United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action

GOAL:
 Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation,
adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
 Implement the commitment undertaken by developed country parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources
to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency
on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible
 Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change related planning and management in least
developed countries and small island developing Sates, including focusing on women, youth and local and
marginalized communities

ISSUE:
Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas
emissions are now at the highest levels in history. Without action, the world's average surface temperature is likely to
surpass 3 degrees centigrade this century.(summary)
 Hotter days: Since 1909, global temperature has been on a steady rise. With a sudden rise in the 21st century.
NASA, measured change in temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures from 1980 onwards.
During this 136 year period, 17 of those the warmest years have occurred since 2001. With 2016 being the
hottest year on record.
 Rising sea levels: This increase in temperature causes glaciers and ice caps to melt all over the world. This
increases the volume of water in the oceans. Another factor that contributes to rising sea levels is the expansion
of seawater as it warms. Since 1993, the sea level 86.3 mm with great variation from area to area. This threatens
islands and coastal cities with low altitude with reports of entire islands that were once habitable now submerged
in water.
 More frequent and extreme weather events: According to a recent study on 21/03/2018 by the European
Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC), the number of floods and other hydrological events including
hurricanes, cyclones, and tsunamis have quadrupled since 1980 and doubled since 2004. The same research
showed that other climatological events, such as extreme temperatures, droughts, and forest fires, have more
than doubled since 1980. This could directly contribute to huge economic loss and sudden decrease in human
wellbeing factors. A recent example includes the California wildfires that have completely destroyed the town
of Paradise with a population of 26,682, leaving 80 dead and more that 283 people unaccounted for.
 Oceans are warming and acidifying: Oceans have absorbed around half of all CO2 released into the
atmosphere by humans since 1850. This however has devastating effects on the oceanic ecosystem. As the ocean
absorbs the CO2 it breaks loose the hydrogen ions present in water, and it is this excess loose hydrogen molecules
that acidifies the ocean towards a lower pH value. (CO2 (aq) + H2O --> H2CO3 --> HCO3− + H+ --> CO32− + 2
H+) Since 1850, the ocean has increased its acidity by 26%, ten times faster than anytime in the past 55 million
years. This has devastating effects on the bottom levels of the oceanic food chain. This increased acidity makes
it hard for corals and planktons to calcify their shells, decreasing the population. This could potentially lead to
the collapse of the food chain.

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION:
This problem is especially prominent and important to address in the Amazon rainforest area. The Amazon Rainforest
is often referred to as the 'lung of the Earth', since its trees takes in so much CO2 and releases so much Oxygen in return.
However, the Amazon Rainforests have another important purpose, it performs as a sink for excess Carbon in the
atmosphere. As the plants absorbs CO2 in order to photosynthesize, their energy is stored via glucose (C6H12O6), which
is carbon rich. However, two factors at hand are contributing directly to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest area.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action
The El Nino that occurs more and more frequently brings dry weather to South America, creating the perfectly conditions
for forest fires all over the Amazons. The other factor is deforestation caused by direct human intervention. Fires are
used as a tool to clear areas of rainforests for agricultural plantations and mining. These fire can spread out of control
and cause even more forest loss then that would normally occur.

From 2010 to 2014, Amazonia lost about 62,000 square kilometres of forest -- equivalent to destroying forests the same
size as Tasmania. Hotspots of deforestation are present in southern Brazil, parts of Bolivia and along the Andean foothills
in Peru.

