Ground Report: Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system; it is not the nearest to the sun but it is so hot that it can melt hard metals if placed on its surface. Greenhouse effect from the action of Green House Gases (GHGs) is the chief factor for this hotness. Venus is next [...]

Washington Post: Amid regional tensions, only 4 of 7 Himalayan nations meet for climate summit on the mountains. Four Himalayan nations, faced with erratic weather and the threat of melting glaciers and catastrophic floods, are hashing out a plan for preserving the vast mountain range and helping millions living in the foothills cope with climate [...]

Alertnet: Few nations doing enough to protect people from extreme weather – IPCC author Most countries are not acting fast enough to protect their people from extreme weather, and more major disasters will likely have to happen before governments start investing enough in safety, a leading climate change expert has warned. Tom Mitchell, one of [...]

Kuenselonline: While world over livestock population is experiencing an alarming increase to cater to as alarming an increase in demand for meat and diary products, Bhutan is headed the other way. That is quite befitting of the country’s emphasis and priority for environmental protection that draws its essence from its guiding philosophy of Gross National [...]

Guardian: Time is almost up. It is critical we secure a legally binding approach on climate change in Durban. The lesson the world is learning the hard way from the financial crisis is that there is only one boat and we are all in it. To stay afloat, we need rules tough enough to stop [...]

Reuters: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged governments in rich nations to work around troubled economic times and scale up donations to a global climate change fund that is at risk of becoming an “empty shell”. The world’s poorest nations are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, more extremes of droughts and floods [...]

WorldWatch: Scientists, policymakers, and community representatives from across South Asia met earlier this month to discuss the many threats that climate change poses to the continent’s Greater Himalayan region. Across Nepal and Tibet, average temperatures have been up to six times warmer in the mountains than in the plains, triggering changes in regional weather patterns. [...]

Times Science: There’s one absolutely foolproof way to cut carbon emissions: economic collapse. After the fall of communism in the early 1990s led to economic depression in much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, carbon output in those countries fell like a stone. In fact, greenhouse-gas emissions in Russia didn’t return to 1990 [...]

IISD: Insanity has famously been described as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Does this maxim apply to the UN climate negotiations? If so, are those of us flying to Durban later this month about to join an exercise in mass madness? THE MADNESS OF KING COP Since the Conference of [...]

Zee News: The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world’s efforts are at slowing man-made global warming. The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined [...]

The UNFCCC Compendium on methods and tools to evaluate impacts of, and vulnerability and adaptation to, climate change is designed to assist Parties and other potential users in selecting the most appropriate methodology for assessments of impacts and vulnerability, and preparing for adaptation to climate change. The Compendium was developed in 1999 and updated in [...]

Himalayan Times: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011, is now warming up, and preparations are taking place. It will bring together representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society. The discussions will seek to advance the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, [...]

Hindustan Times: India will engage 100,000 educated youths to execute an ambitious Green India Mission (GIM) which seeks to increase the country’s forest cover to 33% from 20% within 10 years. According to top forest official, PJ Dilip Kumar, director general of India’s forest department, in order to copewith climate change threats, the central and [...]

Republica: Climate change has drawn global attention. Enunciation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC, 1992) is testimony to this, which is desperately trying to save the world from impending climate catastrophe through deliberations at annual Convention of Parties (COP) meetings. This is conceived both through mitigation (direct reduction of green house [...]

Opinion Inquirer: There’s a horror story to scare us out of our wits today. No, it’s not any movie that’s currently showing in our movie houses. And no, it’s not the ongoing bloodletting in the South if you want a horror story from real life, even if the faces of the Muslim women that appeared [...]

Times of India: Janez Potocnik is the European Union’s commissioner for the environment. Visiting India in the run-up to Rio+20, Potocnik spoke with Srijana Mitra Das about ways to develop a green economy and the importance of the world uniting to preserve its shared resource – the environment: What are our biggest environmental challenges today? [...]

