Eesc final

Managed land-use systems

Conversation of naturual habitats into human used land

• agriculture

• Forestry

• Mining

• Transportation ex

When most managed land use system conversion happened in Europe India china abs the USA

1950

Precent of earth land surface being used for Agriculture and freshwater aquaculture

32%

% of Habitable land used for urban settlement

1.4%

% of earth forests cover

29%

% of earths surface grasslands cover

29%

Ecosystem services provided by grasslands and forests

• climate regulation

• Control water run off

• Purify water and air

• Habitat

Most of the remaining forests

Tropical and boreal

Forest

Where trees cove more then 10% of the land

Old growth forest (primary forest)

25% of forests

Secondary forests

Have regenerated after significant human or natural disturbance

Amount of carbon biomass found in forests

422 billion metric tons in biomass

Tropical forest biomes

• tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest

• Tropical abs subtropical dry broadleaf forests

• Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests

• Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and shrub lands

amount of plant and animal species contained in tropical rainforests

About half

Hectares of tropical rainforest cut down each Day

30 000 hectares

Amount of carbon annually released due to forest lost and land use changes

1.7 billion metric tons of carbon

Species going extinct due to deforestation

50,000 species per year

% of africas tropical rainforest that have been lost

90%

% of Madagascar rainforest that has been lost

60%

Conversation of rainforest to agriculture accounts for —-% of tropical rainforest loss in Africa

60%

Temperate forests

1. Taiga/boreal forest

2. Temperate coniferous forest

3. Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests

Most have been lost in Europe North America and Asia

Grasslands alterations have causes the exoneration and extinction of what species

Prairie population of grizzly bears

Grassland disturbance each year is ___ times that of tropical forests

3 times

In rangelands natural grazers were replaced with

3 billion livestock animals

American bison

60 million - 750 individuals by 1890 in rangelands and grasslands

___% of wetlands were lost between the years ____

35% lost between 1970-2015

Wetlands and associated species are lost at a rate ___ times higher then forests

3 times

Ducks unlimited estimates:

70% of wetlands have been lost in southern Canada and 95% in urban populated areas

Ramsar convention on wetlands

• 1971

• First treaty signed to protect wetlands in regards to waterfowl

2018 list of protected wetlands

• 2,331 sites and covered over 2.1 million square kilometres

• Now over 2400 sites

___% of land area is protected in a national park

16%

—% of the ocean area of the earth is protected

8%

High seas treaty

• march 4 2023

• Goal: 30% of oceans surface into protected areas by 2030

World conversation union (iucn)

Most protected:

• ecological reserves and wilderness areas

Least protected:

• national forests (Natural reasource management areas)

Largest total protected area on earth

Brazil

Ecosystem restoration

Active recovery of an ecosystem that has been dabbled by humans

Forms of restoration

• re-introduction of species

• Habitat rehabilitation

• Invasive species control

• Removal of human structures

• Green space creation

Millennium ecosystem assessment

Scientific assessment showing the degradation of earths ecosystems and biomes

• 2005

Intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES)

• establish in Panama City on April 21 2012 by 94 governments

Six components:

1. Nature

2. Natures contributions to people

3. Anthropogenic assists

4. Institutions abs governance systems and other indirect drivers of change

5. Direct drivers of change

6. Good quality of life

aerosols

solid particles and liquid droplets suspended in the air

troposhpere

closest atmospheric layer to the surface

• weather

• surface to 11km up

• 80% of total mass of the atmosphere

• max air temp (near earths surface)

Environmental Lapse rate

above the surface air temp drops av rate of 6.5*c per 1000 meters

climate

the general pattern of weather conditions for a region over a long period of time

climate normal

the average climate for at least 30 years

climate change

measurable change in the long-term statistics of climate variables that continues over several decades or longer

latitudes effect on climate

influences solar radiation (insolation) input ‘

• radiation input is highest near the equator and decreased with latitude

intertropical convergence zone

frequent thunderstorms and warm temperatures all year

subtropical high pressure zone

dry and hot all year long

polar front

mid latitude cyclones

polar high (vortex)

very cold winter and cool/cold summers

• pumps very cold air into the middle latitudes

• poles

factors that effect climate

• air masses

• storm formation

• heat exchange

• altitude (mountain ranges)

• earths axis tilt - seasons (changes the intensity of solar radiation)

the historical global mean temperatures have been ___ to ___% warmer then today

8-15% warmer

snowball earth events

ice sheets over most of the earth

• 4 events between 2.5 billion to 5 million years ago

glacial periods broke warmer conditions in the last

5 million years of climatic history

when did glacial periods occur

• 460-430 mil years ago

• 360-260 mil years ago

• 2.6 mil years ago

when did Antarctica begin freezing over

14 million years ago

pleistocene (ice age)

