The outcome of the Conference of Parties at Copenhagen is “good” but not “adequate,” R.K. Pachauri, chairperson of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, said on Wednesday.Talking to reporters here, he said the Copenhagen Accord provided a framework for working out a binding agreement, incorporating the details of the specific commitments by all countries, especially the developed nations. But it did not address the extent to which the developed nations would cut emission.The Accord and its drafting brought into existence an entity, consisting of the large emerging economies, labelled BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China). “It would be necessary for this group, in coordination with the U.S., not only to ensure universal acceptance of the Copenhagen Accord but also to carry forward the momentum that has been created for reaching a full-fledged binding agreement in Mexico,” he said.However, a bigger challenge for the BASIC grouping was to take along the least developed countries, the small island states and the low-lying coastal countries, so that they did not feel isolated, Mr. Pachauri said.
A high-level panel would be established under the Conference of Parties to study the potential source of revenue, including the alternative sources of finance, for meeting the goal, Mr. Pachauri said. It was important for the BASIC grouping to ensure that such a group had leadership and participation from the developing countries.He said the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol were sacrosanct for countries like India, and even if the new agreement went by another name, the essential features of the Kyoto Protocol must be preserved.The Indian authorities must show concern for protecting the ecosystems of this planet and should not allow their words and actions to be interpreted as being only in India’s national interest, he said. Suggesting that the “peaking” year for all countries be pegged at 2015, Mr. Pachauri said that if an agreement was not reached by December 2010, the cost and human impact of climate change would be serious.Rejecting the contention that India agreeing to “international consultation and analysis” in the Copenhagen Accord challenged its sovereignty, Mr. Pachauri said: “I don’t think the provisions of international consultations and analysis gives anybody the right to challenge anybody. It does not carry any weight.” “The term is so innocuous that it can’t be interpreted as a loss of sovereignty. I think our interest has not been touched in any way. Moreover, the BASIC countries will stick together and won’t let anyone [including the U.S.] push them over this provision.”White House Adviser David Axelrod had said: “Following the Accord, we will be able to review what India and China are doing on mitigation commitments. We are going to be able to challenge them if they do not meet those goals.”
The Hindu, December 24, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Pointing fingers at soot
It is no longer just greenhouses gases and their ability to produce global warming that scientists worry about. Concern has been growing over the role played by soot.Fine particles of soot result from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels and biomass. Soot is produced by diesel engines, the burning of coal, forest fires, burning of crop residues and when firewood and dung is used as household fuel.Soot particles absorb 80 per cent of the solar radiation they receive and directly warm the atmosphere, said S.K. Satheesh of the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
Cloud burn off
Absorption of sunlight by soot could heat the surrounding atmosphere to such an extent that clouds “burn off,” suggested Dr Satheesh in paper published in Nature in 2000 that was co-authored with V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.
Soot in the atmosphere could be having as much as 60 per cent of the current global warming effect of carbon dioxide, observed Prof. Ramanathan and G. Carmichael in a review paper published in Nature Geoscience in 2008.The increased levels of soot and other pollutants in the atmosphere were reducing monsoon rainfall over India, said Prof. Ramanathan and others in another paper in 2005. Droughts might double in frequency if the emissions continued unabated.
However, William Lau of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in the U.S. and others have suggested that the soot from northern India along with dust from the deserts of western China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East were producing an ’elevated heat pump’ over Tibet.
The effects
The rising hot air produced by enhanced heating drew in warm and moist air over the Indian subcontinent. Consequently, there could be an “advance of the rainy periods and subsequently an intensification of the Indian summer monsoon,” they remarked in a paper published in 2006.
More recently, there has been concern over soot hastening the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.
“Over areas of the Himalayas, the rate of warming is more than five times faster than warming globally, remarked Dr. Lau at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in California earlier this month. The ‘elevated heat pump’ could be contributing as much or more to atmospheric warming in the Himalayas as greenhouse gases.Besides, soot being deposited directly on the glaciers too seemed to be playing a part. Chinese and American scientists published this month the results of research that looked at ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau. “We find evidence that black soot aerosols deposited on Tibetan glaciers have been a significant contributing factor to observed rapid glacier retreat,” reported James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and others in their paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
Cutting soot emission
In a recent article in the magazine Foreign Affairs, Jessica Seddon Wallack, director of the Centre for Development Finance at the Institute for Financial Management and Research in Chennai, and Prof. Ramanathan have argued that reducing soot and ozone precursors could rapidly slow the pace of global warming, thus giving efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions time to get off the ground.Emissions of soot and ozone precursors could be brought down significantly at relatively low cost with technologies that already existed. While carbon dioxide could remain in the atmosphere for centuries, soot stayed aloft only for days to weeks while ozone persisted for just weeks to months.Reducing the emissions of these pollutants would quickly lower their concentration in the atmosphere and, in turn, their impact on global warming, they pointed out.
For U.S. dollars 15 billion, 500 million households could be provided with clean stoves, Prof. Ramanathan was quoted as saying in a recent media report. These families were currently using firewood, coal and dung as fuel and the switch would greatly reduce soot production.
Undesired result
Cutting soot levels in the atmosphere might produce the opposite effect – an increase in warming rather than a reduction, pointed out Dr. Satheesh,. He received the Bhatnagar Award this year.
Much of the warming of the atmosphere occurred when the earth’s surface became heated by radiation from the sun. Removing soot could increase the amount of sunlight reaching the surface, thereby leading to greater warming of the atmosphere.One recent study showed evidence of such an effect in California where reduction in soot levels after about 1980 led to a statewide surface temperature increase.
The Hindu, December 24, 2009
Cloud burn off
Absorption of sunlight by soot could heat the surrounding atmosphere to such an extent that clouds “burn off,” suggested Dr Satheesh in paper published in Nature in 2000 that was co-authored with V. Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.
Soot in the atmosphere could be having as much as 60 per cent of the current global warming effect of carbon dioxide, observed Prof. Ramanathan and G. Carmichael in a review paper published in Nature Geoscience in 2008.The increased levels of soot and other pollutants in the atmosphere were reducing monsoon rainfall over India, said Prof. Ramanathan and others in another paper in 2005. Droughts might double in frequency if the emissions continued unabated.
However, William Lau of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in the U.S. and others have suggested that the soot from northern India along with dust from the deserts of western China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East were producing an ’elevated heat pump’ over Tibet.
The effects
The rising hot air produced by enhanced heating drew in warm and moist air over the Indian subcontinent. Consequently, there could be an “advance of the rainy periods and subsequently an intensification of the Indian summer monsoon,” they remarked in a paper published in 2006.
More recently, there has been concern over soot hastening the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.
“Over areas of the Himalayas, the rate of warming is more than five times faster than warming globally, remarked Dr. Lau at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in California earlier this month. The ‘elevated heat pump’ could be contributing as much or more to atmospheric warming in the Himalayas as greenhouse gases.Besides, soot being deposited directly on the glaciers too seemed to be playing a part. Chinese and American scientists published this month the results of research that looked at ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau. “We find evidence that black soot aerosols deposited on Tibetan glaciers have been a significant contributing factor to observed rapid glacier retreat,” reported James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and others in their paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
Cutting soot emission
In a recent article in the magazine Foreign Affairs, Jessica Seddon Wallack, director of the Centre for Development Finance at the Institute for Financial Management and Research in Chennai, and Prof. Ramanathan have argued that reducing soot and ozone precursors could rapidly slow the pace of global warming, thus giving efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions time to get off the ground.Emissions of soot and ozone precursors could be brought down significantly at relatively low cost with technologies that already existed. While carbon dioxide could remain in the atmosphere for centuries, soot stayed aloft only for days to weeks while ozone persisted for just weeks to months.Reducing the emissions of these pollutants would quickly lower their concentration in the atmosphere and, in turn, their impact on global warming, they pointed out.
For U.S. dollars 15 billion, 500 million households could be provided with clean stoves, Prof. Ramanathan was quoted as saying in a recent media report. These families were currently using firewood, coal and dung as fuel and the switch would greatly reduce soot production.
Undesired result
Cutting soot levels in the atmosphere might produce the opposite effect – an increase in warming rather than a reduction, pointed out Dr. Satheesh,. He received the Bhatnagar Award this year.
Much of the warming of the atmosphere occurred when the earth’s surface became heated by radiation from the sun. Removing soot could increase the amount of sunlight reaching the surface, thereby leading to greater warming of the atmosphere.One recent study showed evidence of such an effect in California where reduction in soot levels after about 1980 led to a statewide surface temperature increase.
The Hindu, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dangerous cosmic rays are increasing: NASA
Cosmic rays from outer space that can harm astronauts and spacecrafts significantly are increasing and now at a "space age" high, NASA researchers have said. The cosmic ray intensity in 2009 is at a "space age" high, said Richard Mewaldt, one of the scientists analysing data received from NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft which is in solar orbit about a million miles from the earth.
"The intensity is actually about 20 per cent higher than solar-minimum periods of recent decades, and if this trend continues, NASA may want to reconsider how much shielding is required if astronauts return to the moon," said Mewaldt from California Institute of Technology. Cosmic rays are very-high-energy particles that originate in explosions of massive stars elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy. They travel at nearly the speed of light and strike the Earth from all directions, The Washington Post said.
Source: Economic Times, Dated: 10.12.2009
"The intensity is actually about 20 per cent higher than solar-minimum periods of recent decades, and if this trend continues, NASA may want to reconsider how much shielding is required if astronauts return to the moon," said Mewaldt from California Institute of Technology. Cosmic rays are very-high-energy particles that originate in explosions of massive stars elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy. They travel at nearly the speed of light and strike the Earth from all directions, The Washington Post said.
Source: Economic Times, Dated: 10.12.2009
Climate: Grim signs of deadly change
Way above us in the Himalayan cloud are jagged, snowbound peaks – Annapurna, Damodar, Gangapurna, Dhalguri. Below us is the Thulagi glacier, a river of ancient ice snaking steeply down the Marshyangdi valley from near the top of Mount Manasulu. The small plane banks and skims a lonely pass and we find what we have been looking for: at Thulagi's snout is a milk-blue lake marked on few maps. It has doubled in size in just a few years and is held back only by a low wall of dead ice and earth. If Thulagi carries on melting at the present rate, nothing will stop billions of litres of water bursting through this natural dam and devastating villages, farmland and everything below. Thulagi is one of 20 steadily growing glacial lakes in Nepal which mountain communities and scientists fear will inevitably rupture if the growth in greenhouse gas emissions is not stemmed by world leaders at the Copenhagen climate summit. Average temperatures across Nepal have risen 1.6C in 50 years – twice the global average. But here on the roof of the world, in what is called the "third pole", they are already nearly 4C above normal and on track to rise by as much as 8C by 2050.
Temperature rises like this in the Himalayas would be a catastrophe. It is not just the future of a few mountain communities at stake but the lives of nearly one in four people in the world, all of whom rely on the Himalayas for water. Nepalese rivers alone provide water for 700 million people in India and Bangladesh. "If there is less snow in the Himalayas, or the monsoon rains weaken, or the glaciers melt with climate change, then all south Asian farming, industry, water supplies and cities will suffer," said Nepalese climate specialist Ngamindra Dahal. On a 1,000-mile journey from the world's greatest water source in the Himalayas, down rivers and then by train through Nepal, India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal, we saw evidence of profound changes in weather patterns right across south Asia. Wherever we went we were told of significant temperature increases, and found governments slowly waking up to the threat of climate change and communities having to respond in any way they could to erratic rains and more serious droughts, floods and storms. The starting point was Jomsom, a small town in the Kali Gandaki valley, 2,300 metres high and at the heart of the Annapurna range. This remote town, which saw its first ever car last year, has experienced no snowfall this winter. The temperature soared way above normal to 27C, and only fell to 13C, against a usual -4C, while the snowline has risen above 5,000 metres. The Gandaki river, fed by 1,200 glaciers, flows to the Ganges and on to Bangladesh.
"The temperature is higher, so there's less snow, and less meltwater in spring to plant crops. People have no need to come down from the mountains in winter. They can grow chillies and peppers now," said Sunil Pant, a Nepalese MP. "But now they cannot grow wheat or staple foods." It's the same story even in the Everest valley region, 400 miles to the east of Jomsom, where the snowfall is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Already, some communities believe they are a living under a death sentence, according to Lucky Sherpa, the MP for the region. "They say they are not sure there will be a tomorrow," she said. "The snow used to come up to your waist in winter. Now children do not know what snow is. We have more flies and mosquitoes, more skin diseases. Communities are adapting by switching crops, but diseases are moving up the mountains, the tea and apple crops are being hurt and wells are drying up." Two hundred miles away in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, Simon Lucas, a climate change officer at the UK Department for International Development, confirmed that river flows in winter have seriously declined. "The trends are clearer in Nepal than in other countries," he said. "People cannot plant their crops in the spring because the winter snows are not so heavy. They have always relied on snow and glacier melt". Britain last week earmarked £50m for Nepal to adapt to climate change, mainly through investing in its forests, but climate scientists say it faces ever more erratic, intense and unpredictable rainfall. We found the evidence for that when we headed south towards Nepal's border with Bihar state in India. Here the problem is not too little water but far too much; last year, following torrential monsoon rains, Nepal's greatest river, the Khosi, broke though two kilometres of embankment and flooded hundreds of square kilometres of farmland. Nearly 1,500 people died and 3 million people were displaced. Fifty thousand people in Nepal and many more in India lost their homes, and the river changed its course by more than 150km.
The Khosi is known as "the river of sorrow" because it often floods, but the scale of what happened last August shocked both Indian and Nepalese governments. When the waters finally receded, people found vast areas of farmland covered by a 6ft-deep sea of sand brought down in suspension from the mountains. Seven months on, the embankment has been repaired but people are devastated and everyone is frightened that this kind of flood will become more common. "It's impossible to cultivate anything", said Ashma Khatoum, a farmer. "There are no toilets, or clean drinking water. I don't believe we will ever get back to normal again." We crossed the Indian border and went straight from severe flood to deep drought. Bihar, one of India's poorest states, is experiencing one of its worst droughts in a generation. This year it has had only 15-30% of its usual rains. Most of the state has been declared a drought zone and 63 million people are expected go hungry next year. "Climate change is definitely happening," said Vyas Ji, principal secretary in the department of disaster management in the Bihar state capital, Patna. "We used to have droughts every four or five years and floods every two to three years. Now it's very erratic. Even the flood-prone districts are facing drought. Rainfall used to be predictable, limited and beneficial to farmers. Now it is unpredictable, heavier and harmful. Now there is no winter. Farmers are confused. This was a rice cultivating state but the seedlings get destroyed."
