Global News Post: Climate Change

El Niño Returns

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By
Steve Baragona<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtiDl82gj96nv72qr06qn40TstHV4mYwH2cWV1QDvf4p8wDPLeEkfh_RD7i5tZwajwCDurlqf9NCyg-P9FrCr8SV-6kGPOTFbs74LgLZydOzCL_fLoc2sLVRDudj2wFrGvSJIQ8li2iE/s1600/B193FE17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtiDl82gj96nv72qr06qn40TstHV4mYwH2cWV1QDvf4p8wDPLeEkfh_RD7i5tZwajwCDurlqf9NCyg-P9FrCr8SV-6kGPOTFbs74LgLZydOzCL_fLoc2sLVRDudj2wFrGvSJIQ8li2iE/s1600/B193FE17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 143.25pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Warm spots are beginning to appear<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 143.25pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">on the surface of the tropical Pacific<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 143.25pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ocean near South America. More warm<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 143.25pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">water below the surface suggests El Niño<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 143.25pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">is probably on the way. Photo © VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
climate phenomenon known as El Niño looks to be on its way back, forecasters
say, raising the odds of droughts in some places and floods in others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There
are early signs that this could develop into the biggest one on record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But
experts say they cannot know for sure yet, and local impacts are even harder to
predict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Global impacts<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">El
Niño occurs every few years, when tropical waters off the Pacific coast of
South America turn warmer than normal. Warm air rises off those waters and
changes the path of the major wind currents that blow around the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It
can weaken monsoons in South and Southeast Asia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Rainy seasons in southern Africa can turn
dry. Meanwhile, east Africa and South America can get soaked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
latest official forecasts give about two-thirds odds that El Niño will develop
by the end of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Under the surface<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But
what has really attracted attention is the huge body of warm water building up
below the surface of the tropical Pacific.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Meteorologists
say there is more energy stored up underwater now than at this point in 1997,
just before the strongest El Niño on record developed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
1997-98 El Niño led to catastrophic floods in Peru, forest fires in Indonesia
and Malaysia and record-high global temperatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">If
those warm waters in the eastern Pacific make their way to the surface and stay
there, it could mean a major El Niño event, weather havoc worldwide and
possibly new high-temperature records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No guarantee<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">However,
“just having a lot of warm water below the surface now is not enough to
guarantee that we’re going to have a strong El Niño,” notes Tony Barnston,
chief forecaster Tony Barnston at Columbia University’s International Research
Institute for Climate and Society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
warm water could dissipate. It could come to the surface but not linger.
Barnston says El Niño is notoriously difficult to predict at this time of year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Plus,
the atmosphere has been in a cooler cycle for the past several years, which
many say does not favor a strong El Niño.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And,
finally, a note of caution from Gary Eilerts,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
</span>who manages the Famine Early Warning System Network for the U.S. Agency
for International Development. Eilerts was in Africa for the 1997-98 El Niño.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We
said this is going to be a big one,” he said. “This could be the mother of all
impacts on food insecurity in southern Africa.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The
rains came late, but when they came, “we had almost a normal season,” Eilerts
added. “And that was in the face of the largest El Niño ever recorded.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Future predictions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Forecasters
should have a better picture of what El Niño has in store by August.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">What
the more distant future holds in a changing climate is even less clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“El
Niño goes back hundreds of thousands of years, so clearly, El Niño is not
related to climate change,” said Mike Halpert, head of the Climate Prediction
Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Now, the
question is, does climate change have an impact? And that’s still an open
question.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ---VOA News </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

El Niño Returns

By Steve Baragona Warm spots are beginning to appear on the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean near South America. More warm...

