Global warming

Helheim Glacier, Aug 20 (AP/UNB) — This is where Earth’s refrigerator door is left open, where glaciers dwindle and seas begin to rise. New York University air and ocean scientist David Holland, who is tracking what’s happening in Greenland from both above and below, calls it “the end of the planet.” He is referring to geography more than the future. ... Read More »

9 August 2019, Climate Change More than 500 million people today live in areas affected by erosion linked to climate change, the UN warned on Thursday, before urging all countries to commit to sustainable land use to help limit greenhouse gas emissions before it is too late. Read More »

1 August 2019, Climate Change Global warming and rising political tensions are dangerous and avoidable, Secretary-General António Gutierres told reports on Thursday, previewing the UN’s upcoming Climate Action Summit, and spotlighting geopolitical hotspots. Read More »

Dhaka, July 27 (UNB) – The United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition have announced the “Clean Air Initiative”, calling upon governments at all levels to join the initiative. They made the call ahead of the upcoming 2019 Climate Action Summit to be held in New York on September ... Read More »

Paris, July 26 (AP/UNB) — Even ice cream, Italian gelato or Popsicles couldn’t help this time. Temperature records that had stood for decades or even just hours fell minute by minute Thursday afternoon and Europeans and tourists alike jumped into fountains, lakes, rivers or the sea to escape a suffocating heat wave rising up from the Sahara. On a day ... Read More »

Paris, Jul 21 (AP/UNB) — Swedish teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg has received the first Freedom Prize awarded by France’s Normandy region, which last month commemorated the 75th D-Day anniversary. Thunberg, 16, received the award in Caen on Sunday, posing alongside D-Day veterans Charles Norman Shay and Léon Gautier. Thunberg said that “I think the least we can do ... Read More »

Washington, Jul 2 (AP/UNB) — The amount of ice circling Antarctica is suddenly plunging from a record high to record lows, baffling scientists. Floating ice off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014. But three years later, the annual average extent of Antarctic sea ice hit its lowest mark, wiping out three-and-a-half decades ... Read More »

By Friday Phiri Jun 29, 2019 (IPS) – The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) was held in Bonn, Germany to rally behind a new approach to achieving a future that is more inclusive and sustainable than the present – through the establishment of secure and proper rights for all. On Jun. 22 and 23, experts, political leaders, NGOs and indigenous peoples ... Read More »

Leaders have agreed on a climate deal similar to the one struck in Argentina in 2018. The US has again refused to commit to tackling climate change. World leaders attending the 2019 G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka on Saturday agreed to a climate change deal similar to that signed in Argentina last year. Speaking at the conclusion ... Read More »

By Christiana Figueres Brussels – In early 2015, the European Union became the first major economy to set a post-2020 target for limiting greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. By committing to reducing emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, the EU initiated a global movement that culminated in the adoption of the Paris climate agreement later that year. This ... Read More »

By Bertrand Badré Washington, DC – In 2015, the international community launched a renewed effort to tackle collective global challenges under the auspices of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). But after an initial flurry of interest, the progress that has been made toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and tackling climate ... Read More »

By Mark Paul and Connor Rupp Sarasota – US President Donald Trump’s anti-climate agenda is in full swing. His administration has already taken action 117 times to repeal or weaken climate regulations, and much more deregulation is in the works. By unraveling environmental protections on an unprecedented scale, including through executive orders, Trump is using every tool at his disposal ... Read More »

By Frank Bainimarama SUVA, Fiji, Jun 27, 2019 (IPS) — Are the most climate-vulnerable nations of the world right to demand that developed and major economies commit to carbon neutrality by 2050? Should the poorest nations of the world insist that the “haves” put their significant economic and political resources behind aggressive efforts to combat climate change? Do we have ... Read More »

Dhaka, June 28 – New York City officials declared a climate emergency in an effort to mobilize local and national responses to stall global warming, reports CNN. It’s the largest city in the US, with over 8.62 million inhabitants. The New York City Council passed the legislation Wednesday, calling for an immediate response to the global climate crises. The bill ... Read More »

By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 18 2019 (IPS) – Businesses are being encouraged to follow the lead of the youth to halt desertification, reduce degradation, improve agricultural sustainability and restore damaged lands. “The youth is a very particular case. The youth give me a lot of hope because I see their passion, and I see their vision,” head of the ... Read More »

By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 17 2019 (IPS) – The coming decades will be crucial in shaping and implementing a transformative land agenda, according to a scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). UNCCD-Science Policy Interface co-chair Dr. Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, who spoke with IPS ahead of the start of activities to ... Read More »

