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Action point
Jim Salinger describes his priority for action on global warming. You can play the low bandwidth or the high bandwidth version
Featured sites
Plan B, from the Earth Policy Institute, details how to rescue a planet under stress by cutting carbon emissions 80 per cent by 2020.
The e-newsletter from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat provides a comprehensive overview of major news and announcements regarding the climate negotiations.
The OzoneAction Education Pack provides primary school teachers with practical, hands-on and entertaining curricula material to educate their students about ozone depletion.
The Youth Climate Pledge is a collaborative plan of action that young people can sign on to and get others to commit to.
And finally,
The United Nations Paint for the Planet exhibition features paintings by child artists on the theme of 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.
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Maumoon Abdul Gayoom stresses the human aspects of climate change and describes the key components of a good post-2012 climate agreement. |
| The author is President of the Republic of the Maldives. | |
For over a decade, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has delivered definitive and unequivocal scientific proof on the many facets of global climate change. The Stern Review proved that climate change could be tackled effectively without submitting our economies to bankruptcy. The United Nations Development Programme’s most recent Human Development Report identifies the human impacts of climate change, unlike many previous studies that projected the issue as a scientific and environmental one.
Climate change has now become a daily reality in the Maldives and other small island states. With meagre financial resources and limited capacity to mitigate or adapt, climate change has become the defining issue of the 21st century. Our severe lack of adaptive capacity, including financial, technical and institutional resources, means we are ill-prepared to deal with these multiple threats. All the while, the impending long-term effects of sea-level rise are drawing ever closer.
The impacts of climate change will be felt sooner, rather than later, in every nation, every community and every neighbourhood. But, of course, the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States would be faced with a much greater challenge than the rest of the world.
We believe that climate change must be viewed not only as a danger to natural systems, but also as a direct threat to human survival and well-being. We are convinced that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation process must not be viewed as a traditional series of governmental trade-offs, but as an urgent international effort to safeguard human lives, homes, rights and livelihoods.
The Bali Process must have a clear long-term target to stabilize the climate system and ensure that temperature rises are reined in to reasonable levels. Even a two degrees Celsius temperature increase compared to pre-industrial levels would have devastating consequences on small island states.
Adaptation must be at the heart of a post-2012 climate agreement. International activity on adaptation must include vulnerability assessments, enhanced resilience to climate impacts, building human and institutional capacity, and making public and private investments in making countries less vulnerable to climate change. The Adaptation Fund must be adequately resourced. It must also be easily accessible to the Small Island Developing States.
Negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC towards a global and comprehensive agreement to stabilize the climate system must be completed by 2009. There can be no more delay, nor more distractions. After all, there is no more time.
Acknowledgement
This comment is extracted from an address at the UNFCCC negotiations in Bali in December 2007.
Bright Ideas
Offsetting air travel with atmosfair buys solar mirrors that provide energy for the preparation of thousands of meals daily in India
Dow Building Solutions has prepared a short information sheet covering the construction of green roofs
The fabric in Asics Commitment range of sportswear is woven from bamboo yarn
SolidNav has developed electric propulsion units for small water craft and sailboats
WATT, a nightclub in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has a dancefloor that generates electricity and toilets that flush with rainwater
During play, the Energy Merry-go-round generates electricity that is transferred to a battery and 220V invertor for use in the classroom
Waste Management provides home recycling kits for compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries and electronics
Norwegian music festivals, Canal Street and Hove, have joined the Climate Neutral Network
The PlayPump water system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children
Honda is leasing the hydrogen-powered fuel cell FCX Clarity to private individuals in southern California
TIDE, in southern India, markets energy-efficient stoves that reduce fuelwood use by as much as 30 per cent
Curitiba's BioCity Program (0.3Mb download) aims to halt the rapid rate at which cities develop and reduce biodiversity loss
Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: November 16th 2008