New Evidence Links Mayan Collapse to Climate Change

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
ancient Mayan civilization, which developed a sophisticated culture in the
Central American rainforests, vanished mysteriously a thousand years ago.  Now, an international team of
anthropologists, archeologists, chemists and climatologists says it has
identified the cause of the Mayan collapse: climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">To
create a weather record for the past 2,000 years, the scientists analyzed a
natural mineral formation called a stalagmite from a cave in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Belize</st1:place></st1:country-region>, using
oxygen-isotope dating to determine how much rain fell on the region over the
centuries. Stalagmites build up incrementally, like tree rings, as water drips
through the cave ceiling, preserving an accurate climate record.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mayan
rulers commissioned stone monuments to record important events such as their
rise to power, major battles, civic unrest and strategic alliances.  Pennsylvania State University Anthropology
professor Douglas Kennett, the study's co-author, says the team was able to
compare changes in the society documented on those monuments with their new
climate timeline. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> a podcast for the journal Science, he said
the team saw a relationship between rainfall levels and political stability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The
growth of Maya civilization and increases in population and levels of
sophistication actually correlate with a very wet interval that spans several
hundred years and the decline of the Maya actually appeared to correlate with a
downturn generally in climate and climate drying," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Abundant
rainfall led to bumper crops and a population boom, but a climate reversal and
drought triggered famine, political competition, increased warfare and
eventually, the society's collapse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Scientists
have long suspected that climate change played a role in the fall of the Mayan
civilization, but the precise timeline - published in Science  - provides them with new confidence in that
connection.  Kennett suggests their
methodology could be used to increase understanding of the influence of climate
on other ancient cultures that also have nearby cave systems. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

New Evidence Links Mayan Collapse to Climate Change

The ancient Mayan civilization, which developed a sophisticated culture in the Central American rainforests, vanished mysteriously a ...

Rising Temperatures, Rising Health Problems

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>De Capua report on climate change and illness</i></span></b></h3><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Joe DeCapua<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Scientists say the effects of climate change could actually make breathing more difficult for many people. They expect rising temperatures to bring an increase in cases of asthma and allergies, as well as infectious and cardiovascular diseases.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Study co-author, professor Kent Pinkerton,Lun said rising temperatures bring a host of conditions that can adversely affect people’s health. For example, ozone levels may rise in urban areas. There may be more wildfires emitting smoke and soot. Desertification could increase and create more dust. There may also be a lot more pollen. And disease carrying insects and animals may be more prevalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Our greatest concern really centered around the fact that many of the pulmonary physicians and respiratory professionals are really not very well aware of the fact that climate change has an important impact on their patients,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A lot worse than a runny nose Pinkerton has some bad news for allergy sufferers about pollen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Those who suffer from allergies may actually be finding that that season that impacts on their health and on their allergies is becoming longer,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, he added the effects can be much worse than coughing, sneezing, watery eyes or a runny nose.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Those are the symptoms that people most note. But we’re also seeing that individuals who may already have a pre-existing respiratory condition or even a cardiovascular condition are also being affected by these. Some of these conditions might simply be an exacerbation of an asthmatic condition. Or some issues where particles are actually producing cardiovascular complications in the form of arrhythmias among individuals or irregular heartbeat. Or changes that may actually lead to stroke or myocardial infarction,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Myocardial infarction is commonly known as a heart attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pinkerton is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California’s Davis School of Medicine. He calls on the World Health Organization, governments and others to approve public health measures to protect vulnerable populations. These include infants, children and the elderly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Illnesses on the move<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“We’re now beginning to see some infections and some vector borne diseases in different areas of the world that we’ve never seen before. For example, diseases that have commonly been found within the Mediterranean are now being seen as far north as the Scandinavian countries. We’ve also seen some issues about mold that typically was only found within Mexico and Central America that are now as far north as British Columbia in Canada,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The study on climate change and health was written by a 10 member committee, including members from Africa, Europe, Asia, India, the Middle East and the United States. It appears in the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Rising Temperatures, Rising Health Problems

De Capua report on climate change and illness Joe DeCapua Scientists say the effects of climate change could actually make breathing mo...

First Time a Chapter on Climate Change to be Included in the Forthcoming Economic Survey of India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Change in Life Style and Livelihood Security required to Deal with Problem of Climate Change<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (PIB) --- R.Gopalan, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance said that in order to deal with the issue of Climate change and with the consequences, we will need not only enormous resources but also changes in our lifestyle especially among the better –off and livelihood security for the less well off.  Gopalan was delivering the Inaugural Address at the Workshop on Climate Change Financing here today. The workshop was jointly organized by the Climate Change Finance Unit of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance along with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The inauguration of the Workshop was also attended by Mr Patrice Coeur-Bizot, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA), Ministry of Finance,  J.M Mauskar, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and <st1:place w:st="on">Forest</st1:place>, Government of India and Dr Dipak Dasgupta, Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance among others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance said that the problem of global commons has been around not just today, but also earlier. The challenge is for building knowledge and cooperative institutions, he added. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Judiciously placed, at the brink of launching India’s 12th Five Year Plan and post Durban Conference, this workshop marked the second initiative of the recently set-up Climate Change Finance Unit in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in bringing together policy makers, Members of Parliament (MPs), professionals and academicians to deliberate on a range of issues on Climate Change Financing, spread across the four sessions of the workshop. The consultations would provide important inputs for the chapter focused on Climate Change in the forthcoming Economic Survey of India, as for the first time ever, an entire chapter would be devoted on this subject. The sessions focused on national priorities for addressing climate change, the role of private sector in generating funds to enable a lower carbon trajectory; and the role of the state and civil society in ensuring equitable and sustainable outcomes that do not pass on mitigation and adaptation costs to vulnerable communities. A key outcome of the workshop was better understanding of the financial issues related to climate change, at the domestic and the international level. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mauskar, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests explained that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> will encounter high cost in taking necessary steps for climate change mitigation and adaptation. He said that some financial mechanisms may enable mitigation costs to be borne by the private sector but this will be eventually passed on to the consumers. However the cost of adaptation needs to be borne entirely by public finances, making global financial transfers (grants, low interest loans) highly relevant, he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Participating in the scientific frontiers session, Dr R.K.Pachauri, Director General, TERI as well as Dr B.Mungekar, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) stressed the key issues of equity and using knowledge to deal with climate change.</span></div>