• large glacial sheets covered north america, europe and asia

• 2,600,000 - 14,000 B.P

average temp during the coldest periods of the ice age

7-8*c

• 6-7*c colder then they are today

how many years ago did warming of the earth and glacial retreat begin

about 14,00 years ago

• 12,000 BC

coldest average global temperature today

15*c

Holocene Epoch

the earth experiance’s a few minor climatic fluctuations

• 11,700 years

Climatic optimum

when average global temp reacted ther max during the Holocene

• peak 6500 years ago (4500 BCE)

• 7000-3000 BCE

• 0.3-0.6*C warmer then the 1961-1990 av

Medieval Warm period/ Little climatic Optimum

major period of warmer temperatures 900 - 1200 AD

little ice age

coldest temperatures since the beginning of the holocene ‘

• average annual temperature of the Northern hemisphere was 1.0*c lower then today

• 1550 - 1850 AD

Temp in the last ten years (2014-2023)

ten of the warmest years in this century and possibly since the climatic optimum

temperatures in 2023

• warmest year globally in at last 10,000 years

• average temperature 1.5*c higher then 1850-1900

Baseline temperature

average global annual mean temperature at earths surface between 1850-1900

• used to measure the degree of warming occurring in the 20th and 21st centuries

green house effect

atmospheric gases are able to change the energy balance of the planet by absorbing long wave radiation emitted from earths surface

without greenhouse gases the earths surface would be

-18*C instead of 15*C

rapid atmospheric warming occurred from

1975 to 1988

intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC)

set up in 1988 by the Worlds Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program because of global warming

Purpose

• to give an unbiased and reasoned evaluation of the state of earths climate

United nations Framework Convention

created because of the IPCC’s first report in 1990

Kyoto protocol

• 1997 '

• created because of the IPCC’s second report published in 1995

when was IPCC awarded the Nobel Peace prize

2007

IPCC sixth Assesment reports

contains the systhesis of about 14,00 scientific papers

• publised from 2021-2022

Finds that the earth will reach 1.5*C global warming threshold before 2040

shared socio-ecomic pathway (SSP)

emission model used by the IPPC’s AR6 which is driven by socio-economic assumptions

General circulation models (GCM)

computer model that mathmatically predicts the past or future state of the earths climate

• predicts warmer global climate

GCM prediction under elevated carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide

global warming will be somewhere between 1.0 - 6.5*C by 2090

carbon dioxide doubled (from ____ to ____ what effect will this have

280 ppm to 560 ppm

• results in 66% chance that global warming will be between 2.6 to 3.8*C

western North American Heatwave

• end of june 2021

• over BC, Washington state, and Oregon

• Lytton BC went up to 49.6*C on June 29th (beat altime Canadian max record of 45*C)

deaths caused by Western North American Heatwave

600 deaths from june 25 - july 1

Climate change mitigation

reduces future emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and removal greenhouse gases from the atmosphere

• carbon capture methods

reducing greenhouse gas emissions

way to address human caused climate change

switching to renewable energy sources

• solar, wind

• carbon capture

improving energy use efficiency

using energy efficient appliances and building and sustainable transportation

• way to address human caused climate change

Promoting reforestation and afforestation

• increased number of trees = more carbon absorbed

• way to address human caused climate change

Encouraging Sustainable Agricultural practices

• reducing synthetic fertilizers

• promoting conservation tillage

• way to address human caused climate change

Developing and using new technologies

• carbon capture and storage

• advanced nuclear power

3 levels of society addressing global warming will require

1. individual

2. corporate

3. government

climate adaptation

adjusting human and natural systems to forecasted human caused climate change

air pollution

atmospheric condition where the concentration of substances becomes high enough to cause toxicity to life

• gaseous, liquid or solid

number of indoor pollutants

150

primary pollutants

substances that enter the atmosphere through natural and human made events

Carbon monoxide

colourless odorless gas that is highly toxic

• produced by incomplete combustion of carbon

• primary pollutant

Sulfur oxides

burning of sulfer rich fossil fuels

• most common form: sulfur dioxide

• primary pollutant

Nitrogen oxides

form at high temp when nitrogen and oxygen react

• burning fossil fuesls for transport, power and industrial processes

• common forms: Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide

• primary pollutant

Volatile Organic compounds

organic molecules (hydrocarbons)

• industrial and transport produce em'

• primary pollutant

• Common VOC

  • methane

  • benzene

  • formaldehyde

  • chlorofluorocarbons

Particulate matter

liquid or solid particles that remain suspended in the atmosphere for long periods of time

• smoke, pollen, dust

• urban areas, industrial activity and transport (main sources)

secondary pollutants

made from primary pollutants that have reacted with each other or component of the atmosphere

photochemical smog

when nitrogen oxides and VOC’s react bc of solar radiation

• secondary pollutant

industrial smog

smoke and sulfur dioxide from coal burning combined with moisture in fog

• secondary pollutant