Climate Chronicles #4 - Nature Restoration, Record Heat, and Earth's Changing Rhythms

#1 - The European Union adopts the Nature Restoration Law

The European Union (EU) has taken a significant step toward restoring its ecosystems by adopting the new European Restoration Regulation, commonly known as the Nature Restoration Law. It aims to restore 20% of the EU’s degraded ecosystems by 2030 and achieve full restoration by 2050. Building upon existing EU environmental policies, such as the Birds and Habitats Directives, the law encourages synergies with climate policies. Member States are required to prepare Nature Restoration Plans, detailing how they will achieve the set targets. These plans take into account socio-economic impacts, benefits, and financial needs. Specific measures outlined in the law include enhancing urban green spaces, removing artificial barriers in rivers, increasing pollinator populations, and planting 3 billion additional trees across the EU. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will assist governments and non-state actors in implementing these restoration plans.

👉 Read here

#2 - Hottest day ever recorded on July 21st, 17.09 degrees Celsius

On July 3, 2023, the world experienced the hottest day ever recorded globally. The average global temperature reached 17.01°C (62.62°F), surpassing the previous record of 16.92°C (62.46°F) set in August 2016. This extreme heat is attributed to a combination of the El Niño weather event and ongoing carbon dioxide emissions. El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterized by the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. This warming disrupts normal weather patterns, leading to significant impacts such as increased rainfall and flooding in some regions, and droughts and wildfires in others. El Niño events occur irregularly, typically every two to seven years, and can last from several months to over a year. Scientists predict that more temperature records will be broken as El Niño strengthens.

👉 Read here

#3 - Climate change is making the days longer, scientists discover

A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that climate change is influencing Earth's rotation and the length of our days. Human-caused global warming leads to ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica, shifting water and mass from the poles toward the equator. This redistribution flattens Earth further, slightly slowing its rotation due to increased inertia. Over the 20th century, climate change lengthened the day by 0.3 to 1.0 milliseconds. Since 2000, this rate of day lengthening has accelerated to about 1.33 milliseconds per century. Under a high emissions scenario (RCP 8.5), this rate could double to approximately 2.62 milliseconds per century, surpassing lunar tidal friction as the most significant long-term force affecting Earth's day length.

👉 Read here

#4 - COP29 Host Azerbaijan Announces $1Bn Fund for Climate-Vulnerable Nations, seeking fossil-fuel producers’ support

Azerbaijan, the host of the upcoming U.N. COP29 climate summit, has announced the launch of a new climate fund designed to mobilize $1 billion to support developing countries' national climate targets. The initiative seeks contributions from 10 fossil-fuel-producing countries and oil and gas companies. The primary aim of the fund is to enhance ambition and enable action in addressing climate change. It will receive annual transfers from contributors and allocate 20% of revenues generated from investments to a Rapid Response Funding Facility, which is dedicated to climate disaster response. The issue of finance will be a central topic at the COP29 climate talks in Baku, where countries will aim to agree on a new global target for climate finance transfers from rich to poorer nations starting in 2025.

👉 Read here

#5 - Protecting 1.2% of Earth’s Land Would Stop ‘Sixth Great Extinction,’

Protecting just 1.2% of the Earth’s land surface area could prevent the imminent extinction of thousands of the world’s most threatened species. A coalition of experts identified 16,825 potential conservation sites that need to be prioritized in the next five years in order to save thousands of rare species.

👉 Read here

#6 - Alaska’s Pristine Rivers and Streams Are Turning Orange From Thawing Permafrost, Study Finds

Alaska’s pristine rivers and streams are turning orange, and the cause appears to be minerals exposed by thawing permafrost. Researchers have documented and sampled 75 locations across a Texas-sized area of northern Alaska’s Brooks Range. These degraded waters could have implications for drinking water and fisheries in Arctic watersheds as the climate changes. The staining results from highly acidic conditions that release iron and other trace metals into the water. The impacted rivers are visible from space and include federally protected waters like the Salmon River and others managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service.

👉 Read here

📩 Subscribe to keep up with our latest curated news!