Archive for February, 2019

Restoring the world’s largest green turtle rookery

Posted by Ken on February 18, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Restoring the world’s largest green turtle rookery

Raine Island Recovery Project

 


Dr Andy Dunstanof QUEENSLAND PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

 

Remote Raine Island, 620 km north west of Cairns, is host to one of the greatest animal migrations on Earth. As many as 60,000 female green turtles migrate thousands of kilometres to lay their eggs here in a peak breeding season.

Featuring in Sir David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef documentary series, this marine sanctuary is not only the world’s largest green turtle rookery, it’s also the most important seabird rookery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area and home to apex predators, pristine coral reefs and diverse populations of fish and other precious marine life.

 

Nesting season at Raine Island

But all this is in danger. Years of monitoring show that the northern Great Barrier Reef green turtle population is in decline and, without action, is headed for collapse.

The Foundation played a leading role to initiate the Raine Island Recovery project. This five year, $7.95M collaboration between BHP, the Queensland Government, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Wuthathi Nation and Kemerkemer Meriam Nation (Ugar, Mer, Erub) Traditional Owners with the Foundation are protecting and restoring the island’s critical habitat to ensure the future of key marine species including green turtles (nam - the common language word for turtle), seabirds and other marine species.

Visit the Raine Island Recovery Project website to learn more about the project.

 

Massive restoration of world’s forests would cancel out a decade of CO2 emissions

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Massive restoration of world’s forests would cancel out a decade of CO2 emissions

New findings suggest trees are “our most powerful weapon in the fight against climate change”, says scientist

By Josh Gabbatiss

Washington DC

Sunday 17 February 2019

For The Independent

 

 

Replenishing the world’s forests on a grand scale would suck enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to cancel out a decade of human emissions, according to an ambitious new study.

Scientists have established there is room for an additional 1.2 trillion trees to grow in parks, woods and abandoned land across the planet.

If such a goal were accomplished, ecologist Dr Thomas Crowther said it would outstrip every other method for tackling climate change – from building wind turbines to vegetarian diets.

 

Combining data from ground-based surveys and satellites, Dr Crowther and his colleagues arrived at a figure of three trillion – over seven times more than a previous Nasa estimate.

 

The same approach, using machine learning and AI to analyse the enormous data set, allowed the researchers to predict the number of trees that could feasibly be planted in empty patches around the world.

 

Dr Crowther said undervaluing trees means scientists have also been massively underestimating the potential for forests to combat climate change.

 

Project Drawdown, a group that compares the merits of different emission-cutting techniques, currently places onshore wind power and improved recycling of fridges and air conditioners at the top of its list.

 

If rolled out on a realistic scale, each of these techniques would cut over 80 gigatons of emissions, while growing forests languishes in 15th place with a saving of just 18 gigatons.

New research undertaken by Dr Crowther has used the 1.2 billion figure to estimate the potential scale of carbon capture that could be achieved by planting trees, and reveal their true potential.

“There’s 400 gigatons now, in the 3 trillion trees, and if you were to scale that up by another trillion trees that’s in the order of hundreds of gigatons captured from the atmosphere – at least 10 years of anthropogenic emissions completely wiped out,” he said.

 

While the exact figures are yet to be released, he said trees had emerged as “our most powerful weapon in the fight against climate change”. Dr Crowther discussed his findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Washington DC.

 

Full restoration of all sites identified is clearly unrealistic, but tree planting is increasingly being recognised as a critical activity to preserve life on Earth.

 

The United Nations initially ran a project known as the Billion Tree Campaign, but in light of Dr Crowther’s findings this has been renamed the Trillion Tree Campaign. It has already seen 17 billion trees planted in suitable locations around the world.

 

“We are not targeting urban or agricultural area, just degraded or abandoned lands, and it has the potential to tackle the two greatest challenges of our time – climate change and biodiversity loss,” said Dr Crowther.

 

“It’s a beautiful thing because everyone can get involved. Trees literally just make people happier in urban environments, they improve air quality, water quality, food quality, ecosystem service, it’s such an easy, tangible thing.”

 

Thomas Ward Crowther (born 18 June 1986) is a British scientist specialising in ecosystem ecology and the chief scientific advisor to the UN’s Trillion Tree Campaign. He is a tenure-track professor of Global Ecosystem Ecology at ETH Zürich where he formed the Crowther Lab. His work aims to generate a holistic understanding of the global scale ecological systems which regulate the Earth’s climate. More on Wikipedia.

 

By Josh Gabbatiss, The Independent’s science correspondent. He covers all things scientific, as well as environmental research and policy in the UK and further afield. He is particularly interested in the real-world impacts of climate change, air pollution and the changing fortunes of British wildlife.

 

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/forests-climate-change-co2-greenhouse-gases-trillion-trees-global-warming-a8782071.html

Indonesia dam burst raises alarm over unchecked forest clearing

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Indonesia dam burst raises alarm over unchecked forest clearing

Ian Morse

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the Indonesian city of Makassar, where the rainy season often brings floods, Hasriani didn’t worry when a day-long downpour last month saw water rise to her knees by the time she had picked up her children from school for afternoon prayers.

But within an hour, the water level had climbed above her head, threatening to drown her family inside their home, already built a meter (3 ft) off the ground.

“It wasn’t caused by the rain – it was Bili-Bili!” said Hasriani, 30, referring to a dam completed in 1998 in order to prevent flooding, located 9 miles (14.5 km) away.

