# data[].attributes.body
This article discusses how coastal cities are at risk with rapid sea level rising and warming over more than two degrees. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS) by National Oceanography Centre (NOC) scientists predictions were published with predictions of warming of two degrees by 2040. In these predictions the scientists believe that 90% of coastal areas would see the rise in sea level. WIth little time, scientists worry that these costs would be very vulnerable and unprepared for the rise.

This would greatly affect many tourist areas as well as homes. An example of a beach that could be impacted is Miami. Another scenario that could be even worse would be if there was 5 degrees of warming, then up to 80% of coastlines may have sea levels rise over 1.8 meters by the end of the 21st century. Experts from Denmark, the Netherland, China and the UK all gathered to conduct the experiment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The first predications of coastal sea level with warming of two degrees by 2040 show an average rate of increase three times higher than the 20th century rate of sea level rise. These predictions have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS) by National Oceanography Centre (NOC) scientists.

According to this research, by 2040 with 2 degrees centigrade warming, more than 90% of coastal areas will experience sea level rise exceeding the global estimate of 20cm, with up to 40cm expected along the Atlantic coast of North America and Norway due to ocean dynamics. Furthermore, the impact of this sea level rise will be more pronounced in locations, such as Jakarta, where there is subsidence of the land.

Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva from the NOC, who is the lead author on this paper, said "Coastal cities and vulnerable tropical coastal ecosystems will have very little time to adapt to the fast sea level rise these predictions show, in scenarios with global warming above two degree.

A worst case scenario considered involving 5 degrees warming shows that up to 80% of global coastlines could experience changes in sea level of over 1.8 meters by the end of 21st century. This might never happen, but could not be ruled out due to large uncertainties in the contribution of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in these sea level rise predications. As a result, millions of people living by the coast could be displaced and the beaches that attract tourists could be destroyed, particularly in low lying coastal cities in South East Asia and in the USA, such as Miami."

Professor Ed Hill, Executive Director of the National Oceanography Centre commented, "We trust that these findings will help inform coastal sea level adaptation and mitigation strategies. Work of this type forms part of the NOC's ongoing commitment to providing the best possible information to decision makers based on rigorous scientific analysis."

The research is part of the EU funded RISES-AM project, which looks at the impact of sea level rise from a physical, economic and social perspective. The study was carried out by team with experts from Denmark, the Netherlands, China and the UK.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
global warming; floods; oceanography; climate; resource shortage; ocean policy; environmental policies; travel and recreation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Coastal cities at risk from rapid sea-level rise with warming above two degree

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The first predications of coastal sea level with warming of two degrees by 2040 show an average rate of increase three times higher than the 20th century rate of sea level rise. These predictions have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS) by National Oceanography Centre (NOC) scientists.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discussed how sharks actually prevent climate change. Research conducted at Bournemouth University shows that shark finning as well as over fishing could lead to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and therefore increased climate change. A paper was published in Ecological Informatics to draw attention to this issue. Basically, by taking our sharks from the top of food chain/web the higher biomass of prey results in more respiration. More respiration equals greater levels of carbon dioxide.

It also discussed reasons why sharks may be targets. A recent trend in shark finning shows that there is a high demand for shark-fin soup in the Far East. Researchers also believe that the display of sharks as dangerous animals to be afraid of hurts their public appearance. The article ends by Dr. Stafford saying that he hopes the article and research will make people realize some of the not so obvious effects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
New Bournemouth University research has found that over fishing and shark finning may result on more greenhouse gasses and increased climate change.

Researchers from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at Bournemouth University, along with a team on international co-authors, have shown that poor management of the oceans, including overfishing and shark finning, may have an adverse effect on climate change.

The paper, published this week in the journal Ecological Informatics, demonstrates the importance of protecting our oceans, and the importance of sharks in marine ecosystems.

The team showed that removal of top predators, including sharks, from marine ecosystems, results in higher biomass of prey animals, greater levels of respiration and as such, higher overall levels of carbon dioxide.

Dr Rick Stafford from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at Bournemouth University led the study. He says, "The research really demonstrates the far reaching consequences of overfishing and of barbaric practices like shark finning. We need to be much more aware of the importance of marine ecosystems and how they can affect all of us."

