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World Bank Launches Bond Series to Raise Awareness About Water and Ocean Resources

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The World Bank launched the first in a series of bonds designed to raise awareness about the importance of ocean and water resources, the organization announced last Thursday.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The series was announced in conjunction with World Water Week, which took place in Stockholm from August 26 to 31 and gathered experts, business people and decision makers from around the world to discuss solutions to water issues.

“Seventy percent of the planet’s surface is water, yet degraded ocean resources and lack of access to safe water negatively affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Through this bond series we will remind investors and the markets that we must protect our water and marine resources today for the generations of tomorrow,” World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva said when the bond series was announced August 29.

The series intends to raise $3 billion and allow investors to demonstrate their support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This series will focus specifically on goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” and goal 14: “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”

The first bond was priced at one billion Swedish Krona (SEK) and will last seven years.

“We are very pleased to price this SEK-denominated Sustainable Development Bond, so soon after we announced our new initiative. The demand for this bond shows that investors are aware of the critical need to protect water, our most precious resource, and to ensure a sustainable future,” World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Arunma Oteh said in the pricing announcement.

Major European investors in the bond include Swedish investors AP1, SEB Företagsobligationsfond, SPP Storebrand and Swedbank Robur Fonder AB.

“The decision of the World Bank to launch an initiative to raise awareness for the health of oceans and urgent need for clean water through their Sustainable Development Bond issues, is very much welcomed by investors. We see increased interest from our investors to understand risks around water management and the need to protect oceans. Engaging with the World Bank and others around this topic is extremely helpful,” Head of Climate & Sustainable Finance at SEB Christopher Flensborg said in the World Bank announcement.

The World Bank hopes to use the bonds to channel the support of investors towards two goals: sustainable use of water in order to increase access to safe and reliable water sources and sustainable use of ocean resources and marine life.

The new bond series, and World Water Week, come as the UN has reported that the world is off-track to meeting SDG 6, development media outlet Devex reported.

Eighty-percent of countries do not have enough money to meet the SDG targets and the World Water Week consensus was that more private money is essential to help them do so, according to Devex.

Source: Eco Watch

Hydropower Balkans 2018 – Report on Hydropower Development Projects

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

A team of analysts from Vostock Capital has prepared a report on hydropower development projects in the Balkans.

Request the full list of investment projects: http://www.hydropowerbalkans.com/en/request-the-full-list-of-investment-projects/.

Photo: Hydropower Balkans

Among the major investment projects:

Kosinj/Senj development project (Republic of Croatia)

Project envisages reconstruction of the Sklope HPP and the construction of new facilities: the Kosinj reservoir (vol. 330 mil m3), the Kosinj HPP (33.7 MW) and the Senj II HPP (380 MW). Additionally, several tunnels and canals are to be constructed. The compensation basin will be enlarged with a new basin to ensure additional volume of ca 2.1 million m3. The estimated investment is EUR 500 million and the envisaged construction period is 7 years.

Cebren and Galiste HPPs (Republic of Macedonia)

The Macedonian government has decided to set up a working group to provide recommendations on the construction of the Cebren and Galiste HPPs. The project is estimated to cost  EUR 220 million, and the HPPS will have capacity of 333/347MW and 193.5MW, respectively.

Vrilo HPP (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

EPHZHB held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Vrilo pumped-storage hydropower plant on the Šuica sinking river near Tomislavgrad on 16 July 2018. The Vrilo pumped-storage hydropower plant to be built in an investment worth EUR 89.1 million, is designed to have two units with a total installed capacity of 66 MW, with operations planned to begin in 2023.

Request the full list of investment projects: http://www.hydropowerbalkans.com/en/request-the-full-list-of-investment-projects/.

Please note that these and other investment projects will be highlighted at the 2nd International Summit and Exhibition “Hydropower Balkans 2018” (November 6-8, Budva, Montenegro).

If you would like to participate in the summit as a sponsor, exhibitor, speaker or delegate, or if you have any comments, please contact me on the details below.

Japan Killed 50 Whales in Antarctic Protected Area, Data Shows

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Japanese whalers have killed more than 50 minke whales in an Antarctic marine protection area this year, WWF has revealed.

The disclosure comes on the opening day of the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting in Brazil, which Japan is chairing as it seeks to restart commercial whaling. Killing whales for profit was banned in 1986, but nations including Norway and Iceland have granted themselves exemptions.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Japan allows itself to hunt whales under a “scientific” programme which still sees the meat go on sale. The 2018 hunt led to 333 minke whales being killed in the Southern Ocean, including 122 pregnant females.

Now analysis of an IWC scientific committee paper by WWF shows that three Japanese ships killed dozens of minke whales in part of the Ross Sea marine protection area (MPA) in January and February 2018. All fishing is restricted in that section of the MPA in order to protect marine life, including blue, humpback, minke and killer whales, emperor penguins and Weddell seals.

