By Gero Rueter
Heating with coal, oil and natural gas accounts for around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. But that's something we can change, says Wolfgang Feist, founder of the Passive House Institute in the western German city of Darmstadt.
<p>"Buildings can be powered in a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate</a>-neutral way, and that's possible worldwide with <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energies</a>," he told DW, adding that a crucial factor is to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/an-energy-efficient-house-in-south-tyrol/a-19300267" target="_blank">make buildings more efficient</a> so no energy is wasted.</p><p>"With good insulation and ventilation systems, it's possible to achieve energy savings — compared to conventional buildings — of 80-90% in new buildings and 75-80% through energy-efficient renovation in old buildings."</p><p>The remaining demand could then be met with a mix of renewable energies. And this combination can vary, depending on the region, says Feist, who is a professor of physics and a pioneer of efficient construction methods.</p><p>"I see district heating with renewable energies, and heating with ambient heat and heat pumps as important sources here," he says.</p><p>The use of wood or wooden pellets is another way of meeting the heating needs of individual buildings, Feist says, adding however that this is "not a sensible option" for entire cities or industries because it's not sustainable and would create excessive demand for biomass.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYwMTY5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDk5NDg0Mn0.Jm0zndzOAaEvu4zD_uW9L51W_ul4BUwUAfdcFcdXysk/img.jpg?width=980" id="d1e6a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a71efd05e91a97630205e206e60b8c59" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Germany's financial capital has big environmental plans.
<h3>Frankfurt Strives for Climate Neutrality</h3><p>The German city of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/frankfurt-shoots-for-100-percent-renewables/a-36467796" target="_blank">Frankfurt is aiming to become climate neutral by 2050</a>. In order to reach that goal, the financial hub is relying on a range of technologies, says Paul Fay from the city's energy department, who is coordinating the transition. With help from scientists, the city has drawn up a master plan that includes passive houses and energy-efficient refurbishments on older structures.</p><p><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">Solar</a> panels on the roofs of Frankfurt's buildings will generate some of the city's thermal energy. Another share will come from heating pipelines serving the city's districts, where warmth will be created by burning waste and wood, or through waste heat from data centers. Ambient energy from the ground can also be harnessed with the help of heat pumps.</p>
<h3>How Does a Heat Pump Work?</h3><p>In theory, a heat pump works like a refrigerator — within a closed, multistage system, heat is generated in a compressor, while cool air is created in an evaporator.</p><p>A liquid coolant extracts heat from the environment to warm buildings or water. The heat pump takes energy from the ground, groundwater or air.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYwMTY5Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzgxOTUxNn0.El_biDh6mXcd6ECeRH_NzFyCEHxbkj77cRsd_qBjSUE/img.png?width=980" id="57a52" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="753c820969e050d363c853309c63346e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><br>Heat pumps need electricity as their operating energy, and how well they perform depends mainly on the heat source.</p><p>"We examined 60 heat pump systems in older buildings in Germany," says Marek Miara, a researcher at the <a href="https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en.html" target="_blank">Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)</a> in Freiburg.</p><p>"Heat pumps in older buildings that use air as a heat source generate an average of around 3 kilowatt-hours of heat from 1 kilowatt of electricity. And heat pumps using groundwater and soil as heat sources generate on average 3.9 times as much heat," Miara told DW, adding that systems in new buildings are generally more efficient.</p>
<h3>Growth in Key Technologies</h3><p>Heat pumps are a core component of plans for climate-neutral energy and heating in the future, and the technology is increasingly replacing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a>-powered heating systems around the world.</p><p>"We're seeing a very positive global trend," says Thomas Nowak from the lobby organization the <a href="https://www.ehpa.org/" target="_blank">European Heat Pump Association (EHPA)</a>. "We're experiencing a golden age for heat pumps, it's becoming a mass market."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYwMTcwNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODA0NjA2Nn0.fRLQAAvNex-Sa82ahSWDxLEpoDlBQHKNkzxENQ97zz8/img.png?width=980" id="6992a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6ee997b71226136793c1b2380791fb70" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>According to an <a href="https://heatroadmap.eu/roadmaps/" target="_blank">EHPA report</a>, 18 million heat pumps were sold worldwide in 2018 — 1.3 million of them in Europe. Global sales are growing by 10% each year, the report said.</p>
<h3>Heating With Less CO2</h3><p>Heat pumps have proven extremely popular in Europe, especially in Scandinavian nations. Electricity in these countries is already generated mainly by climate-friendly <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">hydropower</a>. According to calculations by Fraunhofer ISE, heat pump systems in Sweden generate 90% fewer carbon emissions than heating systems that rely on natural gas.</p><p>Many countries in the European Union and other parts of the world still get much of their electricity from coal and gas. But according to calculations by Fraunhofer researchers, heat pumps there would also be a more environmentally friendly option than heating with natural gas. Across the EU, using heat pumps would result in an average CO2 saving of around 60% compared to natural gas. In Germany, the saving would be around 30%, the Fraunhofer researchers say.</p><p>If electricity continues to become more climate friendly through the expansion of wind and solar power, as is currently the case in Germany, CO2 savings from heat pump systems will only keep growing. And if the pumps' operating power comes from 100% renewables, then this heating technology becomes climate neutral.</p>
<h3>Heating Transformation Needs Policy</h3><p>Energy and building experts agree that making the switch to climate-neutral heating in all buildings and industries worldwide is certainly possible.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYwMTcxMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyOTUxNjQxN30.qizn5NtyemgOsOZTJZUSdOaxfP0XhZet5ARQymtWkbs/img.jpg?width=980" id="e085b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9490f7d62be99ccc01195b37b0593e27" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Swiss city of Schaffhausen is among the growing number of municipalities using heat pump technology.
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjYwMTcxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDk4NjUyNn0.r9pZ4Uv5DjNtj3U_EkcLEKK3dmWiZpFDvWmuhWh3yQo/img.jpg?width=980" id="bbd88" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b838519192d6633ad1c1f4714097e7a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Experts and environmentalists are calling for a ban on the installation of new polluting heating systems.
<p>"However, there is still a need for more training," says Andreas Nordhoff, a consultant for passive house technology who also trains people in the construction industry. "Craftsmen, architects and building owners often lack knowledge about how everything can be optimally coordinated, and how much energy and money can be saved," he says.</p><p>Politics also has an important role to play in establishing a climate-friendly heat supply.</p><p>"What we need now is a ban on new oil heating systems. These are particularly harmful to the climate, so new installations should be prohibited from now on," says Nicolas Besser, project manager for energy and climate protection at the <a href="https://www.duh.de/englisch/" target="_blank">German environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH)</a>.</p><p>"Natural gas heating systems are more climate friendly compared to oil heating, but they're still harmful. That's why we also need a ban on installing them from 2025," Besser says.</p><p>In order to reach climate targets set out in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a>, DUH is calling for an emergency climate protection program for buildings. They want to see funding put towards renovating structures, expanding municipal heating networks and accelerating the phaseout of oil and gas heating.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/climate-friendly-heating-how-to-stay-warm-without-fossil-fuels/a-52072206" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Native American tribes oppose a plan to build dams on the Little Colorado River (right side) upstream of Grand Canyon National Park. National Parks Service
A proposal to dam four parts of a Colorado River tributary for hydropower has drawn significant opposition from Native American tribes, environmentalists and regulatory agencies, according to the AP.