In late January, the dam overflowed, unleashing run-off from the mountains that swamped thousands of homes close to the city.

Disaster officials were shocked that one intense bout of rain could cause the dam to fail. But the provincial governor and environmental experts believe it could have been predicted.

Earth shaken loose by years of forest-felling in the mountains above the city had been washed down into the dam’s reservoir, they said, silting it up and displacing water.

The dam burst swallowed up thousands of homes and hectares of rice fields across South Sulawesi province, killing about 80 people and affecting more than 13,000 – the worst disaster in at least 15 years.

On mountain slopes, unanchored soil triggered landslides that ate up houses and damaged bridges. Of the thousands forced from their homes, many had yet to return, said Ikhsan Parawansa, head of the disaster agency in Gowa district, where 56 died.

Residents were unprepared for the failure of the 20-year-old dam and the resulting scale of the flooding.

But the disaster holds lessons as the planet’s climate heats up, and scientists warn of worsening extreme weather.

Speaking to the Thomson Reuters Foundation shortly afterwards, South Sulawesi Governor Nurdin Abdullah rejected the media’s portrayal of the disaster as “natural”.

“That dam was intended to last 100 years,” he said.

A university lecturer in forestry, Abdullah – who took office in September – blamed human activities for exacerbating the effects of heavy rains.

“There is a lot of mining and land conversion that increases silting and fills the rivers with dirt,” he said.

FORESTS ‘SUPER-CRITICAL’

Turning forested land into fields or mining it for rock and sand removes the vegetation that holds the soil together.

Then, when it rains, the dirt is easily washed down into rivers and lakes, reducing their capacity to hold water.

The Jeneberang river system that flows into Bili-Bili has been designated as a conservation zone, with forests judged to be at “super-critical” risk of being cut down.

Nonetheless, mining and land conversion that flout regulations have continued, Abdullah said.

Putri Nurdin, a doctoral student at Japan’s Kyushu University who is also the governor’s daughter, analyzed three river systems stretching across the province and found that no more than a fifth of the land was still covered in forest.

“Where there should have been forest, I saw rice fields and housing,” she said, describing a visit three days after the disaster. There were landslides all along the road, she added.

Indonesia is said to be both blessed and cursed with abundant resources, including gold, nickel, copper, and the rock and sand needed for cement.

Its natural riches have brought huge foreign investment to the country of 17,000 islands. But their exploitation has often sparked tensions between government and communities.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo put agrarian reform high on his agenda in the 2014 vote.

But with elections looming this April, he has yet to respond to demands for reform of land-use policy.

REGULATION REVIEW

As Sulawesi’s mountainous terrain makes oversight difficult, small-scale farmers have seized the chance to capitalize on the ground beneath their feet, to grow crops and mine sand.

When researcher Nurdin surveyed the mountains after the floods, she found unregulated mining activities that endangered the surrounding area, such as digging too close to pockets of sand that could cause landslides.

Governor Abdullah said January’s devastation had prompted a more aggressive review of permits and rules.

Central government funding would also allow the province to build a second flood-prevention dam near Bili-Bili, he added.

Nurdin called for education to help communities use land more responsibly. Tree-planting programs, backed by the government and other organizations, are underway but cannot keep up with the fast pace of deforestation, she noted.

Abdullah, who formerly headed a small district in South Sulawesi, ran for governor on a pro-conservation platform.

He surprised voters by saying the province was no place for mining and palm oil production, and land developed for those purposes should immediately be restored by planting trees.

“Usually if the forest is still healthy and there’s rain for two hours, the river is still dry,” Abdullah said. “But now if there’s rain for two hours, it definitely floods.”

Parawansa, tasked with overseeing recovery in the worst-hit area, said Gowa district had set up trauma centers and shelters for those made homeless while their homes are repaired.

“We’re still trying to figure out why this happened, because it was so big, and we haven’t seen something like this in a long time,” he said.

The full scale of the damage is still being worked out. But Indonesia’s ministry of environment and forestry has promised almost 200 billion rupiah ($14 million) in recovery funds.

Hasriani, who lives on a street of now-destroyed shops where her family sells rice and petrol, lamented the loss of her merchandise, computer, TV, phone and many clothes.

The neighborhood, located in a dip, filled up like a sink.

“We just found high ground as quickly as we could,” she said. “We couldn’t save anything.”

Reporting by Ian Morse; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking and property rights. Source:  news.trust.org/climate

Firms must pay for Indonesia forest fires

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Firms yet to compensate for Indonesia forest fires

Fires burning in Pelalawan, Riau province, in 2015. The fires caused 140,000 Indonesians to suffer respiratory ailments after being exposed to the choking haze that travelled across borders and blanketed parts of Singapore and Malaysia.PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

FEB 16, 2019, 5:00 AM SGT

Ten companies ordered to pay $260m after the government filed suits flout court rulings

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

Indonesia Correspondent

 

None of the companies responsible for plantation and forest fires in Indonesia have paid compensation to the government ordered by the courts.

Ten companies were ordered to pay 2.7 trillion rupiah (S$260 million) after the government filed lawsuits between 2013 and 2018 in connection with the illegal fires.

Another firm based in Pekanbaru, Riau, Merbau Pelalawan Lestari, a supplier to Singapore-based pulpwood company Asia Pacific Resources International, was fined a staggering 16.2 trillion rupiah in August 2016 largely for illegal logging on 5,590ha of forest.

