OxfamBlogs: Guest post from one time Oxfam research team member Arabella Fraser, who is currently in the Department for International Development, London School of Economics, writing a PhD on climate risk and vulnerability in informal urban settlements. She is also a consultant on climate adaptation and development issues, working most recently on urban adaptation planning in [...]

Times of India: Though no immediate adverse impact of global warming is visible in India as manifested by rise in output of foodgrains and milk, experts feel the country should draw sharp strategy to deal with its long-term effect. Despite increase in climatic variabilities attributed to global warming, the production of foodgrains in the country [...]

BBC-BT: Bhutan’s commitment to remain carbon neutral and environmental policies continues to collect international appreciation; and especially the country’s role and compliance under the Montreal Protocol. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, Bhutan’s effort in its global environmental issue continues to set a great example for rest of the world. It says the carbon [...]

Zee News: (London): Researches have identified the gap, which could be an important missing piece of the puzzle in estimates for past and current sea-level changes and for projections of future rises. Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8mm per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges. But the main question [...]

GEF: Global Environment Facility CEO Monique Barbut today said that success in initiatives to improve the global environment depends on consistently involving local communities and particularly indigenous groups in environmental strategies and projects. Speaking at the Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology, Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the world’s largest public funder of projects to [...]

The Daily Star: For the last three decades scientists and world leaders have been trying to cope with the consequences of exponential growth of humans and their increasing demand for resources that only nature can provide. They have been working to save threatened species from extinction and give nature’s process the chance to maintain a [...]

Bangkok Post: As beneficial as a general international framework for emissions cuts might be for the planet, there seems almost no chance at this stage that such a framework will be agreed upon, and even if it were the problems in enforcing it would be enormous. As the leaders of the G8 and other invited [...]

ResponseNET: A new survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, shows that 68% of cities are pursuing adaption planning for climate change but “only 7 per cent of cities surveyed believe that their national governments fully understand the realities of adaptation planning at the local level.”  The global [...]

Tribune Pakistan: After having provided recommendations to the government for formulating a national strategy on environment, the second day of the two-day conference on green economy concluded on Saturday. Industrialists and experts discussed challenges and possible solutions for environmental issues facing the country at the conference titled “National Consultation on Green Economy”. The subjects covered [...]

eKantipur: Himalayas are warming about three times faster than the global average temperature during the last 25 year period, says a new study. The report made public on Wednesday states the average annual precipitation during the same period has increased by 6.52 millimetre per year in the region. Authored by Uttam Babu Shrestha, Shiva Gautam [...]

Domain B: We are all aware of global warming; but fewer of us realise what exactly the notorious ‘carbon footprint’ implies. Prakash Nayak, chairman, IET Power Panelexplains, outlining activities which generate the biggest and smallest carbon footprints Most of us have heard of the ‘carbon footprint’; that notorious culprit responsible for the accumulation of greenhouse [...]

Devex: It is difficult to change people’s perceptions of international development, especially when TV reports from the Horn of Africa and Niger seem to hark back to the famines and droughts of the 1980s. Despite three decades of increased funding and global campaigns, such as Make Poverty History, people are asking: What has changed? Since [...]

Kuenselonline: … despite the UN ‘happiness’ conference on coming up with its own four dimensions21st Meet The four pillars that buttress Bhutan’s development philosophy will remain the same, even though the United Nation’s conference on happiness and wellbeing last month in New York had identified four dimensions for a new economic paradigm. Bhutan’s development is [...]

IDRC: The main threats from climate change vary across an ecologically diverse country. Researchers are working with villagers to identify and meet the local challenges in six Nepali communities. Research focusTo assess the vulnerability of rural communities in Nepal’s diverse ecological regions to help them develop their own climate change adaptation plans. The challengeNepal’s fame [...]

Times of India: On the second day of the Bonn climate change negotiations, the US, the EU and other developed countries tried to stall discussions on whether the rich countries had met their obligations on reducing emissions and financing the poor countries. Many developed countries pushed for talks to take place only on a new [...]

