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IDENTIFY THESESPECIES

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4 5

3

1. Xoloitzcuintle (ancient Mexican hairless dog)2. African Land Snail 3. Llama4. Jungle nymph 5. Shiny black cockatoo

““The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children.”

Mahatma Gandhi 02 ENVIRONMENT

T here is a link between the environ-ment, our economic well-being and ourchildren’s future. Our actions arebreaking this link. In nature, every-thing is connected. This is equally true

of a healthy environment and a healthy econ-omy. We cannot sustain life without taking careof nature. And we need healthy economies tolift people out of poverty and achieve the Unit-ed Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Inour current model, these goals seem to collideand our economic pursuits encroach too close-ly on nature. But nature is what makes indus-try possible. We cannot have human develop-ment without a healthy natural world.The bottom line is that when we dam-age the natural world, we dam-age ourselves. Our growing eco-nomic footprint threatensour own future. With the pro-jected rise in ocean levelsand the average tempera-ture of the planet, largeswaths of land, even wholecountries, will become unin-habitable, triggering massclimate-induced migration.

Since the natural andeconomic worlds are linked,similar principles apply toboth. In the financial world,we would not eat into capitalto the point of depletion be-cause that would bring fi-nancial ruin. Yet in the nat-ural world, we have done thisrepeatedly. We must treat thenatural world as we wouldthe economic world – pro-tecting natural capital so itcan provide benefits well into the future. Wecan ensure that the price of fossil fuel energyreflects not only production costs but also en-vironmental costs. We must eliminate energysubsidies that encourage new fossil fuels or pro-

mote overuse and waste. IMF research foundthe implicit global subsidy from undercharg-ing for energy and its environmental costs in

2017 was a staggering $5.2 trillion, or 6.5per cent of world GDP.

The private sector can stop sup-porting industries that damage theplanet and instead invest in sus-tainable development. Govern-

ments can roll out policies to fightclimate change and the destruc-tion of nature, for example,through promotion of clean-tech-nology research. Change must be-gin now, and it must encompassus all. The youth of today under-stand this – think about coura-geous people like Greta Thunberg.They are calling on older genera-tions to act now – because it istheir futures at stake. Nature isresilient. We can still reverse someof the damage inflicted on our pre-cious planet. But time is runningout. If we don’t take decisive ac-tion in the next 10 to 20 years, thedamage will have passed irre-versible tipping points. We mustwork now. For who among us

wants to face harsh reproach from our grand-children: “You knew it was happening, and youdid nothing.” EXCERPTED FROM A CONVERSATION BETWEEN SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, NATURAL

HISTORIAN, AND FORMER IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE LAGARDE

HOW LONG TILL ITS GONE? How long does it take for a plastic water bottle or a tin

can to decompose once it’s been buried in a landfill? The numbers may surprise you

PLASTIC BOTTLES 70-450 years

GLASS BOTTLES1,000,000 years

HAIRSPRAYBOTTLE 200-500years

PLASTIC BAG500-1,000 years

STYROFOAMDoes not

disintegrate

TIN CANaround 50 years

FISHING LINE600 years

LEATHER SHOES25-40 years

MILK PACKET (tetra) covers and drink packets:

5 years

NYLON CLOTHES 30-40 years

WHEN We damage

EARTHWe damageOURSELVESThe government must roll outpolicies to fight climatechange and the destruction of nature through clean technology. Change must beginnow and must include us all

“With the projected risein ocean levels and theaverage temperature of

the planet, large swaths ofland, even whole coun-

tries, will become uninhab-itable, triggering mass cli-mate-induced migration”

Arecently published study hasfound that a quarter of the glob-al population is at serious riskfrom water shortages. This is be-

cause mountain water towers (that re-ceive and store water via glaciers) areunder threat from global heating. Thestudy, authored by 32 scientists, col-lected data from 78 water towers fromaround the world to assess the impactof climate change.

The Indus water towerThe researchers found the Indus watertower to be the most important waterstorage unit in Asia. Fed by rain andsnow high up in the Himalayan, Karako-ram, Hindu-Kush, and Ladakh moun-tain ranges, the water that drains fromlakes and glaciers here supports 206 mil-lion people across parts of Afghanistan,China, India and Pakistan. Much of itis used for irrigating crops and in in-dustry, as well as drinking water.

ImpactBut the Indus is also the most vulner-able water tower on Earth. A report

published on www.theconversation.com said that the num-ber of people directly dependent on thewater (the basin) supplies is set to sub-stantially increase over the next 30years. At the same time, regional tem-peratures are projected to rise by 1.9°C.The resulting glacial melt could rendermillions of people without enough wa-ter during dry seasons and especiallyduring drought years. Eventually, en-tire communities may be forced to seekrefuge elsewhere.

Most relied-upon systems Of the 78 mountain water towersanalysed globally, the team identifiedthe five most relied-upon systems bycontinent that should be on the top ofregional and global political agendas,which included swathes of Chile andArgentina, the Rhine, the Black SeaNorth Coast, the Caspian Sea Coast andthe Rhône in Europe, the Pacific andArctic Coasts of North America, Tarim,Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Ganges-

Brahmaputra in Asia, among oth-ers. AGENCIES

India’s Indus water tower is at risk What are mountain water towers? These towers are nature’s storage tanks. Snowand ice build up to fill the tank. Slowly, overtime, they melt to provide fresh water — like atap that’s dripping. If someone were to openthe tap all the way, it would result in cata-strophic flash floods and landslides. Withoutwater towers to regulate the inflow and out-flow of water, people, as well as the corre-sponding ecosystems, will be at risk.

A ccording to a research that wasreported in the journal ‘NatureClimate Change’, Madagascar’s

ruffed lemurs could lose more than 90per cent of their habitat within 50 yearsas a result of global warming and habi-tat loss combined.

