A
Rain can become acidic when gases released
cid rain caused by air pollution in China
‘may be causing fatal landslides’, say scientists
New study suggests pollutants from burning coal could
have a role in triggering natural disasters
 Josh GabbatissScience
Correspondent @josh_gabbatiss
 Thursday 14 December 2017 21:58
China is one of the most landslide-prone countries, and
new research suggests acid rain may have a role in
triggering such events ( STR/AFP/Getty Images )
Air pollution is such a serious problem in
China that it may be triggering landslides,
a study suggests.
Poor air quality is linked to around 4,000
deaths there every day but in a new study,
geoscientists found there was a previously
overlooked threat resulting from
pollution.
“The pollutants may also be causing
fatal landslides,” wrote Dr Ming Zhang and
Dr Mauri McSaveney, the authors of a new
study published in the journal Earth and
Planetary Science Letters.
The scientists suggest acid rain resulting
from air pollution could weaken layers of
rock and trigger landslides.
by burning coal dissolve in it, forming
sulphuric acid and nitric acid.
Due in part to its extensive
mountains, China is a particularly
landslide-prone country.
These natural disasters can sometimes
occur when an earthquake destabilises
layers of rock in mountainous regions, but
there is still plenty of speculation about
other mechanisms that trigger them.
The Jiweishan landslide in 2009 was
particularly deadly, claiming the lives of
74 people, and for their study the
researchers focused on the circumstances
surrounding this event.
They concluded acid rain was able to reach
layers of shale rock through cracks
resulting from mining operations, and this
weakened the mountain’s composition.
In laboratory experiments, Dr Zhang and Dr
McSaveney found that placing shale from the
Jiweishan landslide site in acid dissolved
a mineral in the rock called calcite.
This left the rock spongy and weak, and
with the calcite gone the primary remaining
mineral was soft, slippery talc.
If this happened in a mountain, this
process could have led to a large mass
of rock sliding off a weakened, slippery
layer.
Furthermore, the scientists suggested acid
rain is capable of effectively
“fertilising” the microbes living in the
rock, allowing them to grow in number and
break down the rock’s structure.
“It’s not outlandish, what they are
proposing,” said Dr Andy Gibson, a
researcher at the University of Portsmouth
who focuses on landslides in China and was
not involved in the study.
“We know that acid mine drainage has
probably affected stability in some coal
mines in the UK, historically,” he said.

However, Dr Gibson said while the acid rain

could play a role in landslide initiation,
this work does not provide causal evidence
for it.

Dr Georgina Bennett, a researcher at the

University of East Anglia who looks at how
landslides respond to climate change,
agreed the work presented an intriguing
idea.

“Air pollution is not something that I had

considered before, so it’s definitely
interesting,” she said.

Dr Bennett said the idea sounds feasible,

but even if acid rain was involved in the
Jiweishan landslide it is likely to be one
of many reasons.

Ascertaining the cause of landslides is

difficult to do in a laboratory, said Dr
Gibson, as scientists need data from actual
disasters.

