Article 1: Rich countries could be asked to pay billions to protect biodiversity

(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/02/rich-countries-could-be-asked-to-
pay-billions-to-protect-biodiversity-aoe)
To halt or stop biodiversity decline, wealthy nations could be issued to support biodiverse
countries with money, following the proposals suggested during talks on a global
agreement.

During the Paris- style UN agreement on nature in Rome last week, proposals about
paying countries with life-sustaining ecosystems billions of pounds per year for the
services that those ecosystems provide was raised. Conservationists hope that the final
agreement will meet the demand of an accessible, science-based global goal on
biodiversity loss, as well as limit global warming by reducing pollution or protect oceans
and land, etc. During the talks at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, some
African and Latin American countries demanded the need for financial support on their
protection of life-supporting ecosystems and develop mechanisms to share profits from
discoveries. There were already small-scale schemes to protect ecosystems, at which
countries receiving payments to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation.

This week’s talks first was held in the Chinese city of Kunming, however, due to the
coronavirus outbreak, the negotiations were moved to Rome. It is expected that
governments could reach an agreement, changing targets for the previous decades that
were failed to meet. Nevertheless, many NGOs were still disappointed with the goal of
the talks and the level of urgency. At the World Economic Forum, biodiversity loss was
stated to be the third biggest risk to the world.

Article 2: Coke and Pepsi sued for creating a plastic pollution ‘nuisance’
(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/27/california-plastic-pollution-lawsuit-
coke-pepsi)

Coke, Pepsi, Nestlé and other large companies are being sued by
a California environmental group for creating a plastic pollution “nuisance” and
misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastic.

The suit, filed in San Mateo county superior court on Wednesday, argues that
companies that sell plastic bottles and bags that end up polluting the ocean should be
held accountable for damaging the environment.
Earth Island Institute, which filed the lawsuit, says a significant amount of the eight to
20m tons of plastic entering the Earth’s oceans annually can be traced back to a handful
of companies, which rely heavily on single-use plastic packaging.

The suit seeks to require these companies to pay to remediate the harm that plastic
pollution has caused to the Earth and oceans. It also demands these companies stop
advertising products as “recyclable”, when they are, in fact, largely not recycled.

“These companies should bear the responsibility for choking our ecosystem with
plastic,” said David Phillips, executive director of Earth Island Institute. “They know
very well that this stuff is not being recycled, even though they are telling people on the
labels that it is recyclable and making people feel like it’s being taken care of.”

The suit names 10 companies found to be top producers of the plastic collected in beach
cleanups in an international audit conducted last year by 72,000 volunteers working
with the group Break Free From Plastic. The companies are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé,
Clorox, Crystal Geyser, Mars, Danone, Mondelēz International, Colgate-Palmolive, and
Procter & Gamble.

“Plastic waste is a worldwide problem that demands thoughtful solutions,” said William
M Dermody Jr, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, which represents
Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other makers of non-alcoholic beverages. “America’s beverage
companies are already taking action to address the issue by reducing our use of new
plastic, investing to increase the collection of our bottles so they can be remade into
new bottles as intended, and collaborating with legislators and third-party experts to
achieve meaningful policy resolutions.”

Other companies, including Nestlé, said they were still reviewing the lawsuit’s
allegations or they could not immediately be reached.

Noting that, at the current rate of dumping, plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by
2050, the suit charged that companies have engaged in a “decades-long campaign to
deflect blame for the plastic pollution crisis to consumers”. Consumers are led to believe
that the Earth would be healthy, if only they recycled properly, when, in reality, there is
no market for most plastics to be recycled, the suit says.

Past studies have shown only about 10% of plastic gets recycled, but Phillips said, once
those numbers are updated to reflect the recent collapse of the recycling market, it will
probably show that only about 5% is getting recycled.

He said customers have received misinformation downplaying the harms caused by

plastic in marketing campaigns similar to the disinformation promoted by tobacco
companies downplaying the dangers of smoking.

“This is the first suit of its kind,” Phillips said. “These companies are going to have to
reveal how much they’ve known about how little of this stuff is being recycled.”
Martin Bourque, who runs the Ecology Center, which handles recycling for the City of
Berkeley, said he is tired of knowing that some portion of the plastic collected in his
city’s recycling bins will eventually just be thrown away.

