The expert named the three main environmental threats for the next 30 years

Hurricanes, typhoons, abnormal weather events: in recent years, nature has increasingly warned mankind that the Earth’s ecology must be treated with care. Olga Lakustova, Director of the Fund for Support and Development of Environmental Protection and Other Socially Significant Projects Our Fund, shared her opinion on the main environmental challenges that await us in the coming decades.

According to the expert, if humanity does not change its attitude towards ecology, then in the next 30 years Russia may face serious problems that in the future will change people’s lives not for the better.

1. Melting permafrost

Recently, Roshydromet published the “Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Its Consequences on the Territory of the Russian Federation”, which contains very little comforting information. According to the information presented in the report, climate warming in our country is occurring approximately 2.5 times faster than in the rest of the planet. Each subsequent decade is warmer than the previous one. The temperature rises fastest in the Arctic Circle.

Permafrost, which occupies about 65% of the territory of Russia, ceases to be eternal. Melting glaciers are increasing the area of ​​the world’s oceans. Due to the fact that water absorbs more solar heat than ice, the temperature rises even faster. At some points it has already risen by as much as 4 degrees. This threatens at least the destruction of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities in the northern regions of Russia.

Many scientists believe that the global warming trend can no longer be stopped. Each subsequent decade will be warmer than the previous one, and the average temperatures of one of the years in each subsequent five-year period will exceed the peak values ​​of the previous decade.

However, the rise in temperature can be slowed down. To do this, it is necessary, at a minimum, to reduce the amount of CO emissions.₂ in atmosphere. Of course, it is difficult to do this at the technological level, although a lot of attention has been paid to solving this issue recently. But there are other ways. For example, you can follow the path of compensation by implementing forest climate projects. Also, the cultivation of the so-called “blue forests” – algae that absorb CO2 can also slow down global warming.₂ even more active than trees. The first such projects are already beginning to appear in Russia, and they should be supported and developed.

2. Water with microplastics

If we somehow learned how to deal with wastewater and chemical pollution, and now the situation in this regard is not as critical as it could be, then nothing is happening with regard to water purification from microplastics.

Microplastics are the smallest pieces of plastic. The main danger is that it does not decompose in the environment. Any synthetic product is capable of releasing microplastic particles. It can also be found in cosmetics, household chemicals, and even toothpaste. Microplastics are not visible to the eye and can penetrate anywhere: into soil, into water, into plants, fish and animals can eat it. It is not yet known for certain whether microplastics enter the human body. But given the above, this is absolutely not excluded.

It is already known that fish that live in water with a high concentration of microplastics die earlier. Perhaps the same outcome awaits a person when a certain concentration of microplastics in the body is exceeded.

Unfortunately, in recent years, microplastics have been found quite often in water bodies on the territory of the Russian Federation. It enters the water from the soil or with sewage. A fairly large amount of microplastic is released into the water during the washing of synthetic products. Yes, our favorite down jackets, for which animal rights activists are so actively fighting, can be much more dangerous than natural fur, because they release dangerous particles into the water and do not decompose when they are sent to the scrap.

3. Loss of biodiversity

According to statistics, about 100 species of living organisms disappear on the planet every day. On the one hand, this is a natural process, but on the other hand, if some species disappear, others must appear. However, new species appear much more slowly than old ones disappear. Because of this, the balance is disturbed, which threatens our planet as a whole, and our country in particular, with rather unpleasant consequences.

The main reasons for the reduction of biodiversity are environmental pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, poaching, and the like.

Most people are not even aware of the existence of such a problem, meanwhile, the disappearance of some seemingly insignificant organism can lead to global changes in the ecosystem over a long period of time. For example, imagine now that bees have disappeared from the planet. Many will say: what do I do with it? Do you think there will be no bees? Meanwhile, this small insect makes a huge contribution to the existence of a functioning ecosystem. If there are no bees on the earth, then about 70% of the food we are used to will disappear, and in 3-4 years there will be famine in the world. For example, there will be no buckwheat and millet, animal husbandry and other industries will begin to suffer. And this is just one of the examples that clearly shows that everything that exists on earth is necessary and important.

I am often asked what relation to the inhabitants of Moscow, for example, have tigers living on the Amur? We have to explain that the tiger, as the top of the food chain, is a kind of thermometer of the state of the ecosystem. That the planet has “lungs” – the forests of the Far East, the Amazon and the oceans. And by the number of tigers in the taiga, scientists can assess the well-being of these “lungs” of the Earth.

So, when ecologists sound the alarm about the threat of extinction of a particular species of animals or plants, it is worth considering how the loss of this species can affect your life and the lives of your descendants.

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