La Mode Verte
Environmental Awareness Through Media ProductionsArchive for Wildfires
European Forests Crucial for Mitigating Impact of Climate Change
www.bbc.co.uk 14th June 2011
A new report titled ‘The State of Europe’s Forests 2011′ has put emphasis on the important role European woodland can play in mitigating the effects of climate change. Announced at the Forest Europe conference in Oslo, the report is expected to help EU ministers create legally binding forestry policy. In statistics, the forests of Europe account for 25% of the world’s total and absorbs about 10% of Europe’s carbon emissions. The area of European forest covers 1 billion hectares, or 45% of Europe’s total area. 80% of this is in the Russian Federation. Forests account for 1% of Europe’s GDP, which equates to 4 million jobs. Surprisingly, the forest area is increasing by about 800,000 hectares a year although there are several potential hurdles in this bit of good news. Forest fires, insect infestations, disease, and nitrogen deposition from pollution all threaten European woodland. The conference’s opening address was made by Crown Prince Haakon of Norway who stated: ”capacity building, good governance and increased international co-operation are necessary in order to secure sustainable forest management. Forests that are sustainably managed are becoming an important part of the solution for global climate change.”
US Forest Service Proposes Reductions in Fire Retardant Use in Forest Fires
www.latimes.com 30th May 2011
The ongoing debate on the effects of dropping millions of gallons of chemical flame retardants on US forests has led to the US Forest Service to propose reductions in their use. Currently, around 28 million gallons of fire retardants are used annually with a third of this dropped over California, where many homes back onto fire-prone wild-lands. The chemicals used in such drops have fatal effects in aquatic environments causing the deaths of marine species. The proposed reduction therefore won’t necessarily reduce the total amount of fire retardants dropped over wild-fires but will limit the area over which they can be used. In 2000, the Forest Service adopted guidelines limiting retardants to more than 300 feet from waterways. However, a pilot can still bypass this boundary if there is a risk to (human) life, property, or if there are terrain limitations. The new proposed guidelines would eliminate these exceptions except for the case of endangered life and also make national forests draw up areas further away from waterways which would be safe from retardants to protect endangered species. A final decision on the Forest Service plans is expected by the end of the year.
Images from a Dying River: National Geographic Photography from the Amazon Droughts
www.nationalgeographic.com 6th December 2010
‘A lone house stands out against a dry riverbed in Cadajas on October 25. A prolonged drought may harm Brazil’s crops. For instance, farmers in the Amazon’s fertile Matto Grosso state are highly dependent on Amazon rain to grow their crops, which are extremely profitable because normally so little irrigation is needed.’
‘Hard-hit by a months-long drought, a waterway within the Amazon Basin trickles to a halt in Manaus, Brazil on November 19. The Negro River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, dropped to a depth of about 46 feet (14 meters)—the lowest point since record-keeping began in 1902.’
‘A fisher reportedly discovered prehistoric etchings when water receded from the banks of the Negro River, according to the Hindu newspaper. Archaeologists suggest the 7,000-year-old engravings—which feature images of faces and snakes—may be more evidence that the Amazon was once home to large civilizations.’
‘A boat rests amid debris in Manaus on September 15. The drought has also sparked a surge in wildfires, particularly in the state of Mato Grosso—which means “thick forest,” according to Reuters. There have been 36,700 forest fires in Mato Grasso so far this year, compared with 8,135 in 2009, Reuters reported. The blazes have destroyed cattle pastures, killed livestock, and burned down some of the region’s remaining original forest.’
‘A boat squeezes through a narrow channel near Manaus. Desperate for food, some residents have scooped up rare manatees from shallow rivers, Reuters reported.’
Alaskan Wildfires Release More CO2 than is Stored in Tundra and Forests
e360.yale.edu 6th December 2010
Quoted from source:
‘Accelerated wildfires across wide swaths of the Alaskan interior caused by rising temperatures have released more carbon into the atmosphere over the last decade than was stored in the tundra and boreal forests, according to a new study. Over the last 10 years, the area burned by wildfires in interior Alaska has doubled to 18.5 million hectares — 71,000 square miles — largely because of an increased number of late-summer fires, which consume plant litter, moss, and organic matter in the soil that have accumulated over thousands of years, researchers say. It’s a trend that could portend “a runaway climate change scenario,” in which warming temperatures cause increasingly intense fires that release more and more carbon into the atmosphere, said Merritt Turetsky, a professor at the University of Guelph in Canada and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Researchers say the study supports a growing body of evidence that northern ecosystems are bearing the brunt of climate change, and that warming temperatures are turning these carbon sinks into large-scale sources of carbon.’
