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How Africa’s agriculture sector can benefit from climate finance, by NEPAD

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How Africa’s agriculture sector can benefit from climate finance, by NEPAD

The African Union Commission’s implementing Agency, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), has said that strong political will is a key ingredient to pushing the continent’s agriculture agenda at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiating table.

NEPAD Director of Programmes, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong
NEPAD Director of Programmes, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong

In line with Africa’s theme at COP 22, “Africa in Action”, NEPAD Director of Programmes, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, said high level political engagements would be required to support the negotiating team to achieve Africa’s major objective of pushing agricultural adaptation in the main agenda of the COP processes and be able to access climate financing.

“Strong political will is required to push agriculture to the top of Africa’s agenda at the negotiating table,” she said during a side event at COP 22. “Agriculture’s role to African countries’ implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions has to be well articulated at the highest level and let it benefit from climate finance; because without money, nothing will move.”

While Agriculture does not have a strong presence in the Paris Agreement, 98% of African countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) have an agricultural adaptation component.

The discussions over the years have centred on treating agriculture as a mitigation component, but the continent, whose majority population derives livelihoods from agriculture and other natural resource-based industries, sees agriculture as a key adaptation driver in the face of climate change.

“The potential for Africa’s agriculture is high because there is still a lot of room for innovation and new technologies to be employed – all it requires is some policy coherence in all national strategies and money to support the largely agriculture-driven NDCs as we have seen from the analysis which we did,” said Mark Frik of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

One key component which has been a topic of debate in agriculture is the involvement of youths. The accusation is that young people, who are the majority in Africa, are not interested in engaging in agriculture. One of the reasons cited is lack of financial capital in a sector which is largely rainfall-driven in Africa.

But Nkiruka Naemego, member of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), urged stakeholders to seek for solutions to the identified challenges that are keeping youths from agriculture, regarded as the continent’s lifeblood for economic transformation.

“AYICC has published a book showcasing youths’ involvement in agriculture and also tabulates their concerns on issues such as climate finance which is key to Africa’s agricultural adaptation,” said Nkiruka, even as she highlighted the need to engage and support youth participation in climate smart agricultural systems.

And this was a key question that NEPAD’s Fotabong brought to the attention of the discussion, and wants addressed at the highest level. “A research by the Norwegians in Zambia showed that conservation farming has raised the production profile of the smallholder farmers, but why is not becoming business as usual?” asked Fotabong rhetorically by answering herself that the challenge is finance.

However, the answer could lie in the work of the Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance spearheaded by NEPAD targeting to reach 25 million African farm households by 2025.

Courtesy: PAMACC News Agency

Climate resilience: Africa urged to prioritise water resource management

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Climate resilience: Africa urged to prioritise water resource management

Africa’s vulnerability to climate change as well as its water woes came to the fore once again at the ongoing Marrakech climate talks which entered its fifth day on Saturday.

Maria Goretti Kitutu, Ugandan Minister of State for Water. Africa’s vulnerability to climate change has been a cause for concern.
Maria Goretti Kitutu, Ugandan Minister of State for Water. Africa’s vulnerability to climate change has been a cause for concern.

According to reports, climate change could lead to economic cost of $40 billion per year, equivalent to 2.7% of GDP in Africa by 2025 just as Africa’s immediate adaptation needs are in the excess of $1-2 billion per year while climate change investments required are in the region of $12-28 billion per year.

Experts at the side event which centred on water resource management as a cornerstone for building climate resilience, reckoned that nearly all impacts of climate change in Africa appear in water-related phenomena such as droughts, floods and sea level rise.

Acknowledging that climate change is already adding extra burden to Africa’s existing challenges with regards to the risks and cost of water, the panel of experts which included Water Ministers from Morocco and Uganda, and water professionals from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) underscored the need for Africa to mainstream water into climate resilience building initiatives, support more effective and efficient use of water, and build capacity to attract predictable and fast-tracked financing mechanisms.

