Questões de Concurso Para cespe / cebraspe e ibama

   The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published a new indicator that tracks findings of pesticides in Europe’s rivers, lakes and groundwaters. The data, collected from EEA member countries across Europe, shows the share of water bodies where excessive levels of pesticides have been recorded from 2013 to 2019. 

  The new EEA indicator shows that levels of pesticides exceeding thresholds were measured in a quarter of all reported monitoring sites in European surface waters in 2019. From 2013 to 2019, this share varied between 13% and 30%. The share for groundwater with exceedances was considerably lower, at between 3% and 7%.  

   In the EU, pesticides are regulated on the basis of high protection goals for human health and the environment, with being authorised only after a comprehensive scientific risk assessment. Nevertheless, pesticide contamination of surface waters and groundwater can still occur and could affect aquatic fauna and flora.  

    There’s growing evidence that people and the planet are increasingly impacted by extreme events. According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, published in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, “more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities.”

      As the impacts of extreme events continue to mount, interest has grown in the scientific community to study whether specific extreme events can be partially attributed to human activities. With the help of climate models, scientists have conducted an impressive array of studies, looking for possible links between human activities and extreme events such as heat waves, rainfall and flooding events, droughts, storms, and wildfires. Increasingly, they’re able to draw robust connections.

Internet: <climate.nasa.gov> (adapted).