<p>Opponents of the project claim that the four <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams" target="_self">dams</a> would severely alter water flows in the main Colorado River in parts that run through Grand Canyon National Park and it would affect the fishery there, according to a press release from the advocacy group <a href="https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2019/11/conservationists-oppose-plan-build-dams-little-colorado-river-upstream-grand-canyon" target="_blank">National Parks Traveler</a>.</p><p>Phoenix-based Pumped Hydro Storage asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for preliminary permits to study the feasibility of damming the Little Colorado River, just east of Grand Canyon National Park. All four dams are squarely within the Navajo Nation's land. The company's manager, Steve Irwin, said the projects offer economic benefits to the area, including paved roads, tourism and jobs, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/4437ead4afb64bda8671e20ab7d471cf" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p>
<p>However, the project cannot move forward without the Navajo Nation's approval, which seems reluctant to greenlight the project. The Navajo Nation said the dams could negatively impact its land, water, wildlife and cultural resources, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/4437ead4afb64bda8671e20ab7d471cf" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>The Hopi, Hualapai and Havasupai tribes echoed concerns about the project's impact. The Hopi people make pilgrimages and deliver offerings to the Grand Canyon area to reinforce their connection with the land.</p><p>"Any development within the area of the confluence will forever compromise the spiritual integrity of this sacred place," said Hopi Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma, as the <a href="https://azdailysun.com/news/ferc-flooded-with-opposition-to-little-colorado-river-dam-proposals/article_c75bfc4b-b6e2-528f-bf00-9b8c1c0061dd.html" target="_blank">Arizona Daily Sun</a> reported.</p><p>Haulapai Chairman, Damon Clarke, questioned why the Navajo Nation was the only one acknowledged in the permit application when the proposal affects several others.</p><p>They also worry that construction of the dams would harm sacred and historical sites.</p><p>"A project such as this would forever disturb a traditional cultural landscape that maintains historic and sacred value and that is part of the cultural identity of the Hualapai people and other neighboring tribes," said Clarke and Peter Bungart, the tribe's historic preservation officer, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/4437ead4afb64bda8671e20ab7d471cf" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>"As the Little Colorado River is an integral part of this greater ecosystem, the adverse effects likely to result from the construction and operation of a dam upstream from the confluence will upend the fragile and delicate balance that has taken so much work to achieve," Clarke said in the Hualapai filing, as the <a href="https://azdailysun.com/news/ferc-flooded-with-opposition-to-little-colorado-river-dam-proposals/article_c75bfc4b-b6e2-528f-bf00-9b8c1c0061dd.html" target="_blank">Arizona Daily Sun</a> reported.</p><p>Besides the affront to sacred Native American land and water, environmental groups see a devastating impact from Pumped Hydro Storage's proposal. Save the Colorado, the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club and others filed a motion last week that asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the permit application, according to NPR-affiliate <a href="https://www.knau.org/post/environmental-groups-push-federal-officials-reject-lcr-dam-proposal" target="_blank">KNAU</a>.</p><p>The environmental groups claim that the dams will decimate the primary spawning grounds of the endangered humpback chub. The Interior Department contributed to the public comments period, saying that building the proposed dams and reservoirs could destroy two-thirds of the humpback chub's habitat, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/4437ead4afb64bda8671e20ab7d471cf" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>The environmental activists also say that damming the Little Colorado River would destroy the turquoise waters that flow near where the tributary meets the Colorado River.</p><p>"It's hard to imagine a worse possible place to build new dams and reservoirs than what we've seen proposed in these projects. These new dams and reservoirs would be located about a half-mile outside Grand Canyon National Park," said Michael Hiatt, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing the groups, as <a href="https://www.knau.org/post/environmental-groups-push-federal-officials-reject-lcr-dam-proposal" target="_blank">KNAU</a> reported.</p>The National Parks Conservation Association also filed a motion to stop the project, citing impacts on the banks of the Colorado River, which serve not only as a critical habitat for plants, insects and other animals along the river, but the sediment also forms beaches, which are crucial to the success of the river trips industry, according to the <a href="https://azdailysun.com/news/ferc-flooded-with-opposition-to-little-colorado-river-dam-proposals/article_c75bfc4b-b6e2-528f-bf00-9b8c1c0061dd.html" target="_blank">Arizona Daily Sun.</a>
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Analysis: Renewables Could Match Coal Power Within 5 Years, IEA Reveals
22 October 2019
Renewable Energy
Workers attend to a rooftop solar panel project on May 14, 2017 in Wuhan, China. Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
By Simon Evans
Renewable sources of electricity are set for rapid growth over the next five years, which could see them match the output of the world's coal-fired power stations for the first time ever.
<p><br/></p>
<p>This would mean renewables matching <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> as the joint-largest contributors to the global electricity mix in 2024, according to Carbon Brief analysis of new forecasts in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Renewables 2019 report.</p><p>The analysis is based on the IEA's "accelerated case," in which the combined capacity of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">hydro</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> and biomass increases by more than 60% over the next five years. Even in its "base case," renewable capacity is set to expand by nearly 50%, the IEA forecasts.</p><p>Dr. Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, writes in a foreword to the report that "thanks to falling costs, technologies such as solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind are at the heart of transformations taking place across the global energy system." He adds: "Their increasing deployment is crucial for efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, reduce air pollution and expand energy access."</p><p>The IEA's base-case renewable forecasts have historically underestimated the pace of growth. Yet even in its accelerated case, the extra electricity from renewable sources will fail to keep up with rising overall demand, the IEA forecasts suggest.</p><p>This means that generation from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> would also have to increase, along with the electricity sector's CO2 emissions, rather than falling rapidly as required to meet global climate goals.</p>
<h4>Rapid Growth</h4><p>In its base case, the newly published 2019 IEA report forecasts that global renewable energy capacity will increase by close to 50% in the five years to 2024, as the chart below shows (red line).</p><p>This would mean global hydro, wind, solar and biomass capacity rising from 2,501 gigawatts (GW) in 2018 to 3,721GW in 2024. The increase of 1,220GW means the world would be building renewable capacity equal to the entire <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-the-us-generates-electricity" target="_blank">U.S. electricity system</a> today, says the IEA.</p>
<iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px" style="display: initial; margin: 0 auto;" src="https://cbhighcharts2019.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IEA-renewables/IEA_renewable_forecast_2019_total.html" width="800px" height="550px"></iframe><span style="display:block; height:22px; max-width:800px;"><img src="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/cbhighcharts2019/cb-logo-highcharts.svg" style="width: 22px; height: 22px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; float:right; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain;"/></span><p>Global renewable energy capacity, gigawatts, between 2010 and 2018 (black line) and IEA forecasts for five years ahead <em>published</em> in each year between 2013 and 2018 (shades of blue). Forecasts for 2019 are shown in red (base case) and dashed-red lines (accelerated case). Source: IEA Renewables 2019 report and previous iterations. Chart by Carbon Brief using <a href="https://cbhighcharts2019.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IEA-renewables/IEA_renewable_forecast_2019_total.html" target="_blank">Highcharts</a>.</p>
<p>Within the base case total, wind and solar capacity would nearly double, contributing around 85% of the increase for all renewables, with hydro accounting for another tenth and bioenergy 4%.</p><p>It is worth noting, however, that the IEA's base-case has historically underestimated the pace of growth, as the chart above shows. As a result, successive forecasts have been revised upwards in light of increasingly favorable policy conditions and faster-than-expected reductions in cost.</p><p>In a series of auctions tracked by the IEA, the cost of solar has fallen from $160 per megawatt hour (MWh) in 2014 to an average of $17/MWh for projects due to start operating in 2023, while for onshore wind the costs have fallen from $65/MWh in 2014 to $30/MWh for 2023.</p><p>The IEA has also included an "accelerated case" in its 2019 forecasts, shown with a dashed line in the chart, above. In this case, renewable capacity would increase by more than 60% to 4,036GW in 2024, adding 1,535GW in five years, equivalent to the current total fleets of the U.S. and Japan.</p><p>This is not the first time that the IEA has hedged its view for the next five years.</p><p><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-have-iea-renewable-forecasts-changed" target="_blank">Back in 2016</a>, for example, the agency's base case forecast some 826GW of renewable capacity being added by 2021, with an accelerated case adding 1,061GW. This accelerated case from 2016 aligns closely with the 2019 base case, which has 1,096GW being added during 2016-2021.</p><h4>Bottom Up</h4><p>The IEA forecast is based on detailed bottom-up analysis of the market, policy and electricity system outlook in each of 41 individual countries and every world region.</p><p>Capacity growth is expected to be concentrated in just a handful of regions, the IEA says, with 40% in China, 17% in Europe, 11% in the U.S. and 9% in India. Together, these account for four-fifths of the global increase in the IEA's base case.</p><p>As already mentioned, renewable capacity has consistently oustripped the growth expected in the IEA base case, which has tended to suggest that annual additions will remain at a similar level into the future, rather than consistently rising year on year.</p><p>The amount of new renewable capacity built around the world, each year since 2006, is shown in red in the chart below, while successive base-case forecasts are shown in shades of blue.</p>
<iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px" style="display: initial; margin: 0 auto;" src="https://cbhighcharts2019.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IEA-renewables/IEA_renewable_forecast_2019.html" width="800px" height="550px"></iframe><span style="display:block; height:22px; max-width:800px;"><img src="https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/cbhighcharts2019/cb-logo-highcharts.svg" style="width: 22px; height: 22px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 2px; float:right; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain;"/></span><p>Annual renewable energy capacity additions, gigawatts, between 2006 and 2018 (red line) and IEA forecasts for growth over five years published between 2013 and 2019 (shades of blue). A 2019 "accelerated case" is shown with a dashed red line. Source: IEA Renewables 2019 report and previous iterations. Chart by Carbon Brief using <a href="https://cbhighcharts2019.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IEA-renewables/IEA_renewable_forecast_2019_total.html" target="_blank">Highcharts</a>. </p>
