Global climate change is already damaging the region’s natural and cultural resources, according to a new report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The report identifies current and future impacts to both our resources and local citizens, and identifies solutions that will slow that damage and improve the health of local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay.

“Rising temperatures and sea level rise put citizens at risk, and threaten the health of local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay as well as the cultures and economies that depend on them,” said CBF President William C. Baker. “Unless our elected leaders act now, there will be dire consequences for the world we leave our children.”

To avoid the most catastrophic effects of global climate change, scientists estimate it will be necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 50-80 percent over the next 50 years. Achieving that reduction will require a variety of tools and technologies, some of which exist today while others are under development.

A study conducted by Yale University graduate students for CBF determined that implementation of agricultural conservation tools, already called for but not yet funded by the states and federal government, would sequester or balance out approximately 4.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually over 15 years. That is the equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the entire residential electrical use of states like Delaware or Vermont.

“While certainly not a silver bullet for global climate change, these are vital tools that could be implemented today, generating significant benefits to both water quality and global climate change. All that is lacking is state and federal funding,” Baker said. “As Congress considers the 2007 Farm Bill, and as the region’s governors develop their budgets for next year, it is time to fully fund the agricultural conservation tools they committed to employ as part of the roadmap to restoring the Chesapeake Bay.”

Rising temperatures will dramatically increase urban heat related deaths according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Upstream, rising water temperatures will stress fish populations, including brook trout populations in Pennsylvania and smallmouth bass and sunfish populations in the Shenandoah River in Virginia. In the Bay, increasing temperatures will expand the dead zone and add additional stress to rockfish and other species. That stress affects the health of fish by changing feeding habits and making them more susceptible to disease.

Coastal land in the Chesapeake Bay region is especially vulnerable to sea level rise, as much as three to four feet is possible by the end of the century according to Bay scientists. Sea level rise, in conjunction with predicted increases in storm severity, threaten the existence of coastal communities around the Bay. In addition, thousands of acres of environmentally critical wetlands, which act as nurseries for fish and shellfish as well as critical filters that reduce pollution, are also at risk from rising water levels.

The report is available online.

7/20/2007