Nepal has made significant efforts towards low-emission development, using government tools to encourage finance flows towards climate action. However, achieving its ambitions will be difficult given current
When R K Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) received the Nobel Peace Prize in December last year on behalf of the IPCC, which bagged the award jointly with Al Gore, he had clearly mentioned that he would first want to pay tribute to the thousands of experts and scientists who have contributed to the work of the panel over almost two decades. Two Puneites figure in the long list of experts who have contributed to the IPCC in the area of climate change. The Indian government has taken special cognizance of these scientists and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has issued certificates "recognising their contribution.' Two MeT officers from Pune
An integrated approach is needed to face the challenges of human and animal diseases, as climate change contributes to emergence of new infectious diseases, experts told a seminar yesterday. The British Council organised the seminar titled 'Infectious diseases: A vision for future detection, identification and monitoring' as part of a campaign for having a universal action plan to tackle veterinary infectious diseases. The seminar was also designed to raise the level of understanding of the policymakers, researchers and health experts about the issue. Dr Joe Brownlie of Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London, attended the seminar as the keynote speaker. Dr Joe Brownlie highlighted the results of a recent UK foresight report on technological and policy priorities for meeting the future challenges of infectious diseases, which would affect humans, plants and animals. Director of British Council Dr June Rollinson and Vice Chancellor of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Prof Nitish C Debnath also spoke on the occasion. Experts, teachers of veterinary science, microbiologists and pharmacists attended the seminar.
The world has seen some extraordinary winter conditions in both hemispheres over the past year: snow in Johannesburg last June and in Baghdad in January, Arctic sea ice returning with a vengeance after a record retreat last summer, paralyzing blizzards in China, and a sharp drop in the globe's average temperature. It is no wonder that some scientists, opinion writers, political operatives and other people who challenge warnings about dangerous human-caused global warming have jumped on this as a teachable moment. "Earth's
Human impact on oceans cause for global concern Are we taking our oceans for granted? It looks like we are, because we perceive them
Japan is planning to invest up to $1.93 billion in an international fund aimed at encouraging the use of renewable energy technology in developing countries, the Nikkei financial daily said on Sunday. The fund, to be set up jointly with the United States and Britain, is expected be the largest ever of its type, with total investment of about 500 billion yen ($4.82 billion), the Nikkei said. By investing in technologies such as wind and solar power in less developed countries, participating governments hope to encourage private finance to follow suit, the newspaper said without identifying its sources. The British government last year announced 800 million pounds in support for the fund over three years, while the United States said this year it would provide $2 billion, also over three years, the Nikkei said. Spain and other European nations are considering participating, it said. Japan's finance ministry is likely to make an announcement on Tokyo's contribution at a meeting of G7 finance chiefs and central bank governors in Washington in April, the newspaper said. Japan, this year's host of the G8 summit of industrialised nations, is trying to take a lead on climate change and media reports say the government is planning a 16-nation leaders conference on the issue in parallel with G8. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Japan will propose to other countries that numerical goals be set for the introduction of energy-saving equipment in each of their industrial sectors as a ratio to overall production equipment. The proposal aimed at cutting greenhouse gases will call for establishing a method to compute the quantities of reduced emissions if the goals set by each nation for each sector, such as steel and electric power generation, are met, government officials said. Adding up the computed quantities of reduced emissions will help each country achieve its overall national cutback targets, the officials said. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari will brief his counterparts from the Group of 20 countries on the proposal at a three-day meeting on climate change getting under way March 14 in Chiba. Given that Japanese industry has already made great progress in introducing energy-saving equipment, the Japanese approach would become the global benchmark if the G20 countries adopt the proposal, the officials said. At a meeting in January of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed adding up the quantities of greenhouse gases to be cut in each industrial sector to accomplish overall national cutback targets as a method of combating climate change starting in 2013. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming expires in 2012. The European Union has been calling for obliging various countries to commit to overall national reduction quantities in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework. But the Japanese proposal, which puts emphasis on energy saving, would allow countries to pursue both economic growth and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Amari said. Against this backdrop, the Japanese proposal would make it easier to secure consent from India and China, two major emitters bent on putting more priority on economic growth. More specifically, the proposal calls for designating energy-saving technology and production methods that are highly efficient in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in key industrial sectors. In the steel industry, for example, some 10 types of equipment will be selected for their ability to recover heat and greenhouse gases from steel plants.
<p>This report presents an overview of the impact of rural livelihood programmes supported by DFID in the context of the Millennium Development Goals, and explores some of the lessons learned under headings of income generation and rural growth, better management of natural resources, targeting the poorest and marginalised, and local institutions and self-governance.
