NewYork Times: When, in the early morning, I sit in the little meadow in front of my hermitage on a quiet hilltop, two hours’ drive from Katmandu in Nepal, my eyes take in hundreds of miles of lofty Himalayan peaks glowing in the rising sun. The serenity of the scenery blends naturally and seamlessly with [...]

University of Washington: There have been instances in Earth history when average temperatures have changed rapidly, as much as 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) over a few decades, and some have speculated the same could happen again as the atmosphere becomes overloaded with carbon dioxide. New research lends support to evidence from numerous recent [...]

Independent Media Centre Australia: An extreme shift in weather in June across much of southern and eastern China has been put down to the effects of global warming and climate change. Usually light rains start in June in the middle and lower Yangtze valley leading in to the summer monsoonal rains and typhoon season, but [...]

Chinadaily: A senior Chinese official on Wednesday urged developed nations to provide more technology and financial support for developing countries to jointly address climate change issues. “Developed countries should fulfill their commitment to provide financial support and technological transfers in order to help developing nations tackle climate change and promote low-carbon development,” said Xie Zhenhua, [...]

Tribune Pakistan: Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said it will launch the Asia Accelerated Solar Energy Development Fund with $2.25 billion as it targets solar power projects in countries including China, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Thailand to add another 1,000 megawatts next year and 1,500MW in 2013. “By providing an enabling environment for commercial lending [...]

Tribune Pakistan: Pakistan shares it’s water resources with not just China and India but Afghanistan as well which was a challenge that needed to be addressed because it could lead to increased tensions between these countries. During a policy dialogue held here at National University of Sciences & Technology (Nust) Dr Shahbaz Khan Chief of [...]

HuffPostGreen: Chinese officials announced Wednesday a three-day international conference to discuss how to address climate change, while conveying to the world that China is determined to develop a low-carbon economy. Representatives from 30 international organizations and 10 areas and countries will attend the conference in Beijing starting Wednesday, said Huang Wenhang of the National Development [...]

ESES: Although global warming and its future possible consequences for human societies have been thoroughly examined in recent years, quantitative studies about the notable effects of climate changes upon human societies in history are almost absent. Recently, the authors scientifically explored the relationship between climate change and wars by comparing high-resolution paleo-climate reconstructions with known [...]

Organiser: A vast and densely populated region of North-east India that depends on water from Brahmaputra and its tributaries is feeling agitated over China’s ambitious efforts to redraw its water map. China’s reported plan to divert the Brahmaputra from its upper reaches is being seen as a direct affront to India and a violation of [...]

Ecocentric Blog: Most of us learned about “the plague” or “the Black Death” a long time ago – reading Boccaccio and Petrarch, sitting in high school history class, and even from that debate about the nursery rhyme “ring-a-ring of roses.” But scientists have uncovered a link between this historic threat to human health and one [...]

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 [...]

ZeeNews: In a new development, which is likely to cause fresh tension in Sino-India ties, reports, Monday, claimed that China is planning to divert the waters of Brahmaputa River, from the upper reaches, in order to tackle the severe drought situation prevailing in the country.   The development comes nearly a year after China began [...]

IPS News: Mass migration will inevitably be part of human adaptation to climate change, experts agree, since parts of the world will become uninhabitable in the coming decades.Last year, 38 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters such as the flooding in Pakistan and China. “Human displacement due to climate change is happening now. There [...]

Times of India: India lost much more than it gained at the Cancun climate change meeting in December 2010, an internal assessment of the government, accessed by TOI, reveals. For instance, not only did India open itself up formally to international scrutiny of its actions, the government also agreed to let the US off the [...]

Salon News: Worldwide total more than doubles in one year as experts point to climate change! About 42 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year, experts said Monday. One reason for the increase in the figure [...]

Oslo – Many developing nations are missing out on a surge in investments in clean energy and need to cut red tape and agree new rules to attract funds to help fight climate change, a UN finance guidebook said on Thursday. Clean energy sector investments worldwide grew 30% in 2010 from 2009 to a record [...]

