The Bangkok talks are a last chance to sign a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period expires in 2012.
As Singapore, New York and Melbourne have shown, cities can mitigate the impact of heatwaves if they have the will to create green infrastructure, explain Amit Kapoor & Bibek Debroy.
Isn't she the prettiest girl you've seen all day?
Several global models are predicting El Nio to appear around the second half of the year, which are the crucial rain-bearing months.
The Accord was finalised at a meeting between the heads of India, China, South Africa, Brazil and the US in Copenhagen last Friday.
China has reiterated its plan to build the world's largest dam over the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, near the Indian border. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has assured that the project, estimated to cost around USD 137 billion, will not have any negative impact on downstream countries, India and Bangladesh. The ministry has stated that the project has undergone rigorous scientific verification and will be conducive to disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as climate change response. India has expressed concerns about the dam, raising the issue during talks with the visiting US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. China has maintained that the project will not negatively affect the lower reaches and has committed to maintaining communication with downstream countries.
"This is a momentous occasion," the secretary-general said after the deal was ratified by 72 countries accounting for more than 56 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
It has noted that melting glaciers due to any impact of climate change will not only severely affect the flow in Himalayan river system but will also give rise to natural disasters.
Posing a series of questions to the prime minister, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also asked if Modi would convey to the US president that India would send its own aircraft -- like Venezuela and Colombia did -- to bring back Indian deportees in the future.
India on Thursday made it clear that it would not accept any internationally binding agreement and that its climate change targets were not up for review.
Glimpses from the FutureFantastic technology and art festival in Bengaluru that explored the intersections of art, technology and climate change.
The Earth will be 2.4 degree Celsius warmer by 2020 if the world continues with the business-as-usual approach to climate change.
The conditions that lead to landslides, including soil texture, soil moisture and slope are known, and it is important to put all this knowledge into an operational system, he said.
The United Nations has launched an independent review of the functioning of its top climate change body IPCC, which has come under much criticism in the recent months for some errors in its reports.
Buffeted by allegations of sexual harassment, R K Pachauri on Tuesday quit as chairman of United Nation's prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose meeting here he has avoided.
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
Adopted after nearly two weeks of hectic negotiations, the first Global Stocktake deal, being termed the UAE consensus, urges countries to accelerate efforts toward the phase-down of unabated coal power, which is a climb down after India and China strongly resisted the singling out of coal.
New text is "ambitious and balanced"
Sending encouraging signal to the rest of the world, a bipartisan group of powerful US Senators on Friday agreed on a framework for a climate change bill.
Congressman James Sensenbrenner, the senior most Republican was among a high-powered delegation of US lawmakers, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that visited India last month. Sensenbrenner has made it clear that the US Congress will not ratify any global climate change agreement if India is not a party to it. This delegation focused on global warming and energy among other issues. He said without India & China, the US will be at an economic disadvantage in a global treaty.
Stern says that we all know the pace of change has picked up in India
They said rampant infrastructure development without a plan is making the fragile Himalayan ecosystem even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change which acts as a force-multiplier.
Representing India at the 'High-Level Segment for Heads of States and Government' at the UN COP26 underway at Glasgow, UK, Prime Minister Modi said that India is working very hard on tackling climate change related issues.
The average global temperature between January and October has been 0.68 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century's average global temperature of 14.1 degree C.
We must bring a laser focus on our own interests, and define our friends and foes more clearly instead of trying to live by somebody else's rules. We must grow up, think for ourselves, think India First, asserts R Jagannathan.
For India, the talks will work as another opportunity to sharpen its positions ahead of the formal UN negotiations.
The CPI said there was neither any agreement over technology transfer nor any commitment for additional financial resources to fund adaptation and mitigation in the developing countries. In a similar statement, the Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo said on Sunday: "The political leaders who gathered in Copenhagen have failed their people by not delivering an effective and equitable climate change agreement."
States are mandated to develop and implement 'heat HAPs' for prevention of heat-induced diseases. But most do not go beyond standard advisory on heat prevention.
Climate activist Soman Wangchuk announced on Sunday that he will launch a 28-day fast on Independence Day if the government does not invite Ladakh authorities for talks on demands for statehood and constitutional protection for the union territory.
There is a need to mainstream green finance and devise ways for incorporating environment impact into commercial lending decisions, RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has said. Addressing climate risk in the financial sector should be the joint responsibility of stakeholders as it would affect the resilience of the financial system in the long run, he said. Rao made these comments while speaking at the CAFRAL Virtual Conference on Green and Sustainable Finance, recently.
'Both international cooperation and self-reliance will now acquire new purpose.'
'If you want help understanding that, I can lend you my encyclopedia from when I was in 2nd grade. It has pictures and everything'
Shiv Sena's Dadaji Bhuse is the new school education minister while Uday Samant continues to be the industries minister.
Four big global companies - Bayer, GenZero (a wholly-owned arm of financial major Temasek), Shell and Mitsubishi - have decided to scale up their carbon credit programme in nine states to empower farmers. The credits are generated through the adoption of smart agriculture practices - Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). Since over a year, the project, which was being run on a pilot basis, has positively impacted 10,000 farmers, covering more than 25,000 hectares.
'Parsis are inclined towards people who work for the welfare of others.'
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday termed as 'baseless', Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim that the state government did not heed the Centre's warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.
India, which wants to double its coal output by 2020, in February raised the tax on mining coal to $6 per tonne from $1 in a bid to make it more expensive to consume the dirty fuel
India cannot ignore the neglect of climate finance by the developed nations, Modi asserted at G20 session
Indian students at Harvard, on condition of anonymity, shared their concerns and experiences of the last few months during which the prestigious university has seen relentless attacks by the Trump administration.
Umar Ganie captures Gulmarg as the town and other higher reaches of the Kashmir Valley receive snow.