We headed south again, to Kolkata, one of India's great cities, which last week was warned again by international scientists that it was acutely vulnerable to sea level rises. Here temperatures have risen significantly and there are more cases of dengue fever and malaria, said the city mayor, Bikash Bhattacharya. "Copenhagen is the last chance that the poor have. If we do not succeed and we go on with business as usual, then the world's poor people will have a very hard time." "Climate change is not the future. It is now. Tens of thousands of Indians are already in a critical situation," said Sugata Hazra, director of Jadavpur University's school of oceanography in Kolkata. His researchers have recorded sea levels in the Bay of Bengal rising far faster than the global average, and more cyclones hammering the coast. The result is the inundation of islands from higher tides and surges. "The rate of relative sea level rise in the Sagar Islands [in the Indian Sundarbans] is 3.14mm per year, which is substantially more than the global average of 1-2mm per year. It is up to 5.2mm in some places. By 2020 at least 70,000 people will have been made homeless."
Anurag Danda, head of WWF's Sundarbans delta programme, appealed to politicians in Copenhagen for help. "For the people of the Sundarbans, climate change has arrived. The Maldives gets the attention, but there are many other people facing disaster." From Kolkata we headed to the Bangladeshi border. There, India is building a 15ft fence to keep its neighbours out. For the moment those wanting to leave are mainly young men seeking work in the booming Indian economy, but in future, say analysts, it could be climate refugees. Bangladesh is by far the most densely populated large country in the world and, being entirely on a low-lying delta, it is one of the most vulnerable. It stands to lose 20% of its land to sea level rise in the next 80 years and is already experiencing more frequent and more intense cyclones. In the last seven years, four of the most powerful storms ever recorded have slammed its coasts. Climate change, on top of all its other problems, means Bangladesh faces even deeper problems, said Kim Streatfield, director of the Centre for health and population research at ICDDR, an international research institution in Dhaka. He fears the combination of climate change and an expected 50m-100m population rise in the next 50 years will devastate the country unless action is taken. "Increasing salinity in the water will have a major effect on food production," he said. "In addition, the water table is dropping two to three metres a year, and one in four wells can be dry in the dry season."
Our south Asian climate odyssey from source to sea ended south of Chittagong, on the Bay of Bengal. There, where the waters of the Kali Gandaki, the Ganges and Nepal's many other rivers reach the ocean, communities are experiencing higher tides and more flooding, as well as the loss of farmland and fishing. "The sea water now comes right into our houses. We would all like to move, but there is nowhere to go," said Geeta Das, a teacher in Bolihut village, near Chittagong. Her home has been partly washed away and her bed is now just a foot from where the waters reached a few weeks ago. "We panic when it is cloudy and it is about to rain. We fear we will lose our children." A neighbour, Madhuri Das, said: "We do not need scientists or anyone to tell us things are changing. We know the sea level is rising. We have always lived here. The floods are more frequent and we now fear the sea. Ten years ago, the sea water never came to the village. We cannot afford to raise our houses except on mud, which gets washed away. We can't use the toilets, and diseases are now more common. Our water is no longer sweet." Nurun Nahar, a Bolihut fisherman, gave up his trade when catches declined precipitously three years ago. His experiences speak for the 700m people who depend on Nepal and the Himalayas for their lives: "We are poor so we cannot do much to adapt on our own to what we can see is taking place. But we do not want to depend on nature any more. We see so many changes happening. All we want is a secure life. We are resilient but we must look to the rich to help us make this world a better place."
Source: Business Line, Dated: 10.12.2009
Temperature rises like this in the Himalayas would be a catastrophe. It is not just the future of a few mountain communities at stake but the lives of nearly one in four people in the world, all of whom rely on the Himalayas for water. Nepalese rivers alone provide water for 700 million people in India and Bangladesh. "If there is less snow in the Himalayas, or the monsoon rains weaken, or the glaciers melt with climate change, then all south Asian farming, industry, water supplies and cities will suffer," said Nepalese climate specialist Ngamindra Dahal. On a 1,000-mile journey from the world's greatest water source in the Himalayas, down rivers and then by train through Nepal, India and Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal, we saw evidence of profound changes in weather patterns right across south Asia. Wherever we went we were told of significant temperature increases, and found governments slowly waking up to the threat of climate change and communities having to respond in any way they could to erratic rains and more serious droughts, floods and storms. The starting point was Jomsom, a small town in the Kali Gandaki valley, 2,300 metres high and at the heart of the Annapurna range. This remote town, which saw its first ever car last year, has experienced no snowfall this winter. The temperature soared way above normal to 27C, and only fell to 13C, against a usual -4C, while the snowline has risen above 5,000 metres. The Gandaki river, fed by 1,200 glaciers, flows to the Ganges and on to Bangladesh.
"The temperature is higher, so there's less snow, and less meltwater in spring to plant crops. People have no need to come down from the mountains in winter. They can grow chillies and peppers now," said Sunil Pant, a Nepalese MP. "But now they cannot grow wheat or staple foods." It's the same story even in the Everest valley region, 400 miles to the east of Jomsom, where the snowfall is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Already, some communities believe they are a living under a death sentence, according to Lucky Sherpa, the MP for the region. "They say they are not sure there will be a tomorrow," she said. "The snow used to come up to your waist in winter. Now children do not know what snow is. We have more flies and mosquitoes, more skin diseases. Communities are adapting by switching crops, but diseases are moving up the mountains, the tea and apple crops are being hurt and wells are drying up." Two hundred miles away in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, Simon Lucas, a climate change officer at the UK Department for International Development, confirmed that river flows in winter have seriously declined. "The trends are clearer in Nepal than in other countries," he said. "People cannot plant their crops in the spring because the winter snows are not so heavy. They have always relied on snow and glacier melt". Britain last week earmarked £50m for Nepal to adapt to climate change, mainly through investing in its forests, but climate scientists say it faces ever more erratic, intense and unpredictable rainfall. We found the evidence for that when we headed south towards Nepal's border with Bihar state in India. Here the problem is not too little water but far too much; last year, following torrential monsoon rains, Nepal's greatest river, the Khosi, broke though two kilometres of embankment and flooded hundreds of square kilometres of farmland. Nearly 1,500 people died and 3 million people were displaced. Fifty thousand people in Nepal and many more in India lost their homes, and the river changed its course by more than 150km.
The Khosi is known as "the river of sorrow" because it often floods, but the scale of what happened last August shocked both Indian and Nepalese governments. When the waters finally receded, people found vast areas of farmland covered by a 6ft-deep sea of sand brought down in suspension from the mountains. Seven months on, the embankment has been repaired but people are devastated and everyone is frightened that this kind of flood will become more common. "It's impossible to cultivate anything", said Ashma Khatoum, a farmer. "There are no toilets, or clean drinking water. I don't believe we will ever get back to normal again." We crossed the Indian border and went straight from severe flood to deep drought. Bihar, one of India's poorest states, is experiencing one of its worst droughts in a generation. This year it has had only 15-30% of its usual rains. Most of the state has been declared a drought zone and 63 million people are expected go hungry next year. "Climate change is definitely happening," said Vyas Ji, principal secretary in the department of disaster management in the Bihar state capital, Patna. "We used to have droughts every four or five years and floods every two to three years. Now it's very erratic. Even the flood-prone districts are facing drought. Rainfall used to be predictable, limited and beneficial to farmers. Now it is unpredictable, heavier and harmful. Now there is no winter. Farmers are confused. This was a rice cultivating state but the seedlings get destroyed."
We headed south again, to Kolkata, one of India's great cities, which last week was warned again by international scientists that it was acutely vulnerable to sea level rises. Here temperatures have risen significantly and there are more cases of dengue fever and malaria, said the city mayor, Bikash Bhattacharya. "Copenhagen is the last chance that the poor have. If we do not succeed and we go on with business as usual, then the world's poor people will have a very hard time." "Climate change is not the future. It is now. Tens of thousands of Indians are already in a critical situation," said Sugata Hazra, director of Jadavpur University's school of oceanography in Kolkata. His researchers have recorded sea levels in the Bay of Bengal rising far faster than the global average, and more cyclones hammering the coast. The result is the inundation of islands from higher tides and surges. "The rate of relative sea level rise in the Sagar Islands [in the Indian Sundarbans] is 3.14mm per year, which is substantially more than the global average of 1-2mm per year. It is up to 5.2mm in some places. By 2020 at least 70,000 people will have been made homeless."
Anurag Danda, head of WWF's Sundarbans delta programme, appealed to politicians in Copenhagen for help. "For the people of the Sundarbans, climate change has arrived. The Maldives gets the attention, but there are many other people facing disaster." From Kolkata we headed to the Bangladeshi border. There, India is building a 15ft fence to keep its neighbours out. For the moment those wanting to leave are mainly young men seeking work in the booming Indian economy, but in future, say analysts, it could be climate refugees. Bangladesh is by far the most densely populated large country in the world and, being entirely on a low-lying delta, it is one of the most vulnerable. It stands to lose 20% of its land to sea level rise in the next 80 years and is already experiencing more frequent and more intense cyclones. In the last seven years, four of the most powerful storms ever recorded have slammed its coasts. Climate change, on top of all its other problems, means Bangladesh faces even deeper problems, said Kim Streatfield, director of the Centre for health and population research at ICDDR, an international research institution in Dhaka. He fears the combination of climate change and an expected 50m-100m population rise in the next 50 years will devastate the country unless action is taken. "Increasing salinity in the water will have a major effect on food production," he said. "In addition, the water table is dropping two to three metres a year, and one in four wells can be dry in the dry season."
Our south Asian climate odyssey from source to sea ended south of Chittagong, on the Bay of Bengal. There, where the waters of the Kali Gandaki, the Ganges and Nepal's many other rivers reach the ocean, communities are experiencing higher tides and more flooding, as well as the loss of farmland and fishing. "The sea water now comes right into our houses. We would all like to move, but there is nowhere to go," said Geeta Das, a teacher in Bolihut village, near Chittagong. Her home has been partly washed away and her bed is now just a foot from where the waters reached a few weeks ago. "We panic when it is cloudy and it is about to rain. We fear we will lose our children." A neighbour, Madhuri Das, said: "We do not need scientists or anyone to tell us things are changing. We know the sea level is rising. We have always lived here. The floods are more frequent and we now fear the sea. Ten years ago, the sea water never came to the village. We cannot afford to raise our houses except on mud, which gets washed away. We can't use the toilets, and diseases are now more common. Our water is no longer sweet." Nurun Nahar, a Bolihut fisherman, gave up his trade when catches declined precipitously three years ago. His experiences speak for the 700m people who depend on Nepal and the Himalayas for their lives: "We are poor so we cannot do much to adapt on our own to what we can see is taking place. But we do not want to depend on nature any more. We see so many changes happening. All we want is a secure life. We are resilient but we must look to the rich to help us make this world a better place."
Source: Business Line, Dated: 10.12.2009
Climate documents spark rich vs poor clash
Developing nations who face huge climate change burdens are demanding that wealthy nations shoulder more of the costs, as a leaked Danish document and fresh evidence of a hotter planet raised temperatures at the UN climate conference.
A globe is projected as...
Negotiators on Wednesday were trying to bridge the difficult gaps among 192 nations and stem a growing chasm between rich and poor on the third day of the UN climate conference.
A key speaker will be US Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson, whose agency just gave President Barack Obama a new way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. Obama will join more than 100 national leaders converging on Copenhagen for the final days of bargaining late next week.
Jackson headlines a US-sponsored meeting entitled "Taking Action at Home." The EPA determined Monday that scientific evidence clearly shows greenhouse gases are endangering Americans' health and must be regulated, either by Congress or by itself, the agency responsible for air pollution. That gave Obama a new way to regulate those gases without needing the approval of the US Congress.
Meanwhile, small island nations, poor countries and those seeking money from the developed world to preserve their tropical forests were among those upset over competing draft texts attributed to Denmark and China outlining proposed outcomes for the historic Dec. 7-18 summit.
Some of the poorest nations feared too much of the burden to curb greenhouse gases is being hoisted onto their shoulders. They are seeking billions of dollars in aid from the wealthy countries to deal with climate change, which melts glaciers that raise sea levels worldwide, turns some regions drier and threatens food production.
Diplomats from developing countries and climate activists complained the Danish hosts pre-empted the negotiations with their draft proposal.
Lumumba Di-Aping of Sudan, the head of the 135-nation bloc of developing countries, said the $10 billion fast-track pledge from the US, European Union, Japan and other wealthy nations paled compared to the more than $1 trillion spent to rescue financial institutions.
"If this is the greatest risk that humanity faces, then how do you explain $10 billion - unless it is an inducement for some countries to accept the western-backed proposal?" he said. "Ten billion will not buy developing countries' citizens enough coffins."
The Danish draft proposal would allow rich countries to cut fewer emissions while poorer nations would face tougher limits on greenhouse gases and more conditions on money available to adapt.
"(It focuses) on pleasing the rich and powerful countries rather than serving the majority of states who are demanding a fair and ambitious solution," said Kim Carstensen of the environmental group WWF.
A sketchy counterproposal attributed to China would extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by an average 5 percent by 2012, compared with 1990 levels.
The Chinese text would incorporate specific new, deeper targets for the industrialized world for a further five to eight years. Developing countries, on the other hand, including China, would be covered by a separate agreement that envisions their taking actions to control emissions, but not in the same legally binding way. No targets would be specified for them.
Poorer nations believe the two-track approach would best preserve the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" recognized by the Kyoto treaty.
Such draft ideas are the usual grist early in such long, difficult international talks. These two proposals were not yet even recorded as official conference documents.
"It has no validity," key European Union negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said, speaking of the Danish proposal. "It's only a piece of paper. The only texts that have validity here are those which people negotiated."
Source: Business Line, Dated: 10.12.2009
A globe is projected as...
Negotiators on Wednesday were trying to bridge the difficult gaps among 192 nations and stem a growing chasm between rich and poor on the third day of the UN climate conference.
A key speaker will be US Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson, whose agency just gave President Barack Obama a new way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. Obama will join more than 100 national leaders converging on Copenhagen for the final days of bargaining late next week.
Jackson headlines a US-sponsored meeting entitled "Taking Action at Home." The EPA determined Monday that scientific evidence clearly shows greenhouse gases are endangering Americans' health and must be regulated, either by Congress or by itself, the agency responsible for air pollution. That gave Obama a new way to regulate those gases without needing the approval of the US Congress.
Meanwhile, small island nations, poor countries and those seeking money from the developed world to preserve their tropical forests were among those upset over competing draft texts attributed to Denmark and China outlining proposed outcomes for the historic Dec. 7-18 summit.
Some of the poorest nations feared too much of the burden to curb greenhouse gases is being hoisted onto their shoulders. They are seeking billions of dollars in aid from the wealthy countries to deal with climate change, which melts glaciers that raise sea levels worldwide, turns some regions drier and threatens food production.
Diplomats from developing countries and climate activists complained the Danish hosts pre-empted the negotiations with their draft proposal.
Lumumba Di-Aping of Sudan, the head of the 135-nation bloc of developing countries, said the $10 billion fast-track pledge from the US, European Union, Japan and other wealthy nations paled compared to the more than $1 trillion spent to rescue financial institutions.
"If this is the greatest risk that humanity faces, then how do you explain $10 billion - unless it is an inducement for some countries to accept the western-backed proposal?" he said. "Ten billion will not buy developing countries' citizens enough coffins."