However, the 24-nation body that agreed the MPA – the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources – does not control whaling in the region. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014 that Japan should cancel all existing “scientific whaling” permits in the Southern Ocean but Japan simply issued itself a new permit for the killing of hundreds of Antarctic minke whales each year until 2027.

“Thousands of other species are protected in this part of the Ross Sea, so it is shocking and absurd that minke whales are not,” said Rod Downie, polar chief adviser at WWF. “The banner of so called ‘scientific whaling’ needs to stop once and for all. The IWC and CCAMLR must work together and take immediate action to close these loopholes currently being exploited by Japan to ensure this ocean sanctuary is protected for future generations.”

At the IWC meeting, Japan wants to allow the hunting of whales whose populations are assessed as high and create a “sustainable use” committee. “There couldn’t be a better opportunity,” a Japanese government official said. Japan has previously labelled opposition to its whaling as “eco-imperialism”.

Previous attempts to weaken the existing ban have failed and Japan appears unlikely to succeed in changing the rules. Conservationists have called on other nations to reject the proposals.

“If Japan gets its way, it would be a massive victory for those rogue whalers who have time and again defied the international ban on commercial whaling and an absolute disaster for the world’s whales,” said Clare Perry, at the UK’s Environmental Investigation Agency.

“Japan, Iceland and Norway have collectively killed at least 38,539 great whales since 1986,” she said. “Many whale species have not yet recovered from massive overhunting in the past and are also facing mounting existential threats ranging from climate change to marine pollution by chemical, plastics and noise.”

Source: Guardian

EU Ends Anti-Dumping and Anti-Subsidy Measures on Chinese Solar Imports

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The EU has ended anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures imposed on solar cells and modules from China.

It announced minimum import price (MIP) measures will officially expire at midnight tonight.

In a statement it said after considering the users and producers solar panels, it decided it was in the EU’s best interests to end the regulations.

The MIP originally came into force in December 2013 for a period of three years, which was later extended.

An EU spokesperson said: “The level of the measures has gradually decreased over time to allow the prices of the imports into the EU to align progressively with world market prices.

“The Commission observed that the market situation has not changed to the extent that this would justify a further extension of the measures now beyond the scheduled 18 months. It therefore rejected the EU industry’s request for an expiry review investigation.”

Source: Energy Live News

Project in the Making: “Cadastre of Mining Waste”

Photo: Cadastre of Mining Waste
Photo: Cadastre of Mining Waste

A total of 250 abandoned mining waste sites in the Republic of Serbia were monitored as  part of the project Cadastre of Mining Waste of the Republic of Serbia, carried out by the Ministry of Mining and Energy in co‐operation with the EU Delegation in Serbia and implemented by the German companies Plejades GmbH Independent Experts and DMT in cooperation with local partner Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Bor.

A total of 41 locations are selected for further investigation in the next phase of the project.

Photo: Cadastre of Mining Waste

The data obtained will be presented in the Cadastre of Mining Waste data base, which is to be created in Serbia for the first time. The goal of the project is harmonization with the EU legislation and to develop and improve the mining waste management system in the Republic of Serbia.

In the next phase of the project, the project will investigate and analyse 41 mining waste sites in detail. These sites were selected as to assess their potential serious impact on the environment and human beings. The selected sites are in the following municipalities: Čajetina (4), Nova Varoš (2), Raška (7), Krupanj, Loznica, Prijepolje, Knjaževac, Zaječar (2), Crna Trava, Surdulica, Majdanpek (3), Voždovac, Kučevo, Aleksinac (2), Mali Zvornik, Kragujevac grad, Boljevac, Zaječar, Brus, Ljubovija (3), Žagubica‐Bor i Dimitrovgrad.

Photo: Cadastre of Mining Waste

The amount of waste in the selected sites accounts for 90% of the entire mining waste on all the visited abandoned mining waste sites (250 locations in total). Results from investigation of these 41 locations will be presented in a report containing detailed data for each site ‐ including site description, results from chemical and geotechnical analyses and an assessment of the impact on the environment (in particular, the effects mining waste has on the quality of groundwater and surface water and soil) and possible effects on human health.

Dublin Airport Flies High with Energy Efficient Lighting Savings

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has achieved cost savings of around €80,000 (£71,785) following an energy efficiency upgrade.

It installed 304 LED lights in the multi-storey car parks and 386 in the surface car parks in Terminal One, which can be controlled individually and the level of lighting can be changed to suit the operational need and capacity at a given time.

The airport’s estimated electrical savings since November last year have totalled almost 964,500kWh to date – the equivalent of powering around 1,200 floodlights a year, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

The lighting at the car park accounts for 70% of the airport’s energy usage.

Martin McGonagle, Asset Care Head of Energy, Environment and Utilities at DAA said: “We have received really positive feedback from car park operations on the new system. The new lights give a lovely bright white glow and with the touch of a button, they can dim or enhance the lighting in an area.

