in every pathway besides the SSP1 (officially subtitled "Sustainability" or "Taking the Green Road"), where the inverse occurs - and which has both the lowest level of future warming and the lowest projected population growth. Impacts of extreme weather and synchronized crop failures Some scientists consider the aforementioned projections of crop yields and food security of limited use, because in their view, they primarily model climate change as a change in mean climate state, and are not as well-equipped to consider climatic extremes. For instance, a paper published in 2021 had also attempted to calculate the number of people facing hunger in 2050 - but now on the assumption that a climate event with a 1% (i.e. once in 100 years) likelihood of occurring in the new climate (meaning it would have been effectively impossible in the present climate) were to impact that year. It estimated that such an event would increase the baseline number by 11–33% even in the low-emission scenario, and by 20–36% in the high-emission one. If such an event were to impact more vulnerable regions like South Asia, then they would have required triple their 2021 level of known food reserves to absorb the blow. Notably, other papers show that simulating recent historical extreme events in climate models, such as the 2003 European heatwave, typically results in lower impacts than what had been observed in the real world, indicating that the impacts of future extreme events are also likely to be underestimated. The difference between climatic mean and extremes may be particularly important for determining areas where agriculture may stop being viable. In 2021, a research team aimed to extend climate model projections of mean changes in temperature and the water cycle to the year 2500. They suggested that under the second-strongest warming scenario RCP6.0, land area capable of supporting four major temperate crops (maize, potato, soybean and wheat) would become about 11% smaller by 2100 and 18.3% smaller by 2500, while for major tropical crops (cassava, rice, sweet potato, sorghum, taro, and yam), it would decline by only 2.3% around 2100, yet by around 15% by 2500. Under the low-emission scenario RCP2.6, changes are much smaller, with around 3% decline in suitable land area for temperate crops by 2500 and an equivalent gain for tropical trops by then. Yet, another paper from 2021 suggested that by 2100, under the high-emission SSP5-8.5, 31% and 34% of the current crop and livestock production would leave what the authors have defined as a "safe climatic space": that is, those areas (most of South Asia and the Middle East, as well as parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Central America) would experience very rapid shift in Holdridge life zones (HLZ) and associated weather, while also being low in social resilience. Notably, a similar fraction of global crop and livestock production would also experience a large change in HLZ, but in more developed areas which would have better chances of adapting. In contrast, under the low-emissions SSP1-2.6, 5% and 8% of crop and livestock production would leave what is defined as the safe climatic space. Also in 2021, it was suggested that the high-emission scenario would result in a 4.5-fold increase in the probability of breadbasket failures (defined as a yield loss of 10% or more) by 2030, which could then increase 25 times by 2050. This corresponds to reaching 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) and 2 °C (3.6 °F) thresholds under that scenario: earlier research suggested that for maize, this would increase risks for multiple simultaneous breadbasket failures (yield loss of 10% or more) from 6% under the late-20th century climate to 40% and 54%, respectively. Some countries are particularly dependent on imports from certain exporters, meaning that a crop failure in those countries would hit them disproportionately. I.e. a ban on export of staple crops from Russia, Thailand and the United States alone would place around 200 million people (90% from Sub-Saharan Africa) at risk of starvation.Additionally, there is the issue of representing synchronization - where extreme climate events happen to strike multiple important producer regions around the same time. It was estimated that if hypothetically, every region with a synchronized growing season were to experience crop failure at the same time, it would cause losses of four major crops between 17% and 34%. More realistically, analysis of historic data suggested that there have already been synchronized climate events associated with up to 20% yield losses. According to a 2016 estimate, if global maize, rice and wheat exports declined by 10%, 55 million people in 58 poor countries lose at least 5% of their food supply. Further, two specific Rossby wave pattern are known to induce simultaneous heat extremes in either Eastern Asia, Eastern Europe and Central North America, or in Western Asia, Western Europe and Western Central North America, respectively. These heat extremes have already been shown to cause 3-4% declines in crop yield across the affected regions: yet, concerningly, climate models overestimate the impacts of such historic events in North America and underestimate them elsewhere, simulating effectively no net yield loss. Labour and economic impacts As extreme weather events become more common and more intense, floods and droughts can destroy crops and eliminate food supply, while disrupting agricultural activities and rendering workers jobless. With more costs to the farmer, some will no longer find it financially feasible to farm: i.e. some farmers may choose to permanently leave drought-affected areas. Agriculture employs the majority of the population in most low-income countries and increased costs can result in worker layoffs or pay cuts. Other farmers will respond by raising their food prices; a cost which is directly passed on to the consumer and impacts the affordability of food. Some farms do not sell their produce but instead feed a family or community; without that food, people will not have enough to eat. This results in decreased production, increased food prices, and potential starvation in parts of the world. The agriculture industry in India makes up 52% of their employment and the Canadian Prairies supply 51% of Canadian agriculture; any changes in the production of food crops from these areas could have profound effects on the economy.Notably, one estimate suggests that a warming of 3 °C (5.4 °F) relative to late 20th century (i.e. closer to 4 °C (7.2 °F) when compared to preindustrial temperatures - a level associated with the SSP5-8.5 scenario) would cause labour capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to decline by 30 to 50%, as the number of days when outdoor workers experience heat stress increases: up to 250 days the worst-affected parts of these two continents and of Central and South America. This could then increase crop prices by around 5%.: 717 : 725  Similarly, North China Plain is also expected to be highly affected, in part due to the region's extensive irrigation networks resulting in unusually moist air. In scenarios without aggressive action to stop climate change, some heatwaves could become extreme enough to cause mass mortality in outdoor labourers, although they will remain relatively uncommon (up to around once per decade starting from 2l00 under the most extreme scenario).Further, the role of climate change in undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies can be calculated as the loss of "years of full health".: 717 One estimate presented in 2016 suggests that under the scenario of strong warming and low adaptation due to high global conflict and rivalry, such losses may take up 0.4% of the global GDP and 4% of the GDP in India and the South Asian region by the year 2100. Regional impacts Africa Asia For East and Southeast Asia, an estimate in 2007 stated that crop yields could increase up to 20% by the mid-21st century.: 13  In Central and South Asia, projections suggested that yields might decrease by up to 30%, over the same time period. Taken together, the risk of hunger was projected to remain very high in several developing countries.Different Asian Countries gain various impact from climate change. China, for example, benefits from a 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) tempreture increase scenario accompanying with carbon fertilization and leading to a 3% gain of US$18 billion per year; however, India will face two thirds of the continent's aggregate losses on agriculture because its high corp net revenue suffers from the high spring temperature. In the Indo-Gangetic plain of India, heat stress and water availability are predicted to have significant negative impacts on yield of wheat. Direct impacts of increased mean and maximum temperatures is predicted to reduce wheat yields by up to 10%. The impact of reduced availability of water for irrigation is more significant, running at yield losses up to 35%. Due to climate change, livestock production will be decreased in Bangladesh by diseases, scarcity of forage, heat stress and breeding strategies. Australia and New Zealand Without further adaptation to climate change, projected impacts would likely be substantial. By 2030, production from agriculture and forestry was projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia, and over parts of eastern New Zealand. In New Zealand, initial benefits were projected close to major rivers and in western and southern areas. Europe For Southern Europe, it was predicted in 2007 that climate change would reduce crop productivity.: 14  In Central and Eastern Europe, forest productivity was expected to decline. In Northern Europe, the initial effect of climate change was projected to increase crop yields. The 2019 European Environment Agency report "Climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector in Europe" again confirmed this. According to this 2019 report, projections indicate that yields of non-irrigated crops like wheat, corn and sugar beet would decrease in southern Europe by up to 50% by 2050 (under a high-end emission scenario). This could result in a substantial decrease in farm income by that date. Also farmland values are projected to decrease in parts of southern Europe by more than 80% by 2100, which could result in land abandonment. The trade patterns are also said to be impacted, in turn affecting agricultural income. Also, increased food demand worldwide could exert pressure on food prices in the coming decades. In Ukraine, where temperatures are increasing throughout the year and precipitation is predicted to increase, winter wheat yields (wheat sown in winter) could increase by 20-40% in the north and northwestern regions by 2050, as compared to 2010. Latin America The major agricultural products of Latin America include livestock and grains; such as maize, wheat, soybeans, and rice. Increased temperatures and altered hydrological cycles are predicted to translate to shorter growing seasons, overall reduced biomass production, and lower grain yields. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina alone contribute 70-90% of the total agricultural production in Latin America. In these and other dry regions, maize production is expected to decrease. A study summarizing a number of impact studies of climate change on agriculture in Latin America indicated that wheat is expected to decrease in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Livestock, which is the main agricultural product for parts of Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia is likely to be reduced. Variability in the degree of production decrease among different regions of Latin America is likely. For example, one 2003 study that estimated future maize production in Latin America predicted that by 2055 maize in eastern Brazil will have moderate changes while Venezuela is expected to have drastic decreases.Increased rainfall variability has been one of the most devastating consequences of climate change in Central America and Mexico. From 2009 to 2019, the region saw years of heavy rainfall in between years of below average rainfall. The spring rains of May and June have been particularly erratic, posing issues for farmers plant their maize crops at the onset of the spring rains. Most subsistence farmers in the region have no irrigation and thus depend on the rains for their crops to grow. In Mexico, only 21% of farms are irrigated, leaving the remaining 79% dependent on rainfall.Suggested potential adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of global warming on agriculture in Latin America include using plant breeding technologies and installing irrigation infrastructure. North America Droughts are becoming more frequent and intense in arid and semiarid western North America as temperatures have been rising, advancing the timing and magnitude of spring snow melt floods and reducing river flow volume in summer. Direct effects of climate change include increased heat and water stress, altered crop phenology, and disrupted symbiotic interactions. These effects may be exacerbated by climate changes in river flow, and the combined effects are likely to reduce the abundance of native trees in favour of non-native herbaceous and drought-tolerant competitors, reduce the habitat quality for many native animals, and slow litter decomposition and nutrient cycling. Climate change effects on human water demand and irrigation may intensify these effects.In Canada, notable increases are predicted for spring-sown wheat. Adaptation Changes in management practices Adaptation in agriculture is often not policy driven, but farmers make their own decisions in response to the situation they face. Changes in management practices might be the most important adaptation option.Changes in locations of agriculture and international trade in food commodities might also contribute to adaptation efforts. Agricultural innovation Agricultural innovation is essential to addressing the potential issues of climate change. This includes better management of soil, water-saving technology, matching crops to environments, introducing different crop varieties, crop rotations, appropriate fertilization use, and supporting community-based adaptation strategies. On a government and global level, research and investments into agricultural productivity and infrastructure must be done to get a better picture of the issues involved and the best methods to address them. Government policies and programs must provide environmentally sensitive government subsidies, educational campaigns and economic incentives as well as funds, insurance and safety nets for vulnerable populations. In addition, providing early warning systems, and accurate weather forecasts to poor or remote areas will allow for better preparation. Technological solutions to pests and weeds There are a few proposed solutions to the issue of expanding pest populations (pest control). One proposed solution is to increase the number of pesticides used on crops. This has the benefit of being relatively cost effective and simple, but may be ineffective. Many pest insects have been building up a pesticide resistance. Another proposed solution is to utilize biological control agents. This includes things like planting rows of native vegetation in between rows of crops. This solution is beneficial in its overall environmental impact. Not only are more native plants getting planted, but pest insects are no longer building up an immunity to pesticides. However, planting additional native plants requires more room. Institutional changes A mere focus on agricultural technology will not be sufficient. Work is underway to enable and fund institutional change, and to develop dynamic policies for long-term climate change adaptation in agriculture. A 2013 study by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics aimed to find science-based, pro-poor approaches and techniques that would enable Asia's agricultural systems to cope with climate change, while benefiting poor and vulnerable farmers. The study's recommendations ranged from improving the use of climate information in local planning and strengthening weather-based agro-advisory services, to stimulating diversification of rural household incomes and providing incentives to farmers to adopt natural resource conservation measures to enhance forest cover, replenish groundwater and use renewable energy. Climate-smart agriculture Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture See also 2022 food crises Agroecology Climate change and invasive species Climate change and meat production Climate resilience Effects of climate change Effects of climate change on fisheries Environmental issues with agriculture Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019 IPCC report) References External links Climate change (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) Climate adaptation & mitigation (CGIAR) Climate-smart agriculture (Worldbank)

