| On Planning for
Development:
On Climate change |
NASA: Earth Observatory
Global Warming Fact Sheet
Over the last
five years, 600 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change sifted through thousands of studies about global warming
published in forums ranging from scientific journals to industry
publications and distilled the world’s accumulated knowledge into this
conclusion: “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”
Global climate change:
NASA's Eye on Earth - Vital signs of the planet
|
IPCC Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report
Climate Change 2014. Synthesis Report
1 November 2014
1. Observed Changes and their Causes
Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions
of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had
widespread impacts on human and natural systems.
1.1 Observed changes in the climate system
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the
observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and
ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.
|
From The New York Times, 30 March 2014
Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come
JUSTIN GILLIS - MARCH 30, 2014 - The New York Times
YOKOHAMA, Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent and throughout
the world’s oceans, scientists reported Monday, and they warned that the problem is likely to grow
substantially worse unless greenhouse emissions are brought under control.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting,
sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains
are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward
the poles or in some cases going extinct.
|
From the
International Institute for Environment and Development - December 2009
- IIED, CLACC
Climate change and the urban
poor. Risk and resilience in 15 of the world's most vulnerable cities
Areas:
Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Bangladesh, Benin, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Sudan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi
Topics:
Urban, Climate Change
"This report outlines lessons learnt regarding the principal effects of
climate change on 15 cities
in low-income countries, and what makes them vulnerable to these
effects. Coastal cities are susceptible to a rise in sea level and are
made vulnerable by the low-lying land they are often built on, while
dryland cities suffer from scarce water resources due to extended
periods of climate change-induced drought. In these and other inland
cities, the level of poverty, the rapid pace of urbanization and a lack
of education about climate change increase vulnerability and aggravate
the effects of climate change. Innovative urban policies and practices
have shown that adaptation to some of these effects is possible and can
be built into development plans. These include community-based
initiatives led by organizations formed by the urban poor, and local
governments working in partnership with their low-income populations".
|
Programa de las Naciones
Unidas para el Medio Ambiente
Oficina Regional para América Latina y el Caribe
Regional Office for Latin America and the
Caribbean
United Nations Environment Programme
Environment for development
News Center
Impacts
of Climate Change Coming Faster and Sooner: New Science Report
Underlines Urgency for Governments to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen
Washington/Nairobi,
24 September 2009 -The pace and scale of climate change may now be
outstripping even the most sobering predictions of the last report of
the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). An analysis of
the very latest, peer-reviewed science indicates that many predictions
at the upper end of the IPCC's forecasts are becoming ever more likely.
Meanwhile, the newly emerging science points to some events thought
likely to occur in longer-term time horizons, as already happening or
set to happen far sooner than had previously been thought.
Going for a Green New Deal in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen, 18 December 2009 - "If we don't
reach a climate deal, one of the failed victims should not be the
economy." Those were the opening words of Mr. Achim Steiner, UN
Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme at an event entitled Green Economy: Implementing a New
Climate Deal at the UN Climate talks in Copenhagen. Four countries,
Brazil, the Republic of Korea, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
and the Democratic Republic of Congo took to the floor explaining how
green jobs, growth and sustainability are essential for their very
survival and future economic growth.
Copenhagen, 19 December 2009 - Nations
Seal a Deal on Climate Change at UN Talks
|
A Chatham House Report
Who Owns Our
Low Carbon Future? Intellectual Property and Energy Technologies
by Bernice Lee, Ilian Iliev and Felix Preston, September 2009
Download
Paper here
Download executive summary
Ensuring access to climate-friendly technologies at affordable prices
is a critical issue for international public policy - and one that cuts
across economic, legal, security and geopolitical concerns. To keep the
rise in average global temperatures below 2C, global greenhouse gas
emissions must peak before 2020 and be reduced to 50-85 per cent below
2000 levels by 2050. Achieving these ambitious targets requires a
critical mass of low carbon investment, innovation and deployment that
meets mid- and long-term goals. The implications for corporate
strategies and business models are profound.
This report examines two issues: patent ownership of climate-friendly
technologies, and the rate of technology diffusion. A polarized debate
continues between proponents of strengthening intellectual property
rights (IPR) regimes to encourage innovation of climate technologies on
the one hand, and those calling for more IP-related flexibilities to
ensure access to key technologies by developing countries on the other.
