Unit 3: AOS 1 - Land Cover Change

Question 1

Conditions in HCO, LGM and Current Day

Answer 1

• LGM (between 21 000 and 18 000 years ago)
  
  • Approximately 6 degrees colder than today
  • Sea level was around 125m lower than today - water held in ice sheets and the thermal contraction of water
  • Arid and colder
  • Australian rainfall decreased - 60% of today’s (NASA)
• HCO (8 000 years ago)
  
  • Warmer and wetter
  • Rainfall 142% of today’s (NASA)
  • Ice melted, retreated and thermal expansion → sea level rose

Question 2

Land Cover in HCO, LGM and Current Day

Answer 2

• LGM
  
  • ~30% earth was covered in ice
    
    • Extensive ice cover expanding over the Northern Hemisphere - northern Europe and Asia and much of North America - ↓ forest
    • The amount of ice in the Northern Hemisphere was double that of the Southern Hemisphere (except Antarctica) due to ↑ land mass in Northern Hemisphere
    • ↑ ice cover in central Europe, central Africa and on the west coast of South America (i.e. patagonian ice sheet)
    • ↑ extreme deserts
  • Forests and woodlands contained to pockets near equator and did not extend as high in terms of elevation
    
    • Forests of South America (Amazon) and equatorial Africa ↓ due to drier conditions
    • North America dominated by forest in the south
  • Biomes including grasslands, desert and tundra were more widely distributed than today
• HCO
  
  • Extreme deserts contracted to central Asia, south-west Africa and the west coast of South America
  • Ice retreated to high latitude and high altitude regions - similar to present day
  • 47% of land mass was forest
    
    • Forest expanded into the northern hemisphere and spread to all continents except Antarctica
• Present
  
  • ↑ extreme desert in North Africa and central Asia
  • Forests similarly distributed to HCO except human activity reducing forest cover

Question 3

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Definition of Ice Sheet and Glacier

Answer 3

• Glaciers
  
  • In motion
  • Contained by terrain (eg. frozen river)
• Ice Sheets
  
  • Masses of ice at least 50 000km2
  • High latitude above 60 degrees
  • Not confined

Question 4

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Global Melting Ice sheets and Glaciers

Answer 4

• Since 1901 Greenland and Antarctic shed 49,000Gt of ice into the ocean (NASA)
• Ice sheets and glaciers hold 11% of world’s freshwater
  
  • 53 mill reliant on meltwater in Ecuador and Bolivia
• 70m sea level rise if cryosphere melted

Question 5

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Distribution of Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Answer 5

• Ice sheets and glaciers cover 10% of the world’s surface
• Ice predominantly in northern hemisphere as the is less land for ice to form in southern hemisphere
• Ice sheets are contained to high latitude regions above 60 degrees.
  
  • For example
    
    • The Greenland ice sheet ~1.7 million square km
    • The Antarctic ice sheet ~ 14 million square km
• Glaciers are located in either high altitude or high latitude regions.
  
  • For example
    
    • The glaciers in the Andes in South America and Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa - low latitudes and high altitude regions.
    • Glaciers in Greenland - high latitudes but low altitudes

Question 6

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Natural processes

Answer 6

• Surface melting - ↑ surface melt → ↓albedo
  
  • Sea water 0.2 albedo i.e. reflects 20%
  • Ice 0.8 albedo i.e. reflects 80%
• Moulins - funnel water to base of glacier acts like a lubricant speeding up glacial movement
• Basal melting - sea ice shelves melting - warmer oceans melt underside of shelves
  
  • This can cause calving - where ice brakes off the ice sheet into ocean
• Dark ice - caused by crysonites (photosynthetic bacteria, soot and dust) - ↓albedo
• The Milankovitch Cycle
  
  • Depending where we are will determine amount of sunlight
  • Tilt, eccentricity (shape of orbit) and precession (wobble)
• Ocean circulation changes - changes ocean currents impact exchange of heat between ocean and atmosphere - eg. El nino and La nina
• Volcanic activity - reflective dust → lowers temp - gases → warmer temps
• Plate tectonics - as latitude changes due to land mass movement → climate change - occurs over millions of years

Question 7

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Human processes

Answer 7

• GHGe
  
  • 1.58 degree ↑ land temp and 0.88 degree ↑ ocean temp (IPCC, 2021)
    