“People are becoming more aware of the climate and the environment and it is important for companies to take action where they can to reduce the impact of their operations.”

The airport received funding through the SEAI’s Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) certification programme, which encourages innovation in designing and managing projects.

Source: Energy Live News

UK Public Urged to Use Water Wisely

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The public is being urged to use water wisely as the UK environment “suffered” due to the heatwave between May and July.

The call from the National Drought Group comes after a meeting, chaired by Environment Agency (EA) Chief Executive Sir James Bevan, discussed pressure on water resources and the environment.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The EA said it responded to a 33% increase in significant drought-related incidents as its teams acted to protect wildlife and rescue fish struggling due to low river flows.

It added numerous species, habitats, birds, trees and aquatic life have been affected by the hot, dry summer – the driest since 1921 – and high demand for water.

EA hydrologists recorded “exceptionally low” river flows for five weeks in a row, reservoir stocks for England as a whole were at “historic lows” for the end of July and soils were the driest on record in the North West.

The meeting discussed ways to protect the environment and sustain support for farmers and businesses and water companies were asked to outline progress against agreed action plans to maintain supplies while protecting the environment.

They reported there are no current plans to bring in temporary hosepipe bans although water restrictions remain a possibility if rainfall is low in September.

Mr Bevan said: “Over the last few months of prolonged dry weather, the Environment Agency, the water companies and many others have been working hard together to reduce the risk of water restrictions and balance the needs of the public, businesses and the environment.

“Despite the recent rain, we will need to continue to collaborate closely as we move into autumn. All of us have a role to play in helping to protect the environment and maintain supplies. We encourage everyone to use water wisely.”

Source: Energy Live News

Look Out, Meat Industry – Flexitarianism Is on the Rise

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

With all of the meatless options on the market, it’s not surprising that flexitarianism is on the rise. Unlike vegetarians, who completely exclude meat from their diet, flexitarians simply cut down on how much meat they eat on a weekly basis. This raises an important question: What are the benefits of eating less meat?

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Research has found a correlation between eating less meat and losing weight. Flexitarian diets can also help prevent certain health issues like high blood pressure and diabetes. Given these health benefits, adopting a flexitarian diet can be beneficial, especially if you’re concerned with gaining weight or have a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in your family.

Flexitarianism is also easier to get into than vegetarianism. Cutting meat out of a few meals a week is much more doable than eliminating meat altogether. Although some vegetarians have a negative attitude towards flexitarianism – which they view as cheating – it is on the rise around the world.

In fact, the amount of vegetarian products available in supermarkets has doubled since 2009, and that trend is not slowing down. Last year, the vegetarian industry sold over $3 billion worth of products, an eight percent increase from the previous year.

Not everyone in the United States is convinced, however. While flexitarianism has many health benefits, the majority of people around the country believe meals should include meat in some capacity. People under 50 years of age are also more likely to follow a flexitarian or vegetarian diet, as are individuals who make $30,000 a year or less. People older than 50 and those who earn over $70,000 are not likely to follow a meat-less diet.

Lastly, conservatives are less likely to adopt a meat-free diet or cut down on meat consumption than are liberals. Despite these challenges, flexitarianism is on the rise and we can only hope that that trend continues into the future.

Source: Inhabitat

Facebook Joins 100% Renewable Energy Revolution

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Facebook announced Tuesday it will slash greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent and transition global operations to 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020 in efforts to “help fight climate change.”

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Similarly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend that his company’s enormous Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada will run entirely on Tesla Solar by the end of 2019.

The switch would drastically reduce the electric car maker’s manufacturing-related emissions, CleanTechnica noted.

Facebook, which has more than 30,000 employees and data centers around the world, said Tuesday it has already bought more than 3 gigawatts of new solar and wind energy since its first renewable energy purchase in 2013. The social media giant’s goal of supporting half of its facilities with renewable energy was met a year early in 2017.

As the world becomes increasingly digitized, our smartphones, tablets and other internet-connected devices could produce 3.5 percent of global emissions within 10 years and 14 percent by 2040, Climate Home News reported last year.

A 2015 Greenpeace report found that if the internet were a country, its electricity demand would currently rank sixth. The report underscored the importance of tech companies going green, as they have immense clout to drive a renewable energy revolution.

“CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reaffirmed Facebook’s place among business leaders in the race to be coal-free and 100 percent renewable-powered,” Greenpeace senior corporate campaigner Gary Cook said in a statement.

Cook added, “If we are to stay within the 1.5 degree threshold that scientists say is crucial to avoid catastrophic climate change, we need many more companies stepping up to adopt aggressive renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

Other Silicon Valley titans have made clean energy strides. Google and Apple separately announced in April they have reached 100 percent renewables.

The Gigafactory is part of Musk’s vision to fast-track a cleaner, more sustainable future. It was always designed to be entirely powered by renewable energy sources, with the goal of achieving net zero energy.

