'Biggest Crisis No One Is Talking About': Quarter of Humanity Faces 'Extremely High Water Stress' Intensified by Climate Emergency
http://commondreams.org/news/2019/08/06/biggest-crisis-no-one-talking-about-quarter-humanity-faces-extremely-high-water
August 6, 2019
An analysis released Tuesday warns that 17 countries which are collectively home to a quarter of the global population face "extremely high water stress" that is on track to get worse—particularly because of the human-caused climate emergency.
The data is part of the World Resources Institute's (WRI) Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, a publicly available database and interactive tool designed to enhance global understanding of water scarcity, which WRI calls "one of the defining issues of the 21st century."
"The newly updated Aqueduct tools allow users to better see and understand water risks and make smart decisions to manage them," WRI president and CEO Andrew Steer said in a statement. "A new generation of solutions is emerging, but nowhere near fast enough. Failure to act will be massively expensive in human lives and livelihoods."
"Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about," said Steer. "Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability."
The WRI statement noted that "the world has seen a string of water crises in recent years, as what's now known as 'Day Zero'—the day when the taps run dry—has threatened major cities from Cape Town to São Paolo to Chennai."
Betsy Otto, who directs WRI's global water program, told The New York Times that "we're likely to see more of these Day Zeros in the future."
Otto, speaking to The Guardian, added that "our populations and economies are growing and demanding more water. But our supply is threatened by climate change, water waste, and pollution."
In a blog post announcing the new data, WRI outlined three ways that communities and countries around the world can reduce water stress, regardless of where they rank on the group's list:
Increase agricultural efficiency by using seeds and irrigation techniques that require less water, investing in developing technology that improves farming, and cutting back on food loss and waste;
Invest in "grey"and "green" infrasturcture, improving everything from pipes and treatment plants to wetlands and watersheds.
Treat, reuse, and recycle "wastewater."
The blog explained that countries rank at WRI's highest level for water stress if their "irrigated agriculture, industries, and municipalities withdraw more than 80 percent of their available supply on average every year."
A dozen of the top-ranked countries are located in the Middle East and North Africa. "The region is hot and dry, so water supply is low to begin with," wrote WRI, "but growing demands have pushed countries further into extreme stress."
India, which has a population exceeding 1.3 billion, also ranks among the most water-stressed nations.
Shashi Shekhar—former secretary of India's Ministry of Water Resources and a senior fellow at WRI India—noted that "the recent water crisis in Chennai gained global attention, but various areas in India are experiencing chronic water stress as well."
"India can manage its water risk with the help of reliable and robust data pertaining to rainfall, surface, and groundwater to develop strategies that strengthen resilience," Shekhar said. "Aqueduct can help identify and prioritize water risks in India and around the world."
Behind the 17 nations at WRI's top level are 44 countries—collectively home to another third of the world's population—that face "high" water stress, withdrawing on average more than 40 percent of their available supply annually.
However, as WRI's blog post pointed out, "pockets of extreme water stress exist even in countries with low overall water stress."
"For example, South Africa and the United States rank #48 and #71 on WRI's list, respectively, yet the Western Cape (the state home to Cape Town) and New Mexico experience extremely high stress levels," the group explained. "The populations in these two states rival those of entire nations on the list of most water-stressed countries."
US water stress
"The data is clear: There are undeniably worrying trends in water," WRI concluded. "But by taking action now and investing in better management, we can solve water issues for the good of people, economies and the planet."
See the group's full ranking—which is based on United Nations member countries and does not include some small island nations due to model limitations—below:
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Friday, July 5, 2019
Citing $69 Trillion Price Tag by 2100, Moody's Warns Central Banks of Far-Reaching Economic Damage of Climate Crisis
Citing $69 Trillion Price Tag by 2100, Moody's Warns Central Banks of Far-Reaching Economic Damage of Climate Crisis
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/03/citing-69-trillion-price-tag-2100-moodys-warns-central-banks-far-reaching-economic
July 3, 2019
Noting previous warnings that the human-caused climate crisis could cause trillions of dollars in damage to the global economy by the end of the century, a new report from Moody's Analytics explores the economic implications of the international community's failure to curb planet-warming emissions.
Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told The Washington Post—which first reported on the new analysis—that this is "the first stab at trying to quantify what the macroeconomic consequences might be" of the global climate crisis, and it comes in response to European commercial banks and central banks. The climate emergency is "not a cliff event. It's not a shock to the economy. It's more like a corrosive," Zandi added. But it is "getting weightier with each passing year."
The financial research and consulting firm's analysis (pdf) highlights a few key projections from a report published last October by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): if the average global temperature soars to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels—the lower limit of the Paris climate agreement—the cost to the global economy is estimated to be $54 trillion in 2100, and under a warming scenario of 2°C, the cost could reach $69 trillion.
Moody's—whose clients include multinational corporations, governments, central banks, financial regulators and institutions, retailers, mutual funds, utilities, real estate firms, insurance companies, and investors—notes researchers have found that "warming beyond the 2°C threshold could hit tipping points for even larger and irreversible warming feedback loops, such as permanent summer ice melt in the Arctic Ocean."
One of the key takeaways, the report emphasizes, is that economically, "the more draconian effects of climate change are not felt until 2030 and beyond. And they do not become especially pronounced until the second part of the century."
"That's why it is so hard to get people focused on this issue and get a comprehensive policy response," Zandi told the Post. "Business is focused on the next year, or five years out."
"Most of the models go out 30 years," he said, "but, really, the damage to the economy is in the next half-century, and we haven't developed the tools to look out that far."
Responding to the Post report, which emphasized Moody's warning of the anticipated damage to the global economy, some advocates of ambitious global action to slash human-generated greenhouse gas emissions pointed to recent findings from climate experts that the world's temperature could rise 3°C or higher by 2100, implying that the economic costs could exceed the IPCC's upper estimate.
Linking to the Post report, Defend Our Future—a project of the Environmental Defense Fund that aims to empower young people interested in advancing climate and clean energy solutions—tweeted: "There is no denying it: The longer we wait to take bold action to curb emissions, the higher the costs will be for all of us."
Moody's analysts examined the climate emergency's expected economic damage across six impact channels—sea-level rise, human health effects, heat effect of labor productivity, agricultural productivity, tourism, and energy demand—and created forecasts through 2048.
"This analysis reveals that some countries are significantly exposed to rising temperatures while others, particularly in Northern Hemisphere climates, are well insulated," the report says. Those at the greatest risk, analysts found, are "countries in hot climates, particularly those that are emerging economies such as Malaysia, Algeria, the Philippines, and Thailand, and oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman."
On the agricultural front, rising temperatures are expected to impact both the health of farmworkers and crop yields, which particularly threatens less-developed nations that are economically dependent on farming. Echoing a U.N. report published this week, Moody's notes that "heat stress, determined by high temperature and humidity, lowers working speed, necessitates more frequent breaks, and increases the probability of injury."
The report says that in terms of human health, the number of heat-related deaths worldwide is expected to increase as the global temperature does, and a hotter world "can lengthen the season and increase the geographic range of disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, allowing them to move into higher altitudes and new regions."
Recognizing some limitations of its analysis, Moody's acknowledges that "there are a number of factors that were not considered in this work. The foremost of these is the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters." The report points to a U.S. government calculation that in the United States alone, disasters caused more than $300 billion in damage in 2017.
As the environmental legal organization Earthjustice concluded in response to the report, "We literally cannot afford inaction on this crisis."
commondreams.org/news/2019/07/03/citing-69-trillion-price-tag-2100-moodys-warns-central-banks-far-reaching-economic
July 3, 2019
Noting previous warnings that the human-caused climate crisis could cause trillions of dollars in damage to the global economy by the end of the century, a new report from Moody's Analytics explores the economic implications of the international community's failure to curb planet-warming emissions.
Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told The Washington Post—which first reported on the new analysis—that this is "the first stab at trying to quantify what the macroeconomic consequences might be" of the global climate crisis, and it comes in response to European commercial banks and central banks. The climate emergency is "not a cliff event. It's not a shock to the economy. It's more like a corrosive," Zandi added. But it is "getting weightier with each passing year."
The financial research and consulting firm's analysis (pdf) highlights a few key projections from a report published last October by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): if the average global temperature soars to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels—the lower limit of the Paris climate agreement—the cost to the global economy is estimated to be $54 trillion in 2100, and under a warming scenario of 2°C, the cost could reach $69 trillion.
Moody's—whose clients include multinational corporations, governments, central banks, financial regulators and institutions, retailers, mutual funds, utilities, real estate firms, insurance companies, and investors—notes researchers have found that "warming beyond the 2°C threshold could hit tipping points for even larger and irreversible warming feedback loops, such as permanent summer ice melt in the Arctic Ocean."
One of the key takeaways, the report emphasizes, is that economically, "the more draconian effects of climate change are not felt until 2030 and beyond. And they do not become especially pronounced until the second part of the century."
"That's why it is so hard to get people focused on this issue and get a comprehensive policy response," Zandi told the Post. "Business is focused on the next year, or five years out."
"Most of the models go out 30 years," he said, "but, really, the damage to the economy is in the next half-century, and we haven't developed the tools to look out that far."
Responding to the Post report, which emphasized Moody's warning of the anticipated damage to the global economy, some advocates of ambitious global action to slash human-generated greenhouse gas emissions pointed to recent findings from climate experts that the world's temperature could rise 3°C or higher by 2100, implying that the economic costs could exceed the IPCC's upper estimate.
Linking to the Post report, Defend Our Future—a project of the Environmental Defense Fund that aims to empower young people interested in advancing climate and clean energy solutions—tweeted: "There is no denying it: The longer we wait to take bold action to curb emissions, the higher the costs will be for all of us."
Moody's analysts examined the climate emergency's expected economic damage across six impact channels—sea-level rise, human health effects, heat effect of labor productivity, agricultural productivity, tourism, and energy demand—and created forecasts through 2048.
"This analysis reveals that some countries are significantly exposed to rising temperatures while others, particularly in Northern Hemisphere climates, are well insulated," the report says. Those at the greatest risk, analysts found, are "countries in hot climates, particularly those that are emerging economies such as Malaysia, Algeria, the Philippines, and Thailand, and oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman."
On the agricultural front, rising temperatures are expected to impact both the health of farmworkers and crop yields, which particularly threatens less-developed nations that are economically dependent on farming. Echoing a U.N. report published this week, Moody's notes that "heat stress, determined by high temperature and humidity, lowers working speed, necessitates more frequent breaks, and increases the probability of injury."
The report says that in terms of human health, the number of heat-related deaths worldwide is expected to increase as the global temperature does, and a hotter world "can lengthen the season and increase the geographic range of disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, allowing them to move into higher altitudes and new regions."
Recognizing some limitations of its analysis, Moody's acknowledges that "there are a number of factors that were not considered in this work. The foremost of these is the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters." The report points to a U.S. government calculation that in the United States alone, disasters caused more than $300 billion in damage in 2017.
As the environmental legal organization Earthjustice concluded in response to the report, "We literally cannot afford inaction on this crisis."
'We Are in a Climate Emergency, America': Anchorage Hits 90 Degrees for First Time in Recorded History
Friday, July 05, 2019
by Common Dreams
'We Are in a Climate Emergency, America': Anchorage Hits 90 Degrees for First Time in Recorded History
"This is unprecedented. I tease people that Anchorage is the coolest city in the country—and climatically that is true—but right now we are seeing record heat," said Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz
************************************************************************************************************************************************* "The Anchorage International Airport has just reached 89 degrees. The all-time record high temperature for Anchorage has officially been broken," the Anchorage National Weather Service announced in a tweet late Thursday (Photo: Shutterstock)
With Alaska in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave that experts say is driven by the climate crisis, Anchorage—the state's largest city—reached an all-time high temperature of 90 degrees on Thursday.
