This is anenvironmental history of the 2020s.Environmental history refers to events and trends related to thenatural environment and human interactions with it. Examples of human-induced events include biodiversity loss,climate change and holocene extinction.
As of July 2020[update], neither theInternational Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) nor theInternational Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has officially approved the term as a recognized subdivision ofgeologic time,[1][2][3] but in May 2019, the AWG voted in favor of submitting a formal proposal to the ICS by 2021,[4] locating potential stratigraphic markers to the mid-twentieth century of thecommon era.[5][4][6]
According to the 2020United Nations'Global Biodiversity Outlook report, of the 20 biodiversity goals laid out by the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in 2010, only 6 were "partially achieved" by the deadline of 2020.[7] The report highlighted that if the status quo is not changed, biodiversity will continue to decline due to "currently unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, population growth and technological developments".[8] The report also singled out Australia, Brazil and Cameroon and theGalapagos Islands (Ecuador) for having had one of its animals lost to extinction in the past 10 years.[9] Following this, the leaders of 64 nations and the European Union pledged to haltenvironmental degradation and restore the natural world. Leaders from some of the world's biggest polluters, namely China, India, Russia, Brazil, and the United States, were not among them.[10]
The effects ofclimate change manifested in 2020 with a record 30named Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes; the highest heat in 80-years recorded at 54.4 Celsius; massive wildfiresin Australia, theWestern United States, and the Arctic; and the second-lowest annualArctic sea ice coverage.[11]
A hundred people died and 18,000 were hospitalized in Japan while France reported 1,462 heat-related deaths in 2019, anEl Niño year. 2,800,000 people came down with dengue, leading to 1,250 deaths.[12]
TheMilne Ice Shelf, on Ellesmere Island in the northern Canadian territory ofNunavut, collapsed in two days at the end of July 2020. This was the last fully intact Arcticice shelf.[13]
Environmental groups declared that 2020 was at or near the hottest year on record.NASA said 2020 was tied with 2016, butNOAA said it was the second or third. NOAA said 2020 averaged 58.77 °F (14.88 °C), a few hundredths of a degree behind 2016. Other groups (World Meteorological Organization, Copernicus Group,UK Meteorological Office) had slightly different measurements. The differences in rankings mainly occurred due to how scientists accounted for data gaps in the Arctic; the difference between first or second place is considered insignificant.[14]
According to theWorld Wide Fund for Nature's 2020Living Planet Report,wildlife populations have declined by 68% since 1970 as a result ofoverconsumption,population growth andintensive farming, which is further evidence that humans have unleashed asixth mass extinction event.[16][17][18]
Earthquakes and tsunamis during the decade include the2020 Caribbean earthquake and the2020 Zagreb earthquake. Wildfires included the2019–20 Australian bushfire season,2020 Western United States wildfire season,2020 Córdoba wildfires, and as well as2021 Turkey wildfires.
Major tropical storms and hurricanes have also made an appearance during the decade, such asHurricane Ida andHurricane Ian. The more-than-average amounts of rainfall, higher ground covered, and the intensifying high-speed winds that accompanied both hurricanes were indirectly alleged to be products of rising sea levels and higher atmospheric temperatures.[19][20]
In 2020, ahuge swarm ofdesert locusts threatened to engulf massive portions of theMiddle East,Africa, andAsia.[21][22] In tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic, this posed major hazards to billions of people who might be affected. Although experts had thought the insects would die out during the dry season in December 2019, unseasonal rains caused the incursion to reach unanticipated and hazardous levels.[23][24][25][26]
The2019–2022 locust infestation caused widespread devastation of food production in theHorn of Africa.
Anextreme heat wave inWestern North America began affecting much of thePacific Northwest andWestern Canada in late June 2021. The heat has affectednorthern California,Idaho,western Nevada,Oregon, andWashington in the United States, as well asBritish Columbia, and, in its later phase,Alberta,Manitoba, theNorthwest Territories,Saskatchewan, andYukon, all in Canada.[27] It resulted in some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region,[28] includingthe highest temperature ever measured in Canada at 49.6 °C (121.3 °F).