“It’s about time these companies that have been telling people that this stuff is
recyclable be held accountable for polluting our ecosystem,” he said.

Phillips said the suit does not mean to dissuade customers from recycling, but it seeks
to have companies take more responsibility for the waste their products create.

“It’s not that we’re slamming recycling,” he said. “We’re totally in favor of recycling. We
just want companies to take responsibility for what’s really happening to all this plastic
they’re producing.”

Article 3: Sydney's drinking water could be polluted by bushfire ash in

Warragamba Dam catchment, expert says
(https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/15/sydneys-drinking-water-could-be-
polluted-by-bushfire-ash-in-warragamba-dam-catchment-expert-says)

Recently, New South Wales suffered from major bushfires, and this had threatened
the whole area water supply, which included Sydney. Bushfires had left out a large
amount of ashfall into the catchment area of Warragamba Dam, which responsible for
80% of Sydney’s drinking water. Even worse, some regional communities of NSW,
water supply had already been contaminated by ash, so the inhabitants had to boil the
water to be usable. Ash, which mainly carbon, will take oxygen away from the water,
killing algae and possibly, fish.
This poses immediate action from the government, warned by a water expert. Even
though water quality might remain the same, the more sediment in the water, the more
difficult water treatment processes are. The official company has ensured that fires in
catchment areas were harmless, and numerous measures would take place to minimize
the consequences. However, many places across NSW, water treatment systems were
simple, old or outdated and they didn’t have backup systems. This raises the urge to find
a solution to solve this problem in the long term.

Article 4: Plastic pollution kills half a million hermit crabs on remote islands
(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/05/plastic-pollution-hermit-crabs-
species-decline-henderson-cocos-islands)
 Approximately 569,000 crabs have been killed when accidentally becoming trapped in
plastic debris on two island groups: Cocos Island archipelago, and Henderson Island. One
point in common of these two is they have high levels of plastic pollution. According to
the finding, which took place by making slope to trap crabs in, one to two crabs per meter
squared were killed by litter. Even worse, when a crab died, it let out the scent that
attracted other crabs since hermit crabs don’t own their shells, they will come to take the
shell, and eventually, more and more crabs died.
Before, the effects of plastic on land was underrated. While in the ocean, it entangles
and is eaten by wildlife, on land, it is both a trap and an obstacle for species. Due to the
decline of hermit crabs, an important part of tropical environments, one thing for sure that
it will help major impact on the surrounding. Now, people are urged to find the exact data
globally and come up with an effective solution saving not only hermit crabs but also all
other species.

Article 5: Colorado River flow shrinks from climate crisis, risking ‘severe
water shortages’
(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/20/colorado-river-flow-shrinks-climate-
crisis)

The flow of the Colorado River is dwindling due to the impacts of global heating, risking
“severe water shortages” for the millions of people who rely upon one of America’s most
storied waterways, researchers have found.

Increasing periods of drought and rising temperatures have been shrinking the flow of
the Colorado in recent years and scientists have now developed a model to better
understand how the climate crisis is fundamentally changing the 1,450-mile waterway.

The loss of snow in the Colorado River basin due to human-induced global heating has
resulted in the river absorbing more of sun’s energy, thereby increasing the amount of
water lost in evaporation, the US Geological Survey scientists found.

This is because snow and ice reflect sunlight back away from the Earth’s surface, a
phenomenon known as the albedo effect. The loss of albedo as snow and ice melt away
is reducing the flow of the Colorado by 9.5% for each 1C of warming, according to
the research published in Science.

The world has heated up by about 1C since the pre-industrial era and is on course for an
increase of more than 3C by the end of the century unless planet-warming emissions
are drastically cut. For the Colorado this scenario means an “increasing risk of severe
water shortages”, the study states, with any increase in rainfall not likely to offset the
loss in reflective snow.
The magnitude of the Colorado’s decline as outlined in the Science paper is “eye
popping”, according to Brad Udall, a senior scientist at Colorado State University and
an expert on water supplies in the west who was not involved in the research.

“This has important implications for water users and managers alike,” Udall said.
“More broadly, these results tell us that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as
soon as we possible can.

“We’ve wasted nearly 30 years bickering over the science. The science is crystal clear –
we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately.”

