Fires increasing loss of rainforests

We are aware of increasing news reports of forest fires across the globe, but how more frequently do they occur?

A new analysis from WWF and the Boston Consulting Group reveals the number of global fires has increased by 13% compared to 2019 – already a record year.

In addition, the latest data from Brazil reveals fires in the Amazon for this year are 52% up on the ten-year average and almost a quarter (24%) higher than that for the past three years.

Deforestation alerts are a third higher than last year, increasing the risk of fires. WWF-UK is now launching an appeal to fund work in the Amazon.

Last year more than 148 indigenous communities were affected and this year they are vulnerable to the dual threat of Covid-19 and fires. 1,453 fires have already torn through indigenous territories in the Amazon in the first seven months of this year (10% of the total number of fires in the biome). This is the highest number since 2009 and 56% higher than the average for the last ten years. Deforestation alerts on indigenous lands from January to July reached 10,500 hectares. A total of 26,600 indigenous people have been affected by COVID with 700 reported deaths. COVID has already reached 155 different indigenous territories in Brazil.

Fire seasons are lasting longer and becoming more extreme, says the WWF and BCG report, Fires, Forests and the Future. The average length of the fire season has increased by nearly a fifth(19%) compared to the 1970s, as our climate changes.

We often hear of these fires being dismissed as 'natural', yet in tropical forest landscapes, like the Amazon, fire is not natural. It is caused by human activities, exacerbated by climate change which leaves them drier and hotter. Taking action to stop this is vital.

Most fires in the Amazon are caused by humans, often intentionally. Last year, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research found the country lost more than 1,330 square miles of forest cover to development, when President Jair Bolsonaro took office.

In its report, the WWF warns that humans are responsible for 75% of all wildfires. In total, fires release roughly as much CO2 into the atmosphere as EU countries emit every year. Climate change and wildfires reinforce each other, and the fires burning today in many parts of the world are bigger, more intense, and last longer than before. In Australia, for example, the 2019-20 fire season was the worst ever, with one-fifth of all trees destroyed.

Tropical forests, such as those in the Amazon, have the highest carbon storage, or sequestration, capacity storing 23% of the world’s total but they are not very resilient to fires. As a result, tropical forest fires produce 15% of total greenhouse gas emissions from fires each year, despite making up only 7% of the surface area burned globally.

Destruction of our forests is a political decision. It will take bold action from governments working nternatinally to stop it. Forests are vital to maintaining life on earth. We need to protect our forrests.

Ray Noble is a chartered biologist and Fellow of The Royal Society of Biology.

Prioritising people in nursing care.

There has been in recent years concern that care in the NHS has not been sufficiently 'patient centred', or responsive to the needs of the patient on a case basis. It has been felt in care that it as been the patient who has had to adapt to the regime of care, rather than the other way around. Putting patients at the centre of care means being responsive to their needs and supporting them through the process of health care delivery. Patients should not become identikit sausages in a production line. The nurses body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has responded to this challenge with a revised code of practice reflection get changes in health and social care since the previous code was published in 2008. The Code describes the professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives. Four themes describe what nurses and midwives are expected to do: prioritise people practise effectively preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. The

Ian Duncan-Smith says he wants to make those on benefits 'better people'!

By any account, the government's austerity strategy is utilitarian. It justifies its approach by the presumed potential ends. It's objective is to cut the deficit, but it has also adopted another objective which is specifically targeted. It seeks to drive people off benefits and 'back to work'. The two together are toxic to the poorest in society. Those least able to cope are the most affected by the cuts in benefits and the loss of services. It is the coupling of these two strategic aims that make their policies ethically questionable. For, by combining the two, slashing the value of benefits to make budget savings while also changing the benefits system, the highest burden falls on a specific group, those dependent on benefits. For the greater good of the majority, a minority group, those on benefits, are being sacrificed; sacrificed on the altar of austerity. And they are being sacrificed in part so that others may be spared. Utilitarian ethics considers the ba

When Finance Drives Destruction

Tackling climate change means stopping the funding of rainforest destruction, says a significant study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund. The UK's financial services have provided directly over £8.7 billion to 167 different traders, processors, and buyers of forest-risk commodities (cocoa, rubber, timber, soy, beef, palm oil, pulp & paper) from 2013 to 2021. With direct and indirect investment, the figure rises to a staggering £200 bn. Whilst not all that investment is in destructive projects, the study concludes there is little transparency on the risk. Finance is the oil in the economic machine. But it also drives decisions. We all know the importance of money. We borrow to invest. So much depends on it, such as company pensions. Do we really know what our pension pots are doing? We invest for the future. But what kind of future? Is all investment good? Much investment is bad. Investment drives the nature of our economy. It drives our decisions as individuals,

The Thin End

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