Five top United Nations officials have urged world leaders to "seal the deal" at Copenhagen in December on an ambitious new climate change pact aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
On Saturday, Environment Ministers from these countries -- called BASIC group of nations -- will meet in Chennai to review the decisions taken at last year's Doha climate conference and plan future steps for taking the global process for an ambitious and equitable agreement under the Durban Platform, official sources said.
India supports dialogue and diplomacy and not war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) Summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday, in an unambiguous message calling for resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through peaceful negotiations.
A combination of an effective public transport system and minimum use of cars is the cure for climate change in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata, according to a noted British scientist.
At a time when millions of people are taking to the streets, joining the wave of global climate strikes and demonstrations spreading around the world, with generations demanding urgent action on the escalating ecological emergency from governments and institutions, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) Environmental Photographer of the Year contest shows the devastating impact climate change has on humans and wildlife around the world. The Environmental Photographer of the Year award, which is supported by the UN Environment, Arup, and Olympus UK, "exists to inspire change from political leaders, decision makers, and the general public." Keep scrolling to see the powerful winning photos from this year's contest.
The issue was discussed with leaders from both the Indian government and Indian businesses.
'I would like to believe that out of this struggle (to effect climate change) will be born a generation that will be able to look upon the world with clearer eyes than those that preceded it; that they will be able to transcend the isolation in which humanity was entrapped in the time of its derangement; that they will rediscover their kinship with other beings, and that this vision, at once new and ancient, will find expression in a transformed and renewed art and literature.'
When it comes to climate, change and promise may only be in the eyes of the beholder.
R K Pachauri, chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in the effort to structure a new climate change regime by 2009, there had been no major breakthroughs since the creation of the Bali action plan, but 'all eyes are focused on the G-8 summit' of industrialised countries. The Bali action plan was adopted as a two-year process to finalise a building agreement on Climate change at a UN conference in Indonesia last year December.
India sought global support for bringing down the cost of renewable power.
India is among the most vulnerable countries. It could lose 1.7 per cent of its GDP even if the annual mean temperature rises by just a degree.
Scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia have said that the observed patterns of temperature changes over the last 30 years are not in accord with what greenhouse models predict. These observations are in conflict with the conclusions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and also with some recent research publications based on essentially the same data.
Climate change will make monsoons unpredictable; as a result, rain-fed wheat cultivation in South Asia will suffer in a big way and the total cereal production will go down.
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.
The destinations to bear the brunt of the changing weather include hotspots in Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Australia and New Zealand.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will sign the agreement on behalf of India.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
The melting of polar ice, he said, had nothing to do with man-made carbon dioxide. They come off due to the physics of ice and the flow of ice, Plimer said.
The study revealed South Asia and Southern Africa as the two hunger hotspots where climate impacts on agriculture look particularly dire.
More than 80 per cent of Indians live in districts vulnerable to climate risks. Among these, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Bihar are the most vulnerable states to extreme climate events.
China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border. The USD 137 billion project, which is expected to dwarf even China's own Three Gorges Dam, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, the downstream riparian states. Concerns in India are centered around China's potential to control water flow, potentially enabling the release of large amounts of water to flood border areas in times of hostilities. The dam is part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and the Chinese government claims that the project is safe and prioritizes ecological protection.
'The CM's credibility is on the line.'
India has promised to reduce the emission intensity of its growth by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
13-year-old Yugaratna Srivastava from Lucknow addressing the United Nations Climate Change Summit on Tuesday at New York, representing the voice of the global youth on the issue.
Seeking to boost the strategic ties, India and the US finalised the text of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement.
China and the US are responsible for around 40 per cent of the world's carbon emissions.
The research could have implications for airlines, passengers, and airports.
So far, major emitters are far from curbs on emissions on a scale outlined by the IPCC.
'We may see even more restrictive policies during 2.0.'
Uttarakhand was a tragedy that none of us will forget. As experts analysed the tragedy, it became clear that the disaster was more man made. The intergovernmental panel on climate change in its Assessment Report 5 states that human influence on the climate system is clear and this is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system.
Decisions at a G20 meet are not added to the UN climate negotiations.
Columnist Rajni Bakshi asks if the louder responses to the climate crisis will be those arguing that innovations are viable only when they give handsome and rapid monetary returns?
India on Wednesday announced setting up of a fund that would help South Asia effectively meet urgent adaptation and capacity building needs posed by climate change and also proposed establishment of innovation centres in the region to develop sustainable energy technologies.
Indian and Russian officials have discussed Indian-Russian cargo transit along the Northern Sea route, joint projects in Arctic shipbuilding and possible training of Indian sailors for polar navigation.
Foresters should not succumb to the temptations of easy money for carbon sequestration
India has failed to meet its commitments towards tackling climate change mainly because of bureaucratic hurdles while China, the world's biggest polluter, has a better record, an expert said in Johannesburg.
'You'll see during the course of this visit, we'll have some important deliverables to announce in the area of energy and climate change,' US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake on the prime minister's journey to Washington, DC next week.
Senior journalist Darryl D'Monte reports exclusively for Rediff.com from Paris.
The host country has been pressing for a discussion at the 10th G20 Summit on the conflicts in Syria and the worst migrant crisis since World War II.
Red Cross will launch a global campaign 'Our World Your Move' to encourage people to participate in humanitarian actions aimed at tackling problems of climate change, conflicts and natural disasters.
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