    • Average 1.1 degree ↑ - 1 degree due to human processes
  • Sea levels have risen by 0.2m since 1800
    
    • 1.9mm/year between 1971 and 2006
    • 13.7mm/year between 2006 and 2018
• CO2 emissions
  
  • 67% of global temp ↑ (IPCC, 2021)
  • Safe = 350 ppm - current= 410 ppm
  • 149% pre-industrial levels (IPCC, 2021)
• Methane emissions -
  
  • 16% of global temp ↑ (IPCC, 2021)
  • 86 times greater impact than CO2 (IPCC, 2021)
  • 260% - pre-industrial levels (IPCC, 2021)
• Emissions released primarily from burning fossil fuels and deforestation
• Alteration of landscape - clearing forests for cities - change in albedo thus global temperatures
• Direct Addition of Heat into the Atmosphere - burning of fossil fuels, heating and cooling of residences and workplaces

Question 8

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Overview

Answer 8

• Pop - 56 000
  
  • 80% inuit
• Poverty - 16.2%
• 83 in every 100 000 commit suicide - highest rate in the world
• Greenland ice sheet makes up 1.2% of global land cover
• Ice sheet covers 80% of Greenland - up to 4km thick
• Autonomous danish dependent territory

Question 9

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Impacts

Answer 9

• Sea levels have risen by 0.2m since 1800
• Caused predominantly by Climate Change
  
  • Land temp increase 1.58 degrees since 1880
  • Ocean temp increased by 0.88 degrees
    
    • 50% thermal expansion
    • 42% melting ice
• In the last 32 years there has been a 1.7 degree rise in temperature
• 166Gt lost in 2021
• Ice is thinning
• Ice is forming two months later and melting one month earlier than it should
• Migration south
• 25th year in a row that Greenland has lost more ice than it’s gained
• The average albedo of Greenland’s ice declined by 5% between 2000 and 2015
• 6m sea level rise if ice sheet melted
• Permafrost melt - methane emissions
• Illulissat/ Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier
  
  • 110,000 km2 volume
  • Over 65 km long
  • Worlds fastest retreat
    
    • 1985 traveling at 7kms per year
    • 2006 traveling at 14kms per year
    • Retreated over 40kms since 1851
    • Velocity has doubled

Question 10

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Local Response: Agriculture

Overview

Answer 10

• What
  
  • Rise in Agriculture due to increased fertile land in the south caused by ice retreat
  • Wider range of crops
• Where sustainable agriculture
  
  • 68% is near Narsaq
  • 17% is near Nanortalik
  • 13% is near Qaqortoq

Question 11

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Location Response: Agriculture

SWOT

Answer 11

• Strengths
  
  • Increase crop variety - edible crops
  • Boost economy - less reliant on Denmark
  • Carbon sepuation
  • Narsaq
    
    • 31 sheep farms
  • Qaqortoq
    
    • Strawberries and cucumbers
• Weaknesses
  
  • Qaqortoq, Narsaq and Nanortalik summers have been warmer but also much drier - more expecnsive due to irrigation
  • Costs more to run than profit made
  • Very separated - hard to trade supplies and support one another
• Opportunities
  
  • With the right animal manure, seaweed and even glacial rocks farms can greatly improve the quality and quantity of their crops
  • Narsarsuaq produces ~600 pounds of honey to sell each year, the bees are resilient to the hot summers and the cold winters
• Threats
  
  • Pests and insect invasion - due to changing temperatures
  • In Narsaq, cabbage root fly, a pest, has been introduced to the environment and is attacking crops like potatoes and turnips
• Evaluation
  
  • Effective in short term

Question 12

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Local Response: Shift from hunting to fishing

Overview

Answer 12

• Hunting requires boat, snowmobile or dog sleigh - ice thinning prevents this
• Climate change effects distribution of the hunted species
  
  • Caribou affected by change is temp and precipitation - 56% decline
  • Change in sea temp and ice coverage
    
    • Decrease in shrimp numbers
    • Increase in cod
• 2016 - more than 90% of exports were fish
• 2018 - 50% of GDP from fish exports
• As a result people are starting to fish more than hunt
  
  • 20% workforce are employed by fisheries
    
    • Greenland’s fish exports have increased between 2012 and 2017 at an annualised rate of 4.6%.
  • 10% of pop involved in hunting

Question 13

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Location Response: Shift from hunting to fishing