INDIVIDUAL IMPACTS:
There are numerous impacts of environmental change in the Amazon area as its vast biological diversity and amount of
trees it's an important shield to slow the progress of global warming.
 Wildlife and Biodiversity
Animals depend wholly in their environment to survive, many are really sensitive to slight changes of
temperature. This increase in temperature are already impacting some species of species - causing them to
change their distribution, moving to areas of higher altitude. Others that cannot change their habitat location
may just simply disappear and die off. This increase in temperature also can create dryer areas, reducing
habitable environments during dryer months leading to an increase in invasive and exotic species which could
out-compete native species.
 Freshwater Ecosystems
Decrease in rainfall in dryer months could provide fatal consequences for the freshwater marine ecosystems.
One possible effect of reducing rainfall is an increase in nutrient input into the water system. This, when
combined with the higher mean water temperature could lead to lethal environments for small marine animals
that make up an important part of the food web. Excess nutrients, in itself, already leads to less oxygen dissolved
into the water. And this perfect combination of abundant nutrient and warm water temperature could potentially
lead to an algal bloom which blocks necessary sunlight for photosynthesis which supports plants growth. And
when these plants, such as seagrass die, they decay and taking up oxygen in the process. This extreme lack in
oxygen could potentially kill fish, crabs, oysters and many other aquatic species.
 Agriculture
This drastic change in climate also hits hard on the agricultural sectors. This is particularly true for subsistence
farming. Many rural areas within the Amazons rely on a subsistence lifestyle: they only grow enough food to
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action
feed themselves and their entire family. Expected impacts includes: reduction of rainfall may lead to increased
evaporation and pest and disease infestation which could lead to lower yields; larger areas of plantation is needed
to keep up with demand with area increased to up to 38%. This directly affects those families and also could
potentially speed up the process of climate change.
 Human Health
Occurrences of extreme weather events, as said, would increase as a result of climate change. These increase in
hydrological events could lead to a spike in waterborne diseases such as malaria, dengue, cholera and meningitis,
just to name a few. Wildfires could occur more frequently causing the direct destruction of property and smoke
inhalation. Other risks that comes with this could be increase in distribution and growth of plants that potentially
carry common allergens.
IT'S A CYCLE: All of these factors contribute to further increase in temperature growth in the world which in turns
lead to more serious impacts. It's a cycle that runs around and around. It is especially for the increased frequency of
wildfires. These fires burn down trees, which leads to excess greenhouse gas and higher temperature, which leads back
to increased frequency in fire.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSES:
Brazil owns 60% of the Amazon rainforest. Although it is not perfect, Brazil has made some significant changes and
have drastically halted the rate of deforestation in its own country. In 2009-2010, Brazil's deforestation, which used to
be 19508 km2 per year, has reduced by 67 percent, to 6451 km2. Through a formula for converting deforestation area
to CO2 emissions, this also means the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution by about 1 billion tons. This was done with
a combination of strategies. The government greatly expanded its indigenous reserves and protected areas, which
encompasses about half of Brazil's Amazon forest. The collective rights of land tenure can effectively stop the illegal
and unsustainable encroachment by non-indigenous ranchers, farmers and miners. The government has also combined
this by strong enforcement of environmental protection laws, most importantly the logging laws by seizures of illegal
timber, closing of illegal sawmills, and jailing for any perpetrators (including corrupt government officials).

NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATION RESPONSES:

There are many NGOs that aid in stopping the impact of climate change on the Amazon rainforests. They all employ
their own different strategies to combat this problem:
1. Amazon Watch (https://amazonwatch.org/)
Amazon Watch halts the progress of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by supporting the rights of
indigenous groups living in the Amazons. There are currently 250,000 Amazonians that currently live in the
rainforest, comprising of 251 ethnic groups with about 170 distinct languages. By extending the rights of these
groups, this halts the ability of the government and foreign company to profit off the rainforest by mining,
logging and other destructive practices. They also partner with indigenous groups and other environmental
organisations to pressure the government in making legislature that protects the rainforest.
2. Rainforest Trust (https://www.rainforesttrust.org/)
This NGO provides and more straightforward approach to save the rainforest - According to their website their
approach consists of 3 steps:
1. Establish partnerships with conservationists - They are experts in the field of conservation and know the
appropriate strategies in conserving land.
2. Identifying critical sites - With the conservationists, the NGO identifies the land that are facing immediate
danger typically from loggers, miners and ranchers.
3. BUY IT - They purchase these land privately in order to stop them from falling into wrong hands. This is
done by fundraising.
4. Management - Rainforest watch allows trusted local non-profit organisations to manage the land. They
also provide training to local Amazonians and employ them to be reserve guards, wildlife monitors and
eco-tourism guides.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action
3. Rainforest Alliance (https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/)
Their logo the green frog is a recognised symbol on our consumer products. The rainforest alliance works by
certifying products that follow and undergoes rigorous standards to ensure they are safeguarding the rainforest
ecology while supporting local business. This helps consumers like us who wants to take part in helping
conserve the Amazon rainforest, boycott products that damages the rainforest environment.
YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIkOi3srLo
4. Amazon Aid Foundation (https://amazonaid.org/)
This foundation focuses on the awareness of the issue of global warming in the amazon rainforest. They provide
documentaries, music and partnership with artists to spread the message of rainforest preservation. They also
work with a number of rainforest ecologists to ensure that the information they provide is accurate, correct and
up to date. They provide other multimedia information such as school curriculums, social media campaigns to
further spread the word about rainforest preservation.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action
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