Three-quarters of our 1,200 islands lie no higher than four feet (1.2 metres) above mean sea-level. The projected rise in sea-levels by the end of this century could mean that our islands may become uninhabitable at that time.”
He said the international community can help prevent his nation’s sinking into a watery grave if it shakes off inaction and self-interest and builds the political will to tackle climate change.
“The 1997-1998 El Niño led to the bleaching of our surface corals. The unprecedented tidal surges that were experienced simultaneously on nearly 80 islands earlier this year were a stark reminder that weather patterns were becoming both unpredictable and unsavoury,” he said.
Economy in peril
“All these effects compound our concern as our narrow-based economy is dependent on fisheries and tourism. Both sectors face a real danger of collapse if current trends continue during the coming decades.”
Tourism is the lynchpin of the Maldives’ $700-million economy.
The island chain is renowned for its luxury resorts – accommodation in pavilions on stilts over turquoise lagoons can run to well over $1,000 (U.S.) a night. The playground for Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise is also famed for its white sand beaches and world-class snorkelling and scuba diving.
Only 195 of the Maldives’ islands are inhabited, but 93 of those are suffering from erosion. And the December, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami exposed just how vulnerable all the islands are.
While geography helped save the Maldives from the death and destruction that devastated countries such as neighbouring Sri Lanka, authorities had to empty 13 islands completely.
“If climate change continues unchecked, local mitigation measures will not be sufficient to safeguard my people,” Mr. Gayoom said. “Our very survival depends on the discussions being held on the global stage.
“The science of climate change has advanced in leaps and bounds. Yet, we have so far failed to agree on effective cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions. The problem, in my view, is a lack of commitment.”
Mr. Gayoom said it is unfair to expect the world’s industrial nations, such as the United States, to shoulder the burden of climate change alone, saying developing countries such as Brazil, India and China are also big emitters of greenhouse gases.
December’s climate-change meeting in Bali will be crunch time.
“Time is running out to agree upon a post-Kyoto arrangement and Bali could well be our last chance to ensure that the end of the Kyoto Protocol period will not result in a loss of momentum,” Mr. Gayoom said.
“At Bali, the world must agree on more substantial emissions reductions,” he added. “It must also serve as an opportunity to bring aboard those currently outside the Kyoto process.”
Mr. Gayoom is organizing a climate-change summit in the Maldives on Nov. 13-14, and he has a simple message.
“I call on all my fellow world leaders to take heed of scientific warnings, and show greater commitment in our search for a concrete solution to climate change.
“The 300,000 people of the Maldives are putting their faith in your judgment. Their survival is in your hands.”
From the vineyards of Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula to the wheat fields of the Prairies, farmers across the country are in the thick of harvesting.
But this year in farm country, besides the normal talk about crop conditions, there is also chatter about global warming. Few farmers have ever seen a year like this one, marked by hot, sunny and unusually dry conditions in so many regions.
“Every single conversation that goes on about yields and weather conditions, global warming is part of that conversation,” says Stewart Wells, a Saskatchewan farmer and head of the National Farmers Union, although he adds that growers are unsure that what they are seeing is really climate change starting to happen.
While global warming is expected to have many deleterious effects, such as melting icecaps and rising sea levels, it has always been considered something of a potential agricultural boon for Canadian farmers.
Most computer models used to simulate future climates indicate that as the world warms due to rising amounts of greenhouse gases, Canada will be a big winner, with elevated temperatures holding out the prospect of longer growing seasons and the ability to raise crops at more northerly latitudes.
These computer models also predict that higher temperatures will be accompanied by more precipitation, and more extreme weather events, such as flash floods and windstorms.
Earlier this year, the UN’s authoritative science body on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, projected that moderate climate change — the type most likely to occur over the next few decades — will likely increase yields in the agricultural areas of North America dependent on precipitation. It also forecast improved conditions for fruit production in the Great Lakes region and in Eastern Canada.
Another recent computer projection by the consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an umbrella organization representing 15 of the world’s top crop research centres, said that by 2050, areas of Labrador and other parts of Northern Canada may be warm enough to grow wheat.
Many farmers wondering about climate change point to the Prairies this year as a possible harbinger of things to come. The summer has been warmer, but the weather has been following only part of the script suggested by the computer models because precipitation has been lacking.
Paul Beingessner, who raises livestock and durum wheat in Truax, Sask., southeast of Regina, says he’s noticed a new seasonal weather pattern in his area that he attributes to global warming.
For the past five years, crop conditions have been favourable early in the season. Soil moisture has been fine in May and mid-June, followed by drought-like conditions and extreme heat for the balance of the summer that has harmed crops. Thanks to warmer temperatures, farmers have often been able to plant seed much earlier, sometimes in mid April, compared to previously in mid-May.
“It’s really a different pattern. I would attribute it to global warming,” Mr. Beingessner said.
Mr. Wells said that in Southern Ontario, farmers have been suffering through drought-like conditions similar to the Prairies, and expect to take a hit on yields in non-irrigated areas.
The decline in precipitation has been remarkable in many prime growing areas of the country. The southern parts of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario were 40-per-cent drier than normal this summer, according to records compiled by Environment Canada.
Atlantic Canada hasn’t experienced the same extremes, but farmers there also see traces of global warming.
