Category Archives: protection

Dealing with climate refugia

October 20, 2022adaptation, environment, mitigation, protectionKarl Donert

A ‘climate refugia’ is an area that might act as a refuge for biodiversity in case of climate change; a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ is an area with a higher than average level of biodiversity. The latter term is sometimes used for areas that host particular concentrations of rare or endemic species (without necessarily being specific in terms of total number of species).

Climate refugia are areas that remain relatively buffered from the effects of climate change over time, enabling them to play a vital role in safeguarding biodiversity. New research by Doxia et al. (2022) has identified sites that may serve as climate refugia in Mediterranean Europe over the next 50 years.

Why are climate refugia important?

In times of dramatic ecological upheaval, like that caused by climate change, identifying and protecting climate change refugia — areas relatively buffered from climate change over time — can help protect species from the negative effects of climate change in the short-term as well as provide longer-term protection for biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Climate refugia, represents an area that increases chances of adaption and conservation in a changing climate. The key attribute of refugia is their relative persistence, despite changes in the climate in the surrounding landscape. Most refugia are located outside existing national protected areas, highlighting substantial protection gaps relevant to conservation planning.

Reference: Doxa, A., Kamarianakis, Y. and Mazaris, A. D. (2022) Spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability characterize future climatic refugia in Mediterranean Europe. Global Change Biology: 1–12.

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Visualising The Earth’s Ice Loss

September 29, 2022environment, protection, teachingKarl Donert

Visualising Earth’s Global Ice Loss Between 1994-2017

Visualising the amount of ice that is being lost from the Earth is very difficult to consider. Especially when it is estimated that nearly 70% of the Earth’s freshwater is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, ground ice, and permafrost. This ice is melting at an unprecedented rate.

This news item looks at different forms of visualisation to help improve our understanding of the significance of these changes.

Based on data from a new scientific survey (slater et al., 2021), this visualisation shows that 28 trillion tonnes of Earth’s ice has been lost between 1994 and 2017.

Over half (58%) of the ice loss occurred in the Northern Hemisphere, from Arctic sea ice and also grounded ice previously trapped in the Greenland ice sheet.

While rising temperatures lies behind most of this historical global ice loss, it’s worth being aware that lower levels of ice results in a positive feedback loop. Less ice means less of the sun’s heat is reflected away from the Earth, instead being absorbed back and further amplifying the global warming effect.

How does a glacier melt?

Change in the Arctic (European Space Agency

Global Ice Loss Visualised Over Paris -a visualisation of one year’s global ice loss

Reference: Slater, T., Lawrence, I.R., Otosaka, I.N., Shepherd, A., Gourmelen, N., Jakob, L., Tepes, P., Gilbert, L. and Nienow, P., 2021. Earth’s ice imbalance. The Cryosphere, 15(1), 233-246. https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/233/2021/

Heading towards a UN Plastics Treaty?

March 5, 2022environment, protectionKarl Donert

Following on from the international climate change agreement, United Nations member states have agreed to start international negotiations on drawing up a global plastics treaty that could set rules for production, use and disposal of plastics. The decision was made at a meeting of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi. Representatives from 175 countries endorsed an historic resolution to forge a legally binding agreement by 2024 to “end plastic pollution

This is the first steps towards the approval of a plan to create the world’s first global plastic pollution treaty in Nairobi. The member states have held talks to agree on the outline of a pact about the soaring plastic pollution, one of today’s greatest environmental crisis widespread all around the globe.

World leaders have until 2024 to agree the plastic pollution treaty, including which elements will be legally binding and how the deal will be financed.

Environmental groups are calling for clear and strong global standards that incentivise nations to stick to common rules and regulations over plastics, while penalising harmful products and practices.

The partners of the Teaching the Future project, as agents preoccupied with the environmental repercussions of today’s behaviour towards our planet, want to show our support and enthusiasm on this important achievement. All efforts on the promotion of a more sustainable design on plastic packaging would imply a change in the creation and consumption of any product.

Inger Anderson (Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme) stated, “this is a historic moment” that we must celebrate and emphasise.

Find out more about the new global treaty