2023 was a landmark year for global heat, shattering previous records and highlighting the accelerating pace of global warming and climate change. The trend is deeply entrenched and getting worse each year. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred in the past decade.

Earth’s average temperature in 2023 was 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, making it the warmest year since official records were started in 1850.

• Both land and ocean temperatures reached record highs in 2023;
• For the first time ever, global average land temperatures exceeded 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels;
• Global ocean temperatures also exceeded 1°C above pre-industrial levels;
• Several months, including December, set record highs for global surface temperature; and
• Antarctic sea ice hit record low levels in 2023, with eight monthly records for low sea ice.

July 2023 wasn’t just a warm month, it was the hottest month ever recorded in human history, according to multiple agencies including NASA, NOAA, and the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Here are some key facts about July 2023:

• Globally, the average temperature was 2.77°F above the pre-industrial average;
• Land temperatures exceeded 3.6°F above pre-industrial levels for the first time ever; and
• Ocean temperatures also hit record highs.

These records are a stark reminder of the urgency of addressing climate change. Anthropogenic emissions – attributable to human action – are ultimately the main driver of this temperature rise. The consequences are clear and they are tragic. The era of global warming is becoming the era of global boiling. The air is not breathable. The heat is unbearable.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there is a one-in-three chance that 2024 will be warmer than 2023, and a 99 percent chance that 2024 will rank among the top five warmest years. Britain’s Meteorological Office warned that this year’s average global temperature could eclipse the critical climate warming benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

The ongoing El Niño is currently in its second year, which typically amplifies global temperatures. Its persistence into spring/summer could significantly impact 2024. Of course, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, which is driving long-term temperature increases, extreme weather and rising sea levels. The impact on food, water, public health, biodiversity and beyond are unfolding and accelerating. While these predictions highlight the potential dangers of a warming planet, it’s crucial to stay informed and engage in actions to mitigate climate change.
 
We need ambitious new national emissions reduction targets from G20 members. We must accelerate a just and equitable transition from fossil fuels to renewables. We must reach net zero electricity by 2035 in developed countries and 2040 elsewhere, while expanding electricity to everyone on earth (which will curb deforestation).

Extreme weather is becoming the new normal. All countries must respond and protect their people from the searing heat, fatal floods, storms, droughts, and raging fires that result.

Countries on the frontlines need help now. We need adaptation investments to save millions of lives from the climate carnage.
 
Promises made on international climate finance must be kept. Developed countries must honor their commitments to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries for climate support and fully replenish the Green Climate Fund.
 
Only two G7 countries – Canada and Germany – have made until now replenishment pledges. More broadly, many banks, investors and other financial actors continue to reward polluters and others who are harming the planet.

Financial institutions must end their fossil fuel lending, underwriting and investments and shift to renewables instead. No more green washing and no more hiding behind antitrust laws to sabotage net zero alliances.
 
We need a course correction in the global financial system to accelerate climate action. We must put a price on carbon and push the multilateral development banks to overhaul their business models to assess climate risk.
 
Multilateral development banks must leverage their funds to mobilize much more private finance at reasonable cost to developing countries — and scaling up their funding to renewables, reforestation, adaptation and loss and damage.

Humanity has unleashed destruction—much of which is irreversible. Children now face seven times as many heat waves, three times as many crop failures and twice as many wildfires as previous generations.

Save the Children forecasts that children in low-income countries and those impacted by poverty will suffer “first and worst,” said Jack Wakefield, the charity’s global policy and advocacy lead on climate change. “We must see urgent action on all fronts to rapidly phase out the use and subsidy of fossil fuels and limit global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – as well as placing children’s rights, voices and needs at the heart of climate finance and loss and damage funding arrangements.”

For More information:

NOAA: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global

NASA: https://climate.nasa.gov/: https://climate.nasa.gov/

Copernicus Climate Change Service: https://climate.copernicus.eu/: https://climate.copernicus.eu/

World Meteorological Organization: https://wmo.int/: https://wmo.int/

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

The post Heat Records Shattered appeared first on Greener Cities.

July 2023 was the hottest month on record globally. It will likely become the new normal and one that will not retreat for centuries—if ever.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The average global temperature for July 2023 was 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average–the warmest July on record since records began in 1880.

The global average temperature for July 2023 is confirmed to be the highest on record for any month. The month was 0.72°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for July, and 0.33°C warmer than the previous warmest month, July 2019. The month is estimated to have been around 1.5°C warmer than the average for 1850-1900.

The heat wave in July 2023 was particularly severe in the Arctic, where temperatures were up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above average. This led to widespread melting of sea ice and permafrost, and contributed to the record-breaking heat wave in Siberia. Similar patterns are expanding around the globe, which contributed to the massive wildfires across Canada and the recent wildfire that consumed much of Lahaina on Maui.

The heat wave in July 2023 was also felt in the United States, where many states experienced record-breaking temperatures. In California, the temperature in Death Valley reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States.

The record-breaking heat in July 2023 is a sign of the increasing severity of climate change. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we can expect to see more extreme heat waves in the future. We will see more mass migration and more insecurity around food and water.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2022 was the hottest year on record globally, with the 10 warmest years on record occurring since 2010. The five warmest months on record also occurred in 2022, including January, February, March, May, and June.

The WMO attributed the record-breaking temperatures to human-caused climate change. The report stated that greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere continued to rise in 2022, reaching a new record high. This is causing the planet to warm, leading to more extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires.

Arizona, Florida, Maine and New Mexico all recorded their hottest July on record last month, while Louisiana recorded its second-hottest. 

Scorching heat was also common in Arizona, where the average maximum temperature reached 101.4 F, and the city of Phoenix recorded an average temperature of 102.8 F in July – the hottest month on record for any U.S. city. The hottest day was 6 July, when the global average temperature reached 17.08°C

Contributing to the July heat wave around the globe is unusually high sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Since April, the global average daily SST has remained at record levels.

“The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,” said World Meteorological Organization’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. “The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must.”