'The report makes a series of practical recommendations
for more rapid diffusion of new technologies on a basis that would be
profitable for both the inventor in the developed country and for the
company who puts the technology into action somewhere else. This report
shows how important an agreement in Copenhagen could be'. -
Ambassador John Bruton, EU Ambassador to the US, October 2009. Read
Further Resources
More information about the Chatham House project - Trade,
Finance and Climate Change: Building a Positive Agenda for Developing
Countries
Chatham House is holding a conference on Powering
the Low Carbon Economy from 1-2 March 2010.
|
From Global Development and Environment Institute
Working paper No. 08-03
Policies for Funding a
Response to Climate Change
By Brian Roach - July 2008
Specifically, the paper suggests that CERA funds be used to offer
low-interest loans to private firms and to form private-public
partnerships pursuing the long-term development of clean energy
technologies. Loan repayment and the eventual profitability of some
partnerships will at least partially fund payments to CERA holders when
they retire. Using reasonable assumptions, a simulation analysis
demonstrates the financial feasibility of the program and the
conditions in which the program would be fully self-funding.
Ecological
Macroeconomics: Consumption, Investment, and Climate Change
Working paper 08-02
Jonathan M. Harris - July 2008
The challenge of reducing global carbon emissions by 50-85 per cent by
the year 2050, which is suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (2007a) as a target compatible with limiting the risk of
a more-than-2ºC temperature increase, clearly conflicts with existing
patterns of economic growth, which are heavily dependent on increased
use of fossil fuel energy. While it is theoretically possible to
conceive of economic growth being “delinked” from fossil fuel
consumption, any such delinking would represent a drastic change from
economic patterns of the last 150 years.
Current macroeconomic theory is heavily oriented towards an assumption
of continuous, exponential growth in GDP. The historical record shows
GDP growth is strongly correlated with a parallel record of increasing
fossil energy use and CO2 emissions. A path of reduced carbon emissions
would require major modifications in economic growth patterns. Climate
change is part of an inter-related group of environmental issues
associated with growth limits. These include population growth,
agricultural production, water supplies, and species loss. To achieve a
low-carbon path requires population stabilization, limited consumption,
and major investments in environmental protection and social priorities
such as public health, nutrition, and education. Macroeconomic theory
must be adapted to reflect these new realities.
A reclassification of macroeconomic aggregates is proposed to
distinguish between those categories of goods and services that can
expand over time, and those that must be limited to reduce carbon
emissions. This reformulation makes it clear that there are many
possibilities for environmentally beneficial economic expansion. New
forms of Keynesian policy oriented towards ecological sustainability,
provision of basic social needs such as education and health care, and
distributional equity can provide a basis for a rapid reduction in
carbon emissions while promoting investment in human and natural
capital.
From Natural
Resources Defense Council
The cost of climate
change
What We'll Pay if Global Warming Continues Unchecked
Global warming comes with a big price tag for every country in the
world. The 80 percent reduction in U.S. emissions needed to stop
climate change may not come cheaply, but the cost of failing to act
will be much greater. New research shows that if present trends
continue, the total cost of global warming will be as high as 3.6
percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Four global warming impacts
alone -- hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs, and water
costs -- will come with a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or
almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today's dollars) by 2100. We know how
to avert most of these damages through strong action to reduce the
emissions that cause global warming. But the longer we wait, the more
painful -- and expensive -- the consequences will be.
|
From
Countercurrents.org - 7 October 2007
Climate Change And
Entire Landscapes On The Move
By Stephen Leahy - Inter
Press Service
BROOKLIN, Canada - The hot breath of global warming has now touched
some of the coldest northern regions of world, turning the frozen
landscape into mush as temperatures soar 15 degrees C. above normal.
Entire hillsides, sometimes more than a kilometre long, simply let go
and slid like a vast green carpet into valleys and rivers on Melville
Island in Canada’s northwest Arctic region of Nunavut this summer, says
Scott Lamoureux of Queens University in Canada and leader of one the of
International Polar Year projects.
|
From
The Independent, UK - 7 April 2007
How the worst effects of
climate change will be felt by the poorest
Humanity will be divided as never before by climate change, with the
world's poor its disproportionate victims, according to a new United
Nations report.
- Scientists
walk out in protest at China's intransigence
- Leading
article: The world's biggest polluters can no longer ignore the evidence
|
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
WMO and UNEP
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has
been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and
socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate
change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and
mitigation. The reports by the three Working Groups provide
a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the current state of
knowledge on climate change.
