Erosion in the Alps due to Climate Change

Erosion is always a large problem in mountainous reigns. In the recent decade climbers have begun complaining about year round rock falls on the north face of the Eiger, which wasn’t an issue when it was first climbed in 1838. There has also been multiple massive rock falls in the past decade: in 2004, three boulders in the Dolomites in Northern Italy came loose and blocked a trail and in 2006, a rock the size of the Empire State Building broke off the Eiger.

There is also evidence from glacial records that European precipitation is strongly linked to changes in the climates global mean temperature. In 2002 and 2005, there was an abnormal amount of storms and flooding. This has made people worry that erosion from runoff may speed up the erosion of the Alps and reek havoc on the locals. However there is no long-term trend towards higher precipitation in the Alps. http://www.unige.ch/climate/Publications/Beniston/GRL2006.pdf


ClimChAlp has created a map of the intensity of soil erosion in the Alps, presently and in the future using the RUSLE model. http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/ClimChalp/


The Causes
The main reason for the current rock fall issues is that, with the receding glaciers and snowlines, rocks and dirt that used to be held in place by snow and ice is now falling off the steep slopes. In addition these areas which used to be eternally frozen, or at least rarly thoughed out, are now thawing and freezing multiple times per year, so the ice is prying the rock apart.

What's being done
The Action Plan on Climate Change in the Alps as adopted by the tenth Alpine Conference has 24 objectives in 9 strategic areas.

1. Spatial and land planning
-Ensure efficient space management, promote urban densification
-Promote CO2 efficient urbanisation and planning
-Promote an integrated approach to adapt Alpine space to new climatic conditions and more particularly to:
* Better control natural hazards and limit their consequences
* Ensure sustainable development in terms of housing and economic activities
2. Energy: heating energy, a key sector in the Alpine space
-Significantly reduce CO2 emissions
-Promote the use of renewable energy sources
3.Transport: shift traffic towards more eco and climate-friendly means of transportation
-Significantly reduce CO2 emissions linked to transports
4. Tourism
-Reduce CO2 emissions produced by tourist activities and ensure travel professionals offer the option of sustainable transports
-Promote Alpine holidays offers that are «climate neutral »
Adapt winter tourism and diversify the tourism offer
5. Enhancement of mountain forests and development of forestry
-Favour the adaptation of forest stands to climate change by keeping the Alpine forests in a good ecological state and by increasing their biodiversity
-Develop forestry so that wood can be used as a material and as an energy source that would benefit the economic development of local populations
-Reinforce the role played by the forests in preventing natural hazards
6. Preservation of biodiversity
-Create an ecological continuum in order to facilitate the migration of Alpine fauna and flora species
-Preserve the biodiversity of protected areas and maintain ecosystem services
-Ensure habitat preservation for species that are representative of the Alps
-Support quality agriculture which contributes to the protection of the environment and to the stability of biodiversity
-Maintain peatlands as CO2 sinks and biodiversity reservoirs
7. Water and water resources
-Reinforce the implementation of the Water Framework Directive
-Prevent water shortage
-Steer the development of hydropower plants according to the ecology of water streams
8. Mountain farming
-Support mountain farming as a contribution to the environment, the maintenance and the attractiveness of Alpine territories
9. Applied research & Awareness-raising
-Improve knowledge to better understand the impact of climate change on a local level, particularly as far as water, natural hazards and socio-economic balance are concerned
-Reinforce cooperation in order to gain common knowledge of the existing risks
-Reinforce public awareness, especially among the youth areasw.alpconv.org

To see the complete text of the Action Plan on Climate Change in the Alps go to http://www.alpconv.org/

Source Articles:
"Erosion fears as Alps braced for huge rockfall." Scotland on Sunday [Edinburgh, Scotland] 9 July 2006: 8. Global Issues In Context. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.
"Climate change was major factor in erosion of Alps 6 million years ago." Health & Medicine Week 4 Sept. 2006: 415. Global Issues In Context. Web. 21 Oct. 2010.

Soil Erosion of Norway

The biggest environmental issue in Norway is soil erosion. The major areas of sediment erosion are in the marine clay areas. In the last ice age extensive areas of Norway were submerged and left silt and clay deposits in these areas. These are very easily eroded and are wearing away under the pressure of the Norwegian rivers. Because of the silt/clay soil of Norway and the global warming conditions, the softening soil is becoming much loser and susceptible to land slides and during much more frequent floods, land is slowly washing away. The major cause of this is global warming. Due to the melting of glacier ice on the mountains in Norway, the rivers are rising and washing away more and more sediment. In my opinion, if we worked on fighting pollution and other green house gases these glaciers wouldn't be melting and Norway wouldn't be losing more and more land by the year.

http://iahs.info/redbooks/a236/iahs_236_0073.pdf

Soil Erosion in Iceland

Iceland is a rather large country that is having a difficult time dealing with soil erosion. A national survey completed in 1997 showed that serious soil erosion still covers about 40% of the country. Thirteen years later the problem only has gotten worse. Soil erosion in Iceland is a big, big problem.

As shown in the map above, land with severe erosion is in red and is taking place in 7% of the country. The parts that are green on the map symbolize a tolerable level of soil erosion, but tolerable is not always good.

An area where Iceland is very concerned is how much vegetation is being hurt by the county's soil erosion. Vegetated ecosystems are being destroyed by this erosion, which has the country very worried because the vegetated land is a priority area for land reclamation. The map to the right outlines this problem.

The question many are faced with now is: What is the reason for all of this? It is happening because of vegetation cover, steep terrain, high rainfall, and volcanic activity. Deforestation, erosion and loss of vegetation have all been occurring since the 9th century in Iceland. Though it wasn't always this way. As Boris Maksimov for BBC News puts it, "despite the rather frightening name of the country, Iceland was green when Vikings came to settle."
As much as half of the original vegetative cover of Icelandic land has been destroyed, caused primarily by wood cutting and overgrazing under harsh natural conditions. 95% of forests and woodlands once covering at least 25% of Iceland are in all likelihood lost.

The picture above shows a large volcanic area in Iceland.

What's being done about this severe problem? As the website www.landbunadur.is says, "The Icelandic government has in its Climate Change Strategy for 2007-2050 decided to consider wetland restoration as one option in reducing GHG emission. Conservation of carbon stock in wetland could be approached in a similar way as suggested regarding reduced deforestation."
Hopefully by then, the reduced forestation will eliminate soil erosion. But that is unlikely. Since it is unlikely a lot of organizations and groups are trying to help solve the problem. A few are: The Farmers Association of Iceland, Soil Conservation Service, Iceland Forest Service and more.



Sheep used to roam this beautiful land 1000 years ago, but now due to things such as overgrazing, land is like this.