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Climate Change, Droughts Impacting Forests And Trees Sequoias, the world’s largest trees by volume and thousands of years old, are no longer as resilient because of climate change.
As droughts occur, other species of trees nearby suck up the water stored on the ground, which leaves the sequoias susceptible to dying.
A 2017 study suggested that a large number of trees are dying because of warmer temperatures and drought.
Severe droughts are likewise killing several species of trees in India’s tropical forests and pines trees in China.
Now, the mysterious death of some of the oldest and biggest baobab trees in Africa over the past 12 years is also possibly linked to climate change.
Ancient Baobab Trees Are Dying Adrian Patrut of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania started to notice the death of the ancient baobab trees amid efforts to use radiocarbon dating to estimate the age of major baobab trees.
"We report that 9 of the 13 oldest and 5 of the 6 largest individuals have died, or at least their oldest parts/stems have collapsed and died, over the past 12 years; the cause of the mortalities is still unclear," the researchers reported in a study published in the journal Nature Plants on June 11.
Mysterious Die-Off Possibly Caused By Climate Change Patrut and colleagues suspect that the die-off of the ancient trees may be caused by climate change.
They think that the trees are dying partly because of changes in climate conditions that particularly impacted South Africa.

Drought is a complex beast and can be measured in a variety of ways.
Climate change may affect these drought metrics and types of drought differently, so it is hard to make general statements about the links between human-induced climate change and drought.
We know that over southern Australia, and in particular the southwest, there has been a rapid decline in winter rainfall, and that this has been linked to climate change.
In the southeast there has also been a decline but the trend is harder to distinguish from the year-to-year variability.
For recent short-term droughts in southern Australia, analyses have found an increased likelihood of rainfall deficits related to human-caused climate change.
Future projections of drought are also difficult to constrain, as they vary across Australia and depend on the measure of drought being used.
Climate models project a continuing decline in rainfall over southern Australia over the next century.
River flows are also projected to decline in parts of the country, with consequences for water supply to cities, ecosystems and agriculture.
Part of the challenge of projecting future change is related to how temperature and precipitation vary together.
There is some evidence to suggest that climate change is exacerbating drought conditions in parts of Australia, especially in the southwest and southeast.

The increase in fires and summer drought brought on by climate change is increasingly altering the type of tree species and the carbon sequestration of forest landscapes, particularly in the Klamath region of the United States.
An increase in the number of wildfires and summer droughts caused by climate change is drastically changing a globally unique bio-region of northern California and southwestern Oregon, according to new research funded by the National Science Foundation and published today in the journal Scientific Reports.
Because of its unique geological features, the rugged mountains of the Klamath harbors a rich biodiversity, with several distinct plant communities, including temperate rain forests, moist inland forests, oak forests and savannas, high elevation forests, and alpine grasslands.
This is because as plants begin to recover from a fire, the iconic conifers must compete with fast-growing shrubs and other species that are more fire-resistant.
The research method used in the study To study the dynamics of Klamath forest landscape, Thompson and his colleagues from the Harvard Forest, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and Portland State University simulated the next 100 years of forest dynamics in the Klamath according to five potential climate futures, reports ZME Science.
The projected shifts ranged from conservative to extreme, in warming and seasonal precipitation.
The models agree that it will be warmer, but some predict wetter and some drier.
Not surprisingly, the drier climate scenarios were associated with the largest losses of conifer forests,” Thompson told ZME Science.
Because climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires, fast-growing shrubs will take over the forests – and because they can regenerate quickly when subjected to high-intensity wildfires, they will squeeze out the conifers.
So, the replacement of old conifer forests with shrubs will mean much more carbon in the atmosphere.