The Assam Government will organize an ovation for Dr. Rajendra K Pachauri whose organization Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize 2007 jointly with former American Vice-President Al Gore. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will felicitate Dr Pachauri, on behalf of the State Government at a function to be held at Rabindra Bhawan here at 12 noon on March 4. Dr Pachauri, who is also the Director General, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), will attend the formal launching of DNA Club in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura and a workshop on biodiesel at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati on the same day.
Some of the major airlines of the world seem to be lately realizing the adverse role of their big passenger jets on climate changes resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the engine-exhausts into the earth's atmosphere. In this context Virgin Atlantic's first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with biofuel from London to Amsterdam on February 24, 2008 to show it can produce less carbon dioxide than normal jet fuels was an appreciable endeavour. This particular flight was partially fueled with a biofuel mixture of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks and is expected to produce much less CO2 than regular jet fuel. Since aircraft engines emit gases and particulates that reduce air quality, spearheading the test flight was indeed a potentially useful experiment aimed at cutting down emission of greenhouse gases. A few weeks prior to this, an airbus A 380 too had taken off on a similar test sortie, powered on a blend of regular fuel and liquid fuel processed from natural gas with the hope that the super jumbo will become a centerpiece of efforts to develop the next generation of cleaner fuel. Besides, Air France-KLM is reported to invest almost US$3 billion a year until 2020 to modernize its fleet with the aim of cutting pollution. Several other airlines have also pledged to clean up their fleets as fears about global warming and fuel costs have mounted. Usually, people form their opinion on the adverse impact of air pollution by observing petrol and diesel-driven vehicles leave harmful trails of smoke on the roads. However, the great damage being done by thousands of air turbine fuel (ATF) guzzling aeroplanes that release tonnes hazardous fumes into our biosphere daily goes unnoticed. The increasing size of aircraft, the emission of black smoke during take-off, and the density of air traffic at major airports, have drawn environmentalists' attention to pollution by aircraft. A loaded jumbo 747, for instance, uses tens of thousands of litres of fuel on merely take-off. Further pollution by aircraft arises from the jettisoning of spare fuel after being airborne. Under such circumstances, it must be released at a height sufficient to allow it to vaporize so that it does not reach the ground in liquid form. Commercial jet planes make a significant contribution to the problem of global warming. According to a UN report, aviation is responsible for over half of the pollution caused by transportation on the surface. Scientists estimate that the effect of aviation emissions on the climate is up to five times the impact of emissions occurring on the ground. The primary gas emitted by jet aircraft engines is carbon dioxide, which, scientists believe, can survive in the atmosphere up to 100 years. It means denying the coming generations from living in a world where they can breathe clean air, enjoy diverse ecosystems and eat healthy food. In India the number of passenger and freight aircraft flown by private airlines is fast multiplying. Similarly, the Indian Air Force, currently in aircraft acquisition mode, is likely to increase its flying operations in the coming years. Its increasing use of supersonic combat aircraft flying at high altitudes may lead to increasing pollution of the upper air, where pollutants may accumulate since natural dispersion at such heights is not very effective. This development is going to be a major contributory factor in the destruction of ozone and the accumulation of green house gases in the upper layers of the atmosphere. It is estimated that one multi-engine passenger aircraft is being added every fortnight to the fleets of India's domestic carriers that are engaged in cutthroat competition to fly to the remotest corners of the country. As a result, the number of aircraft flying the Indian skies has gone up considerably. Here, one must not forget the domain of military aviation, Air Force, Army, Navy and the coast guard, where more than 1,000 fighter jets, transport planes and helicopters are kept aloft in routinely scheduled day and night flying. As per the estimates, the movement of aircraft in Indian airspace is growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent. Incidentally, kerosene happens to be the principal component of ATF. It is used as a propellant in modern commercial as well as military aircraft. Like other fossil fuels, kerosene produces carbon dioxide and water vapour on combustion. As the combustion process can not be said to be entirely efficient, carbon monoxide and oxygenated organic compounds, that are the products of partial oxidation, are emitted into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Hence, the extremely harmful environmental impact of pollutants left behind by aircraft engine exhaust fumes should be a great cause of concern for enlightened citizens. Though the International Civil Aviation Organisation (IACO), a UN body is reportedly supposed to regulate aircraft engine emissions by setting emission certification standards for all aircraft but it more or less appears to be an exercise on paper. In December 2007, the UN Climate Conference in Bali, Indonesia negotiated a new climate policy to chart out long term goal for global green house gas emissions. The world will not be able to realise these objectives unless technological breakthroughs are achieved in drastically reducing exhaust emissions from commercial as well as military aircraft gas turbine engines. This will necessitate a global effort in finding alternative jet fuels and developing engines that burn existing fuels more slowly.
This report, developed by the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP FI) Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services Work stream, argues that the business case for biodiversity and ecosystem services is not just about conserving endangered species, but rather that the benefits provided by biodiversity are valued and accounted for within traditional business risk frameworks.