-- Working Group I "The Physical
Science Basis"
-- Working Group II "Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability"
-- Working Group III "Mitigation
of Climate Change"
The Synthesis Report integrates the information around six topic areas -more-
2
February 2007
Climate Change 2007: The
Physical Science Basis
Summary for Policymakers
This Summary for Policymakers was formally approved at the 10th Session
of Working Group I of the IPCC, Paris, February 2007
From the BBC - London -
2 February 2007
Humans blamed for climate
change
Global
climate change is "very likely" to have a human cause, an influential
group of scientists has concluded.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said temperatures
were probably going to increase by 1.8-4C (3.2-7.2F) by the end of the
century.
|
From UNDP
Climate Change Futures
- 2006
Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions
The
Problem: Climate is Changing, Fast - Trend Analyses: Extreme Weather
Events and Costs - Climate Change Can Occur Abruptly - The Climate
Change Futures Scenarios - Infectious and Respiratory Diseases -
Malaria - West Nile Virus - Lyme Disease - Carbon Dioxide and
Aeroallergens - Extreme Weather Events - Heat Waves - Case 1. European
Heat Wave and Analogs for US Cities - Case 2. Analog for New South
Wales, Australia - Floods - Natural and Managed Systems - Forests -
Agriculture - Marine Ecosystems - Case 1. The Tropical Coral Reef -
Case 2. Marine Shellfish - Water - Financial Implications - Risk
Spreading in Developed and Developing Nations - The Limits of
Insurability - Business Scenarios - Constructive Roles for Insurers and
Reinsurers - Optimizing Strategies for Adaptation and Mitigation -
Summary of Financial Sector Measures - Conclusions and Recommendations
- Policies and Measures- Appendix A. Summary Table/Extreme Weather
Events and Impacts - Appendix B. Additional Findings and Methods for
The US Analog
Studies of Heat Waves - Appendix C. Finance: Property Insurance
Dynamics - Appendix D. List of Participants, Swiss Re Centre for Global
Dialogue - Bibliography
|
|
From Physics Today
- Issue 8 - August 2003
The Discovery of Rapid Climate
Change
and
The
discovery of global warming
Only within the past decade
have researchers warmed to the possibility of abrupt shifts in Earth's
climate. Sometimes, it takes a while to see what one is not prepared to
look for.
By Spencer Weart
How fast can our planet's climate change? Too slowly for humans to
notice, according to the firm belief of most scientists through much of
the 20th century. Any shift of weather patterns, even the Dust Bowl
droughts that devastated the Great Plains in the 1930s, was seen as a
temporary local excursion. To be sure, the entire world climate could
change radically: The ice ages proved that. But common sense held that
such transformations could only creep in over tens of thousands of
years.
In the 1950s, a few scientists found evidence that some of the great
climate shifts in the past had taken only a few thousand years. During
the 1960s and 1970s, other lines of research made it plausible that the
global climate could shift radically within a few hundred years. In the
1980s and 1990s, further studies reduced the scale to the span of a
single century. Today, there is evidence that severe change can take
less than a decade. A committee of the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS) has called this reorientation in the thinking of scientists a
veritable "paradigm shift." The new paradigm of abrupt global climate
change, the committee reported in 2002, "has been well established by
research over the last decade, but this new thinking is little known
and scarcely appreciated in the wider community of natural and social
scientists and policymakers."
|
| From the
BBC - London - 21 December 2006
|
It's hard to explain, Tom, why
we did so little to stop global warming
Looking back, 40 years on,
we were intoxicated with an idea of individual freedom that was little
more than greedy egotism
By Madeleine Bunting
Monday November 6, 2006 - The
Guardian
Poor you - they've set you a difficult question for your school essay.
I'll try to help, although I still find it difficult to understand
myself, let alone explain to a grandson, why we were so slow in
tackling climate change. I would love to be with you to talk about it
all because I think about very little else now, but I don't have any
carbon allocation to travel to the new settlements in Scotland, so here
I sit in the library by the window overlooking a London I don't
recognise these days. I've taken a day off our senior citizens'
vegetable plot to walk here and queue for my internet slot.
---------------------- |
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
Essential Background -- Documentation
-- Meetings
Kyoto Protocol
Cooperation & Support -- Adaptation
National Reports -- GHG Emissions Data -- Methods & Science
Parties & Observers -- Press
-- Secretariat
6
November 2006
-- The United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Nairobi 2006 got underway today with calls for action and
a stark warning that climate change is fast proving to be one of the
greatest challenges in the history of humankind. The two-week
conference is the twelfth Conference of the 189 Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the second
meeting of the 166 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
Pressrelease (131 kB) Arabic (146 kB) Chinese (176 kB) Russian (197 kB)
-
New
Report Underlines Africa’s Vulnerability to Climate Change.
5 November 2006, Nairobi
-- A new report on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in Africa,
released by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and based on data from bodies including the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) indicates that the continent’s vulnerability to
climate change is even more acute than had previously been supposed.
------------------------- |
Stern
Review on the economics of climate change
The Stern Review on the
Economics of Climate Change will be published on Monday 30th
October 2006. Sir Nicholas Stern will be presenting the conclusions
at the Royal Society.
Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Stern Review on the Economics of
Climate Change, gave a keynote lecture to the Oxford Institute of
Economic Policy as part of their distinguished lecture series entitled
‘What is the Economics of Climate Change?’ on the evening of Tuesday 31
January. This paper sets out the key approaches and questions for
the Stern Review.
--
Stern
Review final report - full text
----------------------- |
From The Economist - 7 September 2006
The Heat is On
SURVEY: CLIMATE CHANGE
Global warming, it now
seems, is for real. Emma Duncan examines the nature of the problem, and
possible solutions
Getty Images
THE world's climate has
barely changed since the industrial revolution. The temperature was
stable in the 19th century, rose very slightly during the first half of
the 20th, fell back in the 1950s-70s, then started rising again. Over
the past 100 years, it has gone up by about 0.6°C (1.1°F).
So what's the fuss about?
Not so much the rise in temperature as the reason for it. Previous
changes in the world's climate have been set off by variations either
in the angle of the Earth's rotation or in its distance from the sun.
This time there is another factor involved: man-made “greenhouse
gases”.
--------------------- |
From Le Monde Diplomatique - April 2006
Planet in Peril: Atlas of Current
Threats to People and the Environment
...is the English
translation of Le Monde diplomatique's recently
published Atlas 2006. It is the result of a long-standing cooperation
between Le
Monde diplomatique and GRID-Arendal...
These pages offer a holistic and well-researched analysis of today's
global
issues and their impact on human population and the environment.
Written by an
international team of specialists, these pages from the Atlas
illustrate through
text and maps, graphics and diagrams the interplay between population
and the
world's ecosystems and natural resources both in the short and long
terms. It
brings together a wealth of information from the most up-to-date
sources on such
key issues as climate change, access to water, exploitation of ocean
resources,
nuclear energy and waste, renewable energy, weapons of mass
destruction, causes
of industrial accidents, waste, export, hunger, genetically modified
organisms,
urban development, access to health care and ecological change in
China...
Polar
ice caps melting faster Global warming is not affecting the planet
evenly and
most of the existing models forecast that it will be greater in the
northern
hemisphere. With an overall increase of 2°C, temperatures in the Arctic
could
increase by a factor of two or three. The southern hemisphere, would
also be
affected, though less severely...
GM organisms, too much, too soon The issue of
genetically modified organisms draws together strands from the debate
on the
global market and the concept of progress. It is a perfect illustration
of how
market forces come into play much more quickly than the precautions
that seem
appropriate given the current state of research. We are consequently
already
eating genetically engineered foodstuffs without it being possible to
guarantee
they are entirely safe. China a key factor in tomorrow's climate China
is fast
becoming the workshop of the 21st century world. But a shortage of raw
materials
abroad and increasingly serious environmental problems at home are
already
threatening continued growth.
------
-List of all available maps...
http://mondediplo.com/maps/
-Order (in English) from earthprint.com
http://www.earthprint.com/go.htm?to=3548
-See a summary of LMD's Atlas (in French)
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/publications/atlas2006/
-Order LMD's Atlas (in French)
http://boutique.monde-diplomatique.fr/
------------------------
|
| |
From CERES - 21 March
2006
2006 Corporate Governance and
Climate Change: Making the Connection
The 2006 Corporate
Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection report
includes a 30-page summary report comprised of the executive summary,
the climate governance scoring criteria, the 100 company scores and
sector-specific findings. The report also includes two to three page
profiles on each of the companies evaluated.
Current Reports - 2009
Reports - 2008 Reports - 2007
Reports - 2006 Reports - 2005
Reports - 2004 Reports - 2003
Reports - 2002 Reports
|
23 February 2006
Take part in the largest
climate experiment ever
We need the computer power
you're not using. Join in the largest climate prediction experiment
ever, developed by climate scientists for the BBC using the Met Office
climate model.
We need thousands of people to help
Trying to predict climate change is hard. There are lots of factors
involved – air temperature, sea temperature and cloud cover all play a
part – as do dozens of other variables. Therefore, there are a huge
number of calculations involved.
One solution is for scientists to use the largest supercomputer they
can find. But even the biggest supercomputers are only so good. We
think you can do better. Using a technique known as distributed
computing, we’re hoping to harness the power of thousands of PCs around
the world. If 10,000 people sign up, we’ll be faster than the world’s
biggest computer. And we’re hoping to be even better than that.
--------------------
Guide to climate change
How does the greenhouse
effect work - and how hot might it get?
--------------------- |
The University of Wisconsin-Madison
Center For Climatic Research
--------------------- |
From BBC News - 24 Novemebre 2005
CO2 "highest for 650,000
years"
Current levels of the
greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are
higher now than at any time in the last 650,000 years. That is the
conclusion of new European studies looking at ice taken from 3km below
the surface of Antarctica. The scientists say their research shows
present day warming to be exceptional. Other research, also published
in the journal Science, suggests that sea levels may be rising twice as
fast now as in previous centuries.
