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Elderly woman on PMA at Parkway Parade urges compassion On 25 Aug, a user on the ‘COMPLAINT SINGAPORE’ Facebook group posted photos of a woman on a Personal Mobility Aid (PMA) at Parkway Parade. The post alleged that the woman rode into Food Republic, got off, and walked around to buy food. It also accused her of speeding through the crowded indoor food court. Source: Facebook While some netizens have exercised empathy, most heavily criticised the woman and PMA users in general. One even claimed that some of these users were merely taking advantage of them and not actually disabled. The woman photographed in the post is 77-year-old Mdm Mabel Long, a long-term resident of Marine Parade. She spoke to MS News to provide her side of the story. Woman on PMA has had two kneecap surgeries and spinal cord issues When Mdm Long arrived at the interview, she slowly and carefully got off her PMA and onto the coffee shop chair. She was wearing the same flowery blouse that she had previously been photographed in. Sipping on a cup of teh-o, the retired 77-year-old shared that she had lived in Marine Parade for more than 50 years, calling it her kampong. She lives in a four-room HDB flat with her 87-year-old husband. Due to his heart problems which required a pacemaker, Mdm Long ran all their errands herself on her PMA. Mdm Long herself, however, is also not in the best physical condition. “I had two kneecap operations. The first one was over eight years ago and the second about a year and a half ago,” she said on the walking problems that led her to use the device. Mdm Long has osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint condition that causes pain and affects mobility. On top of that, she suffers from spinal cord issues which doctors recommended major surgeries for. However, Mdm Long refused them. If I go through these and it’s not successful, I’ll be bedridden. Who’s going to care for me, and who’s going to care for [my husband]? Mdm Long said that they had no helper at home and rarely met with their children. As such, in her words, she instead opts to “live with the pain”, having to take medication daily. She told MS News that she suffers pain if she stands or walks for too long. Mdm Long estimated that she could walk for about 10 metres or so without her PMA, but only with the help of a back brace she wears under her blouse. She also usually utilises an umbrella that doubles as a walking stick to aid her. Received 90% subsidies on PMA from the hospital Mdm Long said that she was afraid of getting a PMA at first despite her walking difficulties, mostly due to the price of these devices. However, a friend told her that she would be able to get medical subsidies for one. As such, she brought it up to her doctor at the hospital and got referred to the Physiotherapy department. Mdm Long said that the moment she entered, the department staff told her that she would definitely qualify for subsidies due to how poorly she was walking. She explained that the hospital presented her with three different sizes of PMAs. The staff then recommended the largest-sized device as the one best suited for her, saying that the smaller PMAs would run the risk of her falling and getting injured when turning. Mdm Long, who was in her third year of using a PMA, said that she received a 90% subsidy on her device, owing to factors such as being retired and part of the Pioneer Generation. Woman photographed on PMA at Parkway Parade Food Republic Mdm Long told MS News that she usually did not go to Parkway Parade unless she needed to visit the bank or if her local supermarkets did not have what she needed. On the day of the incident, the evening of 23 Aug according to her memory, Mdm Long went to the Food Republic on the B1 floor to buy some food for her and her husband. She first made an order on her PMA at the Korean food stall, which she said was the first stall at one end of the food court. Source: Facebook After a few minutes, she decided to walk across to buy some popiah from another stall, choosing not to use her PMA or walking stick. She instead used the tables and chairs on the way to help support herself. Mdm Long then returned to the Korean stall to pick up her food and left on her PMA. She said that she had to go through the food court to get to the lifts. She also claimed that the food court was not too crowded at the time and that there was little risk of her hitting anyone. Woman upset by hateful comments on Parkway Parade PMA post After the post of her went online, a friend forwarded her the photos and asked if that was her. Mdm Long initially felt a little upset at the comments but tried to just dismiss it. However, as she saw it repeatedly over the next few days, the online hate started affecting her psychologically and emotionally to the point that she did not even want to look at her phone anymore. The comments left her wondering why people were being so unkind with accusations. Mdm Long even considered meeting Dr Tan See Leng, a Marine Parade MP, to explain the situation. The two had previously