The record-breaking temperatures last summer had a devastating impact on people and ecosystems around the world. The heat wave in America’s Pacific Northwest killed hundreds of people and caused widespread power outages. In Europe, a heat wave and drought led to wildfires that destroyed forests and homes. Nearly 20,000 people – primarily tourists – were forced to flee hotels on Rhodes, the island worst affected by the fires, in a single day. The operation was described as the biggest evacuation ever carried out in Greece. A state of emergency was declared in some areas of the popular tourist destination earlier this week.

The WMO warned that the planet is on track to warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the mid-century, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at the current rate. This would have catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people.

The WMO called on governments to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. The report stated that “we are at a crossroads. The decisions we make now will determine the future of our planet.”

Fossil fuels are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over 75% of global emissions. When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat, causing the planet to warm.

The burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, has concluded that it is extremely likely that human activities caused more than half of the observed increase in global mean surface temperature from 1951 to 2010.

The effects of climate change are already being felt around the world. We are seeing more extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires. Sea levels are rising, and glaciers are melting. These changes are having a devastating impact on people and ecosystems around the world.

We need to take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. This means transitioning away from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, such as solar and wind power. It also means investing in energy efficiency and conservation measures. We need to act now to protect our planet for future generations. The future of our planet depends on it.

Effects of fossil fuels on climate change

Global warming: The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat, causing the planet to warm. This is leading to more extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires.

Sea level rise: As the planet warms, the ice caps and glaciers are melting. This is causing sea levels to rise. This is threatening coastal communities around the world.

Ocean acidification: The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, making it more acidic. This is harming marine life and disrupting the marine food chain.

Air pollution: The burning of fossil fuels releases pollutants into the air, such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. These pollutants can cause respiratory problems, heart disease, and cancer.

Climate change refugees: As the effects of climate change become more severe, people will be forced to flee their homes. This is creating a new crisis of climate change refugees.

We need to take urgent action to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and transition to clean energy sources. We also need to invest in adaptation measures to help communities cope with the effects of climate change.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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By John Podesta, Founder and Director, The Center For American Progress

In 2018, the World Bank estimated that three regions (Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia) will generate 143 million more climate migrants by 2050. In 2017, 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced, more than at any point in human history.

While it is difficult to estimate, approximately one-third of these (22.5 million to 24 million people) were forced to move by “sudden onset” weather events—flooding, forest fires after droughts, and intensified storms. While the remaining two-thirds of displacements are the results of other humanitarian crises, it is becoming obvious that climate change is contributing to so-called slow onset events such as desertification, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, air pollution, rain pattern shifts and loss of biodiversity. This deterioration will exacerbate many humanitarian crises and may lead to more people being on the move.

Multilateral institutions, development agencies, and international law must do far more to thoroughly examine the challenges of climate change (early efforts, like the World Bank’s 2010 World Development Report on climate change, had little uptake at a time when few thought a climate crisis was around the corner).

Moreover, neither a multilateral strategy nor a legal framework exist to account for climate change as a driver of migration. Whether in terms of limited access to clean water, food scarcity, agricultural degradation, or violent conflict, climate change will intensify these challenges and be a significant push factor in human migration patterns.

There are instances of climate change as the sole factor in migration, climate change is widely recognized as a contributing and exacerbating factor in migration and in conflict.

In South Asia, increasing temperatures, sea level rise, more frequent cyclones, flooding of river systems fed by melting glaciers, and other extreme weather events are exacerbating current internal and international migration patterns. Additionally, rapid economic growth and urbanization are accelerating and magnifying the impact and drivers of climate change—the demand for energy is expected to grow 66 percent by 2040.

Compounding this, many of the expanding urban areas are located in low-lying coastal areas, already threatened by sea level rise. The confluence of these factors leads the World Bank to predict that the collective South Asian economy (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) will lose 1.8 percent of its annual GDP due to climate change by 2050. The New York Times reports that the living conditions of 800 million people could seriously diminish. Diminishing living conditions on this scale and intensity will prompt mass migration—possibly at an unprecedented level.

Northwest Africa is facing rising sea levels, drought, and desertification. These conditions will only add to the already substantial number of seasonal migrants and put added strain on the country of origin, as well as on destination countries and the routes migrants travel. The destabilizing effects of climate change should be of great concern to all those who seek security and stability in the region.

Climate and security experts often cite the impacts of the extreme drought in Syria that preceded the 2011 civil war. The security community also highlights the connection between climate change and terrorism—for instance, the decline of agricultural and pastoral livelihoods has been linked to the effectiveness of financial recruiting strategies by al-Qaida.

The intersection of climate change and migration requires new, nimble, and comprehensive solutions to the multidimensional challenges it creates. Accordingly, the signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change requested that the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change (WIM) develop recommendations for addressing people displaced by climate change. 

Similarly, The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (adopted by 164 countries—not including the U.S.—in Marrakech in December 2018) called on countries to make plans to prevent the need for climate-caused relocation and support those forced to relocate. However, these agreements are neither legally binding nor sufficiently developed to support climate migrants—particularly migrants from South Asia, Central America, Northwest Africa, and the Horn of Africa.

As gradually worsening climate patterns and, even more so, severe weather events, prompt an increase in human mobility, people who choose to move will do so with little legal protection. The current system of international law is not equipped to protect climate migrants, as there are no legally binding agreements obliging countries to support climate migrants.

As gradually worsening climate patterns and, even more so, severe weather events, prompt an increase in human mobility, people who choose to move will do so with little legal protection. The current system of international law is not equipped to protect climate migrants, as there are no legally binding agreements obliging countries to support climate migrants.

While climate migrants who flee unbearable conditions resemble refugees, the legal protections afforded to refugees do not extend to them. In the aftermath of World War II, the United Nations established a system to protect civilians who had been forced from their home countries by political violence. Today, there are almost 20.4 million officially designated refugees under the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)—however, there is an additional group of 21.5 million people who flee their homes as a result of sudden onset weather hazards every year.