--------------------
Climate pact:
For good or bad?
Earth
- melting in the heat?
Climate
summit postponed
Arctic
ice 'disappearing quickly'
US
climate talks 'disappointing'
World
scientists urge CO2 action
Q&A:
The Kyoto Protocol
--------------------
Climate
"warmest for millenium"
---------------
Trade can
'export' CO2 emissions
Last-minute
climate deals reached
Q&A:
Blair's climate strategy
Water
builds the heat in Europe
'Gas
muzzlers' challenge Bush
--------------- |
From Countercurrents.org
Climate Change/Global Warming
The roof of the world
is changing. Almost 95 per cent of Himalayan glaciers are shrinking -
and that kind of ice loss has profound implications, not just for Nepal
and Bhutan, but for surrounding nations, including China, India and
Pakistan
Scientists have compiled one of the first comprehensive pictures of
what the world might be like when climate change begins to trigger a
dramatic increase in epidemics, disease and death
------------------- |
Friends of the Earth - 8 November 2005
Britain: Young people
take action on climate change
Sixty per cent of young
people, aged 8-14, are concerned that the world will suffer the effects
of climate change when they are adults and more than seventy per cent
of them already take action at home or school to save energy, a new
survey reveals today. The results are published as part of Friends of
the Earth's activity week for schools `Shout about climate change',
which runs from 7-11 November 2005.
-------------------- |
 |
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment
-
30 March 2005
Experts Warn Ecosystem
Changes Will Continue to Worsen, Putting Global Development Goals At
Risk
A landmark study
released today reveals that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem
services that support life on Earth – such as fresh water, capture
fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional
climate, natural hazards and pests – are being degraded or used
unsustainably. Scientists warn that the harmful consequences of this
degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years.
“Any progress achieved in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger
eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely
to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services on which humanity
relies continue to be degraded,” said the study, Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment (MA) Synthesis Report, conducted by 1,300 experts from 95
countries. It specifically states that the ongoing degradation of
ecosystem services is a road block to the Millennium Development Goals
agreed to by the world leaders at the United Nations in 2000.
-
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report
pdf, 6,773 KB
--
Popularized
Version of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report
--------------------- |
UNIDO
Cleaner Production
The UNIDO cleaner
production (CP) programme aims at building national CP capacities,
fostering dialogue between industry and government and enhancing
investments for transfer and development of environmentally sound
technologies. Through this programme, UNIDO is bridging the gap between
competitive industrial production and environmental concerns. CP is
more than just a technical solution. It has a widespread application at
all decision-making levels in industry, with the chief focus on
adoption of cleaner technologies and techniques within the industrial
sector. Costly end-of-pipe pollution control systems are gradually
replaced with a strategy that reduces and avoids pollution and waste
throughout the entire production cycle, from efficient use of raw
materials, energy and water to the final product.
Industrial Governance and
Statistics
Investment and
Technology Promotion
Industrial
Competitiveness and Trade
Private Sector
Development
Agro-Industries
Sustainable Energy
and Climate Change
Montreal Protocol
Environmental
Management |
D. Stipp (January 26, 2004)
CLIMATE COLLAPSE
The Pentagon's Weather Nightmare
The climate could change radically, and fast. That would be
the mother of all national security issues.
|
| World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) Follow-up |
9 April 2004:
Farming is biggest global
environmental threat, says new book |
The Copenhagen Consensus Projectorganised by Denmark's Environmental Assessment
Institute with the co-operation of The Economist, aims to
consider and to establish priorities among a series of proposals for
advancing global welfare. The initiative was described in Economics
Focus of March 6th.
---
Copenhagen Consensus 2004
(oficial website) |
Human Development Report 2007-2008
Human
Development and Climate Change
Climate change is the defining human development
challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge
will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty.
The poorest countries and most vulnerable citizens will suffer the
earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed
least to the problem. Looking to the future, no country—however wealthy
or powerful—will be immune to the impact of global warming.
The Human Development Report 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not
just a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and
storms is already destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality.
Meanwhile, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence that the world
is moving towards the point at which irreversible ecological
catastrophe becomes unavoidable. Business-as-usual climate change
points in a clear direction: unprecedented reversal in human
development in our lifetime, and acute risks for our children and their
grandchildren.
