Deforestation: Half of All Amazon Tree Species ‘Face Extinction’

ENVIRONMENTAL HOLOCAUST
CRIMES AGAINST NATURE
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About quarter of Earth’s plant species probably threatened —Report

Amazon, the world’s most diverse forest, is home to more than 15,000 tree species. However, the forest is being rapidly degraded due to deforestation.

Clearing the forest for farming, ranching and human settlements is threatening up to 57% of all tree species in Amazon, which would likely qualify as being globally threatened under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria, say researchers.

The study covers more than 5.5 million km² of forest spanning multiple countries: Brazil (60% of the rainforest) Peru (13%), Colombia (10%), Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The trends observed in Amazonia also apply to trees throughout the tropics, and they predict that most of the world’s more than 40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened, according to the report.

If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%.

The Jungle

Home to the largest collection of living plants and animal species on the planet, or about one in ten known species, biodiversity of Amazon rainforest is unparalleled.

“The original lowland forests of Amazonia are estimated to have covered 5.74 million km², 11.4% of which had been deforested by 2013. Most of the estimated 3.2 × 10^10 individual trees lost to date were in southern and eastern Amazonia,” according to the report.

Fire-Earth models show Amazonian forests have lost about 14% of their original extent. Most of the lost forest has become pasture for cattle. As of October 2015, the area of forest lost in the Amazon rose to nearly 805,000 km² [estimate does not include regrowth, if any.]

Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species: by Hans ter Steege et al.

Abstract

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict that most of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century.

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Copyright © 2015, The Authors Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

Indonesia Seeks International Help to Tackle Forest Fires

Smoke from land and forest fires worsens again in Pekanbaru, Riau —BMKG

Indonesia’s president has asked for international help to put out land and forest fires in Sumatra that have blanketed most of the region, leaving tens of thousands of people with respiratory illnesses.

“Smoke shrouding Pekanbaru this morning was mixed with fog, reducing the visibility to only around 50 meters after it improved to around 1,000 meters on Wednesday morning,” said The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

The smog has deteriorated the air quality to hazardous levels across parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand, forcing school closures and flight cancellations.

Pekanbaru (population: ~ 1.2 million) is the capital of Riau province, located in the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca.

BMKG Pekanbaru reported 202 hot spots, detected by satellites, across Sumatra, Bangka Belitung and Lampung as of 5.00 am local time on Thursday, said the report quoting BMKG.

The annual fires are caused by companies clearing rainforest for palm oil plantations.

Forests Can No Longer Be Considered Wilderness: Study

Deforestation: 70 percent of remaining forests less than 800m deep

Seventy percent of forests left on the planet are within 800 meters (0.5 mile) of a forest edge due to land use changes, especially encroaching urban, suburban developments and agriculture, which are causing global declines in biodiversity, according to a new study lead by North Carolina University.

The researchers discovered that very few forest lands are unaffected by some kind of human development.

“The loss of area, increase in isolation, and greater exposure to human land uses along fragment edges initiate long-term changes to the structure and function of the remaining fragments.”

They also conducted major experiments across five continents examining the effects of habitat fragmentation. They found that fragmented habitats reduce the diversity of plants and animals by up to 75 percent, with the smallest, most isolated patches causing the most impact.

“The initial negative effects were unsurprising,” said the corresponding author of the paper, a professor at NC State University. “But I was blown away by the fact that these negative effects became even more negative with time. Some results showed a 50 percent or higher decline in plant and animals species over an average of just 20 years, for example. And the trajectory is still spiraling downward.”

“Data from 76 different studies across the five longest-running experiments were drawn from published and unpublished sources (table S1). We synthesized results according to three fragmentation treatments: reduced fragment area [the focus of Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP), Wog Wog, and Kansas; see Fig. 2 for identifiers of experiments], increased fragment isolation [Savannah River Site (SRS) and Moss], and increased proportion of edge (all experiments). Fragmented treatments were compared directly to non- or less-fragmented habitats that were either larger or connected via structural corridors (table S1).”

