As climate change intensifies, it is imperative for policymakers to address the escalating loss and damage it inflicts on vulnerable communities in developing countries. In India's Maharashtra state, these impacts are forcing rural families into life-altering decisions and migrations to work in sugarcane fields, where exploitative practices by contractors, including …
Industrialized nations’ greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.3 percent in 2012, led by a US decline to the lowest in almost two decades with a shift to natural gas from dirtier coal, official statistics show. Emissions from more than 40 nations were 10 percent below 1990 levels in 2012, according …
California's drought is so severe that the state will roll back some environmental protections and loosen the rules on transferring water to farmers, Governor Jerry Brown said on Friday. Issuing his second emergency proclamation on the drought in just three month, Brown said the state would redouble its efforts to …
Southwest monsoon rains this year are likely to be just below normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its first official forecast on Thursday. The probability of emergence of El Nino phenomenon, the warming sea surface temperatures in the Pacific that can trigger drought in countries including India, during …
Years of drier conditions in the Congo River basin in central Africa appear to be affecting trees in the region’s vast rain forests, scientists reported on Wednesday. Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers said the capacity of the trees to photosynthesize had declined. If this trend continues, they suggested, …
Drought spread and intensified this week in seven western and central states, including California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal site that tracks drought. This week marks the first time in the 15-year history of the Drought Monitor that 100% …
As drought tightens its grip on Kozhikode city, the district administration has launched a three-pronged project to protect water sources, maintain water bodies and improve the quality of drinking water. Conceived as a long-term project and called Shudham Sundaram Nammude Kozhikode, it aims to include all the government departments to …
India and its South Asian neighbours are expected to see below average to average rains this year, a forum of weather experts said on Wednesday, if the El Nino weather pattern gains strength during the four-month monsoon season. "There is a strong consensus about the possibility of evolution of an …
China could set a new pace for slow-moving international climate talks by bringing its domestic commitment to fight global warming on to the world stage, the EU's top climate change official said on Wednesday. EU Climate Change Commissioner Connie Hedegaard is visiting China this week for two-way talks ahead of …
With California facing its worst drought in a century, state officials have fast-tracked first-in-the-nation water efficiency standards for new toilets, urinals and faucets, an action expected to save about 8.2 billion gallons of water the first year while cutting energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The draft standards, released late …
The Sri Lankan government has taken measures to increase the country's forest cover to 35 percent by the year 2020. The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Energy Development has said that steps have been taken to expand cultivation of forest in all districts. According to the UNDP, Sri Lanka has …
Though faced with hailstorms, wet and dry droughts, and other indicators of climate change making life miserable for people and farmers, the Maharashtra government has failed to give priority to the phenomenon or its impacts on societies and ecosystems. Information sought by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People …
Private Agency Forecasts 5%-10% Less Rainfall In TN, Karnataka Drought may not be an all-India feature of the El Niño weather phenomenon this year. But, Tamil Nadu, especially the Cauvery delta that is already reeling from consecutive failed monsoons, may face drought, weather forecasting agencies say. Skymet, a private forecaster, …
A United Nations report said on Sunday that governments must act faster to keep global warming in check and delays until 2030 could force them to use little-tested technologies to extract greenhouse gases from the air. The study, drawing on work by more than 1,000 experts, said a radical shift …
Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had appointed a special committee to protect the farmers affected by drought. The committee comprises senior Cabinet ministers. Farmers in several districts were without adequate water for their cultivations, especially paddy and the President had appointed the committee to look after …
Experts at an international conference on ‘Environmental issues of Sindh and its remedies’ noted with concern that environmental pollution kills more than 10 million people every year in the world. Speaking on the second day of the two-day conference held at the Shah Abdul Latif University on Thursday, they said …
As temperatures continue to rise and habitats come under threat, a group of Hollywood heavyweights is seeking to bring the spotlight back on climate change with a new documentary. "Years of Living Dangerously," a nine-part documentary beginning Sunday on CBS Corp's premium cable network Showtime, chronicles the human impact on …
There’s now a 70% chance of El Nino crimping monsoon, shows Oz forecast The threat of El Nino, which can disrupt crucial monsoon rains in India, has increased significantly, according to international forecasters. That puts agricultural production — particularly that of paddy, sugarcane and pulses — under a cloud and …
Scientists and farmers make competing claims for cutting-edge science and low-tech sustainable farming to tackle the issue As governments meet in Berlin, scientists and farmers on the frontline of climate change in the Philippines are at odds over how best to adapt agriculture to the much higher temperatures and weather …
The chance of an El Nino weather event developing in 2014 now exceeds 70 percent, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday, raising the prospect of damaging floods and droughts across the globe. "It is now likely (estimated at a greater than 70 percent chance) that an El Niño will …
Only cactus grows along the dirt road fringing arid fields on the way to the isolated village of Bas des Moustiques, on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Port-de-Paix in Haiti. A lack of rain in recent months has killed crops in Haiti's poorest region, and left people struggling …
