Environment

As climate change redistributes terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, the world's natural capital is expected to decrease, causing a 9% loss of ecosystem services by 2100. That's according to a study of natural capital published in the journal Nature led by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Due to clear-cutting, the area of undisturbed rainforests is decreasing. At the edges of deforested areas, temperatures rise, and there is more light. Trees are able to adapt to changes in their living conditions and environment, but how does environmental change affect the shape of trees in the tropical rainforest? To date there has been no overall understanding of this.

Associate Professor Eduardo Maeda from the University of Helsinki coordinated an international project investigating tree shapes on the edges of the tropical rainforest. Matheus Nunes, who previously worked at the University of Helsinki and is now active at the University of Maryland, headed a study where data were collected through terrestrial laser scanning to model Amazonian trees.

The findings were recently published in Nature Communications. The study clearly demonstrated that trees growing on forest edges are shaped differently from those growing deep in the forest.

“COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure,” former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said. But organizers of the summit in Dubai urged nations to be flexible and compromise.

Projected rate of warming has not improved in past two years, analysis shows

JT-60SA produces largest volume of plasma ever made by humans, paves way for ITER

The former U.S. vice president accused the United Arab Emirates of "abusing the public's trust" by naming the CEO of its national oil company as president of COP28.

A new study has found that chemical additives in everyday plastic might be stopping – or, at best, interrupting – the reproductive habits of a shrimp-like species that is key to the marine food chain. The findings provide a different perspective on the potential damage caused by specific pollutants.

Original article here - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/world/asia/vietnam-cop28-environment.html

The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Experts called the plans “insanity” which “throw humanity’s future into question”.

The energy plans of the petrostates contradicted their climate policies and pledges, the report said. The plans would lead to 460% more coal production, 83% more gas, and 29% more oil in 2030 than it was possible to burn if global temperature rise was to be kept to the internationally agreed 1.5C. The plans would also produce 69% more fossil fuels than is compatible with the riskier 2C target.

The countries responsible for the largest carbon emissions from planned fossil fuel production are India (coal), Saudi Arabia (oil) and Russia (coal, oil and gas). The US and Canada are also planning to be major oil producers, as is the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is hosting the crucial UN climate summit Cop28, which starts on 30 November.

The planet is on track to heat up at a much faster rate than scientists have predicted, meaning a key global warming threshold could be breached this decade, according to a new study co-authored by James Hansen — the scientist credited with being the first to sound the alarm on the climate crisis.

IPCC report says only swift and drastic action can avert irrevocable damage to world