🐝 Pakistan’s Bees Threatened by Climate Crisis

🇨🇳 China Plans Major Projects to Combat Climate Change

China, the world’s largest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, announced plans to develop new offshore wind farms and accelerate the construction of new energy bases across its vast desert areas. They also hope to bring their climate emissions to a peak before 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060. In addition, China has plans for a new hydroelectric power facility on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, but India has concerns about how that would impact their water supply downstream. These goals could be a long shot, however, as China is already not expected to meet their 5 year goal to bring carbon emissions down by 18% by the end of 2025.

Reuters

🍣 Climate Change is Robbing Pacific Islands of Tuna

The Green Climate Fund recently announced a $107 million grant that will be distributed among 14 Pacific Island nations to adapt their tuna-dependent economies. The money will be used to create an advanced warning system to enable Pacific island nations to track changes in tuna migration and potentially pursue compensation when warming waters drive the fish from these countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs). These islands heavily rely on tuna fishing licenses and fees, in some cases as much as 80% of government revenue. As oceans warm, these tuna stocks will be driven out of their EEZs and into the high seas, where fishing fleets will be able to scoop them up without having to pay for them. Many Pacific island nations are minuscule in land size, but their EEZs are vast and rich in marine life. Between them, they are responsible for around one-third of the world’s tuna catch.

Michael E. Miller, MSN via The Washington Post

🐝 Pakistan’s Bees Threatened by Climate Crisis

Bee keepers and honey traders in Pakistan typically have to move their hives seasonally to find flowering plants, clean air, and moderate temperatures for honey production. Weather patterns made unpredictable by climate change, coupled with some of the worst pollution in the world, means beekeepers must move more frequently and travel further, sometimes up to 300 miles each time. The bees of Pakistan’s 27,000 beekeepers have seen a 15% loss in production since 2022. The bees also used to produce 22 varieties of honey, but shorter flowering seasons have cut that in half. Their loss threatens not just the honey trade but food security in general, with a third of the world’s food production dependent on bee pollination. Three of the four honeybee species in Pakistan are now considered endangered.

Al Jazeera