The Danish draft proposal would allow rich countries to cut fewer emissions while poorer nations would face tougher limits on greenhouse gases and more conditions on money available to adapt.
"(It focuses) on pleasing the rich and powerful countries rather than serving the majority of states who are demanding a fair and ambitious solution," said Kim Carstensen of the environmental group WWF.
A sketchy counterproposal attributed to China would extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by an average 5 percent by 2012, compared with 1990 levels.
The Chinese text would incorporate specific new, deeper targets for the industrialized world for a further five to eight years. Developing countries, on the other hand, including China, would be covered by a separate agreement that envisions their taking actions to control emissions, but not in the same legally binding way. No targets would be specified for them.
Poorer nations believe the two-track approach would best preserve the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" recognized by the Kyoto treaty.
Such draft ideas are the usual grist early in such long, difficult international talks. These two proposals were not yet even recorded as official conference documents.
"It has no validity," key European Union negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said, speaking of the Danish proposal. "It's only a piece of paper. The only texts that have validity here are those which people negotiated."
Source: Business Line, Dated: 10.12.2009
Climate change science complex, effects clear
The surface temperature of Venus is around 460 degree C. In the case of Mars, the temperature can dip to as low as – 140 degree C. The reason: apart from the distance factor, the amount of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere plays a crucial role.The atmosphere of Venus is comprised mostly of CO{-2} that prevents the heat from escaping, thus turning the planet into an oven. In the case of Mars, it lacks a thick atmosphere that can retain heat.Earth has the right amount of CO{-2} in the atmosphere that traps the right amount of heat from escaping thus making our planet neither extremely hot nor cold.
Greenhouse effect
Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas and the way heat is trapped in the atmosphere by CO{-2} and other greenhouse gases is called the greenhouse effect.The amount of CO{-2} in the atmosphere is crucial and any increase in its level will heat up the Earth. There is overwhelming evidence that the amount of CO{-2} emitted as a result of deforestation and burning fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) has been increasing with the growth of industrialisation.There is overwhelming evidence, and there is growing consensus, that on an average the earth has warmed up by 0.6 degree C during the 20th Century. The warming of the earth, called global warming, has been pronounced during the last three decades.There is not much dispute that the earth is warming up. But what remains a contentious issue has been on predicting CO{-2} increase vis-À-vis climate change. An increase of CO{-2} level should, theoretically speaking, result in increased temperature.But the earth behaves in a more dynamic manner. Not all CO{-2} emitted ends up in the atmosphere. That is because there are several mechanisms that come into play to absorb the increased amounts of CO{-2}.
Carbon sinks
For instance, forests and oceans absorb more than 50 per cent of the CO{-2} humans produce. Hence they are called carbon sinks. Ice reflects sunlight thus reducing the impact. Yet things are beginning to look grim.
Warmer years
There has been a sudden increase in the atmospheric CO{-2} since 2001. The natural sinks may be losing their ability to absorb CO{-2}{-.} A study of ocean data between 2000 and 2007 showed that ocean’s ability to absorb CO{-2} reduced from 27 per cent to 24 per cent.The ice sheets of Antarctica and the Arctic are unable to reflect the same quantum of sunlight as they are themselves falling prey to global warming and shrinking in size (melting). East Antarctica, for instance has been losing at least 5 billion tonnes of ice every year since 2006. According to recent observations of ice loss, Antarctica could shrink by 33 per cent by 2100, leading to a sea-level rise of 1.4 metres.
Failing ocean sink
Algae and some marine organisms use CO{-2} dissolved in water and turn them into organic compounds, thus locking up the greenhouse gas. But the ocean’s ability to act as a sink depends on how well it is able to sustain life.As more and more CO{-2} gets dissolved, the ocean will turn acidic; an acidic ocean’s ability to absorb the greenhouse gas is compromised.Acidic ocean also makes it difficult for calcium-shelled marine organisms to build shells.In fact, acidic ocean can lead to leaching of shells and hence release of locked up carbon.
Plant growth myth
Increased CO{-2} levels can lead to faster plant growth (carbon fertilisation), and in turn absorb more of the greenhouse gas. Studies have however found that higher CO{-2} levels will help only certain plant species.For instance, while higher temperatures will boost plant growth in cooler regions, in the tropics they may actually impede growth.A two-decade-long study undertaken in the rainforest plots in Panama and Malaysia concluded that more than 1 degree C in temperature can actually reduce tree growth by half.But even the faster plant growth cannot remove the increasing levels of CO{-2}. And plant growth can get negatively affected when a warmer earth increases evaporation resulting in drier soils. Food crops depend on many factors like soil type, climate, and moisture content in soil. Any change in even one of them can affect a particular crop.
The consequences
Some trees are beginning to move towards higher and less hot latitudes and some fishes unable to bear the increasingly hot waters of the tropics are moving north. Glaciers are retreating for kilometres up valley, the tropic is expanding, hurricanes are becoming more frequent, drought and floods are increasingly seen.
The timeframe
While a few warmer winters cannot be attributed to global warming, more number of such warmer winters over an extended time period is more likely to be due to warming.It just depends on what timeframe one chooses to interpret the data. There is evidence from ice core samples, tree rings, and ancient corals that global temperature has been increasing.For instance, ice cores drilled from the Antarctic ice-sheet show a very close correlation between greenhouse gas levels and temperature over the past 800,000 years. A recent study has concluded that Antarctica warmed up by 0.5 degree C between 1957 and 2006, with particularly strong warming in west Antarctica.
Long predicted
But the strongest evidence of global warming comes not from actual records of past temperature but from physics and chemistry. That is the reason why scientists could predict global warming long before an increase in temperature over the 20th century became obvious.There is clear evidence that 1998 was the warmest year, and the three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 have been after 1980. 2009 will become the fifth warmest year since 1850.
No uniformity
But a warmer globe does not produce a uniform change across the world. While some parts may see increased rainfall and floods, others may witness droughts. Even within a country, say India, average annual increase in temperature will not be uniform. There is uncertainty as to how the warming will change the rainfall pattern on a regional scale.While most of the continents experienced above-average temperature in 2009, North America actually cooled down. But there is a clear trend seen over large areas and over longer periods of time.One reason could be changes in sea surface temperature and circulation patterns. Increase in sea surface temperature can affect rainfall pattern, and reduction in ocean salinity due to ice-sheet melting can lead to changes in ocean circulation pattern.
The future scenario
It is estimated that if the current trend continues, atmospheric CO{-2} level will double pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. That will be enough to raise global temperature by around 3-5 degree C. Sea level rose by 3 mm per year in the 20th century. So how much will a 3-5 degree increase in temperature increase the sea-level rise?The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted sea-level rise of 0.2 to 0.6 metres by the end of this century. Scientists now think that this is a gross underestimation. They predict the sea level to rise much faster than predicted; it takes nearly 100 years for the CO{-2} emitted into the atmosphere to disperse.
The Hindu, December 10, 2009
Greenhouse effect
Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas and the way heat is trapped in the atmosphere by CO{-2} and other greenhouse gases is called the greenhouse effect.The amount of CO{-2} in the atmosphere is crucial and any increase in its level will heat up the Earth. There is overwhelming evidence that the amount of CO{-2} emitted as a result of deforestation and burning fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) has been increasing with the growth of industrialisation.There is overwhelming evidence, and there is growing consensus, that on an average the earth has warmed up by 0.6 degree C during the 20th Century. The warming of the earth, called global warming, has been pronounced during the last three decades.There is not much dispute that the earth is warming up. But what remains a contentious issue has been on predicting CO{-2} increase vis-À-vis climate change. An increase of CO{-2} level should, theoretically speaking, result in increased temperature.But the earth behaves in a more dynamic manner. Not all CO{-2} emitted ends up in the atmosphere. That is because there are several mechanisms that come into play to absorb the increased amounts of CO{-2}.
Carbon sinks
For instance, forests and oceans absorb more than 50 per cent of the CO{-2} humans produce. Hence they are called carbon sinks. Ice reflects sunlight thus reducing the impact. Yet things are beginning to look grim.
Warmer years
There has been a sudden increase in the atmospheric CO{-2} since 2001. The natural sinks may be losing their ability to absorb CO{-2}{-.} A study of ocean data between 2000 and 2007 showed that ocean’s ability to absorb CO{-2} reduced from 27 per cent to 24 per cent.The ice sheets of Antarctica and the Arctic are unable to reflect the same quantum of sunlight as they are themselves falling prey to global warming and shrinking in size (melting). East Antarctica, for instance has been losing at least 5 billion tonnes of ice every year since 2006. According to recent observations of ice loss, Antarctica could shrink by 33 per cent by 2100, leading to a sea-level rise of 1.4 metres.
Failing ocean sink
Algae and some marine organisms use CO{-2} dissolved in water and turn them into organic compounds, thus locking up the greenhouse gas. But the ocean’s ability to act as a sink depends on how well it is able to sustain life.As more and more CO{-2} gets dissolved, the ocean will turn acidic; an acidic ocean’s ability to absorb the greenhouse gas is compromised.Acidic ocean also makes it difficult for calcium-shelled marine organisms to build shells.In fact, acidic ocean can lead to leaching of shells and hence release of locked up carbon.
Plant growth myth
Increased CO{-2} levels can lead to faster plant growth (carbon fertilisation), and in turn absorb more of the greenhouse gas. Studies have however found that higher CO{-2} levels will help only certain plant species.For instance, while higher temperatures will boost plant growth in cooler regions, in the tropics they may actually impede growth.A two-decade-long study undertaken in the rainforest plots in Panama and Malaysia concluded that more than 1 degree C in temperature can actually reduce tree growth by half.But even the faster plant growth cannot remove the increasing levels of CO{-2}. And plant growth can get negatively affected when a warmer earth increases evaporation resulting in drier soils. Food crops depend on many factors like soil type, climate, and moisture content in soil. Any change in even one of them can affect a particular crop.
The consequences
Some trees are beginning to move towards higher and less hot latitudes and some fishes unable to bear the increasingly hot waters of the tropics are moving north. Glaciers are retreating for kilometres up valley, the tropic is expanding, hurricanes are becoming more frequent, drought and floods are increasingly seen.
The timeframe
While a few warmer winters cannot be attributed to global warming, more number of such warmer winters over an extended time period is more likely to be due to warming.It just depends on what timeframe one chooses to interpret the data. There is evidence from ice core samples, tree rings, and ancient corals that global temperature has been increasing.For instance, ice cores drilled from the Antarctic ice-sheet show a very close correlation between greenhouse gas levels and temperature over the past 800,000 years. A recent study has concluded that Antarctica warmed up by 0.5 degree C between 1957 and 2006, with particularly strong warming in west Antarctica.
Long predicted
But the strongest evidence of global warming comes not from actual records of past temperature but from physics and chemistry. That is the reason why scientists could predict global warming long before an increase in temperature over the 20th century became obvious.There is clear evidence that 1998 was the warmest year, and the three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 have been after 1980. 2009 will become the fifth warmest year since 1850.
No uniformity
But a warmer globe does not produce a uniform change across the world. While some parts may see increased rainfall and floods, others may witness droughts. Even within a country, say India, average annual increase in temperature will not be uniform. There is uncertainty as to how the warming will change the rainfall pattern on a regional scale.While most of the continents experienced above-average temperature in 2009, North America actually cooled down. But there is a clear trend seen over large areas and over longer periods of time.One reason could be changes in sea surface temperature and circulation patterns. Increase in sea surface temperature can affect rainfall pattern, and reduction in ocean salinity due to ice-sheet melting can lead to changes in ocean circulation pattern.
The future scenario
It is estimated that if the current trend continues, atmospheric CO{-2} level will double pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. That will be enough to raise global temperature by around 3-5 degree C. Sea level rose by 3 mm per year in the 20th century. So how much will a 3-5 degree increase in temperature increase the sea-level rise?The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted sea-level rise of 0.2 to 0.6 metres by the end of this century. Scientists now think that this is a gross underestimation. They predict the sea level to rise much faster than predicted; it takes nearly 100 years for the CO{-2} emitted into the atmosphere to disperse.
The Hindu, December 10, 2009
2000-2009: warmest decade on record
The past 10 years have been the warmest in recorded history, according to the UK Meteorological (Met) Office.Figures released at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen show despite 1998 being the warmest year on record, the noughties has been the warmest decade recorded in 160 years.In a separate announcement, the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva said today that 2009 will be one of the 10 warmest individual years recorded. The provisional figure for warming during the year is 0.44C above the long-term average of 14C.According to the Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, the figures “highlight that the world continues to see global temperatures rise, most of which is due to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and clearly shows that the argument that global warming has stopped is flawed.”A third paper released today, from the German research group Germanwatch, showed that Bangladesh, Burma and Honduras were the three countries most affected in the past 20 years by extremes of climate.Also in the top ten were Vietnam, Nicaragua, Haiti, India, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and China.
Frequency rises
“We cannot attribute all extremes of weather to climate change but we are already recording an increase in frequency and intensity.It shows we are living in a globally warmed world,” said Saleemul Huq, head of climate change at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.With the Copenhagen talks intent on holding temperature rises to 2C, Huq warned that further extreme weather events and disasters were inevitable.“A 2C rise in temperatures is safe for some, but not for the poorest. A 1.5C rise gives a safer world for everyone, but there is a vast difference between the two.”“The question is do we give up on the poor and most vulnerable? If we declare war on climate change, then yes we can do it. It can be done,” he said.Only four developed countries were in the top 20 of countries most prone to weather disaster: Italy at 12, Spain at 14, Portugal at 14 and the U.S. at 18.The 2003 drought in southern Europe, which led to tens of thousands of deaths and huge insurance losses, as well as a series of category 5 hurricanes in the U.S. are responsible for these rich countries being placed so highly in the league table.The figures from German watch do not include African countries in the top 20 because they are based on death tolls and recorded financial losses, neither of which figure strongly in the prolonged droughts and desertification which are mainly seen in Africa. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009
The Hindu, December 10, 2009
Frequency rises
“We cannot attribute all extremes of weather to climate change but we are already recording an increase in frequency and intensity.It shows we are living in a globally warmed world,” said Saleemul Huq, head of climate change at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.With the Copenhagen talks intent on holding temperature rises to 2C, Huq warned that further extreme weather events and disasters were inevitable.“A 2C rise in temperatures is safe for some, but not for the poorest. A 1.5C rise gives a safer world for everyone, but there is a vast difference between the two.”“The question is do we give up on the poor and most vulnerable? If we declare war on climate change, then yes we can do it. It can be done,” he said.Only four developed countries were in the top 20 of countries most prone to weather disaster: Italy at 12, Spain at 14, Portugal at 14 and the U.S. at 18.The 2003 drought in southern Europe, which led to tens of thousands of deaths and huge insurance losses, as well as a series of category 5 hurricanes in the U.S. are responsible for these rich countries being placed so highly in the league table.The figures from German watch do not include African countries in the top 20 because they are based on death tolls and recorded financial losses, neither of which figure strongly in the prolonged droughts and desertification which are mainly seen in Africa. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009
The Hindu, December 10, 2009
India to draw road map for low-carbon growth
Getting down to implement a comprehensive domestic agenda of adaptation and mitigation and seeking to reduce the emission intensity of gross domestic product by 20-25 per cent by 2020, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday asked the Planning Commission to set up a group of experts to draw a road map for low-carbon growth.Addressing a press conference here, he said the terms of reference of the group would be finalised in a couple of days. It would be asked to submit its report in three or four months. “We must soon unveil a detailed road map for a low-carbon strategy.”India has committed itself to cutting its carbon emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 of the 2005 levels.Mr. Ramesh said India must learn from China, which negotiated its domestic action at the Copenhagen Summit. “We, too, have to work like China by focussing on climate diplomacy and domestic actions.” India must strengthen its scientific capacity to measure, monitor and model the impacts of climate change on different sectors of its economy and different regions.Pointing out that the BASIC group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) emerged a powerful force in the negotiations and their unity was instrumental in ensuring that the Copenhagen Accord was finalised, Mr. Ramesh said the Environment Ministers of these countries would meet in March in New Delhi to discuss the approach to be taken at the June 2010 Ministerial Conference in Bonn, and the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Mexico City in December.
