Guardian: Leaked documents ahead of key Lima meeting suggest UN body is looking to slow emissions with technological fixes rather than talks Lighter-coloured crops, aerosols in the stratosphere and iron filings in the ocean are among the measures being considered by leading scientists for “geo-engineering” the Earth’s climate, leaked documents from the UN climate science

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The Independent: The world’s foremost authority on climate change used a Greenpeace campaigner to help write one of its key reports, which critics say made misleading claims about renewable energy, The Independent has learnt. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up by the UN in 1988 to advise governments on the science behind

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Water Link International: The implementation of virtual water into trading deals has been suggested as a solution to the global inequality of renewable freshwater, but it may not be as revolutionary as first thought. According to researchers writing in Environmental Research Letters, the existing amount of virtual water is not large enough to overcome the

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Increasing water productivity in agriculture, making targeted investments and putting in place the right institutional measures will be the key to effective water use for food and environmental security. The main purpose of the conference is to find opportunities to improve farmer income, food production, food security and promote environmentally sustainable agricultural water management practices

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China.org: The population of a critically endangered crane has continued to increase in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region thanks to enhanced conservation efforts in recent years, an environmental protection official said Tuesday. Tibet currently has more than 8,000 black-necked cranes, at least 80 percent of the world’s total, said Jampel, deputy chief of the regional

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A latest publication by DST-Department of Science and Technology of Government of India shows that what has been done it on last more than one year as Nodal agency (DST) for National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change. CLIMATE CHANGE & ADAPTATION PROGRAMME The Climate Change Programme

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International Business Times: The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) released two landmark reports on June 7th that underline the critical role played by cities in confronting climate change. The complementary reports were published to coincide with the C40 Cities Summit being held this year in Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 31 – June 2). Representatives

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This paper explores the characteristics of 238 patents on 94 “inventions” contributed by major multinational innovators to the “Eco-Patent  Commons”, which provides royalty-free access to third parties to patented climate change related innovations. By comparing the pledged patents to other patents in the same technologies or held by the same  multinationals, we investigate the motives of

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Mongabay: China’s response to large-scale erosion with reforestation is paying off according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The 10-year program, known as Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP), is working to turn some 37 million acres back into forest or grasslands after farming on steep slopes in the

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Reuters: Wider public unease about climate change and stronger economic growth are likely to be needed to revive sluggish U.N. talks after hopes for quick agreement on a treaty have fizzled, experts say. Many nations at U.N. talks in Bonn from June 6-17 seem resigned to a long haul — more like arms reduction talks

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The Independent: By 2050, the coolest summers in the tropics and parts of the northern hemisphere will still be hotter than the most scorching summers since the mid-20th century if global warming continues apace, according to a new study. Tropical regions in Africa, Asia and South America could see “the permanent emergence of unprecedented summer

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This guidebook, released by UNEP Risoe Center, describes adaptation strategies in the categories of water conservation; storm water control and capture; resilience to water quality degradation; preparation for extreme weather events; diversification of water supply; and mitigation. It has been made widely available and will help both developed and developing countries understand means of increasing

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Reuters: Tighter limits on soot and smog provide a quick and easy way to fight global warming while protecting human health and raising crop output, a U.N. study said on Tuesday. It outlined 16 measures, ranging from plugging leaky gas transport pipelines to improving wood burning stoves, to limit “black carbon” — soot — methane

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The first 13 GDNet Thematic Windows are available for you to preview at www.gdnet.org/~knowledgebase The GDNet Thematic Windows have been designed to help researchers connect to those who share their research interests and to make it easier for visitors to the website to browse the 16,500+ papers in the GDNet Knowledgebase. The first 13 themes

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The Uplands Program is organizing a three day scientific conference on Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountain Areas at Hohenheim University in Stuttgart from 16-18 April 2012. This conference aims to bring together international experts to share knowledge, lessons learned and experiences from across the globe related to sustainable mountain development with an

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