SWOT

Answer 13

• Strengths
  
  • Employment important due to poverty
  • Eg. Niaqornat
    
    • Pop 59
    • Heavily reliant on fishing
    • Fishery closed briefly - if not reopened people would have had to leave
  • Eg. Ilulissat Icefjord
    
    • Increase in cod number and size
    • Improved diet and income for local community
    • Decline in icebergs surrounding entrance allows for quicker and easier access to marine life in fjord
• Weaknesses
  
  • Decline in traditional hunting practises
  • Eg. Inughuit
    
    • Northernmost tip of Greenland
    • Pop - 800 across 4 settlement makes up the Thule region
    • Woman from a settlement
      
      • 15 years ago sea ice 3km think
      • Now hunters falling through ice
      • Decline/ disappearance of dogsled hunting
        
        • Increase depression and suicide rates
• Opportunities
  
  • Fisheries provide increase in jobs and income for those that can no longer hunt
• Threats
  
  • Inughuit forced to migrate south
    
    • Loss of culture as they will assimilate to broader Inuit culture
    • Recently 1 of 4 settlements in Thule was closed
• Evaluation - whether it’s effective in mitigating impacts of climate change
  
  • Not effective in adapting to climate change
  • Jobs in fishing - should be hunting using traditional methods
  • Assimilation - loss of culture - detrimental to well being of Inuit people

Question 14

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - National Response: Last Chance Tourism

Overview

Answer 14

• Tourism contributes $27 USD million to Greenland’s economy
• 2000 - 34 000 overnight guests - 2019 - 105 000
• Government promoting last chance tourism
  
  • Visit Greenland Website - details on destinations - how/ where to travel
• 2019 - 725 people were employed in the tourism industry

Question 15

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - National Response: Last Chance Tourism

SWOT

Answer 15

• Strengths
  
  • $27 USD
    
    • Rely less on mining
    • Respond to impacts of melting ice sheets and glaciers
  • In adventure tourism - the movement of people from one place to another outside their comfort zone for exploration
    
    • 65% of the revenue goes to local communities
  • Makes people aware of the impact of Climate Change
  • Nuuk recently achieved a Bronze Benchmarking which means they have completed the first three steps of a six-step process towards becoming a sustainable destination
• Weaknesses
  
  • Fossil fuel intensive air travel - on a global scale aviation contributes 2.1% of the global emissions and an estimated 4.9% to global warming
  • Between 2016 and 2018 tourists arriving by air increased by 3.3% in Greenland
  • Decline in traditional tourism
    
    • Dog sledding
• Opportunities
  
  • Construct larger airports in Ilulissat and Nuuk
  • Education of people
  • Stability to economy who currently relies on exports causing fluctuation in inflation and employment
• Threats
  
  • Cultural ceremonies put on display
  • Loss of Inuit culture due to migration away from home in search for jobs
• Evaluation - whether it mitigates climate change impacts
  
  • Boosts economy
  • Provides employment
  • Overall not effective or sustainable in mitigating the effects of climate change and melting ice sheets and glaciers
    
    • Air travel

Question 16

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Global Response: Conference of Parties #26 (COP - 26) Climate Summit

Overview

Answer 16

• Includes 197 Nations - agreed to new environmental pact called United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992
• Occur every 5 years
• COP-26 in Glasgow

Question 17

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Global Response: Conference of Parties #26 (COP - 26) Climate Summit

Aims

Answer 17

• Secure global net zero by mid-century
• Keep 1.5℃ global warming within reach
• Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
• Mobilise finance (secure funds)
• Complete negotiations on the Paris Agreement (2016) rule book

Question 18

Melting Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Case Study: Greenland - Global Response: Conference of Parties #26 (COP - 26) Climate Summit

SWOT

Answer 18

• Strengths
  
  • Global stock take
    
    • National Determined Contributions (NDC’s) are assessed
    • Countries provide one each year - reviewed every 5 years
  • Decisions made in a Draft are legally binding to to the Paris Agreement (2016)
  • Fossil fuels were mentioned for the first time
  • Phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies
  • Prior to COP26 - global temp rise 3 degrees - now 2.4 degrees - by 2100
  • 137 countries committed to halt deforestation and begin restoration by 2030
  • 103 countries and 15 major emitters signed Global Methane Pledge which limits methane emissions by 30% by 2030
• Weaknesses
  