“The results were astounding,” said the author. “Nearly 20 percent of the world’s remaining forest is the distance of a football field—or about 100 meters—away from a forest edge. Seventy percent of forest lands are within a half-mile of a forest edge. That means almost no forest can really be considered wilderness.”

Research Article: Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/2/e1500052
Supplementary material for this article is available at http://advances.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1/2/e1500052/DC1

Floods Devastate Malawi, Affecting 638,000 People

Malawi Floods Situation Report  by UNOCHA, UNICEF and FAO

28 January 2015

• Some 638,000 people affected countrywide, according to Department of Disaster Management Affairs/OCHA situation report 23 January 2015

• [More than ¼ million people have been displaced in Malawi floods including] 174,000 in 3 most affected districts—Chikwawa, Nsanje and Phalombe.

• At least 15 of country’s 28 districts are affected.

• 79 deaths have been reported.

• At least 153 people missing in Nsanje District.

• 181 Schools occupied by displaced people (Reports from District Education Managers 26 .01.15)

• An estimated 116,000 households have lost their crops and livestock.

• More than 63,000 hectares of land is submerged under floodwater, including 35,000 hectares of cropland.

• A state of emergency has been declared for 15 of Malawi’s 28 districts.

• Floods have destroyed thousands of homes, washing away scores of livestock, and submerging hundreds of hectares of crops, a senior official said.

• Untold numbers of goats and chickens have perished where waters rose with unexpected speed, raising the risk of livestock disease outbreaks.

FIRE-EARTH Models show that Malawi is facing its worst ever flooding.

Related Links

• Malawi Floods Devastate Half the Country January 17, 2015
• Disaster Declared as Deadly Floods Swamp Third of Malawi January 14, 2015
• Thousands Displaced by Deadly Floods in Malawi January 11, 2015

Amazon Deforestation Climbed 28 Percent in 12 Months

5,843 km² of Brazil forest denuded in 12 months to July 2013

Deforestation rate in Brazil rose to 5,843 km² between August 2012 and July this year, a staggering rise of 28%, compared with the previous period, according to provisional figures released by the government.

More than 600,000 km² of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed in the past 40 years to make room for cattle ranching, farming and extensive transportation projects.

Agriculture accounts for almost 5.5% of the Brazil’s GDP, and is responsible for the majority of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Cattle rest in deforested jungle near Maraba, in Brazil’s central state of Para, May 3, 2009.  Soon thousands of cows will be chewing pasture on the freshly cleared land in Brazil’s Amazon state of Para, just a tiny part of Brazil’s 200-million-strong commercial cattle herd, the world’s biggest, that makes it a beef superpower. More than 70 million are in the Amazon area, three for every person. This is where the industry has grown fastest in recent years, a trend activists say is due to cheap land, widespread illegal clearing and weak government enforcement. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker. Images may be subject to copyright.

Relate Links

• Phew, It Was a Jungle Out There! Posted  June 1, 2009
• Only One Guess Allowed!
• Brazil “soy king” sees Amazon as food solution
• Corn for Food, NOT for Fuel
• Greenpeace says global beef trade destroying Amazon
• Cattle a tough target in Amazon protection fight
• Brazil’s Extreme Rain Events Trigger 4,000 Landslides
• Famous Last words …

GHG Concentrations Climbed to New Highs in 2012: WMO

Atmospheric greenhouse gases reached new record levels

Atmospheric concentrations of major greenhouse gases responsible for climate change climbed to new records in 2012, according to WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin (No. 9: November 2013) released by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Levels of CO₂, the primary greenhouse gas produced by human activities, grew by 2.2 ppm, higher the average of 2.02 ppm over the past decade. At 393.1 parts per million (ppm), the 2012 CO₂ concentrations were 41 percent above the pre-industrial level.