met a year ago when Mdm Long was also on a PMA. However, she decided not to after seeing Dr Tan’s busy schedule and feeling her situation might be too trivial for him. Nonetheless, she kept the option in the back of her mind for if the online hate got too much. Urges netizens to approach her & learn her side of the story Mdm Long said that those netizens who flung accusations and vitriol at PMA users were speaking unfavourably of people without fully understanding the situation. She noted that it would be difficult for mere observers to discern her side of the story from a single photo online. Additionally, Mdm Long wished that the person who had taken the photo was more upfront about their discontent. “Why not come and approach me and ask or tell me ‘Hey you shouldn’t be doing that’ and I will explain [it] to you,” she said. Instead, they decided to upload the photos to Facebook and ended up creating a “free-for-all” for netizens to bash her. PMA usage a divisive topic in Singapore Mdm Long acknowledged that there are “bad apples” who misuse PMAs and ride recklessly, agreeing that it was wrong of them to do so. However, there were many in Singapore like her for whom PMAs were a requirement who ended up as innocent victims of criticism. Source: Facebook PMAs have been the subject of online discourse in recent times, often leading to negativity and insensitive remarks. The hot topic is a divisive one, as shown by the results of one Answers.sg poll. 48% of 1,726 respondents voted that PMAs should not be allowed in indoor areas such as malls. Of the remaining number, 35% said that the devices should be allowed while the rest were neutral about the topic. For Mdm Long, all she hopes for is a kinder society that can make space for older people. She said: Singapore has an ageing population. Have a heart for these people. As you grow old, you will undoubtedly have medical problems. Wishes to solve issues amicably Unfortunately, the lack of empathy towards her was not new to Mdm Long. In her last job as a member of the security staff in a school’s hostel during the Covid-19 pandemic, she recalled that her senior colleagues would say she was bai ka (crippled) and asked why she was still working there. She ended up resigning after her supervisor allegedly said she would get him into trouble. Mdm Long had also faced issues aboard public transport. In one particular instance, a bus driver had asked her to leave the bus. However, Mdm Long believes that “anything can be solved in an amicable or civilised way.” As such, Mdm Long expressed her desire to meet the OP of the Facebook post so she could personally explain her situation to them. That way, she hoped they could reflect on whether their actions were too rash or harsh.

Customer shares photo of undercooked eggs from Koufu food court in Toa Payoh After ordering a breakfast toast set that included soft-boiled eggs, a customer was dismayed to be served eggs that were unsatisfactory. From a photo she shared on Facebook of the eggs, they appeared to be undercooked. Source: Vivian Cheng via COMPLAINT SINGAPORE on Facebook Service ‘not friendly’ at Toa Payoh food court Posting in the Complaint Singapore Facebook group on 19 Oct, the woman said she had ordered a toast set from the Koufu food court in Toa Payoh, ostensibly referring to the one on the second floor of the HDB Hub. At the outset, the uncle serving her was “not friendly”, she complained. Source: Google Maps She added that he forgot to give her the eggs, which are typically part of a toast set. Then, he claimed she had indicated that she didn’t want them, according to her post. Netizen says eggs from Toa Payoh are undercooked Finally, when she did receive her eggs, they looked undercooked, with the woman asking netizens: Are soft-boiled eggs supposed to be like that? Almost all who commented said the eggs looked “raw” or undercooked and advised her to send them back. Source: Facebook Some netizens also warned that she could contract salmonella if she consumed the eggs. Source: Facebook Koufu professes regret One of the comments came from Koufu, which professed “regret” for the woman’s experience. Source: Facebook To ensure such an incident will not happen again, the food court operator will look into “on-the-job-training” to prevent service lapses, it said. It will also ensure service staff are “well trained” on the food preparation, it added. In response to MS News’ queries, Koufu echoed its comment, stating that its management launched an investigation immediately after receiving the online feedback. “On the day of the incident, no other similar cases were reported by other customers, so it might be an isolated case,” it said, adding that it sincerely apologises “for the unpleasant incident.” The company also assured that regular checks will be carried out on the eggs before serving them to customers. Additionally, staff will undergo retraining on the food preparation process to ensure the quality of the soft-boiled eggs meets the required standard. “The management will closely monitor the situation to ensure such incidents do not happen again.”