  • Agreed to phase down fossil fuels instead of phase out
  • Countries who haven’t met targets are allowed to purchase emission reduction from Nations who have exceeded their targets - added to Paris Rulebook
  • Consensus required - 197 countries - lowest common denominator
  • No way to enforce targets
  • IPCC reports (which advise leaders) only released every 6-7 years
  • 503 fossil fuel delegates - more than any other country
  • China’s NDC set net zero emissions target by 2060 - they are the biggest contributor
  • No plan to reduce aviation emissions
    
    • Contributes 2.1% of the global emissions and an estimated 4.9% to global warming
  • Paris Agreement provision of “net zero in the second half of this century” - gives countries too much leeway - eg. India net zero by 2070
• Opportunities
  
  • 2023 - US$100 billion to go to developing nations per year
    
    • There are calls for this to double
  • Glasgow Climate pact calling on countries to present stronger NDC’s in 2023 instead of 2025
• Threats
  
  • Emission offsetting can have negative impacts
    
    • Threatens indigenous and rural people and ecosystems by taking their land for tree plantations
    • Next phase of climate denialism
  • Countries may interpret draft form COP26 differently
  • 2.4 degree temp rise too high - safe increase at 1.5 degrees
  • Many underprivileged countries might leave if they continue to be ignored
• Evaluation of whether the melting of Greenland’s ice will be slowed
  
  • Step in right direction - prior to COP26 - global temp rise 3 degrees - now 2.4 degrees
    
    • still not 1.5 degree aim
  • Not on targets set by climate scientists - not sustainable long term if we remain on the current trajectory
    
    • Eg. NASA reported that an increase in temp by 2 degrees would result in 0.2 m sea level rise caused by thermal expansion and melting ice hence Greenland ice sheets will continue to melt

Question 19

Deforestation

Definitions

Answer 19

• Forest
  
  • “O.5 or more hectares covered by trees higher than 5m with a canopy cover of more than 10% or by trees able to achieve this. Does not include agricultural and urban land areas.” - (FAO)
• Deforestation
  
  • “The conversion of forest to another land use or the long-term reduction of tree canopy cover below the 10% threshold.” - (FAO)

Question 20

Deforestation

Global Forest Cover Distribution

Answer 20

• 4 billion hectares of forest
• 31% of world’s total land area is forest
• Forests are not evenly distributed
• 75% of forests in high to middle income countries
• Distribution by regions
  
  • 45% in tropics
  • 27% in boreal countries
  • 16% in temperate countries
  • 11% in subtropical countries
• Top 5 countries with most forest (make up 53.8% of all forests)
  
  • 1. Russia - 20%
  • 2. Brazil - 12%
  • 3. Canada - 9%
  • 4. U.S.A - 8%
  • 5. China - 5%
• 6 countries have no forest cover - eg. Greenland
• Types of forest
  
  • 34% primary (undisturbed)
  • 59% secondary (recently disturbed by human activity)
  • 7% planted

Question 21

Deforestation

Global Deforestation

Answer 21

• The area of primary forest worldwide has decreased by over 80 million hectares since 1990 (FAO, 2020)
• 12.2m hectares of tree cover was lost in the tropics in 2020 (WRI, 2021)
• Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10% of global warming (WWF, 2022)
• 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the clearing of tropical forests
• However, forests have still increased over the last 30 years

Question 22

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Overview

Answer 22

• Population - 8.9 million (World Bank, 2020)
• Poverty - 85.7% according to multidimensional poverty measure (World Bank, 2020)
  
  • 2.6% unemployed
• 33.6 Mill hectares (Mha) of forest (FAO, 2015)
  
  • PNG’s forest covers 80% of the country’s land area - 60% of the forest are undisturbed (UNFCCC, 2017)
• 3rd largest rainforest in the world
  
  • Most biodiverse
  • 5-7% of all known animal species live in PNG
• The indigenous people own the land
  
  • 800 language groups
• 1.57Mha of tree cover lost between 2000 and 2020 equivalent to;
  
  • 3.7% decrease in tree cover
  • 1.15 giga tonns (Gt) of CO₂ emissions
• 2021 lost 73.3 thousand hectares of natural forest = 55.0 mega tons of CO₂ emissions (2021, Global Forest Watch)
• ~70% logging illegal
  
