Restoring nature has an important role to play in slowing and adapting to climate change and reducing loss of lives and economic assets
After an unusually hot summer, several regions in Central Europe have been experiencing unprecedented rainfall over the past few days, causing severe flooding in regions of Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, while Hungary might come next. This is the result of a low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the region since Thursday, according to Euronews.
Science tells us that we can expect more of such extreme events in the future as warmer air can maintain more humidity, which leads to higher quantities of rain pouring down at once. Additionally, changing surface temperature causes a shift in the air movement, which eventually leads to bad weather fronts to linger on longer in one place. The outcome? Rivers overflow their banks, and floods often cause significant damage, especially in built-up areas, and tragically even take lives.
The economic consequences of the current flood are starting to emerge: delays in supply chains, damages to production plants losses to infrastructure and tourism income and reduced hydropower generation are considerable.
However, not all is due to climate change. The way humanity has used the land also is to blame. Over the last 100-150 years, many of our rivers have been embanked and floodplains cut, rivers straightened, and dammed. This regulation has deprived rivers of space, leading to the loss of natural habitats on floodplains that can absorb flood water. Forest logging on slopes, changed landuse, water drainage systems for agriculture and soils sealed by concrete in the catchments have resulted in faster and higher runoff of water into the rivers. Even today, commercial developments, houses and roads are still being built dangerously close to riverbanks or on the flood prone areas, such as active floodplains.
“We need to urgently restore nature to effectively battle climate change and prevent future catastrophes. The latest science confirms that nature acts as our most important ally in the fight against climate change. Restoring it helps to slow global warming as more carbon is being absorbed from the atmosphere and stored. It also helps people to better deal with climate change impacts, such as floods and droughts, while supporting biodiversity recovery”, says Irene Lucius, Regional Conservation Director, WWF-CEE. “It is vital that we decarbonise our economy but in parallel use nature-based solutions.”
The WWF report Climate, Nature and our 1.5°C Future connects the findings from four major recent scientific reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Between them, these reports highlight the systemic changes needed for energy production, land management (food and natural systems), urban development, infrastructure deployment (including transport and buildings), and industry in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
While nations have agreed to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5°C, actions to meet this goal are insufficient. Currently, nature remains undervalued and underutilised as a solution to both reduce emissions and adapt to the climate impacts that are already affecting communities around the world. By saving nature, we boost the chances of staying below 1.5°C while also providing a range of other benefits such as space for recreation or clean air and water.
“We can only build a safe and prosperous future if we work with nature, not against it”, added Lucius.