Hurricane Eta andHurricane Iota (both Category 4) hit the region in November within weeks of each other, creating much devastation to the same areas. At least 250 people were killed, with billions of dollars of damage to property.
The2020 Aegean Sea earthquake killed 117 people inİzmir (in addition to two inGreece) after 41 had died in theElazığ earthquake in the same year, while the2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes killed 10. Forty-one people were also killed by the2020 Van avalanches.
Over two hundredwildfires burnt 1,600 square kilometres ofTurkey's forest inits Mediterranean Region in July and August 2021,[29] the worst ever wildfire season inthe country's history.[30]
In July 2021, severalEuropean countries were affected bycatastrophic floods, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods affected severalriver basins, first in theUnited Kingdom and later across northern and central Europe includingBelgium,Germany,Luxembourg, theNetherlands,Switzerland andItaly.[31] At least 185 people died in the floods, including 157 in Germany, 27 in Belgium and one in Italy.[32][33][34]
Milieudefensie v Royal Dutch Shell was a case heard by the district court ofThe Hague in theNetherlands in 2021 related to efforts by multinational corporations to curtailcarbon dioxide emissions. The case was considered a landmark ruling in environmental law related to climate change: while previous lawsuits against governments have prevailed for improving emissions, this was considered the first major suit to hold a corporation to the tenets of the Paris Agreement.[35] While the decision only has jurisdiction in the Netherlands,[36] it is expected to set a precedent for other environmental lawsuits against other large companies with high emissions that have not taken sufficient steps to reduce their emissions.[37][38][39][40][41] The impact of the court's decision was considered by legal experts to be strengthened due to its reliance on human rights standards and international measures on climate change.[42][35][37]
TheNorilsk oil spill was anindustrial disaster nearNorilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, that began on 29 May 2020 when a fuelstorage tank at Norilsk-Taimyr Energy's Thermal Power Plant No. 3 (owned byNornickel) failed, flooding local rivers with up to 21,000 cubic metres (17,500 tonnes) ofdiesel oil.[43][44] Russian PresidentVladimir Putin declared astate of emergency in early June.[45] The accident has been described as the second-largest oil spill in modern Russian history.[46] As a result of the spill, up to 21,000 cubic metres (17,500 tonnes) of diesel oil spilled into theDaldykan River.Greenpeace Russia compared the potential environmental effects of the Norilsk spill to that of the 1989Exxon Valdez oil spill.[43] In the aftermath of the Norilsk spill, Russia'sProsecutor General's office ordered safety checks at all dangerous installations built on thepermafrost in Russia's Arctic.[47]
From June 2021, thetaiga forests inSiberia and theFar East region ofRussia were hit byunprecedented wildfires, followingrecord-breaking heat and drought.[48] For the first time in recorded history, wildfire smoke reached the North Pole.[49] Causes of the fires include monitoring difficulties,[50] the shifting patterns of thejet stream andclimate change in Russia.[51] Large amounts of carbon may bereleased from formerly frozen ground under the fires,[52] especiallypeatlands[53] which continued burning from the previous year.[54]
The2019–20 Australian bushfire season was particularly destructive, killing at least 28 and destroying no fewer than 3,000 homes. The fires were widespread, butNew South Wales (NSW) was the hardest hit. In December 2019 the smoke aroundSydney was so bad that air quality was 11 times the "hazardous" level and temperatures were over 40 °C (113°-120 °F). Natural causes such aslightning strikes started most of the fires, which were exasperated by dry conditions anddrought, although police in NSW arrested at least 24 people for deliberately starting fires. In total, 7.3 million hectares (17.9 million acres) have burned across Australia's six states—an area larger thanBelgium andDenmark combined. Experts estimate 500 million animals died, not including bats, frogs, or insects; one-third of Australia'skoalas were killed, according toMinister for the EnvironmentSussan Ley.[55]