A 50-year-old man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in the death of a 41-year-old man, who was found unconscious at the void deck of a Clementi housing block on Oct 21. The victim was taken to hospital where he died, the police said. Early investigations suggest the two men knew each other. The police said they received a call for help at 5pm about an incident in Clementi Avenue 4. The suspect was arrested at the scene, they added. When The Straits Times arrived at Block 311B at around 7.30pm, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Sim Ann was seen comforting an elderly man and woman, who were crying. In video footage of the incident recorded by residents and seen by ST, the suspect is seen chasing the victim to the foot of Block 311B. The victim appears to trip over a drain cover and falls, and the suspect seems to stab him repeatedly with a small object. People are heard shouting for him to stop, and a woman dressed in red and a parking attendant try to pull the suspect away from the victim. The victim then kicks him and crawls away. A few seconds later, the suspect dives at him and manages to stab him one more time. The victim then collapses face down and stops moving. Residents who did not want to be identified said the suspect then got into a black car and drove to the nearby multi-storey carpark. He then rammed the car repeatedly into another vehicle before being stopped at the exit of the carpark. The suspect then said he was going to surrender, came out of the car and lay on the ground before police officers arrested him, residents said. Police checking a damaged car near the scene of the incident. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR Dozens of police officers were later seen in the open area between blocks 311B and 311C, where a large section was cordoned off. Ms Corina Sim, 29, a resident of the estate, said she saw a woman performing chest compressions on the victim. “It happened really quickly. When I went down thinking I could help, the police and ambulance had already arrived,” she said. “I was shocked when the neighbours told me the victim was stabbed. I thought it was a fist fight or something. I felt nauseous when I saw the blood. There was so much blood.” Dozens of police officers were seen in the open area between Block 311B and 311C, where a large section was cordoned off. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at about 5pm, and paramedics took one person to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. Another person was assessed for minor injuries by an SCDF paramedic but declined to be taken to hospital, it added. Later, in a Facebook post, Ms Sim Ann said: “An incident occurred at Trivelis this afternoon involving two residents, resulting in a fatality. “I have met the family members of the deceased together with our volunteers to express our condolences and offer support to them in their time of grief.” Ms Sim Ann, who is also Senior Minister of State for National Development, thanked residents who tried to help for their public-spiritedness.

A customer service officer from SBS Transit was surprised to find a brown envelope containing some $10,000 wedged between the seats of an MRT train at Harbourfront MRT station on Monday (Oct 21). Soh Sin Chye, 44, had discovered the envelope while on patrol, and he promptly contacted the Operations Control Centre. He was then instructed to hand over the envelope to the station staff for safekeeping, said SBS Transit in a Facebook post on Monday. The envelope also contained a passport and an ID card. "I was initially surprised by the amount of money, but my first thought was that it needed to be returned safely— it must have been incredibly important to the owner," said Soh. About two hours later, a distressed passenger went to the station to claim the envelope, explaining he had left a brown envelope on the train. SBS staff verified and confirmed that the envelope belonged to the passenger, and Soh was there to return it to him. Soh shared: "I'm really happy that I could help out when he needed it most." Several netizens praised Soh for his integrity on the Facebook post, voicing their appreciation for kind gestures of service staff like him. PHOTO: Facebook/SBS Transit Ltd Another netizen with the user name Sindhu Missy added that she was in a similar situation before. "Well done!! Happened to me too. With an envelope of certificates. Kind soul. Be blessed," she said.