organic farming

Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares (170 million acres) globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organizations today. Biological pest control, mixed cropping, and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur, and ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety. Organic agricultural methods are internationally regulated and legally enforced by transnational organizations (as European Union) and many nations, based in large part on the standards set by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), an international umbrella organization for organic farming organizations established in 1972. Organic agriculture can be defined as "an integrated farming system that strives for sustainability, the enhancement of soil fertility and biological diversity while, with rare exceptions, prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and growth hormones".Since 1990, the market for organic food and other products has grown rapidly, reaching $63 billion worldwide in 2012.: 25  This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland that grew from 2001 to 2011 at a compounding rate of 8.9% per year. As of 2020, approximately 75,000,000 hectares (190,000,000 acres) worldwide were farmed organically, representing approximately 1.6% of total world farmland.Organic farming can be beneficial on biodiversity and environmental protection at local level. However, because organic farming has sometimes lower yields compared to intensive farming, additional agricultural land is needed elsewhere in the world, which means that natural and forest land has to be converted into agricultural land. This can cause loss of biodiversity and negative climate effects that sometimes outweigh the local environmental gains achieved. This lower yields does not include dry lands. Food waste of industrial agriculture must be take into account. History Agriculture was practiced for thousands of years without the use of artificial chemicals. Artificial fertilizers were first developed during the mid-19th century. These early fertilizers were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar advances occurred in chemical pesticides in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as the 'pesticide era'. These new agricultural techniques, while beneficial in the short-term, had serious longer-term side-effects such as soil compaction, erosion, and declines in overall soil fertility, along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering the food supply.: 10  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, soil biology scientists began to seek ways to remedy these side effects while still maintaining higher production. In 1921 the founder and pioneer of the organic movement Albert Howard and his wife Gabrielle Howard, accomplished botanists, founded an Institute of Plant Industry to improve traditional farming methods in India. Among other things, they brought improved implements and improved animal husbandry methods from their scientific training; then by incorporating aspects of Indian traditional methods, developed protocols for the rotation of crops, erosion prevention techniques, and the systematic use of composts and manures. Stimulated by these experiences of traditional farming, when Albert Howard returned to Britain in the early 1930s he began to promulgate a system of organic agriculture.In 1924 Rudolf Steiner gave a series of eight lectures on agriculture with a focus on influences of the moon, planets, non-physical beings and elemental forces. They were held in response to a request by adherent farmers who noticed degraded soil conditions and a deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers. The lectures were published in November 1924; the first English translation appeared in 1928 as The Agriculture Course.In July 1939, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, the author of the standard work on biodynamic agriculture (Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening), came to the UK at the invitation of Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne as a presenter at the Betteshanger Summer School and Conference on Biodynamic Farming at Northbourne's farm in Kent. One of the chief purposes of the conference was to bring together the proponents of various approaches to organic agriculture in order that they might cooperate within a larger movement. Howard attended the conference, where he met Pfeiffer. In the following year, Northbourne published his manifesto of organic farming, Look to the Land, in which he coined the term "organic farming". The Betteshanger conference has been described as the 'missing link' between biodynamic agriculture and other forms of organic farming.In 1940 Howard published his An Agricultural Testament. In this book he adopted Northbourne's terminology of "organic farming". Howard's work spread widely, and he became known as the "father of organic farming" for his work in applying scientific knowledge and principles to various traditional and natural methods.: 45  In the United States J. I. Rodale, who was keenly interested both in Howard's ideas and in biodynamics, founded in the 1940s both a working organic farm for trials and experimentation, The Rodale Institute, and Rodale, Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania to teach and advocate organic methods to the wider public. These became important influences on the spread of organic agriculture. Further work was done by Lady Eve Balfour (the Haughley Experiment) in the United Kingdom, and many others across the world. The term "eco-agriculture" was coined in 1970 by Charles Walters, founder of Acres Magazine, to describe agriculture which does not use "man-made molecules of toxic rescue chemistry", effectively another name for organic agriculture.Increasing environmental awareness in the general population in modern times has transformed the originally supply-driven organic movement to a demand-driven one. Premium prices and some government subsidies attracted farmers. In the developing world, many producers farm according to traditional methods that are comparable to organic farming, but not certified, and that may not include the latest scientific advancements in organic agriculture. In other cases, farmers in the developing world have converted to modern organic methods for economic reasons. Terminology The use of "organic" popularized by Howard and Rodale refers more narrowly to the use of organic matter derived from plant compost and animal manures to improve the humus content of soils, grounded in the work of early soil scientists who developed what was then called "humus farming". Since the early 1940s the two camps have tended to merge.Biodynamic agriculturists, on the other hand, used the term "organic" to indicate that a farm should be viewed as a living organism,: 17–19  in the sense of the following quotation: "An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system that has the integrity, the independence and the benign dependence of an organism" They based their work on Steiner's spiritually-oriented alternative agriculture which includes various esoteric concepts. Methods "Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved..." Organic farming methods combine scientific knowledge of ecology and some modern technology with traditional farming practices based on naturally occurring biological processes. Organic farming methods are studied in the field of agroecology. While conventional agriculture uses synthetic pesticides and water-soluble synthetically purified fertilizers, organic farmers are restricted by regulations to using natural pesticides and fertilizers. An example of a natural pesticide is pyrethrin, which is found naturally in the Chrysanthemum flower. The principal methods of organic farming include crop rotation, green manures and compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation. These measures use the natural environment to enhance agricultural productivity: legumes are planted to fix nitrogen into the soil, natural insect predators are encouraged, crops are rotated to confuse pests and renew soil, and natural materials such as potassium bicarbonate and mulches are used to control disease and weeds. Genetically modified seeds and animals are excluded. While organic is fundamentally different from conventional because of the use of carbon-based fertilizers compared with highly soluble synthetic based fertilizers and biological pest control instead of synthetic pesticides, organic farming and large-scale conventional farming are not entirely mutually exclusive. Many of the methods developed for organic agriculture have been borrowed by more conventional agriculture. For example, Integrated Pest Management is a multifaceted strategy that uses various organic methods of pest control whenever possible, but in conventional farming could include synthetic pesticides only as a last resort. Examples of beneficial insects that are used in organic farming include ladybugs and lacewings, both of which feed on aphids. The use of IPM lowers the possibility of pest developing resistance to pesticides that are applied to crops. Crop diversity Organic farming encourages crop diversity by promoting polyculture (multiple crops in the same space). Planting a variety of vegetable crops supports a wider range of beneficial insects, soil microorganisms, and other factors that add up to overall farm health. Crop diversity helps the environment to thrive and protects species from going extinct. The science of Agroecology has revealed the benefits of polyculture, which is often employed in organic farming. Agroecology is a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage, and evaluate agricultural systems that are productive and resource-conserving, and that are also culturally sensitive, socially just, and economically viable.Incorporating crop diversity into organic farming practices can have several benefits. For instance, it can help to increase soil fertility by promoting the growth of beneficial soil microorganisms. It can also help to reduce pest and disease pressure by creating a more diverse and resilient agro-ecosystem. Furthermore, crop diversity can help to improve the nutritional quality of food by providing a wider range of essential nutrients. Soil management Organic farming relies more heavily on the natural breakdown of organic matter than the average conventional farm, using techniques like green manure and composting, to replace nutrients taken from the soil by previous crops. This biological process, driven by microorganisms such as mycorrhiza and earthworms, releases nutrients available to plants throughout the growing season. Farmers use a variety of methods to improve soil fertility, including crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, and application of compost. By reducing fuel-intensive tillage, less soil organic matter is lost to the atmosphere. This has an added benefit of carbon sequestration, which reduces greenhouse gases and helps reverse climate change. Reducing tillage may also improve soil structure and reduce the potential for soil erosion. Plants need a large number of nutrients in various quantities to flourish. Supplying enough nitrogen and particularly synchronization, so that plants get enough nitrogen at the time when they need it most, is a challenge for organic farmers. Crop rotation and green manure ("cover crops") help to provide nitrogen through legumes (more precisely, the family Fabaceae), which fix nitrogen from the atmosphere through symbiosis with rhizobial bacteria. Intercropping, which is sometimes used for insect and disease control, can also increase soil nutrients, but the competition between the legume and the crop can be problematic and wider spacing between crop rows is required. Crop residues can be ploughed back into the soil, and different plants leave different amounts of nitrogen, potentially aiding synchronization. Organic farmers also use animal manure, certain processed fertilizers such as seed meal and various mineral powders such as rock phosphate and green sand, a naturally occurring form of potash that provides potassium. In some cases pH may need to be amended. Natural pH amendments include lime and sulfur, but in the U.S. some compounds such as iron sulfate, aluminum sulfate, magnesium sulfate, and soluble boron products are allowed in organic farming.: 43 Mixed farms with both livestock and crops can operate as ley farms, whereby the land gathers fertility through growing nitrogen-fixing forage grasses such as white clover or alfalfa and grows cash crops or cereals when fertility is established. Farms without livestock ("stockless") may find it more difficult to maintain soil fertility, and may rely more on external inputs such as imported manure as well as grain legumes and green manures, although grain legumes may fix limited nitrogen because they are harvested. Horticultural farms that grow fruits and vegetables in protected conditions often rely even more on external inputs. Manure is very bulky and is often not cost-effective to transport more than a short distance from the source. Manure for organic farms' may become scarce if a sizable number of farms become organically managed. Weed management Organic weed management promotes weed suppression, rather than weed elimination, by enhancing crop competition and phytotoxic effects on weeds. Organic farmers integrate cultural, biological, mechanical, physical and chemical tactics to manage weeds without synthetic herbicides. Organic standards require rotation of annual crops, meaning that a single crop cannot be grown in the same location without a different, intervening crop. Organic crop rotations frequently include weed-suppressive cover crops and crops with dissimilar life cycles to discourage weeds associated with a particular crop. Research is ongoing to develop organic methods to promote the growth of natural microorganisms that suppress the growth or germination of common weeds.Other cultural practices used to enhance crop competitiveness and reduce weed pressure include selection of competitive crop varieties, high-density planting, tight row spacing, and late planting into warm soil to encourage rapid crop germination.Mechanical and physical weed control practices used on organic farms can be broadly grouped as: Tillage - Turning the soil between crops to incorporate crop residues and soil amendments; remove existing weed growth and prepare a seedbed for planting; turning soil after seeding to kill weeds, including cultivation of row crops. Mowing and cutting - Removing top growth of weeds. Flame weeding and thermal weeding - Using heat to kill weeds. Mulching - Blocking weed emergence with organic materials, plastic films, or landscape fabric.Some naturally sourced chemicals are allowed for herbicidal use. These include certain formulations of acetic acid (concentrated vinegar), corn gluten meal, and essential oils. A few selective bioherbicides based on fungal pathogens have also been developed. At this time, however, organic herbicides and bioherbicides play a minor role in the organic weed control toolbox.Weeds can be controlled by grazing. For example, geese have been used successfully to weed a range of organic crops including cotton, strawberries, tobacco, and corn, reviving the practice of keeping cotton patch geese, common in the southern U.S. before the 1950s. Similarly, some rice farmers introduce ducks and fish to wet paddy fields to eat both weeds and insects. Controlling other organisms Organisms aside from weeds that cause problems on farms include arthropods (e.g., insects, mites), nematodes, fungi and bacteria. Practices include, but are not limited to: Examples of predatory beneficial insects include minute pirate bugs, big-eyed bugs, and to a lesser extent ladybugs (which tend to fly away), all of which eat a wide range of pests. Lacewings are also effective, but tend to fly away. Praying mantis tend to move more slowly and eat less heavily. Parasitoid wasps tend to be effective for their selected prey, but like all small insects can be less effective outdoors because the wind controls their movement. Predatory mites are effective for controlling other mites.: 66–90 Naturally derived insecticides allowed for use on organic farms include Bacillus thuringiensis (a bacterial toxin), pyrethrum (a chrysanthemum extract), spinosad (a bacterial metabolite), neem (a tree extract) and rotenone (a legume root extract). Fewer than 10% of organic farmers use these pesticides regularly; a 2003 survey found that only 5.3% of vegetable growers in California use rotenone while 1.7% use pyrethrum.: 26  These pesticides are not always more safe or environmentally friendly than synthetic pesticides and can cause harm.: 92  The main criterion for organic pesticides is that they are naturally derived, and some naturally derived substances have been controversial. Controversial natural pesticides include rotenone, copper, nicotine sulfate, and pyrethrums Rotenone and pyrethrum are particularly controversial because they work by attacking the nervous system, like most conventional insecticides. Rotenone is extremely toxic to fish and can induce symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease in mammals. Although pyrethrum (natural pyrethrins) is more effective against insects when used with piperonyl butoxide (which retards degradation of the pyrethrins), organic standards generally do not permit use of the latter substance.Naturally derived fungicides allowed for use on organic farms include the bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus; and the fungus Trichoderma harzianum. These are mainly effective for diseases affecting roots. Compost tea contains a mix of beneficial microbes, which may attack or out-compete certain plant pathogens, but variability among formulations and preparation methods may contribute to inconsistent results or even dangerous growth of toxic microbes in compost teas.Some naturally derived pesticides are not allowed for use on organic farms. These include nicotine sulfate, arsenic, and strychnine.Synthetic pesticides allowed for use on organic farms include insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils for insect management; and Bordeaux mixture, copper hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate for managing fungi. Copper sulfate and Bordeaux mixture (copper sulfate plus lime), approved for organic use in various jurisdictions, can be more environmentally problematic than some synthetic fungicides disallowed in organic farming. Similar concerns apply to copper hydroxide. Repeated application of copper sulfate or copper hydroxide as a fungicide may eventually result in copper accumulation to toxic levels in soil, and admonitions to avoid excessive accumulations of copper in soil appear in various organic standards and elsewhere. Environmental concerns for several kinds of biota arise at average rates of use of such substances for some crops. In the European Union, where replacement of copper-based fungicides in organic agriculture is a policy priority, research is seeking alternatives for organic production. Livestock Raising livestock and poultry, for meat, dairy and eggs, is another traditional farming activity that complements growing. Organic farms attempt to provide animals with natural living conditions and feed. Organic certification verifies that livestock are raised according to the USDA organic regulations throughout their lives. These regulations include the requirement that all animal feed must be certified organic. Organic livestock may be, and must be, treated with medicine when they are sick, but drugs cannot be used to promote growth, their feed must be organic, and they must be pastured.: 19ff Also, horses and cattle were once a basic farm feature that provided labour, for hauling and plowing, fertility, through recycling of manure, and fuel, in the form of food for farmers and other animals. While today, small growing operations often do not include livestock, domesticated animals are a desirable part of the organic farming equation, especially for true sustainability, the ability of a farm to function as a self-renewing unit. Genetic modification A key characteristic of organic farming is the exclusion of genetically engineered plants and animals. On 19 October 1998, participants at IFOAM's 12th Scientific Conference issued the Mar del Plata Declaration, where more than 600 delegates from over 60 countries voted unanimously to exclude the use of genetically modified organisms in organic food production and agriculture. Although opposition to the use of any transgenic technologies in organic farming is strong, agricultural researchers Luis Herrera-Estrella and Ariel Alvarez-Morales continue to advocate integration of transgenic technologies into organic farming as the optimal means to sustainable agriculture, particularly in the developing world. Organic farmer Raoul Adamchak and geneticist Pamela Ronald write that many agricultural applications of biotechnology are consistent with organic principles and have significantly advanced sustainable agriculture.Although GMOs are excluded from organic farming, there is concern that the pollen from genetically modified crops is increasingly penetrating organic and heirloom seed stocks, making it difficult, if not impossible, to keep these genomes from entering the organic food supply. Differing regulations among countries limits the availability of GMOs to certain countries, as described in the article on regulation of the release of genetic modified organisms. Tools Organic farmers use a number of traditional farm tools to do farming, and may make use of agricultural machinery in similar ways to conventional farming. In the developing world, on small organic farms, tools are normally constrained to hand tools and diesel powered water pumps. Standards Standards regulate production methods and in some cases final output for organic agriculture. Standards may be voluntary or legislated. As early as the 1970s private associations certified organic producers. In the 1980s, governments began to produce organic production guidelines. In the 1990s, a trend toward legislated standards began, most notably with the 1991 EU-Eco-regulation developed for European Union, which set standards for 12 countries, and a 1993 UK program. The EU's program was followed by a Japanese program in 2001, and in 2002 the U.S. created the National Organic Program (NOP). As of 2007 over 60 countries regulate organic farming (IFOAM 2007:11). In 2005 IFOAM created the Principles of Organic Agriculture, an international guideline for certification criteria. Typically the agencies accredit certification groups rather than individual farms. Production materials used for the creation of USDA Organic certified foods require the approval of a NOP accredited certifier. EU-organic production-regulation on "organic" food labels define "organic" primarily in terms of whether "natural" or "artificial" substances were allowed as inputs in the food production process. Composting Using manure as a fertilizer risks contaminating food with animal gut bacteria, including pathogenic strains of E. coli that have caused fatal poisoning from eating organic food. To combat this risk, USDA organic standards require that manure must be sterilized through high temperature thermophilic composting. If raw animal manure is used, 120 days must pass before the crop is harvested if the final product comes into direct contact with the soil. For products that do not directly contact soil, 90 days must pass prior to harvest.In the US, the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) as amended, specifies that a farm can not be certified as organic if the compost being used contains any synthetic ingredients. The OFPA singles out commercially blended fertilizers [composts] disallowing the use of any fertilizer [compost] that contains prohibited materials. Economics The economics of organic farming, a subfield of agricultural economics, encompasses the entire process and effects of organic farming in terms of human society, including social costs, opportunity costs, unintended consequences, information asymmetries, and economies of scale. Labour input, carbon and methane emissions, energy use, eutrophication, acidification, soil quality, effect on biodiversity, and overall land use vary considerably between individual farms and between crops, making general comparisons between the economics of organic and conventional agriculture difficult.In the European Union "organic farmers receive more subsidies under agri-environment and animal welfare subsidies than conventional growers". Geographic producer distribution The markets for organic products are strongest in North America and Europe, which as of 2001 are estimated to have $6 and $8 billion respectively of the $20 billion global market.: 6  As of 2007 Australasia has 39% of the total organic farmland, including Australia's 11,800,000 hectares (29,000,000 acres) but 97% of this land is sprawling rangeland (2007:35). US sales are 20x as much.: 7  Europe farms 23% of global organic farmland (6,900,000 ha (17,000,000 acres)), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with 20% (6,400,000 ha (16,000,000 acres)). Asia has 9.5% while North America has 7.2%. Africa has 3%.Besides Australia, the countries with the most organic farmland are Argentina (3.1 million hectares (7.7 million acres)), China (2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres)), and the United States (1.6 million hectares (4.0 million acres)). Much of Argentina's organic farmland is pasture, like that of Australia (2007:42). Spain, Germany, Brazil (the world's largest agricultural exporter), Uruguay, and England follow the United States in the amount of organic land (2007:26). In the European Union (EU25) 3.9% of the total utilized agricultural area was used for organic production in 2005. The countries with the highest proportion of organic land were Austria (11%) and Italy (8.4%), followed by the Czech Republic and Greece (both 7.2%). The lowest figures were shown for Malta (0.2%), Poland (0.6%) and Ireland (0.8%). In 2009, the proportion of organic land in the EU grew to 4.7%. The countries with the highest share of agricultural land were Liechtenstein (26.9%), Austria (18.5%) and Sweden (12.6%). 16% of all farmers in Austria produced organically in 2010. By the same year the proportion of organic land increased to 20%. In 2005, 168,000 hectares (420,000 acres) of land in Poland was under organic management. In 2012, 288,261 hectares (712,310 acres) were under organic production, and there were about 15,500 organic farmers; retail sales of organic products were EUR 80 million in 2011. As of 2012 organic exports were part of the government's economic development strategy.After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, agricultural inputs that had previously been purchased from Eastern bloc countries were no longer available in Cuba, and many Cuban farms converted to organic methods out of necessity. Consequently, organic agriculture is a mainstream practice in Cuba, while it remains an alternative practice in most other countries. Cuba's organic strategy includes development of genetically modified crops; specifically corn that is resistant to the palomilla moth. Growth In 2001, the global market value of certified organic products was estimated at US$20 billion. By 2002, this was US$23 billion and by 2015 more than US$43 billion. By 2014, retail sales of organic products reached US$80 billion worldwide. North America and Europe accounted for more than 90% of all organic product sales. In 2018 Australia accounted for 54% of the world's certified organic land with the country recording more than 35,000,000 verified organic hectares (86,000,000 acres).Organic agricultural land increased almost fourfold in 15 years, from 11 million hectares (27 million acres) in 1999 to 43.7 million hectares (108 million acres) in 2014. Between 2013 and 2014, organic agricultural land grew by 500 thousand hectares (1,200,000 acres) worldwide, increasing in every region except Latin America. During this time period, Europe's organic farmland increased 260 thousand hectares (640,000 acres) to 11.6 million hectares (29 million acres) (+2.3%), Asia's increased 159 thousand hectares (390,000 acres) to 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) (+4.7%), Africa's increased 54 thousand hectares (130,000 acres) to 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) total (+4.5%), and North America's increased 35 thousand hectares (86,000 acres) to 3.1 million hectares (7.7 million acres) total (+1.1%). As of 2014, the country with the most organic land was Australia (17.2 million hectares (43 million acres)), followed by Argentina (3.1 million hectares (7.7 million acres)), and the United States (2.2 million hectares (5.4 million acres)). Australia's organic land area has increased at a rate of 16.5% per annum for the past eighteen years.In 2013, the number of organic producers grew by almost 270,000, or more than 13%. By 2014, there were a reported 2.3 million organic producers in the world. Most of the total global increase took place in the Philippines, Peru, China, and Thailand. Overall, the majority of all organic producers are in India (650,000 in 2013), Uganda (190,552 in 2014), Mexico (169,703 in 2013) and the Philippines (165,974 in 2014).In 2016, organic farming produced over 1 million metric tons (980,000 long tons; 1,100,000 short tons) of bananas, over 800 thousand metric tons (790,000 long tons; 880,000 short tons) of soybean, and just under 500 thousand metric tons (490,000 long tons; 550,000 short tons) of coffee. Productivity Studies comparing yields have had mixed results. These differences among findings can often be attributed to variations between study designs including differences in the crops studied and the methodology by which results were gathered. A 2012 meta-analysis found that productivity is typically lower for organic farming than conventional farming, but that the size of the difference depends on context and in some cases may be very small. While organic yields can be lower than conventional yields, another meta-analysis published in Sustainable Agriculture Research in 2015, concluded that certain organic on-farm practices could help narrow this gap. Timely weed management and the application of manure in conjunction with legume forages/cover crops were shown to have positive results in increasing organic corn and soybean productivity. Another meta-analysis published in the journal Agricultural Systems in 2011 analyzed 362 datasets and found that organic yields were on average 80% of conventional yields. The author's found that there are relative differences in this yield gap based on crop type with crops like soybeans and rice scoring higher than the 80% average and crops like wheat and potato scoring lower. Across global regions, Asia and Central Europe were found to have relatively higher yields and Northern Europe relatively lower than the average. Long term studies A study published in 2005 compared conventional cropping, organic animal-based cropping, and organic legume-based cropping on a test farm at the Rodale Institute over 22 years. The study found that "the crop yields for corn and soybeans were similar in the organic animal, organic legume, and conventional farming systems". It also found that "significantly less fossil energy was expended to produce corn in the Rodale Institute’s organic animal and organic legume systems than in the conventional production system. There was little difference in energy input between the different treatments for producing soybeans. In the organic systems, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides were generally not used". As of 2013 the Rodale study was ongoing and a thirty-year anniversary report was published by Rodale in 2012.A long-term field study comparing organic/conventional agriculture carried out over 21 years in Switzerland concluded that "Crop yields of the organic systems averaged over 21 experimental years at 80% of the conventional ones. The fertilizer input, however, was 34 – 51% lower, indicating an efficient production. The organic farming systems used 20 – 56% less energy to produce a crop unit and per land area this difference was 36 – 53%. In spite of the considerably lower pesticide input the quality of organic products was hardly discernible from conventional analytically and even came off better in food preference trials and picture creating methods." Profitability In the United States, organic farming has been shown to be 2.7 to 3.8 times more profitable for the farmer than conventional farming when prevailing price premiums are taken into account. Globally, organic farming is 22–35% more profitable for farmers than conventional methods, according to a 2015 meta-analysis of studies conducted across five continents.The profitability of organic agriculture can be attributed to a number of factors. First, organic farmers do not rely on synthetic fertilizer and pesticide inputs, which can be costly. In addition, organic foods currently enjoy a price premium over conventionally produced foods, meaning that organic farmers can often get more for their yield. The price premium for organic food is an important factor in the economic viability of organic farming. In 2013 there was a 100% price premium on organic vegetables and a 57% price premium for organic fruits. These percentages are based on wholesale fruit and vegetable prices, available through the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. Price premiums exist not only for organic versus nonorganic crops, but may also vary depending on the venue where the product is sold: farmers' markets, grocery stores, or wholesale to restaurants. For many producers, direct sales at farmers' markets are most profitable because the farmer receives the entire markup, however this is also the most time and labour-intensive approach.There have been signs of organic price premiums narrowing in recent years, which lowers the economic incentive for farmers to convert to or maintain organic production methods. Data from 22 years of experiments at the Rodale Institute found that, based on the current yields and production costs associated with organic farming in the United States, a price premium of only 10% is required to achieve parity with conventional farming. A separate study found that on a global scale, price premiums of only 5-7% were needed to break even with conventional methods. Without the price premium, profitability for farmers is mixed.: 11 For markets and supermarkets organic food is profitable as well, and is generally sold at significantly higher prices than non-organic food. Energy efficiency Compared to conventional agriculture, the energy efficiency of organic farming depends upon crop type and farm size.Two studies – both comparing organically- versus conventionally-farmed apples – declare contradicting results, one saying organic farming is more energy efficient, the other saying conventionally is more efficient.It has generally been found that the labor input per unit of yield was higher for organic systems compared with conventional production. Sales and marketing Most sales are concentrated in developed nations. In 2008, 69% of Americans claimed to occasionally buy organic products, down from 73% in 2005. One theory for this change was that consumers were substituting "local" produce for "organic" produce. Distributors The USDA requires that distributors, manufacturers, and processors of organic products be certified by an accredited state or private agency. In 2007, there were 3,225 certified organic handlers, up from 2,790 in 2004.Organic handlers are often small firms; 48% reported sales below $1 million annually, and 22% between $1 and $5 million per year. Smaller handlers are more likely to sell to independent natural grocery stores and natural product chains whereas large distributors more often market to natural product chains and conventional supermarkets, with a small group marketing to independent natural product stores. Some handlers work with conventional farmers to convert their land to organic with the knowledge that the farmer will have a secure sales outlet. This lowers the risk for the handler as well as the farmer. In 2004, 31% of handlers provided technical support on organic standards or production to their suppliers and 34% encouraged their suppliers to transition to organic. Smaller farms often join in cooperatives to market their goods more effectively. 93% of organic sales are through conventional and natural food supermarkets and chains, while the remaining 7% of U.S. organic food sales occur through farmers' markets, foodservices, and other marketing channels. Direct-to-consumer sales In the 2012 Census, direct-to-consumer sales equalled $1.3 billion, up from $812 million in 2002, an increase of 60 percent. The number of farms that utilize direct-to-consumer sales was 144,530 in 2012 in comparison to 116,733 in 2002. Direct-to-consumer sales include farmers' markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), on-farm stores, and roadside farm stands. Some organic farms also sell products direct to retailer, direct to restaurant and direct to institution. According to the 2008 Organic Production Survey, approximately 7% of organic farm sales were direct-to-consumers, 10% went direct to retailers, and approximately 83% went into wholesale markets. In comparison, only 0.4% of the value of convention agricultural commodities were direct-to-consumers.While not all products sold at farmer's markets are certified organic, this direct-to-consumer avenue has become increasingly popular in local food distribution and has grown substantially since 1994. In 2014, there were 8,284 farmer's markets in comparison to 3,706 in 2004 and 1,755 in 1994, most of which are found in populated areas such as the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast. Labour and employment Organic production is more labour-intensive than conventional production. Increased labor cost is one factor that contributes to organic food being more expensive. Organic farming's increased labor requirements can be seen in a good way providing more job opportunities for people. The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report suggests that "[a]n increase in investment in green agriculture is projected to lead to growth in employment of about 60 per cent compared with current levels" and that "green agriculture investments could create 47 million additional jobs compared with BAU2 over the next 40 years".Much of the growth in women labour participation in agriculture is outside the "male dominated field of conventional agriculture". Organic farming has a greater percentage of women working in the farms with 21% compared to farming in general with 14%. World's food security In 2007 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that organic agriculture often leads to higher prices and hence a better income for farmers, so it should be promoted. However, FAO stressed that organic farming could not feed the current human population, much less the larger future population. Both data and models showed that organic farming was far from sufficient. Therefore, chemical fertilizers were needed to avoid hunger. Other analysis by many agribusiness executives, agricultural and environmental scientists, and international agriculture experts concluded that organic farming would not only increase the world's food supply, but might be the only way to eradicate hunger.FAO stressed that fertilizers and other chemical inputs can increase production, particularly in Africa where fertilizers are currently used 90% less than in Asia. For example, in Malawi the yield has been boosted using seeds and fertilizers.Also NEPAD, a development organization of African governments, announced that feeding Africans and preventing malnutrition requires fertilizers and enhanced seeds.According to a 2012 study from McGill University, organic best management practices show an average yield only 13% less than conventional. In the world's poorer nations where most of the world's hungry live, and where conventional agriculture's expensive inputs are not affordable for the majority of farmers, adopting organic management actually increases yields 93% on average, and could be an important part of increased food security. Capacity building in developing countries Organic agriculture can contribute to ecological sustainability, especially in poorer countries. The application of organic principles enables employment of local resources (e.g., local seed varieties, manure, etc.) and therefore cost-effectiveness. Local and international markets for organic products show tremendous growth prospects and offer creative producers and exporters excellent opportunities to improve their income and living conditions.Organic agriculture is knowledge intensive. Globally, capacity building efforts are underway, including localized training material, to limited effect. As of 2007, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements hosted more than 170 free manuals and 75 training opportunities online.In 2008 the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that "organic agriculture can be more conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production systems, and that it is more likely to be sustainable in the long-term" and that "yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices had been used" and that soil fertility and drought resistance improved. Millennium Development Goals The value of organic agriculture (OA) in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly in poverty reduction efforts in the face of climate change, is shown by its contribution to both income and non-income aspects of the MDGs. These benefits are expected to continue in the post-MDG era. A series of case studies conducted in selected areas in Asian countries by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and published as a book compilation by ADB in Manila document these contributions to both income and non-income aspects of the MDGs. These include poverty alleviation by way of higher incomes, improved farmers' health owing to less chemical exposure, integration of sustainable principles into rural development policies, improvement of access to safe water and sanitation, and expansion of global partnership for development as small farmers are integrated in value chains.A related ADBI study also sheds on the costs of OA programs and set them in the context of the costs of attaining the MDGs. The results show considerable variation across the case studies, suggesting that there is no clear structure to the costs of adopting OA. Costs depend on the efficiency of the OA adoption programs. The lowest cost programs were more than ten times less expensive than the highest cost ones. However, further analysis of the gains resulting from OA adoption reveals that the costs per person taken out of poverty was much lower than the estimates of the World Bank, based on income growth in general or based on the detailed costs of meeting some of the more quantifiable MDGs (e.g., education, health, and environment). Externalities Agriculture imposes negative externalities upon society through public land and other public resource use, biodiversity loss, erosion, pesticides, nutrient pollution, subsidized water usage, subsidy payments and assorted other problems. Positive externalities include self-reliance, entrepreneurship, respect for nature, and air quality. Organic methods differ from conventional methods in the impacts of their respective externalities, dependent on implementation and crop type. Overall land use is generally higher for organic methods, but organic methods generally use less energy in production. The analysis and comparison of externalities is complicated by whether the comparison is done using a per unit area measurement or per unit of production, and whether analysis is done on isolated plots or on farm units as a whole.Measurements of biodiversity are highly variable between studies, farms, and organism groups. "Birds, predatory insects, soil organisms and plants responded positively to organic farming, while non-predatory insects and pests did not. A 2005 review found that the positive effects of organic farming on abundance were prominent at the plot and field scales, but not for farms in matched landscapes."Other studies that have attempted to examine and compare conventional and organic systems of farming and have found that organic techniques reduce levels of biodiversity less than conventional systems do, and use less energy and produce less waste when calculated per unit area, although not when calculated per unit of output. "Farm comparisons show that actual (nitrate) leaching rates per hectare[/acre] are up to 57% lower on organic than on conventional fields. However, the leaching rates per unit of output were similar or slightly higher." "On a per-hectare[/-acre] scale, the CO2 emissions are 40 – 60% lower in organic farming systems than in conventional ones, whereas on a per-unit output scale, the CO2 emissions tend to be higher in organic farming systems."It has been proposed that organic agriculture can reduce the level of some negative externalities from (conventional) agriculture. Whether the benefits are private, or public depends upon the division of property rights. Issues According to a meta analysis published in 2017, compared to conventional agriculture, biological agriculture has a higher land requirement per yield unit, a higher eutrophication potential, a higher acidification potential and a lower energy requirement, but is associated with similarly high greenhouse gas emissions.A 2003 to 2005 investigation by the Cranfield University for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK found that it is difficult to compare the Global warming potential, acidification and eutrophication emissions but "Organic production often results in increased burdens, from factors such as N leaching and N2O emissions", even though primary energy use was less for most organic products. N2O is always the largest global warming potential contributor except in tomatoes. However, "organic tomatoes always incur more burdens (except pesticide use)". Some emissions were lower "per area", but organic farming always required 65 to 200% more field area than non-organic farming. The numbers were highest for bread wheat (200+ % more) and potatoes (160% more).As of 2020 it seems that organic agriculture can help in mitigating climate change but only if used in certain ways.Yield from organic farming is significantly lower than that from conventional farming, ranging between 40% and 85% of the latter. The premiums on organic foods is also 150% higher than those from conventional farms, which is presented as an advantage for producers, partially compensating lower yield, but is at the same time a disadvantage for consumers. Environmental impact and emissions Researchers at Oxford University analysed 71 peer-reviewed studies and observed that organic products are sometimes worse for the environment. Organic milk, cereals, and pork generated higher greenhouse gas emissions per product than conventional ones but organic beef and olives had lower emissions in most studies. Usually organic products required less energy, but more land. Per unit of product, organic produce generates higher nitrogen leaching, nitrous oxide emissions, ammonia emissions, eutrophication, and acidification potential than conventionally grown produce. Other differences were not significant. The researchers concluded that public debate should consider various manners of employing conventional or organic farming, and not merely debate conventional farming as opposed to organic farming. They also sought to find specific solutions to specific circumstances.A 2018 review article in the Annual Review of Resource Economics found that organic agriculture is more polluting per unit of output and that widespread upscaling of organic agriculture would cause additional loss of natural habitats.Proponents of organic farming have claimed that organic agriculture emphasizes closed nutrient cycles, biodiversity, and effective soil management providing the capacity to mitigate and even reverse the effects of climate change and that organic agriculture can decrease fossil fuel emissions. "The carbon sequestration efficiency of organic systems in temperate climates is almost double (575–700 kilograms per hectare per year (16.3–19.8 lb/acre/Ms)) that of conventional treatment of soils, mainly owing to the use of grass clovers for feed and of cover crops in organic rotations." However, studies acknowledge organic systems require more acreage to produce the same yield as conventional farms. By converting to organic farms in developed countries where most arable land is accounted for, increased deforestation would decrease overall carbon sequestration. Nutrient leaching According to a 2012 meta-analysis of 71 studies, nitrogen leaching, nitrous oxide emissions, ammonia emissions, eutrophication potential and acidification potential were higher for organic products. Specifically, the emission per area of land is lower, but per amount of food produced is higher. This is due to the lower crop yield of organic farms. Excess nutrients in lakes, rivers, and groundwater can cause algal blooms, eutrophication, and subsequent dead zones. In addition, nitrates are harmful to aquatic organisms by themselves. Land use A 2012 Oxford meta-analysis of 71 studies found that organic farming requires 84% more land for an equivalent amount of harvest, mainly due to lack of nutrients but sometimes due to weeds, diseases or pests, lower yielding animals and land required for fertility building crops. While organic farming does not necessarily save land for wildlife habitats and forestry in all cases, the most modern breakthroughs in organic are addressing these issues with success.Professor Wolfgang Branscheid says that organic animal production is not good for the environment, because organic chicken requires twice as much land as "conventional" chicken and organic pork a quarter more. According to a calculation by Hudson Institute, organic beef requires three times as much land. On the other hand, certain organic methods of animal husbandry have been shown to restore desertified, marginal, and/or otherwise unavailable land to agricultural productivity and wildlife. Or by getting both forage and cash crop production from the same fields simultaneously, reduce net land use.SRI methods for rice production, without external inputs, have produced record yields on some farms, but not others. Pesticides In organic farming the use of synthetic pesticides and certain natural compounds that are produced using chemical synthesis are prohibited. The organic labels restrictions are not only based on the nature of the compound, but also on the method of production. A non-exhaustive list of organic approved pesticides with their median lethal doses: Boric acid is used as an insecticide (LD50: 2660 mg/kg). Copper(II) sulfate is used as a fungicide and is also used in conventional agriculture (LD50 300 mg/kg). Conventional agriculture has the option to use the less toxic Mancozeb (LD50 4,500 to 11,200 mg/kg) Lime sulfur (aka calcium polysulfide) and sulfur are considered to be allowed, synthetic materials (LD50: 820 mg/kg) Neem oil is used as an insect repellant in India; since it contains azadirachtin its use is restricted in the UK and Europe. Pyrethrin comes from chemicals extracted from flowers of the genus PyrethrumPyrethrum (LD50 of 370 mg/kg). Its potent toxicity is used to control insects. Food quality and safety While there may be some differences in the amounts of nutrients and anti-nutrients when organically produced food and conventionally-produced food are compared, the variable nature of food production and handling makes it difficult to generalize results, and there is insufficient evidence to make claims that organic food is safer or healthier than conventional food. There is no evidence to suggest that organic food tastes better than conventionally produced food. Soil conservation Supporters claim that organically managed soil has a higher quality and higher water retention. This may help increase yields for organic farms in drought years. Organic farming can build up soil organic matter better than conventional no-till farming, which suggests long-term yield benefits from organic farming. An 18-year study of organic methods on nutrient-depleted soil concluded that conventional methods were superior for soil fertility and yield for nutrient-depleted soils in cold-temperate climates, arguing that much of the benefit from organic farming derives from imported materials that could not be regarded as self-sustaining.In Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, geomorphologist David Montgomery outlines a coming crisis from soil erosion. Agriculture relies on roughly one meter of topsoil, and that is being depleted ten times faster than it is being replaced. No-till farming, which some claim depends upon pesticides, is one way to minimize erosion. However, a 2007 study by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service has found that manure applications in tilled organic farming are better at building up the soil than no-till.Gunsmoke Farms, a 137 square kilometres (53 square miles) organic farming project in South Dakota, suffered from massive soil erosion as result of tiling after it switched to organic farming. Biodiversity The conservation of natural resources and biodiversity is a core principle of organic production. Three broad management practices (prohibition/reduced use of chemical pesticides and inorganic fertilizers; sympathetic management of non-cropped habitats; and preservation of mixed farming) that are largely intrinsic (but not exclusive) to organic farming are particularly beneficial for farmland wildlife. Using practices that attract or introduce beneficial insects, provide habitat for birds and mammals, and provide conditions that increase soil biotic diversity serve to supply vital ecological services to organic production systems. Advantages to certified organic operations that implement these types of production practices include: 1) decreased dependence on outside fertility inputs; 2) reduced pest-management costs; 3) more reliable sources of clean water; and 4) better pollination.Nearly all non-crop, naturally occurring species observed in comparative farm land practice studies show a preference for organic farming both by abundance and diversity. An average of 30% more species inhabit organic farms. Birds, butterflies, soil microbes, beetles, earthworms, spiders, vegetation, and mammals are particularly affected. Lack of herbicides and pesticides improve biodiversity fitness and population density. Many weed species attract beneficial insects that improve soil qualities and forage on weed pests. Soil-bound organisms often benefit because of increased bacteria populations due to natural fertilizer such as manure, while experiencing reduced intake of herbicides and pesticides. Increased biodiversity, especially from beneficial soil microbes and mycorrhizae have been proposed as an explanation for the high yields experienced by some organic plots, especially in light of the differences seen in a 21-year comparison of organic and control fields.Organic farming contributes to human capital by promoting biodiversity. The presence of various species in organic farms helps to reduce human input, such as fertilizers, and pesticides, which enhances sustainability. The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a Federal Register notice on 15 January 2016, announcing the National Organic Program (NOP) final guidance on Natural Resources and Biodiversity Conservation for Certified Organic Operations. Given the broad scope of natural resources which includes soil, water, wetland, woodland and wildlife, the guidance provides examples of practices that support the underlying conservation principles and demonstrate compliance with USDA organic regulations § 205.200. The final guidance provides organic certifiers and farms with examples of production practices that support conservation principles and comply with the USDA organic regulations, which require operations to maintain or improve natural resources. The final guidance also clarifies the role of certified operations (to submit an OSP to a certifier), certifiers (ensure that the OSP describes or lists practices that explain the operator's monitoring plan and practices to support natural resources and biodiversity conservation), and inspectors (onsite inspection) in the implementation and verification of these production practices.A wide range of organisms benefit from organic farming, but it is unclear whether organic methods confer greater benefits than conventional integrated agri-environmental programs. Organic farming is often presented as a more biodiversity-friendly practice, but the generality of the beneficial effects of organic farming is debated as the effects appear often species- and context-dependent, and current research has highlighted the need to quantify the relative effects of local- and landscape-scale management on farmland biodiversity. There are four key issues when comparing the impacts on biodiversity of organic and conventional farming: (1) It remains unclear whether a holistic whole-farm approach (i.e. organic) provides greater benefits to biodiversity than carefully targeted prescriptions applied to relatively small areas of cropped and/or non-cropped habitats within conventional agriculture (i.e. agri-environment schemes); (2) Many comparative studies encounter methodological problems, limiting their ability to draw quantitative conclusions; (3) Our knowledge of the impacts of organic farming in pastoral and upland agriculture is limited; (4) There remains a pressing need for longitudinal, system-level studies in order to address these issues and to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the impacts of organic farming, before a full appraisal of its potential role in biodiversity conservation in agroecosystems can be made. Opposition to labour standards Organic agriculture is often considered to be more socially just and economically sustainable for farmworkers than conventional agriculture. However, there is little social science research or consensus as to whether or not organic agriculture provides better working conditions than conventional agriculture. As many consumers equate organic and sustainable agriculture with small-scale, family-owned organizations it is widely interpreted that buying organic supports better conditions for farmworkers than buying with conventional producers. Organic agriculture is generally more labour-intensive due to its dependence on manual practices for fertilization and pest removal. Although illnesses from inputs pose less of a risk, hired workers still fall victim to debilitating musculoskeletal disorders associated with agricultural work. The USDA certification requirements outline growing practices and ecological standards but do nothing to codify labour practices. Independent certification initiatives such as the Agricultural Justice Project, Domestic Fair Trade Working Group, and the Food Alliance have attempted to implement farmworker interests but because these initiatives require voluntary participation of organic farms, their standards cannot be widely enforced. Despite the benefit to farmworkers of implementing labour standards, there is little support among the organic community for these social requirements. Many actors of the organic industry believe that enforcing labour standards would be unnecessary, unacceptable, or unviable due to the constraints of the market. Regional support for organic farming Europe The EU-organic production-regulation is a part of the European Union regulation that sets rules about the production of organic agricultural and livestock products and how to label them. In the EU, organic farming and organic food are more commonly known as ecological or biological.The regulation is derived from the guidelines of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), which is an association of about 800 member organizations in 119 countries. As in the rest of the world, the organic market in Europe continues to grow and more land is farmed organically each year. "More farmers cultivate organically, more land is certified organic, and more countries report organic farming activities" as per the 2016 edition of the study "The World of Organic Agriculture Archived 11 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine" according to data from the end of 2014 published by FiBL and IFOAM in 2016. Denmark Denmark has a long ongoing support for converting conventional farming into organic farming, which has been taught in academic classes in universities since 1986. The state began substitutes and has promoted a special national label for products that qualify as organic since 1989. Denmark is thus the first country in the world to substitute organic farming, promoting the concept and organizing the distribution of organic products. Today the government accept applicants for financial support during conversion years, as in Danish regulations farms must not have utilized conventional farming methods such as the usage of pesticides for several years before products can be assessed for qualification as organic. This financial support has in recent years been cut due to organic farming increasing in profitability, and some goods surpassing the profitability of conventional farming in domestic markets. In general, the financial situation of organic farmers in Denmark boomed between 2010 and 2018, while in 2018 serious nationwide long-lasting droughts stagnated the economic results of organic farmers; however, the average farmer still achieved a net positive result that year. In 2021 Denmark's (and Europe's) largest slaughterhouse, Danish Crown, publicized its expectations of stagnating sales of conventional pork domestically, however it expected increasing sales of organic pork and especially free range organic pork. Besides the conversion support, there are still base subsidies for organic farming paid per area of qualified farm land.The first Danish private development organisation, SamsØkologisk, was established in 2013, by veteran organic farmers from the existing organisation Økologisk Samsø. The development organisation has intentions to buy and invest in farmland and then lend the land to young and aspiring farmers seeking to get into farming, especially organic farming. This organisation reports 300 economical active members as of 2021, but does not publish the amount of acquired land or active lenders.However, the organic farming concept in Denmark is often not limited to organic farming as the definition is globally. Instead, the majority of organic farming is instead "ecological farming". The development of this concept has been parallel with the general organic farming movement, and is most often used interchangeable with organic farming. Thus, there is a much stronger focus on the environmental and especially the ecological impact of ecological farming than organic farming. E.g. besides the base substitute for organic farming, farmers can qualify for an extra substitute equal to 2/3 of the base for realizing a specific reduction in the usage of added nitrogen to the farmland (also by organic means). There are also parallels to the extended organic movements of regenerative agriculture, although far from all concepts in regenerative agriculture are included in the national strategy at this time, but exist as voluntary options for each farmer. For these reasons, international organic products do not fulfill the requirements of ecological farming and thus do not receive the domestic label for ecological products, rather they receive the standard European Union organic label. China The Chinese government, especially the local government, has provided various supports for the development of organic agriculture since the 1990s. Organic farming has been recognized by local governments for its potential in promoting sustainable rural development. It is common for local governments to facilitate land access of agribusinesses by negotiating land leasing with local farmers. The government also establishes demonstration organic gardens, provides training for organic food companies to pass certifications, subsidizes organic certification fees, pest repellent lamps, organic fertilizer and so on. The government has also been playing an active role in marketing organic products through organizing organic food expos and branding supports. India In India, in 2016, the northern state of Sikkim achieved its goal of converting to 100% organic farming. Other states of India, including Kerala, Mizoram, Goa, Rajasthan, and Meghalaya, have also declared their intentions to shift to fully organic cultivation.The South Indian state Andhra Pradesh is also promoting organic farming, especially Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) which is a form of regenerative agriculture.As of 2018, India has the largest number of organic farmers in the world and constitutes more than 30% of the organic farmers globally. India has 835,000 certified organic producers. Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic has successfully converted a large amount of its banana crop to organic. The Dominican Republic accounts for 55% of the world's certified organic bananas. South Korea The most noticeable change in Korea's agriculture occurred throughout the 1960s and 1970s. More specifically, the "Green Revolution" program where South Korea experienced reforestations and agricultural revolution. Due to a food shortage during Park Chung Hee's presidency, the government encouraged rice varieties suited for organic farming. Farmers were able to strategize risk minimization efforts by breeding a variety of rice called Japonica with Tongil. They also used less fertilizer and made other economic adjustments to alleviate potential risk factors.In modern society, organic farming and food policies have changed, more specifically since the 1990s. As expected, the guidelines focus on basic dietary recommendations for consumption of nutrients and Korean-style diets. The main reason for this encouragement is that around 88% of countries across the world face forms of malnutrition. Then in 2009, the Special Act on Safety Management of Children’s Dietary Life was passed, restricting foods low in energy and poor in nutrients. It also focused on other nutritional problems Korean students may have had as well. Thailand In Thailand, the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Communities (ISAC) was established in 1991 to promote organic farming (among other sustainable agricultural practices). The national target via the National Plan for Organic Farming is to attain, by 2021, 1.3 million rai (2,100 square kilometres; 800 square miles) of organically farmed land. Another target is for 40% of the produce from these farmlands to be consumed domestically.Much progress has been made: Many organic farms have sprouted, growing produce ranging from mangosteen to stinky bean. Some of the farms have also established education centres to promote and share their organic farming techniques and knowledge. In Chiang Mai Province, there are 18 organic markets. (ISAC-linked) United States The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDARD) was created in 1994 as a subsection of the USDA that implements programs to stimulate growth in rural communities. One of the programs that the USDARD created provided grants to farmers who practiced organic farming through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP). During the 21st century, the United States has continued to expand its reach in the organic foods market, doubling the number of organic farms in the U.S. in 2016 when compared to 2011.Employment on organic farms offers potentially large numbers of jobs for people, and this may better manage the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Moreover, sustainable forestry, fishing, and mining, and other conservation-oriented activities provide larger numbers of jobs than more fossil fuel and mechanized work. Organic Farming has grown by 3.53 million acres (1,430,000 hectares) in the U.S. from 2000 to 2011. In 2016, California had 2,713 organic farms, which makes California the largest producer of organic goods in the U.S. 4% of food sales in the U.S. are of organic goods. Sri Lanka As was the case with most countries, Sri Lanka made the transition away from organic farming upon the arrival of the Green Revolution, whereupon it started depending more on chemical fertilizers. This became a highly popularized method when the nation started offering subsidies on the import of artificial fertilizers to increase rice paddy production, and to incentivize farmers to switch from growing traditional varieties into using high yielding varieties (HYVs). This was especially true for young farmers who saw short-term economic profit as more sustainable to their wellbeing, compared to the long term drawbacks to the environment. However, due to the various health concerns with inorganic farming including the possibility of a chronic kidney disease being associated with chemical fertilizers, many middle aged and experienced farmers displayed skepticism towards these new approaches. Some even resorted to organic farming or utilizing insecticide free fertilizers for their crops. In a study conducted by F. Horgan and E. Kudavidanage, the researchers compared crop yields of farmers in Sri Lanka who employed distinct farming techniques including organic farmers who grew traditional varieties, and insecticide-free fertilizer users and pesticide users who grew modern varieties. No significant difference was found among the yield productions and in fact, organic farmers and insecticide-free fertilizer users lamented less about insects such as planthoppers as a challenge to their production. Regardless, many farmers continued to use insecticides to avoid the predicted dangers of pests to their crops, and the cheap sale of agrochemicals provided an easy approach to augment crop growth. Additionally, while organic farming has health benefits, it's a strenuous task which requires more man power. Although that presented a great opportunity for increased employment in Sri Lanka, the economic compensation was not enough to suffice the living expenses of those employed. Thus, most farmers relied on modern methods to run their household, especially after the economic stressors brought on by COVID-19.However, while Sri Lanka was still facing the new challenges of the pandemic, in the 2019 presidential election campaign, the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa proposed a 10-year, national transition to organic farming to declare Sri Lanka as the first nation to be known for its organic produce. On April 27, 2021, the country issued an order prohibiting the import of any inorganic pesticides or fertilizers, creating chaos among farmers. While such a change was made over concerns for the nation's ecosystems and the health of citizens where pesticide poisonings prevailed over other health related deaths, the precipitous decision was met with criticism from the agriculture industry. This included fears that the mandate would harm the yields of the country's major crops (despite claims to the contrary), that the country would not be able to produce enough organic fertilizer domestically, and organic farming being more expensive and complex than conventional agriculture. To put this into perspective, 7.4% of Sri Lanka's GDP is reliant on agriculture and 30% of citizens work in this sector. This means that about ⅓ of its population is dependent on this sector for jobs, making its maintenance highly crucial for the prosperity of the nation's social and economic status. Of special concern was rice and tea, which are a staple food and major export respectively. Despite it being a record crop in the first half of 2021, the tea crop began to decline in July of that year. Rice production fell by 20% over the first six months of the ban, and prices increased by around 50%. Contrary to its past success at self-sustainability, the country had to import US$450 million worth of rice to meet domestic demand. In late August, the government acknowledged the ban had created a critical dependency on supplies of imported organic fertilizers, but by then food prices had already increased twofold in some cases. In September 2021, the government declared an economic emergency, citing the ban's impact on food prices, as well as inflation from the devaluation of Sri Lankan currency due to the crashing tea industry, and a lack of tourism induced by COVID-19 restrictions.In November 2021, the country partially lifted the ban on inorganic farming for certain key crops such as rubber and tea, and began to offer compensation and subsidies to farmers and rice producers in an attempt to cover losses. The previous subsidies on synthetic fertilizer imports were not reintroduced. See also References Further reading Ableman, M. (April 1993). From the Good Earth: A Celebration of Growing Food Around the World. HNA Books. ISBN 978-0-8109-2517-5. Avery, A. The Truth About Organic Foods (Volume 1, Series 1). Henderson Communications, L.L.C. 2006. ISBN 0-9788952-0-7 Committee on the Role of Alternative Farming Methods in Modern Production Agriculture, National Research Council. 1989. Alternative Agriculture. National Academies Press. Guthman, J. Agrarian Dreams: The Parodox of Organic Farming in California, Berkeley and London: University of California Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-520-24094-0 Lampkin, N. and S. Padel. (eds.) The Economics of Organic Farming: An International Perspective, CAB International. 1994. ISBN 9780851989112 Organic Agriculture: Sustainabiblity, Markets and Policies. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. 1 January 2003. ISBN 978-92-64-10150-0. Beecher, N. A.; et al. (2002). "Agroecology of birds in organic and nonorganic farmland". Conservation Biology. 16 (6): 1621–30. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01228.x. S2CID 83914793. Brown, R. W. (1999b). "Margin/field interfaces and small mammals". Aspects of Applied Biology. 54: 203–210. Emsley, J. (April 2001). "Going one better than nature". Nature. 410 (6829): 633–634. Bibcode:2001Natur.410..633E. doi:10.1038/35070632. S2CID 31532351. Gabriel, D.; Tscharntke, T. (2007). "Insect pollinated plants benefit from organic farming" (PDF). Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 118 (1–4): 43–48. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2006.04.005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2013. Kuepper, G. and L. Gegner. Organic Crop Production Overview., ATTRA — National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. August 2004. Wheeler, S. A. (2008). "What influences agricultural professionals' views towards organic agriculture?". Ecological Economics. 65: 145–154. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.05.014. Wickramasinghe, L. P.; et al. (2003). "Bat activity and species richness on organic and conventional farms: impact of agricultural intensification". Journal of Applied Ecology. 40 (6): 984–93. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2003.00856.x. External links Media related to Organic farming at Wikimedia Commons Organic Farming at Curlie