The UNHCR has thus far refused to grant these people refugee status, instead designating them as “environmental migrants,” in large part because it lacks the resources to address their needs. But with no organized effort to supervise the migrant population, these desperate individuals go where they can, not necessarily where they should. As their numbers grow, it will become increasingly difficult for the international community to ignore this challenge.

As severe climate change displaces more people, the international community may be forced to either redefine “refugees” to include climate migrants or create a new legal category and accompanying institutional framework to protect climate migrants. However, opening that debate in the current political context would be fraught with difficulty. Currently, the nationalist, anti-immigrant, and xenophobic atmosphere in Europe and the U.S. would most likely lead to limiting refugee protections rather than expanding them.

While there are no legally binding international regimes that protect climate migrants, there are voluntary compacts that could be used to support them. Most notably, 193 countries adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which address both migration and climate change.

Several of the 169 targets established by the SDGs lay out general goals that could be used to protect climate migrants. 

The scale and scope of climate change demand dynamic and comprehensive solutions. The U.S. must address climate stress on vulnerable populations specifically, rather than funneling more money into existing programs that operate on the periphery of the growing crisis.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

The post Droughts, Fires, Floods Destroying Communities appeared first on Greener Cities.

Nearly one third of the hazardous chemical facilities in the United States are at risk from climate-driven floods, storms and wildfires, according to a new analysis by the Government Accountability Office.

The federal watchdog reports that more than 11,000 facilities across the nation, including factories, refineries, water treatment plants, have extremely hazardous chemicals in amounts that could harm people, property, or the environment if accidentally released. They found that more than 3,200 of them are located in places where they face damage from sea level rise, hurricane storm surge, wildfires or flooding from heavy rain.

Such events can and have released chemicals into surrounding communities. Climate change may make some natural hazards more frequent or intense, according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment.

Climate-driven storms have damaged numerous chemical plants, refineries and water treatment plants in recent years.

The most extreme examples have unfolded during hurricanes. In 2021, Hurricane Ida caused leaks and power outages at facilities from Louisiana to New Jersey. In 2020, Hurricane Laura forced tens of thousands of people near Lake Charles, La., to shelter in place after a local chemical plant was damaged and began leaking dangerous chlorine gas. And, in 2017, flooding from Hurricane Harvey caused massive sewage leaks from water treatment plants, and caused at least one chemical plant to catch fire and burn for days.

Flooding is by far the most widespread hazard, the report finds. Of the 3,219 facilities located in harm’s way, more than 2,400 of them are at high risk for flooding, according to flood maps produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And in some places the risk may be even higher than those maps suggest, because FEMA does not take into account long-term sea level rise or other types of climate-driven flooding.

Insufficient or out-of-date information about weather risks makes it more difficult for companies to prepare their facilities for the effects of climate change.

The facilities analyzed in the new report are located in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. They are concentrated in the industrial core of the country. Nearly 40 percent of facilities are located in the Midwest or Great Lakes regions, and about 30% are located in the 14 southern states between North Carolina and New Mexico.

Due to socio-economics and public policies, socially vulnerable people, including poor people, Indigenous people and Black people, are more likely to live near facilities that use hazardous chemicals. When floods release chemicals into the air, or a hurricane causes a fire to break out, the people living nearby are most likely to suffer from pollution exposure while they are also trying to cope with damage to their own homes.

“It’s a terrible nexus of burden and vulnerability,” says Ana Baptista, an environmental policy professor at the New School. “You have communities that are facing a whole host of burdens in terms of pollution exposure, and they may also have less means to evacuate in an emergency.”

The report suggests multiple ways that the EPA can protect people by requiring the companies that own these facilities to prepare for climate-driven weather.

Read The Full Story About Cities and Climate Change

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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After extending the COP26 climate negotiations an extra day, world leaders still fell short of a meaningful plan to save the world from global warming and climate change. Instead, most large nations are still hung up on the economics and politics of the apocalypse.

Nearly 200 countries met in Glasgow, Scotland last week. After nonstop smoke and mirrors, they adopted an outcome document that ignores global dynamics. According to the UN Secretary-General, the new pledge “reflects the interests, the contradictions, and the state of political will in the world today.” It was, in the end, an agreement of compromise. Crisis capitalism is gaining speed.

While the Glasgow Climate Pact firms up the global commitment to accelerate action on climate this decade, it left many wondering if this deal is enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels.

The Glasgow Climate Pact, calls on 197 countries to report their progress towards more climate ambition next year, at COP27, set to take place in Egypt.

COP26 President Alok Sharma struggled to hold back tears following the announcement of a last-minute change to the pact, by China and India, softening language about “the phase-out of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.” That language was revised to include a “phase down” of coal use, not an abolishment.

By other terms of the wide-ranging set of decisions, resolutions and statements that make up the outcome of COP26, governments were among other things, asked to provide tighter deadlines for updating their plans to reduce emissions. The agreement also emphasizes the need to mobilize climate finance to reach the level needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“It is an important step but is not enough,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread. We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe. It is time to go into emergency mode — or our chance of reaching net-zero will itself be zero.”

The UN chief said that it is time to end fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal, putting a price on carbon, protecting vulnerable communities, and delivering the $100 billion climate finance commitment.

“We did not achieve these goals at this conference. But we have some building blocks for progress,” he said. Mr. Guterres also had a message to young people, indigenous communities, women leaders, and all those leading the charge on climate action.

“I know you are disappointed. But the path of progress is not always a straight line. Sometimes there are detours. Sometimes there are ditches. But I know we can get there. We are in the fight of our lives, and this fight must be won. Never give up. Never retreat. Keep pushing forward”.

There is also fear, particularly from indigenous communities and civil society, that the agreement is too little and too late.

“We are drowning in promises,” said Vanessa Nakate, a climate activist from Uganda said. “Only immediate and drastic action will pull us back from the abyss.”

Despite these concerns, some progress was made at COP26. A roadmap for updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) was produced – which the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) analysis shows fall short to meet the 1.5°C targets.

With new pledges from world governments, UNEP published an addendum to its 2021 Emissions Gap Report, demonstrating that new commitments are still not strong enough.

