Natural Disasters and Climate Change

TR_123456

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5 natural disasters that beg for climate action​


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Climate hazards are natural events in weather cycles. We’ve always had hurricanes, droughts and wildfires, flooding and high winds. However, we are currently witnessing a scale of destruction and devastation that is new and terrifying.


The last year alone has seen a series of devastating climate disasters in various parts of the world such as Cyclone Idai, deadly heatwaves in India, Pakistan, and Europe, and flooding in south-east Asia. From Mozambique to Bangladesh millions of people have already lost their homes, livelihoods, and loved ones as a result of more dangerous and more frequent extreme weather events.

Why are the weather events so severe?


Simply put, changes in the global climate exacerbate climate hazards and amplify the risk of extreme weather disasters. Increases of air and water temperatures lead to rising sea levels, supercharged storms and higher wind speeds, more intense and prolonged droughts and wildfire seasons, heavier precipitation and flooding. The evidence is overwhelming and the results devastating:



  • The number of climate-related disasters has tripled in the last 30 years.
  • Between 2006 and 2016, the rate of global sea-level rise was 2.5 times faster than it was for almost all of the 20th century.
  • More than 20 million people a year are forced from their homes by climate change.
  • The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that adapting to climate change and coping with damages will cost developing countries $140-300 billion per year by 2030.

A growing trend of more destructive climate disasters​

Cyclones Idai and Kenneth​


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In March 2019, Cyclone Idai took the lives of more than 1000 people across Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique in Southern Africa, and it devastated millions more who were left destitute without food or basic services. Lethal landslides took homes and destroyed land, crops and infrastructure. Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks later, sweeping through northern Mozambique, hitting areas where no tropical cyclone has been observed since the satellite era. (Photo: Tommy Trenchard/Oxfam)

Australian wildfires​

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The start of 2020 found Australia in the midst of its worst-ever bushfire season – following on from its hottest year on record which had left soil and fuels exceptionally dry. The fires have burned through more than 10 million hectares, killed at least 28 people, razed entire communities to the ground, taken the homes of thousands of families, and left millions of people affected by a hazardous smoke haze. More than a billion native animals have been killed, and some species and ecosystems may never recover. (Photo: Oxfam)

East Africa drought

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Higher sea temperatures, linked to climate change, have doubled the likelihood of drought in the Horn of Africa region. Severe droughts in 2011, 2017 and 2019 have repeatedly wiped out crops and livestock. Droughts have left 15 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in need of aid, yet the aid effort is only 35 percent funded. People have been left without the means to put food on their table, and have been forced from their homes. Millions of people are facing acute food and water shortages. (Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam)

South Asia floods

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Over the last year deadly floods and landslides have forced 12 million people from their homes in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Just 2 years ago exceptionally heavy monsoon rains and intense flooding destroyed, killed, and devastated lives in the same countries. In some places the flooding was the worst for nearly 30 years, a third of Bangladesh was underwater. While some flooding is expected during monsoon season, scientists say the region’s monsoon rains are being intensified by rising sea surface temperatures in South Asia. (Photo: Fabeha Monir/Oxfam)

Dry Corridor in Central America

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An El Niño period, supercharged by the climate crisis, has taken Central America’s Dry Corridor into its 6th year of drought. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua are seeing their typical three-month dry seasons extended to six months or more. Most crops have failed, leaving 3.5 million people, many of whom rely on farming for both food and livelihood, in need of humanitarian assistance, and 2.5 million people food insecure. (Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam)

The disproportionate impact on the world’s poorest people

Extreme weather disasters affect all countries, rich and poor. But as we face a future with enhanced risks, it is critical to face the reality of those who bear the burden of our changing climate. For Oxfam, this is an issue of justice: those living in poverty are the hardest hit by climate change despite being the least responsible for the crisis.
Climate change is forcing people from their homes, bringing poverty on top of poverty and increasing hunger. People in poorer countries are at least four times more likely to be displaced by extreme weather than people in rich countries.
The world faces a race against time to reduce emissions and help the most vulnerable cope with climate impacts that are already being faced today and will escalate in the years ahead. It’s time to act now.

 

TR_123456

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Turkey vows to solve sea snot problem in Marmara Sea​


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Turkey will overcome the problem of mucilage formation in its waters, especially in the Sea of Marmara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 5.


“We'll save our seas, especially the Sea of Marmara, from this mucilage problem," Erdoğan said at a mass opening ceremony on the occasion of World Environment Day in Istanbul.


Mucilage, also known colloquially as Sea snot, is the overgrowth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton. The thick, mucus-like slimy layer contains a variety of microorganisms and is caused by an increase in seawater temperature due to global warming, stillness at sea, and pollution.


Non-refined wastewater discharged into the sea was the cause of the latest increase in the substance coating the surface, Erdoğan said, adding that he had instructed Environment Minister Murat Kurum to deal with the issue.


He said the problem would be resolved without waiting for other authorities, such as the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, to take action.


"As the Environment and Urbanization Ministry, you will coordinate this work, and we'll save our seas, especially the Marmara, from this mucilage trouble by joining hands with the universities," said the president.


Erdoğan also noted that the problem could spread to the Black Sea, too, and that they would act before it is late.

