Countries across the world are currently experiencing extreme weather and droughts. The largest freshwater lake in China is at its lowest water levels for years thanks to a drought, according to state officials and media. The shrinking lake does not bode well for fishermen who rely on it for their livelihoods and for the local ecology.

The Xinhua news agency stated that Poyang Lake, located in East China’s Jiangxi province, is shrinking quickly and has experienced over a decade-long dry spell. This is due to the Gan River, which is connected to the lake, not receiving enough rain and causing the water levels to hit record lows. “This year’s level is very low,” an anonymous official declared, affirming that the rainfall for the area was 65 percent less than average for December.

Texas is also experiencing its worst drought on record. The year 2011 was the driest ever for the state, says the National Weather Service, and it was the second hottest. Meteorologists do not believe this will improve for the year 2012 and the result will be further restrictions on water and the death of millions of trees. Lake Lavon has shrunk by 12 feet due to North Texas’ lack of rain and record-setting heat. “It is a challenging time, especially to bring awareness to our consumers and businesses how critical our drought has impacted our reservoirs,” stated Denise Hickey, spokesperson for the North Texas Municipal Water District. “As we’re planning to move through this drought period, we’re also planning and initiating additional strategies to bring additional sources online.” The Texas Forest Service believes that so far, the severe drought has killed 500 million trees.

In Latin America, nations have also been dealing with a plethora of problems stemming from the extreme weather, including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Many have wondered if climate change and global warming are responsible for the unusual weather and according to experts, this is most likely the case. Chile experienced an uncharacteristic heat wave, which resulted in rampant burning wildfires, while Northern Mexico has been dealing with its worst drought in 70 years.

On the other hand, Colombia has had two seasons of heavy rain, which has killed 182 people and resulted in about $2 billion in damage. A rose farm in a Colombian town named Chia sustained an estimated $6 million dollars in damages from the April and December floods. Javier Castellanos, the rose farm manager, stated, “Never in the history of this farm- and it’s a business with 30 years in the market- have we ever had any such problem.” Researchers assert that Latin America is at more risk to the extreme weather changes worsening in the future than any other region in the world because of deforestation and its sprawling construction. These elements cause it to be more vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

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Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a statute titled the National Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, known as RAN-GRK, or Presidential Decree No.61/2011, on September 20, the Indonesian government announced on September 26.

The plan, which Yudhoyono had announced two years ago, details how major national agencies, such as the Ministry of Forestry, would curb emissions. It calls for a reduction of greenhouse gases by almost 30 percent, approximately 627 million tons of carbon dioxide, by 2020. If rich countries provide aid, financial or otherwise, to the country, the Indonesian government said it could reduce almost one billion tons of emissions.

A major focus in the decree is forestry, but it also focuses on energy, agriculture, and industry. Dipo Alam, the Indonesian cabinet secretary, said the plan was an attempt to follow Bali’s action plan, and echoed the plan to reduce emissions between 26 percent, or up to 41 percent with international aid.

The announcement came one day before Forests Indonesia, held on September 27 in Jakarta and organized by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). At the conference, Yudhoyono pointed out the benefits and disadvantages of forestry as an industry which the country relied on.

“I call upon our business leaders, particularly those in the palm oil, pulp wood, and mining sectors to partner with us by enhancing the environmental sustainability of their operations,” he said.

Indonesia is the third largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the world, behind the United States and China. Indonesia currently accounts for almost 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse emissions, and almost 80 percent of that comes from deforestation in the form of burning and clearing.

Deforestation constitutes about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and Indonesia accounts for more than half of that total. Rainforests contain high amounts of carbon dioxide because of the process of photosynthesis in plants which remains under the cover of trees and other vegetation until it is released  during deforestation.

Peat bogs are drained for palm oil and timber. To access peatlands, which are also rich in carbon dioxide, developers first dig a canal in the swamps to drain them. When peat is released into the air, it oxidizes rapidly, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When the swamps are dry enough, timber is removed, and then other vegetation is burned.

The burning then releases more carbon dioxide into the air. In a 2007 World Bank Group report regarding climate change and Indonesia, it was said that underlying problems were the real reasons why Indonesia was having such serious problems in the forestry sector.

The issues related to institutional practices, government regulations, and economics limited the ways forests in Indonesia could be managed in a sustainable way.

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A new study has recently added environmental destruction to the list of problems associated with cocaine and the drug industry. The research concludes that the cultivation of the coca plant has led to the rise of deforestation in Colombia – home to one of the world’s richest biodiversity hot spots. Additionally, the process of converting coca into cocaine has been proven to have an equally adverse effect on the environment. Most people are aware of the social impact of drug trade worldwide but few realize the environmental side effects related to the process. For Colombia, which has cultivated the coca plant for over 4.000 years as part of their culture, the result of increasing global demand between 1987 and 2000 meant that national coca production exploded to a worrying 74% of the world’s total production.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, highlighted that only a part of the demonstrated deforestation was directly related to the cultivation of coca bushes. What happens is, remote areas attract the coca growers who then create an economic hub, generating lots of associated agricultural activities. Ecologist an co-author of the study, Liliana M. Davalos, explained to National Geographic News “In southern Colombia we found geographically that there is just more probability of losing the forest close to [coca cultivation], [...] And the more coca around you, the more forest you’re likely to lose – the sheer amount of coca in the vicinity has an effect.”

The findings shed a light on the increasing need for legal protection of Colombian forests which is home to many animal species – including harpy eagles, tapirs, golden poison frogs, and spectacled bears – that are at risk of extinction. A case study on Colombian drug trade from 2009 singles out destruction of habitat, soil erosion and the pollution of both air and water as the major environmental problems stemming from coca production. Due to the illegality of coca growth, the farmers place their fields on hillsides to hide their activities but rarely employ soil conservation techniques. The farmers rarely expect to cultivate the area long-term as a consequence of the governments active eradication campaign, but when they have cleared the land, wind and rain strips off the topsoil – leaving the ground infertile to both farmers and the original plant life.

Pollution is also a factor as the farmers use pesticides and heavy fertilizers to grow the coca. The chemicals travel through the soil and contaminates ground water which eventually leads to the rivers and streams, where fish and other aquatic life is smothered. Eventually, the local population is affected when their water supply gets tainted and their fishing destroyed.

The good news is that the new study suggests the total amount of land used for coca production is declining which may correspond with a decrease in demand in the US. The bad news is that farmers are increasingly clearing new plots for cultivation which keeps deforestation itself on the rise. Davalos and her colleagues told National Geographic that their research made one thing clear: “There’s a long chain here connecting everything, and it goes from consumption all the way back to the forest.”

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