weed

A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. Plants with characteristics that make them hazardous, aesthetically unappealing, difficult to control in managed environments, or otherwise unwanted in farm land, orchards, gardens, lawns, parks, recreational spaces, residential and industrial areas, may all be considered weeds. The concept of weeds is particularly significant in agriculture, where the presence of weeds in fields used to grow crops may cause major losses in yields. Invasive species, plants introduced to an environment where their presence negatively impacts the overall functioning and biodiversity of the ecosystem, may also sometimes be considered weeds.Taxonomically, the term "weed" has no botanical significance, because a plant that is a weed in one context, is not a weed when growing in a situation where it is wanted. Some plants that are widely regarded as weeds are intentionally grown in gardens and other cultivated settings. For this reason, some plants are sometimes called beneficial weeds. Similarly, volunteer plants from a previous crop are regarded as weeds when growing in a subsequent crop. Thus, alternative nomenclature for the same plants might be hardy pioneers, cosmopolitan species, volunteers, "spontaneous urban vegetation," etc.Although whether a plant is a weed depends on context, plants commonly defined as weeds broadly share biological characteristics that allow them to thrive in disturbed environments and to be particularly difficult to destroy or eradicate. In particular, weeds are adapted to thrive under human management in the same way as intentionally grown plants. Since the origins of agriculture on Earth, agricultural weeds have co-evolved with human crops and agricultural systems, and some have been domesticated into crops themselves after their fitness in agricultural settings became apparent.More broadly, the term "weed" is occasionally applied pejoratively to species outside the plant kingdom, species that can survive in diverse environments and reproduce quickly; in this sense it has even been applied to humans.Weed control is important in agriculture and horticulture. Methods include hand cultivation with hoes, powered cultivation with cultivators, smothering with mulch or soil solarization, lethal wilting with high heat, burning, or chemical attack with herbicides and cultural methods such as crop rotation and fallowing land to reduce the weed population. History It has long been assumed that weeds, in the sense of rapidly-evolving plants taking advantage of human-disturbed environments, evolved in response to the Neolithic agricultural revolution approximately 12,000 years ago. However, researchers have found evidence of "proto-weeds" behaving in similar ways at Ohalo II, a 23,000-year-old archeological site in Israel. Concept The idea of "weeds" as a category of undesirable plant has not been universal throughout history. Before 1200 A.D., little evidence exists of concern with weed control or of agricultural practices solely intended to control weeds. Though the plants are not named using a specific term denoting a "weed" in the contemporary sense, plants that may be interpreted as "weeds" are referenced in the Bible: Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground. Some early Roman writers referenced weeding activities in agricultural fields, but weed control in the pre-modern era was probably an incidental effect of plowing. Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Sumerians had no specific word for "weeds," seeing all plants as having some use. The English word "weed" can be traced back to the Old English weod, which refers to woad, rather than a category of plant as in the modern usage; in early medieval European herbals, each plant is regarded as having its own "virtues".By the sixteenth century, the concept of a "weed" was better defined as a "noxious" or undesirable type of plant, as referenced metaphorically in William Shakespeare's works. An example of a Shakespearean reference to weeds is found in Sonnet 69: To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds: / But why thy odour matcheth not thy show, / The soil is this, that thou dost common grow. After the Reformation, Christian theology that emphasized the degradation of nature after the Fall of Man, and humankind's role and duty to dominate and subdue nature, became more developed and widespread. Various European writers designated certain plants as "vermin" and "filth," though many plants identified as such were valued by gardeners or by herbalists and apothecaries, and some questioned the idea that any plant could be without purpose or value. Laws mandating the control of weeds emerged as early as the seventeenth century; in 1691 a law in New York required the removal of "poysonous and Stincking Weeds" in front of houses.The cultural association between weeds and moral or spiritual degradation persisted into the last nineteenth century in American cities. Urban expansion and development created ideal habitats for weeds in nineteenth-century America. Reformers consequently saw weeds as a part of the larger problem of filth, disease, and moral corruption that plagued the urban environments, and weeds were seen as refuge for "tramps" and other criminal or undesirable people. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch credited weeds as causing diphtheria, scarlet fever, and typhoid. In St. Louis between the years of 1905-1910, weeds became viewed as a major public health hazard, believed to cause typhoid and malaria, and legal precedents were set in order to control weeds that would help facilitate the adoption of weed control laws throughout the country. Ecological significance "Weed" as a category of plant overlaps with the closely related concepts of ruderal and pioneer species. Pioneer species are specifically adapted to disturbed environments, where the existing plant and soil community has been disrupted or damaged in some way. Adaptation to disturbance can give weeds advantages over desirable crops, pastures, or ornamental plants. The nature of the habitat and its disturbances will affect or even determine which types of weed communities become dominant. In weed ecology some authorities speak of the relationship between "the three Ps": plant, place, perception. These have been very variously defined, but the weed traits listed by H.G. Baker are widely cited.Examples of such ruderal or pioneer species include plants that are adapted to naturally-occurring disturbed environments such as dunes and other windswept areas with shifting soils, alluvial flood plains, river banks and deltas, and areas that are burned repeatedly. Since human agricultural and horticultural practices often mimic these natural disturbances that weedy species have adapted for, some weeds are effectively preadapted to grow and proliferate in human-disturbed areas such as agricultural fields, lawns, gardens, roadsides, and construction sites. As agricultural practices continue and develop, weeds evolve further, with humans exerting evolutionary pressure upon weeds through manipulating their habitat and attempting to control weed populations.Due to their ability to survive and thrive in conditions challenging or hostile to other plants, weeds have been considered extremophiles. Adaptability Due to their evolutionary heritage as disturbance-adapted pioneers, most weeds exhibit incredibly high phenotype plasticity, meaning that individual plants hold the potential to adapt their morphology, growth, and appearance in response to their conditions. The potential within a single individual to adapt to a wide variety of conditions is sometimes referred to as an "all-purpose genotype." Disturbance-adapted plants typically grow rapidly and reproduce quickly, with some annual weeds having multiple generations in a single growing season. They commonly have seeds that persist in the soil seed bank for many years. Perennial weeds often have underground stems that spread under the soil surface or, like ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), have creeping stems that root and spread out over the ground. These traits make many disturbance-adapted plants highly successful as weeds.On top of the ability of individual plants to adapt to their conditions, weed populations also evolve much more quickly than older models of evolution account for. Once established in an agricultural setting, weeds have been observed to undergo evolutionary changes to adapt to selective pressures imposed by human management. Some examples include changes in seed dormancy, changes in seasonal life cycles, changes in plant morphology, and the evolution of resistance to herbicides. Rapid life cycles, large populations, and ability to spread large numbers of seeds long distances also allow weed species with these general characteristics to evolve quickly. Dispersal The concept of weeds also overlaps with the concept of invasive species, both in the sense that human activities tend to introduce weeds outside their native range, and that an introduced species may be considered a weed. Many weed species have moved out of their natural geographic ranges and spread around the world in tandem with human migrations and commerce. Weed seeds are often collected and transported with crops after the harvesting of grains, so humans are a vector of transport as well as a producer of the disturbed environments to which weed species are well adapted, resulting in many weeds having a close association with human activities.Some plants become dominant when introduced into new environments because the animals and plants in their original environment that compete with them or feed on them are absent; in what is sometimes called the "natural enemies hypothesis", plants freed from these specialist consumers may become dominant. An example is Klamath weed, which threatened millions of hectares of prime grain and grazing land in North America after it was accidentally introduced. The Klamathweed Beetle, a species that specializes in consuming the plant, was imported during World War II. Within several years Klamath weed was reduced to a rare roadside weed. In locations where predation and mutually competitive relationships are absent, weeds have increased resources available for growth and reproduction. The weediness of some species that are introduced into new environments may be caused by their production of allelopathic chemicals which indigenous plants are not yet adapted to, a scenario sometimes called the "novel weapons hypothesis". These chemicals may limit the growth of established plants or the germination and growth of seeds and seedlings. Weed growth can also inhibit the growth of later-successional species in ecological succession. Introduced species have been observed to undergo rapid evolutionary change to adapt to their new environments, with changes in plant height, size, leaf shape, dispersal ability, reproductive output, vegetative reproduction ability, level of dependence on the mycorrhizal network, and level of phenotype plasticity appearing on timescales of decades to centuries. Invasive species can be more adaptable in their new environments than in their native environments, occupying broader ranges in areas where they are invasive than in areas where they are native. Hybridization between similar species can produce novel invasive plants that are better adapted to their surroundings. Polyploidy is also observed to be strongly selected for among some invasive populations, such as Solidago canadensis in China. Many weed species are now found almost worldwide, with novel adaptations that suit regional populations to their environments. Negative impacts Some negative impacts of weeds are functional: they interfere with food and fiber production in agriculture, wherein they must be controlled to prevent lost or diminished crop yields. In other settings, they interfere with other cosmetic, decorative, or recreational goals, such as in lawns, landscape architecture, playing fields, and golf courses. In the case of invasive species, they can be of concern for environmental reasons, when introduced species outcompete native plants and cause broader damage to ecosystem health and functioning. Some weed species have been classified as noxious weeds by government authorities because, if left unchecked, they often compete with native or crop plants or cause harm to livestock. They are often foreign species accidentally or imprudently imported into a region where there are few natural controls to limit their population and spread.In a range of contexts, weeds can have negative impacts by: competing with the desired plants for the resources that a plant typically needs, namely, direct sunlight, soil nutrients, water, and (to a lesser extent) space for growth; providing hosts and vectors for plant pathogens, giving them greater opportunity to infect and degrade the quality of the desired plants; providing food or shelter for animal pests such as seed-eating birds and Tephritid fruit flies that otherwise could hardly survive seasonal shortages; offering irritation to the skin or digestive tracts of people or animals, either physical irritation via thorns, prickles, or burs, or chemical irritation via natural poisons or irritants in the weed (for example, the poisons found in Nerium species); causing root damage to engineering works such as drains, road surfaces, and foundations, blocking streams and rivulets. Positive impacts While the term "weed" generally has a negative connotation, many plants known as weeds can have beneficial properties. A number of weeds, such as the dandelion (Taraxacum) and lamb's quarter, are edible, and their leaves or roots may be used for food or herbal medicine. Burdock is common over much of the world, and is sometimes used to make soup and medicine in East Asia. Some weeds attract beneficial insects, which in turn can protect crops from harmful pests. Weeds can also prevent pest insects from finding a crop, because their presence disrupts the incidence of positive cues which pests use to locate their food. Weeds may also act as a "living mulch", providing ground cover that reduces moisture loss and prevents erosion. Weeds may also improve soil fertility; dandelions, for example, bring up nutrients like calcium and nitrogen from deep in the soil with their tap root, and clover hosts nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots, fertilizing the soil directly. The dandelion is also one of several species which break up hardpan in overly-cultivated fields, helping crops grow deeper root systems. Some garden flowers originated as weeds in cultivated fields and have been selectively bred for their garden-worthy flowers or foliage. An example of a crop weed that is grown in gardens is the corncockle, (Agrostemma githago), which was a common weed in European wheat fields, but is now sometimes grown as a garden plant. Ecological role As pioneer species, weeds begin the process of ecological succession after a disturbance event. The rapid, aggressive growth of weeds rapidly prevents erosion in newly exposed bare soil, and has substantially slowed topsoil loss due to anthropogenic disturbances. In climate change adaptation It has been suggested that weeds, with their aggressive ability to adapt, could provide humans with vital tools and knowledge for climate change adaptation. Some researchers argue that researching weed species could offer valuable insights for crop breeding, or that weeds themselves hold potential as hardy, climate-change-resistant crops. Adaptable weeds could also be a source of transgenic genes which could confer useful traits upon crops.Weed species have been used in the restoration of land in Australia using a method called natural sequence farming. This method allows non-native weeds to stabilize and restore degraded areas where native species are not yet capable of regenerating themselves. Weeds as adaptable species An alternate definition often used by biologists is any species, not just plants, that can quickly adapt to any environment. Some traits of weedy species are the ability to reproduce quickly, disperse widely, live in a variety of habitats, establish a population in strange places, succeed in disturbed ecosystems and resist eradication once established. Such species often do well in human-dominated environments as other species are not able to adapt. Common examples include the common pigeon, brown rat and the raccoon. Other weedy species have been able to expand their range without actually living in human environments, as human activity has damaged the ecosystems of other species. These include the coyote, the white-tailed deer and the brown headed cowbird.In response to the idea that humans may face extinction due to environmental degradation, paleontologist David Jablonsky counters by arguing that humans are a weed species. Like other weedy species, humans are widely dispersed in a wide variety of environments, and are highly unlikely to go extinct no matter how much damage the environment faces. Plants often considered to be weeds White clover is considered by some to be a weed in lawns, but in many other situations is a desirable source of fodder, honey and soil nitrogen.A short list of some plants that often are considered to be weeds follows: Amaranth – ("pigweed") annual with copious long-lasting seeds, also a highly edible and resilient food source Bermuda grass – perennial, spreading by runners, rhizomes and seeds. Bindweed Broadleaf plantain – perennial, spreads by seeds that persist in the soil for many years Burdock – biennial Common lambsquarters – annual Cogongrass - Imperata cylindrica - One of the most damaging pest weeds in the world, infesting vast areas in the tropics. Creeping charlie – perennial, fast-spreading plants with long creeping stems Dandelion – perennial, wind-spread, fast-growing, and drought-tolerant Goldenrod – perennial Japanese knotweed Kudzu – perennial Leafy spurge – perennial, with underground stems Milk thistle – annual or biennial Poison ivy – perennial Ragweed – annual Sorrel – annual or perennial Striga St John's wort – perennial Sumac – woody perennial Tree of heaven – woody perennial Wild carrot – biennial Wood sorrel – perennial Yellow nutsedge – perennialMany invasive weeds were introduced deliberately in the first place, and may have not been considered nuisances at the time, but rather beneficial. Weed control Weed control encompasses a range of methods used by humans to stop, reduce or prevent the growth and reproduction of weeds within agricultural or other managed environments. Some weed control is preventative, implementing protocols to stop weeds from invading new areas. Cultural weed control involves shaping the managed environment to make it less favorable for weeds. Once weeds are present in an area, a wide variety of means to destroy the weeds and their seeds can be employed. Since weeds are highly adaptable, relying on a single method to control weeds soon results in the invasion or adaptation of weeds that are not susceptible. Integrated pest management as it applies to weeds refers to a plan of controlling weeds that integrates multiple methods of weed control and prevention.Methods of preventative weed control include cleaning equipment, stopping existing weeds in nearby areas from producing seed, and avoiding seed or manure that could be contaminated with weeds. A wide variety of cultural weed control methods are used, including cover cropping, crop rotation, selecting the most competitive cultivars of crops, mulching, planting with optimal density, and intercropping.Mechanical methods of weed control involve physically cutting, uprooting, or otherwise destroying weeds. On small farms, hand weeding is the dominant means of weed control, but as larger farms dominate agriculture, this method becomes less feasible. On many operations, however, some hand-weeding may be an unavoidable component of weed control. Tillage, mowing, and burning are common examples of mechanical weed control on larger scales. New technology increases the range of mechanical weed control options. One newly emerging form of mechanical weed control uses electricity to kill weeds.Mechanical weed control has been increasingly replaced by the use of herbicides. The reliance on herbicides has resulted in the rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds, making previously effective herbicide treatments useless for the control of weeds. In particular, glyphosate, which was once considered a revolutionary breakthrough in weed control, was relied upon heavily when it was first introduced to agriculture, resulting in rapid emergence of resistance. As of 2023, 58 weed species have developed resistance to glyphosate.Herbicide resistance in weeds has rapidly developed into new, increasingly challenging forms as the plants continually evolve. Non-target site resistance, or NTSR, is particularly difficult to counteract, since it may confer resistance to multiple herbicides at once, including herbicides the plants' ancestors were never exposed to. Various methods of adjusting herbicide application to avoid resistance, such as rotating herbicides used and tank mixing herbicides, have all been questioned in terms of their efficacy for preventing resistance from arising.Understanding the habit of weeds is important for non-chemical methods of weed control, such as plowing, surface scuffling, promotion of more beneficial cover crops, and prevention of seed accumulation in fields. For example, amaranth is an edible plant that is considered a weed by mainstream modern agriculture. It produces copious seeds (up to 1 million per plant) that last many years, and is an early-emergent fast grower. Those seeking to control amaranth quote the mantra "This year’s seeds become next year’s weeds!". However, another view of amaranth values the plant as a resilient food source.Some people have appreciated weeds for their tenacity, their wildness and even the work and connection to nature they provide. As Christopher Lloyd wrote in The Well-Tempered Garden: Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have encountered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness. Under climate change As anthropogenic climate change increases temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide, many weeds are expected to become harder to control and to expand their ranges, at the expense of less "weedy" species. For example, kudzu, the infamous invasive vine found throughout the Southeastern United States, is expected to spread northward due to climate change. Increased competitive strength of agricultural weeds in future climate conditions threaten future ability to grow crops. Existing weed management practices will likely fail under future changes in climate conditions, meaning new agricultural techniques will be needed for global food security. Suggested techniques are holistic, transitioning away from reliance on herbicide, and include aggressive adaptation of agroforestry and use of allelopathic crop residues to suppress weeds. See also References External links IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group New Mexico State University Weeds Page (includes identification tool) New Mexico State University Department of Entomology Plant Pathology and Weed Science Global Invasive Species Database Archived 2010-11-05 at the Wayback Machine "Volunteer Plant" definition Archived 2020-08-10 at the Wayback Machine Lucid Multi-access key to invasive terrestrial plants in Europe (140 species, 41 characters) Lucid multi-access key: Weeds of Australia Identification Tool. Queensland Government. (1021 species, 55 characters)

agriculturist

An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the United States, and the European Union. Other names used to designate the profession include agricultural scientist, agricultural manager, agricultural planner, agriculture researcher, or agriculture policy maker. The primary role of agriculturists are in leading agricultural projects and programs, usually in agribusiness planning or research for the benefit of farms, food, and agribusiness-related organizations. Agriculturists usually are designated in the government as public agriculturists serving as agriculture policymakers or technical advisors for policy making. Agriculturists can also provide technical advice for farmers and farm workers such as in making crop calendars and workflows to optimize farm production, tracing agricultural market channels, prescribing fertilizers and pesticides to avoid misuse, and in aligning for organic accreditation or the national agricultural quality standards.Preparation of technical engineering designs and construction for agriculture meanwhile are reserved for agricultural engineers. Agriculturists may pursue environmental planning and focus on agricultural and rural planning. Responsibilities Agriculturists are science based consultants with major fields of specialization including agribusiness management, crop science, agricultural extension, agriculture economics, development communication, animal science, soil science, food technology, crop protection, agricultural biotechnology, agricultural policy, and environmental science. In modern practice, agriculturists are expected to be proficient in digital agriculture such as the use of geographic information systems, artificial intelligence, and remote sensing for better agricultural planning. Agriculturists of today are involved with many issues, including producing food, creating healthier food, managing the environmental impact of agriculture, distribution of agriculture, recreation surfaces (sports fields, golf courses, and parks), and extracting energy from plants.Agriculturists often specialize in food and agriculture research areas such as crop rotation, irrigation and drainage, plant breeding, plant physiology, soil classification, soil fertility, weed control, turfgrass and insect and pest control. Professional agriculturists may provide advice directly to farmers, vineyards, agricultural corporations, municipal and provincial governments, the fertilizer and seeds sector, consult on food processing, advise on range management, turf management and golf course operations, assess and provide remedial recommendations for brown lands (contaminated sites), watersheds, among many different areas of practice. Asia India In India, the professional designation is Agricultural Scientist (abbreviated as ARS). To qualify for entry level posts, the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board conducts competitive examinations pursuant to the Gajendragadkar Report of 1972. The post of entry level ARS is same with Jr. Class I cadre of Central government. The initial pay is fixed after granting advance increments for higher qualification, with PhDs getting the highest salary. They are kept on 'tenure track' or 'probation' for 2 years and upon satisfactory completion of this period they are given tenure and confirmed in the ARS. On completing service for designated years and meeting set performance criteria, they are promoted to the next higher grades in a Flexible Complementation system known as Career Advancement Scheme (CAS). Incumbents without a PhD degree are given paid study leave to acquire PhD qualification, which is necessary for career progression. Through CAS, scientists can rise up to Principal Scientist grade, which is equivalent to the scale of Joint Secretary to the Government of India. The ARS encourages fresh infusion of talent at all senior levels through lateral entry in which incumbent scientists can participate in the open competition and move their career ahead in much shorter time than CAS. All the Research Management Positions are filled through open competition. The Director General of ICAR is the highest-ranked member of the ARS, who is ex officio Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture. Philippines In the Philippines, the official professional designation is Licensed and Registered Agriculturist but is more commonly shortened as "Licensed Agriculturist" or more simply as "Agriculturist". They are licensed and accredited after successfully passing the Agriculturist Licensure Examination, regulated by the Professional Regulation Commission and the Board of Agriculture. A Licensed Agriculturist can affix the title "L.Agr." (as name suffix) or "Agr." (as name prefix) to indicate the profession.The primary role of agriculturists are to prepare technical plans, specifications, and estimates of agriculture projects such as in the construction and management of farms and agribusiness enterprises. The practice of agriculture also includes the following: Consultation, evaluation, investigation, and management of agriculture projects Research and studies in soil analysis and conservation, crop production, breeding of livestock and poultry, tree planting, and other biotechniques Conduct training and extension services on soil analysis and conservation, crop production, breeding of livestock and poultry, tree planting Teaching of agriculture subjects in schools, colleges, and university Management of organizations related to agriculture, both in private and government (eg. Office of the Provincial Agriculturist)A prospective professional agriculturist is typically required to have a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, although other degree programs directly-related to agriculture are also allowed to take the licensure examination if they earn at least eighteen (18) units of agriculture credits from a recognized higher education institution. About 5,500 registered agriculturists pass the licensure examination annually. It is one of the hardest licensure examinations in the country with 29.84% passing rate in November 2021.The agriculturist profession and its board of agriculturists were created in 2002 by the Professional Regulation Commission, in order to "upgrade the agriculture and fisheries profession" by the virtue of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997. The practice of the agriculture profession is a professional service admission. Similar to other professions in the Philippines, malpractice and illegal practice of agriculture are grounds for suspension or revocation of certificates of registration and professional licenses. Licensed agriculturists in the Philippines are integrated into one accredited integrated professional organization, which is the Philippine Association of Agriculturists. Europe European Union In the European Union, the generic name of the profession is Agronomist/Agricultural Engineer. The profession is exercised for the public interest in defense of the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Directive 2005/36/EC. Italy In Italy, the professional designation is "Dottori Agronomi" (translated as Agronomy Doctor). The profession is exercised for the public interest in defense of the principles of Articles 9 and 32 of the Italian Constitution and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Professionals enrolled in the Register of Dottori Agronomi while exercising the profession base their actions on the following principles: Contribute to the integrated and sustainable development through the planning and design compatible with the conservation of biodiversity; Ensure and promote the quality of food for animal feed and animal welfare; Ensure the safety and promote the quality of food products for the protection of the business system and the health and well-being of the consumer; Promote and enhance the landscapes and cultures of rural communities; Qualify and enhance urban ecosystems and the development of plant and animal heritage and biodiversity. North America Canada In Canada, the professional designation is "agrologist", also called "agronome" in Québec. There are more than 10,000 professional agrologists and agronomes in Canada.Professional agrologists are accredited through provincial regulatory bodies, e.g. Saskatchewan Institute of Agrology, Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists. The requirements to attain professional designation (PAg) are similar in each province. A prospective agrologist is typically required to have a four year undergraduate science degree directly related to agrology. If accepted by their provincial institute, the applicant is known as an articling agrologist (AAg) or agrologist-in-training (AIT) and must complete a two year educational and mentorship program before being considered for a professional designation. An alternative certification called "registered technical agrologist" (RTag), or (PTag) is also available, requiring a two-year college or university education in the agricultural sciences instead of a four-year degree. These technologists designations require a two-year mentorship and education program, and participate in the same mentorship processes as a professional agrologist. United States In the United States, the professional designation is Certified Professional Agronomist (abbreviated C.PAg), the American Society of Agronomy is the regulatory organization responsible for certification. The American Society of Agronomy uses a sliding scale of education and experience to determine certification - it is required to have either a bachelor's degree in science and 5 years work experience, a master's degree related to agrology and 3 years work experience, or a Doctorate related to agrology and a single year of work experience. CPAgs are required to complete at least 50 hours of continuing education through the American Society of Agronomy every two years in order to retain their certification. The American Society of Agronomy also provides certifications for Certified Crop Advisors (CCA). To become a Certified Crop Adviser an applicant must pass two exams that may both be written on the same day at the same location. The International exam is written by CCAs in North America. The Prairie region exam is written by individuals wishing to work as advisers in the three Prairie provinces of Canada or in the heartland states of the US. See also Agriculture Agronomy Agricultural science Agricultural engineering Horticulture Animal science Botany Forestry Aquaculture == References ==