The Colorado rises in the Rocky Mountains and slices through ranch lands and
canyons, including the Grand Canyon, as it winds through the American west. It
previously emptied into the Gulf of California in Mexico but now ends several miles shy
of this due to the amount of water extraction for US agriculture and cities ranging from
Denver to Tijuana.

The river’s upper basin supplies water to about 40 million people and supports 16m
jobs. It feeds the two largest water reserves in the US, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, with
the latter supplying Las Vegas with almost all of its water.

Snowpacks that last into late spring have historically fed streams that have nourished
the Colorado River, as well as reducing the likelihood of major fires. As the climate
heats up, the river is evaporating away and the risk of damaging wildfires is increasing.

The climate crisis is compounding existing threats to the river, which include intensive
water pumping for agriculture, water use by urban areas and the threat of pollution
from uranium mining. Lake Mead, the vast reservoir formed by the Hoover dam, has
dropped to levels not seen since the 1960s.

A 19-year drought that racked stretches of the river almost provoked the US
government to impose mandatory cuts in water use from the river last year, only for
seven western states to agree to voluntary reductions. The problems are set to become
more severe, however, as the climate becomes hotter and drier at a time when demand
for water from expanding cities in the American west increases.

Article 6: Amazon deforestation 'at highest level in a decade'

(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/18/amazon-deforestation-at-highest-
level-in-a-decade)

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has hit the highest annual level in a decade,
according to new government data which highlights the impact the president, Jair
Bolsonaro, has made on the world’s biggest rainforest.
The new numbers, showing almost 10,000 sq kms were lost in the year to August, were
released as emboldened farm owners scuffled with forest defenders in Altamira, the
Amazonian city at the heart of the recent devastation.

The assault on the planet’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink by land-grabbers,

agribusiness, miners and loggers is accelerating. In the year until 30 July 2019, 9,762 sq
kms were lost, an increase of 29.5% over the previous 12 months, the Brazilian space
agency INPE said.

The clearance rate – equivalent to about two football fields a minute – is the fastest
since 2008, pushing Brazil far off course from reaching its Paris agreement goals to cut
carbon emissions.

The annual numbers are compiled with information from the Prodes satellite system,
which is considered the most conservative measurement of deforestation. Although less
steep than the rise suggested by monthly alerts from the Deter system, it confirms an
upward trend that Bolsonaro and his ministers said was a “lie”, which the former head
of the space agency was fired for repeating.

Environmental groups blamed the government for “every inch of the increase because it
weakened environmental protections, supported loggers and encouraged land-
grabbing”.

“It is no surprise this is happening because the president has defended environmental
crime and promoted impunity,” said Adriana Ramos of the Socio-environmental
Institute.

The monitoring NGO, the Climate Observatory, said the rise was the third highest in
history (after 1995 and 1998), and was likely to continue.

“Proposals like legalising land-grabbing, mining and farming on indigenous lands, as

well as reducing the licensing requirements for new infrastructure will show that the
coming years will be even worse,” Carlos Rittl, its executive secretary, said. “The
question is how long Brazil’s trading partners will trust its promises of sustainability
and compliance with the Paris agreement, as forests fall, indigenous leaders are killed
and environmental laws are shattered.”

The increasingly confrontational tactics of rightwing ruralistas (farming, timber and

mining interests) were evident at a civil society gathering in Altamira, in Pará state, on
Monday morning.

The meeting – titled Amazon: Centre of the World – brought together hundreds of
forest guardians and their supporters, including indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire,
riverine communities, quilombolas, environmental activists, academics, artists,
Catholic bishops, nuns and European visitors from Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for
Future. They aim to draw up a forest manifesto that would put nature and the Amazon
at the heart of the international debate about the climate and biodiversity crisis.

Many powerful interests in this region do not want global attention on their activities.

“I call upon landowners, loggers and businessmen to block this document,” said a
rallying message from one of the organisers of a counter-demonstration. “This is very
important for Brazil.”

Dozens of farmers and landowners attempted to disrupt the opening by surging

forward, waving Brazilian flags and chanting nationalist slogans. They were rebuffed by
indigenous warriors in war paint and women’s groups who formed a human barrier
between the speakers and the hecklers. Police intervened to calm the situation, but with
the protesters hoping to boost their numbers later in the day, tensions continued.