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Published on 2 April 2014 Global
The secretary general appealed to the international community to “pledge to develop the policies needed to ensure that sustainable water and energy are secured for the many and not just the few”. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is “Water and Energy”. In 2014, the UN is focussing attention on the water-energy nexus, particularly addressing inequities, especially for the ‘bottom billion’ who live…
Published on 2 April 2014 Feature
The latest report of the United Nations panel, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), looked at the growing threat of climate change and on how human and natural systems are expected to address the “widespread and consequential” impacts. The leaked document, which is yet to be finalized by hundreds of international scientists and is scheduled to be release by end of March 2014, is…
Published on 2 April 2014 Lao PDR
The discussion was held under the cooperation framework on National Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) and Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), an agreement which the Lao and Japanese reached last year, aiming to build the another cooperation project alongside the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). “We are about to build the facilities for sharing experience between the businesses from Laos and Japan, aiming to build more joint cooperation…
Published on 2 April 2014 Global
Professor Andy Challinor, from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds and lead author of the study, said: “Our research shows that crop yields will be negatively affected by climate change much earlier than expected.” “Furthermore, the impact of climate change on crops will vary both from year-to-year and from place-to-place — with the variability becoming greater as the weather becomes…
Published on 17 March 2014 Global
Malaria, which killed an estimated 620,000 people in 2012, is among a host of diseases that researchers warn will spread more easily thanks to global warming. For Ethiopia alone, "a one-degree-Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature will lift the area where malaria can occur by 150 meters (487 feet)," Menno Bouma of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told AFP. "In this…
Published on 17 March 2014 Singapore
The group of 11 experts yesterday discussed key features of the Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill — such as the proposed penalties and whether the Government had sufficient capacity to monitor the activities of companies abroad. Their discussion came as air quality crept up to moderate levels last evening due to hotspots north of Singapore and north-easterly winds. A summary of the discussion, led by the…
Published on 17 March 2014 Singapore
The total rainfall across 64 rainfall stations ranged from 45 per cent to 100 per cent below the long-term average of 161.0mm for February -- about half of the stations, mostly in the southern and eastern areas, recorded monthly rainfall totals below 10.0mm. Besides being the driest month ever, February was also the most windy month in the last 30 years. An average daily wind…
Published on 17 March 2014 Malaysia
Tangang was presenting the key findings of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and their relevance to Malaysia and the Southeast Asia region. IPCC is a scientific inter-governmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which assesses public knowledge on climate change and compiles them into an annual report. On the other hand, Tangang however believes that…
Published on 17 March 2014 Myanmar
Climate change “doesn’t seem to be a priority issue for the government as yet,” Myint Zaw told Thomson Reuters Foundation. “They’re preoccupied with achieving economic progress, but if you are unable to adapt to the changing climate, regardless of however hard you try, poverty eradication is going to be very difficult. That’s for sure,” he added. Aung Myint, general secretary of the Renewable Energy Association…
Published on 17 March 2014 Southeast Asia
However, while local insurance initiatives are proving effective, there are arguments that a global approach is needed. The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative has called for governments and the insurance industry to work together more efficiently. The MCII, which was launched by Munich Re and is made up of insurers, climate change experts, NGOs and policy researchers, points out that while the insurance industry provides a…
Published on 17 March 2014 Philippines
The other cities studied and included in the list are Iloilo, 6.69; Cagayan de Oro, 6.68; Cebu, 6.65; Zamboanga, 6.32; Naga, 6.10; Laoag, 5.80; Davao, 5.6; Batangas, 5.65, and Angeles, 5.56.

 WWF-Philippines Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan was quoted as saying the cities were ranked according to climate exposure, socio-economic sensitivity, and adaptive capacity melded to generate scores which show…
Published on 17 March 2014 Feature
Unless temperatures are kept below the internationally agreed limit of 2C warming on pre-industrial levels, the reef will cease to be a coral-dominated ecosystem, the report warns. Coral bleaching, which occurs when water becomes too warm and coral’s energy source is decimated, is now a “serious threat” to the reef, having not been documented in the region prior to 1979. The increase in carbon dioxide…
Published on 17 March 2014 Feature
Over a 14-day period the team tested four species of damsel fish and two of cardinal fish. They say: “Our results indicate that low-latitude reef fish populations are living close to their thermal optima and may be more sensitive to ocean warming than higher-latitude populations.” “Our studies found that one species of fish could not even survive in water just 3°C warmer than it lives…
Published on 17 March 2014 Feature
The concept of resilience is key, report author and Cool Foods Campaign director Diana Donlon explained in an interview with Common Dreams. "It's a very important word in terms of climate change," Donlon said. "The definition we use is the capacity of a system to absorb a disturbance and then respond to that disturbance." The response of a resilient system is "vigorous and strong." "Obviously…
Published on 17 March 2014 Vietnam
Bui Quang Vinh, Vietnam’s Minister of Investment and Planning, signed an exchange of notes on the issue Wednesday with Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Fukada, who said the loan aimed to facilitate a boost in foreign investments in the country. Forty percent of the funds will be earmarked for the country’s Support Program to Respond to Climate Change, and the rest is being called the Economic Management…
Published on 17 March 2014 Global
"Climate change is happening. We see it in temperature, we see it in the melting ice, and we see it in sea-level rise," Inez Fung, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at Berkeley and a co-lead author of the report, told NBC News. The changes are due to rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide with a chemical signature from the burning of fossil…
Published on 17 March 2014 Global
They chose 36 amphibians and reptiles endemic to the United States. Reptiles and amphibians almost everywhere seem to be vulnerable for a mix of reasons: among them habitat destruction, environmental pollution and the introduction of new predators and new diseases. The more exquisite the ecological niche occupied by the species, the smaller its overall population and the more precarious its chances of survival. The researchers…
Published on 17 March 2014 Indonesia
Srinivasan is one of a growing number of scientists, politicians and public figures around the world who are trying to draw attention the adverse effects of climate change on the environment. Both U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary David King gave speeches in Jakarta recently in a bid to raise awareness. Indonesia, with the world’s second longest coastline, is considered the…
Published on 17 March 2014 Southeast Asia
Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between January 13 and February 8 and has had little rain since. In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department. Forecasters say the dry spell is expected to…
Published on 17 March 2014 Philippines
Marikina City, which lies downstream of the UMRBPL, was one of the most severely hit LGUs by Typhoon Ondoy, which battered the city on September 26, 2009, killing scores of people and destroying property worth several hundred millions of pesos. The study was a component of the Asian Development Bank funded technical assistance, titled “Climate Resilience and Green Growth in the UMRBPL: Demonstrating the Eco-town…
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