Ecosystems threatened by climate change can collapse faster than those faced with additional stresses such as bad agricultural practices, new research suggests.
The findings shed light on what could happen in the coming decades if global warming continues to put the natural environment under strain.
Researchers have said that while ecosystems can collapse rapidly, they also have the ability to recover quickly if the stresses they face are removed.
In a study published in Nature Sustainability, scientists used computer models to understand variables influencing the collapse of two lake ecosystems and two forest ecosystems.
Simon Willcock, professor of sustainability at Rothamsted Research, an agricultural research centre, said that simulations found that if an ecosystem is already strained, it will reach a “tipping point” and collapse much sooner if an additional stress is imposed on it.
“When it collapses, it will collapse much closer to the present day if there are multiple drivers,” he told The National. “If it's under multiple stresses, it's much more likely to collapse than the same system under one stress.”
If we kill off plant life, insects, fishes, we will have nothing to feed ourselves
Bob Ward,
policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment
Mr Willcock suggested that ecosystems threatened by climate change could reach the point of collapse much sooner if it also suffers land degradation caused by people.
The tipping point could be brought as much as 80 per cent closer to the present day as a result of several pressures, which may include unsustainable land use, agricultural expansion and climate change, including extreme weather.
One ecosystem scientists studied was Easter Island in Chile, home to the Rapa Nui people, where almost complete deforestation is thought to have been a factor in an acute population decline more than 400 years ago.
Climate change is also projected to lead to significant social and economic impacts in the second half of this century, but the researchers behind the latest study believe the effects could begin sooner.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also suggested the collapse of Amazon rainforest ecosystems could happen by the end of this century, but a study published last year indicated that it was already close to the “tipping point”.
Beyond this, the ecosystems would be unable to recover if hit by extreme weather events such as droughts, and would become a savannah over a period of decades, leading to drying in that part of the world, with global climatic effects.
Mr Willcock, who is also a senior research fellow at Bangor University in the UK, said that it was important to have better monitoring to help scientists understand the “cumulative stress” on ecosystems, which could show, before it became too late, when they were at risk of collapse.
Watch: Why are rich nations paying for climate 'loss and damage'?
He pointed to Lake Erhai in western China, which abruptly became eutrophic, when an entire body of water becomes enriched with nutrients and minerals. This caused algal growth that destroyed other life.
“It rapidly changed into a eutrophic state before anyone expected because people were concentrating on the main stress, which they thought was agricultural run-off,” Mr Willcock said.
“Looking just at that main stress, we didn't expect the lake to become eutrophic.”
While ecosystems are increasingly at risk of reaching tipping points beyond which they collapse, Mr Willcock said some had been helped to recover, as evidenced by “forested ecosystems brought back from potentially savannah”.
“A tipping point doesn't have to be a bad change. It's a very quick change,” he said. “If you can harness the same [factors] that cause the collapse, potentially you can have a very quick recovery.
“People are looking into how to trigger these positive tipping points to trigger recovery.”
Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment, part of the London School of Economics, said it was important to reduce the pressures that the natural environment faces from industrial agriculture and pollution.
“We have heard warnings that we're currently experiencing or about to experience extinction rates that are comparable with other big geological disasters – the sixth great extinction,” he told The National.
“We cannot carry on this way. We are dependent as humans on our ability to obtain natural resources from other organisms.
“If we kill off plant life, insects, fishes, we will have nothing to feed ourselves.”
Mr Ward, who was not involved in the Rothamsted research, said that governments should aim for the target set out by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity of protecting 30 per cent of land and sea.
“We have to create agricultural systems that allow other species to prosper,” he added.
“We waste a huge amount of food in the global food system, so a lack of efficiency is leading us to overuse and over consume natural resources.”
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
RESULTS
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
Company%20Profile
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Results
2pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: AF Thayer, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: AF Sahwa, Nathan Crosse, Mohamed Ramadan.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: AF Thobor, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mezmar, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
4pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup presented by Longines (TB) Dh 200,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Galvanize, Nathan Cross, Doug Watson.
4.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Ajaj, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mohamed Daggash.
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Juvenile arthritis
Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
More on Quran memorisation:
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
