This week, I will be posting a
comparison between Italy – a developed
insular country (and by insular I mean, along with the peninsular part, there
are some islands that are under the Italian regime) –, and Latvia – a less
developed country, but one of those how actually achieved an economical growth
during the last rough years in Europe. However, not being part of the Euro zone
may be one of the explanations that lead to this finality.
Having a huge opening to the Mediterranean
Sea, the environmental issues that occur in Italy are slightly different than other
issues across another European countries. However, the sea level rise is not
the only concern, melting
glaciers in the Alps and desertification are even more stringent.
According to the WWF website, the 4th
IPCC report underlines the major environmental problems for Italy as follows:
- The duration of snow cover is expected to decrease by several weeks for each degree C of temperature increase in the Alps region at middle elevations. An upward shift of the glacier equilibrium line is expected from 60 to 140 m/ degree C. Small glaciers will disappear, while larger glaciers will suffer a volume reduction between 30% and 70% by 2050 ;
- Alps Fomation of large lakes is occurring as glaciers retreat. These lakes have a high potential for Glacier Lake Outburst Floods(GLOFs) ;
- A climate warming-induced upward migration of alpine plants in the high Alps was observed to have accelerated towards the beginning of the 21st century ;
- Alpine summit vegetation elevational shift, increased species richness on mountain tops (due to increased temperature) ;
- Pine processionary moth has displayed a 70 m/decade upward shift in altitude for southern slopes and 30 m/decade for northern slopes in Italian mountains ;
- In Venice Lagoon, the combination of sea-level rise, altered sediment dynamics, and geological land subsidence has lowered the lagoon floor, widened tidal inlets, flats and islands, and caused the shoreline to retreat around the lagoon circumference ;
- Alps : Invasion of evergreen broad-leaved species in forests;
- The Alps could be one of the regions most affected by increase in year-to-year variability in summer climates and thus a higher incidence of heat waves and droughts. Mediterranean droughts would start earlier in the year and last longer;
- Droughts and water stress.
The report from EEA regarding the air
pollution focuses on tropospheric ozone during the summer months, PM10 atmospheric particularly during the
winter months and nitrogen dioxide.
This image shows how over 50% of all
stations in Italy recorded exceedances for the daily limit for this pollutant
for more than 35 days. Usually the 35 days limit is reached by the first part
of February.
Accordingto a report from The World Health Organization, from the total deaths per year
between 2002 and 2004 in Italy, over 8200 of them have as major cause the
average concentrations of PM10 greater than 20 mg/m3.
Furthermore,
there have been identified the major air pollution and these are: traffic,
industry, production of energy and the
residential sector. The measures taken to decrease the emissions of air
pollutants were the same as in other European countries: improvements in
transport vehicles, improvements in technologies that are used in industry etc.
Italy is
one the most vulnerable European countries when thinking about climate change
facts. The Mediterranean climate is known by its high temperatures and leak of
precipitations but specialists are worried because the trend of transformation will
turn this climate into an arid one. If this concern becomes reality a lot of
changes will occur in the hydrological system and obviously in the territory’s
resources.
Beyond the
immediate response after disturbing the hydrological cycle (which could be some
loss in water supply), there will be some major consequences for the economic
sector in sections such as: agriculture, tourism and energy. Along with all of
these changes we must not forget about coastal erosion, biodiversity loss and
desertification.
Despite some of these changes already being
seen, so far the government managed the situation properly and these are some
of the documents that are the proof that a plan is in place: Environment andhealth risks from climate change and variability in Italy, Climate Change Impactsand Adaptation Strategies in Italy. An Economic Assessment, Fifth NationalCommunication under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
On the other hand, Latvia is the country that
has the fastest economic growth due trade, industry and constructions. This is
why the GDP rose by 5.3% in the 3rd trimester of 2012 in comparison
with the same period from 2011 and by 1,7% in comparison with the previous
trimester.
In
addition, the European Commission estimates that Latvia’s economy will advance by
4.3% this year, which will be the highest growth in EU.
Changes in
air quality are more obvious in Latvia near the urban areas where economic
activities and transport are quite important. This is why in Riga, the capital
of the state, between 2004 and 2008 the limit of 35 days/year with a specific
amount of PM 10 (50 μg/m3) was exceeded every year. The exceeding of this limit
of 35 days is always associated with human health issues.
Source: http://www.meteo.lv/
Another analysis about other air pollutants in
Latvia and how their concentrations vary in the last decade in this O. Nikodemus et. all paper.
Besides air pollution, Latvia has serious problems
with water quality and coastal erosion. Because of the excessive use of
pesticides and nutrients, these days, Latvia’s water supply is polluted.
Moreover, the Gulf of Riga and the Davgava River are both heavily polluted,
pollution that has led to eutrophication and loss in biodiversity in
populations from different water bodies.
For climate change issues, Latvia has a well formulated
plan to reduce the GHG emission, to enhance the air and water quality and reduce
the effects of coastal erosion. Firstly, the climate change mitigation begun
with Climate Change Mitigation Policy Plan for Latvia for year 1997-1988 document
which prepared the main branches if the
economy to the new way of doing things. The next step was made with the Prime
Minister Order No. 142 which established the Working Group on 02.04.2004. After
that between 2004 and 2005 the Working Group elaborated the programme for the
next 5 years, Climate Change Mitigation Programme for 2005-2010. Latvia has
also signed the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Conference. The latest
document about climate change is The fourth National Communication from 2006 which
summaries the improvements made between 1990 and 2003 and is basically a guide
for the next years.
No comments:
Post a Comment