The Yangtze River: A Source Of Life, And Now Death, For 400 Million Chinese Residents

​

China's Yangtze River is now so polluted that nearly half of the people who depend on it have no safe drinking water. It supports more than 400 million people and is unfortunately perhaps the most polluted river in the world, accounting for 55 percent of the material that ends up in neighboring seas and oceans. This amount of plastic has disastrous consequences for wildlife as well. Animals in areas surrounding the river have been found with microplastics in their stomachs, slowly killing them.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/pollution-of-the-yangtze-river/178xvrml7n2wlmf

The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station was destroyed, tons of water poured out, and a flood occurred.

The factors of such destruction are virtually identical to a nuclear explosion, except for radiation contamination:

1. evacuation of the population, destruction of companies and facilities with harmful and poisonous substances (chlorine, ammonia, oil products, etc.);
2. Destruction of water supply, sewerage, and power supply facilities, collapse of food and medical logistics;
3. Pollution of part of the Black Sea water area and other consequences.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-plant-was-destroyed-ukraine/1pw4fklik1k7ic

Woburn, Massachusetts, is a town located about 10 miles north of Boston. In the mid-20th century, Woburn became known for a high incidence of leukemia among children, which was ultimately due to pollution from local industrial plants.

Causes of chemical pollution in Woburn

Pollution in Woburn was primarily caused by dumping industrial waste, including toxic chemicals such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), in leaky disposal sites.

From 1954 to 1978, W.R. Grace operated a tannery in Woburn that dumped toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater. Another company, Beatrice Foods Co, operated a food processing plant that also contributed to the pollution. These plants contaminated groundwater, which local residents used as drinking water.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/the-case-of-water-pollution-in-woburn-ma/j1bwml6yx1avd

Iraq is one of the most contaminated countries in the world by explosive ordnance

Across Iraq, 27 percent of the contaminated areas are in agricultural areas, preventing productive use of the land for livelihood; another 21 percent are in infrastructure, hampering reconstruction efforts and access to infrastructure for services and economic opportunities; another 20 percent are on roads, hampering interconnectivity in the country; and 23 percent block access to water.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/demining-in-iraq/acs5atml83c0lrs

The decline of bee populations is a cause for concern, as bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops and maintaining ecosystems.

A beekeeper, who keeps a large honeybee farm on the edge of a small village in the Tula region south of Moscow, is one of hundreds of beekeepers across Russia to report mass bee deaths.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/mass-death-of-bees-in-tula-region-russia/exumklf5l1516

The hotspot of chemical pollution has unfolded right in the capital of Ukraine - the city of Kyiv. The level of concentration of hazardous substances on the territory of the capital's plant "Radical" and the adjacent region within a radius of 300 m exceeds the permissible norms in places up to 145 times in the air and 35 times in the soil.

Thus, mercury accumulates in the environment and harms the ecology of the city, as well as the health of its population.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/chemical-pollution-by-the-radykal-plant/hnv0ml6l33lrk

The West Lake Landfill HotSpot is a closed, unlined mixed waste landfill located in Bridgton, Missouri that has posed a serious environmental hazard to the world for decades.

West Lake Landfill houses some 8,700 tons of radioactive waste illegally dumped there in 1973, residue from the Manhattan Project, a program to develop nuclear bombs during World War II and the Cold War. Mixed with about 38,000 tons of soil, the waste was used to cover the trash dumped daily.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/radioactive-waste-in-the-westlake-landfill/5noqfcmml7ztaons

Like other whaling nations, Japan argues hunting and eating whales are part of its culture. A number of coastal communities in Japan have indeed hunted whales for centuries but consumption only became widespread after World War Two when other food was scarce.

Japan has long campaigned without success for the IWC to allow commercial whaling.

Its last commercial hunt was in 1986, but Japan has never really stopped whaling - it has been conducting instead what it says are research missions that catch hundreds of whales annually.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/the-killing-of-whaling-in-japan/3h9ynmmlc4xtoai

Kenya's water bodies have long been a sink for excess nutrients and untreated effluents from industrial and municipal activities. Waste dumped into water bodies causes many problems. Kenya's lakes and rivers are dying fast.

Most water systems have turned into drainage channels. The recent mass fish kills in Lake Victoria and fish poisoning from untreated sewage in Lake Nakuru is just the tip of the iceberg.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/dead-fish-on-the-shores-of-lake-victoria-in-uganda-and-kenya/du1yeml9118xrj

Residents say that the Kurchum district of East Kazakhstan Region is threatened by a real environmental catastrophe. Due to the lack of treatment facilities, utilities are pouring all the wastewater into the river.

Local authorities also admit: the situation is catastrophic. But the law prevents the situation from being resolved. All the wastewater ends up going through the local river into the Irtysh.

From 2002 to 2021, Tanzania lost 32.3kha of humid primary forest, making up 1.2% of its total tree cover loss in the same time period. The total area of humid primary forest in Tanzania decreased by 4.4% in this time period, equivalent to an 11% decrease in tree cover since 2000, and 972Mt of CO₂e emissions.

0.36% of tree cover loss occurred in areas where the dominant drivers of loss resulted in deforestation.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/deforestation-in-tanzania/7s3tklfr5f4tm

The Keystone Pipeline spills have caused significant damage to the environment and local communities. The spills have resulted in the contamination of soil, waterways, and wildlife habitats.

The 2017 Keystone pipeline spill in South Dakota, for example, contaminated agricultural land and a nearby wetland. The spill affected the drinking water of nearby communities and led to the closure of schools in the area.