The Moroccan Water Minister, Charafat Afailal, believes that water is a key factor in human development. “Water is not only a problem but it is part of the solution,” she said.

According to the host minister, only integrated and sustainable water management can help Africa meet the challenges related to water availability, extreme weather events and uncertainty about the resource.

She further recommended that water be recognised as the “first victim” of climate change and to deepen an action agenda for water.

Maria Goretti Kitutu, Ugandan Minister of State for Water, declared her country’s support for the “Water for Africa” initiative which was launched recently at the COP.

Driven by the Moroccan government with the support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Water for Africa initiative aspires to render justice to the continent through the adoption of a specific action plan that will mobilise different international political, financial and institutional partners to improve water and sanitation services and management for those most affected by climate change.

Kitutu pledged the support of Uganda for the initiative while calling on other African member states to follow suit and rededicate themselves to implementing several of such commitments that dot the continent’s landscape.

Guang Z. Chen, Senior Director, Water Global Practice at the World Group and GWP’s Alex Similabwi, highlighted the imperatives of integrated water resource management in Africa’s march towards climate resilience. According to Chen, Africa as the least urbanised region in the world cannot get on the urbanisation train without the efficient management and utilisation of its abundant water resources.

U.S. reinforces Africa power commitment with $11m

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U.S. reinforces Africa power commitment with $11m

The government of the United States of America has reinforced its focal commitment to achieving the lofty objectives of the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) with an additional funding of $11 million.

Amadou Hott, AfDB’s Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth. He lauded the US government’s power Africa
Amadou Hott, AfDB’s Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth. He lauded the US government’s power Africa

At a signing ceremony which held on Saturday within the precincts of the U.S. Centre Pavilion at the ongoing 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Power Africa initiative provided a second tranche of funding of $11 million towards fulfilling its overall commitment of $20 million to the African Development Bank-led Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.

Saluting the U.S. government’s commitment to SEFA, Amadou Hott, AfDB’s Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, remarked that the second tranche would expand the important work already underway in components 1 and 3 of SEFA that support project preparation and enabling environment reforms.

“This demonstration of donor coordination through pooled resources serves as a model and signals to the international community our joint level of commitment to these crucial goals of generation and access,” Hott says.

The AfDB Vice President who has vast experience in structuring finance for power and energy projects with a passion for solving Africa’s power and energy need especially in renewable energy and balanced energy mix, likened the signing ceremony as a boost for the bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa, which is aimed at helping the continent to achieve universal electricity access by 2025 with a strong focus on encouraging clean and renewable energy solutions.

Andrew M. Herscowitz of Power Africa, who moderated the event and signed on behalf of the US government, expressed satisfaction with the SEFA-driven mechanisms which have succeeded in increasing access to small and medium-scale renewable energy generation and energy efficiency as well as providing project preparation grants to attain bankability status.

According to Herscowitz, “Power Africa has already injected a first payment of $5 million into SEFA which directly supports the AfDB’s New Deal on Energy for Africa that ensures universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global mix.”

Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Lida Fitts; Chris Hornor, Founder and CEO, PowerHive; and Kevin Connolly of the Affordable Access Initiatives, who participated at the signing ceremony, lauded the U.S. government-led partnership with SEFA, which aims to add 30,000 MW of cleaner and more efficient generation capacity.

Fitts added that an addition of 60 million new home and business connections would unlock the energy sector potential through policy reforms and removal of barriers that impede sustainable energy development in sub-Saharan Africa.

While Power Africa offers renewable energy developers the combined resources of 12 U.S. government agencies, the World Bank Group, the AfDB, the Governments of Canada, the EU, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as partner African governments and more than 120 private sector partners, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) is a multi-donor effort developed with an initial pledge between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Denmark in 2011.

