London: It is a blueprint to save the world. And yet it is long, confusing and contradictory. Negotiators have released a draft version of a new global agreement on climate change, which is widely billed as the last chance to save the planet from the ravages of global warming.
Running to some 200 pages, the draft agreement is being discussed for the first time this week as officials from 190 countries gather in Bangkok for the latest round of UN talks... Read more...
�Gender is no distraction in climate change talks�
30 September 2009, source: Inter Press Service URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48634
Bangkok: As the countdown to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit draws to a close, gender and climate change advocates are doubling their efforts to make sure that 23 gender-related paragraphs in the negotiating text will make it to the new treaty that will be hammered out in December.At the ongoing 12-day Bangkok Climate Change Talks, which opened Monday and the latest round in a series of global discussions leading to the Copenhagen conference, the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) is keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings... Read more...
CCS technology can help SA reduce emissions - Minister
Johannesburg: "We cannot neglect any technology that will assist us to address the matters of energy security and climate change," said Energy Minister Dipuo Peters on Tuesday, as she officially opened the South African Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) conference.
Peters explained that although South Africa did not have binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation targets under the Kyoto Protocol, the country has a long-term mitigation scenario (LTMS), under which it committed to increase GHG emissions only until 2020, plateau those emissions until 2025, and then reduce emissions... Read more...
Climate change to cut crop yields, boost prices, study shows
Paris: Farmers in South Asia may reap only half of today’s wheat harvest in 40 years’ time as global temperatures rise and rain falls in different places, according to a study on climate change and agriculture.
Climate change may cut corn, wheat and rice yields across developing countries by 2050, boosting prices and causing hunger, according to a study by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI, financed by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank... Read more...
Climate change�an unavoidable calamity?
30 September 2009, source: ThisDay URL: http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=155781
Lagos: There is no doubt that climate change is the greatest and biggest challenge facing mankind today. Its impact has spread beyond the environment, causing serious dislocation in world economic and social development. In Africa and Nigeria in particular, climate change impact poses great danger of desertification, damage to infrastructure, sea-level rise, flooding and water salinity with serious implications to the well-being of the people... Read more...
Climate change to bring mixed fortunes for East African pastoralists
30 September 2009, source: Daily Monitor URL: http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/features/Climate_change_to_bring_mixed_fortunes_for_East_African_pastoralists_92104.shtml
Kampala: The anticipated climatic changes will present mixed fortunes for pastoralist communities in Uganda and her neighbours. This is according to an Oxfam briefing paper Survival of the Fittest which says that pastoralist communities across East Africa are starting to learn to live with the reality of climate change, adapting as they can to its impacts... Read more...
Walvis in climate change hot spot
30 September 2009, source: New Era URL: http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=7186
Windhoek: Walvis Bay municipality has been identified as one of the world’s local authorities to participate in three projects that will help with how to deal with the impact of climate change.The coastal town was identified after the Ministry of Environment and Tourism conducted an assessment of sea level rises, which showed that the municipality would be the most impacted upon in the advent of climate change... Read more...
Cassava 'should be the staple diet in Tanzania'
30 September 2009, source: The Citizen URL: http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=15438
Dar es Salaam: In the wake of global climate change that has led to food shortages around the world, Tanzanians have been advised to use cassava as staple food to ease food insecurity. The world is expected to experience food shortage due to the effects of climate change and the global financial crisis, forcing people suffer from hunger especially in development countries... Read more...
Congo Basin Heads of State and conservation groups celebrate 10 years
Washington DC: Leaders of the Congo Basin countries and conservation groups are pressing for more attention, funds and technical support to save the world's second largest rainforest and benefit its population during a Congo Basin Forest Forum and Congressional Hearing today. The leaders, including heads of state and ministers for natural resources, also agree that the 46 billion metric tons of carbon stored in the forests should be recognized as a valuable asset during global climate change talks in Copenhagen this December... Read more...
Nile River Basin states in appeal to countries
30 September 2009, source: Daily Nation URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909291057.html
Nairobi: Countries of the River Nile basin have appealed to Egypt and Sudan to co-operate in the formulation of an agreement which would allow equitable utilisation of water resources. Water minister Charity Ngilu said it was unfair for the two countries to maintain a status quo on the usage of the Nile water resources at the expense of other states... Read more...
Calls for massive financing kick off climate change talks
29 September 2009, source: Inter Press Service URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48622
Bangkok: The need for adequate financing to assist developing countries in meeting the challenges of climate change was highlighted on Monday’s opening of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Thailand’s capital.Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), called for new efforts to meet the challenge of finance at the opening of the Bangkok talks... Read more...
Africa urged to seek new energy
29 September 2009, source: Capital FM URL: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/Africa-urged-to-seek-new-energy-3111.html
Nairobi: African countries have been challenged to invest in new energy technology that will enable them to address their major environmental problems and thus spur development.United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Director General Dr Kandeh Yumkella argued on Monday that while the continent was not to blame for the onset of the climate change, it was grappling with the adverse effects caused by environmental degradation thus the need to develop green and cleaner energy... Read more...
Is 350 the new 450 when it comes to capping carbon emissions?
New York: When it comes to fighting climate change, pick a number -- any number. Nearly 200 countries have signed a U.N. treaty pledging to avoid "dangerous" climate change. But lately, it seems, "dangerous" is lost in translation. Fifteen years since that agreement took effect, scientists and governments are still grappling with what carrying out its promise means... Read more...
More investment in renewable energy needed
29 September 2009, source: Namibia Economist URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909250382.html
Windhoek: Namibia joined the rest of the world in creating awareness of climate change in celebration of Climate Week [last] week. Scientists call the country "vulnerable" due to its arid environment. Two successive years of flooding are seen as the effects of climate change.
According to Teofilus Nghitila, director of Environmental Affairs at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the country has been severely affected by climate change and is experiencing a decline in water resources, land degradation or desertification and floods... Read more...
Risky business: insuring countries against climate catastrophe
Hong Kong: The last fifty years have borne witness to a spate of climate related disasters across the world causing over 800,000 fatalities and $1 trillion in economic loss. More frequent wildfires have been blamed on rapidly changing weather caused by climate change. Those stark facts come from the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Working Group, a group of NGOs and corporations that has produced a report warning that if countries do not take active steps to build resilience to climate change soon, they are likely to suffer even larger economic losses in the coming decades... Read more...
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