Welcome to SEARCA Knowledge Center on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management in Southeast Asia (KC3)

Global

Published on 22 September 2017
This year’s UN General Assembly marks the 2nd anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Shortly after, the world can also celebrate the first anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change coming into force. The tragic events of the last few weeks have shown that weather extremes, fueled by a warming atmosphere and warming oceans, can devastate…
Published on 22 September 2017
orities, and even-more complicated social and political forces. These very forces threaten to disrupt our pathway from the Paris Agreement to a low-carbon, climate resilient future. Somewhere in the middle, independent media are given the monumental task of looking for truth, and dispelling fake news and bogus science. And yet, the media´s most crucial task is to build consensus on the hard-and-true fact that if…
Published on 20 September 2017
Formalized two days after the United States confirmed its plans to quit the landmark Paris climate agreement of 2015, the initiative aims to create a forum for sharing knowledge and technology between governments, businesses and community leaders. Those joining the New York launch and supporting Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) include China, Indonesia and the C40 network, the office of…
Published on 12 September 2017
“For several months now we have seen a net drop in diesel sales in the major European markets of France and Germany,” said industry expert Stefan Bratzel of Germany’s Center for Automotive Management. In Germany, diesels now account for 37.7 percent of new car sales, down from 45 percent last year. In France, the share of diesel-powered cars has dipped below the 50 percent-mark for…
Published on 12 September 2017
The study suggests high quality coffees are most at risk — with Arabica coffee unable to withstand even slight fluctuations in temperature, humidity and sunlight. Robusta coffee, mostly grown in Africa to be made into instant coffee, is slightly more resistant. “Coffee is one of the most valuable commodities on Earth, and needs a suitable climate and pollinating bees to produce well,” said study co-author…
Published on 12 September 2017
To get at an answer, we need to be honest about the problem. Environmental activists typically argue that events like Harvey and Irma should frighten us into redoubling our climate mitigation efforts—taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as rapidly transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy, for example—to reduce the risk of future catastrophic storms. Conservatives tend to deny any connection between…
Published on 12 September 2017
Climate scientists are wary about linking a single event to climate change, though there are significant signs this is starting to change. There is near unanimity, however, that rising carbon emissions are causing warmer temperatures and an atmosphere packing more energy and moisture — and the link between this and the sharp rise in the frequency and ferocity of weather disasters charted over the past…
Published on 8 September 2017
Environment ministers at the first Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, organized jointly by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP or UN Environment) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), discussed measures to improve resource efficiency and combat pollution. Ministers emphasized the need for concerted action on environmental issues including waste management, transboundary pollution and marine litter. At the close…
Published on 6 September 2017
The $35 billion food giant behind brands like M&Ms, Skittles, and Twix on Wednesday launched its “Sustainability in a Generation” plan, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of its business and supply chain by more than 60% by 2050. “We’ve been increasingly worried about overall progress on the big issues, whether that’s climate change or solving poverty,” Barry Parkin, Mars’ chief sustainability officer, told Business…
Published on 5 September 2017
In southwest Japan in July, at least 18 people were killed and hundreds stranded after unusually heavy rains caused massive floods and landslides. The common refrain everywhere is that nobody had seen or expected anything like this. But as climate change aggravates hydro-meteorological events, these catastrophes are the new norm. The only lasting response is to cut greenhouse gases and contain global warming, but meanwhile…
Published on 4 September 2017
As scientists who study climate risks and how societies can respond, we have been jolted to think hard about our best understanding of why disasters like these occur, how a changing climate cranks up the odds and what we might do differently. The answer, for scientists and everyone else who has been watching, is not to say definitively and dismissively, “this is the result of…
Published on 3 September 2017
Houston may have broken the US rainfall records, but lost in the dramatic worldwide coverage of Texas has been the plight of tens of millions of people across Asia and Africa who are also counting the human cost of equally intense storms in which months of rain has fallen in just a few hours. One of the heaviest monsoons recorded in the past 30 years…
Published on 31 August 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/opinion/hurricanes-climate-capitalists-wealth-.html Source: The New York Times | 31 August 2017
Published on 27 August 2017
The culprit is the usual suspect. You guessed it: global warming. Rising temperatures in the Alps have been causing glaciers to melt. This we have known for some time. Yet they are now also causing permafrost (underground sediment that stays permanently frozen in subzero temperatures) to thaw. A rock slide blocks a road in Switzerland. Thawing permafrost is loosening rocks on mountainsides. Photo Credit: Creative…
Published on 24 August 2017
The latest developments in climate change capacity building have included initiatives by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and partners aimed at improving meteorological services in Asia-Pacific, and an Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) workshop on drought risk management. The UNFCCC Secretariat has issued an annual technical progress report of the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB). The WMO opened a…
Published on 24 August 2017
Changes to the jet stream could make flights longer and more turbulent. And higher temperatures could affect the maximum takeoff weight, meaning more weight restrictions and even flight cancellations. The problems could have an effect on the profits of airlines, which are already operating on slim margins. Bumpier journeys Research from Reading University has found that flights could become lengthier and more turbulent because of…
Published on 23 August 2017
"I consider nitrogen the camouflaged beast in our midst," said Stein. "Humans are now responsible for adding more fixed nitrogen, in the form of ammonium, to the environment than all natural sources combined. Because of that, the nitrogen cycle has been identified as the most unbalanced biogeochemical cycle on the planet." The camouflaged beast Earth's nitrogen cycle has been thrown significantly off balance by…
Published on 22 August 2017
In fields near the town of Thiruthuraipoondi in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Jayaraman saw yields falling and farmers’ debt rising as their reliance on modern seeds and pesticides grew, even as the rains became increasingly fickle. Fifteen years ago, Jayaraman gave up both, returning to traditional varieties and organic farming methods that had become nearly extinct in the Cauvery river delta region where…
Published on 11 August 2017
Read article here: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4223702/al-gore-climate-change-an-inconvenient-sequel-truth-to-power-donald-trump/ Source: The Sun | 11 August 2017
Published on 5 August 2017
In July 2017, the World Health Organization's official report tallied 80,732 cases of dengue fever in Sri Lanka, with 215 deaths so far in 2017. The announcement notes that is "4.3 fold higher than the average number of cases for the same period between 2010 and 2016." On the ground, the Red Cross and other relief agencies are counting over 100,000 cases this year, almost…
Page 5 of 16