Shark finning, the process of removing shark fins from live sharks, leading to the slow death of the marine animal, has become big business in recent years, driven by the demand for shark-fin soup in the Far East.

"The study really identifies sharks as an important part of the functioning of the marine ecosystem, not as creatures to be frightened of and persecuted," said Elisabeth Spiers, a visiting fellow at Bournemouth University and co-author of the study.

The team believe that negative media reports on shark attacks, along with a lack of knowledge of marine ecosystems have resulted in limited public support for marine conservation.

Dr Stafford continued, "We hope that this study will help people understand the importance of the marine environment -- and that protecting it can have important effects on seemingly unrelated processes such as climate change."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
fish; sea life; nature; marine biology; environmental awareness; ecology; ecosystems; environmental issues

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New Bournemouth University research has found that over fishing and shark finning may result on more greenhouse gasses and increased climate change. Researchers from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at Bournemouth University, along with a team on international co-authors, have shown that poor management of the oceans, including overfishing and shark finning, may have an adverse effect on climate change.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discussed the calculation of human and natural influence on cloud formation. Recently a cloud experiment at CERN has been used to, “calculate the production of aerosol particles in all of Earth’s regions and at different heights.” Mainly two things were studied by researches: the role of various chemicals and the influence of ions.  In terms of cloud formation scientists found that half of the nuclei was formed from nucleation. Ammonia and sulfur emissions also affect the formation and because of human activities the emissions have grown significantly.

The scientists found that the 11-year old solar cycle did not have a large impact. Model calculations that were created show that less sulphur components are being released into the air now than they were in the pre-industrial atmosphere. By studying this the CLOUD team found, “that the cooling effects of clouds are 27 percent less than in climate simulations without this effect as a result of additional particles caused by human activity.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
from research organizations

When new particles develop in the atmosphere, this influences cloud formation and with that the climate too. Since a few years, these complex processes have been reproduced in a large air chamber within the CLOUD experiment at CERN. Researchers have now used the results for the first time to calculate the production of aerosol particles in all the Earth's regions and at different heights. The study published in the journal "Science," in which researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt were involved, deciphers the role of the various chemical systems which are responsible for particle formation. They also determined the influence of ions which develop through cosmic radiation.

Soot particles, dust lifted up by the wind or sea spray account for only some of the particles in the atmosphere. Others develop from certain trace vapours, for example when individual sulphuric acid and water molecules cluster as tiny droplets. This formation of new particles is known as nucleation. Clouds are formed by water condensing on the larger aerosol particles or what are known as cloud condensation nuclei. The more cloud droplets develop, the more sunlight is reflected back into space. Climate models show that the additional particles caused by human activity produce a cooling effect which partially offsets the greenhouse effect. It is, however, less than previously assumed.
Aerosol particles from sulphuric acid and ammonia emissions
The model calculations presented in "Science" prove that about half the cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere originate from nucleation. In the atmosphere today, particle formation is dominated almost everywhere by mechanisms where at least three chemical components must come together: apart from the two basic substances, i.e. sulphuric acid and water, these are either ammonia or specific organic compounds such as oxidation products from terpenes. Close to ground level, organic substances from natural sources are important, whilst ammonia plays a key role higher up in the troposphere. Ammonia and sulphur emissions have increased considerably over the past decades as a result of human activities.
11-year solar cycle has scarcely any influence
CLOUD has also investigated how the 11-year solar cycle influences the formation of aerosol particles in our present-day atmosphere. The model calculations show that the effects as a result of changes in ionisation through the sun are too small to make a significant contribution to cloud formation. Although the ions are originally involved in the development of almost one third of all newly formed particles, the concentration of the large cloud condensation nuclei in the course of the 11-year cycle changes by only 0.1 percent -- not enough to have any sizeable influence on the climate.
Cooling effects 27 percent less than expected
The CLOUD team has also presented first global model calculations for aerosol formation caused without the involvement of sulphuric acid and solely through extremely low volatile substances of biological origin (Gordon et al., PNAS). According to the findings, this process contributed significantly to particle formation above all in the pre-industrial atmosphere, since at that time far less sulphur components were released into the atmosphere. The number of particles in the pre-industrial atmosphere is now estimated to be far greater through the additional process than was shown in earlier calculations. The model calculations, which are based on data from the CLOUD experiment, reveal that the cooling effects of clouds are 27 percent less than in climate simulations without this effect as a result of additional particles caused by human activity: Instead of a radiative effect of -0.82 W/m2 the outcome is only -0.60 W/m ².