“Development issue”
Rejecting the charge that India had walked out of G-77, he said: “We would continue to work together with these countries as well as other countries of the G-77 to ensure that the interests of the developing countries, India in particular, are protected in the course of the negotiations in 2010 and beyond.” He said: “I went to Copenhagen to protect India’s right to development. For the West, climate change is an environmental issue, but for us it is a development issue.”“It would be unfair to say that we have abandoned G-77, but there certainly is one criticism that the host country did not handle a large consultation process very well. There were communication gaps.”
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
“Development issue”
Rejecting the charge that India had walked out of G-77, he said: “We would continue to work together with these countries as well as other countries of the G-77 to ensure that the interests of the developing countries, India in particular, are protected in the course of the negotiations in 2010 and beyond.” He said: “I went to Copenhagen to protect India’s right to development. For the West, climate change is an environmental issue, but for us it is a development issue.”“It would be unfair to say that we have abandoned G-77, but there certainly is one criticism that the host country did not handle a large consultation process very well. There were communication gaps.”
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
India, China agree to cooperate on climate change
Fresh from the solidarity displayed at the Copenhagen Summit on climate change, India and China on Tuesday agreed to continue cooperating on the issue in the coming months in order to safeguard the interests of developing countries.In a telephonic conversation, Foreign Ministers of both countries, S.M. Krishna and Yang Jiechi discussed India-China cooperation on climate change including possible follow-up measures flowing from the recent Copenhagen Summit, said an External Affairs Ministry statement.Mr. Krishna noted that India and China had worked closely and effectively together at Copenhagen and stressed that the developing world, including both countries, needs to evaluate the results of the conference and then decide on a strategy for the post-Copenhagen process.
Miliband’s invitation
In another telephonic conversation, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke with Mr. Krishna and exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues.Mr. Miliband reiterated an invitation to Mr. Krishna to attend the Conference on Afghanistan scheduled to be held in London on January 28 next year.
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
Miliband’s invitation
In another telephonic conversation, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke with Mr. Krishna and exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues.Mr. Miliband reiterated an invitation to Mr. Krishna to attend the Conference on Afghanistan scheduled to be held in London on January 28 next year.
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
Most rivers of Kerala polluted: study
The rivers of Kerala are polluted with various kinds of noxious waste, a study has found.
The pollution tests conducted under the joint auspices of the World Malayali Council Kerala province and the science and technology wing of Labour India paint a grim picture on the health of Kerala rivers.The studies, which were conducted in the 44 rivers of the State between November 7 and 12, indicated that most of the rivers were “polluted generally and the majority at an alarming level,” said V.J. George Kulangara, chairman of the council.The tests were carried out using the water monitoring kit supplied by the World Water Analysis Federation of the U.S. A copy of the report has been submitted to the Chief Minister. The survey was conducted at a time when most of the rivers were having good water flow and a large portion of the pollutants might have been washed away.The council plans to repeat the tests later when the water level recedes. New testing kits would be used during the tests, Mr. Kulangara said.
The Panamaram, a tributary of the Kabani river and the Mayyazhi river were found to be the most polluted rivers in the State with the presence of chemical and biological pollutants. Refuse from slaughterhouses and hospitals was also reaching the Panamaram. Insecticides, chemical fertilisers and other pollutants were also finding their way into the Panamaram. Fish death and fall in the fish population were also reported from here, the study said.
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
The pollution tests conducted under the joint auspices of the World Malayali Council Kerala province and the science and technology wing of Labour India paint a grim picture on the health of Kerala rivers.The studies, which were conducted in the 44 rivers of the State between November 7 and 12, indicated that most of the rivers were “polluted generally and the majority at an alarming level,” said V.J. George Kulangara, chairman of the council.The tests were carried out using the water monitoring kit supplied by the World Water Analysis Federation of the U.S. A copy of the report has been submitted to the Chief Minister. The survey was conducted at a time when most of the rivers were having good water flow and a large portion of the pollutants might have been washed away.The council plans to repeat the tests later when the water level recedes. New testing kits would be used during the tests, Mr. Kulangara said.
The Panamaram, a tributary of the Kabani river and the Mayyazhi river were found to be the most polluted rivers in the State with the presence of chemical and biological pollutants. Refuse from slaughterhouses and hospitals was also reaching the Panamaram. Insecticides, chemical fertilisers and other pollutants were also finding their way into the Panamaram. Fish death and fall in the fish population were also reported from here, the study said.
The Hindu, December 23, 2009
Parts of Arctic coast eroding rapidly
A portion of the northern Alaska coastline is eroding by a maximum of 45 feet annually, thanks to the combined effect of declining sea ice, warming sea water and increased wave activity, says a new study.The conditions have caused the steady retreat of 30 to 45 feet a year of the 12-foot-high bluffs — frozen blocks of silt and peat containing 50 to 80 per cent ice, said Robert Anderson, Colorado University-Boulder (CU-B) associate professor and study co-author.
Triple whammy
“What we are seeing now is a triple whammy effect,” said Anderson.“Since the summer Arctic sea ice cover continues to decline and Arctic air and sea temperatures continue to rise, we really don’t see any prospect for this process ending.”The longer the sea ice is detached from the coastline, the further out to sea the sea-ice edge will be.This open-ocean distance between the sea ice and the shore, known as the “fetch,” increases both the energy of waves crashing into the coast and the height to which warm seawater can come into contact with the frozen bluffs, said Anderson.“One of the concerns we have is that some larger ponds and lakes located slightly further inland may begin draining into the sea as the shoreline continues to recede,” said Anderson.
The rate
Arctic sea ice during the annual September minimum is now declining at a rate of 11.2 percent per decade, said the CU-B study.Only 19 per cent of the ice cover was more than two years old — the least ever recorded in the satellite record and far below the 1981-2000 summer average of 48 percent.Anderson, along with Cameron Wobus of Stratus Consulting and Irina Overeem of CU’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) presented results from components of their study at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 14 - 18. — IANS
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
Triple whammy
“What we are seeing now is a triple whammy effect,” said Anderson.“Since the summer Arctic sea ice cover continues to decline and Arctic air and sea temperatures continue to rise, we really don’t see any prospect for this process ending.”The longer the sea ice is detached from the coastline, the further out to sea the sea-ice edge will be.This open-ocean distance between the sea ice and the shore, known as the “fetch,” increases both the energy of waves crashing into the coast and the height to which warm seawater can come into contact with the frozen bluffs, said Anderson.“One of the concerns we have is that some larger ponds and lakes located slightly further inland may begin draining into the sea as the shoreline continues to recede,” said Anderson.
The rate
Arctic sea ice during the annual September minimum is now declining at a rate of 11.2 percent per decade, said the CU-B study.Only 19 per cent of the ice cover was more than two years old — the least ever recorded in the satellite record and far below the 1981-2000 summer average of 48 percent.Anderson, along with Cameron Wobus of Stratus Consulting and Irina Overeem of CU’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) presented results from components of their study at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 14 - 18. — IANS
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
Vegetation affects intensity of urban heat island effect
Scientists first discovered the heat island effect in the 1800s when they observed cities growing warmer than surrounding rural areas, particularly in summer. Urban surfaces of asphalt, concrete, and other materials — also referred to as “impervious surfaces” — absorb more solar radiation by day. At night, much of that heat is given up to the urban air, creating a warm bubble over a city that can be as much as 1 to 3°C (2 to 5°F) higher than temperatures in surrounding rural areas.
The factors
NASA researchers studying urban landscapes have found that the intensity of the “heat island” created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate. Urban areas developed in arid and semi-arid regions show far less heating compared with the surrounding countryside than cities built amid forested and temperate climates.“The placement and structure of cities — and what was there before — really does matter,” said Marc Imhoff, biologist and remote sensing specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The amount of the heat differential between the city and the surrounding environment depends on how much of the ground is covered by trees and vegetation. Understanding urban heating will be important for building new cities and retrofitting existing ones.”
The presentation
Goddard researchers including Imhoff, Lahouari Bounoua, Ping Zhang, and Robert Wolfe presented their findings on Dec. 16 in San Francisco at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Using instruments from NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, as well as the joint U.S. Geological Survey-NASA satellite Landsat, researchers created land-use maps distinguishing urban surfaces from vegetation. The team then used computer models to assess the impact of urbanized land on energy, water, and carbon balances at Earth’s surface.When examining cities in arid and semi-arid regions — such as North Africa and the American Southwest — scientists found that they are only slightly warmer than surrounding areas in summer and sometimes cooler than surrounding areas in winter, according to a NASA release. The impervious surfaces of cities also lead to faster runoff from land, reducing the natural cooling effects of water on the landscape. More importantly, the lack of trees and other vegetation means less evapotranspiration — the process by which trees “exhale” water. Trees also provide shade, a secondary cooling effect in urban landscapes.
Effect of desert
In the U.S., the summertime urban heat island (UHI) for desert cities like Las Vegas was 0.46°C lower than surrounding areas, compared to 10°C higher for cities like Baltimore. Globally, the differences were not as large, with a summertime UHI of -0.21°C for desert cities compared to +3.8°C for cities in forested regions.In a quirk of surface heating, the suburban areas around desert cities are actually cooler than both the city center and the outer rural areas because the irrigation of lawns and small farms leads to more moisture in the air from plants that would not naturally grow in the region.
Deeper alteration
“If you build a city in an area that is naturally forested — such as Atlanta or Baltimore — you are making a much deeper alteration of the ecosystem,” said Imhoff. “In semi-arid areas with less vegetation — like Las Vegas or Phoenix — you are making less of a change in the energy balance of the landscape.”“The open question is: do changes in land cover and urbanization affect global temperatures and climate?” Imhoff added. “Urbanization is perceived as a relatively small effect, and most climate models focus on how the oceans and atmosphere store and balance heat. Urban heat islands are a lot of small, local changes, but do they add up? Studies of the land input are still in early stages.” — Our Bureau
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
The factors
NASA researchers studying urban landscapes have found that the intensity of the “heat island” created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate. Urban areas developed in arid and semi-arid regions show far less heating compared with the surrounding countryside than cities built amid forested and temperate climates.“The placement and structure of cities — and what was there before — really does matter,” said Marc Imhoff, biologist and remote sensing specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The amount of the heat differential between the city and the surrounding environment depends on how much of the ground is covered by trees and vegetation. Understanding urban heating will be important for building new cities and retrofitting existing ones.”
The presentation
Goddard researchers including Imhoff, Lahouari Bounoua, Ping Zhang, and Robert Wolfe presented their findings on Dec. 16 in San Francisco at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Using instruments from NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, as well as the joint U.S. Geological Survey-NASA satellite Landsat, researchers created land-use maps distinguishing urban surfaces from vegetation. The team then used computer models to assess the impact of urbanized land on energy, water, and carbon balances at Earth’s surface.When examining cities in arid and semi-arid regions — such as North Africa and the American Southwest — scientists found that they are only slightly warmer than surrounding areas in summer and sometimes cooler than surrounding areas in winter, according to a NASA release. The impervious surfaces of cities also lead to faster runoff from land, reducing the natural cooling effects of water on the landscape. More importantly, the lack of trees and other vegetation means less evapotranspiration — the process by which trees “exhale” water. Trees also provide shade, a secondary cooling effect in urban landscapes.
Effect of desert
In the U.S., the summertime urban heat island (UHI) for desert cities like Las Vegas was 0.46°C lower than surrounding areas, compared to 10°C higher for cities like Baltimore. Globally, the differences were not as large, with a summertime UHI of -0.21°C for desert cities compared to +3.8°C for cities in forested regions.In a quirk of surface heating, the suburban areas around desert cities are actually cooler than both the city center and the outer rural areas because the irrigation of lawns and small farms leads to more moisture in the air from plants that would not naturally grow in the region.
Deeper alteration
“If you build a city in an area that is naturally forested — such as Atlanta or Baltimore — you are making a much deeper alteration of the ecosystem,” said Imhoff. “In semi-arid areas with less vegetation — like Las Vegas or Phoenix — you are making less of a change in the energy balance of the landscape.”“The open question is: do changes in land cover and urbanization affect global temperatures and climate?” Imhoff added. “Urbanization is perceived as a relatively small effect, and most climate models focus on how the oceans and atmosphere store and balance heat. Urban heat islands are a lot of small, local changes, but do they add up? Studies of the land input are still in early stages.” — Our Bureau
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Kerala ENVIS Centre is planning to bring out a theses database
A database for PhD and MS theses on environmental issues is planning to set up by Kerala ENVIS Centre. Depending on the availability, either abstract or full text or both will be published to the ENVIS website at http://kerenvis.nic.in. The uploaded document can be viewed online or download by public at no cost.
Terms and conditions
If you have a digital copy of your thesis in MS Word, PDF or any other format please submit it via email. If you have the thesis CD or have a printed copy, please send it to the following address:
Terms and conditions
- Thesis should be in English, deal with Environment of Kerala in a broader perspective based on research work carried out anywhere in the world.
- By submitting a copy of thesis, the author agrees that the thesis can be published to ENVIS website at http://kerenvis.nic.in
- The copyright will remain with the author.
If you have a digital copy of your thesis in MS Word, PDF or any other format please submit it via email. If you have the thesis CD or have a printed copy, please send it to the following address:
ENVIS CentreIf you have any further question, please email to ker@envis.nic.in
Kerala State Council for Science, Technology & Environment (KSCSTE)
Sastra Bhavan, Pattom
Thiruvananthapuram 695004, Kerala, India
Major cities, including Kolkata, at risk from rising sea level
A large number of cities across the world, including the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata, are at risk from the threat of rising sea level due to global warming, a major international study has claimed. According to the study by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, sea levels would rise by twice as much as previously predicted as a result of global warming and by 2100 they would be up to 1.4 metres. Such a rise in sea levels would engulf island nations such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Tuvalu in the Pacific, devastate coastal cities such as such as Kolkata and Dhaka and force London, New York and Shanghai to spend billions on flood defences, ‘The Times’ reported. Even if the average global temperature increases by only 2 degree celcius, the target set for next week’s Copenhagen summit, sea levels could still rise by 50 cm, twice that predicted two years ago, the study has calculated. SCAR, a partnership of 35 of the world’s leading climate research institutions, made the prediction in the report ‘Antarctic Climate Change and Climate’. It far exceeds the 0.59 metre rise by the end of the century quoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007.
