Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk: On agriculture and food security, the report urged rich countries to deliver on commitments made at successive climate change summits at Copenhagen and Cancun to mobilise $100bn by 2020 for the Green Climate Fund, with half of that amount earmarked for adaptation. Investment for irrigation, terracing, rural roads and research would prevent annual losses of several hundreds of millions of dollars, the report said, a point highly pertinent for regions such as the Sahel, which suffers repeatedly from drought.

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green: “This Forum is an opportunity to establish a new model of cooperation between emerging economies and developing countries,” says Jim Leape, WWF International Director General. “After the failure of Rio 20 and other major international summits to agree on ambitious action for a healthy planet, we hope FOCAC will signal new leadership for the creation of green and sustainable economies.”

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk: The climate may have changed this week. Not the physical climate, but the climate of the climate change debate. Tuesday marked the publication of a series of papers examining the factors behind extreme weather events in 2011. Nothing remarkable about that, you might think, except, if all goes well, this will be the first of a regular, annual assessment quantifying how external drivers of climate contribute to damaging weather.

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com
"We have created a bubble of human population and economy … that is totally unsustainable and is either going to have to deflate gradually or is going to burst," said co-author James Brown, a distinguished professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. "If it's going to burst, the consequences are really going to be grim for people as well as biodiversity and the rest of the planet."

Pakistan’s renewable energy awaits tapping - SciDev.Net

Pakistan’s renewable energy awaits tapping - SciDev.Net The report on solar energy said although the source was abundant, with the country receiving 200-250 watts per square metre daily with an estimated potential of 2.9 million megawatts of solar power per annum, the country generates less than seven megawatts.  

Solar energy was hampered by poor integration of techno-economic and socio-political aspects and inconsistent government policies, although it was ideal for the remote areas of Balochistan, Cholistan and the Thar desert where grid connectivity was difficult.

Club of Rome has a skeptical take on the future | Environment | DW.DE | 09.05.2012

Club of Rome has a skeptical take on the future | Environment | DW.DE | 09.05.2012: Looking at politics, the Club of Rome predicts a shift of power and influence from the US to China.

Game Over for the Climate - NYTimes.com

Game Over for the Climate - NYTimes.com: Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk.

Nasa scientist: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Nasa scientist: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery | Environment | guardian.co.uk: Averting the worst consequences of human-induced climate change is a "great moral issue" on a par with slavery, according to the leading Nasa climate scientist Prof Jim Hansen.

Fast Track Creation of New Global Environment Agency, Says Distinguished Scientist

Fast Track Creation of New Global Environment Agency, Says Distinguished Scientist: “there is urgent need to reorganize our system of environmental governance. The planet is in peril and we must do something about it.Otherwise, human beings will be the ultimate losers.”

China warns on growing water shortages - FT.com

China warns on growing water shortages - FT.com: Environmentalists say many water policies have had a limited impact, because of the difficulty in enforcing rules on the ground, where local officials may prize GDP growth – long a consideration for official promotion – over meeting environmental guidelines.

The Guardian on Facebook

The Guardian on Facebook:"He also rejects any notion that Desertec carries with it even a whiff of neo-colonialism. Earlier this year such sentiments were raised by Daniel Ayuk Mbi Egbe of the African Network for Solar Energy. "Many Africans are sceptical [about Desertec]," he said. "[Europeans] make promises, but at the end of the day, they bring their engineers, they bring their equipment, and they go. It's a new form of resource exploitation, just like in the past." Other Mena-based speakers made similar points, not least that any electricity generated will first be desperately needed by local populations as they fight poverty."

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Joint High-level Segment of the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties of the Climate Change Convention and the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 17/CMP 7)

Joint High-level Segment of the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties of the Climate Change Convention and the Seventeenth Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 17/CMP 7): "4. Developing countries are now more than ever experiencing the very real impacts of climate change, which are undermining our development prospects and aggravating preexisting vulnerabilities.

5. This has been confirmed a few days ago by the Summary for Policy Makers from the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) that was adopted by IPCC member governments, highlighting that fatality rates and economic losses expressed as a proportion of GDP are higher in developing countries.

6. That points to the fact that a higher ambition in emission reductions of Green House Gasses (GHG) is urgently needed. In this regard, and as you are aware, Madam President, raising the level of ambition of emission reductions is a twofold path, since Parties agreed to a two- track negotiation process in 2007, the Bali Roadmap."

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