![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION
Jan. 8th, 2022 12:29 pmHey guys, nice to have you back here on my page. Hope everyone has been doing great. Get excited, I am going to tell you about the project I am currently working on for the Outreachy season.
Okay so let's get right to it.
My project for the season is themed: "Climate change mitigation: extending models of forest carbon pools to new countries". Very exciting right? Yes. So...
What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.
Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Landfills for garbage are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, and land use are among the main emitters.
What is Climate Change Mitigation?
Mitigating climate change is about reducing the release of greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. Mitigation strategies include retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient; adopting renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and small hydro; helping cities develop more sustainable transport such as bus rapid transit, electric vehicles, and biofuels; and promoting more sustainable uses of land and forests.
About 1.4 billion people around the world rely on traditional fuels like coal and wood to meet their basic energy needs. This is not only harmful to the environment; it can also lead to premature deaths for millions of people, especially women and children. By 2035, global energy demand is projected to grow by more than 50 percent, and even faster in developing countries. All these new consumers need clean energy that will not hurt them or the environment.
Okay enough with the terms, let me tell you about this awesome organization I am learning a lot from.
Moja global is a collaborative project under the Linux Foundation that supports ambitious climate action by bringing together a community of experts to develop open-source software – including the groundbreaking FLINT software – which allows users to accurately and affordably estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry, agriculture and other land uses (AFOLU).
Anyone(I mean literally anyone(including you especially)) can make a contribution to the software, the science, the documentation, and the promotion of Moja global’s tools.
Moja global’s mission is to support ambitious climate action by developing pioneering, open-source software – including the groundbreaking FLINT software – to help users accurately and affordably estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry, agriculture and other land uses (AFOLU).
Land plays an important role in global cycles of greenhouse gases (GHG). Land use activities result in emissions and removals of GHG to the atmosphere. The Fifth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for almost a quarter (~10–12 Gt CO2eq/yr) of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from activities such as deforestation, forest degradation and also from livestock, soil, nutrient management and agricultural burning.
Moja global's Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT) has been developed to support the GHG inventories development and the implementation of mitigation actions in the AFOLU sector. But, some functions and features of the FLINT need to be refined or added in order to fully support mitigation actions and establishment and maintenance of sustainable GHG inventory management systems in developing countries.
The UNFCCC secretariat has initiated a collaboration with moja global to refine the FLINT and make it available to developing countries across all regions.
"Climate change mitigation: extending models of forest carbon pools to new countries" focuses on the development of FLINT module to account for the dynamics of carbon from forest living biomass into dead organic matter pools (DOM). A DOM module simulates annual changes in the C stocks of each pool that occur due to growth, biomass turnover, litterfall, transfer and decomposition as well as complex disturbances that can alter biomass turnover, and transfers between DOM pools (litter, dead wood and soil).
I am working with moja global ecosystem modelling experts to identify candidate models for describing DOM dynamics in forestry, collect data and parameter calibrations to test and evaluate the DOM module.
Great communication skills in writing, project documentation and data management were very valuable to participate in this project. I was working as part of a team to document the project. I am also develop expertise in climate change research, data analysis and team collaboration. Skills in Python, R or C++ are very desirable for this project. And so you should know any code developed under this project is open source to facilitate GHG models by experts around the world.
Okay so let's get right to it.
My project for the season is themed: "Climate change mitigation: extending models of forest carbon pools to new countries". Very exciting right? Yes. So...
What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.
Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.
Examples of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Landfills for garbage are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, and land use are among the main emitters.
What is Climate Change Mitigation?
Mitigating climate change is about reducing the release of greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. Mitigation strategies include retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient; adopting renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and small hydro; helping cities develop more sustainable transport such as bus rapid transit, electric vehicles, and biofuels; and promoting more sustainable uses of land and forests.
About 1.4 billion people around the world rely on traditional fuels like coal and wood to meet their basic energy needs. This is not only harmful to the environment; it can also lead to premature deaths for millions of people, especially women and children. By 2035, global energy demand is projected to grow by more than 50 percent, and even faster in developing countries. All these new consumers need clean energy that will not hurt them or the environment.
Okay enough with the terms, let me tell you about this awesome organization I am learning a lot from.
Moja global is a collaborative project under the Linux Foundation that supports ambitious climate action by bringing together a community of experts to develop open-source software – including the groundbreaking FLINT software – which allows users to accurately and affordably estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry, agriculture and other land uses (AFOLU).
Anyone(I mean literally anyone(including you especially)) can make a contribution to the software, the science, the documentation, and the promotion of Moja global’s tools.
Moja global’s mission is to support ambitious climate action by developing pioneering, open-source software – including the groundbreaking FLINT software – to help users accurately and affordably estimate greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry, agriculture and other land uses (AFOLU).
Land plays an important role in global cycles of greenhouse gases (GHG). Land use activities result in emissions and removals of GHG to the atmosphere. The Fifth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for almost a quarter (~10–12 Gt CO2eq/yr) of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from activities such as deforestation, forest degradation and also from livestock, soil, nutrient management and agricultural burning.
Moja global's Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT) has been developed to support the GHG inventories development and the implementation of mitigation actions in the AFOLU sector. But, some functions and features of the FLINT need to be refined or added in order to fully support mitigation actions and establishment and maintenance of sustainable GHG inventory management systems in developing countries.
The UNFCCC secretariat has initiated a collaboration with moja global to refine the FLINT and make it available to developing countries across all regions.
"Climate change mitigation: extending models of forest carbon pools to new countries" focuses on the development of FLINT module to account for the dynamics of carbon from forest living biomass into dead organic matter pools (DOM). A DOM module simulates annual changes in the C stocks of each pool that occur due to growth, biomass turnover, litterfall, transfer and decomposition as well as complex disturbances that can alter biomass turnover, and transfers between DOM pools (litter, dead wood and soil).
I am working with moja global ecosystem modelling experts to identify candidate models for describing DOM dynamics in forestry, collect data and parameter calibrations to test and evaluate the DOM module.
Great communication skills in writing, project documentation and data management were very valuable to participate in this project. I was working as part of a team to document the project. I am also develop expertise in climate change research, data analysis and team collaboration. Skills in Python, R or C++ are very desirable for this project. And so you should know any code developed under this project is open source to facilitate GHG models by experts around the world.
