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Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Week ending March 14th 2010



 

Featured sites

News of weather events and climate affairs from around the African continent.

GenderCC is a global network and platform of gender activists and experts from all world regions working for gender and climate justice. The website provides access to news, information and other resources.

Island Vulnerability explores the challenges which isolated geographies face when dealing with risk and disasters. Documents from the landmark Small States Conference on Sea Level Rise held in the Maldives in 1989 are available.

And finally,

>1.5 To Stay Alive, a song written and performed by Barbadian performance poet Adisa "AJA" Andwele, marks the 1.5 degree Celsius limit to which global surface temperatures can rise before Small Island Developing States are severely compromised in their ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

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About the Cyberlibrary

The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is a co-production of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development. It is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

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. 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.

The Tiempo Climate Portal is a listing of selected websites covering climate and development and related issues.

The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is maintained and edited by Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich. The cartoons are created by Lawrence Moore. The site was developed by Mike Salmon and Mick Kelly.

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 government of the United Kingdom intends to introduce cheap loans for householders to improve the energy efficiency of their homes if it wins the forthcoming election. The long-term loans will be at subsidized interest rates and will be attached to the house rather than the homeowner. "By spreading the repayments over a much longer period - more like 25 years than the eight years that someone might want to live in a house - that's what makes it financially affordable," energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband said. "The key thing that we're doing is to put the proposed legislation forward to ensure that the re-payments are attached to the house not the person," he added.

United States president Barack Obama has proposed rebates of up to US$3000 to encourage homeowners to improve energy efficiency. The initiative is part of a US$6 billion programme to create jobs. The highest rebates will go to upgrades leading to a 20 per cent saving in energy use. The rebates will be available through a variety of channels, including building material stores, companies that install the equipment and utility's energy efficiency programmes. Speaking at Savannah Technical College, Obama said: "I just hope Washington [Congress] stands alongside me in making sure we've got the kind of energy future that we need."

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The European Union (EU) has requested public input on how best to protect the region's forests against the impact of climate change. "Europe's forests are a precious resource that must be protected against the harmful impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. Their wide range of social, economic and environmental functions means that the stakes are high," said environment commissioner Janez Potocnik. "We need to explore what value European action can add to national efforts to safeguard forests and maintain reliable, coherent and up-to-date information about them," he continued.

Connie Hedegaard, former Danish climate and energy minister and host of the Copenhagen climate summit, is the EU's first commissioner for climate action. She regards ensuring that Europe's forests can continue to perform all their functions as essential to the EU's climate strategy. "As huge stores of carbon, forests will play a critical role in efforts to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius," she commented. The public consultation, through the Your Voice in Europe website, will end July 31st 2010.

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Taiwan faces the threat of more frequent storms on the scale of last August's Typhoon Morakot, which generated 2777mm of rainfall, leaving over 700 people dead or missing, and resulted in US$3.3 billion of damage. "A typhoon as powerful as Morakot is very likely to strike Taiwan in a year or two," warned Wang Chung-ho from the Institute of the Earth Sciences of the Academia Sinica in Taipei. "The government must work out effective countermeasures," he continued.

Wang noted a long-term trend towards increased precipitation over Taiwan during the monsoon season, with the mean monthly rainfall for the half-year beginning in May surpassing 400 millimetres during the past six years, compared with an average of 380 millimetres in the years before 2004. "It's pretty remarkable to see this kind of humidity in the atmosphere over such a sustained time period," he commented. Ho Tsung-hsun of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union considers that "typhoons of the Morakot scale hitting Taiwan will become normal as the Earth's environment changes... This is a grave warning from nature. It could end up exceeding our worst fears."

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Breaking news

The Gaunt View


Cartoon by Lawrence Moore

© 2010 Lawrence Moore

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Sound and vision

Violence and Vulnerability 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


Earthcasts On January 27th, Michael Grubb, David Satterthwaite and Richard Smith will be dissecting the outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Summit and asking whether future negotiations can establish a binding treaty that sets ambitious limits for the large emitters while supporting developing nations financially and technologically.

More sound and vision...

Weblogs

More interactive discussion...

Comment

Virgilio Viana "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 Adaptation by Ribbon Cutting, Robert Kay argues that a desire for grand ceremonies must not be allowed to skew decisions regarding approaches to adaptation.

