Effects and Initiatives
This section will analyse some of the effects of climate change around the world, and assess the effectiveness of initiatives that attempt to address the issue of climate change. For some, I have researched 3 places from around the world; Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Effect of Climate Change
Milder winters and warmer summers in Western Canada allow higher survival rates of the mountain pine beetle. This beetle works with a fungus called Ascomycetes to infest and eventually kill the tree. This beetle kills many trees and has killed 50% of the total amount of lodgepine trees in British Columbia since the beginning of the current epidemic that started in the late 1990's. This beetle will move towards the east as the climate becomes milder and encourages beetle movement, killing more and more trees.
Initiatives Against
Parks Canada has an initiative that attempts to manage the mountain pine beetle in Canadian National Parks in the affected regions. It is simply called the Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative. Parks Canada gathers more information about the mountain pine beetle by conducting research on the beetle and the species of trees it infects, modelling for susceptibility and risk to the mountain pine beetle, and monitoring its population. Parks Canada also provides assistance to the forests by prescribing burning to inhibit further spread of the beetle, removing colonized trees, and pheromone baiting to help with population assessment and isolation.
Effectiveness of Initiative?
The initiative that Parks Canada is very beneficial to the forests that they monitor and intervene in. It has at least somewhat controlled the populations of the mountain pine beetle, and has lead to an influx of knowledge about the beetle itself and its behaviours. However, the spread of the mountain beetle will continue to rise as the climate in the affected and adjacent areas becomes warmer. The actions of Parks Canada are effective against the mountain pine beetle, but if climate change in the areas affected continue to become more severe, the prevalence of mountain pine beetle infestations in more northerly and easterly will be inevitable.
Effect of Climate Change
Human-induced climate change has increased the prevalence of extreme weather events, such as droughts, heat waves, and flooding. These extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense than before, breaking records. The events behind the broken records are damaging to economic infrastructure and cause losses of life within affected areas. For example, the summer of 2003 was the hottest summer in at least 500 years, and it caused approximately 70000 deaths in European countries. Another example is that the spring of 2011 was the hottest and driest spring since 1880, which caused the grain harvest to reach shortfalls of 12%.
Initiatives Against
One initiative that has been started does not address attempting to change the climate further, but to adapt to the climate change. The adaptation is done by anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and to act by preventing or minimizing damage caused by these effects. This initiative is called the EU's Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change. Its three main priorities are as listed:
- promoting Member State action
- integrating adaptation into EU policies
- supporting better-informed decision-making
Effectiveness of Initiative?
The effects of climate change on Europe have become increasingly severe within the past few years, creating costly situations for the continent as a whole. The initiative set out by the EU, in my opinion, addresses this issue directly. While the EU also has initiatives that address trying to reduce climate change as the principal focus, this initiative takes into account that no matter what happens, there will still be consequences due to natural and anthropogenic factors that have induced this change of climate. The initiative is an excellent idea in my opinion, in the sense that knowing that they may not be able to successfully prevent the root of the problem, they are preparing to adapt to the worst case scenario.
Effect of Climate Change
Over the past 30 years, the frequency and severity of bushfires in Australia has risen dramatically, and is thought to be the result of higher temperatures caused by climate change. An example of an occurrence of this is the Black Saturday bushfires. These bushfires occurred early Feburary-mid March 2009, where record hot temperatures created the perfect environment for bushfires to light. The Black Saturday bushfires were ignited over a period of days with various different igniters, however, they all proceded to burn for over a months time, scorching over 450,000 hectares of land in the process. The bushfires burned for over a month, there were 414 casualties and 173 deaths, making it the deadliest bushfire in the history of Australia.
Initiatives Against
5 out of the 12 fires that ignited during Black Saturday were ignited due to faulty power lines; specifically, these power lines fell over due to intense winds and ignited fires in their surrounding areas. In light of this, and due to the payout the government has had to make in compensation to those who lost property due to the fire, the government of the state Victoria has decided to go through with a plan that involved burying all power lines in the ground. This burying of power lines will prevent forest fires from being ignited due to faulty power lines, hopefully reducing the frequency of bush fires in the area.
Effectiveness of Initiatives?
The initiative to put all overhead power lines underground seems to be a very effective way of preventing bush fires, as faulty power lines will no longer be able to be in contact with flammable foliage above the ground. I think that this attacks the issue of bush fires, but it does not address the source of the problem (climate change) or prevention for other things that might cause bush fires, such as arson. However, overall, putting the power lines in the ground will at least ease the minds of some people in the state of Victoria, taking away the risk of igniting bush fires from a major source of ignition.