<p>As in previous years, the IEA has once again raised its forecast growth over the next five years, adding 14% to the amount of new capacity that it expects to be built. Last year, it <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-bioenergy-lead-growth-renewables-over-next-five-years" target="_blank">forecast growth</a> of 1,070GW over the five years to 2023. Now, it is forecasting 1,220GW in the five years to 2024.</p><p>Responding to a question from Carbon Brief, Heymi Bahar, IEA senior renewable energy analyst and a lead author of the report told a pre-publication press call that this upwards revision was due to a roughly 50/50 combination of more favorable policy and lower costs.</p><p>On the policy side, Bahar pointed to a series of additional renewables auctions in the EU, initiated as countries look to meet <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/whos-hitting-the-eus-2020-renewables-target-and-whos-holding-it-back" target="_blank">their 2020 targets</a> and as the bloc's <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/2030_en" target="_blank">2030 goals</a> have been firmed up. In China, grid expansion and market reforms have reduced the amount of renewable electricity that is "curtailed" – generation that is wasted due to insufficient grid capacity or an excess of supply.</p><p>The flattening of renewable capacity growth during 2018, seen in the red line in the chart, above, was also largely down to changes in China. This stalling marked the <a href="https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2019/may/renewable-capacity-growth-worldwide-stalled-in-2018-after-two-decades-of-strong-e.html" target="_blank">first time in two decades</a> when the amount of renewable capacity built each year failed to exceed that seen before.</p><p>During 2018, China started to <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/solar-now-cheaper-than-grid-electricity-in-every-chinese-city-study-finds" target="_blank">shift decisively</a> away from support based on "feed-in tariffs" that pay renewables a fixed price for each unit of electricity generated and towards a system of competitive auctions awarding a fixed pot of money or capacity to the lowest bidders.</p><p>This seismic change in the policy landscape of the world's largest market for renewable energy had been widely expected to dent global growth, including in <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-bioenergy-lead-growth-renewables-over-next-five-years" target="_blank">last year's IEA report</a>. Yet as this year's figures show, despite a small dip in China itself, the global picture was buoyed by strong growth in other markets, keeping growth steady overall, rather than the expected decline.</p><h4>Number One</h4><p>The pace of expansion in renewable capacity has already <a href="https://interactive.carbonbrief.org//how-uk-transformed-electricity-supply-decade/#" target="_blank">dented the prospects</a> of fossil-fueled sources of electricity in many countries, eating into their market share and changing the way wholesale prices vary across days, months and seasons.</p><p>Nevertheless, the growth of global electricity demand has been such that generation from fossil-fuel sources has continued to rise, increasing the sector's contribution to CO2 emissions. Moreover, coal has comfortably maintained its position as the world's largest source of electricity.</p><p>IEA executive director Dr. Birol says in a press release:</p><p>"Renewables are already the world's second largest source of electricity, but their deployment still needs to accelerate if we are to achieve long-term climate, air quality and energy access goals."</p><p>Since 2010, global supplies of renewable electricity have expanded by 60%, adding enough output to power half the U.S. economy. Yet this growth was only sufficient to cover half of the increase in global electricity demand, with the other half coming from a roughly equal split of coal and gas.</p><p>Over the next five years, the IEA base case forecasts that renewables will meet a larger two-thirds share of the increase in global demand. This would mean a continuing, if somewhat diminished role for coal and gas in meeting rising demand, with extra CO2 emissions to match.</p><p>Since the majority of demand growth would be met by renewables, they would claim an increasingly large share of the global electricity mix. In the base case, renewables (red line and dots) would increase their share from 25% today to 30% in 2024, gaining five percentage points in five years. This would largely come at the expense of coal (black), which would drop to 34% of the mix, but would remain the biggest contributor to global electricity supplies.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAyMzQ0NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzMxNzk0MX0.w35YmPG-74G7OtGAVq-0qLkEg1_9d2qg1eci5XJacWw/img.png?width=980" id="bb239" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="abd9127257aacdda2917cbbff9f69865" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Change in the share of global electricity generation accounted for by coal (black lines), renewables (red), gas (blue) and nuclear (purple) between 2018 and 2024. The IEA base case is shown on the left while Carbon Brief's estimate of the mix in the IEA accelerated case is on the right. Source: IEA Renewables 2019 report and Carbon Brief analysis. Chart by Carbon Brief using <a href="https://cbhighcharts2019.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/IEA-renewables/IEA_renewable_forecast_2019_total.html" target="_blank">Highcharts</a>.<br></p>
<p>Given the increase in demand overall, gas in particular, but also coal, would see their output – and emissions – increasing over the next five years in the IEA base case, despite losing market share.</p><p>The IEA's report does not include equivalent figures for its "accelerated case," where renewables grow more quickly than expected. However, Carbon Brief analysis of the IEA's capacity forecasts suggests it could mean renewables matching coal as the world's joint-largest sources of electricity.</p><p>This is shown in the chart, above right, where the renewable share of global electricity supplies would reach 32% by 2024 and coal would fall to a similar level. But even in this accelerated case, renewables would meet only 80% of the increase in demand, with gas making up the remainder.</p><p>This accelerated case for renewables could mean coal output flattening or even starting to decline out to 2024, but not at the rate required to get onto a pathway compatible with <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qa-ipccs-special-report-on-climate-change-at-one-point-five-c" target="_blank">global climate goals</a>.</p><p>As in <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-have-iea-renewable-forecasts-changed" target="_blank">previous years</a>, the IEA sets out three areas that would need to be addressed in order for the accelerated case to be realized. These are: policy and regulatory uncertainty; high investment risks in developing countries; and <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-whole-system-costs-renewables" target="_blank">managing the integration</a> of variable renewables into existing grids.</p><p>(The IEA notes that in the early stages of wind and solar deployment curves in each country or region, "integration challenges are often not as serious as anticipated.")</p><p>The integration issue is a particular concern for "distributed" solar, the IEA suggests. This includes residential rooftops, but also larger commercial and industrial rooftop systems, which tend to have lower costs, the IEA says.</p><p>Given costs for these systems are now at or below the price of retail electricity in most countries – with costs set to fall a further 15-35% by 204 – there is an "explosive cocktail" of ingredients is in place for a "boom" in distributed solar capacity, Paolo Frankl, head of the IEA's renewable energy division told a pre-publication press call.</p><p>Dr. Birol told the call that this sector had "breathtaking" potential, but would need to be carefully managed so as to balance the interests of distributed solar owners, other consumers and the companies that manage electricity grids.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RenewableEnergy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RenewableEnergy</a> Capacity Beats <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coal</a> for the First Time <a href="https://t.co/uDrqOER2z9">https://t.co/uDrqOER2z9</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BeyondCoal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BeyondCoal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RenewablesNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RenewablesNews</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1140423955523788800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-renewables-could-match-coal-power-within-5-years-iea-reveals" target="_blank">Carbon Brief</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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View of wind mills of the National Power and Light Company in Santa Ana, Costa Rica on Oct. 23, 2015. EZEQUIEL BECERRA / AFP / Getty Images
Costa Rica aims to have net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and if it's energy production in 2019 is a sign of things to come, then it is well on its way to that goal. The small Central American nation produced the most electricity in its history during the month of May and nearly 100 percent of it was from renewable sources, according to Think Geoenergy.
<p>The 984.19 GWh of electricity generation in May surpassed all historical counts and it meant that Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), the state-owned power and telecoms provider, stopped buying energy from the Regional Electricity Market and instead started selling electricity back to other Central American nations in the marketplace, as <a href="http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/costa-rica-reports-near-100-renewable-energy-electricity-supply-and-electricity-export/" target="_blank">Think Geoenergy</a> reported.</p>
<p>The May numbers are a crucial milestone since nearly 75 percent of the nation's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/renewable-energy">renewable energy</a> comes from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower" rel="noopener noreferrer">hydropower</a> produced in rivers and Costa Rica was in the midst of a historic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" rel="noopener noreferrer">drought</a> before the rainy season started in May.</p><p>"This achievement is the result of the planning and optimization of resources of the national matrix, which protects its regulatory reservoirs in dry periods – like the one just faced – while increasing the geothermal quota," said ICE in a statement, according to <a href="http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/costa-rica-reports-near-100-renewable-energy-electricity-supply-and-electricity-export/" target="_blank">Think Geoenergy</a>.</p><p>The dry spell was the first big test of an ambitious push for clean energy, said Javier Orozco, planning director at ICE, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-costa-rica-electricity-drought-analys/despite-drought-costa-ricas-electricity-stays-clean-but-not-cheap-idUSKCN1TK1VZ" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. A renewable electricity supply is one of the "most important advances" toward liberating the economy from dependence on fossil fuels, according to a national decarbonization plan launched in February.</p><p>"After these critical months, we don't think we'll need more thermal production (using fossil fuels)," said Orozco to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-costa-rica-electricity-drought-analys/despite-drought-costa-ricas-electricity-stays-clean-but-not-cheap-idUSKCN1TK1VZ" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Orozco added that even though rivers were exceptionally low and hydropower generation was stressed, a strong push in wind energy allowed Costa Rica to generate 97 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, during the dry summer months of January to April.</p><p>The dependence on hydropower means that the dry months can be particularly costly for ICE since it must maintain twice the hydropower capacity than it regularly uses, according to Jose Daniel Lara, a researcher at the University of California Berkeley, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-costa-rica-electricity-drought-analys/despite-drought-costa-ricas-electricity-stays-clean-but-not-cheap-idUSKCN1TK1VZ" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. Those costs may increase as extreme weather associated with the global climate crisis increases the frequency, severity, and duration of droughts.</p><p>To address that concern and ICE's mounting debts, Costa Rica is looking to diversify its renewables. Wind power has grown to 15 percent, up from 4 percent in 2011. Geothermal power accounted for nearly 13 percent of energy generation in May.</p><p>Last month, Costa Rica opened a brand new geothermal plant, the country's seventh, with a projected annual generation of 410 gigawatt hours. The country's drive to harness the power contained in volcanic steam will mitigate its dependence on hydropower. Costa Rica is now the third-largest producer of geothermal power in the Americas, according to the Costa Rica based <a href="https://ticotimes.net/2019/07/24/costa-rica-inaugurates-las-pailas-ii-geothermal-plant-boosts-sustainable-energy-production" target="_blank">Tico Times</a>.</p><p>"Anyone who has doubt of what Costa Rica is capable of should come to Pailas II in Guanacaste and see what we are capable of accomplishing," said President Carlos Alvarado, as the <a href="https://ticotimes.net/2019/07/24/costa-rica-inaugurates-las-pailas-ii-geothermal-plant-boosts-sustainable-energy-production" target="_blank">Tico Times</a> reported. He added that Costa Ricans should be proud of their sustainability efforts.</p><p>The nation's push to sustainability as part of its decarbonization plan will also include a push toward cleaner public transport, improving waste management and expanding the country's forests, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-costa-rica-electricity-drought-analys/despite-drought-costa-ricas-electricity-stays-clean-but-not-cheap-idUSKCN1TK1VZ" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p>
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The Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea in Wallasey, England. Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
The birthplace of coal power is changing its ways. For the first time since the industrial revolution, the United Kingdom will generate more electricity from clean energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear power rather than from fossil fuel plants, the country's National Grid said Friday, as the BBC reported.
