Environment
Text
Climate Witness
REVEALING THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING
A rice farmer in Japan struggles against a surge of destructive
insects and increased temperatures. A mountain guide in
Nepal watches with concern as glacial lakes grow and threaten
villages with catastrophic flooding. In the Sundarbans delta of
India, a family home is twice destroyed by coastal erosion. On
Kabara, a remote Fijian island, villagers find it increasingly
difficult to catch fish and grow food.
The graphs of temperature rise and predictions of
different climate change scenarios are now familiar thanks to
the work of Al Gore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, and others, but on the ground – this is what climate
change looks like. There are likely millions of stories like
these throughout Asia; all with their own personal take on
the impact of climate change and the efforts of people to adapt
to an uncertain future.
WWF, the global conservation organisation, is asking
people to share their stories as part of its Climate Witness
Environment pg25-27(final) khl.indd Sec1:25
NIGEL ALLAN
Programme to reveal both the individual impact of climate
change and the global scale of the threat. By linking directly
to the realities of rapid climate change on everyday people,
Climate Witness highlights the urgent need for governments
to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide
clean energy solutions. The work of Climate Witness is
supported by over 100 scientists who provide scientific context
to each of the individual testimonies.
Climate Witnesses are also engaged in solutions to limit
the impact of climate change and seek out opportunities
that will have a positive result for the environment and their
quality of life.
In most cases, climate change is one stress amongst many.
However, the impact of an unstable climate has consequences
that are pervasive and complex, as these Climate Witness
stories reveal:
WWF’s Climate Change Work in the Asia Pacific
WWF has a network of offices and field staff working with
governments, businesses and communities on climate change and
other issues across the Asia Pacific region. As the region will be at the
front line of climate change impacts, WWF believes that Asia Pacific
nations have a strong imperative to act decisively to avoid dangerous
levels of warming and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems.
Governments must limit global warming to well below two-degrees
Celcius-above-preindustrial-levels if the worst impacts of climate
change are to be avoided. WWF’s work on climate change, including
the Climate Witness Programme is done in partnership with HP.
Ben Tubby
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 ENVIRONMENT

‘ In the coming decades,

viable rice farming will

‘ When I was a child, I

could easily cross the
Ngusumba Glacier near
Mt. Cho Oyu with our herd
probably be limited to
Hokkaido, the northern
Island of Japan. It is
happening. I can see
of yak. Today, the glacier only bad things from the

WWF-Nepal

WWF-Japan
has been transformed into impact of climate change.
innumerable small lakes...
’
Ang Tshering Sherpa
This worries me...
’
Katsuo Sasaki

Japan
Katsuo Sasaki has been growing rice in Miyagi on the northern
part of mainland Honshu, Japan for over 40 years, but like
many farmers in the region, he is seeing a decline in rice
yield. Warmer temperatures and increased bug infestations
are the main culprits and both are linked to climate change.
Katsuo says, “Deadly bugs have increased recently,
especially shield bugs. These bugs cause black spots on rice,
lessening the commercial value of the crops. Ten years ago,
I rarely saw shield bugs, but they are increasingly found in
most parts of Japan’s agriculture sector.”
Miyagi is an important region for agricultural production
in Japan, particularly for its high-grade rice, but Katsuo
worries that the temperature increase will eventually make
McKay Savage

the area unsuitable for growing rice.

Katsuo explains, “When the summer temperature is high,
rice cannot be sold because of its poor quality. Most farmers
around here, including myself, have been struggling, and this
Nepal year, the prefecture government has instructed us to put off
Ang Tshering Sherpa has noticed a significant decline in the timing of planting so that the rice would ripen in autumn,
Himalayan glaciers in the 35 years that he has been a when the temperature is lower.”
mountain guide. As warmer weather melts the glaciers, they “In the coming decades, viable rice farming will probably
create large glacial lakes that have the potential to burst and be limited to Hokkaido, the northern Island of Japan. It
cause devastating floods. is happening. I can see only bad things from the impact of
“When I was a child, I could easily cross the Ngusumba climate change. This worries me.”
Glacier near Mt. Cho Oyu with our herd of yak. Today, the
glacier has been transformed into innumerable small lakes,”
explains Ang.
“Over the years, I have seen new glacial lakes form, and
their size has increased dangerously. Before 1960, Imja Lake
did not even exist. It first appeared in 1962 as a small pond.
Now, the lake is almost 1.6 kilometres long and could burst at
any moment.”
Imja Lake is around twice the size that Dig Cho Lake was
when it burst in 1985, taking five lives and destroying villages
and infrastructure. UNEP estimates that there are over 20
potentially dangerous glacial lakes in Nepal.
Ang says, “A similar trend is seen on the Ngusumba
Glacier and others throughout the Himalayan region. These
small lakes will eventually follow Imja Lake’s example and
grow into dangerously big lakes. I dread thinking about the
calamities and human loss when these lakes burst.”
Kinori

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 ‘ There have been a lot of
changes in the sea, there’s
virtually no fish there
now. Honestly, not even
the small fish can survive
because the coral is so
WWF-SPO
badly damaged. It’s been
bleached white...
Penina Moce ’
WWF-SPO
Fiji
Penina Moce lives on Kambara – a remote island of Fiji.
Penina and her family rely almost exclusively on what they
can grow or catch. Changes in sea temperature and rainfall
patterns have made life difficult.
Penina says, “There have been a lot of changes in the sea,
there is virtually no fish there now. Honestly, not even the
small fish can survive because the coral is so badly damaged.
It has been bleached white.”
Coral reefs are important nurseries for many fish, but as
oceans warm the heat stress damages the tiny algae, which
live inside the corals and supply them with food. Without the
algae, corals die and become bleached.
“In the past there were many people on the island. But the
seafood was plentiful and rich. But now Kambara is empty.
It is very difficult to find seafood. It is not that we have over
fished. But we have noticed big changes in the climate. The
sun is very hot and the sea waves kill the sea life we rely on.
This is what I believe has caused the shortage of seafood.”
For many, the struggle to maintain their lifestyle has
proved too much and they have moved to the larger centres of
Fiji. This is a scenario that is being repeated on other small
islands in the Pacific.
Environment pg25-27(final) khl.indd Sec1:27
‘ My ten neighbours
and I were protected
by a seven-metre-high
earthen embankment.
My house was about
WWF-India
10 metres inland from
the embankment.
Jalaluddin Saha ’
India
In 1975, schoolteacher and farmer Jalaluddin Saha built
a house on the western fringes of Mousuni Island in the
Sundarbans Delta of West Bengal, India. Then 17 years later
the earthen embankment, built to keep the sea out, gave away
and Jalaluddin and about 100 other people lost their homes
and land.
“My ten neighbours and I were protected by a seven-metre-
high earthen embankment. My house was about 10 metres
inland from the embankment. Gradually soil slipped away
from below the trees along the outer side of the embankment
and eventually the remaining trees were washed away around
1985 and the embankment started to erode.”
“Since 1985, we have raised the height of the embankment
but tidal waters keep rising. By 2005, we have raised the height
of the embankment five times to 17 metres and it collapsed
again in 2005, displacing 60 families. Either our island is
sinking or the sea is rising.”
Jalauddin grew up in the Sundarbans delta, which is
spread across India and Bangladesh. The region is home to
the largest mangrove forest in the world. Sea-level rise in this
region threatens millions of people. ▪
WWF-India
Are you a Climate Witness?
If you are witnessing changes in your local environment
that you suspect are climate change related, go to
www.panda.org/climatewitness and tell us your story!
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