GAIN: The Annual Meeting & Scientific Convening of the Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN) centered on one theme – the urgent need to adapt to the changing global climate requires pragmatic solutions with the private sector leading the effort. GAIN Founding CEO Dr. Juan Jose Daboub, former Managing Director at the World Bank, noted that even five years ago, [...]

PLOS-One: Climate change in the Himalayas, a biodiversity hotspot, home of many sacred landscapes, and the source of eight largest rivers of Asia, is likely to impact the well-being of ~20% of humanity. However, despite the extraordinary environmental, cultural, and socio-economic importance of the Himalayas, and despite their rapidly increasing ecological degradation, not much is [...]

SciDevNet: Pakistan’s outdated crop yield forecasting system needs a revamp, says Ibrar ul Hassan Akhtar. Like most developing countries, Pakistan is staring at the spectre of food insecurity, with its food production out of sync with population growth. The food availability scenario is further complicated by changing weather patterns with recurring severe droughts and floods [...]

IIED: The Vice-President of Nepal — His Excellency Parmanand Jha — hosted the launch of a new report that details how the country can benefit from bringing its environment and development policies into harmony. The report, by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Kathmandu-based Asian Centre for Environment Management and Sustainable [...]

ICIMOD: The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is blessed with a diversity of honeybee species; five species – Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, Apis florea, Apis laboriosa, and Apis andreniformis – are indigenous, while Apis mellifera is introduced. Of these species, only Apis cerana and Apis mellifera can be kept in hives and managed for honey [...]

ATREE: The Himalayas are assumed to be undergoing rapid climate change, with serious environmental, social and economic consequences for more than two billion people. However, data on the extent of climate change or its impact on the region are meagre. Based on local knowledge, we report perceived changes in climate and consequences of such changes [...]

“In no way can the recent air crash and the one few months ago in Nepal could be linked to climatic aberration. Those who have flown on these over-used and under-maintained planes would agree that such disasters were indeed waiting to happen. Professionals who have no option but to fly to distant locations within the [...]

Assam Tribune: Ignoring the crucial linkages of a river’s upstream, midstream, and downstream flows can endanger not just the river, but human communities and ecology sustained by it. A disregard of ‘environmental flows,’ by construction of dams, has already harmed many rivers in the Western Ghats, giving rise to political as well as environmental issues. [...]

Chinadialogue: Tourism offers an opportunity to rebuild the local economy of Pakistan’s Swat Valley, ravaged by conflicts and floods. But can it also restore its rivers and forests? Rina Saeed Khan reports. For years, Pakistan’s former princely state of Swat, famous for its fruit orchards, snow-clad mountains, Buddhist stupas and trout-filled rivers, was a popular [...]

Nature: Recent studies have focused on the short-term contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise, yet little is known about its long-term stability. The present best estimate of the threshold in global temperature rise leading to complete melting of the ice sheet is 3.1 °C (1.9–5.1 °C, 95% confidence interval) above the preindustrial climate1, determined [...]

New Scientist: Could Christiana Figueres have the world’s toughest job: getting all nations to agree how to tackle climate change? We talk to the UN’s climate chief. You are in charge of the United Nations climate negotiations – a notoriously tricky process. What would be considered a successful outcome?The governments need to put in place [...]

Click Green: A new study from the University of California, Davis, provides a deeper understanding of the complex global impacts of deforestation on greenhouse gas emissions. The study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, reports that the volume of greenhouse gas released when a forest is cleared depends on how the trees [...]

Jagaran Post: Members belonging to various parties on Monday demanded immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to save the river Ganga and make it pollution free at the earliest. “I demand that the Prime Minister should intervene to save the Ganga which is not just a river but our lifeline and part of our [...]

Kashmir Images: As the rise in temperature, by 4 degrees Celsius, by the next decade is considered inevitable, it is time to prepare for the fallout.The fact that India faces multiple environmental crisis’s was highlighted by the government’s report on the impact of global warming across the country. The report, soon to be submitted to [...]

Gadling: The Himalayan Stove Project is a non-profit organization that has a very clearly defined message and goal. The group looks to improve the lives of those living in the Himalaya Mountains while simultaneously preserving the environment there as well. To accomplish this lofty goal, the HSP intends to deliver 10,000 clean cooking stoves to [...]

