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Mushahidullah suggested that boosting adaptation in climate-sensitive agriculture, water, livestock, fisheries and forest sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, which is home to two-thirds (743 million) of the world’s total poor people, has become indispensable to abate economic inequality as mostly the poor bear the brunt of natural disasters. The minister highlighted that according to the world-acclaimed German-based research institute’s Global Climate Risk Index-2015, five…

The report, published in the Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, explores the state of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Pacific island countries and the projected climatic variations. “Our goal is to understand the current state with regards to water and sanitation in remote rural communities and overlay our understanding of what climate change is going to do in these…

Now, environmental experts are suggesting that some parts of the strategy are, at best, a waste of MONEY and time. At worst, they are setting the United States in the wrong direction entirely. That is the view of some of the world’s top environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club. On Tuesday, they argued in a letter to the…

Almost a tenth of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water, and a third to the most basic sanitation. The International Monetary Fund has now pinpointed one of the root causes - the widespread use of subsidies when governments artificially lower the cost of providing water. David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund, said: "What that…

“Developing countries need to think ahead and prepare for the effects of climate change without compromising urbanization and economic growth,” says Jai-Ho Oh, atmospheric science professor at Seoul National University, who explained the system at a session of the 9th World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul. The technology, which is expected to be fully operational by 2019, requires the development of micro-weather…

In December, international representatives will meet in Paris to discuss an international agreement that some think could be humanity's last chance to limit the terrible effects climate change could have on the world and its population. But much of the US and the UK don't want their governments to do anything at all. In the US, 17 per cent of people "do not agree…

Next week, they will be put to climate negotiators meeting in Bonn, Germany ahead of a year-end United Nations conference in Paris, where nations have undertaken to sign a new world pact to curb global warming. Responses to a multiple-choice questionnaire showed that 71 per cent of the 10,000-odd participants believe the UN negotiations process has not done enough to tackle climate change. Nineteen…

A study covering 850 typhoons in the region found the intensity of the damaging storms has increased by about 10 per cent since the 1970s, said Wei Mei, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author of the study published in the journal Science Advances. Using 20 models and a mid-range projection of…

Achieving the 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) target has been the driving force for climate negotiators and scientists, who say it is the limit beyond which the world will suffer ever worsening floods, droughts, storms and rising seas. But six months before world leaders convene in Paris, prospects are fading for a deal that would keep average temperatures below the ceiling. Greenhouse gas emissions have reached…

The minister has concluded that developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region continue to farewell in comparison to the rest of the world, he warned in a statement released here on Sunday. “But increased frequency in climate change-induced hydrological and geological disasters are most likely to scuttle Asia-Pacific economic growth trajectory as long as disaster preparedness is not strengthened in the region and public infrastructure…

Arabica, which has long been prized for its delicate and aromatic flavor, accounts for 70% of the global coffee market share. But it is particularly sensitive to temperature increases, which reduce its growth, flowering and fruiting and make it more susceptible to coffee pests. With global temperatures forecast to increase by 2C-2.5C over the next few decades, a report predicts that some of the…

With a 2-degree temperature hike, small islands in the Pacific may become uninhabitable, weather-related disasters will become more frequent, workers in many parts of the world will face sweltering conditions and large numbers of people will be displaced, particularly in coastal cities, the experts warned. The 2-degree goal is "inadequate, posing serious threats for fundamental human rights, labor and migration and displacement" the experts…

The ICLEI is a global association of local governments and organizations that was established in 1990 when representatives of more than 200 local governments from 43 countries gathered at the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future at the UN in New York. In his speech, Randers said intense environmental problems will steal part of the world’s growth as labor and…

Climate change is a big topic, it covers a lot of issues that relate the world affairs, to impacts on environments such as Pacific atolls and the Arctic and Antarctic ice mass. Those places are a long way from where most of us live. But what if you could sit at a computer and get an understanding of the impact that global emission levels…

The researchers − from the UK, Switzerland and the US − conclude that policy-makers must apply the brakes and put a high price on carbon emissions “before it is too late”. Much of the argument on this issue revolves around the perceived cost of carbon emissions and any tax that should be imposed on fossil fuel use. Social scientists and economists and climate modelers…

Indeed, geographical isolation, small populations, and paucity of resources—as well as extreme vulnerability to climate change—call for a very different approach to development in the Pacific, says the newly released Independent Evaluation study, ADB Support to Small Pacific Island Countries. “The category five cyclone that devastated Vanuatu could well be the new norm,” said Vinod Thomas, Director General of Independent Evaluation at ADB. “Pacific…

The majority of warming linked to soaring levels of greenhouse gas emissions was being stored in the upper and lower levels of the seas, it said in its annual Status of the Global Climate report for 2014. Sea-surface temperatures were “much warmer than average” across the north Pacific, southwest Pacific, Indian Ocean as well as the polar region of the North Atlantic. Last year…

This was one of the findings from the 3rd Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Montpellier, France, this week. More than 700 participants coming from 75 different countries around the world convened at the conference to share their experience and agree on global and specific research agendas. The conference gathered representatives from scientific organizations, national and international governmental organizations, farmers’ associations, industries, NGOs…

Research in Nature Climate Change reveals that adaptation measures have the potential to generate further pressures and threats for both local and global ecosystems. Lead researcher Dr Carlo Fezzi, from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, said: “Climate change is a just a little bit more complicated than we previously thought. We need to take into account not only the direct impact of climate change…

At least 1.6 billion people directly depend on forests for food, fuel, shelter and income, but everyone benefits from the clean air, water, and climate regulation that forests provide. Three fourths of freshwater, crucial for human survival, comes from forested catchments. Healthy forests are critical for building resilience -- the ability to bounce back from storms and other natural disasters. Mangrove forests, when left…