First Time a Chapter on Climate Change to be Included in the Forthcoming Economic Survey of India

Change in Life Style and Livelihood Security required to Deal with Problem of Climate Change NEW DELHI (PIB) --- R.Gopalan, Secretary, ...

Ban welcomes climate change deal reached at UN conference in Durban

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZSFGII8ahDFKrS2tWC0PF6ybnMFW7aJigL9rrkHY3TC7kfbiiquyo_x9qPVCFsIMoaTBm_vlhQysRYPZ_v9xfw9W8ALss2KnvKoQEg3xDoIME5sZ8GJ-KZ5dHkb54Leo3N0M2uHKagQ/s1600/The+United+Nations+Climate+Change+Conference%252C+Durban+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZSFGII8ahDFKrS2tWC0PF6ybnMFW7aJigL9rrkHY3TC7kfbiiquyo_x9qPVCFsIMoaTBm_vlhQysRYPZ_v9xfw9W8ALss2KnvKoQEg3xDoIME5sZ8GJ-KZ5dHkb54Leo3N0M2uHKagQ/s400/The+United+Nations+Climate+Change+Conference%252C+Durban+2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Secretary-General</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the set of decisions reached by countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place>, saying they represent a significant agreement that will define how the international community will address climate change in the coming years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">After extended negotiations over the weekend, the 194 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (<span>UNFCCC</span>) agreed on a package of decisions, known as the Durban Platform, which include the launch of a protocol or legal instrument that would apply to all members, a second commitment period for the existing Kyoto Protocol and the launch of the Green Climate Fund.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In a statement issued by his spokesperson Mr. Ban said the new accord is “essential for stimulating greater action and for raising the level of ambition and the mobilization of resources to respond to the challenges of climate change.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #CEDFDE; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The outcomes of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city> provide a welcome boost for global climate action. They reflect the growing, and in some quarters unexpected, determination of countries to act collectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mr. Ban also welcomed the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, stating it will “increase certainty for the carbon market and provide additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In addition, Mr. Ban said he was gratified that countries reached decisions to implement the Cancun Agreements, which were created at last year’s conference in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The new measures include setting up a Technology Mechanism that will promote access by developing countries to clean, low-carbon technologies, and establishing an Adaptation Committee that will coordinate adaptation activities on a global scale.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mr. Ban also welcomed the launch of the Green Climate Fund and said he was gratified that a number of countries signaled their intent to contribute to it. The Fund was created last year to help developing nations protect themselves from climate impacts and build their own sustainable futures, but had not been launched yet, and Mr. Ban had urged developed countries throughout the two-week conference to inject the necessary capital to kick-start it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Taken together, these agreements represent an important advance in our work on climate change,” Mr. Ban said, calling on countries to “quickly implement these decisions and to continue working together in the constructive spirit evident in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The UN Environmental Programme (<span>UNEP</span>) also welcomed the agreements at the conference, noting that key steps were taken such as negotiating “a new and more inclusive treaty and the establishment of the Green Climate Fund.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The outcomes of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city> provide a welcome boost for global climate action. They reflect the growing, and in some quarters unexpected, determination of countries to act collectively,” said UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">However, UNEP also said the conference still left the world with serious and urgent challenges if a global temperature rise is to be kept under two degrees Celsius in the 21st century.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The big question many will ask is how this will translate into actual emission reductions and by when? Whatever answer will emerge in the coming months, Durban has kept the door open for the world to respond to climate change based on science and common sense rather than political expediency,” said Mr. Steiner. ---UN News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Ban welcomes climate change deal reached at UN conference in Durban

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the set of decisions reached b...