How lemurs contribute totheir ecosystemSince tree-hugging, saucer-eyed fruiteaters are the only vehicles for distrib-uting the seeds of numerous rare plantsin Madagascar’s rainforest, their de-mise could damage entire ecosystems.The researchers said that the loss of thespecies will probably have a cascadingeffect on the structure and integrity ofthe remaining forest.

101 lemur species at riskVarecia variegata (Black and whiteruffed lemur) and its close cousin Vare-cia rubra (Red ruffed lemur) are already‘critically endangered’ on the IUCN’sRed List because of hunting, habitatloss, forest fragmentation and invasivespecies. More than 95 per cent of Mada-gascar’s 101 lemur species are endan-gered to one degree or another, proba-

bly making them the most imperilledgroup of vertebrates. The researchersalso noted that Madagascar, one of theworld ‘hottest’ biodiversity hotspots, isexperiencing all of the key globalchange threats.

Madagascar in perilTo measure the survival prospects ofMadagascar’s lemurs, more than 20 re-searchers looked at three factors:

1. CHANGE IN FOREST COVER : Since the

mid 20th century, Madagascar has lostabout 45 per cent of its forest cover.Based on this fact, the team ascertainedhow the rainforest cover will changeuntil 2070.

2. LIKELY IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGEOVER THE NEXT 50 YEARS: The scien-tists assessed scenarios ranging fromoptimistic (deep and immediate cuts incarbon pollution) to business as usual(no change) in environmental policies.

3. SURVIVAL OF HABITAT: Finally, theyassessed how much healthy rainforestwould be left in 2070 for the docilemammals to thrive well, or just aboutsurvive.

Findings They team found that deforestationalone would reduce the animal’s rangeby 30 per cent even under ‘strict’ pro-tection, and by twice as much with over-sight; and that climate change by itselfcould shrink the area by between 15 and75 percent.

When combined, the impact of glob-al warming and habitat loss becomesdevastating, they predicted, with thearea in which the lemurs might live re-duced by 95 per cent. AFP

Climate change may be death knellfor the lemurs of Madagascar

AUSTRALIA’SWILDFIRE CRISIS

As the wildfires continue to ravage the country, we present facts from the ground

1. How many people have died?Since the fires began months ago dur-ing winter in the southern hemisphere,19 people have died, with 17 people miss-ing in Victoria state; authorities fearthe death toll will rise. Among the fa-talities are volunteer firefighters, in-cluding a young man who died whenhis 10-ton truck was flipped over in whatofficials have described as a ‘fire tor-nado.’

2. How big is the area that has beenburned?More than 12 million acres have beendestroyed – that’s more than twice thesize of Wales, and larger than Denmark.In New South Wales alone, 8.9 millionacres of forest and bush has been de-stroyed, while more than 1.8 millionacres has been burned in Victoria. Thefires are so large they are generating

their own weather systems and caus-ing dry lightning strikes that in turnignite more. One blaze northwest ofSydney, the Gospers Mountain fire, hasdestroyed more than 1.2 million acres– about seven times the size of Singa-pore. The scale of the blazes dwarfs theCalifornia wildfires in 2018, which de-stroyed about 1.7 million acres, andabout 260,000 acres in 2019.

3. How many homes have beendestroyed?About 1,300 homes have been destroyed

in New South Wales alone this fire sea-son and the tally is rising daily as thefires continue to burn. Scores of ruraltowns have been impacted, includingthe community of Balmoral about 150km southwest of Sydney, which waslargely destroyed before Christmas.

4. What’s the economic impact?

The Insurance Council of Australiasays about 4,300 claims worth $ 208 mil-lion have been lodged. Consultancy SGSEconomics and Planning has estimat-ed that Sydney’s economy loses as

much as A$50 million each day it isblanketed with a toxic haze from smokebillowing in from the fires. An inquiryinto the Black Saturday fires estimat-ed the cost at A$4.4 billion. More broad-ly, the economy faces pressure from in-creasingly severe heat and storms fromclimate change, threatening industriesranging from agriculture to propertyto tourism. Australia’s Climate Coun-cil estimates cumulative damage fromreduced agricultural and labour pro-ductivity might reach A$19 billion by2030, A$211 billion by 2050 and a mas-sive A$4 trillion by 2100. TNN

THIS IS WHY 2020 WILL BE ONE OF THE HOTTEST EVER

G reenhouse gases from human activity will make2020 one of the hottest ever, the Met Office says. Thewarmest year ever recorded is 2016, when the El

Nino effect in the Pacific Ocean boosted global tempera-tures. And while 2020 is projected to be another scorcher,experts say this time it will be driven by gases like carbondioxide. The Met Office’s Professor Adam Scaife said: “Nat-ural events influence climate. But in the absence of ElNino, this forecast gives a clear picture of the strongestfactor causing temperatures to rise – greenhouse gas emis-sions. It would extend the run of hottest years since 2015,when global temperatures first reached 1C above pre-in-dustrial averages.

Christine Lagarde Sir David Attenborough

HI,I’M GREENBOT!

JOIN ME IN MY QUESTTO REDUCE WASTE IN

DAILY LIFE

USE A REUSABLE SHOPPINGBAG: Recently, Kenya joined morethan 40 other countries that havebanned, partly banned or taxedsingle use plastic bags, includingChina, France, Rwanda, and Italy.Many bags drift into the ocean,strangling turtles, suffocatingseabirds and filling the stomach ofdolphins and whales with wasteuntil they die of starvation. Manysupermarkets now offer alterna-tives such as reusable plasticbags, canvas or cotton bags.

A quarter of the world’s population is likely to face serious water shortages