"The increase in the sea temperature due to climate change has also contributed considerably to this scene," he said.


With a team of 300 people, the ministry is currently carrying out inspections at 91 different points of the Sea of Marmara, as well as all wastewater refinement and solid waste facilities on land, to detect the source of pollution, he said.


About 25 million people live in seven cities along the coast of the Marmara, situated in northwestern Turkey.


Scientists, non-governmental organizations, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry, and Marmara Municipalities Union are cooperating to resolve the mucilage problem.

 

Saithan

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Turkey vows to solve sea snot problem in Marmara Sea​


View attachment 22347

Turkey will overcome the problem of mucilage formation in its waters, especially in the Sea of Marmara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 5.


“We'll save our seas, especially the Sea of Marmara, from this mucilage problem," Erdoğan said at a mass opening ceremony on the occasion of World Environment Day in Istanbul.


Mucilage, also known colloquially as Sea snot, is the overgrowth of microscopic algae called phytoplankton. The thick, mucus-like slimy layer contains a variety of microorganisms and is caused by an increase in seawater temperature due to global warming, stillness at sea, and pollution.


Non-refined wastewater discharged into the sea was the cause of the latest increase in the substance coating the surface, Erdoğan said, adding that he had instructed Environment Minister Murat Kurum to deal with the issue.


He said the problem would be resolved without waiting for other authorities, such as the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, to take action.


"As the Environment and Urbanization Ministry, you will coordinate this work, and we'll save our seas, especially the Marmara, from this mucilage trouble by joining hands with the universities," said the president.


Erdoğan also noted that the problem could spread to the Black Sea, too, and that they would act before it is late.

"The increase in the sea temperature due to climate change has also contributed considerably to this scene," he said.


With a team of 300 people, the ministry is currently carrying out inspections at 91 different points of the Sea of Marmara, as well as all wastewater refinement and solid waste facilities on land, to detect the source of pollution, he said.


About 25 million people live in seven cities along the coast of the Marmara, situated in northwestern Turkey.


Scientists, non-governmental organizations, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry, and Marmara Municipalities Union are cooperating to resolve the mucilage problem.

It's quite difficult to understand how a country surrounded with water can not have any kind of water treatment systems in place, and proper policing and follow up on these things.

Either there was, but the whole system collapsed, corrupted etc. or we've just never been smart enough to prioritize it.

Kudos to RTE for ordering the fixing of this issue. Let's see how it'll be fixed.
 

Saithan

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This is what they've begun doing. Clean up, how about treating the issue from it's core. We can't be throwing money down the drain with clean up projects.

Water waste management and treatment is necessary! Find someone who can deliver the treatment facility and buy it, and get someone to do R&D, but buy the damn facilities until we can build them ourselves!


Investment​

Annual investments in the Turkish water and sanitation sector at the beginning of the 2000s stood at about US$1 billion per year, or about US$13 per capita and year. The cost for Turkey to comply with the Environmental Acquis Communautaire in water supply and sanitation has been estimated to be in the order of €34 billion for 2007-23 or annual investments of about €2 billion. Additional investments in industrial pollution control would be in the order or €15 billion.[4]

 
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Saithan

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Eco-fishing opportunity that emerged after mucilage missed: Expert​

ISTANBUL​

Eco-fishing opportunity that emerged after mucilage missed: Expert

Turkey could have launched an eco-fishing approach in the wake of the marine mucilage that invaded Turkish seas early summer due to rising temperatures and pollution, but it missed the opportunity, according to an expert.

“One of the articles on Turkey’s Mucilage Action Plan is about the transition to an ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Marmara Sea,” said Mustafa Sarı, an expert from the science board established to coordinate efforts to fight against the problem.

But nothing has been done to implement this issue, he added.

Fishing in the partly-landlocked sea has become almost impossible as the seabed has been covered with a jelly-like layer of slime, an amassing of microorganisms thriving on mostly pollution, over the past few months, but it sank to the bottom of the sea over time.

Noting that the problem of mucilage was ignored when the fishing season started on Sept. 1, the academic underlined that the biggest problem caused by the threat is now related to the fishing industry.

“The mucilage did a lot of damage to the fishers. They sail out to sea, but come back empty-handed,” Sarı said, adding that something good could have come out of this situation, but that the opportunity was missed because the action plan was not followed.

“We had to take precautions, switch to sustainable fishing, we didn’t,” he said, expressing his hopes that the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry would prepare a rapid action plan for the transition to sustainable fisheries in a very short time.

The fishing industry in Turkish waters had already been suffering from climate change, shrinking the size of bluefish and anchovy, two of the most popular fish dishes in the country.

No sea products came out of the fishing nets this season when the seasonal data of 40 years was evaluated, Sarı added.

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Proper QC of fisheries should be conducted. People should look for free documentaries on Norwegian fisheries to understand how much chemicals are being fed these fishes.


We are surrounded by the sea, so we should really take better care of how fishing is conducted. It should be possible to assign this to a firm/company. Sustainable fishing is possible, but it requires time and effort until it becomes routine.
 

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"Climate Change" The second greatest SCAM in human history.

OC
 

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