“As citizens, if we don’t pay our taxes, we get sent to prison. So why aren’t the owners of these big companies being forced to pay what they owe or sent to prison if they don’t pay?” Mr Arie Rompas, a senior Indonesia forest campaigner with Greenpeace, said in a statement yesterday.

Greenpeace noted that the 10 forest and plantation fire cases were lodged between 2012 and 2015, against oil palm, sago and pulpwood companies.The illegal logging case related to offences committed as far back as 2004.

“By not forcing these companies to pay, the government is sending a dangerous message: Company profit comes before the law, clean air, health and forest protection,” Mr Arie said. He added that the amount in compensation owed to the Indonesian people could be used to finance large-scale forest restoration, as well as to build health clinics and emergency response facilities for use when the fires strike again.

Mr Jasmin Ragil Utomo, director for environmental dispute settlement at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, replying via text message to queries from The Straits Times, said that two of the 11 firms had expressed a willingness to pay the compensation, while an appeal lodged by two other firms were ongoing, making any demand for payment inappropriate at this point.

By not forcing these companies to pay, the government is sending a dangerous message: Company profit comes before the law, clean air, health and forest protection.

MR ARIE ROMPAS, a senior Indonesia forest campaigner with Greenpeace, said in a statement yesterday.

 

Four Indonesian provinces, including Riau, declare disaster alerts for forest fires

“Those that are not paying compensation will surely face asset sequestration,” Mr Jasmin said.

Under the Indonesian legal system, firms which do not honour court rulings on monetary penalties can be deemed as having debts to the government. Failing to make repayment can lead to their assets being sequestered by the state.

President Joko Widodo’s administration has been resolute in tackling forest and plantation fires, and illegal logging, following the 2015 fires which caused 140,000 Indonesians to suffer respiratory ailments after being exposed to the choking haze that travelled across borders and blanketed parts of Singapore and Malaysia.

Stepped-up law enforcement – including a shoot-on-sight order against fire-starters – and better fire-fighting equipment mandated for plantation firms, have resulted in a significant decline in the scale of the fires, an annual phenomenon usually in the dry season. Mr Joko has cracked the whip on local officials too to get a grip on the problem, issuing an unprecedented threat to sack any provincial police chief or local military commander in areas where fires spread uncontrollably.

Since 2015, the government has also stepped up efforts to halt development of peatlands, as dried-out peatlands are prone to fire and were a major source of the choking, toxic haze. Between 2015 and 2018, Indonesia has administratively sanctioned 523 firms and individuals for environmental violations, according to the government. It claimed that the total forest area saved as a result of more stringent prevention and law enforcement reached 8.29 million ha since the 2015 fires.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/firms-yet-to-compensate-for-indonesia-forest-fires

The Year of the Pig commences as extreme weather rages

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232
The Year of the Pig commences as extreme weather of the worst kind ravages the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the world.
Extremes in Australia: After a record-breaking week, Australia is copping two extreme ends of the weather spectrum – as major flooding hits Queensland’s far north and Tasmania suffers through devastating bushfires. And the hottest summer on record in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. This is just one weather report.
Mongabay reports: Every year since 1977 has seen above-average global temperatures, making 2018 the 42nd consecutive year that was warmer than it would have been if not for man-made climate change. Nine of the 10 hottest years ever recorded have now occurred since 2005, and the past five years have been the five hottest. 2018’s average global temperatures rank behind just 2016, the warmest year on record, 2015, the second warmest, and 2017, the third warmest. What else?
Climate Network News: Here is a climate forecast that climate scientists, meteorologists, politicians, voters and even climate sceptics can check: the next five years will be warm, and will probably help to complete the hottest decade ever. They will on a global average be at least 1°C higher than the average temperature of the planet 200 years ago, before the accelerating combustion of fossil fuels. There’s more.
And North America Freezes! “High impact weather” has gripped much of the world so far this year, the UN weather agency, WMO, reported, with “dangerous and extreme cold in North America, record high heat and wildfires in Australia, heavy rains in parts of South America, and heavy snow on the Alps and Himalayas. The UN/WMO reports.
Coming up trumps with Truffles! Can we achieve a future Life on Earth to satisfactorily accommodate humankind, as well all the animals and plants we need? I’m thinking about any connections there could be which link the common Pig with People, Planet and Profit, the triple bottom line conjured up by John Elkington. And we came up with “Truffles”! For a light reflection on a worrying problem, read on.
It might be the beginning of the Year of the Pig, but’s let’s see where we are at the end. We’re not likely to see any significant improvements even if we changed our ways overnight. Even if carbon emissions stopped completely right now, as the oceans catch up with the atmosphere, the Earth’s temperature would rise by another .6 degrees C. Scientists refer to this as committed warming. So don’t let anyone tell you we have 12 years to fix things. Or even five. We have to start taking much more action right now.
Ken Hickson, Managing Editor, ABC Carbon Express.

No to coal in Paradise.

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

No to coal in Paradise. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Votes to Close two  Coal Plants, despite political pressure from Trump and Kentucky GOP. This on the bass that the ageing Paradise coal-fired power plant is unreliable, expensive and polluting, TVA data show. The federally owned utility said its decision is based on economics. Read the rest.