Durban Climate Talks Produce Imperfect Deals

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; font-size: 8.0pt;">By Gabe Joselow from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Negotiators at the U.N. climate conference in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place> have approved a package of agreements to combat global climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">While the deal is a step forward, observers say more should have been accomplished.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">After hours of political wrangling and compromise on all sides, delegates emerged from an all-night session Sunday with a way forward on climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Going into the last-minute negotiations, the South African president of the conference, Maite Nkoana Mashabane told delegates the package of deals would not please everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">“I think we all realize they're not perfect, but we should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good and the possible,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Among the biggest achievements was the approval of a European Union plan to negotiate a future legal deal to combat climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard lobbied fiercely for the so-called EU “roadmap,” saying, “We are on the brink, it is within our reach to get what the world is waiting for and what only few thought would happen now: a legally binding deal,” said Hedegaard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">The agreement calls for parties to end negotiations on a future pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2015 and to implement the new regime no later than 2020.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Emotions ran high in the middle-of-the-night plenary session about plans for the future agreement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Karl Hood of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Grenada</st1:country-region></st1:place>, representing a coalition of small island states took issue with the language in the draft text, which did not specify what legal form the agreement would take.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">“And if there is no legal instrument by which we can make countries responsible for their actions then, Madame Chair, I'm saying that we are relegating vulnerable economies to the whims and fancies of beautiful words like 'self-determination' like 'access to development'; while they develop, we die in the process,” said Hood.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">The future deal will replace the Kyoto Protocol - an existing legal framework that was enacted in 2007 and was due to expire next year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Governments that are part of Kyoto, including the EU, agreed in Durban to a second commitment period to the protocol that will last five to eight years, though Russia, Japan and Canada have said they will not take part.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">The conference did not produce any immediate promises to further cut emissions blamed for climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Tim Gore, the climate policy advisor for Oxfam, said developing countries will not benefit much from the deals passed here in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">“They didn't get a great deal out of this, I think this was largely an agreement which was struck between the big boys, between the U.S., the European Union, perhaps some of the emergency economies did a deal on a future legal agreement, and that's significant, but it hasn't necessarily delivered the action that the very poorest countries, and the poorest people within them, need here and now,” said Gore.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Parties also agreed in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city></st1:place> to put into operation a Green Climate Fund, which is to provide assistance to developing nations for environmental projects.<span>  </span>However, there was no agreement on how to actually finance the Fund, so, for the time being it remains an empty shell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Some of these issues will likely be addressed again at the U.N. climate conference next year in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Qatar</st1:place></st1:country-region>. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Durban Climate Talks Produce Imperfect Deals

By Gabe Joselow from Durban , South Africa Negotiators at the U.N. climate conference in South Africa have approved a package of agreeme...

NASA: Earth's Prehistoric Record Warns of Nearing Rapid Climate Change

NASA: Earth's Prehistoric Record Warns of Nearing Rapid Climate Change

A new U.S. space agency study warns the Earth this century could see rapid and catastrophic climate changes if man-made global warming le...

