Eight charts that show 2016 wasn't as bad as you think

2016 is likely to be remembered as an annus horribilis for so many reasons that it’s tempting to think everything is doomed.

But things are not always as they seem. There are silver linings. You just have to look hard to find them.

Death in conflict

Overall, 2016 looks set to have slightly fewer deaths through armed conflict than 2015, when 167,000 people died. Hardly numbers to celebrate.

But narrow the focus and pockets of progress can be found. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the death toll from the war with Boko Haram in Nigeria has fallen sharply, as Nigerian government troops retake territory.

“The group’s operational capacity within Nigeria was weakened,” notes Anastasia Voronkova, IISS research fellow for armed conflict. “At least 4,500 civilians held captive by the group were rescued in 2015 alone; another around 5,000 people were freed by June 2016. 2016 fatalities are expected to be noticeably lower than the 11,000 recorded in 2015.”

From a high of almost 3,000 deaths a month in January 2015, the number killed by Boko Haram has fallen by more than 95%

Death toll in Nigeria due to Boko Haram attacks

Death tolls are also expected to be lower from internal conflicts in the Philippines, Myanmar and India, according to the IISS. Mark Rice-Oxley

Emissions

Carbon is flatlining, and our planet has breathing space. After more than a century and a half of nearly unbroken growth, the quantity of greenhouse gases we pour into the atmosphere each year has stalled for the third year running. Burning fossil fuels and chopping down forests released about 40 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide last year, roughly the same amount as in the previous two years.

What is more, this plateau in emissions is taking place against a background of quickening economic growth, showing that increasing prosperity and lifting people out of poverty need not come at the expense of the climate.

These are big reasons to be cheerful, and we need them. We are coming to the end of the hottest year ever recorded. The Arctic ice cap is 20C above its normal winter temperatures, a heating that scientists are calling “literally off the charts”, and may soon result in more rapid melting than anything yet seen. Donald Trump is hellbent on destroying the Paris agreement, boosting the coal industry and defunding Nasa’s ground-breaking climate research in favour of sending people into space. But at least our global warming emissions are abating. It has only taken 25 years to achieve.

Growth in world carbon emissions has stalled for three years

Stalling emissions should also spell better health, because coal burning in particular pollutes the air with lung-shredding particles and choking chemicals. Finished celebrating? Good. There’s work to do. Flatlining emissions are not enough. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are still at the highest levels since humans first walked the earth. 

Read more https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/30/eight-charts-that-show-2016-wasnt-as-bad-as-you-think

Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd