Mitigation

Dhaka, Jan 20 – The surface urban heat island (SUHI) in the urban core of Dhaka is 3.4 degrees Celsius higher than rural locations, posing various threats to the city dwellers, according to a study. Read More »

Dhaka, Nov 26 – After Sumi Akhter, another Bangladeshi female worker, Hosna Akhter, has been rescued in Saudi Arabia after a video sent to her husband describing physical and mental torture inflicted on her by her employer has gone viral. Read More »

By Ralph Chami, Sena Oztosun, Thomas Cosimano, and Connel Fullenkamp Scientific research now indicates more clearly than ever that our carbon footprint—the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming through the so-called greenhouse effect—now threatens our ecosystems and our way of life. But efforts to mitigate climate change face two significant challenges. Read More »

About 160 Bangladeshi workers, sent back home from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night amid a crackdown on undocumented workers, said they had been forced to return despite having valid documents. Read More »

by Karin Nansen Montevideo – In a recent special report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) argues that addressing climate change will require fundamental changes to the way we manage forests and farmland. The data are new, but the underlying conclusion isn’t: for over a decade, scientists, environmentalists, and civil society organizations have been warning that our prevailing – ... Read More »

Tokyo (Japan), Sept 7 (UNB) – The international community needs to focus more on repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State instead of focusing only on their food, shelter and healthcare issues, says a Japanese South Asian affairs expert. “We’ve to work on how to bring them (Rohingyas) back to their original country (Myanma),” Ryohei Kasai, ... Read More »

7 September 2019 Climate Change The urgent need to move towards a low carbon economy and build resilience, would not only mitigate the worst impacts of climate change in the Asia-Pacific, but also lift the region economically, according to the body overseeing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Read More »

Equipped with powerful magnets, history enthusiasts and environmentalists scour France’s rivers, pulling out bits of scrap metal, bikes, scooters and the odd kitchen appliance. Sometimes, too, they fish other more unexpected objects out of the water, such as unexploded munitions. Magnet fishing has fast become a popular pastime, according to public safety officials, but French authorities have clamped down over ... Read More »

by Silvia Ribeiro Mexico City – Although the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, the progress toward reducing greenhouse-gas emissions remains as disappointing as ever, leading some to tout new technological solutions that could supposedly save the day. Harvard University’s David Keith, for example, would have us consider geoengineering – that is, deliberate, large-scale, and highly risky interventions ... Read More »

Dhaka, July 24 (UNB) – Around 145.1 acres of land were reclaimed along the rivers surrounding Dhaka through demolishing 5,239 illegal establishments from January to June this year. Besides, Tk 8.64 crore was realised through auction and Tk 27 lakh more as fine during the period. The information was revealed at a meeting of the task force formed by the ... 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 Johan Rockström Potsdam –The leaders of the G20 countries head to Osaka this week for their annual summit. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will address them before traveling to Abu Dhabi to finalize the arrangements for September’s UN Climate Action Summit. These meetings should set the world on course for the fastest economic transition in history. Yet both are ... Read More »

Lisbon, June 23 – Older generations have “failed to respond properly” to the climate emergency said the UN chief on Sunday, while the young are “stepping up to the challenge” and taking the lead to slow the destructive pace of global warming. António Guterres was making the closing address at the UN-backed World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, and ... Read More »

by Mike Eman Oranjestad – To live in a small island state today is to reckon regularly with the cruellest irony of climate change. Islands contribute little to global warming, but they are the first to suffer from its devastating effects and the least equipped to manage them. As carbon dioxide emissions from larger, wealthier industrialized countries continue to warm ... Read More »

It was once a shoreline buried by enough trash to render it invisible, warranting the unfortunate nickname “toilet bowl”. Now the Philippines’ Manila Bay beach is unrecognisably clean compared with a few months ago, a transformation so sudden and extreme that it brought tears to the eyes of residents. The clean up started on 27 January, when 5,000 volunteers descended on ... 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 »

In April 2018, the FAO hosted the Second International Symposium on Agroecology, following the first in 2014. With the main objective of moving from dialogue to action, the Symposium brought together different stakeholders and catalyzed inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. The proceedings were released in March 2019. Among the Symposium’s outcomes were the launching of the Scaling up Agroecology Initiative, the ... Read More »

Dhaka, EUDEL Press Office: EU Special Representative (EUSR) for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore visited Bangladesh on 10-11 June 2019. This visit, the first ever of a EUSR for Human Rights to Bangladesh, reflects the EU’s commitment to engaging with the Government of Bangladesh, and civil society. “Bangladesh is an important country for the European Union in the region. I have ... 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 »

Khulna, June 7 (UNB) – There is a reserve of 5.6 crore tonnes of carbon in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, says a survey of the Forest Department. This carbon worth Tk 18,816 crore could be extracted without causing any harm to the world’s largest mangrove forest, experts said calling for taking steps to collect the substance. According to ... Read More »

By Matilde Mordt QUITO, Ecuador, Jun 5 2019 (IPS) – As the UN commemorates World Environment Day, UNDP would like to take this opportunity to commend Ecuador’s efforts to address climate change and its commitment to raising its climate ambition. Ecuador is at the forefront of delivering climate action, and in the frontlines of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) design. It ... Read More »

By Mahamadou Tounkara Jun 5 2019 – (GGGI) – Air pollution has become the number one environmental problem affecting people’s health, impacting 300 million children worldwide and contributing to the premature death of 600 thousand children every year. Indoor air pollution from cooking on an open fire using firewood or charcoal is a major problem in many developing countries. In ... 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 »

With a share of 10–12% in carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq.), agriculture contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Considering indirect emissions from agriculture-related activities such as fertiliser production and land use change, this share can be up to 30%. In 2005, the agricultural sector contributed 56% to the emissions of the anthropogenic non-CO2 GHGs, i.e. nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane ... Read More »

The food people eat around the world is becoming “alarmingly homogenous” according to UN data, even though access to a wide variety of nutritious food has never been greater. That warning comes as the world marks the International Day for Biological Diversity on Wednesday, which this year highlights the impact of environmental neglect on food security and public health. Biodiversity ... Read More »

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres saw the frontline of “the battle against climate change” for himself on Thursday, by taking to the tropical waters of the South Pacific off the coast of Fiji, on a solar-powered boat. Mr. Guterres was greeted on board the Uto ni Yalo, a traditional emission-free ship built as part of a naval fleet that combines ... Read More »

By Ma Jun and Simon Zadek Beijing – Discussions about climate action nowadays often focus on the largest past and current emitters. But, if one looks to the future, the biggest climate risks and opportunities lie in the more than 60 countries that have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The BRI, which China launched in 2013, is ... Read More »

By Connie Hedegaard Brussels – Since the massive mobilization effort that preceded the 2009 Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen, the world has begun translating words and intentions into real action on climate change. European leadership – from government, civil society, and business – has played a pivotal role in driving progress. Given how much remains to be done, ... Read More »

By Mark Paul and Anthony Underwood Anthony Underwood Sarasota – Climate change is the world’s most urgent problem, and in the United States, the left, at least, is taking it seriously. Earlier this year, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, introduced a Green New Deal (GND) resolution, which offers a blueprint for ... 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 »