Journal References:

1. E. M. Dunne, H. Gordon, A. Kurten, J. Almeida, J. Duplissy, C. Williamson, I. K. Ortega, K. J. Pringle, A. Adamov, U. Baltensperger, P. Barmet, F. Benduhn, F. Bianchi, M. Breitenlechner, A. Clarke, J. Curtius, J. Dommen, N. M. Donahue, S. Ehrhart, R. C. Flagan, A. Franchin, R. Guida, J. Hakala, A. Hansel, M. Heinritzi, T. Jokinen, J. Kangasluoma, J. Kirkby, M. Kulmala, A. Kupc, M. J. Lawler, K. Lehtipalo, V. Makhmutov, G. Mann, S. Mathot, J. Merikanto, P. Miettinen, A. Nenes, A. Onnela, A. Rap, C. L. S. Reddington, F. Riccobono, N. A. D. Richards, M. P. Rissanen, L. Rondo, N. Sarnela, S. Schobesberger, K. Sengupta, M. Simon, M. Sipila, J. N. Smith, Y. Stozkhov, A. Tome, J. Trostl, P. E. Wagner, D. Wimmer, P. M. Winkler, D. R. Worsnop, K. S. Carslaw. Global atmospheric particle formation from CERN CLOUD measurements. Science, 2016; DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf2649

2. Hamish Gordon, Kamalika Sengupta, Alexandru Rap, Jonathan Duplissy, Carla Frege, Christina Williamson, Martin Heinritzi, Mario Simon, Chao Yan, João Almeida, Jasmin Tröstl, Tuomo Nieminen, Ismael K. Ortega, Robert Wagner, Eimear M. Dunne, Alexey Adamov, Antonio Amorim, Anne-Kathrin Bernhammer, Federico Bianchi, Martin Breitenlechner, Sophia Brilke, Xuemeng Chen, Jill S. Craven, Antonio Dias, Sebastian Ehrhart, Lukas Fischer, Richard C. Flagan, Alessandro Franchin, Claudia Fuchs, Roberto Guida, Jani Hakala, Christopher R. Hoyle, Tuija Jokinen, Heikki Junninen, Juha Kangasluoma, Jaeseok Kim, Jasper Kirkby, Manuel Krapf, Andreas Kürten, Ari Laaksonen, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Vladimir Makhmutov, Serge Mathot, Ugo Molteni, Sarah A. Monks, Antti Onnela, Otso Peräkylä, Felix Piel, Tuukka Petäjä, Arnaud P. Praplan, Kirsty J. Pringle, Nigel A. D. Richards, Matti P. Rissanen, Linda Rondo, Nina Sarnela, Siegfried Schobesberger, Catherine E. Scott, John H. Seinfeld, Sangeeta Sharma, Mikko Sipilä, Gerhard Steiner, Yuri Stozhkov, Frank Stratmann, Antonio Tomé, Annele Virtanen, Alexander Lucas Vogel, Andrea C. Wagner, Paul E. Wagner, Ernest Weingartner, Daniela Wimmer, Paul M. Winkler, Penglin Ye, Xuan Zhang, Armin Hansel, Josef Dommen, Neil M. Donahue, Douglas R. Worsnop, Urs Baltensperger, Markku Kulmala, Joachim Curtius, Kenneth S. Carslaw. Reduced anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing caused by biogenic new particle formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016; 113 (43): 12053 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1602360113

Cite This Page:

