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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
- News Digest - |
| Week ending 21 August 2009 |
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PM's man hits out at climate sceptics The New Zealand Herald, 17 August 2009 Auckland: The Prime Minister's top science adviser has drawn a comparison between climate change sceptics and those in the 1980s who disputed that Aids was caused by the HIV virus. Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, in one of his first acts as Chief Science Adviser, has released a position paper on climate change... Development rift deeper Washington Times, 17 August 2009 Washington: For many Americans and Europeans, climate change is a distant concept. Scientists' predictions that global warming will create serious conflict -- through rising sea levels, disastrous weather patterns, pervasive droughts and flooding, and uncontrollable diseases and pandemics -- have yet to be wholly realized... Vulnerable states team up for tougher climate pact Reuters, 17 August 2009 Bonn: The world's poorest nations joined small island states on Friday to urge far tougher global goals for fighting climate change, saying their people were at risk from everything from droughts to rising sea levels. The two groups, representing some 80 nations, formed a joint bloc to push for a goal of limiting world temperature rises to as far below 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit)... Would you put up with less choice in supermarkets to save the planet? Scotland on Sunday, 17 August 2009 Glasgow: Standing at the entrance of Tesco Extra at Silverburn, in Glasgow is a daunting prospect for even the most experienced of shoppers. Spread over 140,000 square feet and bathed in disorientating artificial light, aisles stretch as far as the eyes can see. In the fruit and vegetable department, the discerning customer can buy everything from kiwi fruit to kumquats; from bananas to butternut squash... Indian PM's address at the National Conference of Ministers of Environment & Forests Press Information Bureau, 18 August 2009 New Delhi: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, addressed the National Conference of Ministers of Environment & Forests in New Delhi today. The Prime Minister asked the State Governments to create state level action plans on climate change consistent with the strategies in the national plan... India must invest in green technology - Prime Minister Reuters, 18 August 2009 New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday the country must invest in its own environmentally friendly technologies, the latest in myriad pledges from one of the world's biggest polluters to fight climate change. Singh's comments underlined how India was seeking to undercut demands by rich nations for it to do more to curb carbon emissions... Climate change fuels water issues UPI, 18 August 2009 Stockholm: Governments must adapt to more storms, shortages, droughts and floods because of climate change, experts said at the World Water Week 2009 in Stockholm. “Climate change is to a very large extent about water change,” said Anders Berntell, head of the Stockholm International Water Institute... NYT: The climate and national security New York Times, 18 August 2009 New York: One would think that by now most people would have figured out that climate change represents a grave threat to the planet. One would also have expected from Congress a plausible strategy for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that lie at the root of the problem. That has not happened... Climate change network formed by universities JoongAng Daily, 18 August 2009 Seoul: An international forum hosted by Korea University with universities from 11 countries around Asia and Africa agreed yesterday to establish an education and research network aimed at tackling climate change... China to debate 2030 emission cuts deadline The Guardian, 19 August 2009 London: Chinese legislators will debate a new resolution on climate change next week, the state media reported today as a high-powered research institute called for the country to reduce carbon emissions by 2030. The moves indicate possible flexibility in the negotiating stance of the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases... CGD: Climate change negotiating positions of major developing country emitters Centre for Global Development, 19 August 2009 Washington: This paper is an output of a CGD project called Second Track to Copenhagen (STC). The objective of the project is to explore the potential for getting to yes on a climate change agreement, particularly between the major rich-country and major developing-country emitters... Nine varsities, NGOs bag N160m BNRCC climate change grants The Guardian, 19 August 2009 Lagos: Efforts to enhance Nigeria's indigenous capacity to adapt to climate change have been boosted with the award of regional pilot projects and research grants to universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The grants, worth about N160 million, come under the umbrella of the ‘Building Nigeria's Response to Climate Change (BNRCC), programme... Call on SA's industrial policy to cut carbon emissions Business Day, 19 August 2009 Johannesburg: South Africa must fundamentally overhaul its industrial policy if the country is to address the close correlation between economic growth and fossil fuel consumption, a leading sustainable energy researcher said yesterday... Industry players sceptical about SA's 2013 renewable target Engineering News, 20 August 2009 Johannesburg: The South African