The Gigafactory is being built in phases so Tesla and its partners can manufacture products while the building continues to expand. It officially kicked off the mass production of lithium-ion battery cells in January 2017.

The structure already has a footprint of more than 1.9 million square feet and more than 4.9 million square feet of operational space across several floors. It’s currently about 30 percent complete, but once it’s finished it will likely hold the title of world’s largest building by footprint, Tesla says.

In March, Tesla started building a massive rooftop solar array on top of the giant building. Once finished, the 70-megawatt system will be the largest in the world by far; the current record-holder is the comparatively shrimpy 11.5-megawatt array in India that can power 8,000 homes.

Source: Eco Watch

Bees Addicted to Pesticides Much like Smokers to Nicotine, Scientists Say

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Bees have developed a likening to pesticide-containing plants, according to a recent study. The affinity exhibited by the bees is similar to an addiction to nicotine from cigarettes. Apparently, the more pesticide-laced pollen that the bees ingest, the more they crave the tainted alternatives. The contaminated nectar is potentially harmful to bees and unfortunately, researchers are finding higher quantities entering bee colonies than before.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

To reach these conclusions, a British research team conducted a series of studies over 10-day periods, offering 10 different bee colonies access to both pure sugar solutions as well as a compound that contained neonicotinoids, or neonics. Over extensive exposure, the bees increasingly preferred the sugar flavored with pesticides over the natural alternative.

“Interestingly, neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects that are similar to receptors targeted by nicotine in mammals,” explained Richard Gill, researcher in the Department of Life Sciences at London’s Imperial College. “Whilst neonicotinoids are controversial, if the effects of replacements on non-target insects are not understood, then I believe it is sensible that we take advantage of current knowledge and further studies to provide guidance for using neonicotinoids more responsibly, rather than necessarily an outright ban.”

Researchers will continue to experiment with the bees, according to lead scientist Andres Arce, part of the same Imperial College department as Gill. “Many studies on neonicotinoids feed bees exclusively with pesticide-laden food, but in reality, wild bees have a choice of where to feed,” Arce said. “We wanted to know if the bees could detect the pesticides and eventually learn to avoid them by feeding on the uncontaminated food we were offering. We now need to conduct further studies to try and understand the mechanism behind why they acquire this preference.”

The extensive research will have major implications for agriculture practices in the EU as well as North America. The EU already imposed a partial ban on neonics in 2013 after evidence found that they may have an adverse effect to bee colonies. As of today, the ban has been extended to all crops that are not grown in greenhouses. Canada has already moved to ban the pesticide this year, with the U.S. following suit in the near future.

Source: Inhabitat

50% of Industrial Climate Change Emissions Tied to Fossil Fuel Companies

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Rocky Mountain Institute recently released a report titled Decarbonization Pathways for Mines: A Headlamp in the Darkness, in which it was stated that in 2015, half of worldwide industrial greenhouse gas emissions came from 50 companies working in fossil-fuel industries. (This statement was a reference to a previously published report from the Carbon Disclosure Project.) RMI’s new document states many mining companies are among the top greenhouse gas emitters. Thomas Kirk and Jessie Lund from RMI answered some questions about the report for CleanTechnica.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

1. In 2015, according to the report, half of worldwide industrial greenhouse gas emissions could be traced back to just 50 companies working in heavy fossil-fuel industries. How can those companies reduce their carbon emissions?

Companies can reduce their emissions through a couple of steps. First, they need to assess and understand where emissions are occurring in their operations, set up processes to track and measure their progress and then begin implementing changes & new technologies. At the broadest possible level this means operate as efficiently as possible and electrify everything remaining. And of course they should ensure that their electricity is being generated by renewable sources. The tricky part for the carbon majors is that the majority of their emissions are indirect “Scope 3 emissions” that occur downstream from their operations.

2. Why would they be motivated to reduce them?

If there’s one thing these companies understand, it’s risk. And these emissions represent significant risks related to both the transition to a lower-carbon economy and the physical impacts of climate change. Transition risks include policy, legal, technology, and market changes. For example, countries are beginning to pass carbon prices that will dramatically impact these companies. If carbon pricing policies are the “stick,” companies must also be cognizant of “carrot” policies, such as those offering incentives for shifting energy sources to lower-carbon fuels and technologies like solar and wind. Both types of policies may pose a significant threat to companies whose business relies primarily on the extraction of carbon-intensive resources like coal, for which we expect to see a sharp decline in demand. Transition risk can also include reputation risk, as companies face more public scrutiny and pressure as the effects of climate change become more pronounced. Mining companies in particular must satisfy community demands in order to secure the essential “social license to operate.” Mines tend to operate in more remote locations and often need to transport their products long distances, making them especially vulnerable to the physical risks resulting from climate change, such as those driven by more frequent and more severe extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. These risks include both direct damage to assets and indirect impacts from supply chain disruption, both of which have financial implications for companies.

