Nations approve a late deal for 2015 global pact, agree on fund for climate aid to poor countries; critics say gains modest
A marathon UN climate conference yesterday approved a roadmap towards an accord that for the first time will bring all major greenhouse-gas emitters under a single legal roof.
The European Union will place its current emission-cutting pledges inside the legally-binding Kyoto Protocol, a key demand of developing
climatechange
Climate given some hope
US softens its stance; China, India still rigid
A last moment drama blew a fresh air into the Durban climate conference as the US surprisingly agreed to an EU proposal that says the bloc would sign the second phase of the legally binding Kyoto protocol, provided all major economies sign a legal climate deal by 2015.
But frayed and tired negotiators are yet to reach their goal as India rejected the proposal and
Carbon Emission: Rich nations not for legal binding
As indications are clear that the developed countries are set not to give a second lifeline to the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding emission control mechanism, a deep sense of resentment prevails among the poor countries and a last minute effort is afoot to get at least a much compromised and weak agreement.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and South African President Jacob Zuma are trying hard
A ray of hopes, finally
After a week of grim news, at least some light shone yesterday when a new window of fund termed Loss and Damage has been finalised. Under the window, countries affected by quick and long-term climate change will be able to access funds.
The window was proposed at the last climate conference at Cancun and its modalities
Durban set to pick up more heat
Compromise formula on Kyoto Protocol faces obstacle
Durban burned with sweltering heat yesterday and the UN’s weather agency World Meteorological Organisation’s just-released report that 2011 is the 10th hottest year since records began in 1850 had probably something to do with a new-found formula to save the Kyoto Protocol.
The compromise formula to give a fresh lifeline to Kyoto Protocol that ends next year suggested
Bangladesh worst-hit in last 2 decades
Bangladesh is a country most affected by extreme weather events in the last two decades, reveals the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI), 2012.
For the period 1991-2010, Bangladesh was followed by Myanmar and Honduras, the report said.
However, Bangladesh is not on the list of the 10 worst affected countries in
All eyes on rich nations
Climate-hit countries count on their promises as Durban meet gets underway
As the stories emerging from Africa to Americas, Asia to Australia tell the same grave situation of ever increasing drought, floods, storms and hot spells, a Climate Change Conference began here yesterday with hopes that the rich nations will keep their commitments to extend helps to the poor and that they would themselves pledge to reduce carbon emission.
As negotiations will roll on for the next two weeks, the key focus will be on breathing a new life to Kyoto Protocol, the only legally
Climate change and neglected tropical diseases
Khalid Md. Bahauddin
Recent investigations attribute more than 150,000 deaths per year and a global disease burden to climate change. An area that has received particular attention is the potential impact of global warming on shifts in the spatio-temporal distribution of disease vectors, and hence the frequency and transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases. Vectors, pathogens (parasites), and hosts survive and reproduce within certain optimal climatic conditions. Changes in climate will alter the transmission of vector-borne diseases in different ways, such as changing the
‘Climate change reshapes tropical forests’
bbc.co.uk
Future climate change could change the profile of tropical forests, with possible consequences for carbon storage and biodiversity, a study says.
It suggests that if current trends continued, the drier conditions would favour deciduous, canopy species at the expense of other trees.
US researchers based their findings on the changes they recorded in a Costa Rican forest over a 20-year period.
The team’s paper has been published in the journal Global Change Biology.
“It is important because – depending on
Managing biodiversity to slow down climate change
DR. M.A. BASHAR
Adaptation is the habitual process of adjustment to a new or changing environment. These changes of environment could be negative or positive to the survivals in an ecosystem. Adaptive capability is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with consequences. The value of biodiversity is poorly researched. Biodiversity has an urgent natural has value, but also a direct and indirect human benefit value. It is evident that climate change and biodiversity loss are interconnected. In the fact of inter-linkage, it
Climate fallout to trigger migration
ADB study focuses on more challenges for Bangladesh
Bangladesh will face mounting challenge of resettling and rehabilitating the people displaced by climate change, says an Asian Development Bank study.
The country is already at high risk of catastrophic environmental hazards and floods from sea surges, river flow, rainfall and coastal and riverbank erosion that are likely to force more