The Adaptation Fund has been established by the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is financed with 2% of the Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) issued for projects of [...]

MIT News: As the science of climate change gets clearer, the public gets more confused. Are there ways to fix that?. For many scientists working in the field of climate research, one of the most alarming trends has nothing to do with the climate itself: It’s the poll numbers showing that even as scientific projections [...]

CBS News: A food versus fuel debate has raged for the past few years as ethanol consumes more and more of the U.S. corn supply. Ethanol will use about 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop this year, and for the first time ever, more corn will go into motor fuel production than into feed [...]

CCAF has just published under CCAFS a paper in the journal Environmental Science and Policy which outlines the entry points for adaptation and mitigation in agriculture.  The paper essentially presents the CCAFS research for development framework, consisting of adaptation to short- and long- term climate variability and mitigation opportunities for smallholders.  Some of the key [...]

Washingtonpost: Plenty of media outlets picked up the news last week that a team of skeptical Berkeley scientists tore through the 20th century temperature data and found… well, they found that the Earth has been warming significantly in the past century, just like NASA and the Climate Research Unit have been telling us all along. [...]

ABC Science: The international community will not meet agreed temperature targets unless it puts the brakes on current levels of carbon emissions now, warn climate scientists. The team of scientists led by Dr Joeri Rogelj from the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, analysed emission scenarios to identify the likelihood of limiting global [...]

AlertNet: Wearing colourful traditional dresses with silver jewellery and bangles on their arms, the women of Tharparkar district look festive. But the empty earthen pots they carry tell a different story. “Walking for three miles and (hoisting) a … bucket filled with water through a wooden pulley from a 130-feet-deep well twice a day is [...]

BBC: There is strong support among the public in the US, UK and Canada for more research on geo-engineering technology, a study has suggested. The survey focused on “solar radiation management”, which involves reflecting energy from the Sun away from the Earth’s surface, and received support from 72% of respondents. The internet survey was commissioned [...]

The Independent: A lack of international will means the chances of bringing climate change under control may already be “slipping out of reach”, scientists have warned. A study by the Swiss science university ETH Zurich shows that without an early and steep cut in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are not “likely” to remain less [...]

GIZ: How are business and production affected by climate change impacts? And in which situations are investments in adaptation measures cost-effective and sustainable? Efforts to understand the opportunities and challenges that climate change adaptation presents for the private sector are relatively new, but urgently needed. In many developing countries, local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), [...]

Shankar Sharma:       Writes about the government of India’s low carbon emission policy and strategy in respect to climate change vulnerability. This discourse is about all relevant aspects of policy, development, poverty, industrialization, energy and carbon emission. He also gives specific recommendations to Government of India on sustainable use of natural resource, judicious use of energy, [...]

Guardian: Report says refugees forced to leave homes by weather caused by global warming may end up in even worse afflicted areas. Hundreds of millions of people may be trapped in inhospitable environments as they attempt to flee from the effects of global warming, worsening the likely death toll from severe changes to the climate, [...]

ConsulClima: New research, to be published in the journal Climatic Change in November, suggests humankind may have to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere on a vast scale if emissions keep rising after 2020. The series of articles provide scenarios which will form the basis of the next report by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on [...]

Carbon Sense: Concrete is the most abundant man-made material in the world. Looking outside our window at here Carbon Sense, concrete is everywhere. Unfortunately, concrete companies are in the position of having to clean up somebody else’s mess. That somebody is the cement industry. In fact, the cement industry is second in GHG emissions, after [...]

Triple Pundit: It has been a long time since generations have faced the possibility that the future might not be better – with some notable exceptions, standards of living have been improving globally since the Industrial Revolution and the advent of serious oil production. If you ask most people whether they value the lives of [...]