The latest analysis of observations from the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme shows that the globally averaged mole fractions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) reached new highs in 2012, with CO₂ at 393.1±0.1 ppm, CH₄ at 1819±1 ppb and N₂O at 325.1±0.1 ppb. These values constitute, respectively, 141%, 260% and 120% of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels. The atmospheric increase of CO₂ from 2011 to 2012 is higher than the average growth rate over the past 10 years. For N₂O the increase from 2011 to 2012 is smaller than the one observed from 2010 to 2011 but larger than the average growth rate over the past 10 years. Atmospheric CH₄ continued to increase at a rate similar to the one observed over the past 4 years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annual Greenhouse Gas Index shows that from 1990 to 2012 radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 32%, with CO₂ accounting for about 80% of this increase.

This ninth WMO/GAW Annual GHG Bulletin reports atmospheric abundances and rates of change of the most
important long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide – and provides a summary of the contributions of the other gases. These three together with CFC-12 and CFC-11 account for approximately 96% of radiative forcing due to LLGHGs.

The NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) in 2012 was 1.32, representing a 32% increase in total radiative forcing (relative to 1750) by all LLGHGs since 1990 and a 1.2% increase from 2011 to 2012 (Figure 1). The total radiative forcing by all LLGHGs in 2012 corresponds to a CO₂-equivalent mole fraction of 475.6 ppm (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/aggi).

 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the single most important anthropogenic GHG in the atmosphere

Carbon dioxide is the single most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, contributing ~64%  to radiative forcing by LLGHGs. It is responsible for ~84% of the increase in radiative forcing over the past decade and ~82% over the past five years. The pre-industrial level of ~278 ppm represented a balance of fluxes between the atmosphere, the oceans and the biosphere. Atmospheric CO₂ reached 141% of the pre-industrial level in 2012, primarily because of emissions from combustion of fossil fuels (fossil fuel CO₂ emissions 9.5±0.5 PgC in 2011, according to http://www.globalcarbonproject.org), deforestation and other land-use change (0.9±0.5 PgC in 2011). The average increase in atmospheric CO₂ from pre-industrial time corresponds to ~55% of the CO₂ emitted by fossil fuel combustion with the remaining ~45% removed by the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere.

CO₂ Global Average

The globally averaged CO2 mole fraction in 2012 was 393.1±0.1 ppm. The mean annual increase from 2011 to 2012, 2.2 ppm, is greater than the increase from 2010 to 2011, the average growth rate for the 1990s (~1.5 ppm/yr) and the average growth rate for the past decade (~2.0 ppm/yr).

Global average abundances of the major, well-mixed, long-lived greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, CFC-12 and CFC-11 – from the NOAA global air sampling network are plotted since the beginning of 1979. These gases account for about 96% of the direct radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases since 1750. The remaining 4% is contributed by an assortment of 15 minor halogenated gases including HCFC-22 and HFC-134a. Source: ESRL/NOAA

Methane (CH4) – THe Second Major Contributor

Methane contributes ~18% to radiative forcing by LLGHGs. Approximately 40% of methane is emitted into the atmosphere by natural sources (e.g., wetlands and termites), and about 60% comes from anthropogenic sources (e.g., ruminants, rice agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation, landfills and biomass burning). Atmospheric CH₄ reached 260% of the pre-industrial level (~700 ppb) due to increased emissions from anthropogenic sources. Globally averaged CH₄ reached a new high of 1819 ± 1 ppb in 2012, an increase of 6 ppb with respect to the previous year (Figure 4). The growth rate of CH₄ decreased from ~13 ppb/yr during the early 1980s to near zero during 1999-2006. Since 2007, atmospheric CH₄ has been increasing again due to increased emissions in the tropical and mid-latitude
Northern Hemisphere. The attribution of this increase to anthropogenic and natural sources is difficult because the current network is insufficient to characterize emissions by region and source process.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O )

Nitrous oxide contributes ~6% to radiative forcing by LLGHGs. It is the third most important contributor to the combined forcing. N₂O is emitted into the atmosphere from both natural (about 60%) and anthropogenic sources (approximately 40%), including oceans, soil, biomass burning, fertilizer use, and various industrial processes. The globally averaged N₂O mole fraction in 2012 reached 325.1 ±0.1 ppb, which is 0.9 ppb above the previous year and 120% of the pre-industrial level (270 ppb). The annual increase from 2011 to 2012 is greater than the mean growth rate over the past 10 years (0.80 ppb/yr).