<p>The milestone has been passed through the end of May this year. National Grid said that clean energy had slightly outpaced fossil fuels, 48 percent to 47 percent for coal and gas. The other five percent is chalked up to biomass burning, which has the potential to be carbon-neutral. The transformation reflects the growing unpopularity of coal energy, as the public increases its appetite for wind and solar power, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48711649" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>The UK has a long and storied history with coal, which was home to the world's first coal-fueled power plant in the 1880s. Coal was the island nation's dominant electricity source for the next century, which led to economic leaps, but also dangerous air quality.</p><p>In a sign of the times, British politicians shunned coal and made the UK the first G7 country to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. That target compels Britain to invest heavily in low-carbon power and to make drastic reductions in fossil fuel use, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-electricity-mix/clean-power-to-overtake-fossil-fuels-in-britain-in-2019-idUSKCN1TL2ZW" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>"The incredible progress that Britain has made in the past 10 years means we can now say 2019 will be the year zero-carbon power beats fossil fuel fired generation for the first time," said John Pettigrew, CEO of National Grid, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-electricity-mix/clean-power-to-overtake-fossil-fuels-in-britain-in-2019-idUSKCN1TL2ZW" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Coal's decline has been precipitous. According to data from National Grid, coal generation in the UK has plummeted from 30 percent to 3 percent, while most fossil fuel generated power comes from natural gas. On the flip side of coal, wind power has had a meteoric rise from 1 percent to 19 percent of energy power, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48711649" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>Along the way, several milestones have been reached. In May, Britain set its own modern day record for record levels of solar power for two days and for two weeks where it was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48473259" target="_blank">completely coal-free</a>. The government plans to phase out the last of its coal-fired plants by 2025.</p><p>"As more and more renewables come onto the system, we're seeing things progress at an astonishing rate," said Fintan Slye, director of the National Grid Electricity System Operator, to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48473259" target="_blank">BBC</a>. "2018 was our greenest year to date, and so far, 2019 looks like it has the potential to beat it."</p><p>Britain's coastlines, in particular, have been ideal for generating clean wind energy. England's northwest coast houses the world's largest offshore wind farm, the Walney Extension, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-21/clean-power-to-overtake-fossil-fuels-in-britain-in-2019/11234716" target="_blank">Australian Broadcasting Corporation</a> reported.</p><p>To increase its supply of clean energy power, Britain will rely on interconnected systems with its neighbors. An interconnector with France will help Britain tap into France's nuclear power supply and a planned interconnector with Norway will enable Britain to access Norway's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower" target="_self">hydropower</a>. It will also allow Britain to export wind power, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-electricity-mix/clean-power-to-overtake-fossil-fuels-in-britain-in-2019-idUSKCN1TL2ZW" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">UK Achieves First <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CoalFree?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CoalFree</a> Week Since <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndustrialRevolution?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndustrialRevolution</a> <a href="https://t.co/nORrpmNymB">https://t.co/nORrpmNymB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UK_Coal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UK_Coal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/climateprogress?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@climateprogress</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1127770534740148226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Newport Renewables installs solar panels on the Powers Building in the Rhode Island Capitol Hill complex on June 12, 2017. Robert Beadle / U.S. Department of Energy
What's the future of coal? The answer may be blowing in the wind. Or running through our waters. Or, maybe it's at the end of a sunbeam.
Wherever the answer is found, the message is clear. Coal is on a downward trend in the U.S. and renewables are on the rise, according to a new report released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.
<p>The report shows that renewable energies had slightly more installed capacity than coal, as <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>This means that power plants are capable of producing more energy from clean sources than they are from coal.</p><p>"Coal has no technology path," said Jeff McDermott, managing partner at Greentech Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank focused on clean energy, as reported by <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "It's got nowhere to go but extinction."</p><p>While the discrepancy is slight, the trend is clear. The non-profit SUN DAY, which campaigns for renewable energy, analyzed the data. A press release by the non-profit SUN DAY Campaign, which analyzed the data, noted that the new additions of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">hydropower</a> to the electrical grid " was enough to push renewable energy's share of total available installed U.S. generating capacity up to 21.56 percent. By comparison, coal's share dropped to 21.55 percent (down from 23.04 percent a year ago)."</p><p>Yet, that number does not take into account solar panels that people put on their roofs, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of the nation's solar powered electricity, according to <a href="https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/generation/52/772999/u-s-renewable-energy-generating-capacity-has-now-surpassed-coal.html" target="_blank">SUN DAY</a>. "That would suggest that solar capacity is now actually 4% — or more — of the nation's total and could increase by more than 20,000 megawatts by May 2022," according to the <a href="https://electricenergyonline.com/article/energy/category/generation/52/772999/u-s-renewable-energy-generating-capacity-has-now-surpassed-coal.html" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<p>Coal's downward trend has been ongoing since its peak in 2008 and has no end in sight. Coal consumption has dropped by 39 percent to the lowest level in 40 years, according to the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39792" target="_blank">US Energy Information Administration</a>, as reported by <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The rise of renewables over coal has happened despite President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump">Trump</a>'s promise to slash environmental regulations to revive the coal industry. Analysts say the shift toward renewables is being driven more by economics than regulation. "The government can tap on the brakes or accelerate this movement — but this progress will continue moving forward," said Matthew Hoza, senior energy analyst at consulting firm BTU Analytics, as reported by <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "For the most part, the public is calling for renewables."</p><p>Power companies are responding to the public's demand by investing heavily in renewable energies. Con Edison invested $2.1 billion in wind and solar projects last year, making it the second largest solar producer in North America. Minnesota based Xcel Energy once championed coal, but has now pledged to produce only carbon-free electricity by 2050, according to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The move away from coal prompted McDermott, the Greentech Capital Partner, to call the Trump's plan to save coal a "ridiculous concept" akin to trying to save the rotary phone, saying, "The public doesn't want it. And the world can't take it," McDermott said to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/business/renewable-energy-coal-capacity/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "The Trump administration is playing political favorites, trying to prop up an industry that is technologically obsolete."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTU5MzYzMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTA0OTgyM30.--JyN68XQ__CWZO8Fhx3JZTC9AaixXb1PSTAQrYDV1w/img.jpg?width=980" id="d859c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="26966563468effd76a49cd64142035dc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A solar weather monitoring station looms over an old coal strip mine in the heart of coal country, Somerset County, PA, with the Casselman Wind Farm spinning in the background. The station collects data for a proposed utility-scale solar array at this site.
Dylan Humenik / U.S. Department of Energy
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The So-Called Political Divide on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Coal?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Coal</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Renewables?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Renewables</a> Is Fake News <a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NRDC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/lakotalaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LakotaLaw</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ienearth</a><br> <a href="https://t.co/a0eEl15UVs">https://t.co/a0eEl15UVs</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1101088419487322114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Shrimp fishing along the coast of Nayarit, Mexico. Tomas Castelazo / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA
By Paula Ezcurra and Octavio Aburto
Thousands of hydroelectric dams are under construction around the world, mainly in developing countries. These enormous structures are one of the world's largest sources of renewable energy, but they also cause environmental problems.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">Hydropower</a> dams <a href="https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Water_quality_degradation_from_hydropower" target="_blank">degrade water quality along rivers</a>. Water that flows downstream from the dams is depleted of oxygen, which harms many aquatic animals. The reservoirs above dams are susceptible to harmful algal blooms, and can leach toxic metals such as mercury from submerged soil.</p><p>We wanted to know whether dams also impact river systems farther away, at the coastlines where <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers">rivers</a> flow into the sea. So we performed a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau9875" target="_blank">natural experiment comparing four rivers</a> along Mexico's Pacific coast — two that are dammed and two that remain free-flowing. We found that damming rivers has measurable negative ecologic and economic effects on coastal regions more than 60 miles downstream.</p>
<h2>Feeding or Starving Coastlines</h2><p>We studied four river outflows along the Pacific Coast of Mexico in the states of Sinaloa and Nayarit. Two of these were from the San Pedro and Acaponeta rivers, which are relatively unrestricted, with over 75% of their flow unobstructed.</p><p>The other two outflows came from the nearby Santiago and Fuerte rivers, which have over 95% of their flow retained in reservoirs. In addition to restricting water flow, these reservoirs trap sediments — over 1 million tons per year along the two rivers combined.</p><p>In unobstructed rivers, sediment flows downstream and is eventually deposited along the coast, helping to stabilize the shoreline and sometimes even to build it up. We found that this was happening along the free-flowing Acaponeta and San Pedro rivers.</p><p>However, because the sediment from the dammed Santiago and Fuerte rivers is no longer carried downstream, wave action takes over at the coast. At the mouths of these two rivers, we found that waves were eroding up to 33 hectares of combined land — equivalent to about 62 football fields — each year, with widespread ecologic and economic effects on the surrounding regions.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUzOTc3MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODg3MDY2MX0.64bEwSTZiIy4D-loe57hnKHBBK37cf4WBqj3UhECKyw/img.jpg?width=980" id="65759" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="30cd5fb4eaa720d8ba3b5d0f19e30cad" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The dammed Fuerto and Santiago Rivers show greater erosion where they reach the Pacific coast than the free-flowing San Pedro and Acaponeta rivers. Images at right show coastline changes during the two periods: blue indicates land accretion, red indicates erosion.