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.

On the Web

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Features

George Kisali George Kasali describes key factors that make Zambia’s health sector vulnerable to climate change, focusing on malaria and the impacts of floods and droughts.

Dago Tschering and Gyambo Sithey identify the main areas in which Bhutan is at risk from adverse climate change effects on health.

Krystel Dossou describes how climate change could affect malaria prevalence in the city of Cotonou in Benin.

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Short reports

Abhishek Shrestha Abhishek Shrestha reports on the role of Nepalese youth in climate change activities.

The Association for Development of Environment and People in Transition - Nepal presents a status paper prepared for the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2010.

The Asia Pacific Mountain Network reports on an e-discussion, held in October 2009, on gender and climate change in the Himalayas.

More reports...

Interview

Erana Walker "We shouldn't rely heavily on politicians because, at the end of the day, as individuals we have the power to take action and make a difference. By relying too much on politicians we will end up getting more and more frustrated."

In a Newswatch interview, Erana Walker talks of her expectations of the Copenhagen climate summit and about her experience of climate action at the community level.

More interviews...

Recent e-publications

Growing Together in a Changing Climate

Growing Together in a Changing Climate, from the United Nations, contains information on some of the many climate change initiatives - projects, campaigns, educational tools, websites and publications - produced by the United Nations and young people, independently or in partnership. Published December 2009

Managing the Water Buffer for Development and Climate Change Adaptation, from UNESCO, explores how to maximize the use of groundwater and rainwater for development and climate change adaptation in an approach called 3R. Published November 2009

Charting our Water Future, from the 2030 Water Resources Group, shows that, while meeting competing future demands for water will be a considerable challenge, it is entirely possible to close the growing gap between water supply and demand. Published November 2009

More e-publications...

Current climate

Monthly climate indicators

Global climate indicators

Global surface air temperature courtesy of the Hadley Centre
Southern Oscillation Index courtesy of the Climate Prediction Center, NOAA

Previous year's chart...


Current emergencies

General links

El Niño-Southern Oscillation Phenomenon (ENSO)

Tropical storms

Food security

Other events

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The Final Word

John Powles "The only geopolitically feasible path to dietary sustainability is "contraction" of ecologically disruptive production for high-income countries to make room for some upward "convergence" in low- and middle-income countries."

In Affluent Diets and Climate Change, John Powles explains why the diets of the rich and the poor are central to climate change policy.

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Bright Ideas

Esprimo P7000

The Esprimo P7000 Series of desktop computers from Fujitsu supports 0-Watt technology

Progressive Lighting and Energy Solutions

Progressive Lighting and Energy Solutions makes companies green, one light bulb at a time

VeggieDag

Ghent, Belgium, has declared Thursday a Veggie Day, promoting a meat-free, climate-friendly diet for one day of the week

Elevated bamboo houses

The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan is developing elevated bamboo houses that will lift communities above flood zones

WaveRoller

WaveRoller captures kinetic energy from ocean waves as they approach the shore using a bottom-mounted moving wing and converts that energy to electricity

Rainwater harvesting

New businesses in Tucson, Arizona, must use rainwater harvesting to meet at least half of their landscaping needs

Beta LED

As well as saving energy and reducing waste, The Edge LED lighting fixtures from BetaLED contain no mercury or lead and comply with Dark Sky regulations

Fuel Cell Boat

The world's first hydrogen fuel cell canal boat will tour Amsterdam's waterways

Green Foodservice Alliance

The Green Foodservice Alliance is encouraging eco-friendly practices, such as use of spent grease for biofuel production and donation of non-sellable but edible food to a food bank or charity

Gadhia Solar

The world's largest solar thermal steam cooking system, providing 50,000 meals per day, has been installed by Gadhia Solar at the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust in India

PETEC

The role of the Panasonic Eco Technology Center is to recover high-quality recyclable materials from home appliances that have reached the end of the life

Sky Vegetables

Sky Vegetables builds sustainable, commercial-scale hydroponic farms on urban rooftops, providing new jobs and nutritious, chemical-free, locally-grown produce while reducing environmental damage

Powerbrella

The Powerbrella uses flexible, thin film solar panels from Konaka to provide power for laptops, cell phones and other portable devices ( video)

More Bright Ideas...

Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: March 6th 2010