Ban urges leaders to make real progress at UN climate change talks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT60Z78DzjLA0yjk_eZXmX57ZCSS6d03C6xujagbwVLMf74mYjGmvyss7-2R-rTRA6tSgmVia2AgeXabv-Yjzl_WrHNqKyjOfr5gIP3XqrqjKiP09bto_Sk4QjDBIyFVm5pRnPWVPeYIM/s1600/Ban+urges+leaders+to+make+real+progress+at+UN+climate+change+talks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT60Z78DzjLA0yjk_eZXmX57ZCSS6d03C6xujagbwVLMf74mYjGmvyss7-2R-rTRA6tSgmVia2AgeXabv-Yjzl_WrHNqKyjOfr5gIP3XqrqjKiP09bto_Sk4QjDBIyFVm5pRnPWVPeYIM/s400/Ban+urges+leaders+to+make+real+progress+at+UN+climate+change+talks.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) with Jacob Zuma (right), <br />
President of South Africa, and Christiana Figueres, <br />
Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention<br />
 on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Durban, South Africa</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged countries not to lose momentum and show determined leadership to advance negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Durban</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region></st1:place>, as States enter their first day of high-level talks.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“The world is looking to you for leadership,” Mr. Ban told participants at the 17th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where thousands of representatives from governments, international organization and civil society have gathered to advance ways to cut global carbon emissions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“The world and its people cannot accept ‘no’ for an answer in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city>,” he said.“Let us find the will to lead, despite the many difficulties. Let us prove that we not only know where we are going – and how to get there – but that we are prepared to take collective action that will move us down that road.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Mr. Ban stressed the urgency of the moment, reminding countries that “time is not on our side,” and that they must act before reaching a point of no return.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“The science is clear,” he said, citing reports by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which state that carbon emissions are at their highest levels in history, and that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced by half by 2050 to avert irreversible consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Mr. Ban acknowledged the current strain in the global economic situation, but underscored that while countries need to be realistic about their expectations, they must also be ambitious, as the health of the global economy, the livelihoods of millions of people, and the survival of some nations are all affected by the impact of climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“We must be realistic about expectations for a breakthrough in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city>,” he said. “We know the reasons: grave economic troubles in many countries, abiding political differences, conflicting priorities and strategies for responding to climate change. Yet let me emphasize: none of these uncertainties should prevent us from making real progress here in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Mr. Ban laid our four points that he expected countries to accomplish by the end of the conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">First, he said parties should work to implement what was agreed at last year’s conference in Cancún, when UNFCC members agreed to create a Green Climate Fund that would help developing nations protect themselves from climate impacts and build their own sustainable futures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">However, the fund has yet to be launched, and Mr. Ban appealed to industrialized nations to inject capital to allow the fund to begin its work. “Assisting the most vulnerable is both an obligation and a smart investment in a sustainable future,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Mr. Ban then called on countries to firm up their short and long-term financing commitments, stressing the need for greater transparency in how the current $30 billion that has been pledged is allocated and delivered where it is most needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In the long-term, he called for the mobilization of $100 billion every year by 2020 from governments, the private sector and other sources.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The third advancement involves the future of the stalled Kyoto Protocol, with Mr. Ban asking countries to “carefully consider a second commitment period.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“While <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyoto</st1:place></st1:city> alone will not solve today’s climate problem, it is a foundation to build on, with important institutions. It provides the framework that markets sorely need. Carbon pricing, carbon-trading depend on a rules-based system,” Mr. Ban said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Finally, Mr. Ban asked countries to build on a vision of a more robust climate change agreement that is effective for all parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">“Let us find the will to lead, despite the many difficulties. Let us prove that we not only know where we are going – and how to get there – but that we are prepared to take collective action that will move us down that road.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The economic and social impacts of climate change are already being felt in many parts of the world. A UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) report released today focuses on how it is affecting women in developing countries by putting their livelihoods and health at risk. In addition, the report states that it also increases their vulnerability to human trafficking.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">According to UNEP, women play a stronger role in managing ecosystems and ensuring food security through agriculture, making them more susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The report also highlights how climate disasters are disrupting social safety nets among women, leaving them isolated and vulnerable to human trafficking. For example, data from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nepal</st1:place></st1:country-region> suggests that human trafficking increases by around 20 to 30 per cent during disasters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The report puts forward recommendations to tackle these issues, including greater investments in green technologies to increase the productivity of female farm workers and other strategies that would empower them and also benefit the environment.</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> ---UN News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Ban urges leaders to make real progress at UN climate change talks

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) with Jacob Zuma (right), President of South Africa, and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary ...

Brazil, South Africa, India, China Officials Discuss Climate Change

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span>  </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on">BEIJING</st1:city> (NNN-XINHUA) -- Officials from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Brazil</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> and China (BASIC) have opened a two-day meeting here to discuss climate change.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Minister of China's National Development and Reform Commission, is leading a Chinese delegation to the meeting, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing Monday.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"The meeting will focus on the prospects and major issues of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city> climate change conference," Hong added.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">With the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Durban</st1:place></st1:city> climate change conference set to take place from Nov 28 to Dec 9, Hong said the focus would be the extension of the Kyoto Protocol and the commitment of developed countries for the protocol's next period.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European Community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012.-- NNN-XINHUA</div></div>

Brazil, South Africa, India, China Officials Discuss Climate Change

BEIJING (NNN-XINHUA) -- Officials from Brazil , South Africa , India and China (BASIC) have opened a two-day meeting here to discuss c...

NASA ‘Can’ be the Midpoint of Geoengineering.