Below are relevant articles that may interest you. ScienceDaily shares links and proceeds with scholarly publications in the TrendMD network.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
atmosphere; air pollution; geomagnetic storms; environmental issues; global warming; pollution; climate; environmental awareness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Successful calculation of human and natural influence on cloud formation: CLOUD data are fed into a global aerosol model to calculate climate effects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When new particles develop in the atmosphere, this influences cloud formation and with that the climate too. Since a few years, these complex processes have been reproduced in a large air chamber within the CLOUD experiment at CERN.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discussed how pollution that occurs near the equator has the largest impact on the global ozone. At the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers found this idea that regions closer to the equator are producing emissions that have a larger impact on the formation of ozone to be true. The reason for this is both the intense heat and sunlight that are found at the equator. They used the example of China, India and Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia and India had lower emissions but had more of an effect on the ozone than China who had higher emissions.

Looking closer at why this is true, the article explained how the higher temperatures and sunlight increase the vertical motion of air and speed up chemical reactions that form ozone. The researchers explained also that this data was surprising because they expected location to matter but they did not expect it matter the most overall.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since the 1980s, air pollution has increased worldwide, but it has increased at a much faster pace in regions close to the equator. Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now reveals that this changing global emissions map is creating more total ozone worldwide compared to the amount of pollution being emitted, signaling an effect that could be difficult to reign in without strategic policy planning.

"Emissions are growing in places where there is a much greater effect on the formation of ozone," said Jason West, who led the research at UNC-Chapel Hill with former graduate student and first author Yuqiang Zhang. "A ton of emissions in a region close to the equator, where there is a lot of sunlight and intense heat, produces more ozone than a ton of emissions in a region farther from it."

The work, to appear in the Nov. 7 advance online issue of Nature Geoscience, provides a much-needed path forward on where in the world to strategically reduce emissions of pollutants that form ozone, which when present in the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, is one of the primary causes of air pollution-related respiratory problems and heart disease. (In the upper atmosphere, or stratosphere, ozone helps protect against the sun's ultraviolet rays.)

To drive home the point, West explained that China's emissions increased more than India's and Southeast Asia's from 1980 to 2010, but Southeast Asia and India, despite their lower growth in emissions during this period, appear to have contributed more to the total global ozone increase due to their proximity to the equator.

The reason is that ozone, a greenhouse gas and toxic air pollutant, is not emitted but forms when ultraviolet light hits nitrogen oxides (basically combustion exhaust from cars and other sources). When these pollutants interact with more intense sunlight and higher temperatures, the interplay speeds up the chemical reactions that form ozone. Higher temperatures near the equator also increase the vertical motion of air, transporting ozone-forming chemicals higher in the troposphere, where they can live longer and form more ozone.

"The findings were surprising," said West. "We thought that location was going to be important, but we didn't suspect it would be the most important factor contributing to total ozone levels worldwide. Our findings suggest that where the world emits is more important than how much it emits."

Zhang, West and colleagues, including Owen Cooper and Audrey Gaudel, from the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory, used a computer model to simulate the total amount of ozone in the troposphere, the part of the atmosphere where ozone is harmful to humans and agriculture, between 1980 and 2010. Since emissions have shifted south during this period, they wanted to answer, what contributed more to the increased production of ozone worldwide: the changing magnitude of emissions or location?

To find out, the team used a unique European data set of ozone observations from commercial aircraft to confirm the strong increases in ozone above Asia. Then they superimposed a map of how much pollution the world was emitting in 1980 onto where the world was emitting it in 2010, and vice versa, in addition to another scenario of the growth of methane gas, to determine what is driving the world's increase in ozone production.

"Location, by far," said West, associate professor of environmental sciences in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

The findings point to several strategies for reducing ground-level ozone across the world, such as decreasing emissions of ozone precursors in regions close to the equator, particularly those with the fastest growth of emissions. However, concerns exist for policy makers.

