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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 22 – 26
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Worsening Health Conditions in War-Torn Gaza (BBC)
Water infrastructure in Gaza was already weak before the beginning of the war in 2023, but intensified conflict and siege of critical infrastructure the damage wreaked by Israel’s military forces on critical infrastructure (including water, energy, and food), has left 70% of the people in Gaza exposed to salinated and contaminated water. Traces of polio have been found in wastewater flowing both between displacement camp tents and in inhabited areas, and experts suggest that this water might be circulating.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 15 – 19
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Shedding Light on Imperial Oil’s Dark Waters (Mongabay)
Canada has the fourth-largest tar sands (oil deposits) in the world. Separating the bitumen used in industries and construction creates large volumes of toxic wastewater, which is stored in tailings ponds that now cover a staggering 270 square kilometers. Unresolved infrastructure mishaps at one such site in Alberta operated by Imperial Oil means that contaminants have polluted nearby waters so significantly that it has affected public health and the livelihoods of indigenous communities in downstream areas.
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Methane Emissions: Can the United States and China Find Common Ground?
›As relations between the United States and China become increasingly acrimonious, reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations remains an exceptional arena where respectful engagement between both countries endures.
Methane is a highly-intensive, short-lived climate pollutant, and it is responsible for about 30 percent of current global warming. Two-fifths of the global total of human-caused methane derives from fossil fuel production, including oil and gas. And the U.S. and China play an outsized role. The US leads the world in oil and gas production and sectoral methane emissions, while China ranks in the top five producers. China is also the global leader in total methane releases, including agriculture, livestock, coal production, and waste emissions.
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Don’t Panic US: China’s Nuclear Power Ascendancy Has Its Limits
›Like bamboo sprouts after the rain, nuclear reactors are going up quickly across China. There are 36 reactors under development, and Beijing can approve as many as 10 new ones a year. Within a decade, China will likely pass the United States—which has 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 54 power plants—as the world’s biggest generator of nuclear power.
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Money Can Grow on Trees: Forestry Rights Reform for Decarbonization in China
›High in the remote mountains of western Fujian Province, Changkou—part of Sanming Prefectural City—became the first village to launch a new forestry carbon ticket system in May 2021. Changkou farmers have long received little benefit in managing forests because of fragmented forest land, high investment risks, and limited ownership rights. To solve those problems, the Sanming Forestry Bureau issued tickets to forestry farmers, granting them the right to receive stocks on their plots of forests by cooperating with farms in a certain period. Meanwhile, the carbon tickets grant farmers the right to earn carbon emission credits for their land and trees.
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Food Waste: A Low-Hanging Fruit for Methane Reductions
›China Environment Forum // Cool Agriculture // February 8, 2024 // By Jennifer Nguyen, Jennifer Turner & Karen ManclThis blog is modified from the Wilson Center-OSU “Cultivating US and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture Roadmap” publication.
“Waste is something that most of us just don’t see,” stressed Pete Pearson, Senior Director, Food Loss and Waste, WWF, at a recent Wilson Center event. Though people are “conditioned” to be blind to food waste, continued Pearson, this not-so-invisible problem wastes a third of food grown around the world. When this wasted food decomposes, it emits methane, accounting for 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | January 29 – February 2
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Climate Change Worsens Human Trafficking of Impoverished Sierra Leoneans (Al Jazeera)
Poverty leaves many vulnerable to human trafficking in Sierra Leone. Youth unemployment is almost 60% there, and most of the population lives on less than $3 per day. Victims are offered employment, largely in the service industry. Yet when they arrive in their country of employment, their passports may be seized and they are forced into unpaid labor, often coupled with sexual abuse especially for young women.
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Climate Action on the Farm: Catalyzing a No-till Revolution in the US and China
›China Environment Forum // Cool Agriculture // Guest Contributor // February 1, 2024 // By Abigail OrdillasFor centuries, farmers around the globe have tilled the soil to prepare for planting. Traditional tilling, however, exposes the bare earth to wind and water, causing erosion and the loss of soil organic carbon, as well as lowering soil quality and crop yields. In the US Corn Belt tilling has degraded approximately 35% of the land– about the size of Montana. In China, erosion from traditional tilling has degraded over 50% of agricultural soils. In the two countries soil erosion and loss of soil fertility is creating annual economic losses of $1.9 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively. Nevertheless, farmers are often hesitant to switch to no-till practices.
Showing posts from category decarbonization.