• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
UAE Briefing Targets Canada for LNG Deals During COP28 Climate Discussions November 28, 2023
Ottawa Pivots to Subsidize CCUS Projects that Use Captured CO2 to Extract More Oil November 28, 2023
Canada Commits $7B to Carbon Contracts For Difference November 28, 2023
‘LIKE THE TITANIC’: Climate Risk Estimates Shipwrecked by Neglect of Science November 28, 2023
Alberta Fossils Undercount Methane by 50% as Ottawa Touts New Rules November 28, 2023
Next
Prev

World atlas traces Earth’s human scar

June 28, 2018
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Tim Radford

Yet another global survey has identified the Earth’s human scar, the devastation of the Anthropocene. By 2050 the landscapes will be degraded even more.

LONDON, 28 June, 2018 – Earth’s human scar, the mark humankind has left upon the planet, is growing apace: three-fourths of the ice-free land areas of the globe have been in some way degraded, according to a new global survey.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

And by 2050 this degradation could reach nine-tenths, unless the world’s nations take urgent action. But by that time an estimated 700 million people could have been displaced because of all the implications of this debasement of what was once rich natural landscape.

A new edition of the World Atlas of Desertification, just published by the European Commission, spells out the scale of the problem: an area almost half the size of the European Union is each year in some way damaged by erosion, overgrazing, salinisation, desiccation or human exploitation.

Although the continents most at hazard are Asia and Africa, even the temperate nations of the European Union are affected: around 8% of the land of the member states in southern, eastern and central Europe is affected by desertification.

The word itself is a catch-all term: the editors of the Atlas themselves call it a nebulous and all-encompassing concept that defies physical description. But they choose the term degradation and make their meaning clear: they are talking about soil erosion by wind and rain; they are talking about deterioration of the properties of the soil, and they are talking about the loss of natural vegetation.

“Soil degradation and climate change as a threat to global food supplies . . . together could lead to a drop in global crop yields by about 10% by 2050”

In their definition, in a degraded landscape, natural ecosystems cannot supply the essential goods and services to which humans have become accustomed.

These include the supply of food, forage, fuel, building materials; fresh water for humans and their livestock, for irrigation and for sanitation; control of agricultural pests, nutrient recycling, the purification of air and water, the moderation of extreme weather, the protection of biodiversity and other benefits.

And, of course, all the challenges presented by the expansion of both human population and national economies are heightened by global warming and climate change as a consequence of the fossil fuel combustion that adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

In principle, the researchers who have assembled the Atlas from prodigious quantities of satellite data have simply reinforced warnings issued earlier. Climate change has already begun to expand those arid zones defined by geographers as deserts, while drylands that now provide grazing and shelter for huge numbers are likely to become more arid as the global thermometer rises. As usual, the hardest hit will be the poorest nations.

Climate change is likely to affect rainfall patterns in ways that will affect global food production and worsen loss of natural forests, and the degradation of what would have been healthy natural grassland or wetland will in turn fuel further climate change.

Confident statement

What is new is the level of detail and confidence in the information in the new edition of the Atlas, along with extra focus on the human impact on the planet: an impact so marked that many earth scientists now use the term Anthropocene to describe the present geological epoch.

The European Commission has already charted population growth and the explosion of the cities with a new Atlas of the Human Planet.

The latest study calculates the economic cost of soil degradation and climate change as a threat to global food supplies: the two together could lead to a drop in global crop yields by about 10% by 2050.

Most of this will be in India, China and sub-Saharan Africa: in this last region, land degradation could actually halve agricultural output. And by 2050, another two billion people will have been added to the planetary population. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Ben Wall/Wikimedia Commons
Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise

Most Glaciers Would Be Lost at 2.0°C, Scientists Warn

November 20, 2023
64
moerschy / Pixabay
Biodiversity & Habitat

Planetary Weight Study Shows Humans Taking Most of Earth’s Resources

March 19, 2023
56
U.S. Geological Survey/wikimedia commons
Biodiversity & Habitat

Climate Change Amplifies Risk of ‘Insect Apocalypse’

December 1, 2022
70

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Pxfuel

Coal Giants Teck, Glencore Plan Exit as Trade Group Pitches Ludicrous Clean Rebrand

November 28, 2023
120
Untrakdrover/Wikimedia Commons

Portugal Runs All-Renewable Grid for 6 Days Straight

November 23, 2023
919
Junktuner/wikimedia commons

UAE Briefing Targets Canada for LNG Deals During COP28 Climate Discussions

November 28, 2023
73
McDonald's/flickr

McDonald’s Failing to Follow Through on Climate Promises, Critics Say

December 17, 2021
3.9k
Unsplash/Pixabay

‘LIKE THE TITANIC’: Climate Risk Estimates Shipwrecked by Neglect of Science

November 28, 2023
39
Monkeyboy0076/Wikimedia Commons

70% Chance of Emissions Reduction in 2024 Marks ‘Crucial Inflection Point’, Analysts Say

November 25, 2023
549

Recent Posts

Sask Power/flickr

Ottawa Pivots to Subsidize CCUS Projects that Use Captured CO2 to Extract More Oil

November 28, 2023
33
/State Sites of Ukraine

Canada Commits $7B to Carbon Contracts For Difference

November 28, 2023
32
EcoAnalytics

Canada Needs a Big Climate Win, Tied to Affordability

November 28, 2023
24
2happy/StockVault

Alberta Fossils Undercount Methane by 50% as Ottawa Touts New Rules

November 28, 2023
17
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

Suncor Reports Another Spill After AER Declines to Rethink Fort Hill Expansion

November 28, 2023
20
George Socka/Wikimedia Commons

GTHA Emissions Rise 8%, Gas Plant Pollution Up 56% in Two Years, Despite Clean, Affordable Alternatives

November 23, 2023
139
Next Post

Quebec Makes Power 'Prohibitively Expensive' for Cryptominers

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
Climate & Capital PrimaryLogo_FullColor
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2023 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

We’re glad you’re here!

But with web platforms blocking Canadian news, you may not always be able to find us. Subscribe today and never miss another story from The Energy Mix.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE

Learn more about news throttling and Bill C-18

We’re glad you’re here!

But with web platforms blocking Canadian news, you may not always be able to find us. Subscribe today and never miss another story from The Energy Mix.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE

Learn more about news throttling and Bill C-18

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need