"A more challenging scenario is that even if there is a net reduction in global emissions, ozone levels may not decrease if emissions continue to shift toward the equator," said Cooper. "But continuing aircraft and satellite observations of ozone across the tropics can monitor the situation and model forecasts can guide decision making for controlling global ozone pollution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
ozone holes; environmental issues; air quality; air pollution; pollution; atmosphere; environmental science; environmental policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pollution emitted near equator has biggest impact on global ozone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since the 1980s, air pollution has increased worldwide, but it has increased at a much faster pace in regions close to the equator. Research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now reveals that this changing global emissions map is creating more total ozone worldwide compared to the amount of pollution being emitted, signaling an effect that could be difficult to reign in without strategic policy planning.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discusses the concern of high cost when it comes to fixing climate-related problems. Researchers from Brown University wrote a paper that explained a plan for the way countries and communities could pay for the damages and losses of these issues. After this, Hoffmeister, Huq and Roberts and a team of researchers worked with experts in Germany in order to complete a final version of the paper. The basic idea behind the plan is to take developed countries, who have produced the most harm from greenhouse gases ,in order to help the developing nations who can’t necessarily afford the solution.

The researchers to into account that normal ways of financing aren’t as easily used when dealing with issues of climate change. This caused them to think of ways to change current realities like putting a levy on air travel and bunker fuels. Another concept discussed was contingency finance which has to do with putting money away to be used for times of disaster. However, it is difficult to predict the amount of money that may be needed in the future and exactly how the money should be distributed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Climate-related catastrophes are expensive, whether they come on suddenly, like the thousand-year flood in Louisiana in August 2016, or move slowly and inexorably, like desertification in Turkey. A new paper by researchers at Brown University's Climate and Development Lab outlines financial instruments that could help countries pay for the irreversible losses climate change can cause, such as loss of life, species or land due to rising seas, and damages like the destruction of infrastructure and property by hurricanes and floods.

The study, "Financing options for loss and damage: a review and roadmap," aims to advance the discussion of loss and damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and appears just as the 2015 Paris Agreement goes into effect and the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP22) gets underway in Marrakesh from November 7 to 18.

Finding ways to deliver financial assistance to communities that face damages or losses is necessary, the researchers wrote, because of the growing certainty that global efforts are insufficient to prevent significant climate-related damage.

"The basic formula in dealing with climate change is that it is best to sharply reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases," said study coauthor J. Timmons Roberts, Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and professor of sociology at Brown. "As a second line of defense, we can attempt to adapt to the impacts that come when we don't mitigate emissions quickly enough. Emissions reductions have come too slowly, and now some impacts cannot be adapted to. That's called 'loss and damage,' a reference to the common legal idea."

That term, however, "has not been officially defined under the UNFCCC," said Victoria Hoffmeister, a Brown undergraduate and paper coauthor, "and it remains unclear which specific mechanisms will be used to raise financial support for loss and damage."

To remedy that lack of clarity, Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh, asked Brown's Climate and Development Lab (CDL) to look into ways to pay for loss and damage.

Hoffmeister, Huq and Roberts and a team of researchers presented a draft of the study at a workshop held at the German Development Institute (DIE) in Germany during the UNFCCC's negotiations in May 2016. Experts from around the world participated in the workshop, Roberts said, and provided feedback that was incorporated to the final version of the paper, now available via DIE for use at COP22.
Means of paying for climate-related loss and damage
A key component of the Paris Agreement, a global climate change accord ratified by 97 parties in 2016, requires the enhancement of "understanding, action and support" for loss and damage associated with climate change. At particular risk are the "least developed countries," underdeveloped nations where more than 75 percent of the population lives in poverty, and small island developing states. Broadly, the financing mechanisms are intended to raise money from large nations that have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases to the poor and vulnerable, Hoffmeister said.

It is challenging to apply traditional financial tools to climate change loss and damage, the authors wrote in the study, because they do not adequately address slow-onset events like sea-level rise, non-economic loss and damage or high-frequency events, such as repeated highly destructive hurricanes.

The researchers looked at financial instruments suggested by the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts Executive Committee (WIM ExCom). They also considered innovative financial instruments, like levies on air travel and bunker fuels, and assessed the potential effectiveness of each.

The WIM ExCom's suggestions included catastrophe risk insurance, coverage for individuals and communities for low-probability, high-cost disasters. The insurance could be effective, the CDL researchers found, if contracts covered a large enough geographical area and incentivized risk-reduction activities.