food processing

Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the making of convenience foods. Some food processing methods play important roles in reducing food waste and improving food preservation, thus reducing the total environmental impact of agriculture and improving food security. The Nova classification groups food according to different food processing techniques. Primary food processing is necessary to make most foods edible while secondary food processing turns ingredients into familiar foods, such as bread. Tertiary food processing results in ultra-processed foods and has been widely criticized for promoting overnutrition and obesity, containing too much sugar and salt, too little fiber, and otherwise being unhealthful in respect to dietary needs of humans and farm animals. Processing levels Primary food processing Primary food processing turns agricultural products, such as raw wheat kernels or livestock, into something that can eventually be eaten. This category includes ingredients that are produced by ancient processes such as drying, threshing, winnowing and milling grain, shelling nuts, and butchering animals for meat. It also includes deboning and cutting meat, freezing and smoking fish and meat, extracting and filtering oils, canning food, preserving food through food irradiation, and candling eggs, as well as homogenizing and pasteurizing milk.Contamination and spoilage problems in primary food processing can lead to significant public health threats, as the resulting foods are used so widely. However, many forms of processing contribute to improved food safety and longer shelf life before the food spoils. Commercial food processing uses control systems such as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) to reduce the risk of harm. Secondary food processing Secondary food processing is the everyday process of creating food from ingredients that are ready to use. Baking bread, regardless of whether it is made at home, in a small bakery, or in a large factory, is an example of secondary food processing. Fermenting fish and making wine, beer, and other alcoholic products are traditional forms of secondary food processing. Sausages are a common form of secondary processed meat, formed by comminution (grinding) of meat that has already undergone primary processing. Most of the secondary food processing methods known to humankind are commonly described as cooking methods. Tertiary food processing Tertiary food processing is the commercial production of what is commonly called processed food. These are ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve foods, such as frozen meals and re-heated airline meals. History Food processing dates back to the prehistoric ages when crude processing incorporated fermenting, sun drying, preserving with salt, and various types of cooking (such as roasting, smoking, steaming, and oven baking), Such basic food processing involved chemical enzymatic changes to the basic structure of food in its natural form, as well served to build a barrier against surface microbial activity that caused rapid decay. Salt-preservation was especially common for foods that constituted warrior and sailors' diets until the introduction of canning methods. Evidence for the existence of these methods can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek, Chaldean, Egyptian and Roman civilizations as well as archaeological evidence from Europe, North and South America and Asia. These tried and tested processing techniques remained essentially the same until the advent of the industrial revolution. Examples of ready-meals also date back to before the preindustrial revolution, and include dishes such as Cornish pasty and Haggis. Both during ancient times and today in modern society these are considered processed foods. Modern food processing technology developed in the 19th and 20th centuries was developed in a large part to serve military needs. In 1809, Nicolas Appert invented a hermetic bottling technique that would preserve food for French troops which ultimately contributed to the development of tinning, and subsequently canning by Peter Durand in 1810. Although initially expensive and somewhat hazardous due to the lead used in cans, canned goods would later become a staple around the world. Pasteurization, discovered by Louis Pasteur in 1864, improved the quality and safety of preserved foods and introduced the wine, beer, and milk preservation. In the 20th century, World War II, the space race and the rising consumer society in developed countries contributed to the growth of food processing with such advances as spray drying, evaporation, juice concentrates, freeze drying and the introduction of artificial sweeteners, colouring agents, and such preservatives as sodium benzoate. In the late 20th century, products such as dried instant soups, reconstituted fruits and juices, and self cooking meals such as MRE food ration were developed. By the 20th century, automatic appliances like microwave oven, blender, and rotimatic paved way for convenience cooking. In western Europe and North America, the second half of the 20th century witnessed a rise in the pursuit of convenience. Food processing companies marketed their products especially towards middle-class working wives and mothers. Frozen foods (often credited to Clarence Birdseye) found their success in sales of juice concentrates and "TV dinners". Processors utilised the perceived value of time to appeal to the postwar population, and this same appeal contributes to the success of convenience foods today. Benefits and drawbacks Benefits Benefits of food processing include toxin removal, preservation, easing marketing and distribution tasks, and increasing food consistency. In addition, it increases yearly availability of many foods, enables transportation of delicate perishable foods across long distances and makes many kinds of foods safe to eat by de-activating spoilage and pathogenic micro-organisms. Modern supermarkets would not exist without modern food processing techniques, and long voyages would not be possible. Processed foods are usually less susceptible to early spoilage than fresh foods and are better suited for long-distance transportation from the source to the consumer. When they were first introduced, some processed foods helped to alleviate food shortages and improved the overall nutrition of populations as it made many new foods available to the masses.Processing can also reduce the incidence of food-borne disease. Fresh materials, such as fresh produce and raw meats, are more likely to harbour pathogenic micro-organisms (e.g. Salmonella) capable of causing serious illnesses. The extremely varied modern diet is only truly possible on a wide scale because of food processing. Transportation of more exotic foods, as well as the elimination of much hard labor gives the modern eater easy access to a wide variety of food unimaginable to their ancestors.The act of processing can often improve the taste of food significantly.Mass production of food is much cheaper overall than individual production of meals from raw ingredients. Therefore, a large profit potential exists for the manufacturers and suppliers of processed food products. Individuals may see a benefit in convenience, but rarely see any direct financial cost benefit in using processed food as compared to home preparation. Processed food freed people from the large amount of time involved in preparing and cooking "natural" unprocessed foods. The increase in free time allows people much more choice in life style than previously allowed. In many families the adults are working away from home and therefore there is little time for the preparation of food based on fresh ingredients. The food industry offers products that fulfill many different needs: e.g. fully prepared ready meals that can be heated up in the microwave oven within a few minutes. Modern food processing also improves the quality of life for people with allergies, diabetics, and other people who cannot consume some common food elements. Food processing can also add extra nutrients such as vitamins. Drawbacks Processing of food can decrease its nutritional density. The amount of nutrients lost depends on the food and processing method. For example, heat destroys vitamin C. Therefore, canned fruits possess less vitamin C than their fresh alternatives. The USDA conducted a study of nutrient retention in 2004, creating a table of foods, levels of preparation, and nutrition.New research highlighting the importance to human health of a rich microbial environment in the intestine indicates that abundant food processing (not fermentation of foods) endangers that environment. Added sodium One of the main sources for sodium in the diet is processed foods. Sodium, mostly in the form of sodium chloride, i.e. salt, is added to prevent spoilage, add flavor and enhance the texture of these foods. Americans consume an average of 3436 milligrams of sodium per day, which is higher than the recommended limit of 2300 milligrams per day for healthy people, and more than twice the limit of 1500 milligrams per day for those at increased risk for heart disease. Added sugars While it is not necessary to limit the sugars found naturally in whole, unprocessed foods like fresh fruit, eating too much added sugar found in many processed foods increases the risk of heart disease, obesity, cavities and Type 2 diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends women limit added sugars to no more than 420 kilojoules (100 kilocalories), or 25 grams, and men limit added sugars to no more than 650 kJ (155 kcal), or about 38.75 grams, per day. Currently, Americans consume an average of 1,490 kJ (355 kcal) from added sugars each day. Nutrient losses Processing foods often involves nutrient losses, which can make it harder to meet the body's needs if these nutrients are not added back through fortification or enrichment. For example, using high heat during processing can cause vitamin C losses. Another example is refined grains, which have less fiber, vitamins and minerals than whole grains. Eating refined grains, such as those found in many processed foods, instead of whole grains may increase the risk for high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, according to a study published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in December 2007. Trans fats Foods that have undergone processing, including some commercial baked goods, desserts, margarine, frozen pizza, microwave popcorn and coffee creamers, sometimes contain trans fats. This is the most unhealthy type of fat, and may increase risk for high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends keeping trans fat intake as low as possible. Other potential disadvantages Processed foods may actually take less energy to digest than whole foods, according to a study published in "Food & Nutrition Research" in 2010, meaning more of their food energy content is retained within the body. Processed foods also tend to be more allergenic than whole foods, according to a June 2004 "Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology" article. Although the preservatives and other food additives used in many processed foods are generally recognized as safe, a few may cause problems for some individuals, including sulfites, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors and flavors, sodium nitrate, BHA and BHT, olestra, caffeine and monosodium glutamate — a flavor enhancer. Performance parameters for food processing When designing processes for the food industry the following performance parameters may be taken into account: Hygiene, e.g. measured by number of micro-organisms per mL of finished product. Energy efficiency measured e.g. by "ton of steam per ton of sugar produced". Minimization of waste, measured e.g. by "percentage of peeling loss during the peeling of potatoes". Labour used, measured e.g. by "number of working hours per ton of finished product". Minimization of cleaning stops measured e.g. by "number of hours between cleaning stops". Industries Food processing industries and practices include the following: See also Notes and references Bibliography Fábricas de alimentos, 9th edition (in Spanish). Nutritional evaluation of food processing, Food preservation 2nd edition, by Norman W. Desrosier. External links Media related to Manufacture of food at Wikimedia Commons

planetary health diet

The planetary health diet is a flexitarian diet created by the EAT-Lancet commission as part of a report released in The Lancet on 16 January 2019. The aim of the report and the diet it developed is to create dietary paradigms that have the following aims: To feed a world's population of 10 billion people in 2050 To greatly reduce the worldwide number of deaths caused by poor diet To be environmentally sustainable as to prevent the collapse of the natural world Restrictions To achieve this, it has defined heavy restrictions on the consumption of meat, dairy, and starchy vegetables, specifically red meat. The aim of this is not only to lessen the impact of the meat and dairy industries on the environment, but also to, theoretically, drastically decrease saturated fat and sugar intake from these food groups. Today's consumption of meat and dairy often exceeds nutritional recommendations.Healthy diets have an optimal caloric intake and consist largely of a diversity of plant-based foods, low amounts of animal source foods, contain unsaturated rather than saturated fats, and limited amounts of refined grains, highly processed foods and added sugars. There are also other restrictions on the amount of fruit, vegetables, legumes, grains, and oil. This is because the diet is created around a total intake of 2,500 calories a day (i.e., to discourage overeating). But the main focus is on greatly reducing meat, eggs, dairy, and starchy vegetables. The EAT-Lancet Commission describes the planetary health diet as a "flexitarian diet, which is largely plant-based but can optionally include modest amounts of fish, meat and dairy foods." Response The UK newspaper The Guardian and US news outlet CNN have given the diet positive coverage. Harry Harris, writing in New Statesman, was wary of claims that the diet could transform the world's food system, saying, “It seems churlish to keep placing the onus for climate change onto individual's [sic] behaviour, when we know that 100 companies are responsible for 71 per cent of global emissions."The World Health Organization withdrew its sponsorship of the EAT-Lancet event following criticism from Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Italy's representative to the Geneva international organizations. Cornado said that adopting one dietary approach for the whole planet would destroy traditional diets and cultural heritage, and that reducing meat and candy consumption would cause the loss of millions of jobs.In 2019, Francisco J. Zagmutt and colleagues challenged the planetary diet based on flaws in the methodology used for health estimates. However, as pointed out by Walter Willett, the three different methods that were used to estimate the number of preventable deaths among adults were published independently of the EAT-Lancet Commission with a detailed methodology. Cost The cost of this diet is less than what some people spend now, and more than what other people can afford. The planetary diet was challenged by Adegbola T. Adesogan and colleagues in 2020 who wrote that sustainability-oriented diet plans, such as the planetary diet, do not solve the problems of the women and children who are currently too poor to regularly eat meat, eggs, and dairy products, and whose health would benefit from introducing animal-source foods.Researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute and Tufts University calculated that nearly 1.6 billion people, mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, could not afford the cost of the EAT-Lancet reference diet.A 2020 study found that the planetary diet is more affordable than the typical Australian diet. Comparison with recommended diet patterns A 2020 comparison study found that there are agreements between the planetary diet and the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The differences are in the recommended amounts of fruit, nuts, red meat, seeds, starchy vegetables and whole grains.A 2020 comparison study of the average Indian diet with the planetary diet found that the average Indian diet is considered unhealthy because of excessive consumption of cereals and processed foods with not enough protein, fruits, and vegetables. References External links Five Questions on EAT-Lancet

climate resilience

Climate resilience is defined as the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance".: 7  This is done by "responding or reorganising in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure (as well as biodiversity in case of ecosystems) while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation".: 7  The key focus of increasing climate resilience is to reduce the climate vulnerability that communities, states, and countries currently have with regards to the many effects of climate change. Efforts to build climate resilience encompass social, economic, technological, and political strategies that are being implemented at all scales of society. From local community action to global treaties, addressing climate resilience is becoming a priority, although it could be argued that a significant amount of the theory has yet to be translated into practice.Climate resilience is related to climate change adaptation efforts. It aims to reduce climate change vulnerability and includes considerations of climate justice and equity. Practical implementations include climate resilient infrastructure, climate resilient agriculture and climate resilient development. Most objective approaches to measuring climate resilience use fixed and transparent definitions of resilience, and allow for different groups of people to be compared through standardised metrics. Definition Climate resilience is generally considered to be the ability to recover from, or to mitigate vulnerability to, climate-related shocks such as floods and droughts. It is a political process that strengthens the ability of all to mitigate vulnerability to risks from, and adapt to changing patterns in, climate hazards and variability.The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report defines climate resilience as follows: "Resilience [...] is defined as the capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance, responding or reorganising in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure as well as biodiversity in case of ecosystems while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation.": 7 Resilience is a useful concept because it speaks across sectors and disciplines but this also makes it open to interpretation resulting in differing, and at times competing, definitions. The definition of climate resilience is heavily debated, in both conceptual and practical terms.: 7 Components Currently, the majority of work regarding climate resilience has focused on actions taken to maintain existing systems and structures. This largely relates to the capacity of social-ecological systems to sustain shocks and maintain the integrity of functional relationships in the face of external forces. However, there is a growing consensus in the academic literature that actions taken to induce structural changes must also be recognized within the definition of resilience. The three basic capacities that are understood under the common definition are absorptive, adaptive, and transformative, each of which contributes different factors to the efforts of resilience work. This includes the capacity of social-ecological systems to renew and develop, and to utilize disturbances as opportunities for innovation and evolution of new pathways that improve the system's ability to adapt to macroscopic changes.Key aspects include: how resilience relates to climate change adaptation. The extent to which it should encompass actor-based versus systems-based approaches to improving stability; and its relationship with the balance of nature theory or homeostatic equilibrium view of ecological systems.The building of climate resilience is a highly comprehensive undertaking that involves of an eclectic array of actors and agents: individuals, community organizations, micropolitical bodies, corporations, governments at local, state, and national levels as well as international organizations. In essence, actions that bolster climate resilience are ones that will enhance the adaptive capacity of social, industrial, and environmental infrastructures that can mitigate the effects of climate change. Currently, research indicates that the strongest indicator of successful climate resilience efforts at all scales is a well developed, existing network of social, political, economic and financial institutions that is already positioned to effectively take on the work of identifying and addressing the risks posed by climate change. Cities, states, and nations that have already developed such networks are, as expected, to generally have far higher net incomes and gross domestic product (GDP). By sector Development "Climate resilient development" has become a new (albeit contested) paradigm for sustainable development, influencing theory and practice across all sectors globally. This is particularly true in the water sector, since water security is intimately connected to climate change. On every continent, governments are adopting policies for climate resilient economies, driven in part by international frameworks such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.Climate resilient development "integrates adaptation measures and their enabling conditions with mitigation to advance sustainable development for all".: 28  It involves questions of equity and system transitions, and includes adaptations for human, ecosystem and planetary health.: 7  Climate resilient development is facilitated by developing partnerships with traditionally marginalised groups, including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and ethnic minorities.: 29 To achieve climate resilient development, the following actions are needed: increasing climate information, and financing and technical capacity for flexible and dynamic systems. This needs to be coupled with greater consideration of the socio-ecological resilience and context-specific values of marginalised communities and meaningful engagement with the most vulnerable in decision making. Consequently, resilience produces a range of challenges and opportunities when applied to sustainable development. Infrastructure Infrastructure failures can have broad-reaching consequences extending away from the site of the original event, and for a considerable duration after the immediate failure. Furthermore, increasing reliance infrastructure system interdependence, in combination with the effects of climate change and population growth all contribute to increasing vulnerability and exposure, and greater probability of catastrophic failures. To reduce this vulnerability, and in recognition of limited resources and future uncertainty about climate projections, new and existing long-lasting infrastructure must undergo a risk-based engineering and economic analyses to properly allocate resources and design for climate resilience.Incorporating climate projections into building and infrastructure design standards, investment and appraisal criteria, and model building codes is currently not common. Some resilience guidelines and risk-informed frameworks have been developed by public entities. Such manuals can offer guidance for adaptive design methods, characterization of extremes, development of flood design criteria, flood load calculation and the application of adaptive risk management principals account for more severe climate/weather extremes. One example is the "Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines" by New York City. Agriculture In addition to these efforts, CSA is increasingly embracing advanced internet technology to address future agricultural challenges. This digital shift aims to enhance the security and integration of agricultural information, thereby improving crop patterns and management techniques. The introduction of 'internet + weather' services and agricultural weather index-based insurance are examples of innovative tools being adopted to fine-tune the resilience and productivity of agricultural systems in the face of climate variability and water resource challenges. Such technological advancements are crucial for CSA's ongoing mission to ensure global food security in a changing climate. Water and sanitation Tools Climate resilience framework A climate resilience framework can better equip governments and policymakers to develop sustainable solutions that combat the effects of climate change. To begin with, climate resilience establishes the idea of multi-stable socio-ecological systems (socio-ecological systems can actually stabilize around a multitude of possible states). Secondly, climate resilience has played a critical role in emphasizing the importance of preventive action when assessing the effects of climate change. Although adaptation is always going to be a key consideration, making changes after the fact has a limited capability to help communities and nations deal with climate change. By working to build climate resilience, policymakers and governments can take a more comprehensive stance that works to mitigate the harms of climate change impacts before they happen. Finally, a climate resilience perspective encourages greater cross-scale connectedness of systems. Creating mechanisms of adaptation that occur in isolation at local, state, or national levels may leave the overall social-ecological system vulnerable. A resilience-based framework would require far more cross-talk, and the creation of environmental protections that are more holistically generated and implemented. Disaster preparedness protocols At larger governmental levels, general programs to improve climate resiliency through greater disaster preparedness are being implemented. For example, in cases such as Norway, this includes the development of more sensitive and far-reaching early warning systems for extreme weather events, creation of emergency electricity power sources, enhanced public transportation systems, and more. Measurements Governments and development agencies are spending increasing amounts of finance to support resilience-building interventions. Resilience measurement can make valuable contributions in guiding resource allocations towards resilience-building. This includes targeted identification of vulnerability hotspots, a better understanding of the drivers of resilience, and tools to infer the impact and effectiveness of resilience-building interventions. In recent years, a large number of resilience measurement tools have emerged, offering ways to track and measure resilience at a range of scales - from individuals and households to communities and nations.Efforts to measure climate resilience currently face several technical challenges. Firstly, the definition of resilience is heavily contested, making it difficult to choose appropriate characteristics and indicators to track. Secondly, the resilience or households or communities cannot be measured using a single observable metric. Resilience is made up of a range of processes and characteristics, many of which are intangible and difficult to observe (such as social capital). As a result, many resilience toolkits resort to using large lists of proxy indicators.Most of the recent initiatives to measure resilience in rural development contexts share two shortcomings: complexity and high cost. USAID published a field guide for assessing climate resilience in smallholder supply chains.Most objective approaches use fixed and transparent definitions of resilience and allow for different groups of people to be compared through standardized metrics. However, as many resilience processes and capacities are intangible, objective approaches are heavily reliant on crude proxies. Examples of commonly used objective measures include the Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) and the Livelihoods Change Over Time (LCOT).Subjective approaches to resilience measurement take a contrasting view. They assume that people have a valid understanding of their resilience and seek to factor perceptions into the measurement process. They challenge the notion that experts are best placed to evaluate other people's lives. Subjective approaches use people's menu of what constitutes resilience and allow them to self-evaluate accordingly. An example is the Subjectively-Evaluated Resilience Score (SERS) Related concepts Climate change adaptation Climate change vulnerability See also Ecological resilience Resilience in the built environment References “Hallegatte, Stephane; Anjum, Rubaina; Avner, Paolo; Shariq, Ammara; Winglee, Michelle; Knudsen, Camilla. 2021. Integrating Climate Change and Natural Disasters in the Economic Analysis of Projects: A Disaster and Climate Risk Stress Test Methodology. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35751 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.

biodiversity in agriculture

Biodiversity in agriculture is the measure of biodiversity found on agricultural land. Biodiversity is the total diversity of species present in an area at all levels of biological organization. It is characterized by heterogeneous habitats that support the diverse ecological structure. In agricultural areas, biodiversity decreases as varying landscapes are lost and native plants are replaced with cultivated crops. Increasing biodiversity in agriculture can increase the sustainability of farms through the restoration of ecosystem services that aid in regulating agricultural lands. Biodiversity in agriculture can be increased through the process of agroecological restoration, as farm biodiversity is an aspect of agroecology. Biodiversity is the measure of biotic and abiotic diversity in an ecosystem, described by heterogeneity. The loss of biodiversity in agriculture has been an increasing issue since the global increase of food demands and success of popular crops. This loss of heterogeneity declines species biodiversity on agricultural lands. Biodiversity in agriculture is essential in providing ecosystem services, which conserves biodiversity while providing agricultural services. Biodiversity loss Agriculture creates a conflict over the use of land between wildlife and humans. Land use for agriculture has been a driving force in creating biodiversity loss An increase in the amount of pasture and crop land over the last few hundred years has led to the rapid loss of natural habitats. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that more than 40% of earth’s land surface is currently used for agriculture. Because so much land has been converted to agriculture, habitat loss is recognized as the driving force in biodiversity loss. A decline in farmland biodiversity can be traced to changes in farming practices and increased agricultural intensity.: 182  Nonetheless, according to the FAO, "biodiversity is just as important on farms and in fields as it is in deep river valleys or mountain cloud forests". In recent years, the world has acknowledged the value of biodiversity through treaties formed, such as in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. The loss of habitat connectivity caused by fragmentation in agricultural areas threatens biodiversity, as it decreases population sizes and restricts its access to external resources. Species facing habitat fragmentation can also create a genetic bottleneck The decreased gene pool threatens species through factors such as inbreeding depression, where the less advantageous populations lowers the species survival rates. Monoculture is the practice of producing a single crop on a given piece of land, including crop rotation. While monoculture produces optimum yields, it has implications for the biodiversity of farms. Heterogeneity, the diversity of the landscape, has been shown to be associated with species diversity. For example, butterfly abundance has been found to increase with heterogeneity. Land that is not cropped, such as fallow land, grass margins in the spaces between different fields, and strips of scrub along field boundaries increase heterogeneity and thus the biodiversity of a farm. Plants attract insects, which will attract certain species of birds, and those birds will attract their natural predators. The cover provided by non-cropped land allows species to move across the landscape.: 183–184  In Asian rice, one study showed crop diversification by growing flowering crops in strips beside rice fields could reduce pests so that insecticide spraying was reduced by 70%, yields increase by 5%, together resulting in an economic advantage of 7.5%. The Green Revolution One of the issues facing biodiversity in areas of industrial agriculture is the loss of heterogeneity, described by the loss of a biotic and abiotic diversity. Since 1966, the Green Revolution enhanced agricultural productivity through technological, economical, and political advancements in an effort to increase food security globally. This includes the introduction of genetically modified crops, which allows for increased yield, pest resistance, and improved crop varieties. These advancements also led to increased global geographical spread of 52 agricultural crops with cereals such as wheat, rice, and maize showing the greatest increase in the past 50 years. The loss of agricultural heterogeneity decreases local food security due to a loss in crop diversity, despite its accommodation of global food demands. Heterogeneity Heterogeneity is essential in increasing species heterogeneity, which maintain stable ecological structures essential to providing ecosystem services. Of the features associated with species diversity is land size, where a study proved a relationship between smaller agricultural fields and increased species richness. The area of an agricultural field is associated with organisms accessibility to the edges of the field, which usually allow access for fields with different biophysical and geophysical features. Increased accessibility to a diverse ecological features increases heterogeneity and reduces edge effects on populations inhabiting agricultural fields. Ecosystem services Agriculture is a transformative process to any habitat, with a main focus on cultivating crops for human consumption. Views on ecosystem services can be presented through viewpoints that benefit humans environmentally, economically, and culturally to motivate the practices that support ecosystem services in the agricultural industry. For example, low crop diversity can increase pests and their resistance to pesticides, resulting in large ecological disturbances and economical losses. This can be mitigated with increased crop rotation, which contributes to more diverse soil microbiota and insects that provide ecosystem services. Another example is the conservation of pollinators such as honeybees that can contribute to the agricultural industry, where contributing to the increase of pollinators is reciprocated with increased crop production. See also Agroecology References == Further reading ==

overdrafting

Overdrafting is the process of extracting groundwater beyond the equilibrium yield of an aquifer. Groundwater is one of the largest sources of fresh water and is found underground. The primary cause of groundwater depletion is the excessive pumping of groundwater up from underground aquifers. There are two sets of yields: safe yield and sustainable yield. Safe yield is the amount of groundwater that can be withdrawn over a period of time without exceeding the long-term recharge rate or affecting the aquifer integrity. Sustainable yield is the amount of water extraction that can be sustained indefinitely without negative hydrological impacts, taking into account both recharge rate and surface water impacts.There are two types of aquifers: confined and unconfined. In confined aquifers, there is an overbearing layer called aquitard, which contains impermeable materials through which groundwater cannot be extracted. In unconfined aquifers, there is no aquitard, and groundwater can be freely extracted from the surface. Extracting groundwater from unconfined aquifers is like borrowing the water: it has to be recharged at a proper rate. Recharge can happen through artificial recharge and natural recharge.Insufficient recharge can lead to depletion, reducing the usefulness of the aquifer for humans. Depletion can also have impacts on the environment around the aquifer, such as soil compression and land subsidence, local climatic change, soil chemistry changes, and other deterioration of the local environment. Mechanism When groundwater is extracted from an aquifer, a cone of depression is created around the well. As the drafting of water continues, the cone increases in radius. Extracting too much water (overdrafting) can lead to negative impacts such as a drop of the water table, land subsidence, and loss of surface water reaching the streams. In extreme cases, the supply of water that naturally recharges the aquifer is pulled directly from streams and rivers, lowering their water levels. This affects wildlife, as well as humans who might be using the water for other purposes.The natural process of aquifer recharge takes place through the percolation of surface water. An aquifer may be artificially recharged, such as by pumping reclaimed water from wastewater management projects directly into the aquifer. An example of is the Orange County Water District in California. This organization takes wastewater, treats it to a proper level, and then systematically pumps it back into the aquifers for artificial recharge. Since every groundwater basin recharges at a different rate depending on precipitation, vegetative cover, and soil conservation practices, the quantity of groundwater that can be safely pumped varies greatly among regions of the world and even within provinces. Some aquifers require a very long time to recharge, and thus overdrafting can effectively dry up certain sub-surface water supplies. Subsidence occurs when excessive groundwater is extracted from rocks that support more weight when saturated. This can lead to a capacity reduction in the aquifer.Changes in freshwater availability stem from natural and human activities (in conjunction with climate change) that interfere with groundwater recharge patterns. One of the leading anthropogenic activities causing groundwater depletion is irrigation. Roughly 40% of global irrigation is supported by groundwater, and irrigation is the primary activity causing groundwater storage loss across the U.S. Around the world This ranking is based on the amount of groundwater each country uses for agriculture. This issue is becoming significant in the United States (most notably in California), but it has been an ongoing problem in other parts of the world, such as was documented in Punjab, India, in 1987. United States In the U.S., an estimated 800 km3 of groundwater was depleted during the 20th century. The development of cities and other areas of highly concentrated water usage has created a strain on groundwater resources. In post-development scenarios, interactions between surface water and groundwater are reduced; there is less intermixing between the surface and subsurface (interflow), leading to depleted water tables.Groundwater recharge rates are also affected by rising temperatures which increase surface evaporation and transpiration, resulting in decreased water content of the soil. Anthropogenic changes to groundwater storage, such as over-pumping and the depletion of water tables combined with climate change, effectively reshape the hydrosphere and impact the ecosystems that depend on the groundwater. Accelerated decline in subterranean reservoirs According to a 2013 report by research hydrologist Leonard F. Konikow at the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer between 2001–2008 is about 32% of the cumulative depletion during the entire 20th century. In the United States, the biggest users of water from aquifers include agricultural irrigation, and oil and coal extraction. According to Konikow, "Cumulative total groundwater depletion in the United States accelerated in the late 1940s and continued at an almost steady linear rate through the end of the century. In addition to widely recognized environmental consequences, groundwater depletion also adversely impacts the long-term sustainability of groundwater supplies to help meet the Nation’s water needs."As reported by another USGS study of withdrawals from 66 major US aquifers, the three greatest uses of water extracted from aquifers were irrigation (68%), public water supply (19%), and "self-supplied industrial" (4%). The remaining 8% of groundwater withdrawals were for "self-supplied domestic, aquaculture, livestock, mining, and thermoelectric power uses." Environmental impacts The environmental impacts of overdrafting include: Groundwater-related subsidence: the collapse of land due to lack of support (from the water that is being depleted). The first recorded case of land subsidence was in the 1940s. Land subsidence can be as little as local land collapsing or as large as an entire region's land being lowered. The subsidence can lead to infrastructural and ecosystem damage. Lowering of the water table, which makes water harder to reach streams and rivers Reduction of water volume in streams and lakes because their supply of water is being diminished by surface water recharging the aquifers Impacts on animals that depend on streams and lakes for food, water, and habitat Deterioration to air quality and water quality Increase in the cost of water to the consumer due to a lower water table—more energy is needed to pump further down, so operating costs increase for companies, who pass on the expense to the consumer Decrease in crop production from lack of water (a large loss in the U.S. in particular, where 60% of irrigation relies on groundwater) Disturbances to the water cycle Groundwater related subsidence Climatic changes Aquifer drawdown or overdrafting and the pumping of fossil water may be contributing to sea-level rise. By increasing the amount of moisture available to fall as precipitation, severe weather events are more likely to occur. To some extent, moisture in the atmosphere accelerates the probability of a global warming event. The correlation coefficient is not yet scientifically determined. Socio-economic effects Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs, including each of the big three grain producers: China, India, and the United States. These three, along with several other countries where water tables are falling, are home to more than half the world's people.Water is intrinsic to biological and economic growth, and overdrafting reduces its available supply. According to Liebig's law of the minimum, population growth is therefore impeded. Deeper wells must be drilled as the water table drops, which can become expensive. In addition, the energy needed to extract a given volume of water increases with the amount the aquifer has been depleted. The deeper the water is extracted the worse the quality of the water becomes, which increases the cost of filtration. Saltwater intrusion is another consequence of overdrafting, leading to a reduction in water quality. Possible solutions Since recharge is the natural replenishment of water, artificial recharge is the man-made replenishment of groundwater, though there is only a limited amount of suitable water available for replenishing.In areas where recharge alone will not work, decreased water use can also be used. Notably, this requires actions such as switching to less water-intensive crops. Consumptive use refers to the water that is naturally taken from the system (for example, in transpiration). See also Cone of depression Groundwater recharge Groundwater-related subsidence Drinking water Overexploitation Water crisis Human overpopulation References External links The Perils of Groundwater Pumping, Issues in Science and Technology

