Climate Change blog from different sources.

Arctic Islands - More Evidence of Plastic Pollution

24/7/2017

Plastic waste dumped in UK seas is carried to the Arctic within two years, according to a study carried out by an oceanographer at Imperial College, London. As a result, severe damage is done to the sensitive polar environment. Some scientists warn that, by 2050, the quantity of plastics in the oceans will outweigh fish. There is already the Great Pacific garbage patch, in the North Pacific Ocean, discovered in the 1980's - comprising the Western Garbage Patch and the Eastern Garbage Patch, - it is an exceptional example of marine pollution.

A recent Arctic study by Dutch scientists has helped identify about 12% of waste as being connected to the fishing industry - pointing to sources which can help stop this dumping. As one scientist acknowledged, to do something about the litter - you need to know the source. A difficult problem, because half of the waste found had become unidentifiable. Marine pollution is a pressing and urgent problem, one which MARPOL constantly seeks to alleviate. Hopefully it is not too late for the Arctic and its marine life.

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Losing the Amazon Rainforest

23/7/2017

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Brazil is suffering from the activities of illegal squatters in areas of the rainforest, who have been responsible for a 29% increase in deforestation during 2016. There seems no solution to this problem, as many of the offenders register land under false names to avoid prosecution. Activities such as cattle production and mining increasingly compete for land which had been part of this valuable resource.

Each year, Brazilian beef producers incur large fines from government prosecutors (around $300 million in 2013) - for buying cattle which has been illegally raised on Amazon rainforest land. Still this continues. The president of Brazil in June this year has blocked the deregulation of part of the Amazon rainforest - but this is a small step, which needs to be followed by more positive action to protect what is a third of the world's rainforests, just under 3 million square kilometres, and one of the most beautiful lands on earth. These rainforests are also home to about half of the species of plants and wildlife on earth.

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