Earlier this month, news outlets reported that Day Zero — the day that Cape Town, South Africa would officially run out of water — will no longer fall this year.
Whatever form it takes, corruption and lack of integrity in the water sector has profound effects because it ultimately makes water services more difficult to access, and especially the poor, marginalized and voiceless are affected most.
Acknowledging the role of corruption in growing water scarcity is important because too often the problem is examined only as a climate change issue.
This is not to negate the importance of addressing climate change as a factor — but without a comprehensive understanding of how the effects of climate change are exacerbated by poor governance, solutions that are put forward for climate-related problems such as water scarcity may be rendered ineffective.
In a handbook TI has designed for journalists interested in covering climate finance corruption, it is stated that the “stakes involved in financing such programmes are high; how these funds are spent could save the lives of millions now, and ensure billions in the future are set on a safe path.” But they also warn that the governance structures involved in responding to climate change problems may not be strong enough to manage the threats effectively, pointing out that “some of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world also fare the worst on their Corruption Perceptions Index.” A noteworthy example from TI’s research and investigations into tracking where climate finance actually ends is that of $3.1 million of national climate funding being used to build ‘climate resilient housing’ in south-west Bangladesh, in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila.
Water scarcity is more and more so being viewed as a climate change problem, a problem that will inevitably require climate finance in order to fund projects that make the water sector more ‘climate ready.’ In 2014–2015, around US$4.1 billion was given to the Water Supply and Sanitation sector globally, making up about 9 per cent of total climate-related development finance.
Connecting the dots — the role of journalists What investigations into climate finance by organisations such as TI and GermanWatch bring to fore is that climate finance is not something that can simply be slapped on to climate change problems such as water scarcity.
Rather as TI puts it, ‘we need to highlight corruption cases in climate finance to make climate finance work better, not because we think climate finance is a bad idea.’ The workshop organised by TI and WIN in February aimed to emphasise two main points; first, that some very pertinent and relevant societal issues are aggravated by corruption, and second, that journalists need to make that connection in their reporting so as to improve wider understanding of how these problems are being mismanaged, and what factors might hinder the effectiveness of their solutions.
From WIN’s perspective, investigations into the water sector are pivotal to revealing corrupt practices that affect water availability.
TI’s presentation on climate change highlighted that ‘climate change communicators have done a good job of turning technical topics such as greenhouse gas emissions into a widely understood and recognised problem’; however, journalists need to bring the conversation further by shedding the same light on the solutions available for these problems, starting with climate finance.

This story is part of our series Water at Risk, which looks at some of the risks to the water supply facing parts of Canada, South Africa and the Middle East.
As conservationists and organizations around the globe mark World Water Day Thursday, some scientists are warning that Canada is not immune to water shortages and periods of drought.
These are the parts of the country most at risk: Prairie provinces All three Prairie provinces, stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the shore of Hudson Bay, are vulnerable to drought, says David Price, a scientist for Natural Resources Canada who models climate change outlooks.
A little of the moisture makes it over the mountains, but as summer temperatures rise, the risk of drought across Alberta, Saskatchewan and even Manitoba will grow, he said.
Climate change could mean even hotter summers in the region, making it more vulnerable to drought.
British Columbia has been dependent on snowpack to provide moisture through the spring and summer, but it may get more rain in winter, which would run off the land rather than melting slowly as snow does, Bonsal said.
is accustomed to seeing lots of rain, but with places like the lower Fraser region and Vancouver Island seeing less of it, they’ll have to rely more and more on water reservoirs, according to Pomeroy.
In fact, the shortage has prompted water restrictions in the province and instances of hydrological drought, which is when lakes, rivers and ground water supplies are depleted.
He predicts not much change in Yukon and N.W.T.
Climate change models vary in their predictions of whether water levels in the Great Lakes will rise or fall as weather patterns change.

More than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand and polluted supplies, according to a UN report on the state of the world’s water.
“For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or ‘grey’, infrastructure to improve water management.
Global demand has increased sixfold over the past 100 years and continues to grow at the rate of 1% each year.
Demand for water is projected to rise fastest in developing countries.
This was apparent in the São Paulo drought of 2014-15, which the city’s water authorities and scientists have linked to Amazon deforestation.
The key for change will be agriculture, the biggest source of water consumption and pollution.
This would also be crucial to reverse erosion and degradation, which currently affects a third of the planet’s land, a different UN study found last year.
The authors stress the goal is not to replace all grey infrastructure, because there are situations where there is no other choice, for example in building reservoirs to supply cities with water.
But they urge greater take-up of green solutions, which are often more cost-effective as well as sustainable.
They are staging an alternative forum in Brasília that puts greater emphasis on community management of water as a free public resource.

