16th September 2019 marked Typhoon Mangkhut’s anniversary. Do you recall how Mangkhut devastated Hong Kong?
Tropical Depression Mangkhut intensified into a tropical storm in only 4 days. On 13th September 2018, Mangkhut reached its peak intensity, as maximum sustained winds near the centre reached 250km/hr. Mangkhut passed south west of Hong Kong on 16th September 2018 and caused serious territory-wide damages. There were over 60,000 reports of fallen trees and 31,158 trees were removed. Over 20,480 tons of fallen trees were sent to landfill, while 11 trees on the Register of Old & Valuable Trees were knocked down by the storm.
A year has passed yet we can still find traces of damage caused by Mangkhut. The tropical storm reminded us that humans of this century should face issues of extreme weather due to the global climate change.
Overdevelopment on various lands are destroying the world’s important habitats, especially the rainforests.
On the other side of the Earth, the Amazon Rainforest (considered as “'lungs of the Earth”), is being threatened by catastrophic man-made hill fires. According to the satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), 72,843 fires have been detected in Brazil as of August 2019, which marks an 80% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. A forest with the size of a 1.5 football fields is being burnt every minute, which breaks the record from 2013. One of the reasons why the Amazon rainforest was burnt out is due to the demands for animal husbandry and hence the burning of forests to develop land.
The Amazon rainforest is one of the most important natural resources on the earth. Comprised with more than 3 million species of plants and animals, it is the largest and most bio-diversified rainforest in the world. There are also 1 million aboriginal people living in the rainforest. It is a significant carbon sink of the earth as it locks most carbon dioxide and plays an important role in slowing global warming.
Trees in the city as well as the countryside indeed requires our guardianship.
There is no denying that humans will face more environmental problems in the future: more super typhoons like Mangkhut, destruction of habitats all around the world, and last but not least, the ongoing Climate Change issue. Given the circumstance, we should actively change our living habits by implementing waste and carbon reduction, energy conservation as well as cherishing and protecting our natural resources. In fact, the hill fire in the Amazon rainforest was closely related to the rapid growth of the Brazilian cattle industry due to rising demands from Asia, with Hong Kong occupying 24% of its export market, followed by China (19%) (1). Therefore, reducing beef consumption should be an important step for Hong Kong in helping the Amazon rainforest regaining its vitality.
(1) CNN: The Amazon is burning because the world eats so much meat