In addition to mitigating the risks mentioned above, companies are also motivated to reduce their emissions by the opportunities that these reductions present. For example, increases in efficiency frequently result in cost savings. With the cost of renewable energy coming down, electrification and renewables development are also often smart financial decisions. Plus, a company that reduces its Scope 3 emissions by divesting its assets from coal (as Rio Tinto recently did) is then able to focus its operations on supplying the minerals necessary for the energy transition (i.e. those used in batteries, solar panels, electric vehicles, etc.), for which we expect the market demand to increase.

3. Do these fossil fuel companies work overtly or behind the scenes to influence public policy in their own favor?

I don’t know of any company or industry that doesn’t lobby for itself, but I won’t speculate on what practices they engage in or their effectiveness without solid evidence or data.

4. Can mining companies be trusted to accurately report their own carbon emissions?

Mining companies often report through CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), which requires verification through an accepted standard.  Beyond this, there simply isn’t an economic incentive for most mining companies to report false emissions data at this point.  In the event of widespread carbon pricing or taxation linked to successfully tracking decarbonization goals there would be an economic incentive, but also a clear pool of money to pay third party auditors.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

5. What technologies could mining companies use to reduce their carbon emissions?

Mining companies have a wide array of technologies they can deploy to reduce carbon emissions. First, they can deploy technologies that make them more efficient and productive such as advanced fragmentation and drilling, asset management using IOT devices, variable-frequency drives, LEDs and new smelting and refining techniques. Next, the mine could seek out opportunities for beneficial electrification. Along with their environmental benefits, electric motors tend to be more emissions-efficient, quieter, emit no particulate matter and require less maintenance than similar diesel-powered machines. Once the mine’s energy loads have been optimized through efficiency and electrification, then the mine should focus on greening their electricity supply through renewable power generation and lower-emissions generation (natural gas before diesel) as necessary.

6. Are some mining companies investing in onsite solar and energy storage in the field so they can reduce their dependence on diesel generators?

Mining companies have been installing solar for several years now to displace costly diesel generation. Energy storage is far less common, but there are several examples and more expected as the price continues to drop. RMI tracks all public renewable power resources at mines here.

7. Have mining companies been historically resistant or slow to adopt carbon-reducing measures?

Mining companies, especially the larger players, have adopted carbon-reduction measures in a timely manner, but they have been resistant to setting targets and goals that are in line with the Paris Agreement. To date, no mining company has a Science Based Target Initiative approved target.

8. Coal appears to be on the ropes due to the decreasing costs of new solar and wind power. Is it only a matter of time before all the current coal power plants are phased out because no new ones will be built?

Currently there is a strong trend of decreasing coal generation, especially in developed nations. Eventually, yes, I expect all current coal power plants to be phased out, but it will likely occur before age forces all the existing coal plants into retirement. First, coal plants will continue to face more stringent regulations and policies regarding their emissions, both CO2 and particulate matter. Complying with these regulatory changes will increase operating costs while alternative generation sources, particularly wind and solar but also natural gas will likely decrease in cost. Once the operating costs of a coal plant are greater than building an entirely new renewable or gas-fired plant, the coal plant should be forced off-line by the PUC on behalf of the rate-payers.

9. Will there be some kind of support or government assistance programs for areas with coal mining for the people who worked in mining companies who won’t be able to continue when their jobs are phased out?

The US government already has various job retraining programs, but I can’t say if there will be specific programs to coal miners either here or globally. For perspective, there around 50,000 coal mining jobs in the US, while there are 3.5 million US truck drivers who could also become unemployed as self-driving technology develops. On the other hand, there are nearly 3.2 million clean energy jobs, including solar, wind, energy efficiency, and clean vehicles, in the US, with job growth expected to rise. In fact, wind technicians and solar installers are predicted to be the two fastest-growing jobs from 2016 to 2026. Solar alone already employs nearby four times the number of coal generation workers. So yes, it would be an extremely good idea for the US and other governments to set aside funding for re-training and assistance programs.

While RMI’s work does not focus on retraining or assistance programs for former coal miners, we do collaborate with fellow nonprofits like the Just Transition Fund who are working to help communities and governments prepare for the inevitable closing of more coal plants and coal mines and ensure that these communities are not left behind in the energy transition, but rather that they are able to build strong, resilient, and diversified new energy economies.

Source: Clean Technica

A Paradise at Risk: Tulum Is an Eco-Destination That Will Soon Face Irreversible Damage

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

What once was a small fishing village, Tulum has quickly become one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Home to miles of pristine beaches, exotic wildlife, and the world’s largest underground river system, people come from far and wide to experience Mexico’s trendy, ecological haven.

However the upcoming documentary, The Dark Side of Tulum, is revealing a hidden truth: the city’s ecosystem is being destroyed.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Filmmaker Rachel Appel and her team say travelers shouldn’t always trust the countless businesses claiming ‘eco’ and ‘environmentally friendly.’ In fact, Quintana Roo, the state in which Tulum is located, creates more waste per capita than any other region in Mexico. On average, Mexican residents produce one kilogram of garbage per day, while in Tulum and its surrounding area, residents produce an average of two-and-a-half to three kilograms everyday.