Coal was discussed. The term was used in a COP text for the first time. Unfortunately, the context is for a phase down instead of a phase out. Apparently some governments agreed to phase out subsidies for inefficient fossil fuels. These subsidies are blocking free-market solutions to alternative energy.

Beyond the political negotiations, the conference also brought together about 50,000 online and in-person participants to share innovative ideas and solutions and build partnerships. COP26 achievements include:

• Delivering climate-friendly cooling;
• Reducing methane emissions;
• Calling for more ambition;
• Boosting nature-based solutions;
• Universities pledge to net-zero; and
• Ending deforestation, protecting peatland ecosystems.

The United States and China pledged to boost climate cooperation over the next decade. In a joint declaration they said they had agreed to take steps on a range of issues, including methane emissions and a transition to clean energy. They also reiterated their commitment to keep the 1.5C goal alive.

More than 100 national governments, cities, states and major car companies signed the Glasgow Declaration on Zero-Emission Cars and Vans to end the sale of internal combustion engines by 2035 in leading markets, and by 2040 worldwide. At least 13 nations agreed to end the sale of fossil fuel powered heavy duty vehicles by 2040.

Meanwhile, 11 countries formed the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Ireland, France, Denmark, and Costa Rica among others, as well as some subnational governments, launched this new alliance to end national oil and gas exploration and extraction.

In 1992, the UN developed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this pledge, nations agreed to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to protect earth’s climate system. Since 1994, the UN has brought together nations for the Conference of the Parties (COP) to discuss goals and strategies. This year should have been the 27th annual summit, but the COVID pandemic postponed the conference. The goal is to minimize global warming and climate change.

Today, the treaty has 197 signatories. COP27 will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, November 7-18, 2022.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

The post COP26 Demands Forest Conservation appeared first on Greener Cities.

Degraded lands are the center of much attention as global demands for food, feed and fuel continue to increase at unprecedented rates. Meanwhile, the agricultural land base needed for food production is shrinking in many parts of the world. To compensate, global agricultural operations for livestock, soybeans and palm oil have been converting the world’s tropical rainforests into farmland. The results have been devastating for people, planet and wildlife.

Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), also referred to as forestry and other land use (FOLU) is one of the most urgent issues facing the planet. Land conversion is the single greatest cause of extinction of terrestrial species. Deforestation is one of the leading causes of global warming and climate change, which is sparking more forest fires and larger forest fires.

The extent, and type of land use directly affects wildlife habitat and thereby impacts local and global biodiversity. Human alteration of landscapes from natural vegetation to any other use results in habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, all of which can have devastating effects on biodiversity.

Urban growth has become a problem for forests and agriculture, the expansion of structures prevents natural resources from producing in their environment.

Expect additional pressure on the land base for fuel production as energy policies encourage more bioenergy production.

In order to prevent the loss of wildlife, forests must maintain a stable climate and the land must remain undeveloped. Forests can be sustained by different forest management techniques such as reforestation and preservation. Reforestation is a reactive approach designed to replant trees that were previously logged within the forest boundary in attempts to re-stabilize this ecosystem. Preservation on the other hand is a proactive idea that promotes the concept of leaving the forest as is, without using this area for its ecosystem goods and services. Both of these methods to mitigate deforestation are being used throughout the world.

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the UN Decade On Ecosystem Restoration following a proposal for action by more than 70 countries from all latitudes. The UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems, and restore them to achieve global goals. Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity.

The UN Decade runs from 2021 through 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.

The goal is to meet the Bonn Challenge–the world’s largest voluntary forest landscape restoration initiative. It has a global target to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands into restoration by 2020 and 350 million by 2030. The other goal is to salvage 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands.

“Societies worldwide will need to be convinced of the global restoration imperative by rational economic argument, compassion for current and future generations, and an emotional connection to nature”, according to the authors of one article in the journal.

The Unasylva issue looks at prospects for meeting the Bonn Challenge and mechanisms for measuring and accelerating progress, and examines work in China, Kenya, Brazil, Madagascar, Cambodia and Sao Tome and Principe. It also discusses how restoration work can be scaled up.

Increased production from existing croplands is part of the solution.

Agricultural expansion into natural ecosystems leads to significant losses of ecosystem services, such as habitat necessary to maintain biodiversity, storage of carbon, flood mitigation, and soil and watershed protection.

There are many benefits to be achieved from the idealized vision of restoring degraded lands, especially when this could spare forests and avoid competition with food crops. However, this potential is often estimated using highly uncertain data. The risks of overestimating the availability and productive potential of these areas is severe, as it may divert attention from efforts to reduce waste or the demand for land-intensive commodities.

Read The Full Story About Global Land Use.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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Climate change has already cost states like California billions of dollars in damage to agricultural, tourism, recreation, and other industries. It’s also claiming human lives.

It’s impossible to escape the news. California is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record and it’s far from over. The state has been locked in a devastating drought for more than a decade. A warming ocean and a warming atmosphere are taking their toll on the most populous state in the U.S. and one of the largest economies in the world.

To help the state brace for the impact, the California Natural Resources Agency prepared reports to the Governor on California’s Climate Adaptation Strategy, and the Agency also produced three Climate Change Assessments based on peer reviewed science. Those reports detail the existing and expected impacts of global warming in California. These include:

Forest and rangelands cover over 80 percent of California’s 100 million acres. Climate change will affect tree survival and growth, reducing these lands’ productivity and changing their habitats. In addition, climate change makes forests more vulnerable to fires by increasing temperatures and making forests and brush extremely dry and combustible. Today’s fire season in the western United States starts earlier, lasts longer, and is more intense than in the last several decades.

Wildfire occurrence statewide could increase several fold by the end of the century.

The Sierra Nevada snowpack functions as the most important natural reservoir of water in California. Under current conditions, the snowpack is created in fall and winter and slowly releases about 15 million acre-feet of water in the spring and summer, when California needs it most. California’s dams and water storage facilities are built to handle the snow melt as it happened in the past. Higher temperatures are now causing the snowpack to melt earlier and all at once. Earlier and larger releases of water could overwhelm California’s water storage facilities, creating risk of floods and water shortages.