Selected background papers
Leiserowitz,
Anthony - 2007
"Public Perception,
Opinion and Understanding of Climate Change"
Natural scientists have described global warming as perhaps the
preeminent environmental risk
confronting the world in the 21st century. Meanwhile, social scientists
have found that public risk
perceptions strongly influence the way people respond to hazards. What
the public perceives as a
risk, why they perceive it that way, and how they will subsequently
behave are thus vital
questions for policy makers attempting to address global climate
change, in which the effects are
delayed, have inequitable distributions of costs and benefits, and are
beyond the control of any
one group. In this situation, public support for or opposition to
proposed climate policies will be
greatly influenced by the perceived risks of global warming. Further,
“scientists need to know
how the public is likely to respond to climate impacts or initiatives,
because those responses can
attenuate or amplify the impacts”.
This thematic paper summarizes international public perception, opinion
and understanding of
global climate change and reports results from an in-depth study of
public climate change risk
perceptions, policy preferences and individual behaviors in the United
States.
Arroyo,
Vicki, and Peter Linguiti. "Current Directions in the Climate Change Debate in the
United States"
Barker,
Terry, and Katie Jenkins. "The Costs of Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change"
Boykoff,
Maxwell T, and J. Timmons Roberts. "Media Coverage of Climate Change"
de la
Fuente, Alejandro, and Ricardo Fuentes. "The Impact of Natural Disasters on Children Morbidity
in Rural Mexico"
Fuentes,
Ricardo, and Papa Seck. "The Short and Long-Term Human Development Effects of
Climate-Related Shocks"
Henderson,
Caspar. "Carbon Budget—the agenda for mitigation"
IGAD, ICPAC.
"Climate Change and Human Development in Africa"
O’Brien,
Karen, and Robin Leichenko. "Human Security, Vulnerability and Sustainable
Adaptation"
Osbahr,
Henny. "Building resilience"
Perelet,
Renat. "Central Asia"
Perelet,
Renat, Serguey Pegov and Mikhail Yulkin. "Climate Change"
Rahman,
A. Atiq, Mozaharul Alam, Sarder Shafiqul Alam, Md. Rabi Uzzaman, Mariam
Rashid and Golam Rabbani. "Risks, Vulnerability and Adaptation in Bangladesh"
Reid,
Hannah, and Saleemul Huq. "International and National Mechanisms and Politics of
Adaptation"
Seck,
Papa. "Links between Natural Disasters, Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster Risk Reduction"
Watson,
Jim, Gordon MacKerron, David Ockwell and Tao Wang. "Technology and carbon mitigation in developing
countries"
Brown,
Oli. "Climate change and forced migration"
Carvajal,
Liliana. "Impacts of Climate Change on Human Development"
Conceição,
Pedro, Yanchun Zhang and Romina Bandura. "Brief on Discounting in the Context of Climate Change
Economics"
Conde,
Cecilia, Sergio Saldaña, and Víctor Magaña. "Thematic Regional Paper"
de Buen,
Odón. "Decarbonizing Growth in Mexico"
de la
Fuente, Alejandro. "Private and Public Responses to Climate Shocks"
de la
Fuente, Alejandro. "Climate Shocks and their Impact on Assets"
Dobie,
Philip, Barry Shapiro, Patrick Webb and Mark Winslow. "How do Poor People Adapt to Weather Variability and
Natural Disasters Today?"
Gaye,
Amie. "Access to Energy and Human Development"
Kelkar,
Ulka, and Suruchi Bhadwal. "South Asian Regional Study on Climate Change Impacts
and Adaptation"
Khoday,
Kishan. "Climate Change and the Right to Development"
Krznaric,
Roman. "For God’s Sake, Do Something!"
