Harvested News

We can't yet predict ahead of time how these cycles will change. The good news is that it doesn't matter from a big picture climate perspective, because over the long-term, temperature influences from El Niño and La Niña events cancel each other out. However, when we examine how climate model projections have performed over the past 15 years or so, those natural cycles make a…

The ecosystems provide many important services to people, with 20 million people indirectly influenced by the services and 8 million poor people living in the ecosystems. According to the Centre for Marine Life Conservation and Community Development, the services of the coral reef ecosystem have an estimated total value of $100 million. One square kilometer of coral reefs can provide aquatic products worth $10,000. In…

The State of the Climate in 2013 report, published online Thursday by the American Meteorological Society, showed that greenhouse gases, sea levels, global temperatures and other key climate indicators were all on the rise last year. The report, compiled by 425 scientists from 57 countries around the world, provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental…

Even as flood risks in the region increase, warm day temperatures will increase by an average of 4.3°C and the number of days in drought will increase by 5 per cent. But if the world takes rapid and significant action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions such that they peak in 2040 and then decline, these numbers could be reduced. The number of people in…

Optimists think - and the rest of us hope - that with growing affluence, awareness and education, society's concern for the environment will grow. Governments, responding to public and media pressure and with a reduced need to pursue development "at all costs", will incorporate stronger, more robust environmental controls and regulation, and so such environmental costs will wane. The idea is reassuring. Just keep on…

While the island state struggles to repair the damage wreaked by typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people, preparations have long been under way for the next season. The Philippine meteorological agency, Pagasa, recently announced the beginning of this year's rainy season and warned that 18 typhoons could hit the country by the end of December. For the country's Climate Change Commission, discussions on…

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the program was signed by the Myanmar Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, UN-Habitat and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on Friday, said the New Light of Myanmar. At the signing ceremony in Nay Pyi Taw, U Win Tun, the minister for environmental conservation and forestry, stressed that the issue of climate change is the biggest challenge and…

According to Yumul, the Philippine economy remains stagnant due to various disasters that hit the country. “When government funds are supposed to maximize development of our emerging sectors, we keep on donating to those devastated, repairing the cities or barangays, etc.,” he said. Yumul stressed that helping those in need is not wrong, but it will hinder the country’s growth especially in the imminent ASEAN…

The efforts will be coordinated by the Resilience Working Group (RWG), the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) told FutureGov. The RWG is an inter-agency led by the MERW and the Ministry of National Development. It is responsible for assessing Singapore’s physical vulnerabilities to climate change. Speaking at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Regional Outreach Event this week, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for…

You don’t have to be a climate change expert to know that temperature increases, precipitation changes, and extreme weather events are a real and growing threat. The farmers we work with in Africa, Asia and the Americas are experiencing it now: longer and more intense rains in Tanzania, increased flooding in Cambodia and higher temperatures in Central America, contributing to the devastating outbreak of coffee…

The initial findings of the report were presented on Wednesday, July 9, as part of an outreach event of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is a Nobel Prize-winning group of hundreds of scientists from all over the world collating and assessing findings on climate change. The IPCC’s most recent report, the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), concluded that global warming is unequivocal…

“In the Philippines hazards are normal,” Liza Bernardo Zurbito of Children International said. But she stressed, “They only become disasters when we are not prepared.” The wealth of experiences on the ground in these two countries was captured during the Conference on Community Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Building from July 2-4 in Silang, Cavite. The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) and Give2Asia hosted…

Officials from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and the Ministry of National Development shared on Monday that all ministries and statutory boards will participate in this study, which will examine how rising sea levels, higher temperatures and more intense rainfall and flooding could affect the city state’s physical infrastructure. The initial findings are expected to be released by 2016, and will feed…

“I asked my sons to place four sandbags on the corrugated tin roof and anchor the interior pillars to concrete poles fixed in the ground with zinc wire,” says the 67-year-old resident of Long Binh Commune, Go Cong Tay District, Tien Giang Province. “When last year’s ninth storm (Typhoon Usagi) blew the roofs off neighboring houses and uprooted surrounding trees, I was really scared,”…

The Resilience Framework, announced in 2012, provides a holistic guide to inter-government agencies on how to assess Singapore’s physical vulnerabilities to climate change. By 2016, these agencies are expected to release long-term plans to safeguard Singapore against projected climate change effects. It was revealed on Monday that the framework incorporates risk assessment and adaptation planning. For example, under the framework, roads are assessed for vulnerabilities…

Filipino scientists joined over 500 other researchers, natural resource managers, policy makers, representatives of non-government organizations, and stakeholders from 39 other counties at the event in order to find answers to the coral reef crisis in the Asia Pacific region. Danger from climate change Research presented at the conference revealed new insights into how humans and human-driven climate change are affecting coral reefs, such as…