EARTHLARGEST DARK-SKY PRESERVE
On 28 Jun 2013, Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada was
declared a dark-sky preserve by the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada. At 44,807 km² (17,300 sq mi), it is
Canada’s largest national park. Dark-sky preserves
implement policies to protect the night sky from light
pollution so as to prevent disruption to the diurnal cycles
of plants and animals, as well as allowing people to see the
night sky without the dimming caused by light pollution.HIGHEST SCORE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDEX
Finland is the country with the best environmental performance, according to research
findings presented to the World Economic Forum on 23 Jan 2016 by scientists from the USA’s
Yale and Columbia universities. In all, 180 countries were studied, using more than 20 key
indicators under nine categories: health impacts, air quality, water and sanitation, water
resources, agriculture, forests, fisheries, biodiversity and habitat, and climate and energy.
LOWEST GLOBAL TREE POPULATION
On 2 Sep 2015, a report by an international team of scientists
led by Yale University, USA, revealed that there were around
3.04 trillion trees on Earth, or around 422 trees for each
person. The survey also suggests that, since the beginning
of human civilization, Earth has lost nearly 46% of its trees
and is now less forested than at any time in recorded history.
Human activity destroys some 15 billion trees each year.WORST CITY FOR AIR POLLUTION
PM 10 s are “particulate matter” such as soot (carbon), metal
or dust with a diameter of 10 microns or less. According
to the WHO’s Ambient Air Pollution report for 2016, the
port of Onitsha in south-eastern Nigeria recorded levels of
594 micrograms per m^3 of PM 10 s. This is around 30 times
the WHO’s recommended level of 20 micrograms per m^3 ,
making it the city with the most contaminated air.WORST RIVER
POLLUTION INCIDENT
On 1 Nov 1986, firemen
fighting a blaze at the
Sandoz chemical works
in Basel, Switzerland,
flushed around 30 tonnes
(66,138 lb) of agricultural
chemicals into the river
Rhine, along with the
water they were using to
combat the fire. The river
water turned red from
the influx of chemicals,
which included pesticides
and mercury. Within 10
days, the pollution had
reached the North Sea.
Half a million fish died
from the toxic chemicals. LARGEST PRODUCER OF CARBON DIOXIDE
(COUNTRY)
The Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research
(EDGAR) is a joint project between the Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency and the European
Commission Joint Research Centre. According to the
database, in 2015 China was responsible for 10.64 billion
tonnes (11.72 billion tons) of carbon-dioxide emissions.
To put that in context, the global carbon-dioxide emissions
for 2015 totalled 36.24 billion tonnes (39.94 billion tons).BIGGEST GLOBAL TOXIC THREAT
In 2015, the not-for-profit organization Pure Earth,
formerly known as the Blacksmith Institute,
published a report naming the top six worst global
pollution problems. Lead pollution was seen as the
biggest threat, with as many as 26 million people
at risk worldwide. The other five were mercury,
radionuclides, chromium, pesticides and cadmium.Lead-acid
storage batteries,
used in car engines, contain
highly toxic lead and sulphuric
acid. This car battery dump
is in the town of Athi River
in Kenya.