Subsequently, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy pledged further contributions, bringing the total fund capitalisation to an equivalent of $95 million by the end of 2015. SEFA promotes African ownership, inclusiveness and a comprehensive approach to implementation in the 44 African countries that have joined the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

It provides guidance to African governments and energy stakeholders, delivers technical assistance, fosters networking and communication, and contributes towards finance mobilisation. The SEFA goals are developed through a multi-stakeholder process that brings together government actors, development partners, private sector and civil society.

Buhari to ratify Paris Agreement next week, says Jibril

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Buhari to ratify Paris Agreement next week, says Jibril

True to his promise made last September during the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, President Muhammadu Buhari is set to ratify the Paris Agreement.

Ibrahim Usman Jibril, the Environment Minister of State. He disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will be attending the COP22
Ibrahim Usman Jibril, the Environment Minister of State. He disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari will be attending the COP22

The Nigerian president had promised after signing the gobal climate pact at a side event during the UNGA71 that he would ratify the treaty during the UN climate change talks (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.

Ibrahim Usman Jibril, the Environment Minister of State, confirmed on Wednesday in Marrakech that President Buhari would be in the Moroccan city next week.

He said: “Just about two weeks ago, the Federal Executive Council approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement and Mr President, by the grace of God, will be coming for this COP22 next week. And one of the reasons why he will be coming is to ratify the Paris Agreement which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in Nigeria.”

He flayed views held by certain quarters that, coming to the COP, Nigeria seemed unprepared, in the light of the fact that, among other issues, the climate treaty was yet to be ratified.

He stated: “That is not true. You are fully aware that President Muhhamadu Buhari was in New York during the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where, during a side event, he signed the Paris Agreement. And, just about two weeks ago, the Federal Executive Council approved the ratification of that Paris Agreement and Mr President, by the grace of God, next week will be coming for this COP22. And one of the reasons why he will be coming is to ratify the Paris Agreement which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in Nigeria.

“We did not rush to do the signing and ratification because we wanted to do a stakeholder consultation, wherein we did a series of meetings with NGOs, legislators and numerous stakeholders to make sure that we carried everybody along so that people will get to know exactly what this issue is all about. We needed to do things that are of interest to Nigerians, and that is exactly what we did. So we look at this event as a very important one.”

He disclosed that, following international appeals and campaigns, considerable progress had been made regarding the shrinking Lake Chad basin, which Nigeria shares with sevral neighbouring countries.

His words: “After the UNGA, the big boost after the President canvassed relentlessly for intervention is tha the German authorities accepted to intervene by way of funding recharging the Lake Chad. You need to realise that climate change has an effect in conflicts. We know the drying up of the Lake Chad and, as means of livelihood, what it means for it to drying to millions of people who depend on it. So getting external funding for the Lake Chad was key and we have to commend the President for this development.

“So, we have to clean the Northeast even after the Boko Haram insurgency has been completely eliminated. We must have to find a way to clear the explosive divices left behind by the insurgents, as well as find a way to ressetle the internall dispalsed persons (IDPs) . There so many people all over the country who are seriously vulnerable and are exposed to all sorts of hardships. This is of serious concern to us. It is about the socio-economic and environmental concerns. Remember, for more than five years, these people have not been able to access their farms.

“So we just have to get them back in such a way that they have to getback to their farms, they have to get back to their means of livelihood and we have to address the widows, the children that are elft with their parents. The trauma is something that is cross-cutting. The Ministry of Environment is at the fore-front and we are collaborating with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, and other Federal Government agencies and departments in the recovery of the Lake Chad region.

“We travel across the whole country and there is no part of Nigeria that we don’t have environmental problems. So, coming to COP22 and the issue of climate change is something significant to us.”

World Alliance for Clean Technologies launched at COP22

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World Alliance for Clean Technologies launched at COP22

The Solar Impulse Foundation launched the World Alliance for Clean Technologies on Friday in Marrakech as a legacy to the first ever solar flight around the world. Its goal is to federate the main actors in the field of clean technologies, in order to create synergies, promote profitable solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and health challenges, and give credible advice to governments.