Ezcurra et al., 2019., CC BY-NC
<h2>The Ecology of Healthy Coasts</h2><p>Our field research clearly showed that coastal instability resulting from sediment loss at the mouths of the dammed rivers was harming ecosystems along the shore. For example, we found that coastal regions downstream of free-flowing rivers had significantly more plant diversity. Many of these plants were found only in coastal areas, and therefore had high conservation value.</p><p>Coastal erosion due to lack of sediment input from the rivers also reduces critical nursery habitat, such as mangrove forest, where many commercially important fish species <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804601105" target="_blank">spend their juvenile stage</a>. We found that fishing activity at the mouth of the free-flowing San Pedro River was much higher than around the mouth of the dammed Fuerte River. This loss of fishing potential comes at a cost of around $1.3 million every year.</p><p>Reduced sediment flow also deprives coastal estuaries of nutrients. Lucrative shrimp and oyster fisheries in the region we studied rely heavily on nutrient inputs from rivers. In the San Pedro River region, these fisheries generate around $5.8 million yearly; near the dammed rivers, they have been all but abandoned.</p><p>Coastal mangrove wetlands also <a href="https://theconversation.com/mangroves-protect-coastlines-store-carbon-and-are-expanding-with-climate-change-81445" target="_blank">protect shorelines</a> from hurricanes and tropical storms, and serve as recreational areas and conservation habitat for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>. Knowing this, we calculated that the loss of these ecosystem services around the dammed rivers totals $3.9 million annually.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUzOTc3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNDgyMjkzOH0.U0KkN977V3rhqr8hdlp3bipE4sVS9CaA3EjR1wfTN30/img.jpg?width=980" id="d8f96" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fbc68acd316e52face024ee57ee5db0e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Vegetation profile of sandbars of the free-flowing San Pedro River (A) and dammed Santiago River (B), where receding black mangrove forest is being eroded away into the advancing coastline
Ezcurra et al., 2019, CC BY-NC
<p>Still another valuable function that mangrove wetlands perform is <a href="https://theconversation.com/mapping-the-worlds-blue-carbon-hot-spots-in-coastal-mangrove-forests-105793" target="_blank">storing "blue carbon"</a> in plant tissue and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soils</a>, reducing the effects of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>. But when coastlines recede and mangroves are destroyed, this carbon is released. We calculated that mangrove loss in our study region represented a loss of around $130,000 in annual carbon trading potential for this region.<br></p><p>Adding up all of the ecological services that coastal ecosystems provide, we estimate that the economic consequences of shoreline loss around the Santiago and Fuerte rivers related to hydroelectric damming totaled well over $10 million yearly.</p>
<h2>Letting More Sediment Flow</h2><p>Because sediments are so essential to areas around river mouths, <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2013EF000184" target="_blank">reducing sediment trapping</a> behind dams could mitigate some harmful impacts on coastal areas. There are several ways to do this — notably, sediment bypassing, or diverting a portion of the sediments flowing from upriver around dams and allowing it to rejoin the river downstream.</p><p>This strategy can be included in new construction or incorporated into existing dams. In addition to reducing dams' environmental impacts, it also increases dams' service lives by reducing the rate at which their reservoirs fill up with silt.</p><p>To date, environmental impact assessments of large inland dams have often failed to properly analyze the impacts that these dams will have downriver on coastlines, estuaries, deltas and lagoons. Our study shows how important it is to fully account for dams' environmental and economic impacts along coasts and basins.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/177482737" width="100%" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2c50981405906d681297ffd966f27ee7"></iframe>
<p>Mexico may be at a juncture in its approach to hydropower. The Mexican government recently contracted with Hydro-Quebec, the world's largest hydroelectric power producer, to <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/hydro-quebec-boost-clean-energy-generation-mexico" target="_blank">revamp existing dams across the country</a>. And a recent study by a Mexican nongovernment organization, SuMar-Voces por la Naturaleza, <a href="https://aristeguinoticias.com/2702/mexico/hidroelectrica-las-cruces-no-es-necesaria-hoy-ni-a-futuro-revela-estudio/" target="_blank">reported</a> that a long-disputed proposal to build a new hydroelectric dam at Las Cruces is neither financially feasible nor needed to meet energy demand for the region, prompting national groups to call for the final cancellation of the project.<br></p><p>We believe that Mexico and all nations working to develop efficient, low-impact energy sources should take a holistic approach to future dam-related projects, so they can weigh their potentially harmful consequences. The coastal effects that we documented should be part of those reviews.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How Removing One Maine Dam 20 Years Ago Changed Everything <a href="https://t.co/dvauyEIxBs">https://t.co/dvauyEIxBs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Conservation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Conservation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dams?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Dams</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Endangeredspecies?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Endangeredspecies</a> <a href="https://t.co/Nm31Ot5X1W">pic.twitter.com/Nm31Ot5X1W</a></p>— Renewable Search (@RenewableSearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RenewableSearch/status/1095010843379490817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<em>Paula Ezcurra is a digital communications specialist with the Gulf of California Marine Program, University of California San Diego.<br/>
</em><em>Octavio Aburto is an a</em><em>ssistant professor of marine biology with the the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.<br/>
</em><em>Disclosure statement: Octavio Aburto receives funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, UC MEXUS and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Paula Ezcurra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/hydropower-dams-can-harm-coastal-areas-far-downstream-114171" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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Only a little more than one-third of the world's 246 longest rivers remain free-flowing, drastically reducing the diverse benefits that healthy rivers provide to people and nature everywhere, according to a new study by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and partners.
<p>A team of researchers from WWF, McGill University, and other institutions studied about 7.5 million miles of rivers worldwide to determine whether they're well connected. They found that only 37 percent are free-flowing — meaning they're largely unaffected by human-made changes to its flow and connectivity. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams">Dams</a> built in the wrong place and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> are impacting river health worldwide, and the planet's remaining free-flowing rivers are largely restricted to remote regions of the Arctic, the Amazon Basin and the Congo Basin.</p><h2>Vanishing Free-Flowing Rivers</h2><p>Long free-flowing rivers are vanishing. Around the world, rivers are becoming increasingly fragmented by dams and other development — such as roads or dikes — endangering freshwater ecosystems and the people and wildlife that rely on them. Free-flowing rivers transport water, nutrients and species that sustain biodiversity and benefit millions of people. To help countries and communities better protect their freshwater resources, WWF and partners came up with a technical definition of a free-flowing river and then created a first-of-its-kind, scientifically backed map — a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1111-9" target="_blank">comprehensive inventory</a> of the world's last free-flowing rivers, rivers with good connectivity and impacted rivers.</p><h2>1. Mura River — Slovenia </h2>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ1NjA5OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDg4ODUyMH0.tQ57osOKFy7j2chqbSFwHEGwhKrelKHj2O6kTtui36o/img.png?width=980" id="0e831" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d223efc9c13170539c3d1f54552a60dd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
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<p>Called the "Amazon of Europe," the Mura River provides critical habitat for endangered and rare species such as otters, Danube salmon and black stork. After urging from WWF and others, in February 2019, the Slovenian government signed an agreement to stop all hydropower plant development that would devastate the Mura.</p><h2>2. Usumacinta River — Mexico </h2>
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<p>In June 2018, guided by WWF and partners, Mexico established water reserves across nearly 300 river basins, guaranteeing water supplies for 45 million people for the next 50 years. Ninety-three percent of the water in the Usumacinta — the longest, most biodiverse river in Central America and one of Mexico's — is now federally protected.<br/></p><h2>3. Bita River - Colombia </h2>
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<p>The Colombian government named the Bita River basin a Ramsar site — a wetland of international importance — in June 2018, thanks in large part to the work of WWF and partners. Covering 825,000 hectares, it's the largest of the country's 11 Ramsar sites and one of the few in the world to encompass an entire free-flowing river watershed.<br/></p><h2>4. Paraguay Basin — Brazil </h2>
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<p>More than 100 dams planned for the Upper Paraguay Basin could hurt water supplies, biodiversity and local communities. After tremendous efforts from a coalition including WWF, Brazil's National Water Agency suspended new dam development there until May 2020. But the suspension only applies to rivers under federal jurisdiction — so just 20 of the 100 dams will be suspended.<br/></p><h2>5. Luangwa River — Zambia </h2>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ1NjEyMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyODI0ODQ0NH0.qbwxjFQA2SxNC2gpb7Stp6OZRQWDxTBw3cAniJ1rC3s/img.png?width=980" id="264a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="92b18ec870f212cd2a5d9cd86c2debae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
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<p>The Luangwa, which is free but impacted by a dam on a nearby river, is at risk. A proposed dam at Ndevu Gorge threatens this wild waterway, which shelters abundant wildlife and human populations. In Zambia, WWF is advocating on behalf of people and nature, pushing the government to reconsider its energy plans and ensuring that local people maintain their rights to natural resources.<br/></p><h2>6. Irrawaddy and Salween Rivers — Myanmar</h2>
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<p>In Myanmar, an in-depth Strategic Environmental Assessment recommended that the main stems of the Irrawaddy and Salween rivers — two of the last long free-flowing rivers in southeast Asia — should remain free of dams. But there is still risk, making alternative energy such as solar and wind power even more important for people, rivers, and the country's economy.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/free-flowing-rivers/" target="_blank">Learn more about free-flowing rivers and WWF's efforts to protect them</a>.</strong></p>
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<a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/free-flowing-rivers-study-full-map" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ1NjE0MC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjYwNDYyNX0.j-xBnMlLxfhZ1jG13pX8NceGBda4x8Ng3lw319ql0d8/img.png?width=980" id="82420" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="612e24ca6e83aaa0da8b0dacad26caeb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="" /></a>
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<h2>Mapping Downs</h2><p>Dams provide safe drinking water and electricity to millions of people. But when built in the wrong place — for instance, a river's main stem — they can impede a river's flow, causing drastic declines in biodiversity and affecting fish migration, agriculture and livelihoods. Today there are more than 60,000 major dams around the world — a number that's increasing to meet demand for hydropower. WWF is helping national governments, industries and developers consider both the long-term impacts on local people and habitats and other potential alternative options for meeting water and energy supply needs, as well as helping them identify the best opportunities for river restoration projects. Solar and wind prices are going down, making them attractive alternatives.</p>
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By the Numbers