environmental impact of electricity generation

Electric power systems consist of generation plants of different energy sources, transmission networks, and distribution lines. Each of these components can have environmental impacts at multiple stages of their development and use including in their construction, during the generation of electricity, and in their decommissioning and disposal. These impacts can be split into operational impacts (fuel sourcing, global atmospheric and localized pollution) and construction impacts (manufacturing, installation, decommissioning, and disposal). All forms of electricity generation have some form of environmental impact, but coal-fired power is the dirtiest. This page is organized by energy source and includes impacts such as water usage, emissions, local pollution, and wildlife displacement. Greenhouse gas emissions Water usage Water usage is one of the main environmental impacts of electricity generation. All thermal power plants (coal, natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, and biomass) use water as a cooling fluid to drive the thermodynamic cycles that allow electricity to be extracted from heat energy. Solar uses water for cleaning equipment, while hydroelectricity has water usage from evaporation from the reservoirs. The amount of water usage is often of great concern for electricity generating systems as populations increase and droughts become a concern. In addition, changes in water resources may impact the reliability of electricity generation.Discussions of water usage of electricity generation distinguish between water withdrawal and water consumption. According to the United States Geological Survey, "withdrawal" is defined as the amount of water removed from the ground or diverted from a water source for use, while "consumption" refers to the amount of water that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or crops, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment. Both water withdrawal and consumption are important environmental impacts to evaluate. General numbers for fresh water usage of different power sources are shown below. Steam-cycle plants (nuclear, coal, NG, solar thermal) require a great deal of water for cooling, to remove the heat at the steam condensers. The amount of water needed relative to plant output will be reduced with increasing boiler temperatures. Coal- and gas-fired boilers can produce high steam temperatures and so are more efficient, and require less cooling water relative to output. Nuclear boilers are limited in steam temperature by material constraints, and solar thermal is limited by concentration of the energy source.Thermal cycle plants near the ocean have the option of using seawater. Such a site will not have cooling towers and will be much less limited by environmental concerns of the discharge temperature since dumping heat will have very little effect on water temperatures. This will also not deplete the water available for other uses. Nuclear power in Japan for instance, uses no cooling towers at all because all plants are located on the coast. If dry cooling systems are used, significant water from the water table will not be used. Other, more novel, cooling solutions exist, such as sewage cooling at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Hydroelectricity's main cause of water usage is both evaporation and seepage into the water table. While water usage is still a major necessity for the production of electricity, since 2015 the use of water has decreased. In 2015 the total water withdrawals from thermoelectric power plants was just over 60 trillion gallons, but in 2020 it decreased to just under 50 trillion gallons. The water use has gone down because of the increase in the use of renewable energy sources. 80% of the decrease in water use is due to the use of natural gas and the use of renewables instead of just producing energy through coal-fired plants. And the other 20% of the decrease in water use comes from the implementation of closed loop recirculating and hybrid cooling systems rather than once through cooling systems. Once through cooling systems has an excessive amount of water withdrawals, so the water is only used once then released. While the closed loop water is reused several times so the water withdrawals is much lower. Fossil fuels Most electricity today is generated by burning fossil fuels and producing steam which is then used to drive a steam turbine that, in turn, drives an electrical generator. More serious are concerns about the emissions that result from fossil fuel burning. Fossil fuels constitute a significant repository of carbon buried deep underground. Burning them results in the conversion of this carbon to carbon dioxide, which is then released into the atmosphere. The estimated CO2 emission from the world's electrical power industry is 10 billion tonnes yearly. This results in an increase in the Earth's levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which enhances the greenhouse effect and contributes to global warming. Coal power Depending on the particular fossil fuel and the method of burning, other emissions may be produced as well. Ozone, sulfur dioxide, NO2 and other gases are often released, as well as particulate matter. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and acid rain. In the past, plant owners addressed this problem by building very tall flue-gas stacks, so that the pollutants would be diluted in the atmosphere. While this helps reduce local contamination, it does not help at all with global issues. Fossil fuels, particularly coal, also contain dilute radioactive material, and burning them in very large quantities releases this material into the environment, leading to low levels of local and global radioactive contamination, the levels of which are, ironically, higher than a nuclear power station as their radioactive contaminants are controlled and stored. Coal also contains traces of toxic heavy elements such as mercury, arsenic and others. Mercury vaporized in a power plant's boiler may stay suspended in the atmosphere and circulate around the world. While a substantial inventory of mercury exists in the environment, as other man-made emissions of mercury become better controlled, power plant emissions become a significant fraction of the remaining emissions. Power plant emissions of mercury in the United States are thought to be about 50 tons per year in 2003, and several hundred tons per year in China. Power plant designers can fit equipment to power stations to reduce emissions. Coal mining practices in the United States have also included strip mining and removing mountain tops. Mill tailings are left out bare and have been leached into local rivers and resulted in most or all of the rivers in coal producing areas to run red year round with sulfuric acid that kills all life in the rivers. Fossil gas power In 2022 the IEA said that greenhouse gas emissions from gas-fired power plants had increased by nearly 3% the previous year and that more efforts were needed to reduce them.As well as greenhouse gases, these power plants emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) but this is less dangerous than NOx from gas appliances in houses.The efficiency of gas-fired power plants can be improved by co-generation and geothermal (combined heat and power) methods. Process steam can be extracted from steam turbines. Waste heat produced by thermal generating stations can be used for space heating of nearby buildings. By combining electric power production and heating, less fuel is consumed, thereby reducing the environmental effects compared with separate heat and power systems. Fuel oil and diesel Dirty oil is burnt in power plants in a few oil producing countries such as Iran. Diesel is often used in backup generators, which can cause air pollution. Switching from fuels to electricity Nuclear power Renewable energy Renewable power technologies can have significant environmental benefits. Unlike coal and natural gas, they can generate electricity and fuels without releasing significant quantities of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, however the greenhouse gas savings from a number of biofuels have been found to be much less than originally anticipated, as discussed in the article Indirect land use change impacts of biofuels. Both solar and wind have been criticized from an aesthetic point of view. However, methods and opportunities exist to deploy these renewable technologies efficiently and unobtrusively: fixed solar collectors can double as noise barriers along highways, and extensive roadway, parking lot, and roof-top area is currently available; amorphous photovoltaic cells can also be used to tint windows and produce energy. Hydroelectricity The major advantage of conventional hydroelectric dams with reservoirs is their ability to store potential power for later electrical production. The combination of a natural supply of energy and production on demand has made hydro power the largest source of renewable energy by far. Other advantages include longer life than fuel-fired generation, low operating costs, and the provision of facilities for water sports. Some dams also operate as pumped-storage plants balancing supply and demand in the generation system. Overall, hydroelectric power can be less expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels or nuclear energy, and areas with abundant hydroelectric power attract industry. However, in addition to the advantages above, there are several disadvantages to dams that create large reservoirs. These may include: dislocation of people living where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide at construction and flooding of the reservoir, disruption of aquatic ecosystems and bird life, adverse impacts on the river environment, and in rare cases catastrophic failure of the dam wall.Some other disadvantages of the construction of hydroelectric dams is having to build access roads to get to the dam which disrupt the land ecosystem and not just the water ecosystems. Also with the increase in carbon dioxide, there is an increase in methane. This is from the flooding during the creation of the dams, when plants are submerged underwater and decay, they release methane gas. Another disadvantage is the upfront cost to build the dam and the amount of time it takes to build it.Some dams only generate power and serve no other purpose, but in many places large reservoirs are needed for flood control and/or irrigation, adding a hydroelectric portion is a common way to pay for a new reservoir. Flood control protects life/property and irrigation supports increased agriculture. Small hydro and run-of-the-river are two low impact alternatives to hydroelectric reservoirs, although they may produce intermittent power due to a lack of stored water. Tidal Biomass Electrical power can be generated by burning anything which will combust. Some electrical power is generated by burning crops which are grown specifically for the purpose. Usually this is done by fermenting plant matter to produce ethanol, which is then burned. This may also be done by allowing organic matter to decay, producing biogas, which is then burned. Also, when burned, wood is a form of biomass fuel.Burning biomass produces many of the same emissions as burning fossil fuels. However, growing biomass captures carbon dioxide out of the air, so that the net contribution to global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is small. The process of growing biomass is subject to the same environmental concerns as any kind of agriculture. It uses a large amount of land, and fertilizers and pesticides may be necessary for cost-effective growth. Biomass that is produced as a by-product of agriculture shows some promise, but most such biomass is currently being used, for plowing back into the soil as fertilizer if nothing else. Wind power Geothermal power Geothermal energy is the heat of the Earth, which can be tapped into to produce electricity in power plants. Warm water produced from geothermal sources can be used for industry, agriculture, bathing and cleansing. Where underground steam sources can be tapped, the steam is used to run a steam turbine. Geothermal steam sources have a finite life as underground water is depleted. Arrangements that circulate surface water through rock formations to produce hot water or steam are, on a human-relevant time scale, renewable. While a geothermal power plant does not burn any fuel, it will still have emissions due to substances other than steam which come up from the geothermal wells. These may include hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Some geothermal steam sources entrain non-soluble minerals that must be removed from the steam before it is used for generation; this material must be properly disposed. Any (closed cycle) steam power plant requires cooling water for condensers; diversion of cooling water from natural sources, and its increased temperature when returned to streams or lakes, may have a significant impact on local ecosystems.Removal of ground water and accelerated cooling of rock formations can cause earth tremors. Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) fracture underground rock to produce more steam; such projects can cause earthquakes. Certain geothermal projects (such as one near Basel, Switzerland in 2006) have been suspended or canceled owing to objectionable seismicity induced by geothermal recovery. However, risks associated with "hydrofracturing induced seismicity are low compared to that of natural earthquakes, and can be reduced by careful management and monitoring" and "should not be regarded as an impediment to further development of the Hot Rock geothermal energy resource". Solar power See also Air pollution Alta controversy The Carbon Principles Cost of electricity by source – includes environmental and health costs EKOenergy – ecolabel for electricity managed by environmental NGOs Environmental impact of the energy industry Eugene Green Energy Standard Flue-gas desulfurization Flue-gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion Fossil-fuel power plant Life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of energy sources List of countries by electricity production from renewable source List of energy storage projects Nuclear power Nuclear whistleblowers Power stations Scientific opinion on climate change References Works cited International Energy Agency (2020). World Energy Outlook 2020. ISBN 978-92-64-44923-7. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. External links Who's Afraid Of Nuclear Power? – ABC Australia – 4 Corners – International Nuclear Energy Policy Histories, Trends & Debates

peak farmland

Peak farmland is the maximum usable amount of land needed for crop cultivation (agricultural land) for a given region (country or an entire world). Supporters of the peak farmland theory argue that even with the growing world population, the need for more farmland is decreasing, as food production yields per acre of farmland are rising faster than the global demand for food. This is supported by the fact that the area dedicated to farmland in some countries, both developed (e.g. Finland) and developing (e.g. India, China), has already begun to decline. Globally, while the total amount of arable land is still increasing, the area of permanent pasture has been in decline since 1998, with at least 60 million hectares no longer grazed. It is argued that other countries, such as the United States, are at their peak farmland now. Description The concept is usually referenced to the work of Jesse Ausubel and Iddo Wernick. They predict that over the next fifty years an area of at least 146 million hectares is going to be released from farming and will probably revert to its natural state. As land conversion (from a natural state to human use) is one of the greatest threats to the natural environment in general, and biodiversity in particular, this is seen as good for the environment. Together with Iddo Wernick [...] we believe that humanity has reached Peak Farmland, and that a large net global restoration of land to Nature is ready to begin. Happily, the cause is not exhaustion of arable land, as many have feared, but rather moderation of population and tastes and ingenuity of farmers. – Jesse H. Ausubel Geisler and Currens note, however, that "Peak Farmland, though newly named, is a long-standing issue" that has been debated by scholars for decades. The issue deals with two opposing views: one that predicts that more and more farmland will be needed to sustain the growing world population, and the other (the peak farmland view) that progress in agricultural techniques, measured in steadily increasing crop yields from a set amount of farmland, will result in a decrease in the amount of farmland needed to feed the world's population, eventually leading to a decrease in the world's acreage of farmland. See also Food security Peak oil Sustainable agriculture Sustainable fishery References Further reading Ausubel, Jesse H.; Wernick, Iddo K.; Waggoner, Paul E. (1 February 2013). "Peak Farmland and the Prospect for Land Sparing". Population and Development Review. 38: 221–242. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00561.x. hdl:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00561.x. ISSN 1728-4457. External links A graph from Ausubel et al. (2012) summing up their argument

environmental effects of mining

Environmental effects of mining can occur at local, regional, and global scales through direct and indirect mining practices. Mining can cause in erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by chemicals emitted from mining processes. These processes also affect the atmosphere through carbon emissions which contributes to climate change. Some mining methods (lithium mining, phosphate mining, coal mining, mountaintop removal mining, and sand mining) may have such significant environmental and public health effects that mining companies in some countries are required to follow strict environmental and rehabilitation codes to ensure that the mined area returns to its original state. Erosion Erosion of exposed hillsides, mine dumps, tailings dams and resultant siltation of drainages, creeks and rivers can significantly affect the surrounding areas, a prime example being the giant Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea. Soil erosion can decrease the water availability for plant growth, resulting in a population decline in the plant ecosystem. Soil erosion is mainly caused by excessive rainfall, lack of soil management and chemical exposure from mining. In wilderness areas, mining may cause destruction of ecosystems and habitats, and in areas of farming, it may disturb or destroy productive grazing and croplands. Sinkholes A sinkhole at or near a mine site is typically caused from the failure of a mine roof from the extraction of resources, weak overburden or geological discontinuities. The overburden at the mine site can develop cavities in the subsoil or rock, which can infill with sand and soil from the overlying strata. These cavities in the overburden have the potential to eventually cave in, forming a sinkhole at the surface. The sudden failure of earth creates a large depression at the surface without warning, this can be seriously hazardous to life and property. Sinkholes at a mine site can be mitigated with the proper design of infrastructure such as mining supports and better construction of walls to create a barrier around an area prone to sinkholes. Back-filling and grouting can be done to stabilize abandoned underground workings. Water pollution Mining can have harmful effects on surrounding surface and groundwater. If proper precautions are not taken, unnaturally high concentrations of chemicals, such as arsenic, sulphuric acid, and mercury can spread over a significant area of surface or subsurface water. Large amounts of water used for mine drainage, mine cooling, aqueous extraction and other mining processes increases the potential for these chemicals to contaminate ground and surface water. As mining produces copious amounts of waste water, disposal methods are limited due to contaminates within the waste water. Runoff containing these chemicals can lead to the devastation of the surrounding vegetation. The dumping of the runoff in surface waters or in a lot of forests is the worst option. Therefore, submarine tailings disposal are regarded as a better option (if the waste is pumped to great depth). Land storage and refilling of the mine after it has been depleted is even better, if no forests need to be cleared for the storage of debris. The contamination of watersheds resulting from the leakage of chemicals also has an effect on the health of the local population.In well-regulated mines, hydrologists and geologists take careful measurements of water to take precaution to exclude any type of water contamination that could be caused by the mine's operations. The minimization of environmental degradation is enforced in American mining practices by federal and state law, by restricting operators to meet standards for the protection of surface and groundwater from contamination. This is best done through the use of non-toxic extraction processes as bioleaching. Air pollution The mining industry contributes between 4 and 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.Air pollutants have a negative impact on plant growth, primarily through interfering with resource accumulation. Once leaves are in close contact with the atmosphere, many air pollutants, such as O3 and NOx, affect the metabolic function of the leaves and interfere with net carbon fixation by the plant canopy. Air pollutants that are first deposited on the soil, such as heavy metals, first affect the functioning of roots and interfere with soil resource capture by the plant. These reductions in resource capture (production of carbohydrate through photosynthesis, mineral nutrient uptake and water uptake from the soil) will affect plant growth through changes in resource allocation to the various plant structures. When air pollution stress co-occurs with other stresses, e.g. water stress, the outcome on growth will depend on a complex interaction of processes within the plant. At the ecosystem level, air pollution can shift the competitive balance among the species present and may lead to changes in the composition of the plant community. In agroecosystems these changes may be manifest in reduced economic yield. Acid rock drainage Sub-surface mining often progresses below the water table, so water must be constantly pumped out of the mine in order to prevent flooding. When a mine is abandoned, the pumping ceases, and water floods the mine. This introduction of water is the initial step in most acid rock drainage situations.Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the weathering process but is exacerbated by large-scale earth disturbances characteristic of mining and other large construction activities, usually within rocks containing an abundance of sulfide minerals. Areas where the earth has been disturbed (e.g. construction sites, subdivisions, and transportation corridors) may create acid rock drainage. In many localities, the liquid that drains from coal stocks, coal handling facilities, coal washeries, and coal waste tips can be highly acidic, and in such cases it is treated as acid mine drainage (AMD). The same type of chemical reactions and processes may occur through the disturbance of acid sulfate soils formed under coastal or estuarine conditions after the last major sea level rise, and constitutes a similar environmental hazard.The five principal technologies used to monitor and control water flow at mine sites are diversion systems, containment ponds, groundwater pumping systems, subsurface drainage systems, and subsurface barriers. In the case of AMD, contaminated water is generally pumped to a treatment facility that neutralizes the contaminants. A 2006 review of environmental impact statements found that "water quality predictions made after considering the effects of mitigation largely underestimated actual impacts to groundwater, seeps, and surface water". Heavy metals Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight and a density at least 5 times greater than that of water. Their multiple industrial, domestic, agricultural, medical and technological applications have led to their wide distribution in the environment; raising concerns over their potential effects on human health and the environment.Naturally occurring heavy metals are displayed in shapes that are not promptly accessible for uptake by plants. They are ordinarily displayed in insoluble shapes, like in mineral structures, or in precipitated or complex shapes that are not promptly accessible for plant take-up. Normally happening heavy metals have an awesome adsorption capacity in soil and are hence not promptly accessible for living organisms. The holding vitality between normally happening heavy metals and soil is exceptionally high compared to that with anthropogenic sources.Dissolution and transport of metals and heavy metals by run-off and ground water is another example of environmental problems with mining, such as the Britannia Mine, a former copper mine near Vancouver, British Columbia. Tar Creek, an abandoned mining area in Picher, Oklahoma that is now an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, also suffers from heavy metal contamination. Water in the mine containing dissolved heavy metals such as lead and cadmium leaked into local groundwater, contaminating it. Long-term storage of tailings and dust can lead to additional problems, as they can be easily blown off site by wind, as occurred at Skouriotissa, an abandoned copper mine in Cyprus. Environmental changes such as global warming and increased mining activity may increase the content of heavy metals in the stream sediments. Effect on biodiversity The implantation of a mine is a major habitat modification, and smaller perturbations occur on a larger scale than exploitation site, mine-waste residuals contamination of the environment for example. Adverse effects can be observed long after the end of the mine activity. Destruction or drastic modification of the original site and anthropogenic substances release can have major impact on biodiversity in the area. Destruction of the habitat is the main component of biodiversity losses, but direct poisoning caused by mine-extracted material, and indirect poisoning through food and water, can also affect animals, vegetation and microorganisms. Habitat modification such as pH and temperature modification disturb communities in the surrounding area. Endemic species are especially sensitive, since they require very specific environmental conditions. Destruction or slight modification of their habitat put them at the risk of extinction. Habitats can be damaged when there is not enough terrestrial product as well as by non-chemical products, such as large rocks from the mines that are discarded in the surrounding landscape with no concern for impacts on natural habitat.Concentrations of heavy metals are known to decrease with distance from the mine, and effects on biodiversity tend to follow the same pattern. Impacts can vary greatly depending on mobility and bioavailability of the contaminant: less-mobile molecules will stay inert in the environment while highly mobile molecules will easily move into another compartment or be taken up by organisms. For example, speciation of metals in sediments could modify their bioavailability, and thus their toxicity for aquatic organisms.Biomagnification plays an important role in polluted habitats: mining impacts on biodiversity, assuming that concentration levels are not high enough to directly kill exposed organisms, should be greater to the species on top of the food chain because of this phenomenon.Adverse mining effects on biodiversity depend a great extent on the nature of the contaminant, the level of concentration at which it can be found in the environment, and the nature of the ecosystem itself. Some species are quite resistant to anthropogenic disturbances, while some others will completely disappear from the contaminated zone. Time alone does not seem to allow the habitat to recover completely from the contamination. Remediation practices take time, and in most cases will not enable the recovery of the original diversity present before the mining activity took place. Aquatic organisms The mining industry can impact aquatic biodiversity through different ways. One way can be direct poisoning; a higher risk for this occurs when contaminants are mobile in the sediment or bioavailable in the water. Mine drainage can modify water pH, making it hard to differentiate direct impact on organisms from impacts caused by pH changes. Effects can nonetheless be observed and proven to be caused by pH modifications. Contaminants can also affect aquatic organisms through physical effects: streams with high concentrations of suspended sediment limit light, thus diminishing algae biomass. Metal oxide deposition can limit biomass by coating algae or their substrate, thereby preventing colonization. Factors that impact communities in acid mine drainage sites vary temporarily and seasonally: temperature, rainfall, pH, salinisation and metal quantity all display variations on the long term, and can heavily affect communities. Changes in pH or temperature can affect metal solubility, and thereby the bioavailable quantity that directly impact organisms. Moreover, contamination persists over time: ninety years after a pyrite mine closure, water pH was still very low and microorganisms populations consisted mainly of acidophil bacteria.One big case study that was considered extremely toxic to aquatic organisms was the contamination that occurred in Minamata Bay. Methylmercury was released into wastewater by industrial chemical company's and a disease called Minamata disease was discovered in Kumamoto, Japan. This resulted in mercury poisoning in fishes and shellfishes and it was contaminating surrounding species and many died from it and it impacted anyone that ate the contaminated fishes. Microorganisms Algae communities are less diverse in acidic water containing high zinc concentration, and mine drainage stress decrease their primary production. Diatoms' community is greatly modified by any chemical change, pH phytoplankton assemblage, and high metal concentration diminishes the abundance of planktonic species. Some diatom species may grow in high-metal-concentration sediments. In sediments close to the surface, cysts suffer from corrosion and heavy coating. In very polluted conditions, total algae biomass is quite low, and the planktonic diatom community is missing. Similarly to phytoplankton, the zooplankton communities are heavily altered in cases where the mining impact is severe. In case of functional complementary, however, it is possible that the phytoplankton and zooplankton mass remains stable. Macro-organisms Water insect and crustacean communities are modified around a mine, resulting in a low tropic completeness and their community being dominated by predators. However, biodiversity of macroinvertebrates can remain high, if sensitive species are replaced with tolerant ones. When diversity within the area is reduced, there is sometimes no effect of stream contamination on abundance or biomass, suggesting that tolerant species fulfilling the same function take the place of sensible species in polluted sites. pH diminution in addition to elevated metal concentration can also have adverse effects on macroinvertebrates' behaviour, showing that direct toxicity is not the only issue. Fish can also be affected by pH, temperature variations, and chemical concentrations. Terrestrial organisms Vegetation Soil texture and water content can be greatly modified in disturbed sites, leading to plants community changes in the area. Most of the plants have a low concentration tolerance for metals in the soil, but sensitivity differs among species. Grass diversity and total coverage is less affected by high contaminant concentration than forbs and shrubs. Mine waste-materials rejects or traces due to mining activity can be found in the vicinity of the mine, sometimes far away from the source. Established plants cannot move away from perturbations, and will eventually die if their habitat is contaminated by heavy metals or metalloids at a concentration that is too elevated for their physiology. Some species are more resistant and will survive these levels, and some non-native species that can tolerate these concentrations in the soil, will migrate in the surrounding lands of the mine to occupy the ecological niche. This can also leave the soil vulnerable to potential soil erosion, which would make it inhabitable for plants.Plants can be affected through direct poisoning, for example arsenic soil content reduces bryophyte diversity. Vegetation can also be contaminated from other metals as well such as nickel and copper. Soil acidification through pH diminution by chemical contamination can also lead to a diminished species number. Contaminants can modify or disturb microorganisms, thus modifying nutrient availability, causing a loss of vegetation in the area. Some tree roots divert away from deeper soil layers in order to avoid the contaminated zone, therefore lacking anchorage within the deep soil layers, resulting in the potential uprooting by the wind when their height and shoot weight increase. In general, root exploration is reduced in contaminated areas compared to non-polluted ones. Plant species diversity will remain lower in reclaimed habitats than in undisturbed areas. Depending on what specific type of mining is done, all vegetation can be initially removed from the area before the actual mining is started. Cultivated crops might be a problem near mines. Most crops can grow on weakly contaminated sites, but yield is generally lower than it would have been in regular growing conditions. Plants also tend to accumulate heavy metals in their aerial organs, possibly leading to human intake through fruits and vegetables. Regular consumption of contaminated crops might lead to health problems caused by long-term metal exposure. Cigarettes made from tobacco growing on contaminated sites might also possibly have adverse effects on human population, as tobacco tends to accumulate cadmium and zinc in its leaves. Animals Habitat destruction is one of the main issues of mining activity. Huge areas of natural habitat are destroyed during mine construction and exploitation, forcing animals to leave the site.Animals can be poisoned directly by mine products and residuals. Bioaccumulation in the plants or the smaller organisms they eat can also lead to poisoning: horses, goats and sheep are exposed in certain areas to potentially toxic concentration of copper and lead in grass. There are fewer ant species in soil containing high copper levels, in the vicinity of a copper mine. If fewer ants are found, chances are higher that other organisms living in the surrounding landscape are strongly affected by the high copper levels as well. Ants have good judgement whether an area is habitual as they live directly in the soil and are thus sensitive to environmental disruptions. Microorganisms Microorganisms are extremely sensitive to environmental modification, such as modified pH, temperature changes or chemical concentrations due to their size. For example, the presence of arsenic and antimony in soils have led to diminution in total soil bacteria. Much like waters sensitivity, a small change in the soil pH can provoke the remobilization of contaminants, in addition to the direct impact on pH-sensitive organisms. Microorganisms have a wide variety of genes among their total population, so there is a greater chance of survival of the species due to the resistance or tolerance genes in that some colonies possess, as long as modifications are not too extreme. Nevertheless, survival in these conditions will imply a big loss of gene diversity, resulting in a reduced potential for adaptations to subsequent changes. Undeveloped soil in heavy metal contaminated areas could be a sign of reduced activity by soils microfauna and microflora, indicating a reduced number of individuals or diminished activity. Twenty years after disturbance, even in rehabilitation area, microbial biomass is still greatly reduced compared to undisturbed habitat.Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi are especially sensitive to the presence of chemicals, and the soil is sometimes so disturbed that they are no longer able to associate with root plants. However, some fungi possess contaminant accumulation capacity and soil cleaning ability by changing the biodisponibility of pollutants, this can protect plants from potential damages that could be caused by chemicals. Their presence in contaminated sites could prevent loss of biodiversity due to mine-waste contamination, or allow for bioremediation, the removal of undesired chemicals from contaminated soils. On the contrary, some microbes can deteriorate the environment: which can lead to elevated SO4 in the water and can also increase microbial production of hydrogen sulfide, a toxin for many aquatic plants and organisms. Waste materials Tailings Mining processes produce an excess of waste materials known as tailings. The materials that are left over after are a result of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of ore. These large amounts of waste are a mixture of water, sand, clay, and residual bitumen. Tailings are commonly stored in tailings ponds made from naturally existing valleys or large engineered dams and dyke systems. Tailings ponds can remain part of an active mine operation for 30–40 years. This allows for tailings deposits to settle, or for storage and water recycling.Tailings have great potential to damage the environment by releasing toxic metals by acid mine drainage or by damaging aquatic wildlife; these both require constant monitoring and treatment of water passing through the dam. However, the greatest danger of tailings ponds is dam failure. Tailings ponds are typically formed by locally derived fills (soil, coarse waste, or overburden from mining operations and tailings) and the dam walls are often built up on to sustain greater amounts of tailings. The lack of regulation for design criteria of the tailings ponds are what put the environment at risk for flooding from the tailings ponds. Spoil tip A spoil tip is a pile of accumulated overburden that was removed from a mine site during the extraction of coal or ore. These waste materials are composed of ordinary soil and rocks, with the potential to be contaminated with chemical waste . Spoil is much different from tailings, as it is processed material that remains after the valuable components have been extracted from ore. Spoil tip combustion can happen fairly commonly as, older spoil tips tend to be loose and tip over the edge of a pile. As spoil is mainly composed of carbonaceous material that is highly combustible, it can be accidentally ignited by the lighting fire or the tipping of hot ashes. Spoil tips can often catch fire and be left burning underground or within the spoil piles for many years. Effects of mine pollution on humans Humans are also affected by mining. There are many diseases that can come from the pollutants that are released into the air and water during the mining process. For example, during smelting operations large quantities of air pollutants, such as the suspended particulate matter, SOx, arsenic particles and cadmium, are emitted. Metals are usualldonoy emitted into the air as particulates as well. There are also many occupational health hazards that miners face. Most of miners suffer from various respiratory and skin diseases such as asbestosis, silicosis, or black lung disease.Furthermore, one of the biggest subset of mining that impacts humans is the pollutants that end up in the water, which results in poor water quality. About 30% of the world has access to renewable freshwater which is used by industries that generate large amounts of waste containing chemicals in various concentrations that are deposited into the freshwater. The concern of active chemicals in the water can pose a great risk to human health as it can accumulate within the water and fishes. There was a study done on an abandon mine in China, Dabaoshan mine and this mine was not active to many years yet the impact of how metals can accumulate in water and soil was a major concern for neighboring villages. Due to the lack of proper care of waste materials 56% of mortality rate is estimated within the regions around this mining sites, and many have been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and liver cancer. It resulted that this mine till this day still has negative impacts on human health through crops and it is evident that there needs to be more cleaning up measures around surrounding areas. The long-term effects associated with air pollution are plenty including chronic asthma, pulmonary insufficiency, and cardiovascular mortality. According to a Swedish cohort study, diabetes seems to be induced after long-term air pollution exposure. Furthermore, air pollution seems to have various malign health effects in early human life, such as respiratory, cardiovascular, mental, and perinatal disorders, leading to infant mortality or chronic disease in adult age. Discuss contamination basically influences those living in huge urban zones, where street outflows contribute the foremost to the degradation of discuss quality. There's moreover a threat of mechanical mishaps, where the spread of a harmful haze can be lethal to the populaces of the encompassing regions. The scattering of poisons is decided by numerous parameters, most outstandingly barometrical soundness and wind. Deforestation With open cast mining the overburden, which may be covered in forest, must be removed before the mining can commence. Although the deforestation due to mining may be small compared to the total amount it may lead to species extinction if there is a high level of local endemism. The lifecycle of mining coal is one of the filthiest cycles that causes deforestation due to the amount of toxins, and heavy metals that are released soil and water environment. Although the effects of coal mining take a long time to impact the environment the burning of coals and fires which can burn up to decades can release flying ash and increase the greenhouse gasses. Specifically strip mining that can destroy landscapes, forests, and wildlife habitats that are near the sites. Trees, plants and topsoil are cleared from the mining area and this can lead to destruction of agricultural land. Furthermore, when rainfall occurs the ashes and other materials are washed into streams that can hurt fish. These impacts can still occur after the mining site is completed which disturbs the presences of the land and restoration of the deforestation takes longer than usual because the quality of the land is degraded. Legal mining, albeit more environmentally-controlled than illegal mining, contributes to some substantial percentage to the deforestation of tropical countries Impacts associated with specific types of mining Coal mining The environmental factors of the coal industry are not only impacting air pollution, water management and land use but also is causing severe health effects by the burning of the coal. Air pollution is increasing in numbers of toxins such as mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other heavy metals. This is causing health issues involving breathing difficulties and is impacting the wildlife around the surrounding areas that needs clean air to survive. The future of air pollution remains unclear as the Environmental Protection Agency have tried to prevent some emissions but don't have control measures in place for all plants producing mining of coal. Water pollution is another factor that is being damaged throughout this process of mining coals, the ashes from coal is usually carried away in rainwater which streams into larger water sites. It can take up to 10 years to clean water sites that have coal waste and the potential of damaging clean water can only make the filtration much more difficult. Deep sea mining Deep sea mining for manganese nodules and other resources have led to concerns from marine scientists and environmental groups over the impact on fragile deep sea ecosystems. Knowledge of potential impacts is limited due to limited research on deep sea life. Lithium mining Lithium does not occur as the metal naturally since it is highly reactive, but is found combined in small amounts in rocks, soils, and bodies of water. The extraction of lithium in rock form can be exposed to air, water, and soil. Furthermore, batteries are globally demanded for containing lithium in regards to manufacturing, the toxic chemicals that lithium produce can negatively impact humans, soils, and marine species. Lithium production increased by 25% between 2000 and 2007 for the use of batteries, and the major sources of lithium are found in brine lake deposits. Lithium is discovered and extracted from 150 minerals, clays, numerous brines, and sea water, and although lithium extraction from rock-form is twice as expensive from that of lithium extracted from brines, the average brine deposit is greater than in comparison to an average lithium hard rock deposit. Phosphate mining Phosphate-bearing rocks are mined to produce phosphorus, an essential element used in industry and agriculture. The process of extraction includes removal of surface vegetation, thereby exposing phosphorus rocks to the terrestrial ecosystem, damaging the land area with exposed phosphorus, resulting in ground erosion. The products released from phosphate ore mining are wastes, and tailings, resulting in human exposure to particulate matter from contaminated tailings via inhalation and the toxic elements that impact human health are (Cd, Cr, Zn, Cu and Pb). Oil shale mining Oil shale is a sedimentary rock containing kerogen which hydrocarbons can be produced. Mining oil shale impacts the environment it can damage the biological land and ecosystems. The thermal heating and combustion generate a lot of material and waste that includes carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas. Many environmentalists are against the production and usage of oil shale because it creates large amounts of greenhouse gasses. Among air pollution, water contamination is a huge factor mainly because oil shales are dealing with oxygen and hydrocarbons. There is changes in the landscape with mining sites due to oil shale mining and the production using chemical products. The ground movements within the area of underground mining is a problem that is long-term because it causes non-stabilized areas. Underground mining causes a new formation that can be suitable for some plant growth, but rehabilitation could be required. Mountaintop removal mining Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) occurs when trees are cut down, and coal seams are removed by machines and explosives. As a result the landscape is more susceptible to flash flooding and causing potential pollution from the chemicals. The critical zone disturbed by mountaintop removal causes degraded stream water quality towards the marine and terrestrial ecosystems and thus mountaintop removal mining affect hydrologic response and long-term watersheds. Sand mining Sand mining and gravel mining creates large pits and fissures in the earth's surface. At times, mining can extend so deeply that it affects ground water, springs, underground wells, and the water table. The major threats of sand mining activities include channel bed degradation, river formation and erosion. Sand mining has resulted in an increase of water turbidity in the majority offshore of Lake Hongze, the fourth largest freshwater lake located in China. Mitigation To ensure completion of reclamation, or restoring mine land for future use, many governments and regulatory authorities around the world require that mining companies post a bond to be held in escrow until productivity of reclaimed land has been convincingly demonstrated, although if cleanup procedures are more expensive than the size of the bond, the bond may simply be abandoned. Since 1978 the mining industry has reclaimed more than 2 million acres (8,000 km2) of land in the United States alone. This reclaimed land has renewed vegetation and wildlife in previous mining lands and can even be used for farming and ranching. Specific sites Tui mine in New Zealand Stockton mine in New Zealand Northland Pyrite Mine in Temagami, Ontario, Canada Sherman Mine in Temagami, Ontario, Canada Ok Tedi Mine in Western Province, Papua New Guinea The Berkeley Pit Wheal Jane Mines See also Environmental impact of deep sea mining Environmental effects of placer mining Environmental impact of gold mining Environmental impact of zinc mining List of environmental issues Appalachian Voices, a lobby group in the United States Mining Natural resource == References ==

agricultural expansion

Agricultural expansion describes the growth of agricultural land (arable land, pastures, etc.) especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. The agricultural expansion is often explained as a direct consequence of the global increase in food and energy requirements due to continuing population growth (both which in turn have been attributed to agricultural expansion itself), with an estimated expectation of 10 to 11 billion humans on Earth by end of this century. It is foreseen that most of the world's non-agrarian ecosystems (terrestrial and aquatic) will be affected adversely, from habitat loss, land degradation, overexploitation, and other problems. The intensified food (and biofuel) production will in particular affect the tropical regions. Most modern agriculture relies on intensive methods. Further expansion of the predominant farming types that rest on a small number of highly productive crops has led to a significant loss of biodiversity on a global scale already. Moreover, agricultural expansion continues to be the main driver of deforestation and forest fragmentation. Large-scale commercial agriculture (primarily cattle ranching and cultivation of soya bean and oil palm) accounted for 40 percent of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2010, and local subsistence agriculture for another 33 percent. In the light of the already occurring and potential massive ecological effects, the need for sustainable practices is more urgent than ever. The FAO predicts that global arable land use will continue to grow from a 1.58 billion hectares (3.9×109 acres) in 2014 to 1.66 billion hectares (4.1×109 acres) in 2050, with most of this growth projected to result from developing countries. At the same time, arable land use in developed countries is likely to continue its decline.A well-known example of already ongoing agricultural expansion is the proliferation of palm oil production areas or the land conversion/deforestation for soy bean production in South America. Today's land grabbing activities are often a consequence of the strive for agricultural land by growing economies.In the beginning of the 21st century the palm oil industry caused a massive deforestation in Borneo with heavy consequences. See also Industrial agriculture Green revolution Environmental impact of agriculture Meat consumption Overexploitation Biodiversity loss Carbon sink Deforestation Land sparing Species extinctions Jevons paradox Social and environmental impact of palm oil Land use, land-use change, and forestry References Sources Laurance, William F.; Sayer, Jeffrey; Cassman, Kenneth G. (2014). "Agricultural expansion and its impacts on tropical nature". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Elsevier BV. 29 (2): 107–116. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2013.12.001. ISSN 0169-5347. PMID 24388286. The human population is projected to reach 11 billion this century, with the greatest increases in tropical developing nations. This growth, in concert with rising per-capita consumption, will require large increases in food and biofuel production. How will these megatrends affect tropical terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity? We foresee (i) major expansion and intensification of tropical agriculture, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America; (ii) continuing rapid loss and alteration of tropical old-growth forests, woodlands, and semi-arid environments; (iii) a pivotal role for new roadways in determining the spatial extent of agriculture; and (iv) intensified conflicts between food production and nature conservation Tilman, D. (1999-05-25). "Global environmental impacts of agricultural expansion: The need for sustainable and efficient practices". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (11): 5995–6000. Bibcode:1999PNAS...96.5995T. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.11.5995. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 34218. PMID 10339530. The recent intensification of agriculture, and the prospects of future intensification, will have major detrimental impacts on the nonagricultural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world. The doubling of agricultural food production during the past 35 years was associated with a 6.87-fold increase in nitrogen fertilization, a 3.48-fold increase in phosphorus fertilization, a 1.68-fold increase in the amount of irrigated cropland, and a 1.1-fold increase in land in cultivation. Based on a simple linear extension of past trends, the anticipated next doubling of global food production would be associated with approximately 3-fold increases in nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization rates, a doubling of the irrigated land area, and an 18% increase in cropland. "Crop production and natural resource use". World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030 - FAO. Retrieved 2018-02-19. This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from The State of the World’s Forests 2020. In brief – Forests, biodiversity and people​, FAO & UNEP, FAO & UNEP. Further reading John Stephen Athens (1990). Prehistoric Agricultural Expansion and Population Growth in Northern Highland Ecuador: Interim Report for 1989 Fieldwork. International Archaeological Research Institute.