Solar Impulse and crew after flying 40,000km without fuel last July
Solar Impulse and crew after flying 40,000km without fuel last July

Less than four months after the landing of the first ever solar flight around the world, accomplished by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, the Solar Impulse Foundation, via the launch, shifts to a second phase in the realisation of Bertrand Piccard’s vision that clean technologies can accomplish impossible goals and offer tangible solutions to solve many of the challenges facing global society today as well as reach the objectives of the Climate Action Agenda.

The Alliance’s overarching ambition is to globally advance the cause of clean technologies, which it defines as “any practical solution that allows bridging the gap between ecology and economy. They are not limited to the production of renewable energy, but encompass technologies, systems, know-hows or processes that protect the environment, improve health, increase energy efficiency or save natural resources, while creating jobs, generating profit and sustaining growth”.

“We need to embrace clean technologies, not because they are ‘eco-logical,’ but because they are ‘logical’,” said Bertrand Piccard, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation. “Even if climate change didn’t exist, energy efficient technologies would make sense to create jobs, generate profit and boost economic development, while also reducing CO2 emissions and protecting natural resources.”

Until now, there was no such organisation, gathering the clean technologies stakeholders around the world; hence the Alliance will bring together start-ups, companies, institutions and organisations producing, implementing or supporting the use of clean technologies. Together, the members will share experience and create synergies in order to improve the overall value chain and demonstrate concrete solutions to support governments, corporations and institutions in reaching their environmental and health targets, advising them depending on their specific situation.

Commenting on the launch of the Alliance, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “The Solar Impulse flight showed the world that it is possible to push the limits of technology in order to build the foundation for a sustainable future. By harnessing this and other innovative technologies, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Patricia Espinosa, stated: “Initiatives like the World Alliance for Clean Technologies are exactly what we need to further enable investors, governments, cities and citizens to harvest the rich variety of clean technologies that already exist or are under development.

“We need the best and brightest minds – from the North and the South – to deliver clean technologies that can collectively accomplish the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and all the Sustainable Development Goals to catalyse a healthy and prosperous future for all.”

Richard Northcote, Chief Sustainability Officer at Covestro, shared: “We are delighted to continue our relationship with Solar Impulse though the World Alliance for Clean Technologies. Our contribution to the Solar Impulse project proved that we have the technology to make the world a brighter place and through this alliance we intend to accelerate the implementation of these technologies to tackle the challenges society faces while generating business growth.”

The Solar Impulse Foundation offers to the Alliance its administrative support, as well as the media, political and institutional relations developed during the round-the-world solar flight. The Alliance is funded thanks to partners such as Covestro, Solvay and Nestlé Research, among others, as well as private donors.

As Bertrand Piccard said upon the final landing in Abu Dhabi, “If an airplane can fly around the world without a drop of fuel, clean technologies can undoubtedly be implemented on the ground to make a cleaner, more efficient and richer world.”

Video: Health implications of a wrong diagnosis

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Video: Health implications of a wrong diagnosis

Career schools: Necessity of educational flexibility (2)

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Career schools: Necessity of educational flexibility (2)

The necessity of career colleges is crucial to development of the socio-economy of any country, especially the developing ones, like ours, because career colleges provide students with options based on not only “what they learn” but “how they learn”. In my opinion, one of the sectors of millennium development is to refocus and re channel resources back to energising and supporting educational forums and effort that will dramatically and successfully increase students’ interest in education, which will in turn increase enrollments and academic achievements.