The authorities have disabled access to 10 inauthentic websites set up by foreign actors. These websites could be used to mount hostile information campaigns (HICs) against Singapore, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in a joint statement on Tuesday (Oct 22). The Broadcasting Act allows the authorities to issue directions to take action against content that does not comply with regulations. Investigations revealed that these inauthentic websites were designed to look like genuine Singapore websites through their domain names and incorporating familiar local features and visuals. Two of the banned websites utilised domain names similar to popular local websites, such as www.zaobaodaily.com, a name similar to local Chinese news outlet Lianhe Zaobao. A handful of the inauthentic websites identified utilise Singapore-related terms in their domain names and publish related content. PHOTO: Screengrab/www.lioncitylife.com The content on these two websites had the potential of misleading readers about official positions or local sentiments, said the authorities. Seven other websites used the word "Singapore" and other related terms, such as Singapura, Singdao and Lioncity in their domain name. These websites published Singapore-related content that was identical to other foreign newswires that conduct HICs against other countries. One website named Alamak.io carried Singapore-related content that paraphrased articles published by local mainstream media. Majority of the articles on this website were likely written by artificial intelligence tools. Alamak.io carries Singapore-related articles with content paraphrased from local mainstream media. PHOTO: Screengrab/alamak.io This website also published commentaries on socio-political issues, including one that falsely alleged Singapore allowed other countries to conduct biological warfare research. Banned websites associated with networks that previously conducted HICs Most of the websites in the abovementioned list were associated with global networks of inauthentic news websites that previously conducted HICs and influence campaigns in other countries, IMDA and MHA said. These inauthentic news sites, based in China, were sharing pro-Beijing disinformation and ad hominem attacks by concealing them within large amounts of commercial content, according to a 2024 study by academic research laboratory The Citizen Lab. These networks were also previously found by cybersecurity company Mandiant in 2022 to be disseminating pro-PRC content under the guise of independent news outlets from different parts of the world. Pre-emptive action taken in public interest: MHA MHA told AsiaOne on Tuesday that no Singaporeans are involved in operating these websites, and that the level of exposure of these sites are currently low. Investigations by the ministry also show that the websites have not mounted a HIC against Singapore. "However, the websites could potentially be used to mount HICs against Singapore in the future. It is therefore in the public interest to take pre-emptive action against them," said the ministry. In the joint statement, the authorities also urged Singaporeans to remain vigilant to inauthentic websites when consuming online content. Currently, there are no provisions in the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 to pre-emptively act against websites, whether authentic or not. For example, an Account Restriction Direction, which is an anticipatory direction, can only be given to a provider of a social media service and/or electronic service but not websites. The government is currently reviewing FICA to see how it can be addressed.