 

By James Bruggers

Feb 14, 2019

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority board voted Feb. 14 to retire the Paradise coal-fired power plant in Kentucky. As TVA has shifted from coal to nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy, it says it has cut fuel costs by about $1 billion a year. Credit: TVA

Brushing aside pleas from coal-friendly politicians, Tennessee Valley Authority’s board voted Thursday to retire a 49-year-old coal-fired power plant in Kentucky. President Donald Trump and the state’s top elected officials had fought to keep it open, even though TVA concluded it would be too expensive to do so.

In the past week, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had argued [1] in media postings and at a rally that burning coal at the Paradise power plant was essential to their state’s economy and to national security. Trump weighed in on Twitter, saying “coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix.”

The presidential tweet thrust the TVA, a federally owned power provider that serves 10 million people in seven Southeastern states, into the national spotlight.

Bottom of Form

At its meeting Thursday, the TVA board voted to retire both Kentucky’s Paradise coal-fired power plant and the Bull Run coal plant near Knoxville, Tennessee. The utility’s President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson said both decisions needed to be based on facts informed by a thorough review.

“Let me tell you what this decision is not about—it’s not about coal,” Johnson told the board. “This decision is about economics.”

Both plants have outlived their design life by about a decade and are only able to operate about 10 percent of the time, he said.

TVA Chief Financial Officer John M. Thomas III said closing both plants would save $1.3 billion in costs for needed upgrades.

The board’s resolution calls for the Paradise plant to close by the end of 2020, and Bull Run to shut down by the end of 2023. Johnson said TVA would consider selling its Paradise coal unit to another utility if there was interest.

 

TVA board member Kenny Allen [3] of Kentucky, who is a 50-year veteran of the coal industry, opposed the closure. He said he understands that the Paradise coal unit is old and is not economical. But he said he is worried about job losses and how the shutdown would affect coal-mining communities of western Kentucky, which supply the plant with its fuel. TVA has already shuttered about 60 percent of its previous coal-burning capacity, he said, adding: “Our diverse portfolio could be in jeopardy.”

Thomas said TVA anticipates that coal will remain about 17 percent of its fuel mix for the next decade.

The extraordinary political pressure on the TVA also drew attention to the source of the coal burned at the Kentucky plant. Energy Information Agency data show [4] most of the coal shipped to the Paradise plant during the first nine months of 2018 came from Kentucky mines that are part of Murray Energy Corp., which is led by coal baron and Trump supporter Robert E. Murray. Murray has pushed [5] for a government-ordered bailout of coal.

‘TVA Must Adapt’ to Changing Demand

The Paradise Fossil Plant was once one of the largest coal-burning plants in the country, with a generating capacity large enough to supply more than a million homes. TVA closed its first two coal-burning units in 2017, replacing them with a large natural gas power plant.

On Monday, TVA released an environmental assessment [6] of the plant’s last operating coal unit that concluded it was no longer needed, unreliable and too expensive to repair and operate. Keeping it open would burden TVA’s customers with higher costs and more pollution, according to the assessment.

As TVA has shifted away from coal in recent years to more nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy, it has shaved fuel costs by $1 billion a year, Johnson said.

“Demand for electricity is flat, and, in my view, it will remain so permanently,” he said. “The shape of demand is changing, too,” with a “growing appetite for cleaner, more renewable energy.” He said alternatives to coal have become competitive, and “TVA must adapt to these changes if we are to serve our customers successfully.”

TVA’s assessment of the Paradise plant found that its retirement would reduce emissions that cause lung-damaging smog by as much as 11.5 percent across TVA’s seven-state system, and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 4 percent.

McConnell, who had issued a video press release supporting the Paradise plant, said Thursday that he was “deeply frustrated” with TVA’s decision. In a written statement, he said that ”men and women will lose their jobs and their families will be thrown into uncertainty” and that “local schools and public services will face new funding challenges” because TVA had ”rejected coal.”

McConnell had urged the board to wait until the Senate could confirm two new Trump appointees to the utility’s board.

Paving the Way for Cleaner Energy

Environmental groups praised the decisions.

“TVA made the right decision to ignore the political posturing and close these dirty, expensive, and unnecessary coal units,” said Mary Anne Hitt, senior director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “Now they’re paving the way for cleaner, more affordable energy in Tennessee and Kentucky.”

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, called the two closures good moves for bill payers and the environment.

“There is an opportunity to continue the progress started today, and bolster communities that have relied on coal, by investing in a clean energy future,” he said.

Source: Inside Climate News

https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=e8dc155e15&e=9809637a9b

The Year of the Pig: Hunter Valley for wine not coal:

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Hunter Valley for Wine not coal: “The construction and operation of the mine, and the transportation and combustion of the coal from the mine, will result in the emission of greenhouse gases, which will contribute to climate change.” So read Judge Brian Preston’s decision which stopped a new coal mine from going ahead in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley. Get the full story.

 

 

Cleantechnia

Australian Court Rejects New Coal Mine

February 14th, 2019 by Joshua S Hill

 

An Australian court has rejected an appeal to build a new coal mine in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, citing “significant adverse impacts” and “dire consequences” for the environment and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Rocky Hill Coal Project was intended to be developed by Gloucester Resources Limited (GRL) which was granted three coal exploration licenses in the Gloucester Basin in 2006. According to the court rulings, GRL’s proposed mine was originally denied by the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Planning. GRL then appealed to the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales.