Necessity of career colleges is crucial to development of the socio-economy of any country
Necessity of career colleges is crucial to development of the socio-economy of any country

In my opinion, to begin tackling the problem of retaining students in both traditional schools and career colleges, we need to review, ask and proceed to answer two simple questions…. “Why are they not coming?” and when they come “Why don’t they stay?” why is there a high dropout rate before completing school. There are numerous reasons, including the difficulty of getting to school, the cost of schooling, class room engagement, keeping students interested, some kind of hope for future utilisation of knowledge acquired, etc. Even when tuition is free, there are often other expenses necessary for general welfare, such as lunch, projects, uniforms, examination fees, etc. And because the quality of education in developing areas, like ours is often poor, parents are forced to pay for additional tutoring to enable their children to pass tests (that is if they can afford it). Opportunity costs may be even larger – while they are in school, children forego opportunities to produce income working on the family farm or selling in the marketplace. It is not surprising that when education investments do not result in adequate learning, or even basic literacy and numeracy or even any future hope of doing something tangible with the proposed knowledge, parents do not keep their children in school.

Even when learning outcomes are adequate, very few students continue on to secondary school, not to talk of pursuing higher education. Job prospects for most people in the developing world are poor, and staying in school past grade 5, or even through grade 10, does not improve them significantly. In impoverished regions, the vast majority will not secure formal employment and will be supported primarily through subsistence level agriculture and trading.

Educational programmes typically adopt traditional Western models of education, with an emphasis on maths, science, language, and social studies. These programmes allocate scarce resources to topics like Greek mythology, prime numbers, or tectonic plate movement – topics that may provide intellectual stimulation, but have little relevance in the lives of impoverished children. High performing students in less developed regions face a much different future from their counterparts’ in wealthier areas. There are no higher levels of schooling or professional job opportunities awaiting most of these children; they will likely end up working on family or neighborhood farms or start their own small enterprises, with little room to grow or sustain their businesses.

Schooling provides neither the financial literacy students will need to manage the meager resources under their control, nor the guidance needed to create opportunities for securing a livelihood or building wealth. In addition, schooling provides little assistance to promote the physical health needed for economic stability and quality of life. The truth is that life expectancy is low in impoverished regions, and not just because of lack of quality medical care.

I fervently believe that what students need in all regions are not necessarily, lengthened educational programmes or more academic skills, but rather life skills that enable them to improve their financial prospects and well-being. These include: financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills; health maintenance and management skills; and administrative capabilities, such as teamwork, problem solving, and project management.

As an educationalist, my focus for the past six years has been to help refocus the attention of the government, non-government, private schools, teachers, parents and children back to education versus the prominent entertainment world and aspirations. Based on the state of education in developing countries like ours, there is an unquestionable need for scholars and educationalists to rise and form an alliance that will provoke our children to yearning for more knowledge, acquire skills, and with the end goal of serving their communities with the skills acquired. It is also important that we implement training for illiterate adults in developing countries, like ours, this will help balance the front and back end of our most invaluable resource, which is “Our People”, leveraging the utilisation of skilled human capital, with the anticipated outcome of positively impacting our socio economic status and our growing relevance in the global market. My experiences in western educational operation and the current educational thirst and dryness, have convinced me that the time is right to redefine quality education in Nigeria.

In Volume III, I will introduce you to an effective educational model called: “Living Education.”

By Laide R. Alexander (Houston, Texas, United States of America)

Climate change disrupting nature from genes to ecosystems

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Climate change disrupting nature from genes to ecosystems

Global changes in temperature have already impacted every aspect of life on Earth from genes to entire ecosystems, with increasingly worrying consequences for humans, according to a new study co-authored by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Species Survival Commission’s Climate Change Specialist Group (SSC CCSG), and published in a recent edition of Science.

IUCN Director General, Inger Andersen
IUCN Director General, Inger Andersen

The IUCN is a membership union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

The SSC CCSG study found that more than 80% of ecological processes that form the foundation for healthy marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems – such as changes to genetic diversity or seasonal migration – are already showing signs of distress and altering as a response to climate change.

“The extent to which climate change is already wreaking havoc with nature is simply astounding,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “These findings send a very clear message to world leaders gathering for climate change negotiations in Marrakech: cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the ecosystems on which we depend is an urgent matter of self-preservation.”

The study analyses 94 ecological processes, as documented in peer-reviewed literature.

Many of the climate change impacts on species and ecosystems affect people, according to the authors, with consequences ranging from increased pest and disease outbreaks, reduced productivity in fisheries, and decreasing agricultural yields.

Changes in ecological processes may also compromise the capacity of ecosystems to help us mitigate and adapt to climate change, the authors warn. Healthy ecosystems contribute to climate mitigation and adaption by sequestering substantial amounts of carbon, regulating local climate and reducing risks from climate-related hazards such as floods, sea-level rise and cyclones, the report states.

“We now have evidence that, with only a ~1oC of warming globally, major impacts are already being felt,” says study lead author Dr Brett Scheffers, member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group and assistant professor at the University of Florida. “These range from individual genes changing, significant shifts in species’ physiology and physical features such as body size, and species moving to entirely new areas.”

When a large number of processes are all impacted within a single ecosystem, they scale up to produce what researchers call ecological regime shifts – where one ecosystem state shifts to an alternative state. This can be seen in kelp forests that have turned into rocky barrens in temperate seas. On land and in the oceans, many ecosystems are becoming unrecognisable, with Arctic tundra ecosystems becoming dominated by boreal and temperate organisms, and temperate marine ecosystems becoming dominated by tropical organisms.

However, the study also points to hope as many of nature’s responses to climate change could be used to inform human adaptive measures. For example, improved understanding of the adaptive capacity in wildlife can be applied to our crops, livestock and fisheries. This can be seen in crops such as wheat and barley, where domesticated varieties are crossed with wild varieties to maintain the evolutionary potential of crops under climate change.

“This study has strong implications for global climate change agreements,” says co-author Dr Wendy Foden, Chair of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group, based at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. “Countries’ current commitments reduce global temperature rise to around 3oC, but we’re showing that there are already serious impacts right across biological systems at 1oC. If we’re going to keep natural systems delivering the services we rely so heavily on, it’s imperative that we step up our efforts.”

“We are simply astonished at the level of change we observed, which many of us in the scientific community were not expecting for decades,” says senior author Dr James Watson from the University of Queensland and World Conservation Society, member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group. “It is no longer sensible to consider this a concern for the future and if we don’t act quickly to curb emissions it is likely that every ecosystem across Earth will fundamentally change in our lifetimes.”

Why seabirds keep mistaking ocean plastic for food, by study

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Why seabirds keep mistaking ocean plastic for food, by study

Each year, millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean, where it often goes straight into the bellies of hungry birds, sea turtles and other marine animals. This is a big concern for scientists, who are still investigating the possible consequences for the marine ecosystem – but until now, researchers weren’t completely sure why so many animals were mistaking the plastic for food in the first place.

Seabirds tend to mistake ocean plastic for food
Seabirds tend to mistake ocean plastic for food

A new study, just out in the journal Science Advances, may shed some light on the mystery. The study finds that plastic in the ocean gives off a specific chemical compound with a distinctive smell, signaling to some seabirds that it’s dinnertime.

“What we think is going on is that the plastic is emitting a cue that is getting (the birds) into moods to eat,” said Gabrielle Nevitt of the University of California Davis, the study’s senior author.

Scientists already knew that some types of seabirds rely heavily on their sense of smell, rather than just their vision, when foraging for food. Nevitt’s previous research has focused largely on a group known as the procellariiform seabirds, which include albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters. Previous research has found these birds are especially responsive to a chemical compound called dimethyl sulfide, or DMS.

In nature, DMS is produced by algae – especially when it’s being broken down and eaten by krill. There’s an evolutionary purpose to this system that benefits both seabirds and algae.

When the the algae emit the chemical, they’re “engaging in sort of a mutualistic interaction,” said Matthew Savoca, a Ph.D student at UC Davis and the study’s lead author. “The algae says, ‘Birds, come over here and find food,’ and the birds say to the algae, ‘Thank you very much, we’re now going to eat your predators and reduce your grazing pressure from the krill.’ ”

The problem is that plastic in the ocean tends to accumulate algae and other organic matter on its surface in a process known as “biofouling” – and this material emits DMS, the new study found.