In 1995 there were just over 3,000 inhabitants, but today Tulum has a local population of around 35,000 and hosts more than two million tourists per year. The city has the highest population growth in all of Mexico, and is only designed to sustain only around 7,000 people.

“Tulum was built fast, and they didn’t know what was coming,” Appel says in an interview with MindBodyGreen. In the rush to keep up and take advantage of the economic boom, hotels began dumping their sewage directly into Tulum’s freshwater aquifer, and most are entirely powered by diesel generators. With nowhere to put all the town’s trash, the jungle just next to the city is now hosting a massive landfill, and is growing larger each day.

In recent years, Tulum has been a hotspot for development, and real estate companies in the city have failed to follow through on promises of sustainable practices. Lack of regulation has caused construction to spiral out of control, and the once sleepy village is quickly becoming a replica of Cancun and Playa Del Carmen — cities just north of Tulum that have both failed to preserve their environment.

The geologic formation of Quintana Roo is made up of limestone rock. This means the ground is extremely permeable, allowing water to filter through the soil and feed the underground river system. This network of rivers is what makes Tulum’s ecosystem so unique. When the ceilings of these waterways collapse due to both mechanical and chemical erosion, they form what we know as ‘cenotes’.

Cenotes have become a major tourist attraction because of their natural beauty, crystalline freshwater, unusual rock formations, and lush vegetation. It is the only source of freshwater in the area, not only making it valuable, but critical for the area’s survival.

As development heavily increases, materials such as concrete cause the limestone’s permeability to decrease, which interrupts the cycle of water. In some areas, the underground river is so shallow that construction causes the ground to collapse, not only polluting the fresh water, but also creating safety hazards.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Tulum will likely keep growing at a fast rate, and Appel and her team have not set out to stop that growth. What they are after is something they believe is completely attainable: sustainable development strategies not just in Tulum, but booming development hotspots all over the world. They want Tulum to be the example of a completely self-sustaining city.

There are solutions that work both for the environment and for the economy, which is something that the creators of The Dark Side of Tulum plan to emphasize in their film. The intention of this documentary is to not only create awareness, but to establish real environmental change, present real solutions, and feature the stakeholders who are making a difference. Tulum can implement more sustainable infrastructure, but not without the careful observation and study of the land, taking into consideration factors such as sunlight, wind, soil and rain.

Appel stresses that Tulum is still savable, but if action is not taken to seriously improve infrastructure as soon as possible, this paradise will be unable to recover. And just like Cancun and Playa del Carmen, the quality of the economy will deteriorate: the high-paying visitors will stop coming, prices will be driven down, and a mass market will open in Tulum, putting volume above quality, and creating another environmental loss.

Source: Clean Technica

Drought Increases CO2 Concentration in the Atmosphere, Say Researchers

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere rises faster during periods of drought as stressed ecosystems absorb less carbon.

That’s according to new research, which found during the driest years such as in 2015, natural ecosystems removed around 30% less carbon from the atmosphere than during a normal year, which led to the concentration of CO2 increasing faster.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Land ecosystems absorb on average 30% of carbon emissions caused by humans but during droughts, plans reduce photosynthesis and capture less CO2 from the air.

The study, led by ETH Zurich and supported by the UK’s University of Exeter and France’s Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, used innovative satellite technology to measure the global sensitivity of ecosystems to water stress – as conventional satellites only see what happens at the surface and cannot measure how much water is available underground.

They found when there is a major drought in a given region, there is less water mass and gravity is consequently slightly weaker over that region.

By measuring this, scientists are able to estimate large-scale changes in water storage to an accuracy of around four centimetres globally.

Professor Stephen Sitch, Climate Change Chair at the University of Exeter said: “This study crucially demonstrates a strong link between changes in terrestrial water and the global carbon cycle. Given we can now monitor changes in the terrestrial water from space, this opens up new and exciting avenues in climate-carbon cycle research.”

Source: Energy Live News

World-Leading Plant Growth Facility Set to Become More Sustainable

Photo: University of Sheffield

One of the most advanced plant growth facilities in the world, which is helping scientists to enhance our understanding of how crops are being affected by climate change and disease, is set to become more sustainable thanks to new funding.

Photo: University of Sheffield

The Sir David Read Controlled Environment Facility in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences enables researchers to grow crops in environments that are similar to the majority of climate conditions found across the globe.

From the tropics to the polar regions, the facility allows scientists to recreate climate conditions from the past, as well as simulate environmental conditions from a world that has been significantly affected by climate change.

The facility is being used by Sheffield scientists as part of crucial research into food security.

As a result of the new funding, scientists from the University are set to modernise the facility and significantly reduce its energy expenditure in order to reduce its carbon footprint.

Awarded by the Salix Energy Efficiency Scheme, the £829,000 funding will be used to replace the existing plant growth lighting with state-of-the-art LED lighting which, as well as requiring much less energy, will also provide a range of research benefits.

The enhanced lighting will give a spectral composition as close as possible to that of natural sunlight and provide the ability to mimic sunrise and sunset conditions.

Timo Blake, Controlled Environment Facilities Manager in the University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, said: “As well as saving a huge amount of energy, this upgrade will give researchers here at Sheffield access to some of the best controlled plant growth facilities in the world.

“Researchers using the facilities will be able to accurately track weather conditions from different parts of the planet, along with the ability to use climate data from historical and modelled weather systems too.”

The Sir David Read Controlled Environment Facility opened in 2004 after the culmination of a £10.4 million investment by the Joint Infrastructure Fund.

This was followed by a more recent infrastructure investment of £3.6 million in 2016-17 as part of the launch of the University’s Plant Production and Protection (P3) translational biology centre, which is working to solve some of the biggest problems in the global food and agriculture industries.

Sheffield’s P3 scientists are developing innovative ways of identifying sustainable and efficient food sources, spanning topics from the genome to the Earth’s atmosphere.

Professor Duncan Cameron, Co-Director of the P3 Plant Production and Protection centre at the University, said: “This significant investment not only enhances our already state of the art facilities, it importantly aligns our research with the University’s developing sustainability strategy, supporting the University’s community in dramatically reducing the environmental impact of our teaching and research.”

He added: “The investment from the Salix fund will allow us to make significant reductions in our carbon footprint, meaning our world-leading research into environmentally sustainable futures will become even more sustainable.”

The University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences is home to one of the biggest communities of whole-organism biologists in the UK. Its research covers animals, plants, humans, microbes, evolution and ecosystems, in habitats ranging from the polar regions to the tropics. This work aims to shed new light on the fundamental processes that drive biological systems and help solve pressing environmental problems.

Source: University of Sheffield

U.S. Military Is World’s Biggest Polluter

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Last week, mainstream media outlets gave minimal attention to the news that the U.S. Naval station in Virginia Beach had spilled an estimated 94,000 gallons of jet fuel into a nearby waterway, less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

While the incident was by no means as catastrophic as some other pipeline spills, it underscores an important yet little-known fact—that the U.S. Department of Defense is both the nation’s and the world’s, largest polluter.

Producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, the U.S. Department of Defense has left its toxic legacy throughout the world in the form of depleted uranium, oil, jet fuel, pesticides, defoliants like Agent Orange and lead, among others.

In 2014, the former head of the Pentagon’s environmental program told Newsweek that her office has to contend with 39,000 contaminated areas spread across 19 million acres just in the U.S. alone.

U.S. military bases, both domestic and foreign, consistently rank among some of the most polluted places in the world, as perchlorate and other components of jet and rocket fuel contaminate sources of drinking water, aquifers and soil. Hundreds of military bases can be found on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of Superfund sites, which qualify for clean-up grants from the government.

Almost 900 of the nearly 1,200 Superfund sites in the U.S. are abandoned military facilities or sites that otherwise support military needs, not counting the military bases themselves.

“Almost every military site in this country is seriously contaminated,” John D. Dingell, a retired Michigan congressman and war veteran, told Newsweek in 2014. Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina is one such base. Lejeune’s contamination became widespread and even deadly after its groundwater was polluted with a sizable amount of carcinogens from 1953 to 1987.

However, it was not until this February that the government allowed those exposed to chemicals at Lejeune to make official compensation claims. Numerous bases abroad have also contaminated local drinking water supplies, most famously the Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa.

In addition, the U.S., which has conducted more nuclear weapons tests than all other nations combined, is also responsible for the massive amount of radiation that continues to contaminate many islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Marshall Islands, where the U.S. dropped more than sixty nuclear weapons between 1946 and 1958, are a particularly notable example. Inhabitants of the Marshall Islands and nearby Guam continue to experience an exceedingly high rate of cancer.

The American Southwest was also the site of numerous nuclear weapons tests that contaminated large swaths of land. Navajo Indian reservations have been polluted by long-abandoned uranium mines where nuclear material was obtained by U.S. military contractors.

One of the most recent testaments to the U.S. military’s horrendous environmental record is Iraq. U.S. military action there has resulted in the desertification of 90 percent of Iraqi territory, crippling the country’s agricultural industry and forcing it to import more than 80 percent of its food. The U.S.’ use of depleted uranium in Iraq during the Gulf War also caused a massive environmental burden for Iraqis. In addition, the U.S. military’s policy of using open-air burn pits to dispose of waste from the 2003 invasion has caused a surge in cancer among U.S. servicemen and Iraqi civilians alike.

While the U.S. military’s past environmental record suggests that its current policies are not sustainable, this has by no means dissuaded the U.S. military from openly planning future contamination of the environment through misguided waste disposal efforts. Last November, the U.S. Navy announced its plan to release 20,000 tons of environmental “stressors,” including heavy metals and explosives, into the coastal waters of the U.S. Pacific Northwest over the course of this year.