Free to return but nv say free to leave or not

SINGAPORE: A 50-year-old man was arrested on Monday (Oct 21) after the death of a 41-year-old man who was found lying unconscious at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) void deck in Clementi. The police were alerted to the case along Clementi Avenue 4 at 5pm. The 41-year-old was taken unconscious to hospital where he died. "A 50-year-old man was detained at (the) scene and arrested in relation to the case. Preliminary investigations revealed that both parties are known to each other," said the police, adding that investigations are ongoing. In response to queries from CNA, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 at about 5pm. The block is part of Trivelis, an HDB development under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS). Footage taken by a CNA reader showed a police cordon and several officers on the scene. A person was seen performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. SCDF said it took a person to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. Another person was assessed for minor injuries by an SCDF paramedic and declined to be taken to the hospital. Police officers investigating the crime scene at Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 on Oct 21, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor) SCREAMS HEARD A resident of neighbouring Block 311C told CNA she heard screaming at about 5pm. Ms Corina Sim said she initially thought the exclamations were from children at the playground but soon realised something was amiss when she heard a woman shout for someone to call for an ambulance. A man was also heard urging another person to "stop it", the 29-year-old recounted. As the screaming continued, Ms Sim looked out of her window and saw a man chasing a woman who was dressed in red, with both running into the nearby car park. The man lying at the void deck was still moving, and Ms Sim noticed that he had blood on his hands and face. Police officers investigating the crime scene at Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 on Oct 21, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor) Police officers inspecting a car at a multi-storey car park near Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 on Oct 21, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor) Soon after, Ms Sim saw another woman come by and perform CPR on the injured man. "All of a sudden, she started screaming, asking for help ... So that's when I changed. I got down (to the void deck), wanted to help, but when I got down, the ambulance, police, everything (was) here already," she said. Ms Sim added that the police later stopped a man who was driving out of the car park, asking him to leave the vehicle and get down on the floor. Workers clean the void deck at Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 on Oct 21, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor) At about 8.30pm, CNA observed police officers continuing to label and take photos of evidence. They also searched through a nearby grass patch. Police officers also searched a black car at the exit of the multi-storey car park near Block 311B. The area remained cordoned off as of 9.30pm with workers seen cleaning the area of the void deck where the man was found. Holland-Bukit Timah MP Sim Ann speaking to the media at the crime scene at Block 311B Clementi Avenue 4 on Oct 21, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor) "HORRIFIC" INCIDENT Member of Parliament for the area Sim Ann was seen comforting a crying man at the scene. "My team and I are deeply shocked and saddened by this horrific occurrence," she said in a Facebook post on Monday night. "The family have asked me to convey to concerned neighbours and the public their request for privacy at this extremely difficult time. The suspect has been arrested by the police, who urge residents not to speculate until they are ready to share more." She also thanked people who came forward to help for their public-spiritedness. If you would like to send in information, photos or videos about something newsworthy, submit your news tips on CNA Eyewitness or on WhatsApp. Source: CNA/fh

A woman who rented out her two-room flat in February was shocked to discover that her tenants had allegedly sublet the unit to at least 10 other occupants. Ms Luo, a 60-year-old cleaner, told Shin Min Daily News that she had found the two tenants through an agent. The tenants, who claimed to be students from Sri Lanka interning in Singapore, agreed to a one-year lease and paid a month's rent upfront, along with an additional month's rent as a security deposit. After handing over the keys, Ms Luo embarked on a trip overseas. Upon her return, she discovered that the tenants had not yet registered their information with the authorities, despite her inquiries through the agent. Approximately one month later, while having dinner with a friend near her Jalan Batu flat, Ms Luo decided to pay a visit to her property. To her disbelief, she found the unit transformed into a crowded dwelling. Three single mattresses were strewn across the living room floor, four bunk beds crammed into the bedroom, and a double mattress tucked away in a corner of the kitchen, concealed by a wardrobe. "I was shocked when I walked in," Ms Luo recounted. "The house had completely changed. My furniture had been removed. The whole unit looked very dirty and messy." She encountered three individuals she had never seen before exiting the unit and, upon confronting them, discovered several more occupants inside. It's estimated that over 10 people were living in the flat. Ms Luo immediately instructed everyone to vacate the premises that day. She returned the following day to find the flat empty, with only the mattresses and some belongings left behind. Although she managed to secure new tenants for the unit in June, the experience left her shaken. Ms Luo urges other landlords to remain vigilant and to conduct regular checks on their properties after renting them out to prevent similar situations from occurring. She also expressed her frustration that the original tenants seemingly profited by subletting the flat.