In Prince Edward Island, potato grower J.P. Hendricken says his area hasn’t experienced September frosts for about five years running. As well, there’s been little snow in winter recently, and when it rains, it’s more likely to be a deluge than gentle showers.
“I do see a great change in the weather here in the last five years, more than I’ve ever seen in [my] first 40 years of farming,” he said
Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have stayed at a record high for another year, according to federal statistics showing that even a warm winter and more nuclear power can’t stop our up-and-up emissions trend.
The newest national summary shows our greenhouse gas production in 2005 stayed at the peak first reached in 2004, slightly above 2003, and significantly higher than all previous years.
Our emissions are now 32.7 per cent above the target in Canada’s Kyoto Protocol commitment - which takes binding effect in three months.
While we at least managed not to increase our emissions in 2005, Environment Canada says that’s partly because we got lucky with a warm winter. We also reduced emissions in some areas by bringing nuclear plants back online in Ontario, which allowed the province’s power plants to burn less coal.
Environment Canada adds: “Long term growth, nevertheless, remains large. Between 1990 and 2005 significant increases in oil and gas production, much of which have been provided to the United States, have resulted in a significant increase in the emissions associated with the production and transportation of fuel for export.”
The Kyoto Protocol obliges Canada to keep greenhouse gas emissions six percentage points below 1990 levels, on average, from the beginning of 2008 through 2012.
Yet the latest figures illustrate the gap between the public’s stated goals - telling pollsters we demand cuts in emissions - and the nation’s real demand for cars, heated homes and manufactured products.
The upward emissions trend doesn’t surprise Jim Bruce, a former senior official of Environment Canada now in private practice.
That’s “because we haven’t made any really big, determined efforts,” he said. “We’ve taken a number of baby steps but not really big concerted effort to reduce emissions.”
We can’t cut fuel unless we re-engineer existing buildings to conserve more heat, and make smaller cars and trucks, he said.
“The Europeans are doing this, especially Britain and Norway and Germany.” Some of these countries also have substantial wind power, and this week Britain announced it will dam the Severn River estuary to run rising and falling tidewaters through turbines that produce electricity.
“California is doing things. There are a number of developed countries and regions that have taken the bit in the teeth and are moving to reductions.
“What the Swedes did is a really a key thing. They rejigged their whole tax structure to reduce significantly income takes and other taxes and increase energy taxes.”
Canadian figures comparing 2005 to previous years show that:
- People still aren’t conserving electricity. Demand actually increased from 2003 to 2005, but greenhouse emissions fell when Ontario refurbished nuclear plants that had been idle, and shut down coal-burning plans. There was also some increase nationally in hydroelectric power, which doesn’t produce carbon dioxide.
- Since 1990, Canadians have increased their emissions from transportation by 33 per cent. (The Kyoto deal measures everything since 1990.)
But within that category, emissions from light trucks and SUVs are up by 109 per cent, reflecting how sales of these popular brands have risen sharply despite our national commitment to use less fuel.
Most of the rest of the increase from transportation came from heavy diesel trucks.
- The growth of factory farms for pigs, chickens and beef cattle boosted emissions in the agriculture sector. As well, the conversion of forest and natural grasslands to cropland is a continuing source of gas emissions.
- Alberta is the biggest greenhouse gas producer (more than 230 million tonnes in 2005, or about 30 per cent of Canada’s total.) Ontario comes second (200 million tonnes), followed by Quebec (about 90 million), Saskatchewan (about 70 million, much of it from fertilizer), British Columbia (about 65 million) and the rest all less than 25 million.
- Leaks from natural gas pipelines continue to be a major source of greenhouse gases. Leakage grew by 54 per cent between 1990 and 2005.
- Exploitation of tarsands is expected to increase greenhouse gases from energy production.
Ottawa Citizen
Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (recently revised):
2005 (also 2004) 747 million tonnes
2000 721
1995 646
1990 596
Kyoto target, beginning in 2008: 563
Source: Environment Canada
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=6cff9beb-035e-4596-b6ed-4d593a62187f
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071001.wgrow1001/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/site/article/122
A University of B.C. study claims pollution is killing 25,000 Canadians a year and costing the health care system more than $9 billion.
Study co-author David Boyd said Canadians are awash in toxic chemicals such as pesticides, heavy metals, flame retardants and air pollution.
The study, published this week in the online journal Environmental Research, says in addition to the deaths, the pollution causes 24,000 new cases of cancer and 2,500 low birthweight babies in Canada each year.
“In our cultural DNA, we think of Canada as a pristine nation, but this is at odds with our track record on the environment,” Boyd said in a news release.
He said Canada’s environmental record ranks around 28th in the 30-country Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development.
“When faced with a choice between protecting the environment or polluting industries, we continue to protect industries.”
Boyd and co-author of the paper Dr. Stephen Genuis of the University of Alberta used recent public health data to calculate Canada’s environmental burden of disease, the morbidity and mortality caused by exposure to environmental hazards.
Their research focused on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer and congenital problems.
“We focused on these diseases because there is strong evidence connecting them to environmental contaminants,” Boyd said.
He believes Canada should develop a national environmental strategy, including tougher standards for air and water quality, food and consumer products.
Among the sources used for the data are the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Statistics Canada, Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071002/pollution_study_071002/20071002?hub=Health
Ecology Tourism Lake Manitoba Narrows