By Nils Røkke Trontheim, Norway, Jun 11 (IPS) – Never before has half a degree (0.5C) meant so much for humanity. We are behaving as if we have time to deal with climate change. We don’t. The main problem is that we believe we must sacrifice growth and prosperity for the sake of decarbonisation. We don’t. Increase investments We can ... Read More »

By Wambi Michael Kasese, Uganda, Jun 12 2019 (IPS) – As climate change leads to increased temperatures in East Africa, a thicket of invasive thorny trees with the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions have begun threatening Uganda’s second-largest park, home to a rare breed of tree climbing lions and one of the highest concentrations of primates in the world. ... Read More »

Washington, June 11 (AP/UNB) — The world’s oceans will likely lose about one-sixth of their fish and other marine life by the end of the century if climate change continues on its current path, a new study says. Every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that the world’s oceans warm, the total mass of sea animals is projected to drop by ... Read More »

by Jan Erik Saugestad OSLO – Following the abdication of Emperor Akihito, Japan announced that its new imperial era would be called Reiwa (“beautiful harmony”). But if the Reiwa era is to live up to its name, Japan’s government must follow the lead of the country’s energy investors and utilities, and begin to exit coal and move into renewables. The ... Read More »

Dhaka, June 5 – State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has asked for climate justice that needs to be established and demanded compensation and adequate financial and other assistance for adaptation measures. He called for more concrete global coordination and insisted that the developed countries and the countries responsible for producing huge amount of greenhouse gases must triple ... Read More »

by Alaa Murabit, Luca Bücken New York – In the years leading up to Syria’s civil war, the country endured three consecutive record-breaking droughts. By forcing internal displacement, the droughts arguably contributed to the social tensions that erupted in popular protests in 2011. But that does not mean that the Syrian conflict is a “climate war.” As extreme weather events ... Read More »

Naogaon, May 26 – The phrase ‘drought-prone region’ to describe a cluster of districts in Bangladesh’s north sounds almost benign, and hardly captures the perpetual hardships of people engaged in a daily battle for water, the other name of life. The paucity of water also makes it extremely difficult for farming or any form of agriculture to thrive in the ... Read More »

By Siddharth Chatterjee Nairobi, Kenya, May 2019 (IPS) – There is barely a corner of human life that will not be affected by climate change, and some of its impacts are already being felt. Consider this, 821 million people are now hungry and over 150 million children stunted, putting the hunger eradication goal, SDG 2, at risk. Today 15 May, ... Read More »

Mayors and Governors of U20 cities, including Tokyo, Berlin, Jakarta, Rome and Osaka will present the Urban 20 Communiqué to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of G20 Summit in Japan U20 urges G20 leaders to ensure greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2020, reduce substantially by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Tokyo, Japan (22 May 2019) — Mayors from ... Read More »

by Tanmoy Bhaduri The Bonda people, living in hilltop villages on the Kondakamberu mountain range in Odisha, are one of the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the state. • Rising temperatures and deforestation, along with poor development and insurgency by radical groups, have impacted the traditional practices and lifestyle of the Bonda tribal community. • Community members are ... Read More »

Concluding a week-long visit to the South Pacific, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the world’s decision-makers to make “enlightened” choices on climate action because “the whole planet” is at stake. “Over the past week, I have witnessed first-hand the impacts of climate change in the Pacific Island States”, the UN chief said in a statement concluding his visit ... Read More »

Tuvalu “faces an existential threat from sea-level rise”, the United Nations chief said during his visit to the Pacific island nation on Friday whose highest point is less than five metres above the waves. “We must stop Tuvalu from sinking and the world from sinking with Tuvalu”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a tweet posted during his on-going trip to ... Read More »

Dhaka, Bangladesh, May 17(UNB/IPS) – Kaptai Lake, the biggest manmade lake in Bangladesh, is heading for a tragic end as sediments fill up its bottom and waste materials continue to pollute it every day. The 688-square-kilometre lake, created by damming the Karnafuli River in Rangamati for hydroelectricity in 1960, has been providing livelihood for a large portion of the local ... Read More »

Visiting Fiji for the first time as Secretary-General, António Guterres outlined two “fundamental challenges” facing leaders attending the Pacific Islands Forum on Tuesday, namely climate change and the world’s rising ocean, which threatens to submerge low-lying nations. “The Pacific region is on the frontline of climate change”, he said. “That means you are also our important allies in the fight ... Read More »