5: Priority recommendations that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented since March 2018. Those actions relate to chemical standards, nonpoint water pollution and water pollution assessment. There are, however, 14 priority recommendations that the agency has not acted on. (Government Accountability Office)
<h2>News Briefs</h2><p><strong>PFAS Groundwater Cleanup Standards<br></strong></p><p>The EPA published <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/draft_interim_recommendations_for_addressing_groundwater_contaminated_with_pfoa_and_pfos_public_comment_draft_4-24-19.508post.pdf" target="_blank">draft guidance</a> for responding to groundwater contamination from toxic PFAS <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals">chemicals</a>.</p><p>The guidance covers the two most-studied of the thousands of PFAS compounds: PFOA and PFOS. It sets contamination levels that would trigger additional investigation and establishes goals for groundwater cleanup.</p><p>The cleanup goals are based on the EPA's health advisory of 70 parts per trillion. The EPA "expects" that parties responsible for the contamination will address PFOA and PFOS levels above that. This applies in states that do not have their own cleanup standards, which can be more strict.</p><p>However, stricter state standards are no guarantee of action. The Air Force has <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/01/air-force-refuses-to-follow-michigan-pfas-law.html" target="_blank">claimed sovereign immunity</a> from Michigan's 12 parts per trillion limit where groundwater discharges to surface water.</p><p>Public comments are being accepted for 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.</p><p><strong>PFAS Cleanup Request</strong></p><p>A Republican senator and two Democratic colleagues asked a watchdog agency to investigate the government's response to PFAS contamination.<br></p><p>In <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019-04-25%20GCP%20RJ%20Sen.%20Carper%20Letter%20on%20Requesting%20PFAS%20Studies%20from%20GAO.pdf" target="_blank">a letter</a>, Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Gary Peters (D-MI) requested that the Government Accountability Office answer a number of questions, among them:</p><ul><li>The estimated cost to the federal government of cleaning up PFAS contamination in water supplies where the government is the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a> provider</li><li>Actions that agencies have taken to reduce the federal government's financial liability</li><li>Research that is needed to understand human health effects</li><li>Progress the Defense Department has made in finding non-toxic alternatives for firefighting foam, which is a source of contamination</li></ul><p><strong>Hydropower Licensing Change</strong></p><p>Federal energy regulators <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-08239" target="_blank">finalized rules</a> that will quicken the permitting process for certain new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower" target="_self">hydropower</a> projects.</p><p>Final decisions for projects will be issued no more than two years after a completed application is submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The new rules apply to existing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams" target="_self">dams</a> that do not currently generate power and to pumped storage projects.</p><p>The change was ordered by Congress last year.</p><p><em>In context: <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2016/water-energy/u-s-hydropower-grows-going-small/" target="_blank">U.S. Hydropower Grows By Going Small</a></em></p>
<h2>Studies and Reports</h2><p><strong>California Hydraulic Fracturing Review<br></strong></p><p>The Bureau of Land Management released a supplemental review of hydraulic fracturing, or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/" target="_self">fracking</a>, in California.</p><p>The assessment was ordered by a U.S. district court, which said that the BLM needed to do more analysis on the environmental effects of fracking before updating the region's resource management plan. The plan, published in 2014, covers five counties in the southern Central Valley and three counties — San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura — on the coast. It was challenged by Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch.</p><p>In its <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/100601/171488/208501/Bakersfield_Field_Office_Hydraulic_Fracturing_Draft_Supplemental_EIS.pdf" target="_blank">supplemental review</a>, the BLM determined that amending the plan is "not warranted." The limited amount of hydraulic fracturing expected to occur in the region "did not show a notable increase in total impacts," according to the BLM, which said that effects on surface water, groundwater use and groundwater quality from disposal of fracking waste are "negligible." Up to 40 fracked wells over 10 years are expected, according to the review.</p><p>Fracking is infrequently used in California. Annual water use for fracking in the state amounts to several hundred acre-feet, according to state officials.</p><p><strong>Financial Cost of Climate Change</strong></p><p>Democrats on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs released <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Climate%20Change%20Adaptation%20Report%20v12%20Final_COVER_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">released a report</a> on the financial costs of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate change</a>. Most of the report is sourced from previous work by federal agencies, but it also recommends that the federal government be more rigorous in detailing its climate-related spending.</p><p>Sen. Gary Peters, the committee's top Democrat, convened a <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/minority-media/peters-to-hold-field-summit-in-east-lansing-examining-rising-costs-of-climate-change-to-taxpayers" target="_blank">field hearing</a> on April 22 in East Lansing, Michigan, that covered some of the issues in the report.</p><p><strong>PFAS Health Study</strong></p><p>A federal health research agency <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2019-08150" target="_blank">published more information</a> about the structure of a study on the human health effects of PFAS compounds.</p><p>The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry will select six sites for the study and standardize research protocols so that results can be compared across sites.</p>
<h2>On the Radar</h2><p><strong>Committee Hearings</strong></p><p><span></span>After spring break, Congress is back with a full slate of hearings:</p><ul><li>On April 29, the House Rules Committee will discuss the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr9rh/pdf/BILLS-116hr9rh.pdf" target="_blank">Climate Action Now Act</a>, which requires the president to develop a plan for meeting the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement.</li><li>On April 30, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform looks at the <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/climate-change-part-ii-the-public-health-effects" target="_blank">public health effects of climate change</a>.</li><li>On May 1, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing on the <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/the-humanitarian-impact-of-eight-years-of-war-in-syria" target="_blank">humanitarian consequences of the war in Syria</a>. There are two scheduled witnesses: David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee, and Ben Stiller, the actor best known for his comedy roles who is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency.</li></ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Top 10 Most Contaminated Groundwater Sites Revealed in First Major Coal Ash Pollution Study <a href="https://t.co/fIxbOvUcUL">https://t.co/fIxbOvUcUL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeepItInTheGround?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeepItInTheGround</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1102585767984021504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em><a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/water-tap/" target="_blank">Federal Water Tap</a> is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, <a href="http://twitter.com/circleofblue" target="_blank">follow</a> Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/contact/weekly-newsletter-sign-up/" target="_blank">newsletter</a>.</em><span></span></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/federal-water-tap/federal-water-tap-april-29-epa-releases-draft-pfas-groundwater-cleanup-guidance/" target="_blank">Circle of Blue</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Illegal deforestation in Pirititi indigenous land, Roraima, Brazil on May 8, 2018. Felipe Werneck / Ibama / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Robert T. Walker
Over the past 25 years that I have been conducting environmental research in the Amazon, I have witnessed the the ongoing destruction of the world's biggest rainforest. Twenty percent of it has been deforested by now—an area larger than Texas.
I therefore grew hopeful when environmental policies began to take effect at the turn of the millennium, and the rate of deforestation dropped from nearly 11,000 square miles per year to less than 2,000 over the decade following 2004.
<p>
But a new political climate in Brazil, which set in even before President <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-bolsonaros-presidency-means-for-brazil-5-essential-reads-105894" target="_blank">Jair Bolsonaro</a> took office in January 2019, has led to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/brazil-records-worst-annual-deforestation-for-a-decade" target="_blank">recent increase in the pace of rainforest felling</a>. And Bolsonaro, a former army officer, made <a href="https://theconversation.com/jair-bolsonaros-brazil-would-be-a-disaster-for-the-amazon-and-global-climate-change-104617" target="_blank">Amazonian development</a> a core campaign pledge.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTEyMzc4My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjYzMzE5MX0.DYfBJ_iNeh_d0YtzO78yC0y69iAaAu7Po9eBdEbfI1U/img.jpg?width=980" id="f346a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="df242c9c62999e80d4e7f9cf2eb173a6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The Tapajos River, downstream from where a dam could be built</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Robert T. Walker, CC BY-SA<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank"></a></small>
</p><h2>Damming the Tapajós<br>
</h2><p>
At stake is what becomes of the region around the <a href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/to_keep_a_river_running/" target="_blank">Tapajós River</a>, one of the Amazon's largest tributaries and home to about <a href="https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Munduruku#Location_and_population" target="_blank">14,000 Munduruku tribal people</a>. The Munduruku have until now successfully slowed down and seemingly halted many efforts to turn the Tapajós into the "<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2018.1418994" target="_blank">Mississippi of Brazil</a>."
</p><p>
The Tapajós River is the Amazon's last undammed <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.225.4658.129" target="_blank">clearwater tributary</a>. The basin that surrounds it is roughly equal to 15 percent of the Brazilian Amazon region and about the size of France. This remote area has a <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2018/0924/Camp-Amazon-Inside-the-lungs-of-the-Earth" target="_blank">great deal of biodiversity</a>, and its trees store large quantities of carbon.
</p><p>
Because the Amazon <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests">rainforest</a> absorbs a lot of the carbon emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14413" target="_blank">climate scientists</a> consider its preservation key to preventing an uptick in the pace of global warming.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTEyMzU0MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTY1MDc3NX0.ZreVVZgmzQeLrDOhD4axg81R_-c2SHdNM2GNIlkV05g/img.png?width=980" id="51578" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="56802c849c2ddf4f12436d6ae5652553" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>
Brazil is planning to build a series of big new <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/05/brazil-amazon-tapajos-hydrovia-scheme" target="_blank">hydroelectric dams and webs of waterways</a>, <a href="https://lab.org.uk/tapajos-under-attack-8-the-rush-to-turn-the-amazon-into-a-soy-transport-corridor/" target="_blank">rail lines, ports and roads</a> that can overcome logistical obstacles standing in the way of <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/grainrail-2nd-revolution-in-brazilian-agribusiness-and-amazon-threat/" target="_blank">exporting commodities and other goods</a>.<br>
</p><p>
The government did suspend plans to build an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/22/brazil-amazon-dam-project-suspended-indigenous-munduruku-sao-luiz-do-tapajos" target="_blank">8,000-megawatt dam</a> at the heart of this sprawling project in 2016. At the time, it cited the "unviability of the project given the indigenous component" and stated it would <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/brazil-announces-end-to-amazon-mega-dam-building-policy/" target="_blank">stop building big dams</a> in 2018, before Bolsanaro took office.