SINGAPORE: Singapore has granted conditional approval to Sun Cable to import 1.75 gigawatt (GW) of low-carbon electricity from Australia to Singapore. The imported electricity is expected to harness solar power from Australia's Northern Territory and will be transmitted via new subsea cables measuring about 4,200km, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on Tuesday (Oct 22). Sun Cable said its US$13.5 billion solar project in Australia, the Australia-Asia PowerLink, is set to be the "world’s largest solar farm and battery storage infrastructure". The amount of renewable energy imported represents about 15 per cent of Singapore’s total electricity needs, the company added. EMA said: "The conditional approval awarded to Sun Cable recognises that the project can be technically and commercially viable based on the proposal and information submitted thus far." This will provide the company with the support to continue to develop the project, which is expected to start after 2035. Sun Cable must update its proposal to meet EMA's conditions before the project can be considered for a conditional licence. These conditions include compliance with EMA's technical requirements and achieving a commercially viable price acceptable to customers. "Sun Cable will also need to secure all requisite approvals of relevant jurisdictions, including countries which the cables will pass through," said EMA. Speaking at the Asia Clean Energy Summit on Tuesday, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng called the proposal "an ambitious project", given the scale and the distance between Australia and Singapore. "Time will be needed to develop it, and we expect it to come online only after 2035," Dr Tan said. "But when completed, the project will be a meaningful complement to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Power Grid, and serve as an additional source of electricity for Singapore." The company said the cables will be laid through Indonesian waters. This is not the first time such a project has been mooted. Sun Cable had intended to begin construction on the undersea cables in 2024 and be fully operational by 2029, but the company fell into voluntary administration in January 2023. The firm had fallen short of funds, it announced then. Voluntary administration refers to a process where a company's directors appoint independent administrators to step in to find a path forward for the business, which is usually facing financial difficulties. Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said in February 2023 that the company's decision to enter voluntary administration did not affect Singapore financially as it had not made any commitment to the project. In May that year, the company's administrators said it had been rescued by part owner and Australian tech entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes. Interim CEO of Sun Cable International Mitesh Patel said: "Conditional approval is a vote of confidence from the Singapore government in Sun Cable and our role as a key partner to support the nation’s green transition." He added that Sun Cable is confident that it can meet the next stage of requirements for a conditional licence. "We firmly believe that high voltage long-distance subsea cables are critical to the global energy transition, connecting high-yield renewable energy areas like northern Australia to high-demand centres such as Singapore," he said. "We continue to work closely with the governments of Australia, Indonesia and Singapore on the project’s development and requisite approvals of relevant jurisdictions to support the Asia-Pacific's renewable energy goals." Across Australia, Singapore, and Indonesia, over US$170 million has been invested in the project to date. The Australian government said in August that it had given the go-ahead for the solar project. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said then that the project would help meet the growing demand for renewable energy at home and abroad. Low-carbon electricity imports are part of Singapore’s strategy to decarbonise the power sector, which currently accounts for about 40 per cent of the country's emissions. The country is looking to import about 6GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035. It has granted conditional licences for 2GW of electricity imports from Indonesia, as well as conditional approvals for 1.4GW from Indonesia, 1GW from Cambodia and 1.2GW from Vietnam. "If realised, these projects will collectively tap a diverse mix of solar energy, hydropower and wind power. They will also contribute to the realisation of the ASEAN Power Grid," said EMA. Singapore will also import a maximum of 200MW of renewable hydropower through a cross-border initiative called the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project. The authority said it would continue to explore all decarbonisation options for the power section, including hydrogen, solar, deep geothermal energy, nuclear energy, as well as carbon capture and storage technologies. Source: CNA/nh/mi

