🌊 Biodiversity cemetery
The intense heat waves that have hit Europe in recent weeks have caused the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea to increase by up to 5°C above the summer average.
ADVERTISING
What can be an attraction for tourists – who delight in swimming in waters of around 30°C – is a nightmare for marine species that cannot migrate to colder temperatures.
The Mediterranean is a closed sea – corresponding to less than 1% of the planet's oceans – but it is home to around 7,5% of the world's marine fauna and only has contact with the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar, which facilitates its process. of heating.
In an interview with RFI, Joaquim Garrabou – researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Marine Sciences – declared that “What has been happening beneath the waves of the Mediterranean is not yet known, or little known, but very serious phenomena are occurring. We are witnessing processes that I thought we wouldn’t see, processes of local species extinctions.”system. (RFI)
ADVERTISING
Garrabou is one of the authors of the study, published in July in the magazine Global Change Biology (🇬🇧), where he states that – due to its physical characteristics – the Mediterranean Sea is one of the most vulnerable points to the effects of climate change, and whose climatic conditions have exceeded the limits stipulated in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Curto curation:
- Climate change in the Mediterranean (UN News*)
- The Mediterranean is becoming the fastest warming sea with irreversible changes to marine and human life (WWF*)
⚖️ Climate crisis on trial
A group of young Portuguese people will have their case – promoted against 32 European countries, in which the ineffectiveness of their climate policies is discussed – heard before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)system. (The Guardian*)
After a 5-year wait, young people will maintain that the forest fires that have occurred in Portugal every year since 2017 are a direct result of global warming.
ADVERTISING
The plaintiffs allege a health risk from these fires and say they have suffered sleep disturbances, allergies and respiratory problems, which are worsened by the hot weather.
Furthermore, they argue that climate change has been causing very strong storms in winter, which is putting their home – located near the sea in Lisbon – at risk.
Their case joins other climate litigation expected to be heard before the ECtHR in the coming months, and if successful, governments would be legally obliged, among other measures, to increase their emissions cuts.
ADVERTISING
🌳 The impact of global warming on the forests of the Americas
A series of studies – which looked at the health of trees in North and South America – demonstrated that the global warming, combined with changes in soils, winds and available nutrients, is rapidly changing the composition of forests, making them much less resilient and prone to disease.
Roman Dial, a biologist at Alaska Pacific University, explained that many forested areas are now becoming more susceptible to wildfires, causing the release of more greenhouse gasessystem. (The Guardian*)
“It’s as if humans lit a match and now we’re seeing the result of that,” Dial said.
ADVERTISING
Among the changes noticed by Roman Dial and other researchers is a patch of white spruce trees in northern Alaska — an area that hasn't had such trees for millennia.
Em article published in the magazine Nature, scientists estimate that spruce trees are advancing from northwest Alaska into northern Alaska at a rate of about 4 miles per decade, aided by warming temperatures and influenced by decreasing sea ice in the region.
The impact of the climate crisis is also felt in the Amazon. Other research has found that a lack of phosphorus in forest soils could have “important implications” regarding their adaptability to global warming.system. (Nature*)
🌱 Deforestation within indigenous lands
The Amazon Institute of Man and Environment (Imazon) released a study that mapped deforestation within indigenous lands.
Of the 10 indigenous lands listed as most under pressure from deforestation, 5 are located in the state of Pará.
The survey shows that the Apyterewa indigenous land, in Pará, was the most pressured by deforestation in the second quarter of this year, between April and June.
Located in the municipality of São Félix do Xingu and home to the Parakanã people, Apyterewa had already been the most deforested indigenous land in the Amazon in 2021. This year, new invasions by land grabbers were recorded in the area. According to the Federal Police, the invaders had even left cattle herds on indigenous landsystem. (imazon)
“In the month of June alone, the Apyterewa TI accounted for 52% of all deforestation that occurred in indigenous lands in the Amazon. It was 14 km², which corresponds to 1.400 football fields”, explained Larissa Amorim, researcher at Imazon.
Call of “Threat and Pressure of Deforestation in Protected Areas”, the research is published quarterly by the institute.
Regarding the topic, the government of Pará declared that the inspection of indigenous lands is the responsibility of the federal government. The Ministry of the Environment, in turn, stated that deforestation in indigenous lands fell by 26,8% between 2019 and 2021 and that the budget for inspection in these territories increased by another 150% in the last three yearssystem. (G1)
Curto Verde is a daily summary of what you need to know about the environment, sustainability and other topics linked to our survival and that of the planet.
Featured photo: Reproduction/Pixabay
(🚥): may require registration and/or signature
(🇬🇧): content in English
(*): content in other languages is translated by Google Tradutor