“The problem we have in applied earth

sciences is that we can’t simulate this
kind of failure in a laboratory, we need
natural case studies in order to build up
our understanding,” he said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/acid-
rain-china-landslides-air-pollution-fatal-cause-scientists-
study-a8111186.html
08 NOV 2017 STORY ECOSYSTEMS
Battling pollution in the Philippines’
largest lake
Serious pollution in a lake next to the mega-city of Manila is
forcing a rethink by development planners to protect water
quality and fish stocks.
Laguna de Bay is the Philippines’ largest lake, and
supplies Metro Manila’s 16 million people with a third
of their fish. It also supports agriculture, industry and
hydro-power generation, and is a welcome getaway for
rest and recreation for many Filipinos. Millions more
live around its 285-kilometre shoreline.
But the lake’s importance has placed it in peril from a
host of problems, including pollution from untreated
sewage and industrial waste, over-fishing and the
sedimentation and illegal reclamation that are eroding its
capacity. A recent assessment from the Laguna Lake
Development Authority gave the lake an overall ranking
of “C-” for water quality and “F” for fisheries (on a scale
of A-F, with F being the worst).
Environmental threats have sparked repeated attempts to
clean up the lake and ease the pressure on its over-
stretched ecosystem so that it continues to deliver its
benefits to a growing human population.
Many of Manila's 30-odd rivers and waterways are
heavily polluted ©: Judgefloro
Nutrient loading
Nutrient pollution is a major concern. Nutrients such as
nitrogen and phosphorus can result in the eutrophication,
or over-enrichment of a water body, triggering dense
plant growth and the death of animal life from lack of
oxygen. There have been numerous reports of fish die-
offs in Laguna de Bay.
Key sources of nutrients include run-off from farmland
treated with fertilizers as well as detergents and
untreated sewage in domestic wastewater.
UN Environment has been studying concentrations of
nitrogen in the lake as well as nutrients entering Manila
Bay to the west of the city as part of the Global Nutrient
Cycle Project. The project, funded by the Global
Environment Facility, is developing policies and
practices to reduce the impact of nutrients on
ecosystems.
Project leaders and local partners presented policy
recommendations to the governors of the provinces
around the lake and Manila Bay in March 2017. The
recommendations included greater investment in
improved land management practices, a phosphate
detergent ban, and caps on the total amount of nitrogen
and phosphorus that can be released from discharge
points.
“The remarkable aspect about the work being done to
address pollution in the lake is that it is powered by
citizen action that has been supported at the highest
decision-making levels through a ruling by the Supreme
Court of the Philippines in 2008 that mandated the clean-
up of Manila Bay and coastal areas, including Laguna de
Bay,” says UN Environment ecosystems expert
Christopher Cox.
“UN Environment has been contributing to these efforts
to beat pollution through the Global Nutrient Cycle
Project.”
Protecting ecosystem health is aligned with UN
Environment’s strategy on freshwater and its global fight
against marine pollution. The organization’s efforts on
both fronts will help countries to meet targets under the
Sustainable Development Goals on freshwater and
oceans.

Satellite image from May 2016 showing Manila Bay on left
and the much shallower and hence lighter coloured Laguna de
Bay on the right with black plumes of pollution at the mouth
of the Taguig and Passig rivers, and elsewhere. ©: European
Space Agency
Sewage and sediment
Government agencies have decided that for fishing to be
more sustainable, some of the vast fish pens in the lake
should be dismantled. In July, the authority reportedly
halved the maximum pen size to 25 hectares in a drive to
cut their total area by one-third from the current 13,000-
14,000 hectares.
Over the past few months hundreds of large fish pens
have been removed amid an ongoing debate about the
local fishing industry, a key source of income for many
people. In January, the government declared a one-year
moratorium on the issuance of permits for fish pens in
the lake.
Pollution is the theme of the 2017 United Nations
Environment Assembly, which is meeting in Nairobi
from 4 to 6 December. Sign the pledge and help us
#BeatPollution around the world.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-
stories/story/battling-pollution-philippines-largest-lake

Many of the millions of people living on the lake shores

are informal settlers whose homes lack proper sanitation
facilities. At least half a million of them are estimated to
be discharging raw sewage into the lake. The
government is considering building medium-rise houses
for them around the lake, using environmentally friendly
technologies such as compost toilets, biochar (charcoal
used as a soil enhancer), and wetlands to control sewage.
To halt rapid sedimentation, authorities have drawn up
plans to build small dams on tributaries to filter out
debris and reduce the amount of soil entering the lake.
Reforestation along parts of the shore has also been
considered.
The Laguna Lake Development Authority is the
principal body working towards the sound ecological
governance and sustainable development of the lake. The
Authority drew up a 10-year master plan in 2016.
Education is an important part of its work.
The Authority has a partnership with the Society for the
Conservation of Philippine Wetlands and Unilever
Philippines called CLEAR (Conservation of Laguna de
Bay’s Environment and Resources). The partnership has
conducted 16 ecological camps benefiting students from
100 high schools and 13 lakeside municipalities, where
children learn to value Laguna de Bay.

Curbing big fish pens