As sea levels rise, saltwater contamination of the State’s delta and levee systems will increase. Saltwater contamination of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta will threaten wildlife and the source of drinking water for 20 million Californians. Farmland in low areas may also be harmed by salt-contaminated water.

Approximately 85 percent of California’s population live and work in coastal counties. The sea level along California’s coasts has risen nearly 8 inches in the past century and is projected to rise by as much as 20 to 55 inches by the end of the century. A 55-inch sea level rise could put nearly half a million people at risk of flooding by 2100, and threaten $100 billion in property and infrastructure, including roadways, buildings, hazardous waste sites, power plants, and parks and tourist destinations. Coastal erosion could have a significant impact on California’s ocean-dependent economy, which is estimated to be $46 billion per year.

Global warming can cause drought, higher temperatures, saltwater contamination through rising sea levels, flooding, and increased risk of pests. These changes pose a very serious threat to California’s agricultural industry, which generated $39 billion in revenue in 2007, and which is responsible for more than half of all domestic fruits and vegetables. Because California feeds not only its own residents, but the entire U.S. and other countries as well, production declines could lead to food shortages and higher prices.

Higher temperatures and more heat waves will drive up demand for cooling in the summer. As people turn up their air conditioners, increased electricity use will be greatest in southern California and the Central Valley, and may be as high as 60 percent above present demand by the end of the century.

Californians already experience the worst air quality in the nation. Hotter temperatures lead to more smog, which can damage lungs, and increases childhood asthma, respiratory and heart disease and death. Certain segments of the population are at greater risk, including the elderly, infants, persons with chronic heart or lung disease, people who can’t afford air conditioning, and those who work outdoors.

Climate change presents serious environmental justice concerns because its impacts will fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable residents – children, the elderly, and communities already suffering from pollution.

Disproportionate impacts can occur where certain groups lack the social and economic resources necessary to relocate to avoid impacts, or to purchase the technology necessary to adapt to our changing climate. As such, the state ensures that local governments take account of climate change and plan for a more sustainable future for all members of the community.

As temperatures rise, the number of days of extreme heat events also will rise, causing increases in the risk of injury or death from dehydration, heatstroke, heart attack and respiratory problems.

California is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world, with the highest number of unique plant and animal species of all 50 states and the greatest number of endangered species. Climate change will adversely affect plant and wildlife habitats and the ability of the State’s varied ecosystems to support clean water, wildlife, fish, timber and other goods and services important for our wellbeing.

Despite the tragedy of the drought and the wildfires, California has been working in the right direction for years. Like the rest of the world, it must make further reforms and plan for greater aversion much faster to avoid a mass catastrophe that could displace millions of additional lives.

The Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS)

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a landmark regulatory effort to reduce the carbon content of all transportation fuel used in California, requiring at least a 10 percent reduction in carbon intensity of fuel by the year 2020. The Attorney General currently is defending against a challenge to the State’s innovative Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) brought by trade associations representing oil and ethanol producers and oil refiners. At the end of 2011, a federal trial court issued an order blocking enforcement of the LCFS, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted California’s motion for a stay of the trial court’s order, which allowed the LCFS to stay in place uninterrupted. In September 2013,, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision, ruling in favor of ARB and rejecting on several of plaintiffs’ claims. Read the Opinion. The case is now back in the trial court for resolution of the plaintiffs’ remaining claims. Thanks in large part to the work of the Attorney General, the LCFS is now in its [fifth] year of successful operation.

The Cap and Trade Program

The Cap and Trade program is a cornerstone of CARB’s efforts to implement AB 32 to reach the target of getting to 1990 emission levels of GHGs by 2020. The program applies to the largest emitters in the state, reaching approximately 85 percent of total statewide GHG emissions. The Attorney General has successfully defended the Cap and Trade program in two separate lawsuits. One lawsuit challenged provisions in the program that allow a limited amount of a party’s compliance obligations to be met with offset credits (verified GHG emission reductions from sources not covered by the program).

The other lawsuit challenges one aspect of the program’s method for distributing allowances (permits to emit GHGs), specifically ARB’s use of auctions to distribute a portion of such allowances (the remainder are distributed by other means, including free distribution). The Attorney General has prevailed at the trial court and court of appeal, and in June 2017, the State Supreme Court denied plaintiffs petitions for review, effectively bringing the case to a close.

Fighting Federal Rollbacks: California is the world’s sixth largest economy. Clean air, a healthy economy and improving quality are not mutually exclusive paths. Unfortunately, the federal government has become an obstacle to that agenda. California’s Attorney General is fighting federal rollbacks in protections of the environment and public health.

Energy Efficiency: The U.S. Department of Energy has the authority to set energy efficiency standards for approximately 60 categories of appliances and other equipment. Energy efficiency standards are a win-win for consumers and the environment. Over the lifetime of energy-efficient products, consumers can save billions of dollars in energy costs, and, through reduced energy use, millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions can be eliminated.

Under the Trump Administration, however, the Department of Energy has embarked upon a series of delays in performing its mandatory duty to finalize a series of energy efficiency standards all but completed by the Obama Administration. In April 2017, Attorney General Becerra joined eight fellow Attorneys General in filing a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging the Department’s delay in issuing its Energy Conservation Standard for Ceiling Fans. The same month, the Attorney General filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit in order to defend energy saving light bulb regulations.

Public Lands and Oceans: The actions of the Trump Administration have called into serious question the federal government’s commitment to preserve and protect our public lands and oceans, and to ensure that any mining or drilling activity that occurs on public lands be done in an environmentally responsible way and in exchange for a fair royalty payment.

On June 8, 2017, exactly 111 years after President Teddy Roosevelt signed the landmark Antiquities Act into law, California’s Attorney General vowed to protect California’s national monuments against any unlawful attempts by President Trump to reverse prior President’s designations of treasured parts of our natural and cultural heritage. Similarly, the Attorney General has taken a firm stance against any move to open new drilling off the shores of the coast of California.