The researchers filled mesh bags with three of the most common types of plastic debris – high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene and polypropylene – and attached them to buoys in the ocean. After three weeks, the researchers collected the bags for analysis.

Back at UC Davis, they turned to food and wine chemist Susan Ebeler’s lab for help. The lab supplied equipment usually used to detect sulphur in wine, which the researchers then used to analyse their plastic samples. They found a DMS signature on all the plastic that had been in the ocean. On the contrary, they did not detect any DMS when they tested plastic that hadn’t been soaked in the sea.

Next, the researchers pooled data from previous research on plastic ingestion in seabirds. They found that birds known to be responsive to DMS consumed plastic five times as frequently as non-DMS-responsive species.

The researchers decided to expand their study even further. Previous research has suggested that DMS-responsive species often tend to build their nests underground, while many other species nest on the surface. So the researchers decided to see what would happen if they analysed previously collected data on plastic ingestion in burrowing versus non-burrowing seabirds. They found that burrow-nesting birds were also significantly more likely to ingest plastic than surface-nesting birds.

These results have several important implications, according to the researchers. First, the study provides new insight into the mechanisms causing certain marine animals to eat plastic waste – and it likely applies to more than just seabirds. Some research has indicated that other animals, including fish and sea turtles, also use DMS or other chemicals as feeding cues, Nevitt said.

The research also suggests that some of the species most vulnerable to plastic pollution may have been overlooked until now. Burrowing seabirds have not been the most heavily monitored up until this point, Savoca pointed out – largely because they spend so much time hidden underground – but the new study suggests they might be disproportionately affected by plastic waste.

The paper “provides a convincing argument for the Procellariiform seabirds as to why they might pick up plastic from the ocean,” said Chris Wilcox, a senior research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, who was not involved with the new study, in an emailed comment to The Washington Post.

However, he added, other species that don’t use DMS for foraging have also shown high rates of plastic ingestion. The reason for this remains an open question. For many species, eating plastic may indeed be a simple visual mistake – it might just look like food. Even in the DMS-responsive seabirds, visual cues may still be playing a part, Savoca noted.

“I think it’s quite possible that these hypotheses are complementary, they really build on each other,” he said. “If something looks like food and smells like food, it would be much harder not to eat it.”

Wilcox also cautioned that a lot of research on the actual effects of plastic consumption, particularly on whole populations of seabirds, remains inconclusive. While many scientists are indeed concerned that plastic might be harming the marine ecosystem, Wilcox pointed out that the new study can’t be used to speculate on the consequences of plastic consumption – only the reasons it’s happening.

That said, the researchers are hopeful that their findings can be used to help stop marine animals from eating so much plastic waste. Recent research has suggested that the problem is only continuing to grow for now. A 2015 study, which was led by Wilcox, predicted that 99 percent of all seabird species – up from about 59 percent now – will be eating plastic by the year 2050.

“(The study) provides a salient mechanism for how this group of birds might be detecting plastic and consuming it,” Nevitt said. “And once you have a better idea of how a mechanism might work, you’re in a better position to potentially mediate that.”

There may be some opportunities for materials scientists and manufacturers to make a difference in the future, Savoca suggested – perhaps by designing plastics that are less conducive to algae growth. But he says the biggest priority should be keeping plastic out of our waterways in the first place.

“Really, (the paper) just adds another layer to how how insidious and bad this plastic problem is,” he said.

By Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post)

What if Trump pulls the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement?

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What if Trump pulls the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement?

