Climate & Nature

• Global warming is a universal concern - and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are one of its main causes. [5]
• CO₂ emissions have increased dramatically, to more than 6.6 billion tons in 1998, up from 5.3 billion in 1980. [5]
• So the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to reduce emissions, mainly through controls on industrial pollution.
• But 165 countries, responsible for 89% of global carbon dioxide emissions, have yet to ratify it. [5]
• The key missing player is the United States, responsible for almost 25% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. [5]

• Common waterway modifications can impact on the hydrology of freshwater systems: [16]
• In Egypt, for example, the massive Aswan Dam has caused the fertile Nile Delta to shrink, with 30 of 47 commercially exploited fish species becoming economically or biologically extinct.
• On the Mississippi River, the rising frequency and severity of flooding - attributed to local flood control structures - have reduced the river's ability to support native flora and fauna.
• And a dramatic increase in floods on the Rhine River has been attributed to increased urbanisation, engineering, and the walling off of the river from its floodplain.
• The last three decades have seen several inland ecosystems (e.g. the Aral Sea, Lake Chad, the Mesopotamian Marshlands) decline in size and function. [16]
• By 1997, there were more than 45,000 large dams - defined as those with walls at least 15 metres high - worldwide: [16]
• 22,100 in China
• 6,390 in the United States
• more than 4,000 in India
• 1,000 - 1,200 in Spain
• 1,000 - 1,200 in Japan
• The countries with the greatest number of large dams under construction, in order of significance, are Turkey, China, Japan, Iraq, Iran, Greece, Romania and Spain, and countries in the Parana basin in South America. [16]
• The river basins with the most large dams under construction are: [16]
• the Yangtze with 38
• the Tigris with 19
• the Euphrates with 19
• the Danube with 11
• The volume of water evaporated from reservoirs is estimated to exceed the combined freshwater needs of industry and domestic consumption. [16]