Study shows invasive species in waterways on rise due to climate change

A press release in AlphaGalileo via Queen's University, Belfast: One of the most serious threats to global biodiversity and the leisure and tourism industries is set to increase with climate change according to new research by Queen’s University Belfast. Researchers at Queen’s have found that certain invasive weeds, which have previously been killed off by low winter temperatures, are set to thrive as global temperatures increase.

The team based at Quercus, Northern Ireland’s centre for biodiversity and conservation science research, predicts that invasive waterweeds will become more widespread over the next 70 years. The researchers say that additional management and legislation will be required if we are to stop the spread of these pest species.

Four species in particular could establish in areas on average 38 per cent larger than previously thought due to projected climatic warming. The water fern, parrot’s feather, leafy elodea and the water primrose, are already highly problematic throughout warmer parts of Europe. Invasive species are considered to be one of the most serious threats to global biodiversity, along with climate change, habitat loss and nutrient addition.

The estimated annual cost of invasive species (plants and animals) to the UK economy is £1.8 billion, with £57 million of impact on waterways including boating, angling and waterway management.

...Dr Ruth Kelly, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s, who led the study, said: “Traditionally upland areas have been protected by low winter temperatures which kill off these invading weeds. Now these are likely to become increasingly vulnerable to colonisation....

Salvinia natans (L.) All. (Water Fern) and Nuphar lutea (L.) Sm. (Yellow Water-lily). Habitat: edges of an oxbow lake near Volgograd Reservoir (Volga). Engelssky District, Saratov Oblast, Russia. Shot by Le.Loup.Gris, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license 

Coastal defences causing Northern Ireland's beaches to disappear

Linda Stewart in the Belfast Telegraph:  Sea defences designed to protect us from the waves are causing many of our best-loved beaches to erode away, it’s been claimed. Coastal expert Derek Jackson said we need to make better use of scientific expertise when it comes to managing our coasts.

Prof Jackson says that people build homes in certain places because they admire the view. But the sea wall they build to protect that home from the storms deflects the waves back and gradually eats away at the beach.

Prof Jackson tackled the issue during his inaugural professorial lecture at the University of Ulster’s Coleraine campus. In it, he outlined how Northern Ireland is now leading the world in coastal research, bringing an improved understanding of the potential danger of coasts across the globe from climate change.

“Modern coastal science has advanced much in recent years due to the advent of state-of-the-art monitoring and computer modelling, revealing a great deal about how coastlines function as a complex environmental system,” he said. “Management of the beach and dune zone, however, still lacks proper science-led approaches.”

Prof Jackson said most countries are ill prepared for sea level rise. Until now, we have benefited from a geological ‘bounce’ that has seen Northern Ireland rising after its release from a mile-thick icesheet that pressed on it in the last Ice Age. That rise has kept pace with sea level rise, providing us with a level of immunity against the rising waters….

Dunes in Tyrella, Northern Ireland, shot by Albert Bridge, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Warning of 'significant' flood risk

Belfast Telegraph: More than half a million homes and businesses will be at "significant" risk of flooding in the future without more investment in flood defences, the Government's advisers on climate change have warned.

Floods which have had a devastating impact in the past few weeks are likely to become more common in the future as the climate changes and increases the chances of extreme weather, Lord Krebs of the Committee on Climate Change said.

But a funding gap of almost £1 billion is opening up between what is needed to keep properties protected in the face of climate change and what is being spent over the next few years.

At the same time an increasing number of homes and businesses are being built on the flood plain, with 40,000 properties constructed without community flood defences in the past decade - putting them at a significant risk of flooding....

Flooded overpass in Belfast, shot by Albert Bridge, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Decades of neglect led to this Northern Ireland water crisis

Ruth Collins comments in the Guardian (UK): Witnessing thousands queue in the cold and dark over the past two nights to collect water from depots across Northern Ireland, I've found it hard to understand how things could have gone this far. One member of the public described it as "scandalous", a second as "unacceptable", while others are speechless as to how to describe the current water crisis that has left about 80 towns and 36,000 homes without running water. Understandably, the public are angry and want somebody to blame. However, the crisis reveals more than just a lack of a foresight, but also longstanding neglect.

Northern Ireland Water is the government-owned organisation at the centre of this "unprecedented" crisis. As the thaw descended, water pipes burst, reservoirs ran dry and water supplies were cut off as engineers battled to repair pipes.

…Scotland has now donated up to 160,000 litres of bottled water. Yet, when questioned in an interview why Scotland – which has, after all, also been affected by heavy snow and arctic temperatures in recent weeks – had not experienced similar problems, Liam Mulholland, the head of customer services at NI Water, claimed that "Scotland has had investment, whereas we haven't". It may sound obvious, but Mulholland's statement points to long-term neglect by direct-rule administrations in looking after Northern Ireland's water system and the infrastructure that supports it….

A water tower in Northern Ireland, shot by Kenneth Allen, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Belfast city centre could be under water by end of century

Linda Stewart in the Belfast Telegraph: Belfast city centre could be hit by regular floods by the end of the century, according to stark new climate change predictions released by Friends of the Earth. It would mean Northern Ireland’s economic heart could no longer function in the way it does today — while people living in residential areas surrounding the city centre could be left floundering, unable to afford insurance premiums or to move away.

…The flood maps suggest the City Hall would be surrounded, forming an island in the floodwaters. Residential areas most at risk from floods resulting from rising sea levels and increased rainfall would include the Markets, the Lower Ormeau, Lower Ravenhill, Lower Newtownards Road, Short Strand, Shore Road, Titanic Quarter, Orangefield, Sydenham, the Lower Falls and Grosvenor Road, according to Friends of the Earth and the Town and Country Planning Association, who are hosting a major climate change conference today.

According to the latest climate science, submitted to the Copenhagen conference and reviewed by Friends of the Earth, Belfast could experience an 80m sea level rise by the end of the century.

This, combined with high rainfall events, storm surges and a spring tide means that by 2100, what is today considered to be a 1 in 100 year flood event would occur every four years, while today's 1 in 50 year event would occur annually. As it is, the maps are based on quite outdated science, so the reality could be even worse, with regular floods of Titanic Quarter and the Odyssey Arena, according to Friends of the Earth's Northern Ireland climate campaigner Declan Allison….

1909 map of the docks Belfast, from the British Admiralty