</p><p>
Yet many observers remain very concerned about how Bolsonaro's presidency will affect the Munduruku and the rainforest they protect. Groups like <a href="https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/about-international-rivers-3679" target="_blank">International Rivers</a>—a nonprofit dedicated to the "protection of rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them"—are not about to declare victory.
</p><h2>South American Gambit</h2><p>
Brazil's Amazon development plans are part of a broader gambit that includes all the <a href="http://www.iirsa.org/" target="_blank">South American nations</a>. First conceived in 2000, the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America is designed to build a continental economy through new infrastructure that provides electricity for industrialization and facilitates trade and transportation.
</p><p>
Known widely by its Spanish and Portuguese abbreviations as IIRSA, this initiative is turning <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.12610" target="_blank">the Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-Rainforest" target="_blank">60 percent</a> of which is located on Brazilian territory, into a source of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">hydropower</a> and a transportation hub connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It will become easier to <a href="https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/brazil-logistics-worry-soy-farmers-exporters-as-harvest-starts/" target="_blank">ship Brazilian soybeans to global markets</a>, and manufacturing will expand, stimulating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2018.1418994" target="_blank">population growth in the Amazon</a>.
</p><p>
The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12610" target="_blank">blueprint for this bid to develop the Amazon</a>, which also includes portions of <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_countries.html" target="_blank">Peru, Bolivia</a> and six other countries, calls for building more than 600 dams, 12,400 miles of waterways, about 1.2 million miles of roads, a transcontinental railway and a system of ports, much of it in the tropical wilderness.
</p><h2>New Wave of Development</h2><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTEyMzc5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODIyNDQwMn0.n6ULv1p_swRlmjbMIoR3kh6SoMz3K0JxPYhEelYQgaE/img.jpg?width=980" id="4653c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bb44e222dd88826bc2902be0af801d67" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">A complex of dams, roads and commercial waterways could turn the remote Tapajos River basin into a South American trading hub in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="https://geog.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Michael P. Waylen / University of Florida</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a></small>
</p><p>
Bolsonaro has not yet confronted the Munduruku or taken concrete actions to keep his promises about developing the Amazon. But he has taken steps that point in this direction with the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw7608" target="_blank">officials he has selected for key posts</a>. He has also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-02/new-brazilian-president-removes-indigenous-protections/10680166" target="_blank">transferred responsibilities</a> for demarcating indigenous lands from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Agriculture, which an <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-indigenous-people-fight-back-against-bolsonaros-attacks-on-amazon/a-46974782" target="_blank">agricultural lobbyist is running</a>.<br>
</p><p>
The new Brazilian president's plans for the Amazon come on the heels of decades of deforestation following the construction of roads and hydropower facilities during the 1960s and 1970s. This initial wave of construction opened the sparsely populated region to an influx of newcomers, and contributed to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/24694452.2018.1489215?needAccess=true" target="_blank">destruction of about a fifth</a> of the forest over four decades.
</p><p>
Then came a wave of <a href="https://theconversation.com/brazils-thriving-soy-industry-threatens-its-forests-and-global-climate-targets-56973" target="_blank">stronger environmental policies</a>—such as the stricter enforcement of logging laws, the expansion of protected areas and the voluntary decision by soybean farmers to refrain from clearing the forest—<a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.1182108" target="_blank">which lowered Brazil's Amazon deforestation rate</a> after 2000. It seemed to me and others that a new era of <a href="https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/deforestation_calculations.html" target="_blank">Amazonian conservation had dawned</a>.
</p><p>
But that was before I understood the full implications of the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America.
</p><p>
This plan is far more ambitious than earlier infrastructure projects which were completed by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1489215" target="_blank">end of the 1970s</a>, and I believe that it could wreak even more destruction.
</p><p>
Should all of its components be built, the new transportation and energy infrastructure would be likely to spark a new wave of deforestation that I fear could have disastrous impacts on the indigenous communities living in the region. The new projects need only to repeat what the earlier projects did. This would bring total deforestation to 40 percent.
</p><p>
Climate scientists such as <a href="https://www.wri.org/profile/carlos-nobre" target="_blank">Carlos Nobre</a> worry that this magnitude of forest loss would push the Amazon to a "tipping point" and undermine the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2009.07.003" target="_blank">process of rainfall recycling</a>, which <a href="https://forestsnews.cifor.org/54600/rainfall-recycling-trees-rainmakers?fnl=en" target="_blank">replenishes the Amazon's supply of water</a>. The outcome would be a drier climate in the Amazon, which has already begun to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05668-6" target="_blank">experience droughts</a>, and the transformation of the forest into savanna. Indigenous people would suffer, and the Amazon's biodiversity would disappear.
</p><p>
A massive increase in the pace of Amazonian deforestation could bring about <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climatic changes</a> in both South and North America. Scientists predict that precipitation would decline in many areas of the Americas, including the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat2340" target="_blank">southeastern part of South America</a> and the <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JHM406.1" target="_blank">Mississippi River Valley</a>. The whole world would suffer from reduced agricultural production in these two regions, which are <a href="http://www.agriacorp.com/market.asp?id=10" target="_blank">important global suppliers</a> of agricultural commodities like <a href="https://www.nps.gov/miss/riverfacts.htm" target="_blank">corn and soybeans</a>.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTEyMzgwMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDkzMDg0Mn0.LCZI6qcvFyysfEQdtu7GdfqGgzhrwFqW4mBLHvEpiEc/img.png?width=980" id="c3ebf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="76edbf88ce00325c5bf3e41e39019946" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption..."> The Conversation, CC-BY-ND</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."><a href="http://www.obt.inpe.br/prodes/dashboard/prodes-rates.html" target="_blank">National Institute for Space Research of Brazil</a></small>
</p><h2>Attacking the Amazon<br>
</h2><p>
To be sure, some of this construction is already underway in Brazil, particularly for hydropower. So far, <a href="https://www.popsci.com/environmental-damage-amazon-river-dams" target="_blank">140 dams</a> have either been built or are under construction, notably <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2013/05/04/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-belo-monte" target="_blank">the Belo Monte Dam</a> on the Xingu River and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.11.004" target="_blank">Santo Antônio and Jirau</a> dams on the Madeira Rivers. And Bolsonaro's predecessors had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2018.1418994" target="_blank">downsized some of the Amazon's protected areas to facilitate development</a>.
</p><p>
These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806059106" target="_blank">protected tracts of land</a> cover 43 percent of the Brazilian Amazon and are essential to maintaining <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity">biodiversity</a> and <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-02-carbon-uptake-amazon-forests-region.html" target="_blank">sequestering carbon</a>.
</p><p>
When Bolsonaro addressed world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for the first time, he promised to protect the environment in his country—which he called "<a href="https://qz.com/1530219/brazils-bolsonaro-tells-davos-he-wants-to-protect-the-amazon/" target="_blank">a paradise</a>."
</p><p>
I remain skeptical, however, given that he seems to be staffing his government in preparation for construction projects that could devastate the Amazon, reducing its biodiversity and destroying its ecological and cultural treasures.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="d3a15" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59TWXG1576662148"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1083158341327572992" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">‘There will be an increase in deforestation’: Brazil’s new president signs order endangering amazon and Indigenous… https://t.co/pK7smZHeru</div> — Earth Alliance (@Earth Alliance)<a href="https://twitter.com/earthalliance/statuses/1083158341327572992">1547080047.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-deforestation-already-rising-may-spike-under-bolsonaro-109940" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em><br></p><script async="async" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109940/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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Journalists Reporting on the Environment Faced Increased Dangers in 2018
07 January 2019
Insights + Opinion
A man photographing a landscape in Brazil, where environmental journalism is under pressure. Cesar Okada / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Kaamil Ahmed
A pair of "French spies" had infiltrated India by sea to commit a "treasonous conspiracy," an Indian minister claimed in late November. In reality, they were two visiting journalists, and their mission was an investigation into allegations of illegal sand mining in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They had merely tried and failed to visit the site of a major mining company through legal means.
Their presence set off alarm bells among some connected to the industry, and the fallout has been significant. It's included a police investigation, a politically fueled propaganda campaign and the arrests of two local translators who had been working for them.
