Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Week ending July 12th 2009
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Action point
José Alberto Garibaldi describes his priority for action on global warming. You can play the low bandwidth or the high bandwidth version
Featured sites
Today's El Niño/La Niña information, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides comprehensive data, forecasts and news regarding current conditions.
The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network works to improve management and conservation of coral reefs by providing manuals, equipment, databases, training, problem solving, and helps with finding funds for reef monitoring.
The Cities for Climate Protection Campaign assists cities to adopt policies and implement quantifiable measures to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and enhance urban livebility and sustainability.
zerocarbonbritain details how Britain can eliminate emissions from fossil fuels in 20 years and break dependence on imported energy.
And finally,
Lorraine Berry was commissioned by the Environmental Change Network to produce a web-based creative work, as Seasons Change, drawing on data and knowledge concerning climate change.
About Newswatch
Tiempo Climate Newswatch is a weekly on-line magazine with news, features and comment on global warming, climate change, sea-level rise and development issues. It is edited by Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich and maintained by Mick Kelly and Mike Salmon. The cartoons are created by Lawrence Moore.
The news stories carried by Newswatch are updated weekly. Comment, features, interviews and other sections of the magazine are updated on a weekly to monthly basis.
Newswatch automatically scans a number of news sites once an hour, searching for a set of keyphrases. The raw news feed can be accessed in standard or PDA format.
Part of the Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary, Tiempo Climate Newswatch is hosted by the Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia.
The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is a co-production of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development, sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
While every effort is made to ensure that information on this site, and on other sites that are referenced here, is accurate, no liability for loss or damage resulting from use of this information can be accepted.
The draft declaration before the July 8-10th summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized nations in Italy calls on the major developing nations to take on actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in an indicative range below business as usual," according to Japanese media reports. It is proposed that a public-private green technology fund will be launched to assist developing nations.
The draft document urges all major economies to take on the goal of halving greenhouse has emissions by the year 2050, a wording accepted at last year's G8 summit. There is, however, no reference to a target for the year 2020. It is also reported that the United States will endorse the goal of limiting global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius at the G8 meeting. The summit will be chaired by Barack Obama, United States president.
More information |
Related news |
The World Bank has launched a new programme, Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities, to help cities in developing countries achieve greater ecological and economic sustainability. "Global urban expansion sets forth before us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plan, develop, build and manage cities that are simultaneously more ecologically and economically sustainable," said Katherine Sierra, World Bank vice president for sustainable development. "We have a short time horizon before us. The decisions we make together today, can lock in systemic benefits for current and future generations."
A three-part report presents the programme’s analytical and operational framework, alongside profiles of effective and practical methods and tools. The guidance derives from the experiences, challenges and lessons learnt from cities around the world. Best-practice cities such as Curitiba, Singapore, Stockholm and Yokohama provide strong examples of what can be achieved. By increasing resource efficiency while decreasing pollution and unnecessary waste, these cities "have improved the quality of life of their citizens, enhanced their economic competitiveness and resilience, strengthened their fiscal capacity, and created an enduring 'culture’ of sustainability," according to Hiroaki Suzuki, the programme's team leader.
More information |
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An El Niño weather pattern seems almost certain this year, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. "El Niño is a little bit like recession, you are in it before you can say you have one. If it continues as it is now, the historians will say the El Niño started in May," said David Jones from the Bureau.
"Typically, an El Niño has the potential to disrupt the rainy seasons and cause lower rainfall in India, Australia, Southeast Asia - Philippines and Indonesia - southern Africa and Central America," commented Robert Stefanski of the World Meteorological Organization. "In past El Niño events, droughts have occurred and lowered food production in many of these regions."
More information |
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Breaking news
- Growing concern over permafrost melt
- California's auto emissions standard approved
- European climate change reports released
- Tools for adaptation
- Climate change is shrinking sheep
The Gaunt View
© 2009 Lawrence Moore
Science and development
Sound and vision
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The documentary Violence and Vulnerability discusses the link between conflict and climate impacts in the Kitui District of Kenya. |
On the Web
High bandwidth may be required
Video on demand
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Saleemul Huq of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) talks about the recent climate change talks in Bonn, IIED's work with the Least Developed Countries group and the critical next steps in the run up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 2009. |
Weblogs
Have your say
The Road to Copenhagen 2009 gives you a chance to contribute to the climate treaty negotiating process.
More interactive discussion...