"At 5 pm [Thursday] afternoon, Anchorage International Airport officially hit 90 degrees for the first time on record," the Anchorage National Weather Service announced in a tweet early Friday.
"We are in a climate emergency, America," wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus in response to the news.
Anchorage reached the 90-degree mark just hours after the city hit 89 degrees, shattering the previous high of 85 degrees set in June of 1969, according to the Anchorage National Weather Service.
"This isn't just breaking a record—it's obliterating a record that's stood for more than half a century," tweeted Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of 350.org.
The record heat in Anchorage forced officials to cancel planned Fourth of July firework celebrations due to wildfire concerns. The Alaska state fire marshal had already banned the sale and personal use of fireworks throughout much of the state due to the unusually hot weather.
"This is unprecedented," Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz told the New York Times. "I tease people that Anchorage is the coolest city in the country—and climatically that is true—but right now we are seeing record heat."
And the 90-degree record may not stand for long.
As the Times reported, temperatures could rise even higher over the weekend.
"With the combined forces of climate change that has disrupted temperature trends around the state, a remarkable dearth of ice in the Bering Sea and weather patterns generating a general heat wave, Alaska is facing a Fourth of July unlike any before... city officials are worrying about air quality and forecasters expect temperatures to rival those in Miami," according to the Times.
News of Anchorage's record-breaking heat comes after data from the U.N.-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded.
"Summer has just begun for many, but already temperature records are being broken," said 350.org. "We need to act like this is the climate emergency it is."
by Common Dreams
'We Are in a Climate Emergency, America': Anchorage Hits 90 Degrees for First Time in Recorded History
"This is unprecedented. I tease people that Anchorage is the coolest city in the country—and climatically that is true—but right now we are seeing record heat," said Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz
************************************************************************************************************************************************* "The Anchorage International Airport has just reached 89 degrees. The all-time record high temperature for Anchorage has officially been broken," the Anchorage National Weather Service announced in a tweet late Thursday (Photo: Shutterstock)
With Alaska in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave that experts say is driven by the climate crisis, Anchorage—the state's largest city—reached an all-time high temperature of 90 degrees on Thursday.
"At 5 pm [Thursday] afternoon, Anchorage International Airport officially hit 90 degrees for the first time on record," the Anchorage National Weather Service announced in a tweet early Friday.
"We are in a climate emergency, America," wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus in response to the news.
Anchorage reached the 90-degree mark just hours after the city hit 89 degrees, shattering the previous high of 85 degrees set in June of 1969, according to the Anchorage National Weather Service.
"This isn't just breaking a record—it's obliterating a record that's stood for more than half a century," tweeted Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of 350.org.
The record heat in Anchorage forced officials to cancel planned Fourth of July firework celebrations due to wildfire concerns. The Alaska state fire marshal had already banned the sale and personal use of fireworks throughout much of the state due to the unusually hot weather.
"This is unprecedented," Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz told the New York Times. "I tease people that Anchorage is the coolest city in the country—and climatically that is true—but right now we are seeing record heat."
And the 90-degree record may not stand for long.
As the Times reported, temperatures could rise even higher over the weekend.
"With the combined forces of climate change that has disrupted temperature trends around the state, a remarkable dearth of ice in the Bering Sea and weather patterns generating a general heat wave, Alaska is facing a Fourth of July unlike any before... city officials are worrying about air quality and forecasters expect temperatures to rival those in Miami," according to the Times.
News of Anchorage's record-breaking heat comes after data from the U.N.-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded.
"Summer has just begun for many, but already temperature records are being broken," said 350.org. "We need to act like this is the climate emergency it is."
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