low-carbon diet

A low-carbon diet is any diet that results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Choosing a low carbon diet is one facet of developing sustainable diets which increase the long-term sustainability of humanity. Major tenets of a low-carbon diet include eating a plant-based diet, and in particular little or no beef and dairy. Low-carbon diets differ around the world in taste, style, and the frequency they are eaten. Asian countries like India and China feature vegetarian and vegan meals as staples in their diets. In contrast, Europe and North America rely on animal products for their Western diets.It is estimated that the food system is responsible for a quarter to a third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. More fossil fuels are required for the production of animal-based foods like meat and dairy and have a higher carbon footprint. Large amounts of land are required to raise livestock for beef and dairy products and methane emissions from cattle contribute to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, carbon emissions from transportation and packaging for plant-based diets are similar in scale to animal-based diets. Local production can be much more energy intensive and inefficient compared to industrialized production. Overall trends worldwide A 2014 study into the real-life diets of British people estimated their greenhouse gas footprints in terms of kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per day: 7.19 for high meat-eaters (≥100 g/day) 5.63 for medium meat-eaters (50–99 g/day) 4.67 for low meat-eaters (<50 g/day) 3.91 for fish-eaters 3.81 for vegetarians 2.89 for vegansWhile the fish-eaters had the lowest footprints out of all the meat-eaters, the vegetarians and vegans were the lowest overall. This is due to the contribution of greenhouse gases in the growth, processing, production, and transport of the plant-based food products eaten by vegetarians and vegans.A 2020 study found that Asia has the largest percentage of vegetarians at 19%. Close behind Asia is Africa/the Middle East with 16%. South and Central America have just 8% and North America has a mere 6%. This study found that Europe has the smallest percentage of vegetarians at only 5%. There was not conclusive data on the percentage of vegetarians in Australia. Non-Western diets are built around unprocessed starches. In South America and Africa, the centerpiece of each meal is beans and grains. Peru, in South America, has potatoes as the foundation for their diet. In Asia, rice is a staple in every household no matter the income level. Meat is usually the centerpiece of meals in the Western diet, whereas animal products are often small parts of the meal (or act as condiments) in the non-Western diet.In India, the practice of the vegetarian diet is usually generational and simply follows the pattern expected of the family. Adherence can also be credited to certain religious groups and social groups. For example, Hindus do not eat beef because they believe that red meat from cattle is impure. Some of the vegetarian staples consumed are a mixture of whole grains along with nuts/seeds and legumes. Dairy is also included in the Indian vegetarian diet, with unique spices and seasonings per region. However, certain populations in India have begun eating meat due to the growing popularity of western diets. Asia includes largely populated countries such as China and India, both of which have thriving Buddhist populations. In China, there are five main influences that contribute to Buddhists keeping vegetarian diets: Influence from Mahayana sutras Influence of Chinese imperial authority/political figures who promote Buddhism Influence of Confucianism Influence of Taoism Sociocultural influences like societal norms and lived environments Background on diet and greenhouse gas emissions In the U.S., the food system emits four of the greenhouse gases associated with climate change: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. The burning of fossil fuels (such as oil and gasoline) to power vehicles that transport food for long distances by air, ship, truck and rail releases carbon dioxide, the primary gas responsible for global warming. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are emitted from mechanical refrigerating and freezing mechanisms – both staples in food shipment and storage. Anthropogenic methane emission sources include agriculture (ruminants, manure management, wetland rice production), various other industries and landfills. Anthropogenic nitrous oxide sources include fertilizer, manure, crop residues and nitrogen-fixing crops production. Methane and nitrous oxide are also emitted in large amounts from natural sources. The 100-year global warming potentials of methane and nitrous oxide are recently estimated at 25 and 298 carbon dioxide equivalents, respectively.Steinfeld et al. estimate that livestock production accounts for 18 percent of anthropogenic GHG emissions expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents. Of this amount, 34 percent is carbon dioxide emission from deforestation, principally in Central and South America, that they assigned to livestock production. However, deforestation associated with livestock production is not an issue in many regions. In the US, the land area occupied by forest increased between 1990 and 2009 and a net increase in forest land area was also reported in Canada.Of emissions they attribute to livestock production, Steinfeld et al. estimate that globally, methane accounts for 30.2 percent. Like other greenhouse gases, methane contributes to global warming when its atmospheric concentration rises. Although methane emission from agriculture and other anthropogenic sources has contributed substantially to past warming, it is of much less significance for current and recent warming. This is because there has been relatively little increase in atmospheric methane concentration in recent years The anomalous increase in methane concentration in 2007, discussed by Rigby et al., has since been attributed principally to anomalous methane flux from natural wetlands, mostly in the tropics, rather than to anthropogenic sources.Livestock sources (including enteric fermentation and manure) account for about 3.1 percent of US anthropogenic GHG emissions expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents. This EPA estimate is based on methodologies agreed to by the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC, with 100-year global warming potentials from the IPCC Second Assessment Report used in estimating GHG emissions as carbon dioxide equivalents. A 2016 study published in Nature Climate Change concludes that climate taxes on meat and milk would simultaneously produce substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and lead to healthier diets. Such taxes would need to be designed with care: exempting and subsidising some food groups, selectively compensating for income loss, and using part of the revenue for health promotion. The study analyzed surcharges of 40% on beef and 20% on milk and their effects on consumption, climate emissions, and distribution. An optimum plan would reduce emissions by 1 billion tonnes per year – similar in amount to those from aviation globally. High-carbon and low-carbon food choices Certain foods require more fossil fuel inputs than others. Animal-based foods like meat and dairy have a much higher carbon footprint than plant-based foods. Therefore, it is possible to go on a low-carbon diet and reduce one’s carbon footprint by choosing foods that need less fossil fuel and therefore emit less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Further research finds that even "the lowest-impact animal products typically exceed those of vegetable substitutes". For example, Ritchie explains that "producing 100 grams of protein from peas emits just 0.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq). To get the same amount of protein from beef, emissions would be nearly 90 times higher, at 35 kgCO2eq."In June 2010, a report from United Nations Environment Programme declared that a global shift towards a vegan diet was needed to save the world from hunger, fuel shortages and climate change. This will mean a huge shift in the diet of the average European, as 83% of their diets are made up of meat, dairy, and eggs. As a major contributor to global carbon emissions, China introduced new dietary guidelines in 2016 which aim to cut meat consumption by 50% and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030.More families are choosing to implement vegan and vegetarian diets for adults and children alike. Cundiff and Harris write: "The American Dietetic Association (ADA) and Dietitians of Canada position paper officially recognizes that well-planned vegan and other vegetarian diets are appropriate for infancy and childhood." However, European recommendations for children's diets do not include the vegan diet. They stand that there should be necessary "medical and dietetic supervision" in order for the safety of the vegan child to be kept in mind. It has been noted that "the more restrictive the diet and the younger the child, the greater the risk of nutritional deficiency." The most common nutrients left out of the vegan child's diet are as follows: Protein (quality and quantity) Iron Zinc Selenium Calcium Riboflavin Vitamins A, D, and B12 Essential fatty acids Industrial versus pastured livestock Beef and dairy cattle have extremely high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, due to methane emissions from enteric fermentation, and their very large land footprint. Feed is a significant contributor to emissions from animals raised in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms, as corn or soybeans must be fertilized, irrigated, processed into animal feed, packaged and then transported to the CAFO. In 2005, CAFOs accounted for 74% of the world's poultry production, 50% of pork, 43% of beef, and 68% of eggs, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Proportions are significantly higher in developed countries, but are growing rapidly in developing countries, where demand is also growing fast. However, in the US, only about 11% of soybean acres and 14% of corn acres are irrigated; in contrast, about 66% of vegetable acres and 79% of orchard acres are irrigated. Soybean meal for livestock feed is commonly produced after extraction of soybean oil (used for cooking, food products, biodiesel, etc., so that only a fraction of processing is assignable to feed. Such examples illustrate that issues relating to irrigation, fertilization and processing for meat production should also be of concern with regard to production of other foods. In one study, grass-fed cattle were estimated to account for 40% less greenhouse emissions than CAFO cattle However, comparative effects on emissions can vary. In a US study, lower GHG emissions were associated with feedlot-finished beef production than with beef production on pasture and hay. Similarly, a study in New Zealand concluded that environmental emissions per kilogram of beef produced can be reduced by incorporating feedlot finishing in a beef production system. Another factor to be considered is the role of a healthy pastoral ecosystem in carbon sequestration. Because CAFO production is highly centralized, the transport of animals to slaughter and then to distant retail outlets is a further source of greenhouse gas emissions. In livestock production, emissions are reduced by feeding human-inedible materials that might otherwise by wasted. Elferink et al. state that "Currently, 70% of the feedstock used in the Dutch feed industry originates from the food processing industry." Among several US examples is the feeding of distillers grains remaining from biofuel production. For the marketing year 2009/2010, the amount of dried distillers grains used as livestock feed (and residual) in the US amounted to 25.0 million tonnes. Distance traveled and method of transit Carbon emissions from transport account for 11% of the total carbon emissions of food, of which the transportation from producer to consumer accounts for 4%. However, "food miles" are a misleading measure; in many cases food imported from the other side of the world may have a lower carbon footprint than a locally produced equivalent, due to differences in farming methods. "Local food" campaigns may be motivated by protectionism rather than genuine environmentalism.When looking at total greenhouse gases (not just carbon dioxide), 83% of emissions come from the actual production of the food because of the methane released by livestock and the nitrous oxide due to fertilizer.The word locavore describes a person attempting to eat a diet consisting of foods harvested from within a 100-mile radius. Some studies have criticized the emphasis on local food, claiming that it romanticizes local production, but does not produce very much environmental benefit. Transportation accounts for a relatively small portion of overall energy consumption in food production, and locally produced food may be much more energy intensive than food produced in a better area. Additionally the emphasis on "inefficient" local producers over more efficient ones further away may be damaging. Processing, packaging, and waste Highly processed foods (such as granola bars, snack chips, dessert treats, etc.) come in individual packaging, demanding high energy inputs and resulting in packaging waste. Although, processed foods create lots of packaging waste, some studies suggest that there are pros: Food packaging is important for maintaining the freshness of food items throughout their transit journeys. Additionally, food packaging ensures the safety of the food products by keeping them clean and sanitary. Lastly, consumers get important information about what ingredients the food was made with by reading the food packaging.Bottled water is another example of a highly packaged food product that is considered a single-use plastic because most people discard it after they're done drinking the water. It is estimated that Americans throw away 40 million plastic water bottles every day, and bottled water is often shipped trans-continentally. Carbonated water must be chilled and kept under pressure during storage and transport so as to keep the carbon dioxide dissolved. This factor contributes greater energy usage for products shipped longer distances. A recent study by Siddiqui S. A., et al. (2023) evaluated the quality of biodegradable packaging versus conventional plastic packaging for the meat packaging industry in the European Union. Conventional plastic packaging is known for being very flexible and able to stretch greatly during processing, shipping, and handling. With easily customizable production and relatively low cost, plastic packaging is picked most often over glass, cardboard, and other sustainable packaging materials. This study researched which types of biodegradable packaging are the most heat-resistant as well, as plastic has tested superior in this aspect in the past. The future of sustainability with low-carbon production for food packaging rides on biodegradable packaging. Cellulose-based packaging was highly effective at controlling moisture within meat packages in the EU and was able to prevent oxygen from entering. Polyhydroxyalkanoates and polylactic acid (PLA) are examples of sustainable food packaging materials that are considered better than plastic, but could actually be harmful due to that fact that they may contain chemical additives. See also References Additional sources Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika; Ekstrom, Marianne; Pipping Shanahan, Helena (2003). "Food and life cycle energy inputs: consequences of diet and ways to increase efficiency". Ecological Economics. 44 (2–3): 293–307. doi:10.1016/s0921-8009(02)00261-6. Miguel Llanos, "Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste," (2005), MSNBC External links Banana index at The Economist

sustainable food system

A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic, and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with the development of sustainable agricultural practices, development of more sustainable food distribution systems, creation of sustainable diets, and reduction of food waste throughout the system. Sustainable food systems have been argued to be central to many or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.Moving to sustainable food systems, including via shifting consumption to sustainable diets, is an important component of addressing the causes of climate change and adapting to it. A 2020 review conducted for the European Union found that up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions could be attributed to the food system, including crop and livestock production, transportation, changing land use (including deforestation), and food loss and waste. Reduction of meat production, which accounts for ~60% of greenhouse gas emissions and ~75% of agriculturally used land, is one major component of this change.The global food system is facing major interconnected challenges, including mitigating food insecurity, effects from climate change, biodiversity loss, malnutrition, inequity, soil degradation, pest outbreaks, water and energy scarcity, economic and political crises, natural resource depletion, and preventable ill-health.The concept of sustainable food systems is frequently at the center of sustainability-focused policy programs, such as proposed Green New Deal programs. Definition There are many different definitions of a sustainable food system. From a global perspective, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations describes a sustainable food system as follows:A sustainable food system (SFS) is a food system that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised. This means that: It is profitable throughout (economic sustainability); It has broad-based benefits for society (social sustainability); and It has a positive or neutral impact on the natural environment (environmental sustainability) The American Public Health Association (APHA) defines a sustainable food system as: one that provides healthy food to meet current food needs while maintaining healthy ecosystems that can also provide food for generations to come with minimal negative impact to the environment. A sustainable food system also encourages local production and distribution infrastructures and makes nutritious food available, accessible, and affordable to all. Further, it is humane and just, protecting farmers and other workers, consumers, and communities The European Union's Scientific Advice Mechanism defines a sustainable food system as a system that: provides and promotes safe, nutritious and healthy food of low environmental impact for all current and future EU citizens in a manner that itself also protects and restores the natural environment and its ecosystem services, is robust and resilient, economically dynamic, just and fair, and socially acceptable and inclusive. It does so without compromising the availability of nutritious and healthy food for people living outside the EU, nor impairing their natural environment Problems with conventional food systems Industrial agriculture causes environmental impacts, as well as health problems associated with both obesity and hunger. This has generated a strong interest in healthy, sustainable eating as a major component of the overall movement toward sustainability and climate change mitigation.Conventional food systems are largely based on the availability of inexpensive fossil fuels, which is necessary for mechanized agriculture, the manufacturing or collection of chemical fertilizers, the processing of food products, and the packaging of foods. Food processing began when the number of consumers started growing rapidly. The demand for cheap and efficient calories climbed, which resulted in nutrition decline. Industrialized agriculture, due to its reliance on economies of scale to reduce production costs, often leads to the compromising of local, regional, or even global ecosystems through fertilizer runoff, nonpoint source pollution, deforestation, suboptimal mechanisms affecting consumer product choice, and greenhouse gas emissions. Food and power In the contemporary world, transnational corporations execute high levels of control over the food system. In this system, both farmers and consumers are disadvantaged and have little control; power is concentrated in the center of the supply chain, where corporations control how food moves from producers to consumers. Disempowerment of consumers People living in different areas face substantial inequality in their access to healthy food. Areas where affordable, healthy food, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, is difficult to access are sometimes called food deserts. This term has been particularly applied in the USA. In addition, conventional channels do not distribute food by emergency assistance or charity. Urban residents receive more sustainable food production from healthier and safer sources than low-income communities. Nonetheless, conventional channels are more sustainable than charitable or welfare food resources. Even though the conventional food system provides easier access and lower prices, their food may not be the best for the environment nor consumer health.Both obesity and undernutrition are associated with poverty and marginalization. This has been referred to as the "double burden of malnutrition." In low-income areas, there may be abundant access to fast-food or small convenience stores and "corner" stores, but no supermarkets that sell a variety of healthy foods. Disempowerment of producers Small farms tend to be more sustainable than large farming operations, because of differences in their management and methods. Industrial agriculture replaces human labor using increased usage of fossil fuels, fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery and is heavily reliant on monoculture. However, if current trends continue, the number of operating farms in existence is expected to halve by 2100, as smallholders' farms are consolidated into larger operations. The percentage of people who work as farmers worldwide dropped from 44% to 26% between 1991 and 2020.Small farmers worldwide are often trapped in poverty and have little agency in the global food system. Smallholder farms produce a greater diversity of crops as well as harboring more non-crop biodiversity, but in wealthy, industrialized countries, small farms have declined severely. For example, in the USA, 4% of the total number of farms operate 26% of all agricultural land. Complications from globalization The need to reduce production costs in an increasingly global market can cause production of foods to be moved to areas where economic costs (labor, taxes, etc.) are lower or environmental regulations are more lax, which are usually further from consumer markets. For example, the majority of salmon sold in the United States is raised off the coast of Chile, due in large part to less stringent Chilean standards regarding fish feed and regardless of the fact that salmon are not indigenous in Chilean coastal waters. The globalization of food production can result in the loss of traditional food systems in less developed countries and have negative impacts on the population health, ecosystems, and cultures in those countries.Globalization of sustainable food systems has coincided the proliferation of private standards in the agri-food sector where big food retailers have formed multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) with governance over standard setting organizations (SSOs) who maintain the standards. One such MSI is the Consumer Goods Forum(CGF). With CGF members openly using lobbying dollars to influence trade agreements for food systems which leads to creating barriers to competition. Concerns around corporate governance within food systems as a substitute for regulation were raised by the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity. The proliferation of private standards resulted in standard harmonization from organizations that include the Global Food Safety Initiative and ISEAL Alliance. The unintended consequence of standard harmonization was a perverse incentive because companies owning private standards generate revenue from fees that other companies have to pay to implement the standards. This has led to more and more private standards entering the marketplace who are enticed to make money. Systemic structures Moreover, the existing conventional food system lacks the inherent framework necessary to foster sustainable models of food production and consumption. Within the decision-making processes associated with this system, the burden of responsibility primarily falls on consumers and private enterprises. This expectation places the onus on individuals to voluntarily and often without external incentives, expend effort to educate themselves about sustainable behaviours and specific product choices. This educational endeavour is reliant on the availability of public information. Subsequently, consumers are urged to alter their decision-making patterns concerning production and consumption, driven by prioritised ethical values and sometimes health benefits, even when significant drawbacks are prevalent. These drawbacks faced by consumers include elevated costs of organic foods, imbalanced monetary price differentials between animal-intensive diets and plant-based alternatives, and an absence of comprehensive consumer guidance aligned with contemporary valuations. In 2020, an analysis of external climate costs of foods indicated that external greenhouse gas costs are typically highest for animal-based products – conventional and organic to about the same extent within that ecosystem subdomain – followed by conventional dairy products and lowest for organic plant-based foods. It finds contemporary monetary evaluations to be "inadequate" and policy-making that lead to reductions of these costs to be possible, appropriate and urgent. Agricultural pollution Sourcing sustainable food At the global level the environmental impact of agribusiness is being addressed through sustainable agriculture, cellular agriculture and organic farming. Various alternatives to meat and novel classes of foods can substantially increase sustainability. There are large potential benefits of marine algae-based aquaculture for the development of a future healthy and sustainable food system. Fungiculture, another sector of a growing bioeconomy besides algaculture, may also become a larger component of a sustainable food system. Consumption shares of various other ingredients for meat analogues such as protein from pulses may also rise substantially in a sustainable food system. Optimized dietary scenarios would also see changes in various other types of foods such as nuts, as well as pulses such as beans, which have favorable environmental and health profiles. Complementary approaches under development include vertical farming of various types of foods and various agricultural technologies, often using digital agriculture. Sustainable seafood Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired. The sustainable seafood movement has gained momentum as more people become aware about both overfishing and environmentally destructive fishing methods. The goal of sustainable seafood practices is to ensure that fish populations are able to continue to thrive, that marine habitats are protected, and that fishing and aquaculture practices do not have negative impacts on local communities or economies. There are several factors that go into determining whether a seafood product is sustainable or not. These include the method of fishing or farming, the health of the fish population, the impact on the surrounding environment, and the social and economic implications of the seafood production. Some sustainable seafood practices include using methods that minimize bycatch, implementing seasonal or area closures to allow fish populations to recover, and using aquaculture methods that minimize the use of antibiotics or other chemicals. Organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) work to promote sustainable seafood practices and provide certification for products that meet their sustainability standards. In addition, many retailers and restaurants are now offering sustainable seafood options to their customers, often labeled with a sustainability certification logo to make it easier for consumers to make informed choices. Consumers can also play a role in promoting sustainable seafood by making conscious choices about the seafood they purchase and consume. This can include choosing seafood that is labeled as sustainably harvested or farmed, asking questions about the source and production methods of the seafood they purchase, and supporting restaurants and retailers that prioritize sustainability in their seafood offerings. By working together to promote sustainable seafood practices, we can help to ensure the health and sustainability of our oceans and the communities that depend on them. Sustainable animal feed A study suggests there would be large environmental benefits of using insects for animal feed.When substituting mixed grain, which is currently the main animal feed, insect feed lowers water and land requirement and emits fewer greenhouse gas and ammonia. Sustainable pet food Recent studies show that vegan diets, which are more sustainable, would not have negative impact on the health of pet dogs and cats if implemented appropriately. It aims to minimize the ecological footprint of pet food production while still providing the necessary nutrition for pets. Recent studies have explored the potential benefits of vegan diets for pets in terms of sustainability. One example is the growing body of research indicating that properly formulated and balanced vegan diets can meet the nutritional needs of dogs and cats without compromising their health. These studies suggest that with appropriate planning and supplementation, pets can thrive on plant-based diets. This is significant from a sustainability perspective as traditional pet food production heavily relies on animal-based ingredients, which contribute to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and overfishing. By opting for sustainable pet food options, such as plant-based or eco-friendly alternatives, pet owners can reduce their pets' carbon footprint and support more ethical and sustainable practices in the pet food industry. Additionally, sustainable pet food may also prioritize the use of responsibly sourced ingredients, organic farming practices, and minimal packaging waste. It is important to note that when considering a vegan or alternative diet for pets, consultation with a veterinarian is crucial. Each pet has unique nutritional requirements, and a professional can help determine the most suitable diet plan to ensure all necessary nutrients are provided. Substitution of meat and sustainable meat and dairy Meat reduction strategies Effects and combination of measures "Policy sequencing" to gradually extend regulations once established to other forest risk commodities (e.g. other than beef) and regions while coordinating with other importing countries could prevent ineffectiveness. Meat and dairy Despite meat from livestock such as beef and lamb being considered unsustainable, some regenerative agriculture proponents suggest rearing livestock with a mixed farming system to restore organic matter in grasslands. Organizations such as the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) are looking for solutions to reduce the impact of meat production on the environment. In October 2021, 17% of beef sold in Canada was certified as sustainable beef by the CRSB. However, sustainable meat has led to criticism, as environmentalists point out that the meat industry excludes most of its emissions.Important mitigation options for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from livestock include genetic selection, introduction of methanotrophic bacteria into the rumen, vaccines, feeds, toilet-training, diet modification and grazing management. Other options include shifting to ruminant-free alternatives, such as milk substitutes and meat analogues or poultry, which generates far fewer emissions.Plant-based meat is proposed for sustainable alternatives to meat consumption. Plant-based meat emits 30%–90% less greenhouse gas than conventional meat (kg-CO2-eq/kg-meat) and 72%–99% less water than conventional meat. Public company Beyond Meat and privately held company Impossible Foods are examples of plant-based food production. However, consulting firm Sustainalytics assured that these companies are not more sustainable than meat-processors competitors such as food processor JBS, and they don't disclose all the CO2 emissions of their supply chain.Beyond reducing negative impacts of meat production, facilitating shifts towards more sustainable meat, and facilitating reduced meat consumption (including via plant-based meat substitutes), cultured meat may offer a potentially sustainable way to produce real meat without the associated negative environmental impacts. Phase-outs, co-optimization and environmental standards In regards to deforestation, a study proposed kinds of "climate clubs" of "as many other states as possible taking similar measures and establishing uniform environmental standards". It suggested that "otherwise, global problems remain unsolvable, and shifting effects will occur" and that "border adjustments [...] have to be introduced to target those states that do not participate—again, to avoid shifting effects with ecologically and economically detrimental consequences", with such "border adjustments or eco-tariffs" incentivizing other countries to adjust their standards and domestic production to join the climate club. Identified potential barriers to sustainability initiatives may include contemporary trade-policy goals and competition law. Greenhouse gas emissions for countries are often measured according to production, for imported goods that are produced in other countries than where they are consumed "embedded emissions" refers to the emissions of the product. In cases where such products are and remain imported, eco-tariffs could over time adjust prices for specific categories of products – or for specific non-collaborative polluting origin countries – such as deforestation-associated meat, foods with intransparent supply-chain origin or foods with high embedded emissions. Agricultural productivity and environmental efficiency Agricultural productivity (including e.g. reliability of yields) is an important component of food security and increasing it sustainably (e.g. with high efficiency in terms of environmental impacts) could be a major way to decrease negative environmental impacts, such as by decreasing the amount of land needed for farming or reducing environmental degradation like deforestation. Genetically engineered crops There is research and development to engineer genetically modified crops with increased heat/drought/stress resistance, increased yields, lower water requirements, and overall lower environmental impacts, among other things. Novel agricultural technologies Organic food Local food systems In local and regional food systems, food is produced, distributed, and consumed locally. This type of system can be beneficial both to the consumer (by providing fresher and more sustainably grown product) and to the farmer (by fetching higher prices and giving more direct access to consumer feedback). Local and regional food systems can face challenges arising from inadequate institutions or programs, geographic limitations of producing certain crops, and seasonal fluctuations which can affect product demand within regions. In addition, direct marketing also faces challenges of accessibility, coordination, and awareness.Farmers' markets, which have increased in number over the past two decades, are designed for supporting local farmers in selling their fresh products to consumers who are willing to buy. Food hubs are also similar locations where farmers deliver products and consumers come to pick them up. Consumers who wish to have weekly produce delivered can buy shares through a system called Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). However, these farmers' markets also face challenges with marketing needs such as starting up, advertisement, payments, processing, and regulations.There are various movements working towards local food production, more productive use of urban wastelands and domestic gardens including permaculture, guerilla gardening, urban horticulture, local food, slow food, sustainable gardening, and organic gardening.Debates over local food system efficiency and sustainability have risen as these systems decrease transportation, which is a strategy for combating environmental footprints and climate change. A popular argument is that the less impactful footprint of food products from local markets on communities and environment. Main factors behind climate change include land use practices and greenhouse emissions, as global food systems produce approximately 33% of theses emissions. Compared to transportation in a local food system, a conventional system takes more fuel for energy and emits more pollution, such as carbon dioxide. This transportation also includes miles for agricultural products to help with agriculture and depends on factors such as transportation sizes, modes, and fuel types. Some airplane importations have shown to be more efficient than local food systems in some cases. Overall, local food systems can often support better environmental practices. Environmental impact of food miles Studies found that food miles are a relatively minor factor of carbon emissions; albeit increased food localization may also enable additional, more significant environmental benefits such as recycling of energy, water, and nutrients. For specific foods, regional differences in harvest seasons may make it more environmentally friendly to import from distant regions than more local production and storage or local production in greenhouses. This may vary depending on the environmental standards in the respective country, the distance of the respective countries and on a case-by-case basis for different foods. However, a 2022 study suggests global food miles' CO2 emissions are 3.5–7.5 times higher than previously estimated, with transport accounting for about 19% of total food-system emissions, though shifting towards plant-based diets remains substantially more important. Because of such a shift being needed and because the transport of vegetables, fruits, cereal and flour make up the largest share of the emissions, the study concludes that "a shift towards plant-based foods must be coupled with more locally produced items, mainly in affluent countries". Food distribution In food distribution, increasing food supply is a production problem, as it takes time for products to get marketed, and as they wait to get distributed the food goes to waste. Despite the fact that throughout all food production an estimated 20-30% of food is wasted, there have been efforts to combat this issue, such as campaigns conducted to promote limiting food waste. However, due to insufficient facilities and practices as well as huge amounts of food going unmarketed or harvested due to prices or quality, food is wasted through each phase of its distribution. Another factor for lack of sustainability within food distribution includes transportation in combination with inadequate methods for food handling throughout the packing process. Additionally, poor or long conditions for food in storage and consumer waste add to this list of factors for inefficiency found in food distribution. In 2019, though global production of calories kept pace with population growth, there are still more than 820 million people who have insufficient food and many more consume low-quality diets leading to micronutrient deficiencies. Some modern tendencies in food distribution also create bounds in which problems are created and solutions must be formed. One factor includes growth of large-scale producing and selling units in bulk to chain stores which displays merchandising power from large scale market organizations as well as their mergence with manufactures. In response to production, another factor includes large scale distribution and buying units among manufacturers in development of food distribution, which also affects producers, distributors, and consumers. Another main factor involves protecting public interest, which means better adaptation for product and service, resulting in rapid development of food distribution. A further factor revolves around price maintenance, which creates pressure for lower prices, resulting in higher drive for lower cost throughout the whole food distribution process. An additional factor comprises new changes and forms of newly invented technical processes such as developments of freezing food, discovered through experiments, to help with distribution efficiency. Another factor is new technical developments in distributing machinery to meet the influence of consumer demands and economic factors. Lastly, one more factor includes government relation to businesses and those who petition against it in correlation with anti-trust laws due to large scale business organizations and the fear of monopoly contributing to changing public attitude. Food security, nutrition and diet The environmental effects of different dietary patterns depend on many factors, including the proportion of animal and plant foods consumed and the method of food production. At the same time, current and future food systems need to be provided with sufficient nutrition for not only the current population, but future population growth in light of a world affected by changing climate in the face of global warming.Nearly one in four households in the United States have experienced food insecurity in 2020–21. Even before the pandemic hit, some 13.7 million households, or 10.5% of all U.S. households, experienced food insecurity at some point during 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That works out to more than 35 million Americans who were either unable to acquire enough food to meet their needs, or uncertain of where their next meal might come from, last year.The "global land squeeze" for agricultural land also has impacts on food security. Likewise, effects of climate change on agriculture can result in lower crop yields and nutritional quality due to for example drought, heat waves and flooding as well as increases in water scarcity, pests and plant diseases. Soil conservation may be important for food security as well. For sustainability and food security, the food system would need to adapt to such current and future problems. According to one estimate, "just four corporations control 90% of the global grain trade" and researchers have argued that the food system is too fragile due to various issues, such as "massive food producers" (i.e. market-mechanisms) having too much power and nations "polarising into super-importers and super-exporters". However the impact of market power on the food system is contested with other claiming more complex context dependent outcomes. Production decision-making In the food industry, especially in agriculture, there has been a rise in problems toward the production of some food products. For instance, growing vegetables and fruits has become more expensive. It is difficult to grow some agricultural crops because some have a preferable climate condition for developing. There has also been an incline on food shortages as production has decreased. Though the world still produces enough food for the population, not everyone receives good quality food because it is not accessible to them, since it depends on their location and/or income. In addition, the amount of overweight people has increased, and there are about 2 billion people that are underfed worldwide. This shows how the global food system lacks quantity and quality according to the food consumption patterns.A study estimated that "relocating current croplands to [environmentally] optimal locations, whilst allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to regenerate, could simultaneously decrease the current carbon, biodiversity, and irrigation water footprint of global crop production by 71%, 87%, and 100%", with relocation only within national borders also having substantial potential.Policies, including ones that affect consumption, may affect production-decisions such as which foods are produced to various degrees and in various indirect and direct ways. Individual studies have named several proposed options of such and the restricted website Project Drawdown has aggregated and preliminarily evaluated some of these measures. Nitrogen pollution mitigation Climate change adaptation Food waste According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food waste is responsible for 8 percent of global human-made greenhouse gas emissions. The FAO concludes that nearly 30 percent of all available agricultural land in the world – 1.4 billion hectares – is used for produced but uneaten food. The global blue water footprint of food waste is 250 km3, the amount of water that flows annually through the Volga or three times Lake Geneva.There are several factors that explain how food waste has increased globally in food systems. The main factor is population, because as population increases more food is being made, but most food produced goes to waste. Especially, during COVID-19, food waste grew sharply due to the booming of food delivery services according to a 2022 study. In addition, not all countries have the same resources to provide the best quality of food. According to a study done in 2010, private households produce the largest amounts of food waste across the globe. Another major factor is overproduction; the rate of food production is significantly higher than the rate of consumption, leading to a surplus of food waste. Throughout the world there are different ways that food is being processed. With different priorities, different choices are being made to meet their most important needs. Money is another big factor that determines how long the process will take and who is working, and it is treated differently in low income countries' food systems. However, high income countries food systems still may deal with other issues such as food security. This demonstrates how all food systems have their weaknesses and strengths. Climate change causes food waste to increase because the warm temperature causes crops to dry faster and creates a higher risk for fires. Food waste can occur any time throughout production. According to the World Wildlife Organization, since most food produced goes to landfills, when it rots it causes methane to be produced. The disposal of food has a big impact on our environment and health. Academic Opportunities The study of sustainable food applies systems theory and methods of sustainable design towards food systems. As an interdisciplinary field, the study of sustainable food systems has been growing in the last several decades. University programs focused on sustainable food systems include: University of Colorado Boulder Harvard Extension University of Delaware Mesa Community College University of California, Davis University of Vermont Sterling College (Vermont) University of Michigan Portland State University University of Sheffield's Institute for Sustainable Food University of Georgia's Sustainable Food Systems Initiative The Culinary Institute of America's Master's in Sustainable Food Systems University of Edinburgh's Global Academy of Agriculture and Food SystemsThere is a debate about "establishing a body akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for food systems" which "would respond to questions from policymakers and produce advice based on a synthesis of the available evidence" while identifying "gaps in the science that need addressing". Public policy European Union Global Asia See also Standardization#Environmental protection References Cited sources Mbow, C.; Rosenzweig, C.; Barioni, L. G.; Benton, T.; et al. (2019). "Chapter 5: Food Security" (PDF). Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. p. 454. == Further reading ==