The drawback, they noted, is that some countries might not be able to generate or afford the high-quality catastrophe risk models that would underpin the insurance. Founding catastrophe risk insurance instruments in Asia, where none currently exist, they wrote "has huge potential to energize the global climate risk insurance market."

Contingency finance, which involves setting aside funds for specified uses during emergencies, could enable quick responses after catastrophes, but posed tough planning challenges and limited flexibility, because it is difficult to predict how much money should be set aside and for which specific uses.

Two types of debt securities, climate-themed bonds and catastrophe bonds, earned mixed reviews. Climate-themed bonds, the authors wrote, are better suited to mitigation projects like wind or solar farms than to loss and damage funding, because bonds are typically sold to raise funds for projects that turn profits. On the other hand, catastrophe bonds protect the issuer from impacts of disasters, the researchers wrote, and investors might be attracted to them because they would allow diversification of risk.
Other tools
The CDL researchers considered three promising sources of funding pertaining to air travel and three broader-based taxes.

The international airline passenger levy would impose a modest fee to those traveling internationally. As originally proposed, its revenues would be paid directly into the Adaption Fund of the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, but these could instead be channeled into a specific "loss and damage fund," Hoffmeister said.

The solidarity levy, currently used by nine countries, is a fee on passengers departing from a single country, the authors wrote. The levy can earn substantial revenues and preserve national sovereignty because it does not require universal adoption, and countries can adjust their participation as economic conditions change.

A bunker fuels levy applies to both air and maritime transport. Airplane and ship fuels are not currently taxed, the authors wrote, but emissions from international aviation and maritime transport increased by 70 percent between 1990 and 2010, account for 3 to 4 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and are projected to increase six-fold. A levy on these fuels "would exploit a tax base not naturally belonging to national governments," the authors wrote.

Beyond transportation-related levies, possible funding mechanisms include the financial transaction tax, a small levy placed on monetary transactions or trades of financial instruments. While these can generate substantial revenues, a downside, the authors note, is that some countries may be unwilling or logistically unprepared to administer them.

A fossil fuel majors carbon levy is a global fossil fuel extraction tax that would be imposed on large oil, coal and gas producers. The authors pointed to the 2013 Carbon Majors Study, "which found that just 90 companies were responsible for 63 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions." The levy would impose taxes on these and other large fossil fuel extractors on a global scale.

Finally, the authors considered a global carbon tax, a worldwide system of carbon pricing in the form of either a tax or auction revenues generated from a cap and trade system, in which a "cap," or upper limit, is set on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions allowed by a system like a group of companies. If one company emits less than their share of that total amount, another company can buy the right to emit that amount of gases, going over their pre-set share but keeping the total system emissions within the limit. This tax would be levied on the carbon content of fossil fuels, rather than on energy content.

While the difficulty of this approach is that it would require worldwide consent and the cost of enforcement would be significant, the authors wrote, it is not a new or untested concept, and it could be "applied to financing loss and damage while simultaneously promoting substitution of cleaner energy sources."

See more at: https://www.die-gdi.de/en/discussion-paper/article/financing-options-for-loss-and-damage-a-review-and-roadmap/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
global warming; environmental policy; climate; environmental awareness; environmental policies; funding policy; resource shortage; world development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mapping out ways to pay for climate-related loss, damage

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Climate-related catastrophes are expensive, whether they come on suddenly, like the thousand-year flood in Louisiana in August 2016, or move slowly and inexorably, like desertification in Turkey.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discusses the results of a bad on GMOs. While most people would expect this to be helpful and positive research shows how costly it would be as well the amount of carbon it would add to the air. Agricultural economists carried out a series of experiments with corn, soybeans, and cotton. The change of taking out GMO’s caused a 2% increase in price. It is also predicted that the change would affect the economies of poor developing nations the most because of the instability of prices. As far as Greenhouse gases were concerned increasing the amount of GMO’s would lead to significant decrease in the amount of gas emissions.