The Attorney General has also taken action to contest the Trump Administration seeming disregard for environmental concerns or taxpayer returns when it comes to private interests mining coal, oil or natural gas’s on federal lands. For example, the Attorney General filed a lawsuit when the Department of Interior restarted the federal coal leasing program on public land, while, at the same time, cutting short an ongoing, and long overdue, environmental review. And, the Attorney General stepped in when the Department of Interior unlawfully delayed its own rule adopted to ensure that taxpayers receive their fair share of royalties from companies that extract oil, gas and coal from public lands.

Formed The U.S. Climate Alliance: California helped found the Alliance was on June 1, 2017, following the announcement earlier that day by U.S. President Donald Trump that he had decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. The Alliance also forms a forum for its members to further develop and strengthen their existing Climate Action Plans, through sharing of information and best practices.

“New York, California and Washington, representing over one-fifth of U.S. Gross Domestic Product, are committed to achieving the U.S. goal of reducing emissions 26–28 percent from 2005 levels and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan,” said former California Governor Jerry Brown.

The United States Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of states and unincorporated self-governing territories in the United States that are committed to upholding the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change within their borders, by achieving the U.S. goal of reducing greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide equivalent) economy-wide emissions 26–28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.

Power Plants and Industrial Sources: California is one of the leaders of a contingent of states that are contesting President Trump and Administrator Pruitt’s attempts to roll back EPA’s greenhouse gas rules. This includes defending the Clean Power Plan, which limits emissions from power plants, as well as rules limiting emissions of methane from oil and natural gas operations. California already is experiencing the cost of climate change. Severe droughts have cost its farmers billions of dollars in lost output; rising sea levels will threaten coastal cities; and record-high temperatures are increasing harmful ground-level ozone pollution, which can cause respiratory problems. Rolling power outages represent another threat to public health.

In 2004, when EPA took the position that it had no power under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, Massachusetts, California and other states filed suit. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases are “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act. As a result of California’s victory in Massachusetts v. EPA, EPA began regulating GHG pollution. In addition, when certain industry groups sued EPA over its 2009 determination that greenhouse gas pollution threatens the public health and welfare of current and future generations, the Attorney General supported EPA.

This endangerment determination is a prerequisite to any Clean Air Act regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. California intervened with 17 other states to defend EPA. On June 26, 2012, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals called the endangerment determination “unambiguously correct” and upheld the agency’s regulatory actions. On October 15 2013, on industry’s petition, the Supreme Court let this important aspect of the Court of Appeals decision stand.

Agriculture and Food Services: Beginning in January, 2020, Zero Foodprint member restaurants provide funding for California farmers and ranchers to implement practices that build healthy soil, which will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, as part of a statewide push toward carbon neutrality.

Restore California is a new program that offers diners a way to directly fund carbon farming projects such as compost application, cover crop planting, tree planting and improved grazing management. Zero Foodprint is aggregating a few cents per meal through its member restaurants and food service programs to provide grants to farmers and ranchers, in parallel with California’s Healthy Soils Program (HSP).

Governor Newsom significantly increased funding for the HSP in the 2019 budget signaling the importance of healthy soil as a key component in the state’s climate strategy. Restore California is a collaboration between the nonprofit Zero Foodprint and California state agencies to generate more funding for agricultural climate solutions and to optimally and equitably direct the funds to expedite the transition from extractive to renewable farming practices. Since 2015, ZFP has worked with some of the best restaurants in California and around the world to reduce and offset their carbon footprint.

Restore California represents an innovative public-private sector collaboration, which creates a new way for restaurants and diners to effectively vote for climate solutions with their dollars by directly improving food production.

“Healthy Soil is the foundation of our food system and integral to combating climate change. Restore California gives consumers the opportunity to directly fund healthy soils management practices like compost application and cover cropping on farmland across the state. CDFA is excited for the launch of Restore California and the opportunities it creates for climate smart agriculture in our state,” said Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Any restaurant in the state of California can choose to opt-in and become a Restore California Renewable Restaurant. Those restaurants will add a one percent charge to every customer bill The fee is optional, and customers can choose to decline to pay it, if, for example, they do not support the cause, or if they are tight on cash.

Corporate leaders such as Salesforce and Square, as well as nonprofit environmental leaders, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, have pledged to support other Zero Foodprint members. Both Square and Salesforce have also begun implementing measures to make their internal food programs carbon neutral through a combination of investments in carbon farming and traditional offsets.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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By Daisy Simmons, Yale Climate Connections

Food may be a universal language — but in these record-breaking hot days, so too is climate change. With July clocking in as the hottest month on Earth in recorded history and extreme weather ramping up globally, farmers are facing the brunt of climate change in croplands and pastures around the world.

Here in the U.S., for instance, climate impacts like more downpours make it harder to avert flooding and erosion on farms across the Midwest. California farmers, on the other hand, must find ways to stay productive despite increasing drought and wildfire risks.

It all amounts to far more than anecdotal inconvenience: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth National Climate Assessment report projects that warming temperatures, severe heat, drought, wildfire, and major storms will “increasingly disrupt agricultural productivity,” threatening not only farmers’ livelihoods but also food security, quality, and price stability.

If these anticipated effects sound extreme, so too are the causes.

Five Climate Impacts Affecting Food Production

Climate change poses not just one but a whole slew of challenges to farmers – and to the larger communities that depend on them for food. From erratic precipitation to changing seasons, consider just these five key climatic changes and how they stand to affect food availability now and in the future:

1) More extreme weather can harm livestock and crops. Major storms have always devastated farms, whether from damaging winds during a storm, or erosion and landslides that can rear up even as the storm subsides. But now they’re becoming even more common. In spring 2018, for example, unusually heavy rain and snow storms caused massive flooding across the U.S. Midwest, leaving some areas 10 feet deep in sand. In Nebraska alone, farmers lost an estimated $440 million of cattle. As a result of these flooding conditions, many farmers had to delay spring planting. Delays in commodity crops like corn and soybeans aren’t just stressful for farmers, either – they could lead to food price volatility and even potential food insecurity.