It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of zooplankton, crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic algae, returning to the depths at sunrise. The waste from this frenzy – Earth’s largest migration of creatures – sinks to the ocean floor, removing millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year. This activity is one of thousands of natural processes that regulate the Earth’s climate. Together, the planet’s oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb about half of all human emissions. But as the Earth heats up, scientists are increasingly concerned that those crucial processes are breaking down. In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon. There are warning signs at sea, too. Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic ice sheets are melting faster than expected, which is disrupting the Gulf Stream ocean current and slows the rate at which oceans absorb carbon. For the algae-eating zooplankton, melting sea ice is exposing them to more sunlight – a shift scientists say could keep them in the depths for longer, disrupting the vertical migration that stores carbon on the ocean floor. None of these models have factored in losses such as the wildfires in Canada last year that amounted to six months of US fossil emissions Andrew Watson, University of Exeter “We’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems. We’re seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity, but the oceans are also showing signs of instability,” Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told an event at New York Climate Week in September. “Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end,” he said. The 2023 breakdown of the land carbon sink could be temporary: without the pressures of drought or wildfires, land would return to absorbing carbon again. But it demonstrates the fragility of these ecosystems, with massive implications for the climate crisis. Reaching net zero is impossible without nature. In the absence of technology that can remove atmospheric carbon on a large scale, the Earth’s vast forests, grasslands, peat bogs and oceans are the only option for absorbing human carbon pollution, which reached a record 37.4bn tonnes in 2023. At least 118 countries are relying on the land to meet national climate targets. But rising temperatures, increased extreme weather and droughts are pushing the ecosystems into uncharted territory. The kind of rapid land sink collapse seen in 2023 has not been factored into most climate models. If it continues, it raises the prospect of rapid global heating beyond what those models have predicted. ‘We have been lulled – we cannot see the crisis’ For the past 12,000 years, the Earth’s climate has existed in a fragile equilibrium. Its stable weather patterns allowed the development of modern agriculture, which now supports a population of more than 8 billion people. As human emissions rose, the amount absorbed by nature increased too: higher carbon dioxide can mean plants grow faster, storing more carbon. But this balance is beginning to shift, driven by rising heat. “This stressed planet has been silently helping us and allowing us to shove our debt under the carpet thanks to biodiversity,” says Rockström. “We are lulled into a comfort zone – we cannot really see the crisis.” A tourist boat in the Republic of Congo’s Odzala-Kokoua national park. The Congo basin is the only tropical rainforest that consistently removes more CO2 than it releases. Photograph: G Guni/Getty Only one major tropical rainforest – the Congo basin – remains a strong carbon sink that removes more than it releases into the atmosphere. Exacerbated by El Niño weather patterns, deforestation and global heating, the Amazon basin is experiencing a record-breaking drought, with rivers at an all-time low. Expansion of agriculture has turned tropical rainforests in south-east Asia into a net source of emissions in recent years. Emissions from soil – which is the second-largest active carbon store after the oceans – are expected to increase by as much as 40% by the end of the century if they continue at the current rate, as soils become drier and microbes break them down faster. Tim Lenton, professor of climate change and Earth system science at Exeter University, says: “We are seeing in the biosphere some surprising responses that are not what got predicted, just as we are in the climate. “You have to question: to what degree can we rely on them as carbon sinks or carbon stores?” he says. A paper published in July found that while the total amount of carbon absorbed by forests between 1990 and 2019 was steady, it varied substantially by region. The boreal forests – home to about a third of all carbon found on land, which stretch across Russia, Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska – have seen a sharp fall in the amount of carbon they absorb, down more than a third due to climate crisis-related beetle outbreaks, fire and clearing for timber. Combined with the declining resilience of the Amazon and drought conditions in parts of the tropics, the hot conditions in the northern forests helped drive the collapse of the land sink in 2023 – causing a spike in the rate of atmospheric carbon. “In 2023 the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere is very high and this translates into a very, very low absorption by the terrestrial biosphere,” says Philippe Ciais, a researcher at the French Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences, who was an author of the most recent paper. “In the northern hemisphere, where you have more than half of CO2 uptake, we have seen a decline trend in absorption for eight years,” he says. “There is no good reason to believe it will bounce back.” The oceans – nature’s largest absorber of CO2 – have soaked up 90% of the warming from fossil fuels in recent decades, driving a rise in sea temperatures. Studies have also found signs that this is