It provides water for 10 of Asia’s largest rivers and for 1.4 billion people downstream—almost 20 percent of the world’s population.
It hosts the Ruo’er’gai wetlands—the “kidneys of China”—which filter more than 30 percent of the water that flows into the Yellow River, the cradle of the most successful ancient Chinese civilizations.
It used to flow down from the hills, sourcing its water from multiple springs.
Actions in this Plateau will have significant impacts on the not only the Third Pole, but also the entire country and its neighbors.
The river that is now only a small trickling stream Melting Glaciers and Drying Grasslands The Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau has warmed at a rate of approximately two times the global average.
In addition to a warming climate, increasing populations of people, livestock, and rodents are threatening the region’s grasslands.
One Belt: New Roads and Struggling Rivers China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, which will invest $1 trillion in infrastructure development across 60 countries, will not only fuel domestic economic growth but will spur growth in its neighbors.
The initiative’s plans for new dams, coal plants, roadways, railroads, and mines—all water-intense projects—do not take the already significant environmental and water stress in the region into account.
Given coal’s water demands, investing in coal contradicts many of China’s domestic policies on water use.
China’s “Three red lines” policy, which was created to protect water supplies, is part of a movement towards incorporating water into economic and social development.

Political leaders in Cape Town, South Africa, realized that climate change was a threat years ago.
The reservoirs are down to just 26 percent capacity.
The crisis in South Africa could foreshadow future events that may cripple urban centers by depriving residents of water access.
"There is no contingency plan for what happens when we run out of water."
Some of them are political; others are related to engineering.
In that way, Cape Town underscores how climate change can expose political passivity, observers say.
At the same time, its water capacity has grown by just 15 percent.
However, when natural drought cycles are intensified by rising temperatures and increased dryness of the soil, it could lead to water shortages, he said.
"We have seen increases in climate variation, with an increased frequency of droughts and floods, in many countries.
"Water out West is going to be an issue," Zinke said.

The climate change, land degradation, water scarcity and genetic erosion are the biggest threats to the agriculture sector in Pakistan in general and in Sindh particular HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 02nd Feb, 2018 ):The climate change, land degradation, water scarcity and genetic erosion are the biggest threats to the agriculture sector in Pakistan in general and in Sindh particular.
This was stated by Hadi Bux Laghari, a Farm Consultant while delivering a lecture at graduate seminar on voices from the field: Climate Change Adoption in local farmers in Sindh, held on Friday at U. S.-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro.
He said in recent past, the greed of maximum yields attracted the farmers to use the imported seed which did not only consume more water and pesticides but cause the genetic erosion of the soil and land degradation.
Consumption of open-cross pollination and hybrid seed production cause various diseases in the consequences of the maximum use of pesticides and fertilizers, he added.
He was of the view that the use of native seed, though has limited productivity as compared to its imported counterpart, was more beneficial in the long run not only for the health of human but also the health of the soil.
He maintained that there is a huge gap exists among the farmer community, government, academia, industry, research organizations, water and agriculture service providers in the country.
He emphasized on the integrated efforts to adopt the climate changes very efficiently and effectively in the best interests of the economy of the country and prosperity of the people.
The speaker also shared his field work for different horticulture projects including mangoes and bananas, in which he worked as a technical manager.
Among others, the Deputy Director (Academics and Research) of USPCAS-W Mehran University Prof. Dr. Rasool Bux Mahar and Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator Muhammad Ali Nizamani also addressed the participants of the seminar.

Water Resources Expert, Dr Osman Alhassan, says the threat of water scarcity, due to climate change and the pollution water bodies, calls for a water harvesting culture.
“We need to do a lot concerning water harvesting and I think it was about time we made efforts to separate water use categories where for example we can begin with good water harvesting at the community level and district level and we could use that water for other things than household and drinking,” he said.
Communications Director of the Ghana Water Company, Stanley Mantey, recently said the rate of evaporation of water bodies across the country has become alarming and unless there is rain, there will be severe consequences for some communities.
He blames bad farming practices, illegal felling of trees and galamsey activities for the shrinking fresh water sources.
“It will be important to begin [water harvesting mechanisms] with institutional setups where it is easy to construct and then be able to replicate in other areas,” he said on current affairs programme, PM Express on the Joy News channel on MultiTV.
He suggests by-laws to force new homeowners to construct reservoirs that can hold a specified volume of rainwater, for instance.
Ghana’s National Water Policy is underpinned by the principles enunciated in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the “Africa Water Vision” of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
The policy document, which is gathering dust on the shelves of the Water Resouces Ministry, contains sections on integrated water resources management — including water for energy, food security and transportation), urban and community/small town water delivery.
The Policy also highlights the international legal framework for the domestic and trans-boundary utilisation of water resources.
Although Mr Martey, who was also on Thursday’s PM Express, revealed that the Ghana Water Company regularly dredges key freshwater sources, Dr Alhassan wants more investment in freeing choked rivers.