Press Information Bureau: Planning Commission has approved ‘Climate Change Action Programme’ to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment & Forests during the 12th Five Year Plan. The Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan further disclosed in Rajya Sabha that the programme aims inter alia at advancing scientific research into [...]

FIBL: Climate change mitigation is urgent, and adaptation to climate change is crucial, particularly in agriculture, where food security is at stake. Agriculture, currently responsible for 20-30% of global greenhouse gas emissions (counting direct and indirect agricultural emissions), can however contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. The main mitigation potential lies in the [...]

International Affairs review: The energy partnership between China and India could become a leading example of progress on climate change. China and India have positioned themselves as defenders of the global South in the international climate change arena. The climate change debate, meanwhile, is firmly centred on whose responsibility it is to clean up the [...]

Times of India: The EU has shifted its goalpost for climate change again, unilaterally seeking talks on a new global protocol from this year that puts India and other developing nations at par with developed world. Ironically, the new condition, if implemented, will exempt Europe from divulging its targets for emission reduction in violation of [...]

Scientific American (blog): One day after new test results showed that only 32 percent of U.S. 8th graders are proficient in science, a group of 26 states has helped draft a document that may bring about a major overhaul of science education in this country.  Known as the Next Generation Science Standards, the draft sets ambitious [...]

PHYS: ..Enables better understanding of global patterns. Scientists have developed a new diagnostic tool that will enable better understanding of global climate patterns. The development, by researchers from The University of Queensland, University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and Monash University, distinguishes between the causes of particles in glacial deposits – whether climactic or caused by [...]

Business Standard: It must reduce poverty and increase prosperity – all while leaving a smaller carbon footprint Asia-Pacific is large, diverse and growing fast. It contains more than half of humanity, and 30 per cent of the global land mass. It has made great progress in reducing poverty. Yet, with two-thirds of the world’s poor, [...]

RTCC: Seasoned climate change activists will know that the annual UNFCCC Bonn Climate Change conference starts this coming Monday morning. It’s an important summit that will provide an idea of whether the ambitions of the Durban Platform can be achieved. You’ll recall that the agreement set the ball rolling towards a comprehensive global emissions limit [...]

The Bhutanese: Weather forecast is a piece of information that can be used by anyone, from a farmer to a tourist, or for construction projects, or to simply planning a picnic! Have you ever wondered where and how the country gets its weather forecast? The Department of Hydro-Met Services (DHMS) under the Ministry of Economic [...]

National Geographic: Giant sauropods produced huge amounts of greenhouse gases, study suggests. Dinosaurs may have helped warm ancient Earth via their own natural gaseous emissions, a new study says. Like modern-day ruminants, giant plant-eating dinosaurs likely had microbes in their guts that gave off large amounts of methane—a potent greenhouse gas even more effective at [...]

CDKN: On February 15-17, the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee (TEC) held its second meeting. On May 28-29, it will meet again. The TEC is informally called the “policy arm” of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism, which aims to enhance climate technology development and transfer for mitigation and adaptation. Despite its importance, the TEC has not been [...]

International Organization for Migration: As part of IOM’s annual International Dialogue on Migration – dedicated in 2011 to the theme “The Future of Migration: Building Capacities for Change” – the IOM membership selected the topic “Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Migration” as the focus of a workshop in Geneva, Switzerland on 29–30 March 2011.1 The [...]

Times of India: The government has taken exception to the `biases’ in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Asia Pacific Human Development report, titled, One Planet, which was released on Thursday. UNDP, required to play a neutral role in international governance, has recommended that India and other countries in the Asia Pacific region take greater [...]

weADAPT: This work is part of a Policy Brief on Climate Change in Nepal produced by Practical Action in 2008 and provides a summary of climate change as currently experienced in Nepal, and projections of future changes. Climate change in Nepal Some level of uncertainty is inevitable in measuring and anticipating climate change. Attributing individual [...]

weADAPT: Basically, climate modelling involves converting theories of atmospheric physics, solar radiation, phase state physics, etc. into mathematical formulas that can be solved by a computer. The relevant values are worked out for discrete areas (called grid cells) across the whole world, over a number of time steps. The result is a simulation of the [...]

