Sweden is very hot and very dry.
Frogs, fish and insects are at risk of dying when the rivers dry up, warns the World Wide Fund for Nature.
– This is just a first glimpse of what we will see in the future with climate change, says Tom Arnbom, senior nature conservation expert.
The summer is young but high temperatures have already been measured around the country and many experts believe that we may experience a summer as hot – and dry – as 2018.
SMHI warns of grass fires and has also issued a warning for water shortages, especially in southern Sweden.
The old, the young and the chronically ill are all at risk in the heat, which largely also affects the flora and fauna. WWF is now urging everyone that saving water can help protect frogs, insects and fish, all of which are at risk of dying in the drought.
– Insects and fish and other things live in shallow watercourses, so if the river dries up, that tribe of fish risks disappearing. The same thing can happen in shallow lakes. We have to think ahead now. We must create more water in the landscape, says Tom Arnbom.
– The risk is that the fish population will be wiped out. There are a lot of trout that only live in certain rivers. If they dry out, the risk is that the trout will disappear forever, he continues.
Warning signs
The conservation expert warns that agriculture will fail, that groundwater will run out and that we will start rationing water – and he is very worried about what is to come.
– The drought started early this year and we hear signals from the farmers that they are already starting to have problems, which came a little later in 2018, says Tom Arnbom.
– What I am also afraid of is that nature is still stressed since then. Trees and stuff haven’t really recovered, so this could be the climax that pushes some things over the edge. We are incredibly worried right now, he continues.
The answer: Restore the wetlands
In the short term, there is nothing to be done, says the nature conservation expert, but in the long term it is about reducing emissions and restoring the wetlands.
– We have to create wetlands on a completely different level than what we do. We’re just dabbling a little today.
Tom Arnbom disagrees with the activists’ methods when it comes to drawing attention to the issue but says they have the same goals as WWF. He is clear that changes are vital to life.
– I have grandchildren and I feel that damn it, I don’t want to leave a world like this that is now coming to them. I want to make it better and we can make it better if we really want to but with the current government not much progress is being made at all, unfortunately.