government's renewable energy policy has set a target for a 4% contribution, or about 10 000 GWh of electricity to be produced from renewable sources by 2013; however, whether this target would be met, was doubted by many industry players. Gathered at a climate change and alternative energy conference hosted by the Institute for Global Dialogue this week, delegates remained sceptical about the ability to meet the targets... Climate ‘will hit women hard’ Business Day, 20 August 2009 Johannesburg: Poor women farmers comprise the group likely to be hardest hit by climate change in Africa, leading to poverty and greater dependence on the state. A report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature said women would be disproportionately affected by climate change and were generally hardest hit by any disaster because of their economic and social inequality... Lack of capacity, delegates snag in LDC climate negotiation Daily Monitor, 20 August 2009 Addis Ababa: Lack of capacity and shortage in number of delegates for negotiations is one of the major snags for most of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the climate change negotiations, it was disclosed... Sheila Sisulu: WFP's approach to ending hunger has changed New Vision Online, 20 August 2009 The world has changed so much since the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) was created in 1961 to help fight hunger worldwide. Fifty years ago, for example, there was plenty of surplus food in the world. WFP was given the role of re-distributing some of this food across the globe... Community forestry and carbon financing forum looks for new ways to mitigate climate change Viet Nam News, 20 August 2009 Ha Noi: Implementing sustainable forest management in developing countries to fight climate change topped the agenda at a regional forum in the capital yesterday. Speaking at the first regional forum Community Forestry and Carbon Financing... UN SG: University Presidents' Forum on climate change and sustainable development in Asia and Africa 7th Space, 20 August 2009 Seoul: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's address to the University Presidents' Forum on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Asia and Africa, at Korea University in Seoul... Unions favour deep CO2 cuts and green jobs Reuters, 20 August 2009 Oslo: Trade unions are supporting deep cuts in greenhouse gases as part of a planned U.N. climate pact and want to ensure jobs are preserved in a shift to a green economy, a leader of a global labour group said on Tuesday. More jobs could be created than are lost if governments are serious about promoting a switch from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy, said Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)... They're alive! Megacities breathe, consume energy, excrete wastes and pollute Innovations Report, 21 August 2009 A scientific trend to view the world's biggest cities as analogous to living, breathing organisms is fostering a deep new understanding of how poor air quality in megacities can harm residents, people living far downwind, and also play a major role in global climate change. That's the conclusion of a report on the “urban metabolism” model of megacities presented at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS)... WWF: Massive river water transfers lacking scrutiny WWF, 21 August 2009 Stockholm: Large scale transfers of water from one river basin to another are generally occurring without adequate scrutiny of their economic, environmental and social impacts, according to an analysis released to World Water Week by WWF... Zambia to launch climate change handbook Times of Zambia, 21 August 2009 Lusaka: The government is in the process of introducing a handbook which will assist small-scale farmers in various parts of the country to address issues of climate change. Agriculture and Co-operatives Minister Brian Chituwo said sensitising the farmers was one way of encouraging productivity... Increased climate volatility expected to worsen poverty vulnerability in developing countries EurekAlert, 21 August 2009 A new study supported by the World Bank has for the first time tried to combine, understand and predict the effects of climate change on food prices and wages in developing countries to assess how badly different socio-economic strata in 16 vulnerable countries will be hit by extreme weather conditions, associated with climate change such as annual-scale hot, dry and wet extremes... Nigeria to hold national climate roundtable Daily Trust, 21 August 2009 Abuja: Environment Minister John Odey has announced that the first national climate change and low carbon round table would be held on Aug, 27 in Abuja, as a strategic platform to engage stakeholders in sealing a deal at the climate change conference due to be held in Copenhagen in December... Nile Delta: ‘We are going underwater. The sea will conquer our lands’ The Guardian, 21 August 2009 London: Maged Shamdy's ancestors arrived on the shores of Lake Burrulus in the mid-19th century. In the dusty heat of Cairo at the time, French industrialists were rounding up forced labour squads to help build the Suez Canal, back-breaking labour from which thousands did not return. Like countless other Egyptians, the Shamdys abandoned their family home and fled north into the Nile Delta, where they could hide within the marshy swamplands that fanned out from the great river's edge... |
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Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues - ACCID
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