At last year's climate talks in Warsaw the corporate fossil fuel lobby was firmly in charge - and the result was catastrophic failure. At the talks now under way in Bonn, it's our turn to set the agenda - the billions of people crying out for positive action on climate and energy. At the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, social movements are demanding that the developed … [Read more...]
Global warming washes up WWII dead
Rising sea levels have disturbed the skeletons of soldiers killed on the Marshall Islands during World War Two. Speaking at UN climate talks in Bonn, the Island's foreign minister said that high tides had exposed one grave with 26 dead. The minister said the bones were most likely those of Japanese troops. Driven by global warming, waters in this part of the Pacific … [Read more...]
UN Climate Talks kick off in Bonn
The UN Climate Talks got underway in Bonn Wednesday with negotiations re-opening on the design of the 2015 agreement and finding ways to raise the current level of global ambition to address climate change in the near-term. Meetings and negotiations around the UNFCCC’s ongoing work in its subsidiary, and a series of workshops, high-level meetings and special events also kicked … [Read more...]
UN climate chief backs Obama’s new US carbon cuts
New carbon cuts proposed by US President Obama could offer much-needed momentum to UN climate talks taking place in Bonn this week. That’s the view of the UN’s leading climate official, Christiana Figueres, who needs the world’s top economies on board for a global emissions reduction deal to work. “The decision by President Obama to launch plans to more tightly regulate … [Read more...]
Landfill gas increases by 72% leading to climate change
The growing environmental impact landfill sites have in South Africa needs to be addressed and every citizen can help reduce their waste footprint. World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nation’s (UN) vehicle to promote the importance of looking after the environment. This annually takes place on 05 June. The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) … [Read more...]
Hundreds of Afghans die in massive landslides
Hundreds of people were buried alive in a remote northern corner of Afghanistan earlier this month when a mudslide swept through a village and a second collapse then trapped neighbours who had rushed to help, according to local officials. Thousands of tons of soil and rocks broke off from a hill in Badakhshan district near the Tajik border, creating a wave of mud that … [Read more...]
Governments to increase use of solar power
United Nations climate change experts are expected to call on governments to increase their use of solar, wind and other renewable energies to avoid the devastating impact of global warming. According to The Sunday Times, a leaked copy of a report due from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group on the mitigation of climate change will say that a … [Read more...]
Ban Ki-moon: world leaders distracted by politics and oil, while climate change threatens whole of humanity
World leaders take a “narrow minded” approach on climate change, and are too frequently distracted by the issues that will gain votes in the next election, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Speaking in Brussel, he said that domestic concerns, along with the crises in Syria and Ukraine, had “distracted” leaders from taking action on climate change. “When we … [Read more...]
UN climate talks: toughest negotiations on planet earth
Villagers face a daily struggle against a declining water table, affecting their health and their futures as farmers. “You see the challenges they face over the years in terms of access to water, and linking food security to water and the impact that climate change has on those gives me the energy to really push for climate diplomacy, so that our people can live,” he tells … [Read more...]
Countries gather in Bonn on road to climate deal
Climate change negotiators representing 200 countries yesterday kicked off the latest round of negotiations in what will be a make or break year for efforts to deliver a global agreement to tackle climate change at the Paris Summit in late 2015. United Nations climate envoys met in Bonn, Germany for the first negotiating session of 2014 for the Durban Platform for Enhanced … [Read more...]
UN Climate Talks Resume in Bonn
United Nations climate negotiations have resumed for a week-long session in Bonn, Germany, from 4 March to 10 March. Last November's annual UN Climate Summit in Warsaw, Poland, ended with weak and vague decisions. The lack of leadership from developed countries, and the backward moves by governments like Australia and Japan, led to an unprecedented walk out by civil … [Read more...]
U.S. Spying a Threat to Global Climate Deal
Activists and experts expressed outrage at the revelations that the U.S. government, through the NSA and its allies, conducted espionage on participants of UN climate talks. They are calling for President Obama to commit to no further spying on participants of the talks, accompanied by a drastically increased commitment to climate action on the part of the U.S., if the talks … [Read more...]
Cost of climate change high on Davos agenda
From within the Davos Congress Center, you can see skiers racing down the slopes outside of the World Economic Forum. Looking at the snow outside, some participants might wonder why there's so much talk about global warming. Not so Christiana Figueres. Standing in the snow, the UN climate chief said she is pleased the topic is so high on the agenda at Davos. "The risk of … [Read more...]