The plan, laid out in the Navy’s Northwest Training and Testing Environmental Impact Statement, fails to mention that these “stressors” are described by the EPA as known hazards, many of which are highly toxic at both acute and chronic levels.

The 20,000 tons of “stressors” mentioned in the Environmental Impact Statement do not account for the additional 4.7 to 14 tons of “metals with potential toxicity” that the Navy plans to release annually, from now on, into inland waters along the Puget Sound in Washington state.

In response to concerns about these plans, a Navy spokeswoman said that heavy metals and even depleted uranium are no more dangerous than any other metal, a statement that represents a clear rejection of scientific fact. It seems that the very U.S. military operations meant to “keep Americans safe” come at a higher cost than most people realize—a cost that will be felt for generations to come both within the U.S. and abroad.

Source: Eco Watch

Fish Populations Could Rise in Warming Climate with Better Management

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Better management of fisheries and fishing rights around the world could increase profits and leave more fish in the sea as long as measures to meet climate obligations are taken, new research has found.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Even if temperatures rise by as much as 4C above pre-industrial levels – in the upper range of current forecasts – the damaging effects on fishing can be reduced through improving how stocks are fished and managed.

Governments are meeting from 4 September in New York for the first round of talks on a new global treaty of the high seas, which would aim to conserve overfished stocks and make access to key fisheries more equitable. Any agreement is likely to take several years to negotiateand longer to come into force, but scientists say there is no time to be lost, given the magnitude of the threat to the world’s marine ecosystems.

Climate change is already causing the movement of some species as their traditional habitats grow warmer, and overfishing is wreaking heavy damage on stocks. However, by adapting fisheries management to a warming climate, and instituting better systems such as monitoring of fleets, the global catch can be increased despite these factors, according to the paper published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

“This is a positive message amid the doom and gloom,” said Kristin Kleisner, one of the authors of the study and a senior scientist at the US Environmental Defense Fund. “We can control how we manage our fisheries. We will have severe effects [from climate change] but this shows what we can do as humans to control that.”

If temperatures were to hit 4C above pre-industrial levels, but good management was put in place, there could still be an increase of 17% of the amount of fish in oceans, compared with a decline of 5% of fish biomass if current practices continue and the world warmed by only 1C.

She noted that new technologies, such as monitoring of fishing vessels from satellites and through the internet, could make a big difference in enabling closer management. These techniques can also make fisheries management more responsive to the changing dynamics of ocean ecosystems, so that fishing can be redirected if stocks appear to be declining, for instance.

Under 2C of warming, improved management could yield even better returns, resulting in a 16% increase in the catch, amounting to 25bn servings of seafood a year, and nearly a third more fish in the sea than there are today. The finding is crucial because more than 1 billion people globally rely on fish, particularly key species such as tuna and mackerel, as their main source of protein.

Governments agreed in 2015 to take action to limit warming to no more than 2C, regarded as the threshold of safety beyond which the effects of climate change are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

Kleisner said the results of the study showed that governments should take prompt action to bring in modern fisheries management.

Global Fishing Watch, an international NGO, has used technological improvements to open up vast amounts of new data on fishing around the world. These include data made public earlier this year on tens of thousands of global vessels, which would have been impossible even five years ago.

Sarah Bladen, of Global Fishing Watch, said even newer techniques were being brought to bear, with results that could be “game-changing” for fisheries management and preventing illegal fishing. “Technological innovation is putting us within reach of a ‘real-time’ digital ocean. The open ocean has long been characterised as the wild west: lawless, remote and plagued by a paucity of data. However, our ability to directly detect and track fishing vessel activity globally is undergoing an extraordinary transformation.”

She called on the fishing industry to take note: “This really is, or needs to be, a wake-up call: the era of ‘secret’ fishing spots is over. To maintain the social licence to operate, fishing industries worldwide need to step up and accept, indeed embrace, levels of transparency in fishing activities that were unimaginable a decade ago.”

Prof Alex Rogers of Oxford University told the Guardian that international action and a global treaty must be brought in as soon as possible, before the current damage turns into a catastrophe. “The situation is very urgent. We need to bring our activities at sea to a sustainable level,” he said. “The status quo cannot be allowed to continue, if we want to preserve ocean health and have fish for tomorrow.”

The threats to ocean life include not only climate change, acidification and overfishing, but the pollution, including plastics and agricultural chemicals that we pour into the sea, and our industrial exploitation of the seabed, for instance for oil and gas exploration and mining. These activities have been enabled by new technology, which is not taken into account in current sea governance, which dates back to the 16th century, according to Rogers.

The governance of the high seas, which cover most of the oceans beyond national jurisdictions, had failed to keep up with this pace of change, he added: “These new activities can ramp up very quickly, and do tremendous damage in a very short time.”

Source: Guardian