Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the main driving force of climate change, and all economic sectors need to internalize their costs. Food systems (including land use, production, refrigeration, food processing) account for a quarter of global GHG emissions. Agricultural exports in Asia-Pacific account for 18% of total exports, twice as …
A series of strong earthquakes struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch today, rattling buildings, sending goods tumbling from shelves and prompting terrified holiday shoppers to flee into the streets. There was no tsunami alert issued and the city appeared to have been spared major damage. One person was injured …
New Zealand will ban the use of U.N.-backed industrial gas offsets to stop any distortion to its carbon trading scheme and bring it into line with programs in Europe and Australia, the government said on Thursday. Climate change minister Nick Smith said offsets from projects that destroy potent greenhouse gases …
India ranks a dismal 134 among 187 countries in terms of human development index in the UNDP's latest Human Development Report. BEGGING ON A busy street in Mumbai. According to the HDR, ending absolute deprivations could increase higher-order capabilities, expand people's choices and advance human development. AS the “Occupy Wall …
Recent technological improvements have made possible the development of lightweight GPS-tagging devices suitable to track medium-to-small sized animals. However, current inferences concerning GPS performance are based on heavier designs, suitable only for large mammals. Lightweight GPS-units are deployed close to the ground, on species selecting micro-topographical features and with different …
Australia and New Zealand said on Monday they could link their carbon trading schemes as soon as 2015, immediately after Australia's government moved from a fixed carbon tax to the world's second-largest market scheme to cut pollution. After talks in Durban, South Africa, on the sidelines of global talks on …
Countries will make a last ditch effort to save a dying Kyoto Protocol at global climate talks starting on Monday aimed at cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for rising sea levels, intense storms and crop failures. Kyoto, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in …
Time is quickly running out to strike a deal at global climate talks to save a Kyoto Protocol in its death throes and make major cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for rising temperatures, wilder weather and crop failures. Major parties have been at loggerheads for years, …
A year of temblors, including the most devastating on Feb. 22, which killed more than 180 people, has left much of New Zealand's second-largest city in rubble, causing 19 billion U.S. dollars in damage and forcing many businesses and residents to abandon the city center for the suburbs. But amid …
More than 60 pilot whales died in a mass stranding at a remote New Zealand beach, conservation officials said yesterday. Tourists found the pod of 61 beached whales on Monday at Farewell Spit, on the top of the South Island, the Department of Conservation said. 18 whales remained alive till …
Australia's parliament passed landmark laws to impose a price on carbon emissions on Tuesday in one of the biggest economic reforms in a decade, giving new impetus to December's global climate talks in South Africa. The scheme's impact will be felt right across the economy, from miners to LNG producers, …
Australia's Senate is set to pass laws on Tuesday putting a national price on carbon emissions, one of the country's most sweeping and divisive economic reforms that have been a decade in the making. Opposition leader Tony Abbott has run a two-year campaign to wreck the scheme, seizing on voter …
U.S. goals of establishing regional free trade and an environmental policy at the APEC summit are useful but too ambitious for some developing nations, China said on Monday, days before President Hu Jintao heads to Hawaii for the meeting. APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) members from 20 countries have taken a …
Cutting carbon dioxide emissions seems more difficult than ever as global carbon markets have stalled after five years of consecutive growth. The World Bank has given the sombre note, but said the global market had already touched $142 billion last year, a long way from the initial year of 2005. …
Negotiations are stuck even as potentially catastrophic climate change-related events are spinning out of control It’s that time of the year again. Climate change talks are heating up, with the next conference of parties scheduled to meet in Durban in November. There is heat but no light. To put it …
Under pressure: millions of people are moving to places that are more vulnerable to environmental disaster, including the Dharavi slum in Mumbai Tens of millions of people are moving to places that are more vulnerable to environmental disaster, particularly the urban flood plains of Asia and Africa, according to a …
Salvage teams pumped oil on Monday from a stricken container ship off the New Zealand coast, ahead of bad weather which could split the vessel into two and spew more oil onto beaches. The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for 12 days on a reef 14 miles off Tauranga on …
A stranded cargo vessel off the east coast of New Zealand's North Island has spilled more oil into the ocean, as efforts to pump the remaining oil off the ship are hampered by bad weather, Maritime New Zealand said on Tuesday. "A small amount of oil was released from the …
Oil tanks on a stricken container ship threatening to break in half off the New Zealand coast have survived a pounding by heavy seas, salvage experts said Thursday as the ship's owners apologized for the large clumps of oil washed up on beaches. A second ship's officer appeared in court …
Several beaches on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island were closed to the public from Thursday and operations at the Port of Tauranga will be suspended overnight, after oil and containers from a damaged cargo vessel washed ashore, with concerns that things might get worse as salvage efforts …
The Australian government scored a victory in its battle to introduce a carbon tax after measures to combat climate change cleared the lower house of parliament by a tiny margin. Carbon traders and climate activists around the world breathed a sigh of relief that the bitterly contested measures were passed …