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> </span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Stephen"><span style="text-decoration: none;">David Stephen</span></a><span style="color: black;">    </span></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SwDPQkXeL7nsz7p47gKWvk5Hq2Y-oYbvz-8ft_xmdTIfLEwRvDIaAsmBiP5FcVDEqkMctLFzCqyDDfWt1fRx24XHYU9EM51GK3sEU_k-fHvn5rcb_XCT600rGyd3TPxeCXMvrYvm_GA/s1600/nasalogo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SwDPQkXeL7nsz7p47gKWvk5Hq2Y-oYbvz-8ft_xmdTIfLEwRvDIaAsmBiP5FcVDEqkMctLFzCqyDDfWt1fRx24XHYU9EM51GK3sEU_k-fHvn5rcb_XCT600rGyd3TPxeCXMvrYvm_GA/s400/nasalogo.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Geoengineering has been in the news in recent weeks after the announcement of Stratospheric Particle Injection Climate Engineering (<a href="" name="SPICE">SPICE</a>) experiment by UK Scientists; Geoengineering also came to further light after recommendations on <a href="" name="Climate_Remediation_Research">Climate Remediation Research</a> by the US Bipartisan Policy Center some days ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Geoengineering or climate engineering is an artificial procedure directed to correct excesses responsible for Global Warming within the Earth atmosphere. Geoengineering is common for Climate Change fix but may be applied to other procedures like <a href="" name="Ozone_Layer_Repair">Ozone Layer Repair</a> and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Experiments of Geoengineering are ‘very’ workable but issues with Geoengineering are huge like aftereffects and agreements between Nations. These issues however are small compared to challenges Global Warming hold for planet earth in some years from now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There are a number of geoengineering procedures proposed, some are in forefront of discussions while others are mere hypothesis. Some of the most talked about include mimicking a super volcano by pumping aerosols into the atmosphere for global cooling; installing giant reflectors in orbit to return incident solar energy; using plants in oceans to capture carbon dioxide and spraying sea water in the atmosphere to form clouds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">These proposals many believe are potent because of the corresponding natural processes that are effective. Questions that strengthen doubts remain excesses of these procedures and contributions to further weather anomalies that we may never know until after the experiment is carried out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Taking carbon dioxide out of the environment is great, but may be a project nations will pursue individually or by blocs which may create an imbalance in some way. Solar radiation Management that mimics volcanoes is great but the possibility of a natural volcano of that magnitude may plunge the earth to further cooling which may also disrupt Climate to an unwanted end.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Aerosols may also affect parts of the slowing closing Ozone Layer Hole. Effects of some geoengineering procedures can be linked to further climate deviation because of how delicate the earth climate system is and how manipulation can evolve in ways that is not expected likely to draw blames to those entrusted for the procedure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration, NASA is known around the world as a leader in space exploration and advancements. Moon landing and distinct missions yearly have NASA as a leader in this direction globally.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA astronauts are familiar with space travel and possess a broad knowledge of what the upper atmosphere really is, this knowledge is necessary for an outlook to range of possibilities with every geoengineering procedure for potency and effects.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For NASA, coming into Geoengineering with outstanding reputation will boost the subject in recommendations and prospects for international collaboration. NASA for Climate engineering may look into various proposals to develop an all-encompassing report for Geoengineering within 4-8years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Global Warming holds much harm within the next 50years for average temperature rise if harmful emissions are not curbed. Geoengineering is ‘insurance' according to an Australian scientist & will provide a way of escape if Climate Change sends its arms for destruction of lives and properties.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA has done numerous projects beneficial to planet earth not just for the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, so Geoengineering with NASA can come from reports and observations that most of the world will believe and accept. Nations willing to collaborate probably in a treaty or agreement will be carried along and given independent assignments within their economic and scientific capacity. This will see geoengineering come on as a project most nations are well aware of barring issues of contest or competition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA’s medium term plans to build a new rocket whose design was recently announced can also have Geoengineering subsumed for reports where likely and unlikely issues are highlighted from their experienced point of view. As the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continue reports on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Trends globally, NASA’s reports will shape thoughts in new directions for Climate Engineering. ---</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Health_and_Science/NASA-Can-be-the-Midpoint-of-Geoengineering/2941866"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Ground Report</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>

NASA ‘Can’ be the Midpoint of Geoengineering.

By David Stephen Geoengineering has been in the news in recent weeks after the announcement of Stratospheric Particle Injection ...