Outcomes and disappointments, as well as encouraging signs from the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 20) and the Peoples Summit held late last year in Lima, Peru, were discussed at length by representatives of faith communities in a panel hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC)... Read more...
UN climate talks spilled into an extra day Saturday as negotiators battled in Lima to end a standoff between rich and developing nations on the underpinnings of a world carbon-cutting pact.
A years-old dispute over sharing responsibility for curbing greenhouse gases reemerged to drive the 12-day negotiations into a familiar end-phase of poker-like holdout, clouding prospects for the ambitious environmental accord... Read more...
Countries should not use 'burden-sharing' to determine cuts in greenhouse gas emissions
By Fidelis Zvomuya
A new report published today by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science says negotiations about a new international climate change agreement are focusing too much on trying to share the burden of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions... Read more...
Health leaders call for concerted action on climate change at Lima Climate and Health Summit
By Fidelis Zvomuya in Lima, Peru
Climate disruption can compromise health security through extreme weather events and infectious disease outbreaks, the third annual Climate and Health Summit heard.
Addressing the summit held over the weekend in Lima, Peru, in parallel with the 20th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 20), Genon Jensen, Executive Director at the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) said there is need for an urgent need to advance a more concrete and systematic approach to implementing health protection, led by the health community, in coordination with others... Read more...
Adaptation, a cooling consensus ahead of Paris 2015
By Fidelis Zvomuya in Lima Peru
In an effort to make sure adaptation is implemented within the southern African region, the Food Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) commissioned three studies reviewing climate change impacts on agricultural, health and urban sectors... Read more...
What Needs To Happen To Make Lima A Successful Climate Conference
LIMA, PERU — As the negotiations near an end in the latest round of climate talks, parties will begin to soften their hard lines to come to an agreement. There are many building blocks in the foundation of the sweeping new climate agreement to be struck next December in Paris, and a number of debates still require settling before representatives from 190 countries head home from Lima, where they’ve been gathered since the beginning of the month... Read more...
Central Lima shut down by march for climate justice
Over 20,000 people flooded central Lima calling for “Climate Justice Now!” in the largest demonstration the city has seen since 2010.
Local trade unions, women’s groups and student associations were joined by campesino and indigenous peoples’ from across Peru to highlight the devastating impact that climate change is already having on food and water in the country... Read more...
SABMiller Makes the Case for Confronting Water Scarcity at Lima Climate Conference
Latin America is relatively water rich compared to other regions in the world. But there are still plenty of areas in Central and South America feeling the effects of climate change, generally because the precipitation is occurring where there is low population density. For example, Lima, the host of this week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference and home to 8... Read more...
The Ocean Now Has At Least 700 Pieces Of Plastic Per Person On Earth
A study published on Wednesday estimates that the ocean contains over 260,000 tons, or 5.25 trillion pieces, of plastic. The study found that the amount of microplastics, pieces of plastic that are less than half a centimeter, found on the ocean’s surface were much smaller than expected.
The study was conducted by Marcus Eriksen of the Five Gyres Institute, which works to reduce plastic pollution... Read more...
3 things business would love to see from governments at COP20
The 20th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) met in Lima to address how governments will deal with climate change together.
Last week, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) previewed the UN climate change negotiations in a blog outlining the top three issues BSR would be tracking during the two-week session... Read more...
Winners of United Nations Climate Change Awards Honoured in Lima
Lima, Peru – Delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, were treated to an evening of hope and optimism as the winners of the 2014 Momentum for Change Awards were feted tonight at a gala event.
“These ‘Lighthouse Activities’ are a beacon of hope for the world,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon... Read more...
2012 Agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions data released
FAO is the first to detail the most-recent contribution of food production, deforestation, and land use change to global warming
Rome – Greenhouse gas emission estimates for the year 2012 are being released today for the first time for the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector, helping to understand current trends, drivers, while gauging the state of current emissions against previously published business-as-usual targets... Read more...
The climate talks find an enemy at COP20: The fossil fuel industry
The UN Climate Talks in Paris next December are shaping up be high noon for the fossil fuel industry.
Over the last week, negotiators here in Lima have been working on the draft of a new climate agreement that world leaders hope to ratify in Paris. Up for debate is everything from forest management to climate finance... Read more...
When COPs converge: The biodiversity and climate link
Biodiversity and climate are intertwined in the physical realm though separate in the policy world. But during the ongoing climate COP in Lima, a diverse group of scientists and policymakers presented a declaration assessing current knowledge on connections between biodiversity vulnerabilities and climate change with the objective of increased integrated activity on the inter-linked issues... Read more...
New Report Highlights Pathway to Bridge the Equity Divide in UN Climate Talks
The longstanding divide in UN climate talks over fairness can be bridged by focusing on climate action that strengthens the capabilities of the least well-off and most vulnerable people, according to a new report released today by the World Resources Institute.
The report, Building Climate Equity, draws on 30 real-world examples from developing and developed countries that demonstrate how this “capabilities approach” can achieve ambitious low-carbon and adaptation goals while simultaneously enhancing access to decent livelihoods, healthy food, quality housing, physical safety and other capabilities for individuals, communities and nations... Read more...
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