MSNBC: The high peaks of the Himalayas may soon be a beacon for adventurous solar power entrepreneurs, suggests a new study that identified the lofty region as having some of the world’s greatest potential to capture energy from the sun. Other regions not traditionally considered hotbeds of solar power potential include the Andes of South [...]

Guardian: The lack of international action on cutting emissions highlights need to research geoengineering further, says Jane C S Long. Jane C. S. Long, associate director-at-large of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, is convinced that the only sensible way to combat climate change is to work toward “a zero-emission energy system as fast [...]

FNB News: The First ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture, which was held recently in Jakarta, Indonesia, was co-chaired by Dr Suswono, minister of agriculture, Indonesia, and Sharad Pawar, minister of agriculture, India. The ministers reaffirmed their strong support in advancing cooperation under the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and [...]

John O’Sullivan: Britain’s major independent television broadcaster today joins major national newspapers in finally accepting that man-made global warming is history. Global cooling is the hot news topic as scientists announce that the planet is stuck in the midst of a prolonged cooling cycle. Britons are being advised to wrap up warm for eleven years, [...]

Bangladesh among 28 developing countries ranked fifth most vulnerable to climate change and hunger, said a new report. The ActionAid research report styled ‘On the Brink: Who’s Best Prepared for a Climate Change and Hunger Crisis?” reveals that Bangladesh is more vulnerable than its neighbours India, Pakistan and Nepal, who ranked 7, 14 and 16 [...]

Maha Mussadaq , The Express Tribune : ISLAMABAD:  In the list of countries most vulnerable to disasters due to climate change, Pakistan’s ranking has been downgraded to 16 in 2010-2011 from its previous position at 29 a year earlier, according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index by Maple Croft, an organisation which maps over 100 [...]

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE : KATHMANDU, Oct 9: The world´s highest webcam has been installed in the Nepalese Himalayas, beaming live images of Mount Everest back to scientists studying the effects of climate change on the planet´s tallest peak. The solar-powered camera, set at 5,675 metres (18,618 feet) on Kala Patthar, a smaller mountain facing Everest, [...]

Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation: MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Bangladesh joined forces for an initiative in the United Nations Human Rights Council to urge the international community to address the adverse effects of climate change on human rights. Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Evan P. [...]

Daily Times: President says devastation caused by climatic changes is a wake-up call to search permanent solutions to natural disasters ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari, on Friday, called upon the international community, especially the countries advanced in disaster management, to assist Pakistan in capacity building so that it could meet eventualities caused by natural calamities [...]

Kuensel Online: Is accelerated development of the hydropower sector in conflict with the environment? Mega Projects 8 October, 2011 – Bhutan ambitious plan to tap 10,000MW of hydropower by 2020 (eight years and two months from now) may be following a clean and green path, but what has not been talked about is how it [...]

The New Indian Express:  India’s first climate change conclave to be held in Hyderabad will help raise awareness on alternative energy resources and improve the existing energy policies in the country. Climate change is for real and India, as a growing economic and industrial power, has an increased role in global climate change control. The [...]

Alertnet: Much has been written about the global land rush –the trend in which investors, eager to establish plantations to produce food or biofuel at a discount, buy up or lease vast swaths of farmland in the developing world. In the process they often uproot entire villages, reducing small indigenous farmers to legions of landless [...]

The Hindu: Believe it or not, the humble earthworm can be the latest weapon in the war against climate change. A major four-year-old study has revealed that instead of just wriggling around and providing food for birds, earthworms – have been burrowing their way through the ground for 300 million years – can help prevent [...]

UNEP: The Royal Government of Bhutan, known worldwide as the architect of the philosophy of Gross National Happiness, committed to protect the ozone layer as Royal Bride-to-be, Jetsun Pema, launched the country’s HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP). Bhutan made a historic commitment to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are both ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and powerful [...]

E-Pao: The two-day national workshop on the “Impact of climate change on biodiversity management in northeast India with particular reference to Manipur” concluded here at Classic Hotel today with the pronouncement of several key recommendations. Northeast India has to take a very important and strategic role in combating climate change and preserving its biodiversity because [...]