list of environmental issues

This is an alphabetical list of environmental issues, harmful aspects of human activity on the biophysical environment. They are loosely divided into causes, effects and mitigation, noting that effects are interconnected and can cause new effects. Issues Greenhouse gas emissions — Coal-fired power station • Carbon dioxide • Methane • Fluorinated gases Human population — Biocapacity • climate change • Carrying capacity • Exploitation • Industrialisation • I = PAT • Land degradation • Land reclamation • Optimum population • Overshoot (population) • Population density • Population dynamics • Population growth • Projections of population growth • Total fertility rate • Urbanization • Waste • Water conflict • Water scarcity • Overdrafting Hydrology — Environmental impacts of reservoirs • Tile drainage • Hydrology (agriculture) • Flooding • Landslide Intensive farming — Agricultural subsidy • Barn fires • Environmental effects of meat production • Intensive animal farming • Intensive crop farming • Irrigation • Monoculture • Nutrient pollution • Overgrazing • Pesticide drift • Plasticulture • Slash-and-burn • Tile drainage • Zoonosis Land use — Built environment • Desertification • Habitat fragmentation • Habitat destruction • Land degradation • Land pollution • Lawn-environmental concerns • Trail ethics • Urban heat island • Urban sprawl Nanotechnology — Impact of nanotechnology Natural disasters Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout • Nuclear meltdown • Nuclear power • Nuclear weapons • Nuclear and radiation accidents • Nuclear safety • High-level radioactive waste management Ocean trash — Garbage patch • Ghost net • Washed Ashore Water pollution Effects Climate change — Global warming • Global dimming • Fossil fuels • Sea level rise • Greenhouse gas • Ocean acidification • Shutdown of thermohaline circulation • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Urban heat islands • Flooding Environmental degradation — Loss of biodiversity • Habitat destruction • Invasive species Environmental health — Air quality • Asthma • Birth defect • Developmental disability • Endocrine disruptors • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Environmental impact of nanotechnology • Electromagnetic field • Electromagnetic radiation and health • Indoor air quality • Lead poisoning • Leukemia • Nanotoxicology • Nature deficit disorder • One Health • Sick building syndrome • Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing Environmental issues with energy — Environmental impact of the coal industry • Environmental impact of the energy industry • Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing Environmental impact of transportEnvironmental impact of aviation Environmental impact of the petroleum industry — Exhaust gas • Waste tires • Motor vehicle emissions and pregnancy • Externalities of automobiles Environmental impact of shipping (Cruise ships in Europe • Cruise ships in the United States)Environmental issues with war — Agent Orange • Depleted uranium • Military Superfund site (Category only) • Scorched earth • War and environmental law • Unexploded ordnance Overpopulation — Burial • Overpopulation in companion animals • Tragedy of the commons • Gender Imbalance in Developing Countries • Sub-replacement fertility levels in developed countries Mutation breeding — Genetic pollution Synthetic biology — Synthetic DNA • Artificially Expanded Genetic Information System • Hachimoji DNA Genetically modified food — Genetically modified crops • Genetically modified livestock • Genetically modified food controversies Pollution — Nonpoint source pollution • Point source pollutionAir pollution — Atmospheric particulate matter • Biological effects of UV exposure • CFC • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing • Indoor air quality • Ozone depletion • Smog • Tropospheric ozone • Volatile organic compound • Ultrafine particles Light pollution Noise pollution Soil pollution — Alkali soil • Brownfield • Residual sodium carbonate index • Soil conservation • Soil erosion • Soil contamination • Soil salination • Superfund • Superfund sites Visual pollution Water pollution — Acid rain • Agricultural runoff • Algal bloom • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing • Eutrophication • Fish kill • Groundwater pollution • Groundwater recharge • Marine debris • Marine pollution • Mercury in fish • Microplastics • Nutrient pollution • Ocean acidification • Ocean dumping • Oil spills • Soda lake • Ship pollution • Thermal pollution • Urban runoff • Wastewater Space pollution — Space debris • Interplanetary contaminationResource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources • Overdrafting (groundwater) • OverexploitationConsumerism — Consumer capitalism • Planned obsolescence • Over-consumption Fishing — Blast fishing • Bottom trawling • Cyanide fishing • Ghost nets • Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing • Overfishing • Shark culling • Shark finning • Whaling Logging — Clearcutting • Deforestation • Illegal logging Mining — Acid mine drainage • Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing • Mountaintop removal mining • Slurry impoundments Water (depletion) — Anoxic waters • Aral Sea • California Water Wars • Dead Sea • Lake Chad • Water scarcityToxicants — Agent Orange • Asbestos • Beryllium • Bioaccumulation • Biomagnification • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) • Cyanide • DDT • Endocrine disruptors • Explosives • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Herbicides • Hydrocarbons • Perchlorate • Pesticides • Persistent organic pollutant • PBBs • PBDEs • Toxic heavy metals • PCB • Dioxin • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons • Radioactive contamination • Volatile organic compounds Waste — Electronic waste • Great Pacific garbage patch • Illegal dumping • Incineration • Litter • Waste disposal incidents • Marine debris • Medical waste • Landfill • Leachate • Toxic waste • Environmental impact of the coal industry • Exporting of hazardous waste Mitigation Mitigation of aviation's environmental impact – Aviation taxation and subsidies (Air passenger tax • Jet fuel tax) • Electric aircraft • High-speed rail Conservation Ecosystems — Anoxic waters • Biodiversity • Biosecurity • Coral bleaching • Black carbon • Edge effect • Habitat destruction • Organic farming • Habitat fragmentation • In-situ leach Fishing — Blast fishing • Bottom trawling • By-catch • Cetacean bycatch • Gillnetting • Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing • Environmental effects of fishing • Marine pollution • Overfishing • Whaling Forests — Clearcutting • Deforestation • reforestation and afforestation • Illegal logging • Trail ethics Natural resources — Resource depletion • Exploitation of natural resources • Steady-state economy • Waste hierarchy Species — Endangered species • Genetic diversity • Habitat destruction • Holocene extinction • Invasive species • Poaching • Pollinator decline • Species extinction • Threshold host density • Wildlife trade • Wildlife disease Energy conservation — Alternatives to car use • Efficient energy use • Carfree city • Energy hierarchy • Local food Renewable energy — Renewable energy commercialization Recreation — Protected areas Water conservation Disaster mitigation Environmental law — Environmental crime • Environmental justice • Polluter pays principle • Precautionary principle • Regulatory capture • Trail ethics Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles Environmental aspects of the electric car Hydrogen economy Rail electrification Scrappage program Vehicle recycling Phase-out of single-use plastics Phase-out of lightweight plastic bags (Australia • United States) • Biodegradable bags • Reusable shopping bag • Shopping trolley (caddy) Bottled water ban — Reuse of bottles Plastic straw ban Sustainable agriculture Nutrition transition — Cellular agriculture (cultured meat) • Plant-based diet (reducitarianism • veganism • vegetarianism) See also Citizen science, cleanup projects that people can take part in. Environmental history Environmental history of Latin America Environmentalism Environmental racism Environmental racism in Europe Index of environmental articles List of conservation topics List of environmental disasters List of environmental organizations List of population concern organizations List of sustainability topics Lists of environmental topics List of environmental organisations topics Millennium Ecosystem Assessment External links Environmental Issues and Research Topics | AurumScience.com Environmental Issues | GlobalIssues.com Human Activities that affect the Environment | The Energy Physics Environmental Threats That We are Going to Face | The Energy Physics (causes and effects) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

pesticide residue

Pesticide residue refers to the pesticides that may remain on or in food, after they are applied to food crops. The maximum allowable levels of these residues in foods are often stipulated by regulatory bodies in many countries. Regulations such as pre-harvest intervals also often prevent harvest of crop or livestock products if recently treated in order to allow residue concentrations to decrease over time to safe levels before harvest. Exposure of the general population to these residues most commonly occurs through consumption of treated food sources, or being in close contact to areas treated with pesticides such as farms or lawns.Many of these chemical residues, especially derivatives of chlorinated pesticides, exhibit bioaccumulation which could build up to harmful levels in the body as well as in the environment. Persistent chemicals can be magnified through the food chain and have been detected in products ranging from meat, poultry, and fish, to vegetable oils, nuts, and various fruits and vegetables. Definition A pesticide is a substance or a mixture of substances used for killing pests: organisms dangerous to cultivated plants or to animals. The term applies to various pesticides such as insecticide, fungicide, herbicide and nematocide. Applications of pesticides to crops and animals may leave residues in or on food when it is consumed, and those specified derivatives are considered to be of toxicological significance. Background From post-World War II era, chemical pesticides have become the most important form of pest control. There are two categories of pesticides, first-generation pesticides and second-generation pesticide. The first-generation pesticides, which were used prior to 1940, consisted of compounds such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. These were soon abandoned because they were highly toxic and ineffective. The second-generation pesticides were composed of synthetic organic compounds. The growth in these pesticides accelerated in late 1940s after Paul Müller discovered DDT in 1939. The effects of pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, chlordane, parathion, captan and 2,4-D were also found at this time. Those pesticides were widely used due to its effective pest control. However, in 1946, people started to resist to the widespread use of pesticides, especially DDT since it harms non-target plants and animals. People became aware of problems with residues and its potential health risks. In the 1960s, Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring to illustrate a risk of DDT and how it is threatening biodiversity. Regulations Each country adopts their own agricultural policies and Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) and Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). The level of food additive usage varies by country because forms of agriculture are different in regions according to their geographical or climatical factors.Pre-harvest intervals are also set to require a crop or livestock product not be harvested before a certain period after application in order to allow the pesticide residue to decrease below maximum residue limits or other tolerance levels. Likewise, restricted entry intervals are the amount of time to allow residue concentrations to decrease before a worker can reenter an area where pesticides have been applied without protective equipment. International Some countries use the International Maximum Residue Limits -Codex Alimentarius to define the residue limits; this was established by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) in 1963 to develop international food standards, guidelines codes of practices, and recommendation for food safety. Currently the CODEX has 185 Member Countries and 1 member organization (EU).The following is the list of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for spices adopted by the commission. European Union In September 2008, the European Union issued new and revised Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for the roughly 1,100 pesticides ever used in the world. The revision was intended to simplify the previous system, under which certain pesticide residues were regulated by the commission; others were regulated by Member States, and others were not regulated at all. New Zealand Food Standards Australia New Zealand develops the standards for levels of pesticide residues in foods through a consultation process. The New Zealand Food Safety Authority publishes the maximum limits of pesticide residues for foods produced in New Zealand. United Kingdom Monitoring of pesticide residues in the UK began in the 1950s. From 1977 to 2000 the work was carried out by the Working Party on Pesticide Residues (WPPR), until in 2000 the work was taken over by the Pesticide Residue Committee (PRC). The PRC advise the government through the Pesticides Safety Directorate and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). United States In the US, tolerances for the amount of pesticide residue that may remain on food are set by the EPA, and measures are taken to keep pesticide residues below the tolerances. The US EPA has a web page for the allowable tolerances. In order to assess the risks associated with pesticides on human health, the EPA analyzed individual pesticide active ingredients as well as the common toxic effect that groups of pesticides have, called the cumulative risk assessment. Limits that the EPA sets on pesticides before approving them includes a determination of how often the pesticide should be used and how it should be used, in order to protect the public and the environment. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA also routinely check food for the actual levels of pesticide residues.A US organic food advocacy group, the Environmental Working Group, is known for creating a list of fruits and vegetables referred to as the Dirty Dozen; it lists produce with the highest number of distinct pesticide residues or most samples with residue detected in USDA data. This list is generally considered misleading and lacks scientific credibility because it lists detections without accounting for the risk of the usually small amount of each residue with respect to consumer health. In 2016, over 99% of samples of US produce had no pesticide residue or had residue levels well below the EPA tolerance levels for each pesticide. Japan In Japan, pesticide residues are regulated by the Food Safety Act.Pesticide tolerances are set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare through the Drug and Food Safety Committee. Unlisted residue amounts are restricted to 0.01ppm. China In China, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture have jointly established mechanisms and working procedures relating to maximum residue limit standards, while updating them continuously, according to the food safety law and regulations issued by the State Council. From GB25193-2010 to GB28260-2011, from Maximum Residue Limits for 12 Pesticides to 85 pesticides, they have improved the standards in response to Chinese national needs. Health impacts Many pesticides achieve their intended use of killing pests by disrupting the nervous system. Due to similarities in brain biochemistry among many different organisms, there is much speculation that these chemicals can have a negative impact on humans as well. There are epidemiological studies that show positive correlations between exposure to pesticides through occupational hazard, which tends to be significantly higher than that ingested by the general population through food, and the occurrence of certain cancers. Although most of the general population may not exposed to large portion of pesticides, many of the pesticide residues that are attached tend to be lipophilic and can bio-accumulate in the body.According to the American Cancer Society there is no evidence that pesticide residues increase the risk of people getting cancer. Pesticide exposure cannot be studied in placebo controlled trials as this would be unethical. A definitive cause effect relationship therefore cannot be established. The ACA advises washing fruit and vegetables before eating to remove both pesticide residue and other undesirable contaminants. Chinese incidents In China, a number of incidents have occurred where state limits were exceeded by large amounts or where the wrong pesticide was used. In August 1994, a serious incident of pesticide poisoning of sweet potato crops occurred in Shandong province, China. Because local farmers were not fully educated in the use of insecticides, they used the highly-toxic pesticide named parathion instead of trichlorphon. It resulted in over 300 cases of poisoning and 3 deaths. Also, there was a case where a large number of students were poisoned and 23 of them were hospitalized because of vegetables that contained excessive pesticide residues. Child neurodevelopment Children are thought to be especially vulnerable to exposure to pesticide residues, especially if exposure occurs at critical windows of development. Infants and children consume higher amounts of food and water relative to their body-weight have higher surface area (i.e. skin surface) relative to their volume, and have a more permeable blood–brain barrier, and engage in behaviors like crawling and putting objects in their mouths, all of which can contribute to increased risks from exposure to pesticide residues through food or environmental routes. Neurotoxins and other chemicals that originate from pesticides pose the biggest threat to the developing human brain and nervous system. Presence of pesticide metabolites in urine samples have been implicated in disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, behavioral and emotional problems, and delays in development. There is a lack of evidence of a direct cause-and-effect relationship between long-term, low-dose exposure to pesticide residues and neurological disease, partly because manufacturers are not always legally required to examine potential long-term threats. See also Child development Dose–response relationship Environmental effects of pesticides Environmental issues with agriculture Food safety List of environmental issues Pesticide poisoning QuEChERS - method for testing pesticide residues References External links WHO fact sheet on pesticide residues in food The European Pesticide Residue Workshop Pesticide residue in Europe International Maximum Residue Level Database US EPA Pesticide Chemical Search CODEX Alimentarius International Food Standards Pesticides and Food:What the Pesticide Residue Limits are on Food

environmental impact of war

Study of the environmental impact of war focuses on the modernization of warfare and its increasing effects on the environment. Scorched earth methods have been used for much of recorded history. However, the methods of modern warfare cause far greater devastation on the environment. The progression of warfare from chemical weapons to nuclear weapons has increasingly created stress on ecosystems and the environment. Specific examples of the environmental impact of war include World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Rwandan Civil War, the Kosovo War and the Gulf War. Historical events Vietnam The Vietnam War had significant environmental implications due to chemical agents which were used to destroy militarily-significant vegetation. Enemies found an advantage in remaining invisible by blending into a civilian population or taking cover in dense vegetation and opposing armies which targeted natural ecosystems. The US military used “more than 20 million gallons of herbicides [...] to defoliate forests, clear growth along the borders of military sites and eliminate enemy crops." The chemical agents gave the US an advantage in wartime efforts. However, the vegetation was unable to regenerate and it left behind bare mudflats which still existed years after spraying. Not only was the vegetation affected, but also the wildlife: "a mid-1980s study by Vietnamese ecologists documented just 24 species of birds and 5 species of mammals present in sprayed forests and converted areas, compared to 145–170 bird species and 30–55 kinds of mammals in intact forest." The uncertain long-term effects of these herbicides are now being discovered by looking at modified species distribution patterns through habitat degradation and loss in wetland systems, which absorbed the runoff from the mainland. The destruction of forests in Vietnam War is one of the most commonly used examples of ecocide, including by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, lawyers, historians and other academics. Africa Throughout Africa, war has been a major factor in the decline of wildlife populations inside national parks and other protected areas. However, a growing number of ecological restoration initiatives, including in Rwanda's Akagera National Park and Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, have shown that wildlife populations and whole ecosystems can be successfully rehabilitated even after devastating conflicts. Experts have emphasized that solving social, economic, and political problems is essential for the success of such efforts. Rwanda The Rwandan genocide led to the killing of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The war created a massive migration of nearly 2 million Hutus fleeing Rwanda over the course of just a few weeks to refugee camps in Tanzania and now modern day the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This large displacement of people in refugee camps puts pressure on the surrounding ecosystem. Forests were cleared in order to provide wood for building shelters and creating cooking fires: “these people suffered from harsh conditions and constituted an important threat impact to natural resources.” Consequences from the conflict also included the degradation of National Parks and Reserves. Another big problem was that the population crash in Rwanda shifted personnel and capital to other parts of the country, thereby making it hard to protect wildlife. World War II World War II (WW2) drove a vast increase in production, militarized the production and transportation of commodities, and introduced many new environmental consequences, which can still be seen today. World War II was wide-ranging in its destruction of humans, animals, and materials. The postwar effects of World War II, both ecological and social, are still visible decades after the conflict ended. During World War II, new technology was used to create aircraft, which were used to conduct air raids. During the war, aircraft were used to transport resources both to and from different military bases and drop bombs on enemy, neutral, and friendly targets alike. These activities damaged habitats.Similar to wildlife, ecosystems also suffer from noise pollution which is produced by military aircraft. During World War II, aircraft acted as a vector for the transportation of exotics whereby weeds and cultivated species were brought to oceanic island ecosystems by way of aircraft landing strips which were used as refueling and staging stations during operations in the Pacific theater. Before the war, the isolated islands around Europe were inhabited by a high number of endemic species. During World War II, aerial warfare had an enormous influence on fluctuating population dynamics.In August 1945, after fighting World War II for almost four years, the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima in Japan. About 70,000 people died in the first nine seconds after the bombing of Hiroshima, which was comparable to the death toll which resulted from the devastating Operation Meetinghouse air raid over Tokyo. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the industrial city of Nagasaki, instantly killing 35,000 people. The nuclear weapons released catastrophic levels of energy and radioactive particles. Once the bombs were detonated, the temperatures reached about 3980 °C / 7200 °F. With temperatures that high, all the flora and fauna were destroyed along with the infrastructure and human lives in the impact zones. The radioactive particles which were released resulted widespread land and water contamination. The initial blasts increased the surface temperature and created crushing winds destroying trees and buildings in their path.European forests experienced traumatic impacts which resulted from fighting during the war. Behind the combat zones, timber from cut down trees was removed in order to clear up the paths for fighting. The shattered forests in the battle zones faced exploitation.The use of heavily hazardous chemicals was first initiated during World War II. The long-term effects of chemicals result from both their potential persistence and the poor disposal program of nations with stockpiled weapons. During World War I (WW I), German chemists developed chlorine gas and mustard gas. The development of these gases led to many casualties, and lands were poisoned both on and near the battlefields.Later in World War II, chemists developed even more harmful chemical bombs, which were packaged in barrels and directly deposited in the oceans. The disposal of the chemicals in ocean runs the risk of metal-based containers corroding and leaching the chemical contents of the vessel into the ocean. Through the chemical disposal in the ocean, the contaminants may be spread throughout the various components of the ecosystems damaging marine and terrestrial ecosystems.Marine ecosystems during World War II were damaged not only from chemical contaminates, but also from wreckage from naval ships, which leaked oil into the water. Oil contamination in the Atlantic Ocean due to World War II shipwrecks is estimated at over 15 million tonnes. Oil spills are difficult to clean up and take many years to clean. To this day, traces of oil can still be found in the Atlantic Ocean from the naval shipwrecks which happened during World War II. The use of chemicals during war helped increase the scale of chemical industries and it also helped to show the government the value of scientific research. The development of chemical research during the war also lead to the postwar development of agricultural pesticides. The creation of pesticides was an upside for the years after the war. The environmental impacts of World War II were very drastic, which allowed them to be seen in the Cold War and be seen today. The impacts of conflict, chemical contaminations, and aerial warfare all contribute to reduction in the population of global flora and fauna, as well as a reduction in species diversity.In 1946, in the U.S. Zone of Germany, the United States military advised the government to prepare accommodations and employment for the people who were bombed out of their cities. The answer was a special garden program that would provide new land for the people to live in. This included land to provide food needed for the people as well. Forests were then surveyed for good soil that was suitable for crop production.This meant that the forest would be cut down in order to make land for farms and housing.The forestry program would be used to exploit the forests of Germany for future resources and control the war potential of Germany. In this program about 23,500,000 fest meters of lumber were produced out of the forests.Aluminum was one of the biggest resources affected by World War II. Bauxite, an aluminum ore and the mineral cryolite were essential, as well as requiring massive amounts of electrical power. Gulf War and Iraq War During the 1991 Gulf War, the Kuwaiti oil fires were a result of the scorched earth policy of Iraqi forces retreating from Kuwait. The Gulf War oil spill, regarded as the worst oil spill in history, was caused when Iraqi forces opened valves at the Sea Island oil terminal and dumped oil from several tankers into the Persian Gulf. Oil was also dumped in the middle of the desert. Just before the 2003 Iraq War, Iraq also set fire to various oil fields.Some American military personnel complained of Gulf War syndrome, typified by symptoms including immune system disorders and birth defects in their children. Whether it is due to time spent in active service during the war or for other reasons remains controversial. Other examples 1938 Yellow River flood, created by the Nationalist government in Central China during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of the Japanese forces. It has been called the "largest act of environmental warfare in history". Beaufort's Dyke, used as a dumping ground for bombs Jiyeh Power Station oil spill, bombed by the Israeli Air Force during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Formerly Used Defense Sites, a U.S. military program which is responsible for environmental restoration K5 Plan, an attempt by the government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea to seal off Khmer Rouge guerrilla infiltration routes into Cambodia between 1985 and 1989, resulting in environmental degradation. Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, an intervention in a civil war in the Middle East, disrupted the water-energy-food security nexus in an already resource-poor country. The war and the conflict led to the contamination of water and agricultural lands. Environmental hazards Resources are a key source of conflict between nations: "after the end of the Cold War in particular, many have suggested that environmental degradation will exacerbate scarcities and become an additional source of armed conflict." A nation's survival depends on resources from the environment. Resources that are a source of armed conflict include territory, strategic raw materials, sources of energy, water, and food. In order to maintain resource stability, chemical and nuclear warfare have been used by nations in order to protect or extract resources, and during conflict. These agents of war have been used frequently: “about 125,000 tons of chemical agent were employed during World War I, and about 96,000 tons during the Viet-Nam conflict.” Nerve gas, also known as organophosphorous anticholinesterases, was used at lethal levels against human beings and destroyed a high number of nonhuman vertebrate and invertebrate populations. However, contaminated vegetation would mostly be spared, and would only pose a threat to herbivores. The result of innovations in chemical warfare led to a broad range of different chemicals for war and domestic use, but also resulted in unforeseen environmental damage. The progression of warfare and its effects on the environment continued with the invention of weapons of mass destruction. While today, weapons of mass destruction act as deterrents and the use of weapons of mass destruction during World War II created significant environmental destruction. On top of the great loss in human life, “natural resources are usually the first to suffer: forests and wild life animals are wiped out.” Nuclear warfare imposes both direct and indirect effects on the environment. The physical destruction due to the blast or by the biospheric damage due to ionizing radiation or radiotoxicity directly affect ecosystems within the blast radius. Also, the atmospheric or geospheric disturbances caused by the weapons can lead to weather and climate changes. Unexploded ordnance Military campaigns require large quantities of explosive weapons, a fraction of which will not detonate properly and leave unexploded weapons. This creates a serious physical and chemical hazard for the civilian populations living in areas which were once war zones, due to the possibility of detonation after the conflict, as well as the leaching of chemicals into the soil and groundwater. Agent Orange Agent Orange was one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the British military during the Malayan Emergency and the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War. An estimated 21,136,000 gal. (80 000 m³) of Agent Orange were sprayed across South Vietnam. According to the Vietnamese government, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, and this exposure resulted in 400,000 deaths and disabilities as well as 500,000 children born with birth defects. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that up to one million people were disabled or have health problems as a result of Agent Orange. The United States government has called these figures unreliable.Many Commonwealth personnel who handled and/or used Agent Orange during and decades after the 1948–1960 Malayan conflict suffered from serious exposure of dioxin. Agent Orange also caused soil erosion to areas in Malaya. An estimated 10,000 civilians and insurgents in Malaya also suffered from the effects of defoliants, though many historians agreed it was likely more than 10,000 given that Agent Orange was used on a large scale in the Malayan Emergency and unlike the U.S., the British government manipulated the numbers and kept its deployment a secret in fear of a negative backlash from foreign nations. Testing of nuclear armaments Testing of nuclear armaments has been carried out at various places including Bikini Atoll, the Marshall Islands Pacific Proving Grounds, New Mexico in the US, Mururoa Atoll, Maralinga in Australia, and Novaya Zemlya in the former Soviet Union, among others. Downwinders are individuals and communities who are exposed to radioactive contamination and/or nuclear fallout from atmospheric and/or underground nuclear weapons testing, and nuclear accidents. Strontium-90 The United States government studied the post-war effects of Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope which is found in nuclear fallout . The Atomic Energy Commission discovered that “Sr-90, which is chemically similar to calcium, can accumulate in bones and possibly lead to cancer”. Sr-90 found its way into humans through the ecological food chain as fallout in the soil, was picked up by plants, further concentrated in herbivorous animals, and eventually consumed by humans. Depleted uranium munitions The use of depleted uranium in munitions is controversial because of numerous questions about potential long-term health effects. Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because in addition to being weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal. It remains weakly radioactive because of its long half-life. The aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel. In a three-week period of conflict in Iraq during 2003, it was estimated over 1000 tons of depleted uranium munitions were used mostly in cities. The U.S. Department of Defense claims that no human cancer of any type has been seen as a result of exposure to either natural or depleted uranium.Yet, U.S. DoD studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure.In addition, the UK Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service in early 2004 attributed birth defect claims from a February 1991 Gulf War combat veteran to depleted uranium poisoning. Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (Spring, 2004) Also, a 2005 epidemiology review concluded: "In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU."According to a 2011 study by Alaani et al., depleted uranium exposure was either a primary cause or related to the cause of the birth defect and cancer increases. According to a 2012 journal article by Al-Hadithi et al., existing studies and research evidence does not show a "clear increase in birth defects" or a "clear indication of a possible environmental exposure including depleted uranium". The article further states that "there is actually no substantial evidence that genetic defects can arise from parental exposure to DU in any circumstances." Fossil fuel use With the high degree of mechanization of the military large amounts of fossil fuels are used. Fossil fuels are a major contributor to global warming and climate change, issues of increasing concern. Access to oil resources is also a factor for instigating a war. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is a government body with the highest use of fossil fuel in the world. According to the 2005 CIA World Factbook, when compared with the consumption per country the DoD would rank 34th in the world in average daily oil use, coming in just behind Iraq and just ahead of Sweden. Waste incineration At U.S. bases during the 21st-century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, human waste was burned in open pits along with munitions, plastic, electronics, paint, and other chemicals. The carcinogenic smoke is suspected to have injured some soldiers exposed to it. Intentional flooding Flooding can be used as scorched earth policy through using water to render land unusable. It can also be used to prevent the movement of enemy combatants. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, dykes on the Yellow and the Yangtze Rivers were breached to halt the advance of Japanese forces. During the Siege of Leiden in 1573, the dykes were breached to halt the advance of Spanish forces. During Operation Chastise during the Second World War, the Eder and Sorpe river dams in Germany were bombed by the Royal Air Force, flooding a large area and halting industrial manufacture used by the Germans in the war effort. Militarism and the environment Human security has traditionally been solely linked to military activities and defense. Scholars and institutions like the International Peace Bureau are now increasingly calling for a more holistic approach to security, particularly including an emphasis on the interconnections and interdependencies that exist between humans and the environment. Military activity has significant impacts on the environment. Not only can war be destructive to the socioenvironment, but military activities produce extensive amounts of greenhouse gases (that contribute to anthropogenic climate change), pollution, and cause resource depletion, among other environmental impacts. Greenhouse gas emissions and pollution Several studies have found a strong positive correlation between military spending and increased greenhouse gas emissions, with the impact of military spending on carbon emissions being more pronounced for countries of the Global North (i.e.: OECD developed countries). Accordingly, the US military is estimated to be the number one fossil fuel consumer in the world.Additionally, military activities involve high emissions of pollution. The Pentagon's director of environment, safety and occupational health, Maureen Sullivan, has stated that they work with approximately 39,000 contaminated sites. Indeed, the US military is also considered one of the largest generators of pollution in the world. Combined, the top five US chemical companies only produce one fifth of the toxins produced by the Pentagon. In Canada, the Department of National Defence readily admits it is the largest energy consumer of the Government of Canada, and a consumer of “high volumes of hazardous materials”.Military pollution is a worldwide occurrence. Armed forces from around the world were responsible for the emission of two thirds of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol for causing damage to the ozone layer. In addition, naval accidents during the Cold War have dropped at minimum 50 nuclear warheads and 11 nuclear reactors into the ocean, they remain on the ocean floor. Land and resource use Military land use needs (such as for bases, training, storage etc.) often displace people from their lands and homes. Military activity uses solvents, fuels and other toxic chemicals which can leach toxins into the environment that remain there for decades and even centuries. Furthermore, heavy military vehicles can cause damage to soil and infrastructure. Military-caused noise pollution can also diminish the quality of life for nearby communities as well as their ability to rear or hunt animals to support themselves. Advocates raise concerns of environmental racism and/or environmental injustice as it is largely marginalized communities that are displaced and/or affected.Militaries are also highly resource intensive. Weapons and military equipment make up the second largest international trade sector. The International Peace Bureau says that more than fifty percent of the helicopters in the world are for military use, and approximately twenty-five percent of jet fuel consumption is by military vehicles. These vehicles are also extremely inefficient, carbon-intensive, and discharge emissions that are more toxic than those of other vehicles. Activist responses Military funding is, at present, higher than ever before, and activists are concerned about the implication for greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. They advocate for demilitarization, citing the high greenhouse gas emissions and support the redirection of those funds to climate action. Currently the world spends about 2.2% of global GDP on military funding according to the World Bank. It is estimated that it would cost approximately one percent of global GDP yearly until 2030 to reverse the climate crisis. Moreover, activists emphasize the need for prevention and the avoidance of costly clean up. Currently, the expense for cleaning up military contaminated site is at least $500 billion. Finally, activists point to social issues such as extreme poverty and advocate for more funding to be redirected from military expenses to these causes.Groups working for demilitarization and peace include the International Peace Bureau, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, The Rideau Institute, Ceasefire.ca, Project Ploughshares, and Codepink. See List of anti-war organizations for more groups. Militaries' positive effects on the environment There are examples from around the world of nations’ armed forces aiding in land management and conservation. For example, in Bhuj, India, military forces stationed there helped to reforest the area; in Pakistan, the Army took part in the Billion tree tsunami, working with civilians to reforest land in KPK and Punjab.; in Venezuela, it is part of the National Guard’s responsibilities to protect natural resources. Additionally, military endorsement of environmentally friendly technology such as renewable energy may have the potential to generate public support for these technologies. Finally, certain military technologies like GPS and drones are helping environmental scientists, conservationists, ecologists and restoration ecologists conduct better research, monitoring, and remediation. War and environmental law From a legal standpoint, environmental protection during times of war and military activities is addressed partially by international environmental law. Further sources are also found in areas of law such as general international law, the laws of war, human rights law and local laws of each affected country. Several United Nations treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the 1977 Environmental Modification Convention have provisions to limit the environmental impacts of war. The Environmental Modification Convention is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects. The Convention bans weather warfare, which is the use of weather modification techniques for the purposes of inducing damage or destruction. This treaty is in force and has been ratified (accepted as binding) by leading military powers. See also Biological warfare Chemical warfare Environmental effects of the Syrian Civil War Environmental impact of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine List of environmental issues Nuclear warfare Nuclear winter Scorched earth Unconventional warfare Well poisoning War crimes References Further reading Austin, J.E.; Bruch, Carl E., eds. (2000). The Environmental Consequences of War: Legal, Economic, and Scientific Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521780209. Brauer, Jurgen (2009). War and Nature: The Environmental Consequences of War in a Globalized World. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780759112063. El- Baz, Farouk; Makharita, Ragaa Mohamed (1994). The Gulf War and the Environment. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9782881246494. Hayward, Joel (2013). Airpower and the Environment: The Ecological Implications of Modern Air Warfare. Air University Press. ISBN 978-1-58566-223-4. McNeill, J.R.; Painter, David S. (2009). "The Global Environmental Footprint of the U.S. Military: 1789-2003". In Closman, Charles E. (ed.). War and the Environment: Military Destruction in the Modern Age. Texas A&M Press. ISBN 9781603441698. McNeill, J.R.; Unger, Corina, eds. (2010). Environmental Histories of the Cold War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521762441. Price, Andrew R.G., ed. (1994). The 1991 Gulf War: Environmental Assessments of IUCN and Collaborators. IUCN. ISBN 9782831702056. Ṣādiq, Muḥammad; McCain, John Charles, eds. (1993). The Gulf War Aftermath: An Environmental Tragedy. Springer. ISBN 9780792322788. Westing, Arthur H. (ed) (1988). "Constraints on military disruption of the biosphere: an overview". Cultural Norms, War and the Environment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198291251. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help) William Burr, ed. (2017). "Clean" Nukes and the Ecology of Nuclear War. The National Security Archive. External links Protection of the Environment During Armed Conflict Armed Conflict and Protection of the Environment Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine Addressing Environmental Consequences of War A program of the Environmental Law Institute Armed Conflict and the Environment: IUCN Statement