Justice Brian Preston, the judge presiding over the case, ruled last Friday, denying development application for the Rocky Hill Coal Project citing “significant adverse impacts on the visual amenity and rural and scenic character of the valley, significant adverse social impacts on the community and particular demographic groups in the area, and significant impacts on the existing, approved and likely preferred uses of land in the vicinity of the mine.” Further, Justice Preston determined that “The construction and operation of the mine, and the transportation and combustion of the coal from the mine, will result in the emission of greenhouse gases, which will contribute to climate change,” and therefore that, “costs of this open cut coal mine, exploiting the coal resource at this location in a scenic valley close to town, exceed the benefits of the mine, which are primarily economic and social.”

The case was joined by community group Groundswell Gloucester who, with Barrister Robert White, brought expert witnesses to testify including Emeritus Professor Dr Will Steffen from the Australian National University, energy analyst Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), acoustics expert Stephen Gauld, and anthropologist Dr Hedda Askland from the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Social Research and Regional Futures.

“The Court accepted our scientific evidence and the concept of a global carbon budget,” said David Morris, CEO of the NSW Environmental Defenders Office who acted on behalf of Groundswell Gloucester. “In the face of that acceptance, the judgment presents a foundational question for all decision makers on fossil fuel projects: given that, if we are to remain within the global carbon budget, only a finite amount of additional carbon can be burned, and that existing approvals already exhaust that budget, why should this particular project be prioritised over any other, or displace an existing approval? That is ‘the wrong time’ test, and I believe it will prove an insurmountable barrier for many projects going forward.”

Specifically, according to the court rulings, “Gloucester Groundswell contended that the Rocky Hill Coal Project should be refused because the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Project would adversely impact upon measures to limit dangerous anthropogenic climate change.” In his ruling, Justice Preston referenced the “recent IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels” and relied heavily on Professor Steffen’s testimony.

“This landmark judgment enshrines into law what climate scientists have been saying for years; burning coal is the main cause of climate change and if we are serious about capping global warming at 1.5 degrees we need to phase out coal by 2030,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaigner, Jonathan Moylan, who commented on the news via email.

“[The] IEEFA views the court decision by Chief Justice Preston as setting a very strong precedent that the community costs of carbon emissions should be clearly considered in a planning decision, and that this is relevant for both the emissions that are local (scope 1 & 2) or exported (scope 3),” added the IEEFA’s Tim Buckley, who was one of the expert witnesses called on the case and who spoke to me via email. This is a key aspect of the decision, because the Australian government has been arguing that ‘exported’ carbon emissions in our coal and LNG are not our responsibility under the Paris Agreement, lamely ignoring that any carbon emissions released into the atmosphere anywhere will affect the global climate. As one of the largest producers of exported emissions (Australia is #2 globally in LNG, #1 in coking coal, and #2 in thermal coal), Australia is a leading producer supporting climate change, with our government abrogating responsibility.

“This court decision provides an excellent precedent for the NSW Government, and others, to take climate change into account in fully evaluating the public cost – private benefit equation that has previously been skewed to allow ongoing development of new fossil fuel projects.”

Unsurprisingly, the coal industry was less impressed with the ruling, as highlighted by a statement published by Greg Evans, Chief Executive of the newly-formed Coal Council of Australia, who claimed that the decision to reject the coal mine “is detrimental for jobs and economic opportunities in regional NSW” and creates beneficiaries “in the US, Canada, Russia, and Mongolia” who have “spare production capacity.”

Evans also raised concerns with the judge’s “view that the project will add to global greenhouse gas emissions.” Specifically, according to Evans, “The court indicates it can consider as part of its decision the greenhouse emissions from coal as it is used in the making of steel in another country. In other words, if this rationale became accepted all our resource exports would have to account for the emissions applying to their downstream use, including gas, iron ore and thermal coal.” Evans complained that “under the Paris Agreement it’s up to individual countries to put in place Nationally Determined Contribution plans to deal with emissions at their source. It’s not about the unilateral banning of particular industries or commodities in supplier countries” before wrongly stating that “the US, a significant coal exporter, is not even part of the Paris Agreement.”

Evans further disagreed with the contention that “stopping a particular export coal mine in NSW could lead to lower global emissions” citing that “Australia’s customers in Asia using affordable coal for energy or building infrastructure will not compromise their economic advancement and will continue to consume coal.”

The concerns raised by Greg Evans, however, hold very little water and do even less to hide the Coal Council of Australia’s profits over environmental concern bias. For Tim Buckley, speaking regarding “the newly formed foreign coal lobbyists … taking an adverse view of the judgement, one doesn’t have to think long before realising a coal lobbyist will always argue any action to address climate change is adverse to their foreign client private interests.”

“The coal lobbyist cites the usual drug-pushers agreement, if not us, someone else will supply the coal,” Buckley added. “Better for all that Australia drive investment and employment towards industries of the future, developing industries that solve rather than exacerbate the magnitude of this climate problem facing the world today.”

“There is no such thing as “clean coal,” it is a lobbyist’s spin. There is slightly less highly polluting coal. This court case sets a globally relevant precedent that governments and financial institutions are increasingly having to put in place effective, universal policies to cease the use of unabated coal over the next few decades. Absent development by the coal industry of commercially viable coal CCS, the IEA says coal use globally must cease by 2050 if the world is to have any real chance of limiting climate change to 1.5-2.0 degrees C. It is IEEFAs view that the IEA’s Beyond 2 Degrees Scenario (B2DS) needs to become the base scenario for appropriate risk analysis, and Chief Justice Preston’s landmark decision gives voice to the necessity of this to happen sooner rather than later in the best interests of Australia.”