2) Water scarcity across the U.S. Southwest makes it more expensive and difficult to sustain crops and livestock. Drought is in the long-term outlook across the U.S. West, with declining snowpack making it more challenging to keep reservoirs full through summer. Lack of adequate water can easily damage or destroy crops, dry up soil, and threaten livelihoods. Between 2014-2016, for example, California endured an estimated $3.8 billion of direct statewide economic losses to agriculture as a result of drought.

3) Seasons aren’t what they used to be. Growing seasons are starting earlier and getting hotter in a warming climate. A longer growing season, over time, could theoretically have some advantages, but it also presents more obstacles in the short term, such as an uptick in pest populations is possible, with more generations possible per year. Early spring onset can also cause crops to grow before the soil holds enough water and nutrients, or to ruin fruit crops that bud early and then experience later spring frost. Plus, warmer winters can affect other farming practices like grain storage.

4) Wildfire can devastate farms – even when the flames don’t actually reach them. Ranchers across the West have recently seen major losses as a result of worsening fire seasons, from outright loss of life to charred grazing lands and decimated hay stocks. What’s more, “secondary impacts” abound, from a smoky taint that can ruin wine, to the ordeal of keeping a farm operational when fires are raging nearby and evacuation orders seem just around the corner. All this also causes costs to mount given that the respiratory dangers of laboring in smoky, excessively hot conditions can force farms to send workers home in the height of harvest season.

5) Warmer weather and rising CO2 levels adversely affect food supply, safety and quality. According to a 2019 IPCC land use report, between 25 and 30 percent of the food produced worldwide is wasted, not all of it for the same reasons. In developed countries, for instance, consumers, sometimes seemingly with abandon, simply discard what they see as “excess” or “surplus” food. In developing countries, much of the waste is brought about by a lack of refrigeration as products go bad between producers and consumers.

The IPCC report estimates that food waste costs about $1 trillion per year and accounts for about 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from food systems. Meanwhile, some two-billion humans worldwide are overweight or obese even as nearly one billion are undernourished, highlighting the inefficiencies and inequities in food distribution.

In addition, rising temperatures can alter exposures to some pathogens and toxins. Consider: Salmonella, Campylobacter, Vibrio parahaemolyticus in raw oysters, and mycotoxigenic fungi, which can all potentially thrive in warmer environments. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also can decrease dietary iron, zinc, protein, and other macro- and micronutrients in certain crops.

Now for the elephant still in the room: Food production isn’t just being affected by climate change – it’s actively contributing to climate change, too. According to IPCC’s land use report, agriculture and other land uses comprise more than one-fifth of global CO2 emissions, creating a vicious cycle.

The July IPCC report cited above lists various adaptation and mitigation measures that could help reduce the adverse impacts of food and dietary preferences on climate change. The suggestions address more sustainable food production and diets (more plant-based, less meat-based); improved forestry management (including reducing deforestation and increasing reforestation); agricultural carbon sequestration, including no-till farming practices; and reducing food waste.

And it warns that delaying action will be costly:Deferral of [greenhouse gas] emissions reductions from all sectors implies trade-offs including irreversible loss in land ecosystem functions and services required for food, health, habitable settlements and production, leading to increasingly significant economic impacts on many countries in many regions of the world.

So, what can individuals do to help avert some of the worsening impacts of climate on food supply? There in fact are a number of ways to help support climate-friendlier food production.

Improving soil health, on a large-scale, is one key way forward. Nutrient-rich soil stores carbon better than degraded, overworked soil. Plus, healthy soil helps farms stay productive – a win-win. Consumers can boost these efforts, by supporting farmers and ranchers who engage in sustainable practices like cover cropping and composting.

Reducing meat consumption is another way to reduce the climate impact of food production, given that a livestock farm is like a methane factory, contributing an estimated 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meatless Mondays, “flexitarian” diets, and the rise of faux-meat brands are all testimony to the growing efforts aimed at reducing meat consumption.

In addition to consumer actions, there are interesting new ways forward on the industry side. Manure digesters, for one, can convert methane from manure into electricity. And seaweed is gaining scientific interest for its potential in making cattle burp less often.

Policy efforts will likely be key also. California for its part has goals to direct some cap-and-trade funding to build compost facilities, and incentivize methane reduction in dairies.

The challenges ahead are steep. But so too are the opportunities to adapt to new realities and reduce assorted diverse impacts. According to Project Drawdown, three of the top 10 best climate solutions have something to do with food, from reducing food waste (3) and choosing a plant-rich diet (4) to silvopasturing (9), which integrates trees and pasture into a single ecosystem.

It isn’t always easy to make such changes. What is getting easier, though, is to see that the world’s collective appetite for fossil fuels is having a negative impact on real food and on dietary options.

And the option of inaction on something so fundamental? Through their food-purchasing and dietary preferences, Americans increasingly, albeit perhaps only gradually, are showing that they are increasingly wary about swallowing that one.

Read The Original Story in Yale Climate Connections.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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Climate change is already driving mass migration around the globe. Military and security experts believe that climate change will fuel future migration patterns more than any other factor, which represents a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.

Last year, the UN analyzed the issue in a report, Groundswell – Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, is the first and most comprehensive study of its kind to focus on the nexus between slow-onset climate change impacts, internal migration patterns and, development in three developing regions of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.

It finds that unless urgent climate and development action is taken globally and nationally, these three regions together could be dealing with tens of millions of internal climate migrants by 2050.

These are people forced to move from increasingly non-viable areas of their countries due to growing problems like water scarcity, crop failure, sea-level rise and storm surges. These climate migrants would be additional to the millions of people already moving within their countries for economic, social, political or other reasons, the report warns.