weakening the ocean carbon sink. ‘None of the models have factored this in’ The flow of carbon through the land and ocean remains one of the least understood parts of climate science, say researchers. While human emissions are increasingly simple to measure, the sheer number and complexity of processes in the natural world mean there are important gaps in our understanding. Satellite technology has improved monitoring of forests, peatlands, permafrost and ocean cycles, but assessments and forecasts in international reports often have large error margins. That makes it difficult to predict how the world’s natural carbon sinks will behave in future – and means many models do not factor in a sudden breakdown of multiple ecosystems. Firefighters battling the Tsah Creek wildfire in British Columbia. Last year’s wildfires in Canada released as much carbon as six months of US fossil-fuel emissions. Photograph: J Winter/Guardian “Overall, models agreed that both the land sink and the ocean sink are going to decrease in the future as a result of climate change. But there’s a question of how quickly that will happen. The models tend to show this happening rather slowly over the next 100 years or so,” says Prof Andrew Watson, head of Exeter University’s marine and atmospheric science group. “This might happen a lot quicker,” he says. “Climate scientists [are] worried about climate change not because of the things that are in the models but the knowledge that the models are missing certain things.” Many of the latest Earth systems models used by scientists include some of the effects of global heating on nature, factoring in impacts such as the dieback of the Amazon or slowing ocean currents. But events that have become major sources of emissions in recent years have not been incorporated, say scientists. “None of these models have factored in losses like extreme factors which have been observed, such as the wildfires in Canada last year that amounted to six months of US fossil emissions. Two years before, we wrote a paper that found that Siberia also lost the same amount of carbon,” says Ciais. A logged area near Inari. The disappearance of Finland’s land sink in recent years has cancelled out the gains from reducing industrial emissions by 43%. Photograph: J Hevonkoski/Guardian “Another process which is absent from the climate models is the basic fact that trees die from drought. This is observed and none of the models have drought-induced mortality in their representation of the land sink,” he says. “The fact that the models are lacking these factors probably makes them too optimistic.” ‘What happens if the natural sinks stop working?’ The consequences for climate targets are stark. Even a modest weakening of nature’s ability to absorb carbon would mean the world would have to make much deeper cuts to greenhouse gas emissions to achieve net zero. The weakening of land sinks – which has so far been regional – also has the effect of cancelling out nations’ progress on decarbonisation and progress towards climate goals, something that is proving a struggle for many countries. In Australia, huge soil carbon losses from extreme heat and drought in the vast interior – known as rangelands – are likely to push its climate target out of reach if emissions continue to rise, a study this year found. In Europe, France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Sweden have all experienced significant declines in the amount of carbon absorbed by land, driven by climate-related bark beetle outbreaks, drought and increased tree mortality. Finland, which has the most ambitious carbon neutrality target in the developed world, has seen its once huge land sink vanish in recent years – meaning that despite reducing its emissions across all industries by 43%, the country’s total emissions have stayed unchanged. So far, these changes are regional. Some countries, such as China and the US, are not yet experiencing such declines. “The issue of natural sinks has never really been thought about properly in political and government fields. It’s been assumed that natural sinks are always going to be with us. The truth is, we don’t really understand them and we don’t think they’re always going to be with us. What happens if the natural sinks, which they’ve previously relied on, stop working because the climate is changing?” says Watson. In recent years, several estimates have been published on how the world could increase the amount of carbon that its forests and natural ecosystems absorb. But many researchers say the real challenge is protecting the carbon sinks and stores we already have by halting deforestation, cutting emissions and ensuring they are as healthy as possible. “We shouldn’t rely on natural forests to do the job. We really, really have to tackle the big issue: fossil fuel emissions across all sectors,” says Prof Pierre Friedlingstein of Exeter University, who oversees the annual Global Carbon Budget calculations. “We can’t just assume that we have forests and the forest will remove some CO2, because it’s not going to work in the long term.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features This article was amended on 16 October 2024. The main image shows phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea, not the Barents Sea as an earlier version stated. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/nature-carbon-sink-collapse-global-heating-models-emissions-targets-evidence-aoe

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