Gloucester Resources Limited will, unsurprisingly, assess the implications of the court’s decision and consider what to do next, but having been rejected both by the NSW Minister for Planning and the State’s Land and Environment Court, it doesn’t seem that the company has very many avenues open to them.

 

Source: https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/14/australian-court-rejects-new-coal-mine/

Coming up trumps with Truffles in the Year of the Pig

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Coming up trumps with  Truffles!

What you can dig up for the Year of the Pig

By Ken Hickson

It’s the Year of the Pig and what could be important about this Chinese – or Lunar – New Year that gives hope to those of us who care about the future of the planet? Can we achieve a future Life on Earth to satisfactorily accommodate humankind, as well all the animals and plants we need?

I’m thinking about any connections there could be which link the common Pig with People, Planet and Profit, the triple bottom line conjured up by John Elkington all those years ago. And we came up trumps with “Truffles”!

It not only connects the pig with such a luxury delicacy as the Truffle – described as “the diamonds of gastronomy” by Francesca Sparvoli, co-owner of truffle distribution company Done4NY – which gives us a direct association with prosperity of course. But also demonstrates just one of the wonderful goodies we can get from the forest.   Wikipedia tells us that a Truffle Hog is any domestic pig used for locating and extracting the fruit bodies of the fungi, known as Truffles, from Temperate Forests in Europe and North America. Pigs have a great sense of smell, and are able to identify Truffles from as deep as three feet underground.   Pictured: Trained pig in Gignac, Lot, France, from Wikipedia.   It is thought that the natural sex hormones of the male pig are similar to the smell of the Truffles and pigs have a natural affinity for rooting in the earth for food. They are trained to hunt Truffles by walking on a leash through suitable groves with a keeper. This from Wikipedia. Read all about the Truffle Pig. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle_hog

What’s more the Pig, the twelfth of all zodiac animals, is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支—dì zhī) hài (亥), and the hours 9–11 in the night. In terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Pig is yin. In Chinese culture, pigs are the symbol of wealth. Their chubby faces and big ears are signs of fortune as well. Read more about the Chinese Zodiac sign for the Pig. https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/pig/       Pictured: Pink Piggybank for the Year of the Pig by artist M Hickson

So the Year of the Pig is a good time to hope for the best. For prosperity and peace for the planet. That’s my analysis anyway. What’s more, it coincides with my commitment this year to “Focus on Forests” and the Sustainable Development Goal 15, “Life on Land”.

Read all about it in my earlier article “Why SDG 15 Life on Land is so important”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-sustainable-development-goal-15-life-land-so-me-ken-hickson/ So let’s embrace the Year of the Pig. Let’s invest in forest management and biodiversity. Responsible farming and production.

Let’s also celebrate the work of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year – in the Year of the Pig! – helping to protect and manage forests all over the world.

Ken Hickson, author of “Race for Sustainability” and “The ABC of Carbon”, runs a sustainability consultancy, SASA, based in Singapore, as well as the content creation agency The Hickson Team.

NASA observes the Greening of the “Blue Planet”

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

NASA observes the Greening of the “Blue Planet”

 

But more leafy vegetables and grain crops don’t make up for

the environmental damage from tropical deforestation.

 

 

By Ken Hickson

 

Green news is good news and helps balance all the bad news about the environment. Of course.

It’s certainly not fake news, but maybe we need to maintain perspective when we read headlines that shout out China and India are making the planet greener”.

 

It was a headlined report by Emily Dixon of CNN. Read on and you’ll learn it’s from a study by NASA, based on extensive satellite imagery and published in the journal Nature Sustainability. It revealed that the two countries with the world’s biggest populations are also responsible for the largest increase in green foliage.

Read the Nature Sustainability abstract, which clearly states: “Satellite data show increasing leaf area of vegetation due to direct factors (human land-use management) and indirect factors (such as climate change, CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition and recovery from natural disturbances). Among these, climate change and CO2fertilization effects seem to be the dominant drivers”.

It goes on to tell us that recent satellite data (2000–2017) reveal “a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India and overlaps with croplands world-wide”.

To give it credit, China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area, according to the study.

 

The CNN report said the NASA researchers discovered that in China “forests account for 42% of that increase, while croplands make up a further 32%.

 

Further, China’s increase in forest area “is the result of forest conservation and expansion programs, established to combat the impacts of climate change, air pollution and soil erosion”.

 

For India, the situation was seen as a little different. The sub-continent contributed a further 6.8% rise in green leaf area, but with 82% of it from croplands and a mere 4.4% from forests.

 

NASA notes in the study – and in the CNN report – that both countries have engineered a significant increase in food production, thanks to “multiple cropping practices,” which see fields replanted and crops harvested multiple times each year.

 

“Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35-40% since 2000 to feed their large populations,” NASA said.

The study shows that the direct factor is a key driver of the ‘Greening Earth’, accounting for over a third, and probably more, of the observed net increase in green leaf area. It highlights the need for a realistic representation of human land-use practices in Earth system models.

But – and a big but – researchers stressed that “the new greenery does not neutralize deforestation” and its negative impacts on ecosystems elsewhere.

The researchers stress, in the NASA statement, that “the gain in greenness seen around the world and dominated by India and China does not offset the damage from loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions, such as Brazil and Indonesia”.

