The climate headlines we see every day can seem terrifying; from record temperatures to devastating natural disasters caused by a stressed ecosystem. 2024 is almost certain to be the warmest year on record, surpassing last year.
In the light of these climate concerns, it might be hard to feel optimistic about the future of the planet. It seems that this year has witnessed as well achieving some accomplishments that benefit nature, in the hope that one day man will be able to stop harmful human activities that disturb the peace between the planet and its human inhabitants.
In this article, “ Green in Arabic” highlights some of these steps and positive news about environmental issues and climate change in 2024.
The return of the world’s lungs to life
The Amazon forests, or the lungs of the planet, is a green space containing about 400 billion trees that generate more than 20% of the oxygen in the atmosphere and act as giant carbon sinks. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas on Earth, as it embraces many indigenous peoples, who are constantly struggling to preserve nature. However, all of this has been threatened by deforestation, logging, and the destruction of thousands of kilometers of forests.
This year, according to data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, witnessed a sharp and noticeable decline in the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, which had not occurred for nearly a decade, by a rate of 30% in the past months, which is the lowest level that the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has reached in nine years.
This positive decline comes about two years into the new term of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and his pledge to eliminate deforestation by 2030 and combat illegal logging.
Wildlife restoration
Biodiversity conservation initiatives were able to achieve positive results during 2024, effectively helping to slow down the loss of biodiversity and the resulting losses.
The steppes of Central Asia are famous for the saiga antelope, which is an animal with a large nose and strong hooves. It was on the verge of extinction due to disease and poaching, with its numbers reaching only 20,000 in 2003. But the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, an environmental initiative launched in Kazakhstan with local partners and international organizations, aimed at preserving wildlife and biodiversity, has succeeded in saving the endangered saiga antelope.
Today, there are about 2.86 million antelopes living in the Asian steppes, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has upgraded its status from "critically" endangered to "near threatened" with extinction.
In the Arab world, the Saudi province of AlUla announced 5 births of endangered Arabian leopards during this summer, at the Arabian leopard breeding center affiliated with the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Governorate, including the birth of a rare group of Arabian leopard triplets as part of the program to protect animals from extinction and re-introduce them.
The Arabian leopard resembles a symbol of wildlife and national identity in the Arab world, but it is considered the most endangered animal in the Arabian Peninsula, with only about 120 leopards left in the wild, and has been classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a critically endangered species since the mid-1990s.
Through the Al-Ula Ecosystem Rehabilitation Fund, Saudi Arabia seeks to preserve the Arabian leopard from extinction and increase its numbers.
These global and Arab initiatives to protect habitats and ensure the best recovery opportunities for living organisms herald a promising future for endangered species and biodiversity, the repercussions of which we can see during 2024.
The end of the coal era in the UK
Last September, Britain closed the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power plant, the last coal-fired power station in the UK, closing the doors and turbines of the station in Nottinghamshire for good, making the UK the first G7 country to completely phase out coal-fired electricity.
It is considered a symbolic moment in the history of humanity, which suffers from the use of fossil fuels, because the United Kingdom is the first country in the world to use coal to generate energy during the Industrial Revolution. With this step, the Kingdom ended the era of coal and its dependence on it for nearly a century and a half, and perhaps in the future the fossil fuel file will end completely with the elimination of carbon emissions resulting from it.
Increase green energy rates
The renewable energy market is set to grow significantly in 2024 across the world, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) expecting global clean energy capacity to increase 2.7-fold by 2030, exceeding current country ambitions by about 25%.
Climate and energy security policies implemented by about 140 countries this year have played a crucial role in making renewable energy cost-competitive with fossil-fuel power plants, while encouraging local manufacturing of solar panels and wind turbines, according to the International Energy Agency’s latest Renewable Energy Outlook 2024.
In addition to the growth in investment in electric car manufacturing technology and the increase in sales in 2024, for example, the number of electric cars exceeded the number of gasoline and diesel vehicles on the roads of Norway in 2024, paving the way for other countries to follow the same approach, as the increase in the number of electric vehicles is a sign of improving air quality around the world.
Tackling fast fashion
The year 2024 has brought increased awareness of the impact of the fashion industry, especially fast fashion, on the environment, due to its high consumption of energy and resources, and the prevalence of unfair working conditions in its manufacturing, as the US state of California took a pioneering step in dealing with fashion and textile waste this year, by passing the first clothing recycling law in the United States.
This law requires apparel manufacturers to establish a recycling program by 2026, in order to combat the growing environmental crisis posed by the fast fashion industry and textile waste, which has increasingly burdened landfills and the ecosystem, representing a bold step towards sustainability in the US, as one of the most important centers of this industry in the world.
