For billions of people, mountain meltwater is essential for drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and the integrity of the environment. But today, as the world warms, glaciers are melting faster than ever, making the water cycle more unpredictable and extreme. And because of glacial retreat, floods, droughts, …
This report discusses a spectrum of human rights concerns raised by anthropogenic climate change and by the strategies devised to address it. It does not seek to reframe climate change as a "human rights issue' or to buttress the many existing grounds for urgent cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions …
Farming contributes more to global warming than all the world's cars, trains, ships and planes put together. And the single biggest problem with farming is not carbon but nitrogen. From the maize fields of Kansas to the emerald rice paddies of China, today's bountiful harvests depend on generous applications of …
In August 2007, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) published a technical paper, Investment and Financial Flows to Address Climate Change, which estimated that USD200?210 billion in additional investment will be required annually by 2030 to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. …
Promoting forest restoration and sustainable forest management has more promise for mitigating climate change than narrowly focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS) is implementing a project on 'Assessing the impacts of Climate Change in Sunderbans', funded by British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata.
Agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Greenpeace's new report Cool Farming details the destructive practices resulting from industrial agriculture and presents workable solutions to help reduce its contribution to climate change. These practical changes will benefit the environment as well as farmers and consumers throughout the …
This report reviews the terrestrial Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), which are endorsed by the UNFCCC and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Details are provided on why these observations are needed to understand the causes of climate change, analyse the potential impacts, evaluate the adaptation options and enable characterization of …
The paper begins by laying out the current state of global food insecurity and malnutrition, including magnitude, trends and future projections. The causes, consequences and costs of food insecurity and malnutrition are explored. Malnutrition is clearly a severe impediment to sustainable development and human security as it slows down economic …
International treaties and national policies seek to enhance global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. While it is important to continue to strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation alone is not enough and will not be felt before the second half of the century. Global warming is …
"Contraction and Convergence' (C&C;) is the science-based, global climate-policy framework, proposed to the United Nations since 1990 by the Global Commons Institute (GCI). The objective of safe and stable greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and the principles of precaution and equity, as already agreed in the UNFCCC, provide the …
The historic development pathway of Europe and the US is clearly not sustainable in developing Asia, with its larger population, constrained by resource limitations, and now facing the global challenges of climate change. So far, however, Asia has not framed an alternative future that simultaneously provides for an escape from …
Impacts of climate change include increasing water scarcity and flood risk, along with decline in water quality. This study explores which ecosystems will be most impacted and analyses how the effects of climate change act as causes of additional emissions, thereby reinforcing global warming in a positive feedback loop. In …
This book shows how various levels of society can work towards climate neutrality. Written and reviewed by experts from many disciplines and various countries, the book is aimed at a broad audience, with solutions for individuals, small and large businesses, NGOs, international organizations, cities and countries.
This report examines the region's key short and medium-term prospects and challenges in macroeconomic and selected social areas, especially from the point of view of minimizing human suffering; be it from economic hardships or social instability. The Survey also explores critical long-term development issues relevant to all developing countries in …
With pressure mounting on the US establishment to take climate change seriously, the US House of Representatives has hit upon an ingenious solution: buying carbon credits to offset emissions from an antiquated power plant that services the Capitol's needs. The credits, worth US $89,000, were purchased on November 5 through …
a climate change bill, proposed on March 13, 2007, to give legal sanctions to emissions caps, was recently tabled in the uk. The bill sets to reduce co2 emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050 and 26-32 per cent by 2020, relative to 1990 levels (see