biodegradable waste

Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane, compost, humus, and simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It mainly includes kitchen waste (spoiled food, trimmings, inedible parts), ash, soil, dung and other plant matter. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple sulfates which can be decomposed by sulfate reducing bacteria to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions.In domestic waste collection, the scope of biodegradable waste may be narrowed to include only those degradable wastes capable of being handled in the local waste handling facilities. To address this, many local waste management districts are integrating programs related to sort the biodegradable waste for composting or other waste valorization strategies, where biodegradable waste gets reused for other products, such as using agricultural waste for fiber production or biochar. Biodegradable waste when not handled properly can have an outsized impact on climate change, especially through methane emissions from anaerobic fermentation that produces landfill gas. Other approaches to reducing the impact include reducing the amount of waste produced, such as through reducing food waste. Sources Biodegradable waste can be found in municipal solid waste (sometimes called biodegradable municipal waste, or as green waste, food waste, paper waste and biodegradable plastics). Other biodegradable wastes include human waste, manure, sewage, sewage sludge and slaughterhouse waste. In the absence of oxygen, much of this waste will decay to methane by anaerobic digestion.In the UK, 7.4 million tonnes of biodegradable waste was sent to landfill in 2018 having reduced from 7.8 million tonnes in 2017. Collection and processing In many parts of the developed world, biodegradable waste is separated from the rest of the waste stream, either by separate curb-side collection or by waste sorting after collection. At the point of collection such waste is often referred to as green waste. Removing such waste from the rest of the waste stream substantially reduces waste volumes for disposal and also allows biodegradable waste to be composted. Biodegradable waste can be used for composting or a resource for heat, electricity and fuel by means of incineration or anaerobic digestion. Swiss Kompogas and the Danish AIKAN process are examples of anaerobic digestion of biodegradable waste. While incineration can recover the most energy, anaerobic digestion plants retain nutrients and make compost for soil amendment and still recover some of the contained energy in the form of biogas. Kompogas produced 27 million Kwh of electricity and biogas in 2009. The oldest of the company's lorries has achieved 1,000,000 kilometers driven with biogas from household waste in the last 15 years. Valorization Crop residue Food waste Human excreta Climate change impacts Landfill gas Food waste See also == References ==

agricultural engineering

Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, environmental, software, and chemical engineering to improve the efficiency of farms and agribusiness enterprises as well as to ensure sustainability of natural and renewable resources.An agricultural engineer is an engineer with an agriculture background. Agricultural engineers make the engineering designs and plans in an agricultural project, usually in partnership with an agriculturist who is more proficient in farming and agricultural science. History The first use of agricultural engineering was the introduction of irrigation in large scale agriculture in the Nile and the Euphrates rivers before 2000 B.C. Large irrigation structures were also present in Baluchistan and India before Christian era. In other parts of Asia, agricultural engineering was heavily present in China. In South America irrigation was practiced in Peru by the Incas and in North America by the Aztecs. The earliest plough was the ard or scratch-plough.Settlers practiced irrigation in the vicinity of San Antonio in 1715, the Mormons practiced irrigation in Salt Lake Valley in 1847.With growing mechanization and steam power in the industrial revolution, a new age in agricultural engineering began. Over the course of the industrial revolution, mechanical harvesters and planters would replace field hands in most of the food and cash crop industries. Mechanical threshing was introduced in 1761 by John Lloyd, Magnus Strindberg and Dietrich. Beater bar threshing machine was built by Andrew Meikle in 1786. A cast iron plow was first made by Charles Newbold between 1790 and 1796. James Smith constructed a mower in 1811. George Berry used a steam combine harvester in 1886. John Deere made his first steel plow in 1833. The two horse cultivator was first about 1861. The introduction of these engineering concepts into the field of agriculture allowed for an enormous boost in the productivity of crops, dubbed a "second agricultural revolution" which consisted of: Shift from peasant subsistence-farming to cash-farming for the market Technical changes of crop rotations and livestock improvement Labour being replaced by machineryIn the 20th century, with the rise in reliable engines in airplanes, cropdusters were implemented to disperse pesticides. Benjamin Holt built a combine harvester powered by petrol in 1911. Erwin Peucker constructed bulldog tractors 1936. Deutz-Fahr produced the rotary hay tedder in 1961.In the late 20th century, genetically modified foods (GMOs) were created, giving another large boost to crop yields and resistance to pests. Sub-Disciplines Agricultural engineering has many sub-disciplines, the most common of which are listed here: Agricultural Machinery Agricultural Structures Agricultural Surveying Aquaculture Biomechanics & Ergonomics Forestry Engineering Irrigation Land Development Pesticides Precision Agriculture Soil Management Roles of agricultural engineers Agricultural engineers may perform tasks such as planning, supervising and managing the building of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, flood water control systems, performing environmental impact assessments, agricultural product processing and interpret research results and implement relevant practices. A large percentage of agricultural engineers work in academia or for government agencies. Some are consultants, employed by private engineering firms, while others work in industry, for manufacturers of agricultural machinery, equipment, processing technology, and structures for housing livestock and storing crops. Agricultural engineers work in production, sales, management, research and development, or applied science. Armenia In 2006 Armenia's agricultural sector accounted for about 20 percent of the GDP. By 2010, it grew to about 25 percent. This was and is higher than in Armenia's neighboring countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran, in which the contribution of agriculture to the GDP in 2017 was 6.88, 5.63, 6.08 and 9.05 percent, respectively. Philippines In the Philippines, the professional designation is registered agricultural and biosystems engineer. They are licensed and accredited after successfully passing the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Licensure Examination. A prospective agricultural and biosystems engineer is required to have a four-year Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. The practice of agricultural and biosystems engineering also includes the following: Consultation, valuation, investigation and management services on agricultural and biosystems engineering; Management or supervision and the preparation of engineering designs, plans, specifications, project studies and estimates for agricultural and biosystems, aquaculture and fishery, and forest product machinery, agricultural and biosystems buildings and structures, farm electrification and energy systems, agricultural and biosystems processing equipment, irrigation and soils conservation systems and facilities, agricultural and biosystems waste utilization systems and facilities; Conducting research and development, training and extension work, and consultancy services on agricultural and biosystems engineering facilities/services, system and technologies; Testing, evaluation and inspection of agricultural and biosystems, fishery and forest product machinery and other related agricultural and biosystems engineering facilities and equipment. Management, manufacturing and/or marketing of agricultural and biosystems machinery and other related agricultural and biosystems engineering facilities and equipment; Teaching, agricultural and biosystems engineering subjects in institution of learning in the Philippines; Employment with the government provided such item or position requires the knowledge and expertise of an agricultural and biosystems engineer. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom the term agricultural engineer is often also used to describe a person that repairs or modifies agricultural equipment. United States The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, now known as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), was founded in 1907. It is a leading organization in the agricultural engineering field. The ASABE provides safety and regulatory standards for the agricultural industry. These standards and regulations are developed on an international scale for fertilizers, soil conditions, fisheries, biofuels, biogas, feed machinery, tractors, and machinery. See also Agricultural education Agricultural science Agronomy Bioresource engineering Biosystems engineering Copper alloys in aquaculture Industrial agriculture Institution of Agricultural Engineers List of agricultural machinery Mechanized agriculture Water softening References Further reading Brown, R.H. (ed). (1988). CRC handbook of engineering in agriculture. Boca Raton, FL.: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-3860-3. Field, H. L., Solie, J. B., & Roth, L. O. (2007). Introduction to agricultural engineering technology: a problem solving approach. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-387-36913-9. Stewart, Robert E. (1979). Seven decades that changed America: a history of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1907-1977. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. OCLC 5947727. DeForest, S. S. (2007). The vision that cut drugery from farming forever. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. ISBN 1-892769-61-1.

environmental impact of fishing

The environmental impact of fishing includes issues such as the availability of fish, overfishing, fisheries, and fisheries management; as well as the impact of industrial fishing on other elements of the environment, such as bycatch. These issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. According to a 2019 FAO report, global production of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals has continued to grow and reached 172.6 million tonnes in 2017, with an increase of 4.1 percent compared with 2016. There is a growing gap between the supply of fish and demand, due in part to world population growth.Fishing and pollution from fishing are the largest contributors to the decline in ocean health and water quality. Ghost nets, or nets abandoned in the ocean, are made of plastic and nylon and do not decompose, wreaking extreme havoc on the wildlife and ecosystems they interrupt. The ocean takes up 70% of the earth, so overfishing and hurting the marine environment affects everyone and everything on this planet. On top of the overfishing, there is a seafood shortage resulting from the mass amounts of seafood waste, as well as the microplastics that are polluting the seafood consumed by the public. The latter is largely caused by plastic-made fishing gear like drift nets and longlining equipment, that are wearing down by use, lost or thrown away.The journal Science published a four-year study in November 2006, which predicted that, at prevailing trends, the world would run out of wild-caught seafood in 2048. The scientists stated that the decline was a result of overfishing, pollution and other environmental factors that were reducing the population of fisheries at the same time as their ecosystems were being annihilated. Many countries, such as Tonga, the United States, Australia and Bahamas, and international management bodies have taken steps to appropriately manage marine resources.Reefs are also being destroyed by overfishing because of the huge nets that are dragged along the ocean floor while trawling. Many corals are being destroyed and, as a consequence, the ecological niche of many species is at stake. Effects on marine habitat Some fishing techniques cause habitat destruction. Blast fishing and cyanide fishing, which are illegal in many places, harm surrounding habitats. Blast fishing refers to the practice of using explosives to capture fish. Cyanide fishing refers to the practice of using cyanide to stun fish for collection. These two practices are commonly used for the aquarium trade and the live fish food trade. These practices are destructive because they impact the habitat that the reef fish live on after the fish have been removed. Bottom trawling, the practice of pulling a fishing net along the sea bottom behind trawlers, removes around 5 to 25% of an area's seabed life on a single run. This method of fishing tends to cause a lot of bycatch. A study of La Fonera Canyon compared trawled versus non-trawled areas. The results show that areas at 500 to 2000 meters depth that is non-trawled have more biodiversity, biomass, and variation of meiofauna than trawled areas at 500 meters depth. Most of the impacts are due to commercial fishing practices. A 2005 report of the UN Millennium Project, commissioned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, recommended the elimination of bottom trawling on the high seas by 2006 to protect seamounts and other ecologically sensitive habitats. This was not done. In mid-October 2006, United States President George W. Bush joined other world leaders calling for a moratorium on deep-sea trawling. The practice has shown to often have harmful effects on sea habitat and, hence, on fish populations, yet no further action was taken (Vivek). The sea animal's aquatic ecosystem may also collapse due to the destruction of the food chain. Additionally, ghost fishing is a major threat due to capture fisheries. Ghost fishing occurs when a net, such as a gill net or trawl, is lost or discarded at sea and drifts within the oceans and can still act to capture marine organisms. According to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, States should act to minimize the amount of lost and abandoned gear and work to minimize ghost fishing. Overfishing Ecological disruption Overfishing can result in the over-exploitation of marine ecosystem services. Fishing can cause several negative physiological and psychological effects for fish populations including increased stress levels and bodily injuries resulting from lodged fish hooks. Often, when this threshold is crossed, hysteresis may occur within the environment. More specifically, some ecological disturbances observed within the Black Sea marine ecosystem resulted from a combination of overfishing and various other related human activities which adversely affected the marine environment and ecosystem. Ecological disruption can also occur due to the overfishing of critical fish species such as the tilefish and grouper fish, which can be referred to as ecosystem-engineers.Fishing may disrupt food webs by targeting specific, in-demand species. There might be too much fishing of prey species such as sardines and anchovies, thus reducing the food supply for the predators. Disrupting these types of wasp-waist species may have effects throughout the ecosystem. It may also cause the increase of prey species when the target fishes are predator species, such as salmon and tuna. Overfishing and pollution of the oceans also affect their carbon storage ability and thus contribute to the climate crisis. Carbon stored in seafloor sediments risk release by bottom-trawling fishing. Fisheries-induced evolution Fisheries-induced evolution or evolutionary impact of fishing is the various evolutionary effects of the fishing pressure, such as on size or growth. It is manly caused by selective fishing on size, bigger fish being more frequently caught. Moreover, policy of minimum landing size, based on the idea that it spares young fishes, have many negative impacts on a population by selecting slow growth individuals. Bycatch Bycatch is the portion of the catch that is not the target species. Unintentional bycatch occurs when fishing gear with poor selectivity is used. These are either kept to be sold or discarded. In some instances the discarded portion is known as discards. Even sports fisherman discard a lot of non-target and target fish on the bank while fishing. For every pound of the target species caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as bycatch. As many as 40% (63 billion pounds) of fish caught globally every year are discarded, and as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels. Shark finning and culling Shark finning Shark finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark. The sharks are often still alive when discarded, but without their fins. Unable to swim effectively, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and die of suffocation or are eaten by other predators. Though studies suggest that 73 million sharks are finned each year, scientists have noted that the numbers may actually be higher, with roughly 100 million sharks being killed by finning each year. The deaths of millions of sharks has caused catastrophic damage to the marine ecosystem. Shark culling Shark culling is the killing of sharks in government-run "shark control" programs. These programs exist to reduce the risk of shark attacks — however, environmentalists say that they do not reduce the risk of shark attacks; they also say that shark culling harms the marine ecosystem. Shark culling currently occurs in New South Wales, Queensland, KwaZulu-Natal and Réunion. Queensland's "shark control" program killed roughly 50,000 sharks between 1962 and 2018 — Queensland's program uses lethal devices such as shark nets and drum lines. Thousands of other animals, such as turtles and dolphins, have been killed in Queensland as bycatch. Queensland's shark culling program has been called "outdated, cruel and ineffective". The shark culling program in New South Wales (which uses nets) has killed thousands of sharks, turtles, dolphins and whales. KwaZulu-Natal's shark culling program killed more than 33,000 sharks in a 30-year period. Marine debris Recent research has shown that, by mass, fishing debris, such as buoys, lines, and nets, account for more than two-thirds of large plastic debris found in the oceans. In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, fishing nets alone comprise at least 46% of the debris. Similarly, fishing debris has been shown to be a major source of plastic debris found on the shores of Korea. Marine life interacts with debris in two ways: either through entanglement (where debris entangles or entraps animals), or ingestion of the debris (either intentionally or accidentally). Both are harmful to the animal. Marine debris consisting of old fishing nets or trawls can often be linked to phenomena such as ghost fishing, wherein the netting debris, referred to as ghost nets, continues to entangle and capture fish. A study performed in southern Japan on octopuses noted that there was an estimated mortality rate of 212,000–505,000 octopuses per year within the area's fishing grounds, due in large part to ghost fishing. Tracking garbage and monitoring the logistics of human waste disposal, especially waste materials primarily associated with fishing, is one method to reduce marine debris. Using technological or mechanical innovations such as marine debris-clearing drones can further serve to reduce the amount of debris within oceans. Recreational fishing impacts Recreational fishing is fishing done for sport or competition, whereas commercial fishing is catching seafood, often in mass quantities, for profit. Both can have different environmental impacts when it comes to fishing.Though many assume recreational fishing does not have a large impact on fish, it actually accounts for almost a quarter of the fish caught in the United States, many of those being commercially valuable fish. Recreational fishing has its biggest impact on marine debris, overfishing, and fish mortality. Release mortality in recreational fisheries is the same as the impacts of bycatch in commercial fisheries. Studies have suggested that improving recreational fisheries management on a global scale could generate substantial social benefits of the same scale as reforming commercial fisheries. Catch and Release Catch and release fishing involves several practices that aim to reduce the negative environmental impacts of fishing. This refers to the duration, timing, and type of hook used during angling. To increase the effectiveness of catch and release fishing and mitigate its negative impacts, species-specific guidelines are required. These guidelines help tailor specific rules and regulations to specific species of fish in relation to their locations and mating and migration cycles. A metastudy in 2005 found that the average catch and release mortality rate was 18%, but varied greatly by species. While catch-and-release fishing has been wildly used in recreational fishing, it is also beneficial for maintaining fish populations at a stable level for commercial fisheries to receive social and economic benefits. Combining catch and release fishing with biotelemetry data collection methods allows for researchers to study the biological effects of catch and release fishing on fish in order to better suit future conservation efforts and remedies. Countermeasures Fisheries management Much of the scientific community blames the mismanagement of fisheries for global collapses of fish populations. One method for increasing fish population numbers and reduce the severity of adverse environmental impacts and ecological disturbances is the use of fisheries management systems. Traditional fisheries management techniques can signify restricting certain types of fishing gear, reducing the total allowable catch, decreasing fishing efforts as a whole, implementing catch shares, involving communities with conservation efforts and defining areas closed to fishing. In order to implement any of these tactics on a fishery, ample data collection and statistical analysis are necessary.Whether or not traditional fisheries management techniques are effective at restoring fish populations is often seen as a debate in the fisheries science community. However, there are a few factors to consider when evaluating the efficiency of fisheries management techniques. For example, large fisheries are more likely to be managed whereas small fisheries are commonly left unassessed and unmanaged. Unassessed fisheries are thought to represent about 80% of all fisheries. Some researchers believe that the stability and health of these unassessed fisheries are worse than the assessed fisheries, justifying the premise that traditional fisheries management techniques are ineffective. However, many scientists highlight that those fish populations are declining due to the fact that they have not been assessed and therefore adequate fisheries management techniques have not been applied. Further, most of the assessed fisheries (and hence managed fisheries) are biased towards large populations and commercially lucrative species. Assessments are often performed by nations that are able to afford the assessment process and implementation of fisheries management tools.Determining sustainable harvest quotas are another example of a traditional fisheries management technique. However, the intention behind harvest quotas are often not a big enough incentive for fishermen to adhere to them. This is because limiting individual harvests often leads to a smaller profit for the fleet. Since these fishermen are not guaranteed compensation for part of the quota, they tend to resolve to the method of harvesting as many fish as possible. This competitiveness among fishermen and their fleets leads to the increased use of harmful fishing practices, extremely large harvests, periods of reduced stocks and the eventual collapse of the fishery. To eliminate the need for such competitiveness among fishermen, many scientists suggest the implementation of rights-based fisheries reforms. This can be done by granting Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) or catch shares, a set portion of a scientifically calculated total allowable catch, to individual fishermen, communities and cooperatives. ITQs incentivize fishermen because the value of catch shares grows as the stability of the fishery improves.It is estimated that around 27% of global fisheries were classified as collapsed in 2003 and that by 2048, 100% of global fisheries would be considered collapsed. In a study compiling data from 11,135 fisheries around the world (some ITQ-managed, some non-ITQ managed), the potential impact of ITQs on fisheries if they all implemented a rights-based management approach since 1970 was estimated. In that case, the percentage of collapsed fisheries in 2003 was projected as 9%, which remained fairly stable for the rest of the experiment's time period. Despite the projected success of the ITQ-managed fisheries, the results of this study may not be a completely accurate representation of the true impact of right-based management. This is due to the fact that the data used to create these results was limited to one type of catch share and that the true effects of ITQs can only be assessed if social, ecological and economic factors were also considered.In some cases, changing fishing gear can have an impact on habitat destruction. In an experiment with three different types of gears used for oyster harvesting, compared to dredging and tonging, hand-harvesting by divers resulted in the collection of 25-32% more oysters within the same amount of time. In terms of habitat conservation, the reef habitat sustained damage to its height during the use of all three gear types. Specifically, dredging cut the height of the reef by 34%, tonging by 23% and diver hand-harvesting by 6%. Opting for a different hook design or bait type can make fishing practices less dangerous and lead to less bycatch. Using 18/0 circle hooks and mackerel for bait has been shown to greatly reduce the amount of leatherback sea turtles and loggerheads caught as bycatch. The use of circle hooks was shown to decrease the amount of hooks ingested by loggerheads. Further, with the target species being swordfish, the use of both circle hooks and mackerel for bait had no negative impact on the amount of swordfish caught.Ecosystem-based management of fisheries is another method used for fish conservation and impact remediation. Instead of solely focusing conservation efforts on a single species of marine life, ecosystem-based management is used across various species of fish within an environment. To improve the adoption of these types of fisheries management, it is important to reduce barriers to entry for management scenarios in order to make these methods more accessible to fisheries globally.Many governments and intergovernmental bodies have implemented fisheries management policies designed to curb the environmental impact of fishing. Fishing conservation aims to control the human activities that may completely decrease a fish stock or washout an entire aquatic environment. These laws include the quotas on the total catch of particular species in a fishery, effort quotas (e.g., number of days at sea), the limits on the number of vessels allowed in specific areas, and the imposition of seasonal restrictions on fishing. Fish farming Fish farming, aquaculture, or pisciculture, has been proposed as a more sustainable alternative or as a supplement to the traditional capture of wild fish. Fish farms are usually located in coastal waters and can involve netpens or cages that are anchored to the sediment at the bottom. As many fisheries have been heavily depleted, farming profitable and commonly consumed fish species is a method used to supply larger quantities of seafood for human consumption. This is especially the case for marine aquatic species such as salmon and shrimp and freshwater species such as carp and tilapia. In fact, approximately 40% of seafood consumed by humans is produced in fish farms.Even though fish farming does not require a lot of space, they can have significant ecological impacts on the fish around them and marine resources. For instance, low trophic level, wild caught fish like anchovies, capelin and sardines are used to feed marine and freshwater farmed fish. Farmed marine fish species, usually carnivores, tend require more fishmeal and fish oil to thrive. On the opposite end, farmed freshwater fish, usually herbivores and omnivores, are not as dependent on them. This can be problematic because the small fish used for the production of fishmeal also serve as food for predators living outside the enclosures.It is not uncommon for farmed fish to escape their enclosures. This can lead to the introduction of non-native species to a new environment. Farmed species breeding with wild fish species of the same type, called interbreeding, can cause offspring to have reduced fitness. Marine reserves Marine reserves serve to foster both environmental protection and marine wildlife safety. The reserves themselves are established via environmental protection plans or policies which designate a specific marine environment as protected. Coral reefs are one of the many examples which involve the application of marine reserves in establishing marine protected areas. There have also been marine reserve initiatives located in the United States, Caribbean, Philippines and Egypt. To mitigate the negative environmental impacts of fishing within marine environments, marine reserves are intended to create, enhance and re-introduce biodiversity within the area. As a result, the primary benefits arising from the implementation of this type of management effort include positive impacts towards habitat protection and species conservation. See also Finless Foods Population dynamics of fisheries List of harvested aquatic animals by weight Shark culling Shark finning Sustainable seafood Marine debris Individual fishing quota Destructive fishing practicesBooks: The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat (book) One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish (book)Related: Environmental effects of meat production Human impact on the environment References Further reading Castro, P. and M. Huber. (2003). Marine Biology. 4thed. Boston: McGraw Hill. Hampton, J.; Sibert, J. R.; Kleiber, P.; Maunder, M. N.; Harley, S. J. (2005). "Changes in abundance of large pelagic predators in the Pacific Ocean". Nature. 434: E2–E3. Maunder, M.N.; Sibert, J.R.; Fonteneau, A.; Hampton, J.; Kleiber, P.; Harley, S. (2006). "Interpreting catch-per-unit-of-effort data to assess the status of individual stocks and communities". ICES Journal of Marine Science. 63 (8): 1373–1385. doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2006.05.008. Myers, Ransom; Worm, Boris (2003). "Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities". Nature. 423 (6937): 280–3. Bibcode:2003Natur.423..280M. doi:10.1038/nature01610. PMID 12748640. S2CID 2392394. Polacheck, T (2006). "Tuna longline catch rates in the Indian Ocean: did industrial fishing result in a 90% rapid decline in the abundance of large predatory species?". Marine Policy. 30 (5): 470–482. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2005.06.016. FAO Fisheries Department. (2002). The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Sibert; et al. (2006). "Biomass, Size, and Trophic Status of Top Predators in the Pacific Ocean". Science. 314 (5806): 1773–1776. Bibcode:2006Sci...314.1773S. doi:10.1126/science.1135347. PMID 17170304. S2CID 7449502. Walters, C. J. (2003). "Folly and fantasy in the analysis of spatial catch rate data". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 60 (12): 1433–1436. doi:10.1139/f03-152. S2CID 16062938. External links Pelagic Fisheries Research Program International Collective in Support of Fishworkers website United Nations conference in criticism of deep-sea trawling Bush backs international deep-sea trawling moratorium Re-interpreting the Fisheries Crisis seminar by Prof. Ray Hilborn UK Database of commercially sold fish with stock status Database on stock status of US seafood Conservation Science Institute The facts about the Commercial Fishing Environment Global Fishing Fleets Project Regeneration