Tree type crucial for small insects in the city
today at 11.06 a.m. Agneta Elmegård
There must be indigenous trees in the cities in order for diversity to benefit. Non-indigenous trees for Sweden such as the sycamore, ginko biloba and god tree are destroyed by native insects that do not recognize them. Photo: Agneta Elmegård
It takes insects for a city to function. Research now shows that the choice of tree species has a greater significance for urban insect life than previously thought.
The type of tree you plant – whether you choose species that are native or non-native – has a big impact on the insect life of a city, shows a study where researchers investigated Malmö’s parks.
The study found that the abundance of insects and spiders was in some cases two to three times higher on native trees compared to non-native trees. Although the researchers expected a difference, they were surprised that it was so large.
– We can show that this effect is strong and an important factor to be reckoned with. At the same time, it is relatively easy to remedy – it is enough to increase the proportion of indigenous trees in the city, says Johan Kjellberg Jensen, PhD student at the Center for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC) and the Department of Biology at Lund University.
In Sweden – and also abroad – it is common to plant non-native trees in cities. In Malmö’s parks, for example, every fourth tree is non-native. Some of the exotic or alien species are considered particularly hardy, or easy to care for, in a harsh urban environment. But now researchers in Lund can state that the non-native tree species are significantly less favorable for insect life in the cities.
Latest news
It talks a lot about the electricity supply, but less about all the heat used in industrial processes that comes directly from burning fossil fuels. Do you know how much of the world’s final use of energy is electricity, transport and heat (for buildings and industries) in the world?
Joakim Byström
No successes for agreements for nature
Demonstrations near the conference complex in Montreal where the UN-led meeting on biodiversity is currently underway. Photo: Graham Hughes/TT
Halfway into the UN Conference on Biological Diversity, only a few of the 22 points have achieved success. Now there is only a week left for the countries of the world to agree on what is called a Paris agreement for nature.
The most important goals during the ongoing UN meeting COP15 in Montreal are to protect 30 percent of the earth’s surface by 2030 and to find a plan for financing that will support biodiversity in developing countries.
But it’s slow. It is not until Thursday that 196 environment ministers, including Romina Pourmokhtari (L), are due to join, but it was hoped that the negotiations would have reached a good point before then.
– We have a long way to go. But we see small glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, says Marco Lambertini, head of WWF International to AFP.
Over the weekend, Brazil announced, on behalf of Africa and 14 other countries, a call for financial support of at least $100 billion a year or 1 percent of world GDP until 2030.
That demand is considered unrealistic by the rich countries, which in 2020 earmarked around 10 billion dollars.
The EU has also opposed the establishment of a new global biodiversity fund, which many other countries want to see done by COP16 in 2024.
The United States, which is not participating in the negotiations and has not signed the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, will play a decisive role when it comes to financing. (TT)
Swedish researchers call on the IPCC to change
Karin Gustafsson, Rolf Lidskog and Adam Standring, all three researchers in environmental sociology at Örebro University, each write a chapter in the book about the IPCC – about the need for social science research, diversity and opportunities for young researchers. Photo: Örebro University
75 percent of the world’s population lives in the southern hemisphere, but only a third of the IPCC researchers come from there. In a new book from Cambridge University, scientists from 13 countries evaluate the UN climate panel IPCC. Three Örebro researchers each contribute a chapter – with the common denominator that the IPCC needs to change. The UN climate panel IPCC is tasked with making overall summaries of the research that describes climate change, how it affects our societies and the earth’s ecosystems and how climate change can be limited. – The IPCC is careful to seek consensus and only present what the science says. They want to avoid being controversial. Natural scientists have described what happens when the climate gets warmer, but now it’s time for the next step – to describe how we must change society, says Rolf Lidskog, environmental sociologist at Örebro University and one of the authors, in a press release.
The book Making Climate Knowledge Globally: A Critical Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is published by Cambridge University Press and researchers at Örebro University contribute the most chapters, 3 out of 28. The book in its entirety and individual chapters can be downloaded for free here.
Compassion governs climate compensation
The idea of climate compensation is that whoever causes emissions pays for the corresponding amount of emissions to be reduced elsewhere. This can be done by using the money to buy emission rights, plant forests or develop renewable energy.
But the question is whether the choice to compensate for the climate is only governed by the amount of emissions, or whether there may be other underlying reasons.
In a new study published in the scientific journal Frontiers of Psychology researchers at the University of Gävle have investigated the psychological mechanisms and motives behind climate compensation through two experiments.
In the first experiment, the 500 subjects had to decide how many trees are needed to compensate for a flight with a certain amount of emissions. For half of the participants, it was described that the purpose of the trip was to send refugee children to a war zone, while for the other half it was described as the opposite purpose – to save the refugee children from the same war zone. The emissions for the trips were the same.
Those who had to take a stand on the trip with the immoral purpose of transporting children to a war zone thought that the compensation then needed to be greater than when the purpose of the trip was good – despite the same amount of emissions.
In the second experiment, the participants’ knowledge of climate and emissions was weighed, and the researchers added a neutral purpose for the trip, in addition to the moral and the immoral.
“This shows that compassion determines when and how much we compensate for the climate, even though it should really be pure mathematics how much and if we should compensate for a certain trip, writes Patrik Sörqvist, professor of psychology and one of the researchers behind the study, in a press release .
The study strengthens the thesis from previous research, that people strive for balance in a moral account.
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Ask us
check Ask your questions to the editors here!
What responsibility do municipalities have for the climate? In my vicinity, I see a municipality in an expansive phase where they don’t even seem to have thought about e.g. emissions from traffic, noise, access to groundwater, the impact on nearby watercourses.
Annie
The truth is that many municipalities are lagging behind in this work and there is no regulated “agreement” between the state and municipalities to act against Agenda 2030 or the national climate goals in 2045.
I’m a little tired of trudging around among washed-up plastic and other trash here on the west coast. There is a beach cleaner map and many cleaners but it must be stopped at the source. What is being done on that front?
Pray
Have you done a brainstorming session in the food industry? I see that shrink wrap around cans has been replaced by a paper solution by some suppliers. I don’t want anything at all, I can count, if I want 6 cans or 3 cans, I’ll buy it.
Thought dump
Hi, I can’t see this nice chat if I go to klimat-live via mobile. What should I do to solve it?
Maria
That is correct!
We’re working on it!
Hi Agneta, In The World Data Bank I only see data from 2019 (pre-pandemic). Is there no data until 2021 or until now?
Agnes
Hi Agnes,
It depends what you are looking for. In theirs Annual report as you can see here data from 2022 included.
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The climate battle
check All around Sweden, conflicts are growing in the wake of climate change. Reduced emissions are pitted against destroyed nature. How far are we prepared to go to save the climate?
Statliga Sveaskog wanted to fell centuries-old natural forest. But the Sami forced the forest company to retreat. “It’s far from over,” says artist and reindeer owner Sofia Jannok, 38.
Copper is a key metal in climate change. Outside Älvsbyn, Boliden wants to open one of Europe’s largest mines. The price: a ruined valley and several obliterated lakes.
Londoner Alexander Pohl left his banking career – to live a simple life with his family close to nature. Now he leads the opposition to wind power in Jämtland.
The company Cementa wants to change. The factory in Slite – Sweden’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide – will be the first in the world to use fossil-free cement. So what are the Gotlanders afraid of?
The high-speed train is the big prestige project when Sweden’s is to change. But resistance is growing – where the railway is to be pulled forward. “They want to run the tracks right through my house,” says Åsa Nilsson, 54.