SCAR scientists said that the IPCC underestimated grossly how much the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets would contribute to total sea-level rises. In a related interview with the British newspaper, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said geo-engineering, where carbon is stripped from the atmosphere using specialist technologies, would be necessary to control runaway damage to the climate. “At some point we will have to cross over and start sucking some of those gases out of the atmosphere,” he said, adding world leaders meeting in Copenhagen should aim for a target of no more than a 1.5 degree celcius rise in global temperatures. The IPCC report predicted that the melting of ice sheets would contribute about 20 per cent of the total rise in sea levels, with the majority coming from the melting of glaciers and the expansion of the water as it warms. It said that it was not able to predict the impact of melting ice sheets, but suggested this could add 10-20cm.
The Hindu, December 1, 2009
SCAR scientists said that the IPCC underestimated grossly how much the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets would contribute to total sea-level rises. In a related interview with the British newspaper, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said geo-engineering, where carbon is stripped from the atmosphere using specialist technologies, would be necessary to control runaway damage to the climate. “At some point we will have to cross over and start sucking some of those gases out of the atmosphere,” he said, adding world leaders meeting in Copenhagen should aim for a target of no more than a 1.5 degree celcius rise in global temperatures. The IPCC report predicted that the melting of ice sheets would contribute about 20 per cent of the total rise in sea levels, with the majority coming from the melting of glaciers and the expansion of the water as it warms. It said that it was not able to predict the impact of melting ice sheets, but suggested this could add 10-20cm.
The Hindu, December 1, 2009
Green buildings catching up fast in India
The green building concept is swiftly catching up in the country partly because of government sops and partly because of the marketing strategy of real estate developers to get customers - and everyone is now busy linking it to climate change.According to figures available with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Godrej Green Building Council, in 2008 India had only 18 certified green buildings and 328 projects in the pipeline.In 2009, the figure of certified green buildings rose to 52. The number of future projects also went up to 436. IGBC has representation from corporate, government, architects, product manufacturers and other institutions.“In the last five years the trend of green buildings has really caught up in India. It is because of globalisation and westernisation as many new companies have entered the country to start their businesses,” said Shreshth Nagpal, technical head of Spectral Service Consultants Private Ltd.
“The developers are finding these buildings cost beneficial and easy to woo the customers. For them green buildings have become a marketing tool. And at the same time governments are promoting green buildings to cut wastage of energy and carbon emissions,” Mr. Nagpal said.A green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy use, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants. The CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, ITC Green Centre and Wipro Technologies in Gurgaon, Hiranandani BG Building in Mumbai and ABN Amro Central Enterprise Services Pvt Ltd in Chennai are a few among the green certified buildings in the country. According to some estimates, buildings account for 39 percent of primary energy consumption and 38 percent of greenhouse gas emissions across the world. It also uses 12 percent of the world’s fresh water. “A green building looks just the same as a conventional building. The difference is that the initial cost of green buildings are 5-30 percent more but the cost pays off in the long run because of cut in the energy consumption,” said P.K. Banerjee, one of the directors at Forum Projects, which designed Kolkata’s first green certified building, Technopolis.“Also these buildings are more employee-friendly and help increase their productivity. Other features include use of renewable energy and use of renewable recycled materials,” he added. Technopolis emits 7,500 tonnes less carbon dioxide every year, compared to a conventional building of the same size.Green buildings are particularly important for Asia, home to the world’s most rapid economic growth.“Asia’s share of global energy consumption has doubled in the past 30 years, and its buildings’ share of energy use is growing at similar rates, with China and India alone constructing more than half of all the world’s new floor space,” Mark Clifford, executive director of the Asia Business Council, wrote in a recent article.
Kolkata’s Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the city produces around 4,000 tonnes of waste every day.“We have to consider this waste as wealth and devise ways to reduce carbon emissions. We have put a new policy in place to promote green buildings in the state. Some relaxations and tax benefits are being given to the developers to build green homes and buildings in the city,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
“The developers are finding these buildings cost beneficial and easy to woo the customers. For them green buildings have become a marketing tool. And at the same time governments are promoting green buildings to cut wastage of energy and carbon emissions,” Mr. Nagpal said.A green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy use, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants. The CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, ITC Green Centre and Wipro Technologies in Gurgaon, Hiranandani BG Building in Mumbai and ABN Amro Central Enterprise Services Pvt Ltd in Chennai are a few among the green certified buildings in the country. According to some estimates, buildings account for 39 percent of primary energy consumption and 38 percent of greenhouse gas emissions across the world. It also uses 12 percent of the world’s fresh water. “A green building looks just the same as a conventional building. The difference is that the initial cost of green buildings are 5-30 percent more but the cost pays off in the long run because of cut in the energy consumption,” said P.K. Banerjee, one of the directors at Forum Projects, which designed Kolkata’s first green certified building, Technopolis.“Also these buildings are more employee-friendly and help increase their productivity. Other features include use of renewable energy and use of renewable recycled materials,” he added. Technopolis emits 7,500 tonnes less carbon dioxide every year, compared to a conventional building of the same size.Green buildings are particularly important for Asia, home to the world’s most rapid economic growth.“Asia’s share of global energy consumption has doubled in the past 30 years, and its buildings’ share of energy use is growing at similar rates, with China and India alone constructing more than half of all the world’s new floor space,” Mark Clifford, executive director of the Asia Business Council, wrote in a recent article.
Kolkata’s Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the city produces around 4,000 tonnes of waste every day.“We have to consider this waste as wealth and devise ways to reduce carbon emissions. We have put a new policy in place to promote green buildings in the state. Some relaxations and tax benefits are being given to the developers to build green homes and buildings in the city,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
States asked to prepare action plans on climate change
The Centre on Wednesday said State Governments have been asked to prepare the local level adaptation action plans on climate change consistent with the objectives of the National Action Plan on Climate Change.Necessary assistance is also being provided to the State Governments (to tackle climate change) subject to availability of funds, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in reply to a written question in Lok Sabha.He said that a study on “impact of climate change in India” has been launched under a joint Indo-UK Research Programme to survey state-level vulnerability and adaptation assessment, linking water in agriculture and river basin, impact on health and socio-economic impact of climate extremes.In reply to another query, Mr. Ramesh said the NAPCC outlines India’s strategy of the eight national mission including energy efficiency mission.
“Energy efficiency mission envisages setting norms for achieving energy efficiency under ‘Perform, Achieve and Trade’ Scheme. Further public and private sector entitles participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol which helps in reducing emissions,” he added.
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
“Energy efficiency mission envisages setting norms for achieving energy efficiency under ‘Perform, Achieve and Trade’ Scheme. Further public and private sector entitles participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol which helps in reducing emissions,” he added.
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
Oceans can feed the human race
Oceans could become a source of more human food if steps are taken to expand and improve marine aquaculture, says a new study. As the world’s population continues to grow, lack of fresh water and space mean that agriculture is unlikely to meet food demand, says Carlos M. Duarte of the University of the Balearic Islands (UBI), Spain, and his seven co-authors. Fishery catches have been declining globally for two decades, and although conservation measures and a shift in consumption patterns could allow some recovery, marine aquaculture holds more potential for sustained growth. Marine aquaculture is already on the rise: production has increased ten-fold over the past 30 years and is expected to exceed fishery catches within 20 years. Yet Mr. Duarte and his colleagues argue that its continued growth will depend on adapting current techniques so that the food needed to feed marine animals is itself derived from marine aquaculture, rather than harvested from the wild or derived from agriculture. This goal is achievable, they maintain, if more animals low on the food chain are cultivated, including more plankton and algae. These could be used as food for both humans and for fish. New technology will also help, by allowing marine aquaculture operations to be expanded into more exposed, offshore locations, says a UBI release. Although some environmental impacts can be expected from the expansion of marine aquaculture, these are modest compared to those resulting from food production on land. These findings were published in the December issue of BioScience.
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
The Hindu, December 2, 2009
‘Operationalising Climate accord difficult’
India has “substantially” preserved its development space under the Copenhagen Accord at the just-concluded United Nations climate summit, but operationalising the agreement would be “extremely difficult and contentious,” India’s negotiator for climate change Prodipto Ghosh said here on Monday. The clause on international consultation and analysis of unsupported mitigation actions by the countries — for which the guidelines are yet to be finalised — would be the most difficult task, Mr. Ghosh, a former Union Environment and Forests Secretary said. Mr. Ghosh told The Hindu that the accord was a process that would continue through the next year and culminate in Mexico City at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. “We have substantially managed to preserve our development space. But before the accord is operationalised, there will be some hard negotiations on several aspects agreed upon by the countries.” The most difficult and contentious task will be the finalisation of guidelines for the international consultation and analysis of the mitigation actions, which will now be drafted while “respecting national sovereignty,” Mr. Ghosh pointed out. Since developing countries, including India, had refused to accept international monitoring, reporting and verification of unsupported mitigation actions -- though it was willing to be “flexible” -- the accord states that actions by developing countries that were not supported through international finance and technology would also be open to international “consultation and analysis.” Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had told Parliament that unsupported actions would not be open for international monitoring, reporting and verification but the progress would be tabled in Parliament and information on such projects provided through a national communication mechanism. Another negotiator, Rajni Ranjan Rashmi, said India’s concerns on non-binding emission cuts were met at Copenhagen though the climate deal did open a window for a new legal treaty that may kill the Kyoto Protocol based on the principle of equity. Speaking to a news agency here, Mr. Rashmi, Joint Director in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, rejected allegations that India succumbed to the U.S. pressure at the meet. “Equity has been ensured by limiting temperature level to 2 degree Celsius, which has been agreed upon by all the nations, both developing and the developed,” he said. The official, while admitting that it was not a win-win situation for India, said there were positives and negatives in the deal. “No binding commitments have been imposed upon the developing nations.” On the downside, the treaty had opened windows for a new legal treaty that may result in the burial of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Mr. Rashmi said of the limited agreement reached. Asked whether the U.S. could challenge emerging economies such as India and China on climate steps, he said the deal was not a legal document and Washington, or for that matter the developed nations, cannot scrutinise domestic mitigation and adaptation steps.
The Hindu, December 22, 2009
The Hindu, December 22, 2009
Copenhagen deal disastrous for world: CSE
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Sunday came down heavily on the U.S.-brokered climate deal with India, China, Brazil and South Africa and described the Copenhagen earth summit deal as “disastrous” for the world as it would allow the rich countries to increase emissions. “The accord eliminates the distinction between the developed and developing countries, prevents effective action to curb global warming and fatally undermines efforts to renew the Kyoto Protocol,” CSE spokesperson Souparno Banerjee said here. After a consensus for an ambitious deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties at Copenhagen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama delayed their departures by several hours to hammer out a face-saving deal that asks both the developed and developing nations to set their emission targets by February 2010. “The accord will not only be disastrous for the climate, but will also freeze the inequity in the world for perpetuity,” CSE director Sunita Narain, who attended the discussions at Copenhagen, said in a statement here. “It agrees that developing countries’ actions, which are not supported through international finance and technology also be open to international consultation and analysis, which could become a backhand way of bringing in international commitments on countries like India,” she said.
Ms. Narain alleged that the accord used weak and inconsequential language on emissions cuts from the industrialised countries. “It must be noted that, as yet, there has been an agreement that the industrialised countries must cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord destroys this agreement as it does not set a firm peaking year for Annex 1 countries. It does not set time-bound targets for emission reduction from industrialised countries. Instead, it simply says that these countries commit to implement individually or jointly the emission reduction targets that they will themselves submit to the secretariat. In other words, these countries will be allowed to set their own domestic targets, whatever these may be,” she said. The legally non-binding political deal promised to cut gas emissions to limit global temperature increases to two degrees celsius of pre-industrial levels and peaking of global and national emissions at the earliest, among other things. The deal has been rejected by a number of poor countries. It will freeze inequity in world for perpetuity, says Sunita Narain
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
Ms. Narain alleged that the accord used weak and inconsequential language on emissions cuts from the industrialised countries. “It must be noted that, as yet, there has been an agreement that the industrialised countries must cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord destroys this agreement as it does not set a firm peaking year for Annex 1 countries. It does not set time-bound targets for emission reduction from industrialised countries. Instead, it simply says that these countries commit to implement individually or jointly the emission reduction targets that they will themselves submit to the secretariat. In other words, these countries will be allowed to set their own domestic targets, whatever these may be,” she said. The legally non-binding political deal promised to cut gas emissions to limit global temperature increases to two degrees celsius of pre-industrial levels and peaking of global and national emissions at the earliest, among other things. The deal has been rejected by a number of poor countries. It will freeze inequity in world for perpetuity, says Sunita Narain
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
Manmohan for informed, rational debate on climate change
Amid mixed reactions to the Copenhagen Accord to tackle climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said there was a need for an “informed and rational” debate to understand effects of global warming which has far greater consequences in India.“Ecological devastation of whatever cause or origin will have far greater consequences in India than in the West.“We need to recognize our own reality and have an informed and rational debate on what is in our enlightened self—interest,” he said at the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award function.Dr. Singh said sometimes he wondered whether the country should follow the same unsustainable path the industrialised countries had taken to develop and modernise their societies.Noting that he was in Copenhagen for the climate change Summit last week, the Prime Minister said “we are working hard to build a global consensus on solutions that address the needs of the poor along with the needs of our planet and of all humanity“.Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said the humanity’s approach to climate change and other global challenges has to be need-based not greed-based.The Copenhagen Accord to tackle climate change has received with sharp criticism and praise from experts and political parties mixed in the country.
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
The truth of what happened at Copenhagen
The youth is more interested than anyone else in the future. Until very recently, the discussion revolved around the kind of society we would have. Today, the discussion centres on whether human society will survive. These are not dramatic phrases. We must get used to the facts. Hope is the last thing human beings can relinquish. With truthful arguments, men and women of all ages, especially young people, have waged an exemplary battle at the Summit and taught the world a great lesson. It is important now that the world come to know what happened in Copenhagen. If anything significant was achieved in the Danish capital, it was that the media coverage allowed the world public to watch the political chaos created there and the humiliating treatment accorded to heads of states or governments, ministers and thousands of representatives of social movements and institutions that in hope and expectation travelled to the Summit’s venue in Copenhagen. No one could have thought that on December 18, 2009, the last day of the Summit, this would be suspended by the Danish government -- a NATO ally associated with the carnage in Afghanistan -- to offer the conference’s plenary hall to President Obama for a meeting where only he and a selected group of guests, 16 in all, would have the exclusive right to speak. Mr. Obama’s deceitful, demagogic, and ambiguous remarks failed to involve a binding commitment and ignored the Kyoto Framework Convention. He then left the room shortly after listening to a few other speakers. Among those invited to take the floor were the highest industrialised nations, several emerging economies, and some of the poorest countries in the world. The leaders and representatives of over 170 countries were only allowed to listen.