China’s drought along its biggest river, the Yangtze, is for some scientists a demonstration of how global warming could increasingly disrupt the complex dance of air flows, rains and waterways that feeds dams and farming heartlands. Many older farmers around Lake Honghu, part of the drought-stricken Yangtze River basin, said summers and winters had seemed [...]

DowntoEarth: ISRO’s analysis needs further investigation to conclude trend. SEVENTY-five per cent of the Himalayan glaciers are thinning, states a recent analysis of satellite pictures taken by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). But before the alarm button is pressed, more detailed studies must be conducted, say scientists. Of the 10,000 glaciers present in the [...]

(Reuters) – Global emissions of carbon dioxide hit their highest level ever in 2010, with the growth driven mainly by booming coal-reliant emerging economies, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist said on Monday. Fatih Birol warned that carbon dioxide emissions were coming close to a target set by the 190-nation Cancun climate talks last year [...]

A four-nation grouping has asked the developed countries to disburse funds under “fast-start finance” promised in the Copenhagen Accord. In a ministerial in Durban on Sunday, BASIC, a bloc formed by Brazil , India , China and South Africa in 2009, stressed on the need for transparent accounting for finance by developed countries, and intellectual [...]

Times Live: Environmental ministers of developing countries held a two-day meeting in Durban at the weekend to prepare for the climate change Countries of the Parties 17 conference in November. The global COP17 conference is expected to provide financial and technological solutions to help developing countries grow their economies without damaging the environment. The environmental [...]

With four times the population of the United States, an economy growing 8-9% a year and surging energy demand, India’s race to become an economic power has propelled it to No. 3 in the list of top carbon polluters. India’s greenhouse gas emissions will keep rising as it tries to lift millions out of poverty [...]

Central China’s worst drought in more than 50 years is drying reservoirs, stalling rice planting, and threatens crippling power shortages as hydroelectric plants lie idle, state media said Wednesday. Rainfall levels from January to April in the drainage basin of the Yangtze, China’s longest and most economically important river, have been 40 percent lower than [...]

Worldwide 214 river basins host 40 percent of the world’s population, and the Himalayas with huge stocks of water in the form of snow and ice, are the biggest source of surface fresh water in frozen form after the polar ice caps. The Himalayan region has an extremely fragile ecosystem and is source to 10 [...]

The training workshop on “Climate Change and Biosphere Reserves in China” was organized by the Chinese National Committee for MAB Programme on March 30-31, 2011 at North China Electrical Power University. 17 representatives from 12 biosphere reserves in China and 6 experts from the International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS), the Chinese National Committee for [...]

A wind power plant in China with 41 wind turbines, is to become the 3,000th project registered under the CDM. The electricity produced with wind energy will be fed into the power grid. A wind farm in China, is to become the 3,000th project registered under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – a [...]

Rivers origin and flow: Both the northern and southern basins of Himalayan Asia are fed by the rivers originating in the Himalaya, the abode of snow. The Himalayan Mountains are the source of life and livelihood for the people of South Asia and China. Whether it is Brahmputra (Yarlung Zangbo Jiang), Mahakali-Karnali-Koshi-Gandaki, rivers of Indus [...]

Several factors drive water disputes in South Asia. To solve the problems, it is critical to involve even China. Solutions must foster the sharing of water resources through increasing dialogue and building mutual trust. SOUTH ASIA is mired in disputes over water resources despite possessing three large rivers – the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus and [...]

The Chinese government has announced to implement a subsidy and reward program for the country’s herdsmen over the coming years in order to reverse and prevent damage that has been done to China’s grasslands because of climate change and overgrazing. The country’s finance and agriculture ministries on Thursday jointly announced that the program will officially [...]

Rivers origin and flow Both the northern and southern basins of Himalayan Asia are fed by the rivers originating in the Himalaya, the abode of snow. The Himalayan Mountains are the source of life and livelihood for the people of South Asia and China. Whether it is Brahmputra (Yarlung Zangbo Jiang), Mahakali-Karnali-Koshi-Gandaki, rivers of Indus [...]