Radiative forcing, relative to 1750, of all the long-lived greenhouse gases. The NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which is indexed to 1 for the year 1990, is shown on the right axis.  Of the five long-lived greenhouse gases that contribute 96% to radiative climate forcing, CO₂ and N₂O are the only ones that continue to increase at a regular rate. Radiative forcing from CH₄ increased from 2007 to 2012 after remaining nearly constant from 1999 to 2006. While the radiative forcing of the long-lived, well-mixed greenhouse gases increased 32% from 1990 to 2012 (by ~0.69 watts m^-2), CO₂ has accounted for nearly 80% of this increase (~0.55 watts m^-2). Source: ESRL/NOAA

Recent Global CO₂

• August 2013:     393.11 ppm
• August 2012:     389.82 ppm

Up-to-date weekly average CO₂ at Mauna Loa

• Week beginning on October 27, 2013:     394.20 ppm
• Weekly value from 1 year ago:     391.32 ppm
• Weekly value from 10 years ago:     373.39 ppm

Related Links

• Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa Tops 400ppm June 4, 2013
• CO2 Tops 400ppm at Mauna Loa as Forecast May 11, 2013
• Sudden Surges in Atmospheric CO2: FIRE-EARTH Forecast July 23, 2013
• 400 PPM April 3, 2013

Second Sandstorm Blasts Beijing

Beijing Blasted by Sandstorms Twice in Two Days

Mothers, tell your children NOT to do what they have done!

Beijing was hit Monday by a second sandstorm just two days after a severe sandstorm struck on Saturday. The sandstorm originated from Mongolia and arrived in Beijing Monday morning, but was expected to subside by the evening.

Tourists visit the Tian’anmen Square in Beijing amid a massive sandstorm, March 22, 2010. The Central Meteorological Station issued a blue alert for sandstorms at 6 AM on Monday. (Xinhua/Sang Quanli). Image may be subject to copyright.

“The sandstorm from Mongolia arrived in Beijing Monday morning, and is expected to weaken by Monday evening,” said Zhang Mingying, senior engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Station, official news agency Xinhua reported.

The Sandstorm spawned by strong winds has swept over north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, as well as Shanxi and Hebei provinces, he was reported as saying.

“Dust and sand left from Saturday’s sandstorm was still affecting Beijing Monday,” Zhang said.

“Although the sky was not as orange as Saturday, the smell of the dust was stronger on Monday,” said Li Nan, a Beijing resident.

Lanzhou, Gansu province, shrouded by a thick yellow-orange haze produced by thousands of tons of airborne sand. March 19 -20, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua] Image may be subject to copyright.

What’s Behind the Sandstorms?

In short, it’s the economy. The impact of exponential growth economy has driven China’s fragile ecosystems to the verge of collapse. The environmental stress caused by overconsumption of water, deforestation, land-use change and severe droughts, enhanced by climate change, are accelerating the desertification in northern China.

Related Links:

• SW China on the precipice of catastrophe
• WORST EVER DROUGHT in SW China
• Disaster Calendar 2010
• Drought and Deluge
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• 2010: The Year of Disasters
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion

No Fertile Land, No Food!

Accelerated land degradation threatens food security of a quarter of the world’s population: FAO

Main entry: Land degradation threatens 1.5 billion people

A dried up river filled with sand winds its way across the desert in eastern Chad, June 5, 2008. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Related Links:

• Topsoil

• Failing Ecosystems
• The Root Cause Matrix
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?
• Schwarzenegger Proclaims Water Emergency in Nine Counties
• 2008: Year of the Fire

• Drought Index

• State of the World
• Future Scenarios
• Nuking Earth for Lifestyle

• Giga Trends
• World Problems: The Root Cause Matrix
• Tipping Point
• Drying Aquifers, Sinking Cities

• The Economy
• Energy
• Food Security
• Future in the Making: A Shrinking World