Crimea, Kherson and Odesa will go under water? As climate change and war affect Ukraine's future - ecologists
This summer has become the hottest in the history of observations for both Europe and the world in general. Temperature anomalies reached +12 ° C higher than the average in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe. In some areas, especially in the south of Ukraine, the temperature rises to 43 ° C, and Kyiv was also under the "hot" sun for several weeks. This long period of high temperatures has led to droughts and an increase in the number of forest fires in the southern and eastern regions of Europe.
In addition, extreme temperature conditions were recorded in the Mediterranean, where the water temperature exceeded 30 ° C. This phenomenon affects the marine ecosystem and increases the risks of floods and storms in coastal areas. While the southern and eastern parts of Europe suffered from the heat, the northwest of Europe, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, survived excess precipitation.
In mid -September, Central Europe was covered by large -scale floods - through showers flooded Austria, Poland, Romania, Germany and the Czech Republic. The threat of flooding is half a million Wroclaw in southern Poland. On September 19, the Danube River in the capital of Hungary, the city of Budapest, left the shores, causing the streets of the city to be flooded. But the natural anomalies do not end there - on September 16, underground magnitude shocks 5.
2 were recorded in the Romanian city of Nokha, 320 kilometers from Ukrainian Odessa. Crazy waves of heat, drought, floods, frequent and heavy rains - all these are visual consequences of climate change, says focus Anna Koryagina, ecology, assistant of the communications department of NGO "Ecodia". According to the expert through the active use of fossil fuel - oil, coal and gas - huge volumes of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and others, enter the atmosphere.
The greenhouse gases hold solar energy in the atmosphere and the atmosphere is heated, so the global annual temperature increases and the climate is changing. Because of this, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena changes, which scientists have warned for years. This means that heavy rains can fall in some regions, leading to powerful floods. And at the same time in another place of moisture will be not enough and drought will be observed.
For example, as in Europe now, the central part of the continent suffers from catastrophic floods, and in the West (for example, in Portugal) - it is currently raging drought and extreme fires. "The Russian war in Ukraine also contributes to climate change because it causes significant greenhouse gas emissions. The total climate loss caused by the Russian Federation for two years of full -scale invasion of Ukraine is $ 32 billion.
Such data follow from the updated reporting report on accounting initiative initiative The gases of the war that scientists, experts and representatives of the ecodia joined the preparation, " - says Koryagina. In 24 months, Russian aggression in Ukraine has led to additional emissions of 175 million tons of carbon dioxide. This exceeds the annual emissions of such a highly industrialized country as the Netherlands.
The impact of the war on the climate increases every month due to hostilities, fires, ecosystem destruction, infrastructure destruction and other direct and indirect effects. According to the ecology, large -scale attacks on the Ukrainian electricity grid have led to many uncontrolled leaks of elegasis - greenhouse gas, more harmful than carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide.
"War is only one of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but to counteract climate change, joint actions of all countries are needed. All these weather anomalies become more frequent every year, since the climate of the planet is actively changing. If nothing is done, then such events will become more and more power But the scale and humanity will actually be overflow, ”says Anna Koryagina.
But this year's earthquakes are just a coincidence, it is a consequence of completely different geological processes that do not relate to climate change. This time, it was simply coincided that the earthquake happened immediately after the heat, drought and floods. Anomalous weather phenomena are only the effects of climate change, and you need to fight for reasons.
In order to slow down global warming processes, you need to act comprehensively: both at the international level and at the state and even individual cities, says ecology. "Humanity needs to abandon fossil fuel, because it is, as well as industry and agriculture are the main industries that produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that change the climate. Fortunately, there are already great alternatives - sources of renewable energy (RES) , - solar and wind power plants.
Anna Koryagina also stressed that it is important not only to fight the causes of climate change, but also to actively adapt to a new reality. The planet's atmosphere has become warmer, and drought, floods and heat are part of our new reality. For example, cities should be introduced in cities so -called nature -oriented solutions: make rainy gardens, water -permeable surfaces, green roofs and stops, etc.
These solutions are simple and effective, because they use the natural ability of plants to cool the air and the earth will absorb water. This will help make the cities cool and not so vulnerable to heavy rains. Ecodia, together with other NGOs, has developed a whole catalog of nature -oriented decisions.
"However, the main thing is to admit that climate change is real and affects everyone on the planet, as well as to act: both at the level of states and at the level of individual cities and households," says the ecology. If the global planetary temperature continues to grow as actively, drought, like floods, will become more frequent and longer. And the waves of heat will set the temperature records one by one and last longer that Ukrainians have already felt this summer.
This will affect both agriculture-growing vegetables will be more difficult and people, because the heat has a very bad effect on people with cardiovascular disease, children and the elderly. In addition, studies say that rivers, especially the basins of Pripyat, Southern Bug and the Dniester in Ukraine, will be militable in Ukraine, so there is an acute shortage of drinking water in some areas over time.
At the same time, Polissya rivers are threatened by the formation of stable spring floods, and the increase in the water runoff of the rivers of the western region will appear in catastrophic floods on mountain rivers. That is, such extreme floods, which are now observed in Central Europe, may well threaten Ukraine due to climate change. "And this is not all: the climate change rises the level of the oceans, which can affect our seas - Black and Azov.
The climate will change rapidly), in Ukraine by the end of the century can be flooded with an area of almost 650 thousand hectares, and given the tides during storms and strong winds - up to 1 million hectares. Kherson and Odessa regions, ”the ecology warns. So, this is just part of what can wait for Ukraine.
Therefore, the expert once again stressed that it is not necessary to sit with his hands - it is necessary to act in order to slow down the climate change as much as possible and to adapt our cities, villages and homes to the future. We will remind, the Russian suits of the sugar factory in Dutkino dropped the impurities into the river of the Seimas, which led to the pollution that got the gums.