The US has deemed GMO’s used in the US as safe to eat while many European and Asian countries do not agree and therefore have strict policies. Along with this, it explained how countries like the US who export a lot of agriculture would actually make money while countries importing the goods would suffer from the change. Overall banning GMO’s would have a huge affect financially as well as with amount of carbon in the air. It urged the importance of these matters being taken into consideration in the debate of GMO’s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A global ban on genetically modified crops would raise food prices and add the equivalent of nearly a billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, a study by researchers from Purdue University shows.

Using a model to assess the economic and environmental value of GMO crops, agricultural economists found that replacing GMO corn, soybeans and cotton with conventionally bred varieties worldwide would cause a 0.27 to 2.2 percent increase in food costs, depending on the region, with poorer countries hit hardest. According to the study, published Oct. 27 in the Journal of Environmental Protection, a ban on GMOs would also trigger negative environmental consequences: The conversion of pastures and forests to cropland -- to compensate for conventional crops' lower productivity -- would release substantial amounts of stored carbon to the atmosphere.

Conversely, if countries that already plant GMOs expanded their use of genetically modified crops to match the rate of GMO planting in the United States, global greenhouse gas emissions would fall by the equivalent of 0.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and would allow 0.8 million hectares of cropland (about 2 million acres) to return to forests and pastures.

"Some of the same groups that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also want to ban GMOs. But you can't have it both ways," said Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics. "Planting GMO crops is an effective way for agriculture to lower its carbon footprint."

GMOs have been a source of contention in the United States and abroad, as some believe genetically modified crops pose potential risks to human health and the environment. Three U.S. regulatory agencies -- the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency -- have deemed GMO foods safe to eat, and the United States is the global leader in planting GMO crops and developing agricultural biotechnology.

But in many European and Asian countries, consumer and economic concerns have led to strict regulations on GMO crops, with partial or full bans on their cultivation.

Tyner and fellow researchers Farzad Taheripour, research associate professor of agricultural economics, and then-master's student Harry Mahaffey used an extension of the Purdue-developed Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP-BIO) model to investigate two hypothetical scenarios: "What economic and environmental effects would a global ban on GMO corn, soybeans and cotton have?" and "What would be the additional impact if global GMO adoption caught up to the U.S. and then a ban were implemented?"

The model is set to 2011 crop prices, yields and growing conditions and encompasses the ripple effects of how a change in one sector impacts other sectors.

GTAP-BIO predicted a modest and region-specific rise in overall food costs under a global GMO ban, a result of the lower productivity of non-GMO crops. Tyner said people in poorer regions would be most burdened by the price increase, as they spend about 70 percent of their income on food, compared with about 10 percent in the U.S.

Countries that export crops would gain economically by the increase in food prices, while countries that import crops would suffer. As a result, the U.S., despite being the biggest planter of GMO crops, would profit under a GMO ban because of its strength as a crop producer and exporter. China, a major crop importer, would suffer a welfare loss -- a measure of economic wellbeing -- of $3.63 billion.

"The U.S. is the largest agricultural exporter, so if the price of agricultural products goes up, we benefit," Tyner said.

Banning GMO crops would also lead to an increase in global cropland of 3.1 million hectares (about 7.7 million acres), as land would be cleared to compensate for the lower yields of conventional crops. Converting forests and pastures into farmland is an environmentally-costly process that releases carbon stored in plants and soil, and this expansion of cropland would add the equivalent of 0.92 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Tyner said the economic consequences of a GMO ban came as no surprise to him and his co-authors, but the toll such a ban would have on the environment was an eye-opener -- and a component that is notably missing from global discussion of GMOs.

"It's quite fine for people to be concerned about GMOs -- there's no scientific basis to those concerns, but that's their right," he said. "But the adverse impact on greenhouse gases without GMOs is something that is not widely known. It is important that this element enter into the public conversation."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
agriculture and food; genetically modified; food and agriculture; biotechnology and bioengineering; global warming; environmental policy; environmental issues; climate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Model predicts elimination of GMO crops would cause hike in greenhouse gas emissions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A global ban on genetically modified crops would raise food prices and add the equivalent of nearly a billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, a study by researchers from Purdue University shows.