Comment
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"The biggest challenge is not how to reduce deforestation, but how to finance the reduction." |
In Seeing REDD in the Amazon, Virgilio Viana argues that REDD in the Amazon is a win for people, trees and climate.
In The Challenge for the Climate Action Network, Astrid Westerlind Wigström tasks the Network with becoming more responsive to developing country interests at international negotiations.
In Progress Implementing National Adaptation Programmes of Action, Jessica Ayers discusses vulnerability projects identified by National Adaptation Programmes of Action for the Least Developed Countries.
On the Web
- George Monbiot wonders why the world's first climate evacuation is receiving so little attention
- Marcos Buckeridge argues that you can grow biofuels without destroying the rainforest
- David Fogarty considers the challenge faced by Asian airlines in paying for their greenhouse gas emissions
Features
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Sivan Kartha describes an innovative scheme for allocating emissions targets that preserves development priorities. |
Agha Ali Akram advocates demand management for optimal adaptation to trends in water resources in the Indus Basin resulting from climate change.
Gwen Young, Barry Smit, Johanna Wandel and Humberto Zavala describe vulnerability to water resources under climate change in the semi-arid Elqui Valley, Chile.
Short reports
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Abhishek Shrestha reports on the role of Nepalese youth in climate change activities. |
The Asia Pacific Mountain Network reports on an e-discussion, held in July 2008, on whether or not natural disasters can improve a national economy.
The 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and various related meetings took place in Poznań, Poland, in December 2008. Newswatch editors Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich report.
Interview
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"The main reason India and (to a lesser degree) China state for their resistance of emission caps is that their first priority is to lift those hundreds of millions of poor people out of poverty, not to reduce emissions. But in this approach, their targets would be based only on those people that are not living in poverty." |
In a Newswatch interview, Heleen de Coninck discusses the allocation of national targets based on individual emissions.
Recent e-publications
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Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, from United States Global Change Research Program, summarizes the science and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. Published June 2009
Reducing Vulnerability, Enhancing Resilience, from CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis, highlights the need for urgent enhanced action on adaptation technologies, which are key for adapting to climate change, reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development. Published May 2009
Climate Ready Estuaries Program Synthesis of Adaptation Options for Coastal Areas, from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, provides a brief introduction to key physical impacts of climate change on estuaries and a review of on-the-ground adaptation options available to coastal managers. Published January 2009
Current climate
Monthly climate indicators |
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Global surface air temperature courtesy of the
Hadley Centre |
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Webcam skyviewsCreate a mosaic of webcam images to monitor
the weather at selected sites around the world |
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Current emergencies |
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General links |
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El Niño-Southern Oscillation Phenomenon (ENSO) |
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Tropical storms |
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Food security |
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Other events |
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The Final Word
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"We are rapidly moving from an adaptation landscape dominated by pilot projects, case studies, capacity building and awareness-raising into a new landscape of systematic and sustained decision making, a messy, movable, dynamic, ever shifting landscape of deal-making, compromise and expediency." |
In Adaptation by Ribbon Cutting, Robert Kay argues that a desire for grand ceremonies must not be allowed to skew decisions regarding approaches to adaptation.
Bright Ideas
South Waterfront, Oregon’s first green neighbourhood, uses innovative energy saving and water conservation techniques to minimize impacts on the environment
New York's Del Posto restaurant no longer supplies bottled water to its customers, citing transportation, packaging and the absurdity of moving water all over the world
The AIRPod, carrying three adults and a child, runs on compressed air at one euro per 200km
The Zero S is a high performance electric motorcycle with half the weight of a normal bike
The E3 electric tricycle is an eco-friendly, sustainable mini-taxi, zero emissions and zero noise
The Save La Mesa Watershed Project has created a 33 hectare public park, a venue for healthful recreation and a true forest experience, a living classroom
The GeoBulb LED light bulb uses 7.5 watts of power to provide as much light as a 60-watt incandescent light bulb and has a lifespan of ten years
Mumbai-based company Crompton Greaves has partnered with Lemnis Lighting to promote LED lighting products in India
Schools in Joondalup, Australia, can participate in dune rejuvenation and protection through the Adopt a Coastline programme
Princess Elisabeth Station, Antarctica, is the world's first zero-emission polar research station
The Canadian city of Kelowna is equipping parks, paths and other public spaces with solar-powered LED lights
The City of Oslo uses waste to generate energy for a district heating system, part of a hierarchical waste management strategy
Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: July 3rd 2009