ASIAN FOREST WILD FIRES A TO Z

"Mmmm. Those crazy hippies might have a point. It is getting a little warmer than I'd Like."

We need to plant more trees - a whole lot more trees, not clear them, and especially not waste timber that is a vital renewable resource for zero carbon house building. Forest fires that cause deforestation are raising the temperature of Planet Earth and there is no Planet B.

BRAZIL - Soldiers investigate illegal clearing of the Amazonian forest. There are new ways of tracking illegal clearing using mobile phones to listen for chainsaws. Satellites also play a part in monitoring unauthorized activity.

Timber grown for wood is only good if part of a replanting scheme, with at least 2 trees planted for every one felled, though we would suggest up to 10 trees should be planted to offset the loss of carbon absorption during growth.

COP 1: Rome, Italy, 29 Sept to 10 Oct 1997	COP 9: Buenos Aires, Argentina, 21 Sept to 2 Oct 2009
COP 2: Dakar, Senegal, 30 Nov to 11 Dec 1998	COP 10: Changwon, South Korea, 10 to 20 Oct 2011
COP 3: Recife, Brazil, 15 to 26 Nov 1999	COP 11: Windhoek, Namibia, 16 to 27 Sept 2013
COP 4: Bonn, Germany, 11 to 22 Dec 2000	COP 12: Ankara, Turkey, 12 to 23 Oct 2015
COP 5: Geneva, Switzerland, 1 to 12 Oct 2001	COP 13: Ordos City, China, 6 to 16 Sept 2017
COP 6: Havana, Cuba, 25 August to 5 Sept 2003	COP 14: New Delhi, India, 2 to 13 Sept 2019
COP 7: Nairobi, Kenya, 17 to 28 Oct 2005	COP 15: 2020
COP 8: Madrid, Spain, 3 to 14 Sept 2007	COP 16: 2021

1995 COP 1, BERLIN, GERMANY
1996 COP 2, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1997 COP 3, KYOTO, JAPAN
1998 COP 4, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
1999 COP 5, BONN, GERMANY
2000:COP 6, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
2001 COP 7, MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
2002 COP 8, NEW DELHI, INDIA
2003 COP 9, MILAN, ITALY
2004 COP 10, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
2005 COP 11/CMP 1, MONTREAL, CANADA
2006 COP 12/CMP 2, NAIROBI, KENYA
2007 COP 13/CMP 3, BALI, INDONESIA

2008 COP 14/CMP 4, POZNAN, POLAND
2009 COP 15/CMP 5, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
2010 COP 16/CMP 6, CANCUN, MEXICO
2011 COP 17/CMP 7, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
2012 COP 18/CMP 8, DOHA, QATAR
2013 COP 19/CMP 9, WARSAW, POLAND
2014 COP 20/CMP 10, LIMA, PERU
2015 COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France
2016 COP 22/CMP 12/CMA 1, Marrakech, Morocco
2017 COP 23/CMP 13/CMA 2, Bonn, Germany
2018 COP 24/CMP 14/CMA 3, Katowice, Poland
2019 COP 25/CMP 15/CMA 4, Santiago, Chile

2020 COP 26/CMP 16/CMA 5, to be announced

2021 COP 26, Glasgow, Scotland

COP 1: 1994 Nassau, Bahamas, Nov & Dec	COP 8: 2006 Curitiba, Brazil, 8 Mar
COP 2: 1995 Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov	COP 9: 2008 Bonn, Germany, May
COP 3: 1996 Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov	COP 10: 2010 Nagoya, Japan, Oct
COP 4: 1998 Bratislava, Slovakia, May	COP 11: 2012 Hyderabad, India
EXCOP: 1999 Cartagena, Colombia, Feb	COP 12: 2014 Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, Oct
COP 5: 2000 Nairobi, Kenya, May	COP 13: 2016 Cancun, Mexico, 2 to 17 Dec
COP 6: 2002 The Hague, Netherlands, April	COP 14: 2018 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 17 to 29 Nov
COP 7: 2004 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb	COP 15: 2020 Kunming, Yunnan, China

1. TRANSPORT: Phase out polluting vehicles. Governments aim to end the sale of new petrol, and diesel vehicles by 2040 but have no infrastructure plan to support such ambition. Such infrastructure should exceed the performance of fossil fuel filling stations, prolong EV battery life and provide power grids with a measure of load leveling. Any such system should seek to obviate the provision of millions of fast charge points where implementation could prove to be a logistical nightmare and an inefficient energy delivery system. This may involve international agreement as to energy storage format and statute to steer car makers to collaborate (in part) in a world of competition.

Marine transport can be carbon neutral given the right policies, with phased transition in specific stages such as not to unduly penalize present investment in LNG shipping and other recent MARPOL compliant IC powered vessels. Future cargo vessel should be at least in part powered by renewable energy, on the road to zero carbon via the development of shorter distance ferries and the like, making allowances for technology catch-up from 2030 with scrappage trade in on outdated ships and marine taxes on internal combustion engines.

Air travel powered by kerosene should attract hefty mitigation offset, where low carbon alternatives should be encouraged.

3. HOUSING: On site micro or macro generation is the best option, starting with new build homes that are both affordable and sustainable by design to replace crumbling housing stocks. Encourage building in timber to provide carbon lock from a renewable natural resource. Make sustainable housing a permitted development. Taking out the need to apply for planning permission, will cut out council blockers from the decision making process, to stamp out empire building agendas.

4. AGRICULTURE: We need to grow more trees to absorb carbon emissions from a growing population, air travel, and to build new homes. We should promote reductions in food waste and eating of foods that use less energy to produce. Educating children on these matters in schools and via campaigns such as no meat Mondays, should be part of ordinary study.

5. INDUSTRY: Factories should be aiming for solar heating and onsite renewable energy generation. EV parking and even service facilities should be part of new industrial estates as part of any building permissions.

6. POLITICS: - National governing bodies need to adopt rules to eliminate administrative wastages, to include scaling down spending on war machines, increasing spend on educating the public and supporting sustainable social policies that mesh with other cultures. This includes fostering policies and making funds available to close links in the technology chain to make up for lost time. Kleptocratic empire building must cease in the search for natural equilibrium.

SOIL EROSION - The more land that we lose to grow crops the greater the food security issue. As the ice caps melt, desertification spreads to make Earth more uninhabitable.