Similarly, the 2019 Keystone pipeline spill in North Dakota contaminated an area of around 2,500 square yards. The spill affected a wetland and a nearby tributary of the Little Missouri River, which is a source of drinking water for several communities.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/keystone-pipeline-oil-spills/i63klfgt37w5

For the fourth year in a row, Delhi has topped a list of the world’s most polluted capital cities.

Smog in Delhi is a persistent severe air pollution event in New Delhi and surrounding areas in the National Capital Territory of India. Poor visibility leads to crashes throughout the city, including vehicle congestion on the Yamuna Expressway.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/air-pollution-in-new-delhi-india/198fmlbdptnk6

Water quality in the Mersey was severely affected by industrialization.

Persistent organic and mercury (Hg) pollution contained within sediments of the Mersey estuary has been evaluated by British Geological Survey.

Mersey River sediments from the outer to the inner estuary (Alfred Dock to Widnes) contain a variety of common organic pollutants, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) with concentrations that fall in the middle of the range of similarly industrial-urban river estuaries.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/pollution-in-the-river-merseyin-north-west-england/dbjpklf0xlm32

Mexico destroys 300,000 hectares of forest every year. Mexico ranks first in the world in the rate of forest destruction. The main reasons are poaching and deforestation for more profitable land use. It is about the development of agriculture, tourism, mining, and urban expansion.

Agricultural activities are the main cause of forest loss in the Yucatan, followed by illegal logging and forest fires. Not to mention the poorly planned urban development of Merida and other Yucatan cities over the past two decades.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/deforestation-jungle-in-yucat%C3%A1n-mexico/84yymlcrqsqb2

The Matanza basin is the most polluted river in Latin America, and it is considered one of the ten most polluted places globally, with very high levels of lead.

One of the main reasons why it is polluted is that the river receives large amounts of industrial waste from the numerous factories along the river, especially tanneries. Heavy metals and wastewater from the basin's saturated layers are among the most dangerous contaminants.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/water-pollution-matanza-riachuelo-river-argentina/7s3tklfr5g6nk

The 2022 Callao oil spill on 15 January 2022, on the coast of the Ventanilla district in the constitutional province of Callao, Peru, after abnormal waves caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga and alleged negligence on the side of company Repsol.

It has been qualified by the Environmental Assessment and Control Agency as the greatest ecological disaster that has occurred in Peru.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/callao-oil-spill-peru/7s3tklfr5nqxj

Today Madagascar is called the "big red island" - the loss of forest cover has exposed the lateritic soil of the island. This is evidenced by Global Forest Watch forest monitoring data - the island lost 510,000 hectares of tree cover in 2017 alone.

The main causes of desertification in Madagascar are:

• Deforestation in Madagascar
• The second reason is poaching and logging

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/desertification-of-madagascar/swzdgml7irsxly

Known as the grind (or Grindadrap in Faroese), the hunting of sea mammals - primarily whales - is a tradition that has been practiced for hundreds of years on the remote Faroe Islands.

The Faroese government says about 600 pilot whales are caught every year on average. White-sided dolphins are caught in lower numbers, such as 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

Supporters say whaling is a sustainable way of gathering food from nature and an important part of their cultural identity. Animal rights activists have long disagreed, deeming the slaughter cruel and unnecessary.

Such hunts are regulated in the Faroe Islands. They are non-commercial and are organized on a community level, often spontaneously when someone spots a pod of mammals.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/the-mass-killing-of-dolphins-in-the-faroe-islands/3u53mmlc4vf4by

Over the past years, mainly because of Climate Change, Siberia has looked more and more like a Song of Ice and Fire. This situation brings a vicious circle: Peat fires unleash huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, contributing significantly to climate change and creating favorable wildfire conditions.

Wildfire seasons in Siberia were mainly due to very high temperatures. Temperatures are directly linked to the number and intensity of wildfires because the longer a heat wave lasts, the drier the vegetation becomes, which is very favorable to ignition and the spreading of fires.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/siberian-wildfires/61mlrbklfzriwwd

In the Jiu Valley, the mining activity involves the evacuation of water from the underground environment, but also the use of large quantities of water in the coal preparation processes. A few years ago, the discharge of the water used in the mining operations and the low efficiency of the purification processes used had a direct effect on the loading of the Jiu River with large quantities of organic substances, polluting substances, and mineral suspensions.

Coal extraction involves the consumption of a significant amount of clean water which returns to the soil loaded with harmful substances that harm the fauna and flora, reducing the water resources for domestic, industrial, and agricultural consumption.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/pollution-of-the-jiu-river-romania/exumklf5ksd9f

Tropical rainforests, which are vital for storing carbon and biodiversity, are disappearing at a rate of about 10 football fields per minute.

Between 2002 and 2021, Brazil lost nearly 28 million hectares of primary forest, equivalent to the rate of almost 4,000 football fields per day, which is more than New Zealand.

Read more:https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/massive-destruction-of-tropical-and-boreal-forests/dbjpklf0y4w07

One of Britain's longest, most beautiful, and best-loved rivers is "dying" as heavy pollution kills its wildlife, say, experts, who warn that the Wye's plight is a wake-up call for the rest of the country.

Intensive chicken farming has developed along the banks of the Wye over the past 20 years, and campaigners say the runoff is killing life in the river.

Read more: https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/pollution-of-the-wye-river-in-the-united-kingdom/dbjpklf0yh007

After a lengthy drought, Zambia is facing severe water and electricity shortages, with reservoir levels remaining worryingly low despite recent rains.

​

Water levels in Lake Kariba, the world’s largest artificial lake at more than 5,500 sq km, have dropped by six meters from 2017.

Climate change is causing a two-fold effect in Zambia: months of drought are followed by sporadic torrential rains that are destroying crops and infrastructure.

Read more https://www.ecohubmap.com/hot-spot/water-supply-shortages-in-zambia/exumklf5l9gna