At the end of the speeches of the 16 chosen, Evo Morales [of Bolivia] requested the floor. The Danish president had no choice but to yield to the insistence of the other delegations. When Evo had concluded his wise and deep observations, the Danish had to give the floor to Hugo Chavez. Both speeches will be registered by history as examples of short and timely remarks. Then, with their mission duly accomplished, they both left for their respective countries. But when Mr. Obama disappeared, he had yet to fulfil his task in the host country. From the evening of the 17th and the early morning hours of the 18th, the Prime Minister of Denmark and senior representatives of the United States had been meeting with the Chairman of the European Commission and the leaders of 27 nations to introduce to them -- on behalf of Mr. Obama -- a draft agreement in whose elaboration none of the other leaders of the rest of the world had taken part. It was an anti-democratic and practically clandestine initiative that disregarded the thousands of representatives of social movements, scientific and religious institutions, and other participants in the Summit.Through the night of the 18th and until 3:00 a.m. of the 19th, when many heads of states had already departed, the representatives of the countries waited for the resumption of the sessions and the conclusion of the event. Throughout the 18th, Mr. Obama held meetings and press conferences, and the same did the European leaders. Then they left. Something unexpected happened then: at three in the morning of the 19th, the Prime Minister of Denmark convened a meeting to conclude the Summit. By then, the countries were represented by ministers, officials, ambassadors, and technical staff.However, an amazing battle was waged that morning by a group of representatives of third world countries challenging the attempt by Mr. Obama and the wealthiest on the planet to introduce a document imposed by the United States as one agreed by consensus in the Summit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba [Bruno Rodriguez] made a vigorous speech from which I have chosen [these observations]:“The document that you, Mister Chairman, repeatedly claimed that did not exist shows up now…we have seen drafts circulating surreptitiously and being discussed in secret meetings…Cuba considers the text of this apocryphal draft extremely inadequate and inadmissible. The goal of 2 degrees centigrade is unacceptable and it would have incalculable catastrophic consequences…The document that you are unfortunately introducing is not binding in any way with respect to the reduction of the greenhouse effect gas emissions…I am aware of the previous drafts, which also through questionable and clandestine procedures, were negotiated by small groups of people…The document you are introducing now fails to include the already meagre key phrases contained in that draft…as far as Cuba is concerned, it is incompatible with the universally recognised scientific view that it is urgent and inescapable to ensure the reduction of at least 45 per cent of the emissions by the year 2020, and of no less than 80 per cent or 90 per cent by 2050.
“Any argument on the continuation of the negotiations to reach agreement in the future to cut down emissions must inevitably include the concept of the validity of the Kyoto Protocol … Your paper, Mister Chairman, is a death certificate of the Kyoto Protocol and my delegation cannot accept it. The Cuban delegation would like to emphasise the pre-eminence of the principle of ‘common by differentiated responsibilities,’ as the core of the future process of negotiations. Your paper does not include a word on that.” “This draft declaration fails to mention concrete financial commitments and the transfer of technologies to developing countries, which are part of the obligations contracted by the developed countries under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change … Mister Chairman, by imposing their interests through your document, the developed nations are avoiding any concrete commitment…”
The representatives of the countries had been given only one hour to present their views. This led to complicated, shameful, and embarrassing situations. Then a lengthy debate ensued where the delegations from the developed countries put heavy pressure on the rest to make the conference adopt the above-mentioned document as the final result of their deliberations. A small number of countries insisted on the grave omissions and ambiguities of the document promoted by the United States, particularly the absence of a commitment by the developed countries on the reduction of carbon emissions and on the financing.After a long and extremely tense discussion, the position of the ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America] countries and Sudan, as President of the G-77, that the document was unacceptable to the conference and could not be adopted, prevailed. In view of the absence of consensus, the Conference could only “take note” of the existence of that document representing the position of a group of about 25 countries.After that decision was made, Bruno [Rodriguez], together with other ALBA representatives, had a friendly discussion with the U.N. Secretary-General to whom they expressed their willingness to continue struggling alongside the United Nations to prevent the terrible consequences of climate change. Their mission completed, Cuba’s Foreign Minister and Vice President, Esteban Lazo, departed to come back home and attend the National Assembly session. A few members of the delegation and the ambassador stayed in Copenhagen to take part in the final procedures.This afternoon they reported the following: “…both those involved in the elaboration of the document and those like the President of the United States who anticipated its adoption by the conference … as they could not disregard the decision to simply ‘take note’ of the alleged ‘Copenhagen Agreement,’ they tried to introduce a procedure allowing the other COP countries that had not been a part of the shady deal to adhere to it, and make it public, the intention being to pretend such an agreement was legal, something that could precondition the results of the negotiations that should carry on.”“Such belated attempt was firmly opposed by Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia. These countries warned that a document which had not been adopted by the Convention could not be considered legal and that there was not a COP document; therefore, no regulations could be established for its alleged adoption … This is how the meeting in Copenhagen is coming to an end, without the adoption of the document surreptitiously worked out in the past few days under the clear ideological guidance of the U.S. Administration …”
(This is an abridged version of the Cuban leader’s Reflections, dated December 19, 2009.)
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
At the end of the speeches of the 16 chosen, Evo Morales [of Bolivia] requested the floor. The Danish president had no choice but to yield to the insistence of the other delegations. When Evo had concluded his wise and deep observations, the Danish had to give the floor to Hugo Chavez. Both speeches will be registered by history as examples of short and timely remarks. Then, with their mission duly accomplished, they both left for their respective countries. But when Mr. Obama disappeared, he had yet to fulfil his task in the host country. From the evening of the 17th and the early morning hours of the 18th, the Prime Minister of Denmark and senior representatives of the United States had been meeting with the Chairman of the European Commission and the leaders of 27 nations to introduce to them -- on behalf of Mr. Obama -- a draft agreement in whose elaboration none of the other leaders of the rest of the world had taken part. It was an anti-democratic and practically clandestine initiative that disregarded the thousands of representatives of social movements, scientific and religious institutions, and other participants in the Summit.Through the night of the 18th and until 3:00 a.m. of the 19th, when many heads of states had already departed, the representatives of the countries waited for the resumption of the sessions and the conclusion of the event. Throughout the 18th, Mr. Obama held meetings and press conferences, and the same did the European leaders. Then they left. Something unexpected happened then: at three in the morning of the 19th, the Prime Minister of Denmark convened a meeting to conclude the Summit. By then, the countries were represented by ministers, officials, ambassadors, and technical staff.However, an amazing battle was waged that morning by a group of representatives of third world countries challenging the attempt by Mr. Obama and the wealthiest on the planet to introduce a document imposed by the United States as one agreed by consensus in the Summit. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba [Bruno Rodriguez] made a vigorous speech from which I have chosen [these observations]:“The document that you, Mister Chairman, repeatedly claimed that did not exist shows up now…we have seen drafts circulating surreptitiously and being discussed in secret meetings…Cuba considers the text of this apocryphal draft extremely inadequate and inadmissible. The goal of 2 degrees centigrade is unacceptable and it would have incalculable catastrophic consequences…The document that you are unfortunately introducing is not binding in any way with respect to the reduction of the greenhouse effect gas emissions…I am aware of the previous drafts, which also through questionable and clandestine procedures, were negotiated by small groups of people…The document you are introducing now fails to include the already meagre key phrases contained in that draft…as far as Cuba is concerned, it is incompatible with the universally recognised scientific view that it is urgent and inescapable to ensure the reduction of at least 45 per cent of the emissions by the year 2020, and of no less than 80 per cent or 90 per cent by 2050.
“Any argument on the continuation of the negotiations to reach agreement in the future to cut down emissions must inevitably include the concept of the validity of the Kyoto Protocol … Your paper, Mister Chairman, is a death certificate of the Kyoto Protocol and my delegation cannot accept it. The Cuban delegation would like to emphasise the pre-eminence of the principle of ‘common by differentiated responsibilities,’ as the core of the future process of negotiations. Your paper does not include a word on that.” “This draft declaration fails to mention concrete financial commitments and the transfer of technologies to developing countries, which are part of the obligations contracted by the developed countries under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change … Mister Chairman, by imposing their interests through your document, the developed nations are avoiding any concrete commitment…”
The representatives of the countries had been given only one hour to present their views. This led to complicated, shameful, and embarrassing situations. Then a lengthy debate ensued where the delegations from the developed countries put heavy pressure on the rest to make the conference adopt the above-mentioned document as the final result of their deliberations. A small number of countries insisted on the grave omissions and ambiguities of the document promoted by the United States, particularly the absence of a commitment by the developed countries on the reduction of carbon emissions and on the financing.After a long and extremely tense discussion, the position of the ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America] countries and Sudan, as President of the G-77, that the document was unacceptable to the conference and could not be adopted, prevailed. In view of the absence of consensus, the Conference could only “take note” of the existence of that document representing the position of a group of about 25 countries.After that decision was made, Bruno [Rodriguez], together with other ALBA representatives, had a friendly discussion with the U.N. Secretary-General to whom they expressed their willingness to continue struggling alongside the United Nations to prevent the terrible consequences of climate change. Their mission completed, Cuba’s Foreign Minister and Vice President, Esteban Lazo, departed to come back home and attend the National Assembly session. A few members of the delegation and the ambassador stayed in Copenhagen to take part in the final procedures.This afternoon they reported the following: “…both those involved in the elaboration of the document and those like the President of the United States who anticipated its adoption by the conference … as they could not disregard the decision to simply ‘take note’ of the alleged ‘Copenhagen Agreement,’ they tried to introduce a procedure allowing the other COP countries that had not been a part of the shady deal to adhere to it, and make it public, the intention being to pretend such an agreement was legal, something that could precondition the results of the negotiations that should carry on.”“Such belated attempt was firmly opposed by Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia. These countries warned that a document which had not been adopted by the Convention could not be considered legal and that there was not a COP document; therefore, no regulations could be established for its alleged adoption … This is how the meeting in Copenhagen is coming to an end, without the adoption of the document surreptitiously worked out in the past few days under the clear ideological guidance of the U.S. Administration …”
(This is an abridged version of the Cuban leader’s Reflections, dated December 19, 2009.)
The Hindu, December 21, 2009
Climate accord at a glance for you
The following are the broad contours of the accord reached by the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and several other countries at the U.N. climate talks — along with current elements in place earlier:
Emissions
The deal does not commit any nation to emission cuts beyond a general acknowledgment that global temperatures should be held along the lines agreed to by leading nations in July. There are no overall emissions targets for rich countries.
The already agreed-upon emission cuts fall far short of action needed to avoid potentially dangerous effects of climate change. These cuts are to be made by 2020:
U.S.- a 17 per cent reduction from 2005 levels (or 3-4 per cent from 1990 levels).
China- a cut of 40 to 45 per cent below “business as usual,” that is, judged against 2005 figures for energy used versus economic output.
India- 20 to 25 per cent cut from 2005 levels.
European Union-20 per cent cut from 1990, and possibly 30 per cent.
Japan- 25 per cent cut from 1990.
Verification
Countries are to list actions taken to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts.
Method is agreed upon for verifying reductions.
Developed nations already covered by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the U.S. is not included) will have their emissions cuts monitored and will face possible sanctions if they fail to meet them.
Funding
Wealthy nations will raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations cope with the effects of climate change, such as droughts and floods. This is contingent on a broader agreement, including some kind of oversight to verify China’s emissions of greenhouse gases.
Short-term funding of roughly $30 billion over three years beginning in 2010 to help developing countries adapt to climate change and shift to clean energy.
The Hindu, December 20, 2009
Emissions
The deal does not commit any nation to emission cuts beyond a general acknowledgment that global temperatures should be held along the lines agreed to by leading nations in July. There are no overall emissions targets for rich countries.
The already agreed-upon emission cuts fall far short of action needed to avoid potentially dangerous effects of climate change. These cuts are to be made by 2020:
U.S.- a 17 per cent reduction from 2005 levels (or 3-4 per cent from 1990 levels).
China- a cut of 40 to 45 per cent below “business as usual,” that is, judged against 2005 figures for energy used versus economic output.
India- 20 to 25 per cent cut from 2005 levels.
European Union-20 per cent cut from 1990, and possibly 30 per cent.
Japan- 25 per cent cut from 1990.
Verification
Countries are to list actions taken to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts.
Method is agreed upon for verifying reductions.
Developed nations already covered by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the U.S. is not included) will have their emissions cuts monitored and will face possible sanctions if they fail to meet them.
Funding
Wealthy nations will raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poorer nations cope with the effects of climate change, such as droughts and floods. This is contingent on a broader agreement, including some kind of oversight to verify China’s emissions of greenhouse gases.
Short-term funding of roughly $30 billion over three years beginning in 2010 to help developing countries adapt to climate change and shift to clean energy.
The Hindu, December 20, 2009
Birth of BASIC signals decline of G77?
Together, they have more than 40 per cent of the world’s population and are responsible for 10 per cent of the world’s economy. Now, they are finally leveraging their considerable power on the world stage by presenting a united front on climate change. The BASIC group — made up of Brazil, South Africa, India and China — was born in the run-up to the U.N. climate talks at Copenhagen, when Beijing invited Environment Ministers from the three other nations to draft a common platform earlier this month. This fortnight, they have strengthened their relationship with a show of joint strength. “The single biggest achievement of Copenhagen has been BASIC,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told The Hindu. “The cooperation between BASIC countries is crucial for success here,” said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, speaking just minutes after statements in the plenary from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva which echoed each other. Whether it was on the importance of the Kyoto Protocol, the principles of equity and per capita emissions or the demand that rich nations recognise their historical responsibility for climate change, the three leaders spoke with a single voice. The similar themes in the public speeches of the top leaders had come from hourly coordination meetings by lower-level negotiators all through the conference. On Friday morning, just before the plenary, Dr. Singh and Mr. Wen had a one-on-one discussion for 30 minutes, further cementing their position.