The Tribune: A collective scientific approach is required for mitigating the impact of climate change which is one of the most serious social, economic and environmental challenges facing humanity. This was discussed at an international conference on “Climate Change: Opportunities and Challenges” held at the National University of Science and Technology here on Wednesday. The [...]

The Hindu: Countries in Asia and the Pacific must strike a balance between rising prosperity and rising emission as their success or failure will have repercussions worldwide, a latest report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said. “The Asia-Pacific region must continue to grow economically to lift millions out of poverty, but it [...]

PHYS.ORG: For algae to power our cars and planes, production needs to be low carbon and cost effective, which means working with natural processes, not against them, say scientists. Algae could become an important source of sustainable biofuel, as production doesn’t compete with food crops for land. But we may need to change the way [...]

The Gisborne Herald: SORRY Mr Hughes, I did indeed mislead readers. The concession by the IPCC that there is unlikely to be any warming wasn’t in the draft of the fifth report that was released to reviewers in late 2011. It was actually in the draft of the report mentioned by you. This, however, does [...]

Scidevnet: The multi-billion dollar cassava industry of South–East Asia may already be suffering from multiple pest and disease outbreaks triggered by climate change, cassava researchers have told a conference in Bangkok. Although the crop can thrive in hotter and dryer conditions in the region, an increase in pests and diseases could easily wipe out recent [...]

The Hindu: The former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation G. Madhavan Nair said here on Thursday that human intervention was not the only reason for climate change, but that solar radiation also had a major role in global warming and climate change. Interacting with students at the ‘Science-mathematics-environment awareness camp’ organised by the [...]

China Daily: In June 2012, Brazil will host the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20. The time is right: there are clear signs that the current development models must be reformulated. Countries – regardless of their wealth – face serious economic and financial crises, social inequality, hunger, unemployment, losses in biodiversity and [...]

Alertnet: Continuing scepticism about climate change in some parts of the world threatens the planet and the people on it, according to Rajendra K. Pachauri, chief of the Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “I think global society has to realise that we are affecting the climate of this planet and this is the [...]

IRIN News: The needs of millions of indigenous mountain people across Nepal are overlooked, imperilling their food security and hindering their economic progress, activists and experts say. “People in the mountains of Nepal are worse off in terms of total poverty – food and non-food poverty,” said Jean-Yves Gerlitz, co-author of a recent study on [...]

ScienceDaily: A modeling study from the European Alps suggests that population declines to be observed during the upcoming decades will probably underestimate the long-term effects of recent climate warming on mountain plants. A European team of ecologists around Stefan Dullinger from the Department of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology of the University of Vienna [...]

Environment News Service: India is considering integrating Israeli water technologies into a national initiative to clean up the polluted Ganges River, which provides water for 40 percent of India’s population in 11 states through which it flows. Indian engineers, scientists and officials from water technology companies visited Israel late last month to explore the possibilities. [...]

New Internationalist: At the frontline of climate change, the people of Bangladesh are using every ounce of their creativity to adapt. Hazel Healy assesses whether it will be enough. It is hard to believe the village was built from scratch. It looks as if it has always been here. Tidy kitchen gardens sit next to thatched [...]

Climate Adapt Asia: Adaptation Knowledge This policy brief reflects on the role of knowledge in the adaptation to climate change. It is not meant to be prescriptive but rather to provoke critical thinking about how information is mobilized, collated and disseminated in support of adaptation. There are four key messages. First, knowledge important to adaptation [...]

“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”- Neil Postman One of the perks of my job is the opportunity to interact with, and influence, the future generation. I recently enjoyed such an opportunity at The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) University, where I addressed a gathering of students [...]

Bangkok Post: Mountain kingdom has inspired choice for conference on sustainable tourism. Few people would have pictured Bhutan as the site of an event staged by a large mainstream tourism organisation, given the mountain kingdom’s zealous attempts to guard against being overwhelmed by the outside world. But the choice of the picturesque town of Paro [...]