The Third BRICS (Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa) Leaders’ meeting was held in Sanya, China, on 14 April 2011, under the theme “Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity.” Participants discussed growth and development, and energy and climate change, among other issues. The meeting was attended by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian Federation President [...]

By not having to account for emissions caused by imported goods, rich nations are living in Alice’s wonderland. If there was a pub where you could drink your fill and leave the hangover with the landlord, would you go there? Idle dreaming, but this is the deal in the world of carbon accounting, where responsibility [...]

China’s chief negotiator to UN climate change talks said here on Tuesday that the country is drafting a special law dedicated to climate change and will explore a low carbon development path suitable to China. “We are in the process of preparing for a special law dedicated to climate change and we have already set [...]

(Reuters) – Asia needs to work to ensure the potential of its economic and political rise is realized, including fulfilling its responsibilities as a global player, the Asian Development Bank said ahead of its annual meeting next week in Vietnam. Home to 3.3 billion people, Asia has led the global economy in recent years, and [...]

China’s chief negotiator for United Nations climate change talks says the country is drafting a new climate change law and plans to explore a low-carbon development plan, news service Xinhua reports. Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, indicated that the country considers climate change legislation very important. He added that [...]

The impact of climate change on water resources has become a growing concern for the country’s water sector, a top official said on Friday. Chen Lei, minister of water resources, told a roundtable meeting on climate change in China that global warming has become an important environmental issue – with water being one of the [...]

(Reuters) – Chinese support for controversial dam-building schemes around the world risks a backlash from affected communities and even violence due to a lack of transparency and the ignoring of residents’ wishes, activists said. Chinese companies and banks are becoming deeply involved in such projects in Africa and Asia, and despite a growing awareness they [...]

When will our greener friends at the UN learn that it’s just not a good idea to make definite predictions about certain disasters? This time they have been called out on their 2005 prediction that by now there would be 50 million “climate refugees”—people choosing to emigrate because of bad weather.  The United Nations Environment [...]

In the early hours of August 8, 2010, a huge mudslide struck the county town of Zhouqu in Gansu province, northwest China. On August 13, 1,156 people had been confirmed dead, 588 missing, and 20,000 affected by the disaster. [Editor's note: This article was first published in Century Weekly on August 16, 2010]. Mudslides are [...]

China defended its ambitious network of dams Tuesday, saying that it is developing its rivers in a responsible way and would never do anything to harm the interests of neighbours who live downstream of the Tibetan plateau. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that China’s dams projects on rivers flowing from the Himalayan region [...]

BAHIR JONAI, India — The wall of water raced through narrow Himalayan gorges in northeast India, gathering speed as it raked the banks of towering trees and boulders. When the torrent struck their island in the Brahmaputra river, the villagers remember, it took only moments to obliterate their houses, possessions and livestock. No one knows [...]

If China and other Asian nations shy away from atomic power following Japan’s nuclear crisis, would it intensify the impact of climate change on the region? The question is no longer hypothetical. Many governments have already announced reviews or delays of programs to use nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Whether warranted or not, each new [...]

SINGAPORE — If China and other Asian nations shy away from atomic power following Japan’s nuclear crisis, would it intensify the impact of climate change on the region? The question is no longer hypothetical. Many governments have already announced reviews or delays of programs to use nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Whether warranted or not, [...]

Probably everyone has heard about the effects of climate change on melting glaciers high in the Himalayas, but how serious is it? To what extent does this affect present and future populations? And are modern strategies really doing something to work out an effective solution? The Himalayas and the vast Tibetan Plateau stretch to cover [...]

Climate change is one of the issues of crucial importance to the interests of human beings and the national development of every country. It requires the collaborative efforts of all countries. Thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, the Cancun Agreements were adopted at Cancun, Mexico, in December last year. They are of significant [...]