The birth of BASIC may however signal the decline of another once-powerful entity, at least in the climate change arena. The G77 — a behemoth of more than 130 nations — is showing deep rifts here. Originally founded in 1964 as a group of 77 developing countries who joined hands to negotiate trade talks together, G77 includes such diverse nations as wealthy oil-producer Saudi Arabia and the tiny island nation of Tuvalu, an imminent victim of rising sea levels. Understandably, G77 nations have very different priorities in the climate change debate. “The G77 is not a monolith, at least when it comes to climate change,” conceded Mr. Ramesh. The 40-odd nations of AOSIS – Association of Small Island States – are fighting for their survival and demanding ambitious emission cuts from everyone. They are often joined by the LDCs – least developed countries who have few resources to face the brunt of the floods, droughts and rising sea levels resulting from climate change. “We believe fast-developing nations must also cut their emissions,” said a top negotiator from Bangladesh, one of the LDCs. The fast-developing nations of BASIC, however, insist that they also have large populations still living in poverty, and cannot be expected to join in legally binding emission cuts like the industrialised nations. African nations are split between those in the LDC group and those in the African Group led by Algeria, which often supports BASIC. In previous climate conferences, G77 had spoken – in plenary and to the press – with a united voice. Here at Copenhagen, they have tended to speak in their separate groupings. It could be the birth of a new era in developing country politics.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
The birth of BASIC may however signal the decline of another once-powerful entity, at least in the climate change arena. The G77 — a behemoth of more than 130 nations — is showing deep rifts here. Originally founded in 1964 as a group of 77 developing countries who joined hands to negotiate trade talks together, G77 includes such diverse nations as wealthy oil-producer Saudi Arabia and the tiny island nation of Tuvalu, an imminent victim of rising sea levels. Understandably, G77 nations have very different priorities in the climate change debate. “The G77 is not a monolith, at least when it comes to climate change,” conceded Mr. Ramesh. The 40-odd nations of AOSIS – Association of Small Island States – are fighting for their survival and demanding ambitious emission cuts from everyone. They are often joined by the LDCs – least developed countries who have few resources to face the brunt of the floods, droughts and rising sea levels resulting from climate change. “We believe fast-developing nations must also cut their emissions,” said a top negotiator from Bangladesh, one of the LDCs. The fast-developing nations of BASIC, however, insist that they also have large populations still living in poverty, and cannot be expected to join in legally binding emission cuts like the industrialised nations. African nations are split between those in the LDC group and those in the African Group led by Algeria, which often supports BASIC. In previous climate conferences, G77 had spoken – in plenary and to the press – with a united voice. Here at Copenhagen, they have tended to speak in their separate groupings. It could be the birth of a new era in developing country politics.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
Green energy concept for special economic zones mooted
With the Central Government clearly shifting focus to renewable sources of energy to meet the future energy requirements, the Government has proposed that all special economic zones (SEZs) should meet at least 25 per cent of their lighting needs through solar energy, a move aimed at making optimum use of green energy in such labour and power intensive zones.
Draft guidelines
Officials in the Commerce Ministry said that draft guidelines for the Green Special Economic Zones had been formulated and would be circulated for debate before they are put into action. The guidelines state that at least 25 per cent of the installed external lighting load should be solar powered. The Government had recently approved the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with an aim of setting up 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022. The mission also aims to develop solar technologies for making solar power competitive to conventional grid power and install 20 million sq. m. solar thermal collective area by 2022. Officials said the Government was also of the view that at least half of the requirement for the huge bill boards used for advertising or display be sourced by solar power. The draft proposals intend to make all new and existing SEZs green as the government wants existing SEZs to go in for green certification. In addition to lighting requirements, the draft proposals also call for a minimum of two per cent of estimated energy consumption for each zone from solar or other forms of renewable energy and scale it up gradually. The draft document states that over a period of 10 years, solar/other forms of renewable energy must be extended from two per cent to a minimum of 20 per cent of total estimated energy consumption. The all-new buildings in the SEZs would have to be energy-efficient as per the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), the guidelines state. On water consumption, the government suggests at least 30 per cent of the rain water be harvested in each tax free zone or SEZ. The draft also says each zone should have its own eco-friendly transportation facilities such as electric vehicles, CNG, bio-diesel or any other environment-friendly fuel.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
Draft guidelines
Officials in the Commerce Ministry said that draft guidelines for the Green Special Economic Zones had been formulated and would be circulated for debate before they are put into action. The guidelines state that at least 25 per cent of the installed external lighting load should be solar powered. The Government had recently approved the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission with an aim of setting up 20,000 MW grid solar power and 2,000 MW off-grid solar power by 2022. The mission also aims to develop solar technologies for making solar power competitive to conventional grid power and install 20 million sq. m. solar thermal collective area by 2022. Officials said the Government was also of the view that at least half of the requirement for the huge bill boards used for advertising or display be sourced by solar power. The draft proposals intend to make all new and existing SEZs green as the government wants existing SEZs to go in for green certification. In addition to lighting requirements, the draft proposals also call for a minimum of two per cent of estimated energy consumption for each zone from solar or other forms of renewable energy and scale it up gradually. The draft document states that over a period of 10 years, solar/other forms of renewable energy must be extended from two per cent to a minimum of 20 per cent of total estimated energy consumption. The all-new buildings in the SEZs would have to be energy-efficient as per the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), the guidelines state. On water consumption, the government suggests at least 30 per cent of the rain water be harvested in each tax free zone or SEZ. The draft also says each zone should have its own eco-friendly transportation facilities such as electric vehicles, CNG, bio-diesel or any other environment-friendly fuel.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
Copenhagen summit ends with limited deal
The U.N. climate conference has ended after two weeks of intense wrangling, accepting a new U.S.-brokered deal that offered billions to help poorer nations adjust to global warming but did little to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The 193-nation conference — the largest, most important climate meeting in history — was gavelled to a close at 3:26 p.m. (1426 GMT) Saturday, ending a 31-hour negotiating marathon. Its last major action was considering the Copenhagen Accord, product of closed-door summit bargaining Friday between U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of China and other major developing nations. Under the accord, richer nations pledge $10 billion a year in climate aid for three years, and set a goal of much more money eventually. The accord also envisions deeper cuts in big polluters’ greenhouse gas emissions, but does not impose limits.
DPA adds
World gives Copenhagen climate deal the thumbs down
The world reacted with disappointment Saturday at a climate deal in Copenhagen that saw the interests of global heavyweights trump the aspirations of environmentalists and poorer nations most at risk from global warming. “Climate pact hailed and derided” read the front page of the Los Angeles Times, which contrasted US President Barack Obama’s description of the Copenhagen Accord as an “unprecedented breakthrough” with criticisms from Oxfam International, which called it a “historic cop—out.” The agreement, brokered late on Friday by the United States and China and endorsed by Brazil, India, South Africa and the European Union, heeds scientists’ warnings that average global temperatures should not rise by more than 2 degrees centigrade against pre-industrial levels. But it contains no improved targets on greenhouse gas emissions from rich nations, and does not commit anyone to legally-binding cuts.
"Outright failure"
“Outright failure to agree anything at all would have been very much worse, but that is about the best thing that can be said” of the accord, read an editorial in the British daily Guardian. “Brokenhagen” is how one Danish tabloid described the outcome of the 12-day conference in the Danish capital. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had previously urged the about 120 leaders present in Copenhagen to set their divisions aside, called it “an essential beginning.” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, also conceded that it was an imperfect agreement which “will not solve the climate threat.” “It’s a start that needs to be developed,” Reinfeldt said. Even respected scientists were incensed. “Of course I am utterly disappointed that nothing substantial has come out of this. In fact it’s a lot less than one might have expected in one’s worst nightmares,” said Mojib Latif of the IFM-GEOMAR Leibniz Institute for Oceanography in the German port city of Kiel. Arguably the most positive commentary to the deal came from India, with the country’s Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, praising the Copenhagen compromise as a “good deal” for the developing world.
“This is a good deal not just for India but for the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) alliance. I am happy that this alliance has worked,” Mr. Ramesh was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency. But opposition politicians in South Africa were less impressed, with Gareth Morgan, spokesman on the environment for the official opposition Democratic Alliance, saying the deal spearheaded by Obama “lacks ambition” and marginalized developing countries. The Copenhagen Accord struggled to make it through the UN conference’s plenary on Saturday, with the chair resorting to a procedural stratagem to to stop critics from blocking it. And while Latin American officials protested that they would not be selling their “principles even for 30 billion dollars” in immediate climate funding offered by rich nations to the world’s poorest, Mohammad Nashed, president of the Maldives, urged delegates to “keep the document alive,” saying it offered “many life lines.” Nashed had earlier moved delegates with his passionate plead to save his country, one of many low-lying island nations that risk being submerged by rising sea levels as a result of global warming.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
DPA adds
World gives Copenhagen climate deal the thumbs down
The world reacted with disappointment Saturday at a climate deal in Copenhagen that saw the interests of global heavyweights trump the aspirations of environmentalists and poorer nations most at risk from global warming. “Climate pact hailed and derided” read the front page of the Los Angeles Times, which contrasted US President Barack Obama’s description of the Copenhagen Accord as an “unprecedented breakthrough” with criticisms from Oxfam International, which called it a “historic cop—out.” The agreement, brokered late on Friday by the United States and China and endorsed by Brazil, India, South Africa and the European Union, heeds scientists’ warnings that average global temperatures should not rise by more than 2 degrees centigrade against pre-industrial levels. But it contains no improved targets on greenhouse gas emissions from rich nations, and does not commit anyone to legally-binding cuts.
"Outright failure"
“Outright failure to agree anything at all would have been very much worse, but that is about the best thing that can be said” of the accord, read an editorial in the British daily Guardian. “Brokenhagen” is how one Danish tabloid described the outcome of the 12-day conference in the Danish capital. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had previously urged the about 120 leaders present in Copenhagen to set their divisions aside, called it “an essential beginning.” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, also conceded that it was an imperfect agreement which “will not solve the climate threat.” “It’s a start that needs to be developed,” Reinfeldt said. Even respected scientists were incensed. “Of course I am utterly disappointed that nothing substantial has come out of this. In fact it’s a lot less than one might have expected in one’s worst nightmares,” said Mojib Latif of the IFM-GEOMAR Leibniz Institute for Oceanography in the German port city of Kiel. Arguably the most positive commentary to the deal came from India, with the country’s Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, praising the Copenhagen compromise as a “good deal” for the developing world.
“This is a good deal not just for India but for the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) alliance. I am happy that this alliance has worked,” Mr. Ramesh was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency. But opposition politicians in South Africa were less impressed, with Gareth Morgan, spokesman on the environment for the official opposition Democratic Alliance, saying the deal spearheaded by Obama “lacks ambition” and marginalized developing countries. The Copenhagen Accord struggled to make it through the UN conference’s plenary on Saturday, with the chair resorting to a procedural stratagem to to stop critics from blocking it. And while Latin American officials protested that they would not be selling their “principles even for 30 billion dollars” in immediate climate funding offered by rich nations to the world’s poorest, Mohammad Nashed, president of the Maldives, urged delegates to “keep the document alive,” saying it offered “many life lines.” Nashed had earlier moved delegates with his passionate plead to save his country, one of many low-lying island nations that risk being submerged by rising sea levels as a result of global warming.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
Copenhagen Accord an ‘important beginning’
The official name is the ‘Copenhagen Accord.’ Depending on whom you ask, it’s defined as anything from a “reference document” to the precursor of a “legally binding treaty.” After a stormy overnight session, negotiators at the United Nations climate talks held here over the last two weeks cobbled together an agreement of sorts. However, questions are being raised about the effectiveness of the deal, which contains very few specific figures, commitments or timelines in the global fight against climate change. “The Copenhagen Accord may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this decision... is an important beginning,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon. He is among those who believe that it is operational immediately and must be transformed into a “legally binding treaty” within a year. On the other hand, a senior Indian negotiator said, it is viewed as “a reference document,” a political declaration which was not a decision under the U.N. framework. The confusion over the nature of the agreement arises from the fact that it was not “adopted by consensus,” due to strong objections by some countries. After an acrimonious debate and an adjournment filled with frantic bargaining, the chairman announced that the conference would instead “take note” of the accord, and swiftly brought his gavel down. Countries that approve of the accord are free to add their names to it. India will be one of those countries, since it championed the deal along with other BASIC countries and the U.S. With that deal sewed up, the big names — including Dr Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama — flew home, but negotiators then slogged it out in a marathon all-night session.The accord promises a mobilisation of $100 billion in annual funding for developing countries to meet the challenges of climate change from 2020 and also pledges about $30 billion by 2012. It sets a target limiting temperature increases to a maximum of two degrees celsius, but fails to specify the greenhouse gas emission cuts that nations need to commit themselves to in order to meet that goal.
There is no deadline for global emissions to peak, which pleases India, but left many scientists, activists and vulnerable countries disappointed. The Indian team is also happy about the focus on equity, but admitted that it had relaxed its position on monitoring and verification of domestic mitigation actions.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
There is no deadline for global emissions to peak, which pleases India, but left many scientists, activists and vulnerable countries disappointed. The Indian team is also happy about the focus on equity, but admitted that it had relaxed its position on monitoring and verification of domestic mitigation actions.
The Hindu, December 19, 2009
Centre to incentivise wind power generation
The Central Government on Thursday said it would give incentives worth Rs.380 crore to promote wind power generation. The government has launched a special programme to generate more wind power and attract investments, domestically as well as globally, to give boost to cleaner and renewable energy sector, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said here.“We are implementing the generation-based incentive (GBI) scheme for grid-interactive wind power producers. This would definitely give boost to wind power producers and help cut carbon emission,” he said. The Minister said that the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency would be the nodal agency for the GBI scheme that provided subsidy of 50 paise per unit of wind power, with a ceiling of Rs.62-lakh per MW for 4-10 years. A total of Rs.380 crore has been earmarked for the scheme. The scheme would be scaled up after a review of its performance in the remaining period of the XI Plan (2007-12). The government aims to attract big power companies, particularly foreign firms, to the wind power sector. “Since the incentives are outcome-based, this scheme would not promote fly-by-night operators. Those types of investors make money when incentives are given on the basis of investments,” said IREDA Chairman and Managing Director Debashish Majumdar.
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
The Hindu, December 17, 2009
Spoiled wine can produce energy: Scientists
A bottle of spoiled wine could help cut your power bills, as American and Indian scientists have come up with a new technology that generates electricity by using waste from improper fermentation. According to the scientists, the technology could provide a new and cost effective way to clean wastewater from wineries and get some value out of a “bad bottle of wine“. They found two groups of bacteria available in winery waste. One group of bacteria turns unused sugar and unwanted vinegar from improper fermentation into electricity, while the other uses that electricity to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, which escape into the atmosphere. “There is nothing special about the bacteria,” said Bruce Logan, a scientist at Penn State University who recently installed a microbial electrolysis cell at a winery in Napa Valley, California. “We just give them a good environment to grow in.” Sheela Berchmans, a professor at the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CERI) in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, also claimed to have generated power by using the same methodology, the LiveScience website reported.
“Sugars like glucose, alcohols and effluents containing sugars or alcohols can be used (to produce electricity),” said Ms. Berchmans, who recently co-authored a paper in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. According to her, the two groups of bacteria identified as Acetobacter aceti and Bluconobacter roseus - can spoil wine. The scientists at CERI, who created microbial fuel cells using single cultures of each bacteria as well as both together, produced 859 milliwatts of power. However, the electricity produced is not much - at least not yet, the scientists said According to Mr. Logan’s estimates, about 1.5 per cent of all the electricity in the US goes into wastewater treatment. “We are producing more methane than we wanted,” said Mr. Logan, who is trying to correct the problem by planting microbial electrolysis cells. The scientists could collect the hydrogen for a fuel cell or burn the methane for heat,” said Mr. Logan, but for now they let it escape into the atmosphere. The microbial electrolysis cell project is meant to save the winery a significant amount of money, but to prove the technology is feasible, says Logan, who estimates it will take three to five years before a commercially viable microbial electrolysis cell is available.