Friday Times: What role has climate change played in this year’s flooding? Climate change is the multiplier only – it is bad for everyone, especially the poor but it is even worse for the poor under bad governance. The present flooding in Sindh has affected all 23 districts, almost the entire province. The damage is [...]

Kashmir Observer: Estimates of the magnitudes of past seismic events foretell a very shaky future for this pastoral Valley writes Dr Afroz Ahmad Shah. The earthquake studies in the state of Jammu of Kashmir, and primarily in the valley is still quite juvenile. Any kind of conclusion or opinion at this point of time will [...]

IPS News: Some symbolic acts are powerful reflections of a broader struggle. In March some 300 women planted trees in the Santa River basin in northwest Peru to demonstrate their determination to preserve the environment and help adapt to climate change. Now a network of councilwomen have organised to that end. The organiser of the [...]

Scientific American: Emissions trading is the foundation of climate policy, but documents further reveal how problematic it is. As the world gears up for the next round of United Nations climate-change negotiations in Durban, South Africa, in November, evidence has emerged that a cornerstone of the existing global climate agreement, the international greenhouse-gas emissions-trading system, [...]

Environment News Services: Environmentalists are blaming climate change for the unprecedented massive monsoon rains in Pakistan, which so far this year have affected eight million people, claiming 350 lives and damaging 1.3 million homes. Over the past month, the country’s southern region has received the highest monsoon rains ever recorded, local metrological experts confirm. In [...]

New York Times: Rajendra K. Pachauri is the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and head of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, a non-profit focusing on research in the field of energy efficiency and sustainable development. In 2007, under his leadership, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was awarded [...]

Recalling the recognition of the importance of mountains at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 through adoption of Chapter 13 in Agenda 21, and realising the need to revisit the mountain agenda in the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 (commonly [...]

Guardian: Mission launched to measure change in Himalayas as anecdotal evidence grows of melting ice on mountain’s southern approach. Climbers and custodians of Everest say that rapid climate change could soon make for an ice-free ascent of the world’s tallest mountain. Their warning comes come amid a new international effort to gauge the effects of [...]

Alertnet: The earth moves and across a metropolis, the schools and offices come crashing down, bridges snap sending cars smashing below, and fallen power lines set off fires. In seconds, the quake has left a world capital with mass casualties and economic losses. That could be the scenario in many of South Asia’s populous cities [...]

Tribune Pakistan: The government is waking up to the need for permanent solutions to tackle malaria, dengue and flooding given that the country “may have to learn to live with heavy rains and floods due to global climate change”. According to President Asif Ali Zardari’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, this was the outcome after a slew [...]

Times of India: The Everest climbers of Himachal are concerned about the impact of global warming and blurring charm of Himalayas. Having no obvious purpose, the frequent, unplanned and “commercial” expeditions to the Himalayan peaks are ruining their beauty, they said. With over 19 successful Everest climbers, Himachal being the prime producer of mountaineers, more [...]

The NewYork Times: At 79, he is the last man living among the 103 guides who accompanied the famous mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful 1953 expedition to Everest. Come peak tourist season in this ancient village of Internet cafes, Nepali crafts and gear shops that serves as the gateway to Mount Everest [...]

Pioneer: For the first time in India, scientific tests will be conducted on the Himalayan glaciers in Uttarakhand to measure the impact of carbon soot on glaciers. Scientists from Indian Space Research Organisation, Uttarakhand Space Application Centre and Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, will conduct these tests slated to begin September 24, USAC director MM Kimothi [...]

Time: When will we face up to reality? That was the question Al Gore asked with his 24-hour, worldwide presentations on global warming last week in an online program he called Climate Reality. In the day’s last speech — presented in person in New York City — Gore delivered a passionate condemnation of efforts by [...]