DP-Index-mar08-lead7
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A section of
DOCPOST which is an
extract, executive
summary, index
rolled into one.
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GLOBAL
WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE
Study: Cut carbon output to zero
The
task of cutting greenhouse gas
emissions to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far
more difficult than previous research suggests, say scientists. In
recently published studies, the scientists indicated that the world
would have to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of
decades.
by
Juliet Eilperin, The Telegraph,
11/03/2008
Climate
change
hitting women harder?
With
an increase in droughts, floods,
desertification and erosion - possible impacts of global
warming -
women will have to work harder to secure these vital resources, say
experts on women�€™s issues. As a consequence, they would have
less
time to care for their families or get an education.
by
Nicole Kallmeyer, Medill Report,
13/03/2008
Global farm GDP to drop 16% due
to
climate change
Climate
change is likely to create new
food insecurities by further pushing up the already rising prices and
bringing down the world agriculture GDP by 16 per cent by 2020, the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) report said.
The
Business
Standard, 14/03/2008
EU
agrees
climate plan deadline
After a
two-day summit in Brussels,
leaders for the 27 nations said they hoped new legislation would be
enacted in early 2009. The bloc aims to implement a 20% cut in
greenhouse gases by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.
BBC
News, 14/03/2008
Climate
change
and international
security
The
risks posed by climate change are
real and its impacts are already taking place. The UN estimates that
all but one of its emergency appeals for humanitarian aid in 2007
were climate related. In 2007 the UN Security Council held its first
debate on climate change and its implications for international
security. The European Council has drawn attention to the impact of
climate change on international security and in June 2007 invited the
High Representative and the European Commission to present a joint
report to the European Council in Spring 2008.
The
science of
climate change is now
better understood. The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change demonstrate that even if by 2050 emissions would be
reduced to below half of 1990 levels, a temperature rise of up to 2
ºC above pre-industrial levels will be difficult to avoid.
Epicos.com,
18/03/2008
Climate Change Requires Herculean
Effort
So
just changing light bulbs is not
going to help. We are faced with a Herculean effort, one that
involves every person, every government, every brilliant innovative
thinker, every entrepreneur. The effort has been compared to nothing
less and most likely more than the World War II challenge when
production of consumer goods was halted and all manufacturing went
into the war effort. Maybe we need a WPA (Work Projects
Administration), under which, by presidential order, millions of jobs
were created during the Great Depression. We need a president with
the political will, the vision and the guts to mandate unprecedented
change.
by Karen
Mccall,
Countercurrents.org, 21/03/2008
Only
carbon tax
won't
do
Everyone
seems to be talking about a
carbon tax. It's probably the most glamorous -- and certainly the
most unlikely--use of the tax code since Al Capone got hooked for tax
evasion. The idea is that polluters should pay for the environmental
damage they cause. Slap a tax on carbon, the theory goes, and you
will get fewer carbon emissions, more revenue for government and
energy independence, all at the same time.
by Monic
Prasad,
The Times of India,
27/03/2008
Scientist:
Rains due to climate
change
Dr
Achuthan, scientist and campaigner
of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, said that it was evident that
the current rain was another vagary caused by climate change. "There
has been unequal heating of the equatorial region in recent years and
this is triggering severe storms and rain," he said. Storms had
been common earlier too, but their frequency, intensity and ferocity
had increased of late. "These are bad signs," he said.
The
Asian Age, 26/03/2008
Unchecked
climate change = 125
million refugees in South Asia
India---
'Hope for the best, plan for
the worst', is the mantra of emergency planners everywhere. But, for
125 million people living in the low lying areas of South Asia, when
it comes to climate change there is no plan that will adequately
address the worst consequences
It
is not as
simple as rising sea
levels flooding coastal areas, although that alone would be
devastating. The report warns that impacts will include: "inundation
itself, flood and storm damage, erosion, saltwater intrusion, rising
water tables and impeded drainage and wetland loss. These will
together reduce the ability of these regions to provide their
inhabitants access to land itself, in some cases, and to many others
their means of cultivation, water resources and fodder, causing
severe hardship in terms of livelihood and habitat loss."
Greenpeace,
28/03/2008
Time runs out for islanders on
global warming's front line
Over
the course of a three-day boat
trip through the Sundarbans, The Observer found Das's plight to be
far from unique. Across the delta, homes have been swept away, fields
ravaged by worsening monsoons, livelihoods destroyed. It confirms
what experts are already warning: that the effects of global warming
will be most severe on those who did the least to contribute to it
but can least afford measures to adapt or save themselves. For these
islanders, building clay walls is their only option. Lying one-third
in India and two-thirds in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans are where two
of Asia's biggest rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, broaden and
violently roll into the Bay of Bengal. The source of the problem is
1,500 miles away, at the source of the Ganges, where melting
Himalayan glaciers are raising river and sea levels.
By Dan
McDougall, Guardian News, 30/03/2008
Poor
nations
fear being left in cold
on global warming
Outraged
poor nations bearing the brunt
of global warming have become increasingly bold in UN-led climate
talks, but some worry that recent trysts of large countries are
leaving them out in the cold. A grouping of 192 countries under the
United Nations is leading the way in negotiating a groundbreaking
climate change treaty, and most of its members are currently in
Bangkok to try to hammer out a two-year work plan. The meeting comes
soon after the United States chaired a meeting of 16 nations most
responsible for global warming, and ahead of a special climate summit
on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit of rich nations.
AFP,
31/03/2008
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