“We have a small window now, before the effects of climate change deepen, to prepare the ground for this new reality,” said Kristalina Georgieva, World bank CEO. “Steps cities take to cope with the upward trend of arrivals from rural areas and to improve opportunities for education, training and jobs will pay long-term dividends. It’s also important to help people make good decisions about whether to stay where they are or move to new locations where they are less vulnerable.”

The report recommends key actions nationally and globally, including:

• Cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to reduce climate pressure on people and livelihoods, and to reduce the overall scale of climate migration;
• Transforming development planning to factor in the entire cycle of climate migration (before, during and after migration); and
• Investing in data and analysis to improve understanding of internal climate migration trends and trajectories at the country level.

“Without the right planning and support, people migrating from rural areas into cities could be facing new and even more dangerous risks,” said the report’s team lead Kanta Kumari Rigaud. “We could see increased tensions and conflict as a result of pressure on scarce resources. But that doesn’t have to be the future. While internal climate migration is becoming a reality, it won’t be a crisis if we plan for it now.”

For more than a decade, U.S. national security agencies of the federal government have repeatedly recognized climate change as a national security threat.

Since 2010, the Department of Defense has published at least 35 products explicitly addressing the threat of climate change. The intelligence community has produced at least a dozen more.

These national security reports, and related comments by prominent military officials, reflect a consensus among national security stakeholders that climate change is a critical national security issue. The consensus continues in the Trump administration even though the president himself remains skeptical of climate change. 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan agency that analyzes and audits federal policy to ensure its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, isn’t going to let the topic go unaddressed.

In a report to Congress last week, the GAO criticized the manner in which the Trump administration has sought to remove any acknowledgement of climate change from our foreign policy and diplomatic strategies, keeping experts in the dark about an issue that’s growing only more urgent as a shifting climate—and all that comes with it—displaces millions of people and disrupts societies across the globe.

In the European Union, where the stresses and strains associated with processing large numbers of migrants have already reached crisis proportions, experts predict that the annual stream of those seeking safety within its borders will triple by the end of the century due to climate-related migration.

A 2018 World Bank Group report estimates that the impacts of climate change in three of the world’s most densely populated developing regions—sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America—could result in the displacement and internal migration of more than 140 million people before 2050. That many people on the move could easily lead to massive political and economic strife.

President Obama formally observed the relationship between climate change, migration, and instability in a 2016 Presidential Memorandum, “Climate Change and National Security.” That memo directed federal departments and agencies “to perform certain functions to ensure that climate change-related impacts are fully considered in the development of national security doctrine, policies, and plans.” It also established a Climate and National Security Working Group, made up of representatives from the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and many others, whose purpose was to study the issue and make informed recommendations to the national security and intelligence communities.

According to Steve Trent of the Environmental Justice Foundation, an organization based in the United Kingdom that advocates for environmental causes through a human rights lens, climate change “is the unpredictable ingredient that, when added to existing social, economic, and political tensions, has the potential to ignite violence and conflict with disastrous consequences.” Policymakers and business leaders, he says, need to make it a top priority. In the United States, our own military leaders and foreign-policy experts agree, which is why they’ve worked over the years to incorporate an understanding of climate change and its geopolitical ramifications into our statecraft.

Meanwhile, new stories continue to come out every day—in Bangladesh, in Syria, in Mexico and Central America—that confirm the worst fears of security experts and foreign aid workers and reveal the administration’s blasé attitude for what it actually is: a willful ignorance of the facts, mixed with an utter contempt for those who put facts before ideology.

The worsening impacts of climate change in these three densely populated regions of the world could see over 140 million people move within their countries’ borders by 2050, creating a looming human crisis and threatening the development process, a new World Bank Group report finds

But with concerted action – including global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and robust development planning at the country level – this worst-case scenario of over 140m could be dramatically reduced, by as much as 80 percent, or more than 100 million people.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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Sir David Attenborough announced the United Nations’ launch of a new campaign enabling people to unite in actions to battle climate change.

In an address to the opening session of United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland, Sir David Attenborough urged everyone to use the UN’s new ActNow.bot, designed to give people the power and knowledge to take personal action against climate change directly on the Facebook Messenger Platform.

Speaking for “The People’s Seat” initiative, Attenborough called it the result of new activism shaped by people from around the world and collected through social media.

“In the last two weeks, the world’s people have taken part in creating this address, answering polls, creating videos and voicing their opinions. They want you – the decision makers – to act now,” the British broadcaster said. “The people are behind you, supporting you in making tough decisions, but they are also willing to make sacrifices in their daily lives,” Attenborough said.  “To make this even easier, the UN is launching the Act Now bot. Helping people to discover simple everyday actions that they can take, because they recognize that they too must play their part.”

The speech was preceded by a video produced with social media content that people had posted in advance of COP24 using the hashtag #TakeYourSeat

The innovative UN campaign was created with the support of Facebook and advertising company Grey and harnesses advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to engage people in the growing movement to take climate action.

The ActNow.bot is a fully interactive and responsive chat bot, located on the UN’s Facebook page that suggests everyday actions – determined by the user’s interaction with the bot – that can be taken to preserve the environment and logged on the platform to be shared with social media followers to persuade them to take action too. The collective actions will be presented during the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in New York in September 2019.

“Rising global temperature, record levels of greenhouse emissions, and increasing impacts of climate change require urgent and measurable action on the part of everyone,’’ she said.  “This new social media tool, a Facebook Messenger bot, will help people learn about activities to reduce their carbon footprint, and show—and share with friends – how they are making an impact.  We all need to do things differently.”

The initiative comes as global decision makers are being asked to intensify efforts in the battle against climate change and to agree the implementation guidelines of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.

All this is evolving against a backdrop of conclusive new evidence by UN Environment which found countries need to significantly step up the necessary actions to fulfil the commitments made in Paris.

The Climate Action Bot aims to highlight popular global commitment to reducing climate change, and to stand behind decision makers worldwide in taking actions to preserve our environment. Click here to read the People’s Address delivered by Sir David Attenborough.

For more information, see the relevant Media Fact Sheet. To help promote the campaign, see also the UN’s COP24 digital assets, which are in the public domain.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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