Climate scientists, policy experts and environmental justice advocates on Monday announced a major project to better understand the contribution of thawing permafrost to global warming and to help communities in the north cope with its effects.
The Woodwell Climate Research Center is leading a project that will fill in gaps in monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from the thaw of the permafrost. The project is financed by private donors.
With the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Alaska Institute of Justice, the project will also develop policies to help mitigate the global impact of permafrost emissions.
Sue Natali is the director of theArctic program at Woodwell and one of the leaders of the new project.
The remains of plants and animals accumulated over centuries can be found in the frozen ground that underlies much of the Arctic. As a result of rapid warming in the region, organic matter has been decomposing and emitting carbon dioxide and methane.
Climate Forward There’s an ongoing crisis — and tons of news. Our newsletter keeps you up to date.It is thought that Permafrost contains more carbon than the atmosphere. The size and timing of emissions from thawing permafrost are uncertain, as noted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Sixth Assessment Report.
The uncertainty has been a major barrier to the inclusion of permafrost emissions into global climate policy.
John Holdren, the White House science adviser in the Obama administration and a director of the Arctic Initiative at the Belfer Center, said that better measurements, used to develop improved models, could help us not only put together a more complete picture of what is happening now.
The thaw has global effects. It has caused roads, bridges, homes and other structures built in frozen ground to become unstable. Land collapse and flooding have been caused by melting permafrost.
The project will address those issues in coordination with some Alaska Native communities, according to Robin Bronen, a human rights lawyer and executive director of Alaska Institute for Justice. Some coastal communities in the state have been trying to relocate for years.
A deadly combination. The risk of mudslides and flash floods in the American West will increase due to global warming, a new study has found.
The ice shelf is collapsing. The eastern part of the ice shelf has collapsed for the first time since satellites began watching it. The ice shelf was located in an area called Wilkes Land.
She said that the project will work to create a process where communities have the environmental data they need, based on their Indigenous knowledge and the science, to make decisions about whether or not they can stay where they are.
People are moving their houses or having to raise their houses because of the thaw.
The project is being funded through a group called the Audacious Project, which is an extension of the idea-sharing organization, TED.
It is a lot of money, but it is spread over six years, according to Dr. Holdren.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