The scientists hope that the technology could eventually be scaled up to produce more electricity or help to save electricity that would normally be used to treat waste water.
The Hindu, December 16, 2009
‘
“Sugars like glucose, alcohols and effluents containing sugars or alcohols can be used (to produce electricity),” said Ms. Berchmans, who recently co-authored a paper in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. According to her, the two groups of bacteria identified as Acetobacter aceti and Bluconobacter roseus - can spoil wine. The scientists at CERI, who created microbial fuel cells using single cultures of each bacteria as well as both together, produced 859 milliwatts of power. However, the electricity produced is not much - at least not yet, the scientists said According to Mr. Logan’s estimates, about 1.5 per cent of all the electricity in the US goes into wastewater treatment. “We are producing more methane than we wanted,” said Mr. Logan, who is trying to correct the problem by planting microbial electrolysis cells. The scientists could collect the hydrogen for a fuel cell or burn the methane for heat,” said Mr. Logan, but for now they let it escape into the atmosphere. The microbial electrolysis cell project is meant to save the winery a significant amount of money, but to prove the technology is feasible, says Logan, who estimates it will take three to five years before a commercially viable microbial electrolysis cell is available.
The scientists hope that the technology could eventually be scaled up to produce more electricity or help to save electricity that would normally be used to treat waste water.
The Hindu, December 16, 2009
‘
NASA’s carbon emissions data linked to humidity, global warming
The US space agency have released seven years of carbon emissions data that link rapidly accelerated global warming to increased humidity, a move well timed to quell growing controversy about data connected to global warming.As world leaders prepared to meet Friday in Copenhagen at the end of two weeks of slow negotiations on climate change, NASA researchers in Pasadena, California, said late Tuesday that the data on carbon dioxide had been “extensively validated.” The data was collected by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft. It measures carbon dioxide concentrations 5 to 12 kilometres above Earth’s surface and tracks its movement, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, said AIRS observations confirmed climate model predictions that as the climate warms, the atmosphere would become more humid, thus more than doubling the warming effect of increased carbon dioxide. “The implication of these studies is that, should greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current course of increase, we are virtually certain to see Earth’s climate warm by several degrees Celsius in the next century unless some strong negative feedback mechanism emerges elsewhere in Earth’s climate system,” Dessler said in a NASA statement.
NASA did not say why it chose this particular time to release its seven years of data.
The Hindu, December 16, 2009
NASA did not say why it chose this particular time to release its seven years of data.
The Hindu, December 16, 2009
Climate talks: India against amending Kyoto Protocol
India on Sunday made it clear that it was opposed to any amendment to the Kyoto Protocol as the 12-day climate talks headed into the second week where Environment Ministers would seek to give a political push to the negotiations which were in disarray. Informal talks among the environment ministers on the draft deal, criticised by rich nations and emerging economies, continued over the weekend with the hope that they could agree on a text that could be put before the heads of state and government assembling for the plenary here later next week.
Not the right message
“There are articles bracketing the Annex 1 and non-Annex countries and allows Annex 1 (developed nations) to abandon Kyoto, which is not the right message to give at this point of time,” India’s Environment Secretary Vijay Sharma said. The highlight of the past week was an attempt by tiny Pacific Island nation Tuvalu to stall the negotiations by staging a walkout as the chair of the conference refused to take up its proposal for limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial years.
Procedural advances
However, Danish Minister Connie Hedegaard, chairing the talks, insisted that procedural advances in the first six days had been “fantastic.” “The core discussions... have really started,” she said adding the the delgates “still have a daunting task in front of us over the next few days.” Sticking to its one protocol approach, developing countries like India, China and Brazil are opposing attempts led Tuvalu and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to add another protocol to the Kyoto Protocol at the December 7-18 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, held under tight security. “Our focus is on heightened implementation of the convention,” Sharma said, noting that “the spotlight is on existing commitments.”
India to play constructive role
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is here to participate in the ministerial meet, has said India will play a constructive role in the climate negotiations but slammed efforts of rich nations to make domestic emission reduction claims by developing nations legally-binding and verifiable. Mr. Ramesh asserted that India’s national voluntary domestic measures to tackle global warming were not up for global scrutiny and progress on these would be checked only by the country’s Parliament. India and other developing nations suspect that Europe’s support for a new protocol is also an attempt to weaken the Kyoto Protocol.
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol sets binding targets for 37 developed countries for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. Copenhagen was swamped by thousands of protestors who demanded strong action from the delegates at the conference. Several of them were detained as the protests turned violent but were set free except for 13 who were still in custody.
First draft criticised
The first draft treaty submitted to the conference on Friday was criticised by both the developed and developing nations for different reasons. The developed countries dubbed the document as “flawed” for not imposing obligations on emerging economies to check global warming, while India objected to the mention of a peaking year till which the emissions would be allowed to increase. “Several provisions in the draft are inconsistent and obviously in conflict with the convention provisions pertinent to historical responsibility and equity,” Sharma said. However, EU, like Tuvalu and AOSIS have said here that this Copenhagen summit needs to produce a document much stronger than the Kyoto Protocol that neither puts obligations on US nor on emerging economies.
"Major setback"
R K Pachauri, Head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that failure to come out with a pact to combat global warming will be a “major setback” to the world. “If we are able to get a good agreement it would create an enormous amount of confidence in the ability of human society to be able to act on a multilateral basis. “If we fail I don’t think everything is lost but it certainly would be a major setback,” he said. Sweden’s environment minister, Andreas Carlgren said: “If we were to end up with an agreement where the only legally binding part would be the Kyoto Protocol then we would not manage to achieve what is needed.”
The Hindu, December 13, 2009
Not the right message
“There are articles bracketing the Annex 1 and non-Annex countries and allows Annex 1 (developed nations) to abandon Kyoto, which is not the right message to give at this point of time,” India’s Environment Secretary Vijay Sharma said. The highlight of the past week was an attempt by tiny Pacific Island nation Tuvalu to stall the negotiations by staging a walkout as the chair of the conference refused to take up its proposal for limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial years.
Procedural advances
However, Danish Minister Connie Hedegaard, chairing the talks, insisted that procedural advances in the first six days had been “fantastic.” “The core discussions... have really started,” she said adding the the delgates “still have a daunting task in front of us over the next few days.” Sticking to its one protocol approach, developing countries like India, China and Brazil are opposing attempts led Tuvalu and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to add another protocol to the Kyoto Protocol at the December 7-18 Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, held under tight security. “Our focus is on heightened implementation of the convention,” Sharma said, noting that “the spotlight is on existing commitments.”
India to play constructive role
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is here to participate in the ministerial meet, has said India will play a constructive role in the climate negotiations but slammed efforts of rich nations to make domestic emission reduction claims by developing nations legally-binding and verifiable. Mr. Ramesh asserted that India’s national voluntary domestic measures to tackle global warming were not up for global scrutiny and progress on these would be checked only by the country’s Parliament. India and other developing nations suspect that Europe’s support for a new protocol is also an attempt to weaken the Kyoto Protocol.
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol sets binding targets for 37 developed countries for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. Copenhagen was swamped by thousands of protestors who demanded strong action from the delegates at the conference. Several of them were detained as the protests turned violent but were set free except for 13 who were still in custody.
First draft criticised
The first draft treaty submitted to the conference on Friday was criticised by both the developed and developing nations for different reasons. The developed countries dubbed the document as “flawed” for not imposing obligations on emerging economies to check global warming, while India objected to the mention of a peaking year till which the emissions would be allowed to increase. “Several provisions in the draft are inconsistent and obviously in conflict with the convention provisions pertinent to historical responsibility and equity,” Sharma said. However, EU, like Tuvalu and AOSIS have said here that this Copenhagen summit needs to produce a document much stronger than the Kyoto Protocol that neither puts obligations on US nor on emerging economies.
"Major setback"
R K Pachauri, Head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that failure to come out with a pact to combat global warming will be a “major setback” to the world. “If we are able to get a good agreement it would create an enormous amount of confidence in the ability of human society to be able to act on a multilateral basis. “If we fail I don’t think everything is lost but it certainly would be a major setback,” he said. Sweden’s environment minister, Andreas Carlgren said: “If we were to end up with an agreement where the only legally binding part would be the Kyoto Protocol then we would not manage to achieve what is needed.”
The Hindu, December 13, 2009
Like China, India should protect food security, says M.S. Swaminathan
If India protects its food security from climate change impacts, it could negotiate with greater confidence at international climate talks, says eminent scientist M.S. Swaminathan, who is on the parliamentary delegation to the U.N. summit here. “China strengthened its food security ... and now they are negotiating from a position of strength,” Dr. Swaminathan told The Hindu on Thursday. Food security and agriculture were the primary casualties of climate change. He pointed out that India produced less than half of China’s 500 million tonnes of foodgrains per year, leaving New Delhi more vulnerable than Beijing in the global negotiations. “We have to rely on others, on the U.S., to buy wheat,” he said. “It is the same with sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia and the island states ... They are vulnerable at home.”
Small rise, big loss
Dr. Swaminathan pointed out that just a one-degree rise in global average temperatures would mean an annual loss of six million to seven million tonnes, or 10 per cent, of India’s wheat production. “Charity begins at home,” he said, calling on the Indian government to put its energies into adapting to the impacts of climate change on agriculture — droughts and floods, sea-level rise and soil salinity — even as it negotiates on the international stage. “We must prepare to strengthen the climate resilience of our agriculture,” said Dr. Swaminathan, adding all the knowledge and technology was already available in India.
Virtual centres
Steps that need to be taken included setting up virtual centres for climate research and risk management for each of the 127 distinct agro-climatic zones, which could cost about Rs. 100 crore. Seed banks should be set up to encourage diversification to climate-resilient bajra, jowar and tuber crops. Training needed to be given in reviving and maintaining bioshields and in starting farming below sea level, said Dr. Swaminathan.
The Hindu, December 18, 2009
Small rise, big loss
Dr. Swaminathan pointed out that just a one-degree rise in global average temperatures would mean an annual loss of six million to seven million tonnes, or 10 per cent, of India’s wheat production. “Charity begins at home,” he said, calling on the Indian government to put its energies into adapting to the impacts of climate change on agriculture — droughts and floods, sea-level rise and soil salinity — even as it negotiates on the international stage. “We must prepare to strengthen the climate resilience of our agriculture,” said Dr. Swaminathan, adding all the knowledge and technology was already available in India.
Virtual centres
Steps that need to be taken included setting up virtual centres for climate research and risk management for each of the 127 distinct agro-climatic zones, which could cost about Rs. 100 crore. Seed banks should be set up to encourage diversification to climate-resilient bajra, jowar and tuber crops. Training needed to be given in reviving and maintaining bioshields and in starting farming below sea level, said Dr. Swaminathan.
The Hindu, December 18, 2009
‘We are not for peaking year concept’
As negotiations on climate change gathered momentum here, India has said it will play a constructive role even as it slammed efforts of the developed world to make domestic emission cut commitments of developing nations legally binding and verifiable. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said India's voluntary domestic measures to tackle global warming were not up for international scrutiny and progress on these would be checked only by the country's Parliament. He said India would not agree to the concept of ''peaking,'' a clause incorporated in the first official draft which mandated developing nations to cap their emissions although it did not mention any time frame for that. Mr. Ramesh said the ''peaking'' clause would adversely impact the development of rural electricity in the country already facing a huge backlog in this area. While ruling out any dilution of the previously-stated ''red lines'' drawn by India, the Minister said he had ''come here to play a constructive, facilitative, leadership role to ensure an effective and equitable agreement." His comments came in the backdrop of a clash between India and the European Union on the contentious issue of making domestic commitments legally binding and verifiable. European Commission Director-General Karl Falkenberger said that the EU expected India, China and other emerging economies to report on their national mitigation programmes which would be incorporated in an international treaty. ''We need these contributions from everyone. We need them in a legally binding manner from everyone. Differentiated commitments, we can accept, but it has to be verifiable,'' he said. The remarks drew objection from India, with senior negotiator Chandrashekar Dasgupta noting that Mr. Falkenberger's position fell short of climate justice.
The Hindu, December 12, 2009
The Hindu, December 12, 2009
2010 is likely to be the warmest year’
2010 is likely to be the world’s warmest year on record, the British Met Office has predicted.
According to the Met Office, man-made climate change will be a factor and natural weather patterns would contribute less to 2010’s temperature than they did in 1998, the current warmest year in the 160-year record. El Niffect, the cyclical heating of the Pacific Ocean, is much weaker than it was in 1998, but the Met Office expects the warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions to more than make up the difference, The Times reported.It predicts that the global average temperature next year to be almost 0.6°C warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average, and forecasts an annual average of 14.58°C.
The Met Office has also said that it expects half the years between 2010 and 2019 to be warmer than 1998. It sounded a note of caution, saying that a record year in 2010 was not a certainty, especially if the current El Niegan to decline earlier than normal or there was a large volcanic eruption.
However, experts are divided on the prediction.Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: “If 2010 turns out to be the hottest year on record, it might go some way towards exploding the myth, spread by the climate conspiracy theorists that we’re experiencing global cooling. In reality the world is getting possibly a lot hotter, and humans are causing it.” But, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, has accused the Met Office of making a “political intervention” in the international negotiations taking place in Copenhagen. “Suggestions by the Met Office that a warming trend will resume in the next year or two should be treated with reserve in light of the recognised difficulties in making such confident predictions,” it said.
The Hindu, December 11, 2009
According to the Met Office, man-made climate change will be a factor and natural weather patterns would contribute less to 2010’s temperature than they did in 1998, the current warmest year in the 160-year record. El Niffect, the cyclical heating of the Pacific Ocean, is much weaker than it was in 1998, but the Met Office expects the warming effect of greenhouse gas emissions to more than make up the difference, The Times reported.It predicts that the global average temperature next year to be almost 0.6°C warmer than the 1961 to 1990 average, and forecasts an annual average of 14.58°C.
The Met Office has also said that it expects half the years between 2010 and 2019 to be warmer than 1998. It sounded a note of caution, saying that a record year in 2010 was not a certainty, especially if the current El Niegan to decline earlier than normal or there was a large volcanic eruption.
However, experts are divided on the prediction.Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: “If 2010 turns out to be the hottest year on record, it might go some way towards exploding the myth, spread by the climate conspiracy theorists that we’re experiencing global cooling. In reality the world is getting possibly a lot hotter, and humans are causing it.” But, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, has accused the Met Office of making a “political intervention” in the international negotiations taking place in Copenhagen. “Suggestions by the Met Office that a warming trend will resume in the next year or two should be treated with reserve in light of the recognised difficulties in making such confident predictions,” it said.
The Hindu, December 11, 2009
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