Characterising Palaeoenvironmental Changes to Mitigate Climate Change

PALAEOCLIMOZ project – Permian-Triassic palaeoclimatic cycles of the Karoo Supergroup in Mozambique, and its implications on a changing world aims to better understand the natural response of terrestrial ecosystems to abrupt environmental and climate changes that took place before humans existed.

Parcerias para a Implementação dos ObjetivosTrabalho digno e crescimento económicoAção Climática

 

Coordinated by Paulo Fernandes, a researcher at the University of Algarve’s Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), the PALAEOCLIMOZ project – Permian-Triassic palaeoclimatic cycles of the Karoo Supergroup in Mozambique, and its implications on a changing world is funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology. It aims to better understand the natural response of terrestrial ecosystems to abrupt environmental and climate changes that took place before humans existed, based on the application of several methodologies, including the study of fossilised plant spores and pollens.

As the researcher explains, “The geological record provides an exceptional archive with which to study climate and environmental changes over time.” As for Mozambique, he says that, “When it was part of the Gondwana supercontinent, a sedimentary and volcanic succession was deposited between 290 and 200 million years ago.” “These rocks”, he explains, “contain evidence of one of the most important periods in Earth’s history, the Permian, which is marked by several dramatic changes that profoundly affected global biodiversity; among these are the largest known mass extinction events in geological history, the extinction of the Permian-Triassic boundary (~ 251 Ma).”

At a time when large-scale deforestation poses a threat to today’s global ecosystems, this project is of particular importance because, by characterising the palaeoenvironmental changes that have taken place in the past, it provides important information that could be used to improve mitigation strategies, minimising the impact of current and future climate and environmental change.

As the researcher explains, “The collaborations developed with companies in Mozambique, as well as with stakeholders within the Eduardo Mondlane University and Geological Services contribute to increasing geological knowledge in Mozambique, providing basic, geological information that is necessary for the country’s sustainable development. This is, therefore, a good example of an action plan that contributes to the sustainable development of the planet and scientific cooperation.”

PALEOCLIMOZ contributes to three of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030s: Goal 13, “Climate Action”; Goal 8, “Decent work and economic growth”; and Goal 17, “Partnerships for the Goals”.

 

Paulo Fernandes

Paulo Fernandes has a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology, a PhD in Geology, Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Basin Analysis and is a researcher at the Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA) of the University of Algarve.