Natural Hazards - Managing Climate Change

Key statistics for answering questions about how to approach and manage climate change.... cool

MITIGATION - Alternative Energy Production

• Burning of fossil fuels contributes 87% of all time CO₂ emissions

• UK aims to produce 15% of its energy from renewables sources by 2020

• Thanet Wind Farm - largest in the world when built in 2010, 300MW a year, heat and light for 200k homes

• Hinkley Point in Somerset - nuclear power for reliable and cheap power

• Wind farms only last 25 years and are expensive, nuclear takes decades to build and UK only makes up 1% of global emissions - is there a point?

MITIGATION - Carbon Capture

• Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel, China gets 80% of its electricity from burning coal, India 70% and the USA 50%

• CCS is used to capture CO₂ produced and transport it into underground injection wells

• This allows for continued use of current cheap and easily accessible fossil fuels while preventing environmental damage (in theory)

• In practice this is incredibly expensive and only small scale, not feasible on a larger scale - and comes with the danger of leakage of CO₂ from wells

MITIGATION - Planting Trees

• Deforestation by burning releases 30-60% of the carbon stores in the trees immediately into the atmosphere

• Trees act as a carbon sink, absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere, and releasing moisture which has a cooling effect as it produces clouds which reflect incoming solar radiation

• Plantation forests can absorb CO₂ at a faster rate than natural forests and can do so for 50 years

• Initiatives such as the Great Green Wall of Africa will plant millions of trees, helping prevent climate change alongside other benefits for local areas

• Eucalyptus trees, often used as they grow fast, use 2x as much water as other trees, making it a drain on water supplies

• It also does nothing to actually stop or prevent emissions (treating symptoms not cause)

MITIGATION - International Agreements

• Climate change is a global issue requiring global solutions

• The Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries in 2015, the first ever legally binding climate deal, designed to keep global temperatures below a 2C increase in temperature (ideally 1.5C) compared to pre-industrial levels

• $100bn a year has been pledged in support to achieve this

• USA no longer co-operating (Trump) - contributes 14% of all global emissions (EU combined is only 9%)

• Targets likely not effective enough, may still rise by 3C even if all targets met

• Controversial in some countries - public discontent over increased energy prices

ADAPTATION - Change in Agricultural Systems

• The greatest change to agriculture will occur in lower latitudes

• Southern Africa’s maize crop could fall by 30%, rice production in South Asia could fall 10%

• To adapt to these changes, farmers will need to plant shade trees to protect seedlings and be educated in water harvesting methods (e.g. stone lines in Burkina Faso)

• This is an example of appropriate technology (cheap + useful + easy to do) which means it is sustainable over time

• Stone lines boosted crop yields 50% after just one year - effective

• However, the problem will only worsen with time (new solutions needed)

ADAPTATION - Managing Water Supplies

• Climate change is causing more severe and frequent floods and droughts in various places

• As such, farmers in Rajasthan (India) are changing their style of water management to create a more stable supply of water

• Farmers can now irrigate their land using the River Wakel, and have built earth dams (‘joheds’) and storage facilities (‘taankas’) for their homes

• This has helped raise groundwater levels by 6 metres and caused a 33% increase in forest cover

• 5 rivers that used to be seasonal (i.e. dry for part of the year) now run all year round, allowing for greater water access

• Again, this does not address any of the main causes of the issue - also very small scale

ADAPTATION - Reducing Risk from Rising Sea Levels

• Average sea levels have risen by 20cm since 1900 and are expected to rise a further 26-82cm by 2100

• This will flood many areas, including important agricultural lands and island nations such as the Maldives

• In the Maldives where the highest point is just 2.4m above sea level, sea walls are being built along the coast alongside the restoration of mangrove forests, which absorb wave energy and prevent erosion very effectively

• A 3m high sea wall has been built around the capital Male with sandbags used elsewhere

• Again, this does nothing to actually stop sea level rise, just minimises damage, sea walls will need replacing at great expense down the line when the sea is even higher…

Key takeaways/ideas

Mitigation is addressing the root cause of what we believe climate change to be caused by, but is often ineffective due to the large scale of these measures and the unwillingness of countries to co-operate. Meanwhile, adaptation is all about responding to the changes and is far more successful on a local scale, as it uses appropriate technology, but lacks a real solution to the problems being faced and may not hold up to worsening issues in future.