There are serious consequences for sustainability and biodiversity.

This puts things in perspective, as do reports from other global authorities, like FAO’s annual State of the Forests, which clearly state that the world keeps losing tree cover and that “time is running out for the world’s forests, whose total area is shrinking by the day”.

Halting deforestation, managing forests sustainably, restoring degraded forests and adding to worldwide tree cover all require actions to avoid potentially damaging consequences for the planet and its people, according to The State of the World’s Forests 2018.

 

FAO makes the point that “forests and trees contribute far more to human livelihoods than is commonly known, playing crucial roles in food security, drinking water, renewable energy and rural economies. They provide around 20 percent of income for rural households in developing countries – notably more in many areas – and fuel for cooking and heating for one in every three people around the world.”

“Forests are critical to livelihoods” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. “Healthy and productive forests are essential to sustainable agriculture and we have proof of the significance of forests and trees for the quality of water, for contributing to the energy needs of the future, and for designing sustainable, healthy cities.”

Mongabay, ever watchful when it comes to deforestation and other damaging “environmental crimes”, noted when the 2018 FAO report came out, that forests can help the world achieve at least 10 (and possibly more) of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) the international community signed up to at a historic U.N. summit in 2015.

 

It quoted State of the Forests lead author Eva Muller: “The branches of trees and forests reach out across the SDGs.”

It’s a big claim, as the SDGs cover everything from poverty to hunger, gender inequality to climate change. But the report makes convincing evidence-based arguments for its position.

First, it provides an update of the current situation for the world’s forests, and it’s not all bad news.

While deforestation is still happening, it has slowed, and in some areas of the world, has begun to reverse. The FAO’s Global Forests Resource Assessment found that the world’s forest area decreased from 31.6 percent of total land area to 30.6 percent between 1990 and 2015.

That loss seems to be slowing down. At a global level, the report finds, the net loss of forest area has decreased from 0.18 percent in the 1990s to 0.08 percent over the last five years. The picture is mixed, though. While forest cover has increased in Europe, the reverse is true in Southeast Asia.

Talking about Southeast Asia,  Mongabay was quick to draw attention to another report recently that industries that cause the loss of rainforest and peatlands in Southeast Asia were bankrolled to the tune of $62 billion between 2013 and 2018, according to new data released by the Forests and Finance campaign of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

In the Mongabay report by James Fair (5 February 2019) “Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Malaysian banks were the biggest funders of so-called forest risk activities and were least likely to have internal policies that restricted damage to the environment from the activities they funded, RAN concludes”.

According to the Forests and Finance campaign director, Tom Picken, eliminating or restricting the financial support for forest-risk businesses – defined as unsustainable palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber developments – is “the most significant action that can be taken to reduce their impact”. The campaign is a collaboration between RAN, the NGO TuK Indonesia, and a Netherlands-based not-for-profit called Profundo.

Also in on the act of dealing with deforestation by utilising technology is PEFC  – Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. A clear demonstration of the importance of IT in supporting traceability for a sustainable supply chain was one of the key outcomes of a seminar, held on 29 November 2018 at the Singapore Sustainability Academy.

The seminar brought together people and organizations involved in utilizing technologies for sustainable forest management and responsible trade, thereby enabling detection of illegal logging operations, unchecked deforestation and preventing the deprivation of sustainable livelihood opportunities for small holders and local communities.

“In Myanmar, we are helping stakeholders to use IT at the landscape scale to bring sustainable management to Myanmar’s forests, involving public and private sector participants,” explained Richard Laity, PEFC International.

Myanmar is a good example where science and technology is being put to good use, drawing on Double Helix Tracking to verify the origin of timber and track the supply chain from source to consumer. Here’s the story about Double Helix when its work first came to light in a Reuters article by David Fogarty.

So good news comes with the “greening” of India and China to boost food production, but the bad news continues in many other places where deforestation is running riot.

“Step back for a second and think about recent efforts to address deforestation in Southeast Asia,” Picken said in an interview with Mongabay.

“Take the Norway effort, which pledged to put in US$1 billion [to stop deforestation in Indonesia], and compare that with $62 billion over five years. It is absolutely critical that the allocation of capital stops encouraging deforestation.”

Word is that Norway is finding it difficult to spend its billion dollars in Indonesia as viable, fundable projects are not coming up fast enough and the very necessary government oversight and regulation is missing.

Undeterred, Norway is adopting a different tack and pledged last June to spend Euros 15 million to a partnership between INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the RHIPTO-Norwegian Center for Global Analyses to combat illegal deforestation.

According to Interpol, organized criminals make US$50-152 billion a year illegally cutting down invaluable tropical forests and their activities have detrimental consequences for sustainable development in rainforest nations and the global climate.

 

All this goes beyond the desirability of keeping trees intact to maintain green cover. It’s acknowledged that halting and reversing land degradation and tropical deforestation could provide up to 30 per cent of the climate change solution.

Interpol reports that “key rainforest countries have estimated illegal logging rates of anywhere between 50 to 85 per cent. This high number stems from the multiple opportunities of breaking the law throughout the whole deforestation value chain – from bribes, corruption and fake licences, to illegal land conversion, illegal export of timber and hiding the money in tax havens”.

It doesn’t stop there. Interpol says that companies operating illegally, organized criminal groups and even cartels are destroying the planet’s forests.

