Time_USA_-_23_09_2019

55

The British government’s current
rewilding plans include just 500,000
hectares of land—0.2% of the country’s
total surface area—over the next 25 years.
And privately funded rewilding schemes
often come up against resistance; one of
the largest such projects, Summit to Sea,
which calls for the restoration of eco-
systems on 10,000 hectares of farmland
in Wales, has attracted fierce opposition
from local communities and agricultural
groups, which fear no longer being able to
use the land for their livelihoods.

At WAllAsEA, the illusion of unspoiled
nature was punctured on the July morn-
ing TIME visited by a plume of dark gray
smoke above the island’s north edge.
The British military uses nearby land
to dispose of expired ammunition,
explains site manager Rachel
Fancy. “We get a lot of big
bangs out here.”
Nevertheless, Fancy says
she expects humans will
find more ways to coexist

with nature in the coming decades, espe-

cially as climate change threatens both.

Rewilding doesn’t just sequester carbon—

it also reduces the risk of floods and wild-

fires, both of which are becoming more

frequent on a warming planet. Over the

next 100 years, Wallasea’s salt marshes

should creep up the sand dunes and act as

a natural flood defense, protecting nearby

homes and farmland even as man-made

walls are overwhelmed by rising sea levels

and increased storm surges.

Wallasea is doing its bit to stave off

the worst of that climate breakdown, as

it buries carbon amid samphire and sea

lavender. Meanwhile, the birds can relax

here. The weather is fine, for now. 

A heat wave in Western Europe
in 2019 set new temperature
records in Germany, France,
Belgium and other countries

1

Bordeaux, France, is one of
many economically important
wine-growing areas threatened
by worsening droughts

2

Rising temperatures are

causing permafrost in

western Siberia to melt and

increasing the risk of fires in

boreal forests

3

In the North Sea, global

warming is affecting plankton

and the marine food chain,

compounding the pressures

of overfishing

4

Summer droughts threaten

some of Europe’s most

important commercial

waterways, like the Rhine

River, which dried up so much

in 2018 that shipping was

partly shut down

5

Lithuania’s specific geography

makes it the European

country most vulnerable to

climate change; it’s already

seen three straight years of

devastating crop failures

6

EUROPE

Tessa

Khan

LAW

In 2015, Tessa Khan was

living in northern Thailand

and working on behalf of

a women’s human-rights

nonprofit when news of a

district-court case more

than 5,000 miles away

caught her attention. A

court in the Hague had ruled

in favor of some 900 Dutch

citizens and a group known

as the Urgenda Foundation,

which had sued the

Netherlands, demanding

that the state reduce its

greenhouse- gas emissions.

Khan realized the courts

could be a powerful tool to

fight climate change and

in the process mitigate

what she calls “one of the

biggest systemic threats” to

international human rights.

She moved to London and

joined Urgenda, where

she now provides legal

assistance to people around

the world who want to take

their governments to court

over inadequate climate

policies. She says she hopes

the cases draw attention to

the actions governments

need to take to reduce the

use of fossil fuels and to

show how ordinary people

will be impacted by climate

change. ÑTara Law

CLIMATE OPTIMISTS

1

2

3

4

5

6