  • SABL’s - 11% of PNG’s land cover - made illegal in 2016 but still exist
• 5 times as much GHGe released from forest degradation than from deforestation
• 98.1% of forest degradation from commercial logging
• 55% of deforestation for family agriculture
  
  • 75% if pop - subsistance agriculture
• 26% of deforestation from commercial agriculture

Question 23

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Impacts of Deforestation

Social

Answer 23

• Negative
  
  • Diseases such as malaria and cholera spread - eg. stagnant/polluted waters
  • Tribes coming together could result in loss of culture
  • Trees are shelter and protection for animals and people
  • Strong spiritual connection to trees - many people believe spirits inhabit forests
  • Loss of ecological services which include;
    
    • Water
    • Medicine
    • Food
    • Timber
    • Fibre
    • Landslide protection
    • Prevent soil erosion
  • Treatment of women by logging employees
• Positive
  
  • Logging industry could provide locals with jobs
    
    • Eg. walkabout sawmills - gives locals transportable sawmills - provides income

Question 24

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Impacts of Deforestation

Economic

Answer 24

• Negative
  
  • Increase of jobs but low pay → unemployment low but poverty high
  • 70% of logging occurring illegally the PNG → Government loses tax income
  • Locals having to pay for ecosystem services - eg food and medicine as they no longer exist in environment and are only available as commercial products
• Positive

Question 25

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Impacts of Deforestation

Environment

Answer 25

• Negative
  
  • Loss of biodiversity - destruction of habitat is
  • New roads - fragmentation - droughts and fires
  • Less CO2 absorption
  • Burning releases CO2 into the atmosphere
  • Reduces the critical water cycling
  • ↑ flooding → soil erosion

Question 26

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Local Response: Walkabout Sawmills

Overview

Answer 26

• Impacts its responding to - Poverty within the indigenous communities of PNG
• Small scale, portable timber milling machine

Question 27

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Local Response: Walkabout Sawmills

Aims

Answer 27

• To prevent commercial logging in rainforests by giving indigenous people an alternative source of income

Question 28

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Local Response: Walkabout Sawmills

SWOT

Answer 28

• Strengths
  
  • Easy to operate
  • Affordable
  • Money goes directly to locals
  • Quicker/better than only chainsaws
  • Roads not needed - fragmentation prevented - roads ↑stagnant waters thus malaria
  • For every tree felled 3 saplings are planted
  • Keep some wood in community (houses etc.)
  • $1 mill acres of forest protected
  • More money generated than from commercial logging
    
    • $450/m3 vs. $3/m3 - 20 times as much
  • Training and education program
    
    • Restoration (tree plantation)
    • Maintenance
    • Business management
  • Locals maintain control of what happens on their land
    
    • Minimal disruption to life and society structure
  • Selective logging rather than clearfelling - less impact on waterways + biodiversity
• Weaknesses
  
  • Maintenance when they break down (2012 AU found this not to be a large problem)
  • Enables logging (but much more sustainable)
  • Limited opportunities for women - uneven income/power distribution
  • No permits required - can log up to 500m3 - not monitored
  • Due to weight of mills becoming stationary rather than mobile as intended → logging of one area (especially along tracks)
  • Relies on admin + management skills of locals, which are undeveloped
    
    • 2012 AU Gov. report found this was the biggest weakness
• Opportunities
  
  • Training and education program (see above)
  • More sawmills to be distributed
  • Lighter materials for sawmills → more mobile
• Threats
  
  • Maintenance issues increasing
  • Competition from logging companies
  • Maintaining a market of buyers
  • Local disputes over resource ownership + management
• Evaluation
  
  • Effective in preventing commercial logging
  • Lowers poverty by providing education, income and employment
  • Not bad for forest as saplings planted and roads not required

Question 29

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - National Response: National Forest Inventory (NFI)

Overview

Answer 29

• National Forest Inventory (NFI)
  
  • Gathers accurate information on flora and fauna, carbon stocks, estimated GHGe from deforestation and forest degradation
  • Funded by EU and UN-REDD+
  • Uses Open Foris Collect Software - developed in Rome

Question 30

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - National Response: National Forest Inventory (NFI)

Aims

Answer 30

• To support the PNG Forest Authority
• To implement a continuous and multipurpose NFI which is a key component of a National Forest Monitoring System that PNG is required to establish to participate in the UNFCCC REDD+. Scheme
• For inhabitants to utilise what’s in their country