<p>This heavy-handed response is familiar to Indian journalist Sandhya Ravishankar, who has <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/a-run-on-for-sand-leads-to-a-creeping-crisis-worldwide/" target="_blank">reported on sand mining</a> since 2013 and found that her probing into allegations of major business interests damaging the local environment has resulted in stalking and various types of harassment—some of it reportedly directed by the head of one of the mining companies.</p><p>"I got rape threats, my bike was vandalized, the miner has openly admitted that there are five detective agencies trailing me wherever I go, CCTV visuals of me having coffee with a source at a cafe have been made public," Ravishankar said, adding that she also discovered government documents showing "officials have colluded to slander me."</p><p>Ravishankar's case is just one example of the growing dangers for journalists reporting environmental stories. Even as environmental journalism becomes increasingly important in the face of destructive business and political interests and practices, the inherent safety risks remain. There are also the more routine challenges of accessing crucial information and convincing editors and readers of their importance.</p><p>"Journalists I've interviewed have been arrested, sued, fired, threatened, harassed, interrogated by police, interrogated by the military, physically assaulted and a number of them have been killed while covering logging, mining, development," said journalism professor Eric Freedman in an interview. Freedman is the Knight Chair in Environmental Journalism and director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.</p><p>Freedman said environmental journalism came with its own set of challenges, many of which evolve with the story.</p><p>"Environmental controversies frequently involve power, political and economic power," he said. "They involve money, whether mines or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a> or <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hydropower">hydropower</a>.</p><p>"Covering these kinds of beats, particularly in areas where journalists are not respected and protected takes a great deal of courage and bravery."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA2NDcxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMjQxNDkxM30.egK40wiC-D9TA7DHR95O-2B8IRhP7-hxG_xHbgaRAHU/img.jpg?width=980" id="4ad22" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a14133778b99866be9ec3bb0c8c65ad" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The number of journalists killed each year between 1992-2018</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Chart and data courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)</small></p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA2NDcxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODYzMzc3NH0.gBNR62pabnEvO4WQjNIROuyTHwvQnv6HQl2WwhKXVps/img.jpg?width=980" id="0d6b1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="18de616f24d543403bef1d9ccdc09def" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The number of journalists killed in 2018</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Chart and data courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)</small></p><h2>Stalked for Exposing Sand Mining in India</h2><p>The sand of India's southern coasts was being stolen, the minerals extracted by major corporations for export. Ravishankar explored the issue in <a href="https://thewire.in/environment/countdown-begins-tamil-nadus-beach-sand-mining-cartel" target="_blank">a series of stories</a> in early 2017.</p><p>The practice was banned by the Tamil Nadu state government in 2013, but according to Ravishankar's reporting, $5.6 billion worth of minerals were extracted from beach sand and exported between 2013 and 2016.</p><p>Her previous reporting on the topic had left her fighting legal cases. But revealing the ongoing activity and naming the companies responsible prompted a harsh reaction for the journalist: she has been harassed online and had her phone number disseminated, leading to calls with violent threats.</p><p>"It has been very difficult," she said. "Colleagues have stayed away simply because anyone close to me is in danger of being slandered, my family has been under constant threat and anxiety, my husband has been slandered in a targeted manner."</p><p>Ravishankar was working as a freelancer, a common thread in a lot of the cases of journalists facing intimidation, according to a research paper presented by Freedman to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August 2018. Another issue is that many of them are local journalists rather than foreign reporters.</p><p>That is a reality that French journalists Arthur Bouvart and Jules Giraudat's organization, <a href="https://forbiddenstories.org/" target="_blank">Forbidden Stories</a>, recognizes, by helping local journalists cover sensitive stories they have been attacked for.</p><p>Bouvart and Giraudat contacted Ravishankar in August for help investigating sand mining in southern India, but she felt the work was too risky. Instead, she set them up with D. Anandhakumar, a local journalist who translated for the French duo.</p><p>Anandhakumar was not with them on Nov. 26 this year when they visited the site of Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL) to ask for filming permission. But he and his friend, M. Sriram, another local journalist who also translated for the French journalists, were bombarded by calls from the local police. They were asked to come in for questioning the next day, and ended up being detained for two days.</p><p>Meanwhile, Bouvart and Giraudat left the country, fearing further repercussions after the sudden interest from the authorities. A police investigation has been opened into accusations they trespassed at the IREL site.</p><p>They have also become the focus of the local wing of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has put up posters with their photos, reading: "There are French spies in Kanyakumari district. People beware."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA2NDcxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTI5NjQ0Nn0.eAJ_nehUOcVsJkb9XfR2iYYJf497D66Qx6K_jzNv8Yk/img.jpg?width=980" id="9568f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="be2cf4653fcda18e950706665e27a5b4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Photo by Rhett A. Butler</small></p><h2>The Implications</h2><p>At least 10 journalists covering the environment were killed between 2010 and 2016, <u><a href="https://rsf.org/en/news/environmental-journalism-increasingly-hostile-climate" target="_blank">according to Reporters without Borders</a>—</u>all but two of them in Asia. India and Cambodia were highlighted by the group as countries where journalists have been killed and threatened with impunity.<br></p><p>In his study, Knight's Freedman spoke with journalists around the world about how the dangers they had faced while reporting on the environment had long-term, often traumatic, effects on their lives and careers.</p><p>Some described physical assaults they had been subjected to, others the conditions of their detention, or the experiences of repeated arrests.</p><p>"These journalists, sometimes as a result of these experiences, suffer PTSD, depression, some leave their country, some give up on journalism and at the same time others become even more committed, more passionate about the mission of journalism," Freedman said. He added that he found examples of journalists suffering in a range of countries, including India, Liberia, the U.S. and Canada.</p><p>He also asked them whether they sought therapy for their trauma and found that only a few did. Some said suitable counseling services were not available in their countries, but the majority were simply reluctant to seek help, fitting wider trends observed in places like <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589076/" target="_blank">Kenya</a> and <a href="http://www.imhlk.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WPFD2017-Jakarta-Trauma-Counseling-for-Journalists-Gowri-Ananthan-1.pdf" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a>.</p><p>Ravishankar said dealing with the aftermath of the harassment she faced was a "daily task."</p><p>"I wake up and tell myself everything will be alright some day and that all of this is for a good cause," she said. "And I tell myself that if I do not continue my work, no one else will. So onward with courage."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTA2NDcxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTAwNDg5NH0.LYhL8LZRE8DwmnMi_nT7y-Q3fLQ-TyUTpvbsqUpczC4/img.jpg?width=980" id="2bb0e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bcc69d20edcd29edf89f0599b6b629db" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The front page of Daily Eleven in Yangon, Myanmar the day after the murder of one of its reporters</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Photo by Ann Wang for Mongabay</small></p><h2>Hostile Atmosphere</h2><p>While Brazil has previously been praised for taking steps toward combatting environmental damage by <u><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140605-brazil-deforestation-carbon-emissions-environment/" target="_blank">reducing both deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions</a></u>, it is also a country where the debate around the environment is typically very loaded.<br></p><p>Fears that the discussion will become even more polarizing have grown since the election this year of the right-wing politician Jair Bolsonaro as president. One of his first moves ahead of taking power in the new year was to appoint as his foreign minister an official who has described <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a> as <u><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/brazil-foreign-minister-ernesto-araujo-climate-change-marxist-plot" target="_blank">a "Marxist plot" and climate science as "dogma</a>."</u></p><p>Even before Bolsonaro's election, <u><a href="https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/XPA-Report_A19.pdf" target="_blank">Brazil was already one of the most dangerous places for environmental activists</a></u>, according to a 2017 report by free-speech watchdog Article 19. It recorded 57 environmental activists killed in 2017, most of whom worked to defend the Amazon rainforest.</p><p>Gustavo Faleiros, the editor of InfoAmazonia, which covers issues in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests">rainforest</a> across the nine countries it spans, said deeper polarization in Brazilian politics would affect journalists trying to report on the environment. They might face accusations of being activists or part of the political opposition, he said.</p><p>"I think tough questions will be seen as confrontation and that's not good," he said in an interview. "Even worse now there's this discourse treating those who are asking tough questions as saying those people are leftists who are supporting left ideologies. So it's a very strange time where just by being critical you become a Communist."</p><p>Faleiros said a lot of the trends environmental journalists in Brazil had to contend with echoed globally, including an "aversion to facts" when reported by the media.</p><p>"But here it's very visible that no matter what kind [of] scientific facts you bring to your story, there will always be an argument to show that this is not enough to be concerned [about] or that you are just showing one side of the story," Faleiros said.</p><p>Accessing those kinds of facts is something Faleiros said he feared could become more difficult. While information on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">deforestation</a> is quite transparent, it's tougher to access details on natural resource exploration, he said.</p><p>That difficulty could be exacerbated under a government that sees environmental activism as <u><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/12/07/activists-feared-brazils-bolsonaro-would-accelerate-amazon-deforestation-now-they-think-its-already-happening/?utm_term=.467bba326664" target="_blank">a barrier to development</a></u>.</p><p>"I'm seeing a drop [in] the agenda of the level of the environmental issues in Brazil," Faleiros said. "It's tough for us but it's a very important time to be an environmental journalist in Brazil."</p><p>Convincing both the public and editors of the value of environmental journalism has become a key issue, Knight's Freedman said.</p><p>Much of the burden has fallen on the shoulders of freelance reporters, since the 2008 financial crisis forced publications around the world to downsize. Many have cut reporters on the environmental beat, though Freedman said he felt the field had recently been able to claw back some of those losses.</p><p>One reporter who says she's had the freedom to work the beat by following her leads and traveling across India to see how environmental change is playing out is Delhi-based Sowmiya Ashok of The Indian Express.</p><p>She said she tried to focus on the "micro-picture," connecting wider debates with on-the-ground realities, but also monitored policy changes, even if it was a struggle to make the wider public care.</p><p>"We're still at a stage when climate change is not the story yet. I think we're way behind the curve," Ashok said in an interview. "I think climate change is a huge story in India, it's just not being told in the mainstream media as much."</p><p>Ashok added that the consequences of ignoring environmental perils weighed on her mind.</p><p>"I often wonder when will be the tipping point where people start taking this seriously," she said. "Perhaps one day when you go to brush your teeth and there is no water in the tap and you realize: this has caught up with me."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/journalists-reporting-on-the-environment-faced-increased-dangers-in-2018/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>
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