Kuonqui,
Christopher. "Responding to Clear and Present Dangers"
Li,
Junfeng. "Mitigation Country Study"
Mathur,
Ritu, and Preety Bhandari. "Living Within a Carbon Budget"
Matus
Kramer, Arnoldo. "Adaptation to Climate Change in Poverty Reduction
Strategies"
Menon,
Roshni. "Famine in Malawi"
Newell,
Peter. "The Kyoto Protocol and Beyond"
Tolan,
Sandy. "Coverage of Climate Change in Chinese Media"
Volpi,
Giulio. "Climate Mitigation, Deforestation and Human
Development in Brazil"
Winkler,
Harald, and Andrew Marquard. "Energy Development and Climate Change"
Yue, Li,
Lin Erda and Li Yan. "Impacts of, and Vulnerability and Adaptation to,
Climate Change in Water Resources and Agricultural Sectors in China"
Arredondo
Brun, Juan Carlos. "Adapting to Impacts of Climate Change on Water Supply
in Mexico City"
Bambaige,
Albertina. "National Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change
Impacts"
Birch,
Isobel, and Richard Grahn. "Pastoralism"
Canales
Davila, Caridad, and Alberto Carillo Pineda. "Spain Country Study"
Chaudhry,
Peter, and Greet Ruysschaert. "Climate Change and Human Development in Viet Nam"
Cornejo,
Pilar. "Ecuador Case Study"
Donner,
Simon D. "Canada Country Study"
Lemos,
Maria Carmen. "Drought, Governance and Adaptive Capacity in North
East Brazil"
Meinshausen,
Malte. "Stylized Emission Path"
Nangoma,
Everhart. "National Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change Impacts"
Nguyen,
Huu Ninh. "Flooding in Mekong River Delta, Viet Nam"
Orindi,
Victor A., Anthony Nyong and Mario Herrero. "Pastoral Livelihood Adaptation to Drought and
Institutional Interventions in Kenya"
Painter,
James. "Deglaciation in the Andean Region"
Pederson,
Peter D. "Japan"
Regmi, Bimal
R., and A. Adhikari. "Country Case Study"
Salem,
Boshra. "Sustainable Management of the North African Marginal
Drylands"
Schmid,
Jürgen. "Mitigation Country Study for Germany"
Seck,
Papa. "The Rural Energy Challenge in Senegal"
Sullivan,
Rory. "Australia Country Study"
Trigoso
Rubio, Erika. "Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Peru"
|
It is time to Turn Up the Heat
Few
corporations or public figures are now stupid enough to deny that
climate change is happening, or that we need to reduce our emissions of
greenhouse gases. Instead, most of them now claim to be on the side of
the angels. They make public statements or publish reports designed to
persuade us that they are “working towards sustainability”.
In a few cases, they really are. But for every genuine reformer, there
are half a dozen who are simply greenwashing their existing practices.
The people who will destroy the ecosystem are not, or not only,
sneering industrialists in pinstriped suits, but nice-looking people in
open-necked shirts who claim that they are just as concerned as the
rest of us to save the planet.
This site
aims to ensure that they don’t get away with it. Its purpose is to
expose the fudged figures, dodgy claims and empty public relations
campaigns of the charming people who are wrecking the biosphere
--------------------.
|
|
BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2006
Full time series since 1965
|
International Energy Agency
- Oil Markets Reports
- World Energy Outlook
- Key World Energy
Statistics 2004 |
Energy Information Administration (US)
World Energy and Economic Outlook 2004 |
Róbinson Rojas
Preliminary notes on
energy consumption and population growth. 1880-2003
-
Preliminary data on
energy use per capita and cycles. 1971-2001
-
Preliminary data on
population, energy consumption and cycles. 1965-2003 |
BBC NEWS
Planet Under Pressure
A six-part BBC News
Online series looking at some of the most pressing environmental issues
facing the human race today. By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment
correspondent
Introduction
Part 1: Species under
threat
Part 2: World water
crisis
Part 3: Energy crisis
Part 4: Feeding the world
Part 5: Climate change
Part 6: Fighting
pollution
--
Why the Sun seems to be
"dimming"
Horizon: Global Dimming |
| |
Journal of
World-Systems Research:
Number 2 (Summer 2003)
On
Globalization and the Environment
Andrew K. Jorgenson
& Edward L. Kick
Globalization
and the Environment
Alf Hornborg
Cornucopia
or Zero-Sum Game? The Epistemology of Sustainability
Stephen G. Bunker
Matter,
Space, Energy, and Political Economy: The Amazon in the World-System
Peter Grimes & Jeffrey Kentor
Exporting
the Greenhouse: Foreign Capital Penetration and CO2 Emissions 1980–1996
J. Timmons Roberts, Peter E. Grimes & Jodie L. Manale
Social
Roots of Global Environmental Change: A World-Systems Analysis of
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
R. Scott Frey
The
Transfer of Core-Based Hazardous Production Processes to the Export
Processing Zones of the Periphery: The Maquiladora Centers of Northern
Mexico
Thomas J. Burns, Edward L. Kick, & Byron L. Davis
Theorizing
and Rethinking Linkages Between the Natural Environment and the Modern
World-System: Deforestation in the Late 20th Century
--
Review Essay
Andrew K. Jorgenson
Lateral
Pressure and Deforestation A Review Essay of
Environmental Impacts of Globalization and Trade: A Systems Study by
Corey L Lofdahl
--
Book Reviews
Franz J. Broswimmer
Ecocide:
A Short History of Mass Extinction of Species
Reviewed by Florencio R. Riguera
Arthur Mol and Frederick Buttel (eds)
The
Environmental State Under Pressure
Reviewed by Bruce
Podobnik |
UNIDO
Sustainable energy and
climate change
Industrial energy is
essential to economic and social development and to improving the
quality of life. Indeed, the availability of affordable and sustainable