“The deforestation has vast impacts not only on climate change, but also on indigenous peoples living in the rainforests and the unique biodiversity that the rainforests are home to”, Interpol stresses, making clear that its out “to dismantle the criminal networks behind environmental crime using intelligence-driven investigations”.

PEFC, Interpol, FAO and many others like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Council are putting money and effort into helping countries and forest companies to adopt responsible and sustainable forest management, and at the same time, create awareness of illegal logging, deforestation and other environmental crimes.

PEFC for one, is not giving up. In fact, it is working even harder this year – its 20th anniversary  – to help countries in Southeast Asia to get to grips with the problem of deforestation and illegal logging, and to introduce responsible and sustainable forest management.

 

Why Sustainable Development Goal 15 Life on Land is so important

Posted by Ken on February 17, 2019
Posted under Express 232

Why Sustainable Development Goal 15

Life on Land

is so important 

 

 

Posted on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook:  31 December 2018

 

By Ken Hickson

 

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. (That’s the United Nations declared Sustainable Development Goal 15 – Life on Land.)

More than anything, I will be focussing my attention – and encouraging everyone else – to work on this very important target (15.2):

By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally

Connected to this is Target 15.7, and while it doesn’t mention by name “illegal logging”, that’s a very significant contributor to deforestation and “poaching and trafficking”:

Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products.

I happen to know that Interpol – and the police forces of 194 members countries – has illegal logging in its sights.

 

Check this out: https://www.interpol.int/Crime-areas/Environmental-crime/Committee-and-Working-Groups/Forestry-Crime-Working-Group

 

Read more about Goal 15 – Life on Land – because its connected to practically everything we do on earth.

“Terrestrial ecosystems provide a series of goods, raw materials for construction and energy, food and a series of ecosystem services including the capture of carbon, maintenance of soil quality, provision of habitat for biodiversity, maintenance of water quality, as well as regulation of water flow and erosion control, therefore contributing to reduce the risks of natural disasters such as floods and landslides, regulate climate and maintain the productivity of agricultural systems. Maintaining those ecosystems greatly support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Data and Statistics / Facts and Figures:

  • Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood.
  • Forests are home to more than 80 per cent of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects
  • 74 per cent of the poor are directly affected by land degradation globally
  • Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8 per cent are extinct and 22 per cent are at risk of extinction
  • Over 80 per cent of the human diet is provided by plants. Only three cereal crops – rice, maize and wheat – provide 60 per cent of energy intake
  • As many as 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant-based medicines for basic healthcare

Targets linked to the environment:

  • Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements
  • Target 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
  • Target 15.3: By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world
  • Target 15.4: By 2030, ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development
  • Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species
  • Target 15.6: Promote fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and promote appropriate access to such resources, as internationally agreed
  • Target 15.7: Take urgent action to end poaching and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal wildlife products
  • Target 15.8: By 2020, introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems and control or eradicate the priority species
  • Target 15.9: By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts
  • Target 15.a: Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems
  • Target 15.b: Mobilize significant resources from all sources and at all levels to finance sustainable forest management and provide adequate incentives to developing countries to advance such management, including for conservation and reforestation
  • Target 15.c: Enhance global support for efforts to combat poaching and trafficking of protected species, including by increasing the capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities

There are two other Goals which I think are crucial as well. No, let me say that again: all the SDGs are important, but two others I want to especially focus on as we go into 2019.

SDG 12 is all about Sustainable Consumption and Production.

Here are a few reasons why it’s so important:

  • Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
  • Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
  • By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
  • Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
  • Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

So here’s the connection with Goal 15: We must be much more concerned about responsible sourcing of products and materials we use produce and consume. That includes timber products, wood, pulp and paper. No longer should we blindly accept, buy and consume something unless we know exactly where it’s come from and how it was produced.

Certification and labelling becomes vital in all of this. Consumers must know more and be given more information on the source and origin of the product. We must have sustainable supply chains.

Lastly – yes, I will stop soon – we must always keep in mind the last big Sustainable Development Goal. Number 17. Partnerships for the Goals.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development:

Stronger partnerships will contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development by mobilizing resources, sharing knowledge, promoting the creation and transfer of environmentally sound technologies, and building capacity.

There is tremendous scope for making the existing financial system more sustainable by integrating the environment dimension.

Growing cooperation among multilateral organizations, donors and private sector is needed to provide developing countries and beneficiaries with technologies that increase efficiency the use of natural resources, generate low waste, treat the generated pollution and mitigate climate change.

 

Please make a New Year resolution to focus on at least one of the 17 goals. They are all equally important but if you give your attention to one, you will see that you can achieve something measurable. Awareness and action. https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/best-2018-our-readers-pick

My resolution is to give priority to number 15 – Life on Land – with particular emphasis on:

  • Halting deforestation.
  • Stopping illegal loggers in their tracks.
  • Putting out the fires that are ravaging our forests.
  • Promoting urban tree growth for the health of our cities.
  • Advancing responsible and sustainable forest management.
  • Creating awareness of the need to have sustainable supply chains.
  • Introducing “chain of custody” programmes for all products from forests and plantations.

Keep up to date with what we’re doing through our LinkedIn posts, as well as on Twitter and Facebook,  and through our online magazines: The Avenue for Creative Arts and ABC Carbon Express.

Meanwhile, have a Very Happy and Hopeful New Year.

kenhickson@abccarbon.com