Canada's Last Fully Intact Arctic Ice Shelf Collapses
The last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days.
The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut.
Above normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up.
The shelf's area shrank by about 80 square kilometers.
The Arctic has been warming at twice the global rate for the last 30 years, due to a process known as Arctic amplification.
Aug 07, 2020
UK Peat Emissions Could Cancel Forest Benefits
Emissions from UK peatland could cancel out all carbon reduction achieved through new and existing forests, warns the countryside charity CPRE.
It says many degraded peatlands are actually increasing carbon emissions.
Yet, it says, there has been much more focus from the government and media on forests than on peat bogs.
The government's advisory committee on climate change told BBC News that it agreed with the conclusions of the analysis.
Both that committee and the CPRE are urging more ambitious action to protect and enhance peatlands.
A peat bog is a Jekyll and Hyde thing. A wet, pristine peat bog soaks up CO2 and, unlike trees, has no limit to the amount of carbon it captures. rees only capture CO2 until they are mature.
But a dry, degraded bog – like many in England's uplands – is a big source of CO2 as the carbon in the bog oxidises.
Aug 06, 2020
Uttarakhand to Develop India's First Snow Leopard Conservation Centre
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat chaired a meeting along with State forest minister Harak Singh Rawat and other officials to look into the setting up of the conservation centre.
The conservation centre is set to come up at a place named Lanka, near Bhaironghati bridge in Uttarkashi district.
It will be built by the Uttarakhand forest department along the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of its six-year long project Securing livelihoods, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of high range Himalayan ecosystems (SECURE) Himalayas.
Dutch Conservation Architect Anne Feenstra shared the details of the conservation centre.
The conservation centre is expected to create awareness of the Big Cat among the people.
According to several researches, Uttarakhand is home to 86 snow leopards at present.
In Uttarakhand, snow leopards are found in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Gangotri National Park, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary and other places of altitude between 3000-4500 metres.
According to the World Wild Fund for Nature India (WWF), India is home to 450-500 snow leopards.
Snow Leopard is listed under Schedule – I of Wildlife Protection Act of India which gives the big cat absolute protection against hunting and poaching .
Jul 27, 2020
Norway's Arctic Archipelago Witnesses Highest ever Recorded Temperature
According to Norway`s Meteorological Institute, temperatures at Norway`s Svalbard archipelago, about midway between the mainland and the North Pole, hit a record high of 21.7 degrees Celsius.
The Arctic islands are warming faster than almost anywhere on Earth, highlighting risks in other parts of the Arctic from Alaska to Siberia.
A 41-year-old record has been broken in Longyearbyen.
Between 1700 and 1800 CET (1500-1600 GMT), the temperature measured 21.7 degrees Celsius, 0.4 degrees above the previous record from 1979.
Rising temperatures would thaw the frozen ground underpinning many buildings, roads and airports and could cause more avalanches and landslides.
A warming climate also threatens Arctic wildlife such as polar bears and seals which depend on the sea ice cover.
India Ranks 3rd in Gaining Forest Area in World
In accordance with the latest Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 brought out by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), India ranked 3rd among the top 10 countries that have gained in forest areas during 2010-2020. FRA 2020 examined the status of, and trends in, more than 60 forest-related variables in 236 countries and territories in the period 1990–2020.
India reported 0.38% annual gain in forest, or 266,000 ha of forest increase every year at an average. It's naturally regenerating forest rate was also 0.38% in 2010-20.
As per the report, the world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion hectares (ha) in 2020, which is 31% of the total land area where India accounts for 2% of total global forest area. Russia has a maximum forest area accounting 20% of global forest area (815 312 ha) followed by Brazil (496 620 ha-12%) and Canada (346 928 ha- 9%).
Jul 23, 2020
Polar Bears Could Disappear by 2100
Polar bears have long been the poster child of the consequences of climate change. A new study now suggests the Arctic species is at risk of being starved into extinction by the end of the century.
Acco0rding to the University of Toronto-led study, as sea ice continues to vanish due to warming temperatures, polar bears are increasingly struggling to find the food they need to survive.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are an estimated 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears in the wild, although precise numbers are hard to determine due to their remote habitat. The species is listed as vulnerable.
Polar bears rely on sea ice for hunting seals, their primary food source, according to the new study. But the spread of ice has been on the decline as climate change accelerates the rise in temperatures at the poles, keeping them on land where it's harder to catch seals.
While the bears can fast for months, their survival depends on how much energy they've managed to reserve through eating ahead of time, the energy they expend during the fast and how long a fasting period lasts.
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