After Tuesday’s U.S. election upset, climate change watchers and wonks are scrambling to assess what it would really mean if Donald Trump, true to his word, ditches or simply fails to participate in the Paris climate change agreement (which he could do through a variety of mechanisms). And it does indeed appear that the consequences for international diplomacy, and for the planet, would be considerable.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pumps his fist after giving his acceptance speech as his wife Melania Trump, right, and their son Barron Trump follow him during his election night rally in New York. Photo credit: AP Photo/John Locher
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pumps his fist after giving his acceptance speech as his wife Melania Trump, right, and their son Barron Trump follow him during his election night rally in New York. Photo credit: AP Photo/John Locher

At the centre of the U.S.’s role in that agreement is its ambitious pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent below their 2005 levels by the year 2025. Presumably, under Trump, we’d no longer see such significant cuts. Indeed, given Trump’s campaign trail talk about firing up the domestic coal, oil, and gas industries, we might even see our emissions increase.

So what would it mean if the U.S. doesn’t hit its Paris target, for whatever reason, due to actions taken (or not taken) under Trump?

According to an analysis shared with the Post by the D.C.-based think tank Climate Interactive (based in part on this analysis here), the effect is actually quite substantial. That’s because a large percentage of the full emissions cuts produced by the Paris agreement come directly from the U.S.’s individual promise to take domestic action, said Andrew Jones, co-director of the group.

“Pulling out of the Paris agreement matters not just in leadership, but also in a direct impact on the climate,” Jones said.

More specifically, Jones explained, Climate Interactive’s analysis finds that the U.S. pledge amounts to the avoidance of 22 gigatons, or billion tons, of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions between the years 2016 and 2030. But all of the pledges, by all of the countries, only amount to the avoidance of a little over 100 gigatons. Thus, the U.S.accounts for around 20 percent of the total, which is not surprising, given the size of the country and the fact that it is the world’s second largest emitter after China.

So what effect would that have on the Paris agreement as a whole? Noticing that one fifth of its emissions cuts have vanished, Jones said, “I think the rest of the world would be less likely to take action on their own part, and do their own share.”

Granted, it is far from certain that a President Trump will be as hostile to the Paris accord as he sounded on the campaign trail – he will have to forge relationships with all these countries that want him to participate in global climate action.

“Governing is different than campaigning,” said David Sandalow, a fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “The Trump team is about to confront that.  Following through on some of his campaign climate statements would come at a cost in terms of his administration’s foreign policy objectives.”

Sandalow added that the U.S. dropping out of the Paris process could be a boon to its other biggest participant in terms of its emissions – China.

“If the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement, that would create a strategic opportunity for China,” Sandalow said. “It would gain credibility globally by sticking with its climate plans even as the U.S. withdraws, helping the Chinese government advance its objectives on a range of topics.”

Meanwhile, it’s not just that Donald Trump’s victory has upended the move towards global climate action – and will likely set the stage for reversal of Obama climate and energy policies at home as well.

The November 8 election also saw the defeat of an initiative in Washington State that would have imposed the nation’s first revenue-neutral carbon tax, assessing a $25-per-ton fee on carbon dioxide emitted in the electricity, transportation, and other sectors and then using that revenue to reduce the state sales tax.

Initiative 732, as it was called, actually saw considerable resistance from the environmental left, which felt that revenues from such a measure should be used to advance other social causes, rather than be returned to taxpayers. By the end, a strange bedfellow allegiance had arisen in which some on the left had effectively joined forces with some fossil fuel interests to oppose the carbon tax, even as many climate scientists and economists supported it.

The tough politics hurt the measure even in Washington State’s populous and very liberal King County, the home to Seattle, where the initiative barely won a majority. In contrast, King voted for Hillary Clinton by 73.9 percent. Statewide, 58.1 percent of Washington voters ultimately said “no” to the carbon tax initiative.

To be sure, in the context of the bombshell election and its broader negative implications for international climate action, the loss in Washington hardly felt significant.

“In the scheme of things it doesn’t really count for much, and I would say that even if it had won, because we’re in for many years of backsliding on climate at a time when we really had to ramp it up,” said Charles Komanoff, director of the Carbon Tax Centre.

By Chris Mooney (The Washington Post)

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