Question 31

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - National Response: National Forest Inventory (NFI)

SWOT

Answer 31

• Strength
  
  • Created Climate Change and Forest Monitoring Web-Portal
  • Make eligible for REDD
  • Educates and provides jobs for locals
    
    • 32 officers trained in flora and fauna management
    • 10 officers can identify 80% of plant species
    • 20 officers across PNG can recognize 80% of tree species
  • First phase of assessment using remote sensing and second phase of field inventory based on pilot clusters - both completed
    
    • 2014 - 2019
  • Monitoring methods include;
    
    • Point counts
    • Mckinnon lists
    • Songmeter boxes
  • Multipurpose NFI will collect
    
    • Timber volume
    • Ono-timber forest products
    • Carbon stock
    • Soil characteristics
    • Biodiversity (flora and fauna)
    • Socio-economic aspects of PNG forests
  • Created Timber Legality Verification System
  • Acquire consent from landowners
• Weaknesses
  
  • Due to poverty rates - information not accessible to indigenous people
  • Disturbs sacred forest that hold strong spiritual connection in indigenous culture
  • Susceptible to error - especially estimated carbon stocks
• Opportunities
  
  • Make eligible for ↑ REDD+ payments thus preventing deforestation
  • Prevent illegal logging due to constant monitoring
• Threats
• Evaluation
  
  • Effective as has made PNG eligible for REDD+

Question 32

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Global Response: REDD+

Overview

Answer 32

• Responding to - deforestation on a global scale causing release of carbon emissions which in turn contribute to climate change
• REDD+ - Reducing Emissions from Forest Degradation and Deforestation
  
  • Voluntary approach to mitigate climate change developed by UNFCCC
  • Gives monetary value to carbon stocks making forests more valuable standing than as timber
  • Established in 2008

Question 33

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Global Response: REDD+

Aims

Answer 33

• To reduce CO2 emissions by slowing or halting deforestation and increasing removal of GHGe by conserving and managing forests

Question 34

Deforestation

Case Study: PNG - Global Response: REDD+

SWOT

Answer 34

• Strengths
  
  • Incentives to not cut down trees by giving them monetary value
  • ↓ CO2 into atmosphere = ↓ Global temp changes
  • ↓ poverty by paying landowners to preserve their forests
  • Protects the cultural and spiritual heritage of forests
  • Prevents impacts of deforestation
    
    • ↑ flooding
    • Soil erosion
    • ↑ spread of diseases such as malaria and cholera
    • Destruction to biodiversity
    • Removal of ecosystem services
• Weaknesses
  
  • PALM
    
    • Permanence - trees will die eventually
    • Additionality - paying for keeping forests standing that were never going to be logged
    • Leakage - moving around to deforest non-REDD regions
    • Measurement - expensive, difficult, time consuming + prone to large errors
  • Slow to gain momentum and coverage (10 years for first carbon credit to be sold)
  • Doesn’t stop or ↓ emissions in high polluting regions
  • “Carbon cowboys” - people exploiting local communities through carbon credit and trading schemes similar to commercial logging companies
• Opportunities
  
  • More participation - less leakage
  • Stricter legislation - less exploitation of indegenous peoples by “carbon cowboys”
• Threats
  
  • Carbon credits could become another ‘resource curse’ like oil, diamond or gold
  • Become another carbon offset mechanism that doesn’t actually mitigate climate change
• Evaluation - of aims
  
  • Hasn’t lowered GHG_e as MEDC’s still pollute

Question 35

ICESAT - 2

Answer 35

• Remote Sensing
• NASA owned satellite (US)
• Currently in orbit
• Launched in California 15 September 2018
• Measures topography of earth and thus can determine ice sheet and glacier melt
• Data stored on board - includes measurements from 2003 and 2019 which are compared to determine change in ice and glacier mass
• Function - carries instrument - Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS)
  
  • 1 laser split into 6 beams
  • 10 000 pulses per second
  • Each pulse ~ 20 trillion photons - only ~ 12 trillion reach earth and return to satellite
  • Measures time taken for lasers to return to satellite which provides distance hence topography
• Orbit - polar (orbits around the poles)
• Data found - 2021
  
  • Surveyed 34 outlet glaciers
    
    • 3 retreated more than 3.5 km/year and only one had no change in thickness
    • Measures ice sheet thickness via seasonal comparison