The BASIC group of countries — India, China, Brazil and South Africa — called for specific issues to be addressed before December’s climate conference in Durban, South Africa. In a statement at the conclusion Sunday of a BASIC meeting in New Delhi on climate change, ministers from the four countries said the agreements made during [...]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, wants rich nations to vow bigger cuts to emissions as part of a new international deal on fighting global warming, Beijing’s top climate negotiator said on Tuesday. The negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, said he expects “arduous” wrangling about that and other issues facing governments seeking to [...]

NEW DELHI: CAUTIONED by the Economic Survey’s proposal to not to let the ‘increasing importance of climate-related issues shake the foundations of inclusive growth strategy,’ India will sit with the BASIC countries to assess the post-Cancun climate change policy and actions and future coordination on Saturday. The Environment Ministers from BASIC countries – Brazil, South [...]

BEIJING- China‘s environment minister on Monday issued an unusually stark warning about the effects of unbridled development on the country’s air, water and soil, saying the nation’s current path could stifle long-term economic growth and feed social instability. In an essay published on the agency’s Web site, the minister, Zhou Shengxian, said the government would [...]

With the so-called “fast start finance” for climate change completely missing over a year after it was promised at Copenhagen, major emerging economies have accused rich countries of trying to pass off existing funding to the wrong recipients as part of their pledges. Environment Ministers of the BASIC bloc — Brazil, South Africa, India and [...]

The energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) for China’s major energy intensive industries decreased by more than 20 percent during the 2006-2010 period, the statistics authorities have reported. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) attributed the rising energy efficiency for the industries to the government’s growing investment in energy savings, and the [...]

China is one of the world’s top exporters of tea. But climate change threatens the country’s tea plantations with floods, drought and invasive species caused by shifting weather conditions. A professor of Biological Sciences at Brock, Vasseur has been named a Minjiang Scholar at the Fujian Agricultural and Forestry University in the province of Fujian, [...]

Continuing expansion of China has offset the reduction in carbon emissions in recession-hit western countries. The deepest recession since the 1930s has failed to reverse rising global carbon emissions, as plummeting industrial output in the west was offset by the continuing rapid expansion of China and a handful of other emerging economies, new statistics for [...]

(Reuters) – Climate negotiators from almost 200 nations will hold an extra session in Bangkok in April 2011 to try to unblock work on a successor to the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol for slowing global warming, officials said on Friday. They said that 2011 is likely to mark a slowdown in the overall number of U.N. [...]

China’s performance in Cancún points to a new, more conciliatory climate diplomacy from a country that knows the sharp end of the blame game, write Angel Hsu and Zhao Yupu. Last month’s UN-led climate talks in Cancún, Mexico, were largely touted as a success, as countries reached near consensus on critical issues such as technology [...]

(Reuters) – Some Himalayan glaciers are advancing despite an overall retreat, according to a study on Sunday that is a step toward understanding how climate change affects vital river flows from China to India. A blanket of dust and rock debris was apparently shielding some glaciers in the world’s highest mountain range from a thaw, [...]

The year 2010 offered mixed results concerning global climate policy, with serious setbacks as well as some small victories. In the United States, plans on long-awaited domestic climate legislation were abandoned. In China and India, national climate legislation has made small advances, but expansion of fossil-based long-term infrastructure continues to rise steeply. International negotiators had [...]

Huge rainfalls causing floods narrowly missed the climate change negotiators who met for another round of talks in Tianjin last October with disappointing results. Tianjin, a historical coastal town which is also China’s industrial centre, just a half-hour rapid train ride from Beijing, was the host of that session in the United Nations’ climate talks. [...]

Secretary of state argues US and China will set the pace and direction for the world’s “clean energy future” Climate change is expected to be near the top of the agenda as US president Barack Obama prepares to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao during Hu’s state visit to Washington. Speaking in a wide-ranging address [...]

A GLOBAL population explosion combined with the steady effects of climate change are forecast to create a worldwide food shortage in the next 10 years, but the news isn’t all bad for some countries. The United States, China, Ethiopia and parts of northern Europe are among the select few expected to be able to grow [...]