energy to all people is critical to the achievement of the MDGs, and
its contributions can help to meet the targets in various ways. In
particular, energy is a prerequisite for poverty alleviation, as
targeted in MDG 1, since it enables income-generating activities and
the establishment of micro-enterprises. Similarly, energy helps to
alleviate hunger and meet most of the other social and welfare-related
MDGs by providing the light and power that the achievement of these
goals critically depends on. |
The discovery of global
warming
A hypertext history of
how scientists came to (partly) understand what people are doing to
change the Earth's climate |
Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary
Global warming and the
Third World (University of East Anglia) |
GEsource Geography and Environment Gateway
Led by the GEsource
team at the University of Manchester, GEsource is a free online
catalogue of high quality Internet resources in geography and
environmental science. Resources are selected, catalogued and indexed
by researchers and other specialists in their respective fields. |
DIE OFF
[Synopsis] [Search] [Oil Depletion]
[Economic Theory]
[Scientific
Consensus] [Food,
Land, Water and Population] [Climate Change] [Disease] [Moral Theory] [Carrying Capacity]
[Tragedy of The
Commons] [Sustainability]
[Ecology] [Systems] [Odds & Ends] |
Ethical Trade Currents
Issue 2
Summer 2004
Climate, Energy and Poverty
|
OECD: Headquarters
Sustainable development and the new economy
-----
Analysing the Nexus of Sustainable Development and
Climate Change: An Overview (pdf, 478Kb,English)
View
long abstract 09-Apr-2003
Mohan Munasinghe
COM/ENV/EPOC/DCD/DAC(2002)2/FINAL
This paper is a background document to the OECD Development and
Climate Change Project. The analysis sketches out a broad framework to
address the nexus of sustainable development and climate change.
Related documents:
Development
and Climate Change Project - (English)
---
Science, the Environment, Economics and Sustainable
Development (pdf, 111Kb,English)
View
long abstract 19-Jun-2003
---
Environmental Priorities for China Sustainable
Development (pdf, 287Kb,English)
View
long abstract 03-Mar-2004
------------------- |
MODIS: rapid fire
response system
The MODIS Rapid Response System was
developed to provide daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses
in near real time. True-color, photo-like imagery and false-color
imagery are available within a few hours of being collected, making the
system a valuable resource for organizations like the U.S. Forest
Service and the international fire monitoring community, who use the
images to track fires; the United States Department of Agriculture
Foreign Agricultural Service, who monitors crops and growing
conditions; and the United States Environmental Protection Agency and
the United States Air Force Weather Agency, who track dust and ash in
the atmosphere.
The science community also uses the system in projects like the Aerosol
Robotic Network (AERONET), which studies particles like smoke,
pollution, or dust in the atmosphere. More information about science
and application partners, including links, is provided on our applications
page. Captioned interpreted images for educators, the media, and the
public are available through the Earth
Observatory. The system is freely available everyone--scientists,
operational users, educators, and the general public
|
New Scientist:
Climate Change
Global Environment Report
Biodiversity
Pollution
Population
World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002 |
K. Bruno, J. Karliner & C.
Brotsky:
Greenhouse Gangsters vs. Climate Justice
CorpWatchNovember 1st, 1999
This report documents how the companies not only contribute to global
warming but also use their enormous power to DENY the problem, DELAY
solutions, DIVIDE their opposition, DUMP their problems in the
developing world, and DUPE the public into believing the problem is
solved.
|
United Nations :
---
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
-
The
Convention and Kyoto Protocol
----------
Agenda 21
|
| Tracking Earth satellites |
| Fourmilab |
The Albert Einstein
Archive
The Einstein Archives Online Website
provides the first online access to Albert Einstein’s scientific and
non-scientific manuscripts held by the Albert Einstein
Archives at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and to an extensive Archival Database,
constituting the material record of one of the most influential
intellects in the modern era.
DIGITIZED MANUSCRIPTS
The site allows viewing and browsing of approx. 3,000
high-quality digitized images of Einstein’s writings, available for
viewing in two sizes: a standard resolution image, as well as a
high-resolution image for closer inspection. This digitization of more
than 900 documents written by Einstein was produced by the Jewish National
& University Library’s Digitization Project and was made
possible by generous grants of David and Fela Shapell
|
 |
| |
| |
| |
Global Environment Outlook 1
(1997)
Global Environment
Outlook 2
(2000)
Global Environment
Outlook 3
(2002) |
CIESIN (Columbia University)
World Data Center for Human Interactions in
the Environment
The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
is a center within the Earth
Institute at Columbia
University. CIESIN works at the intersection of the social,
natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and
information management, spatial data integration and training, and
interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the
environment.
|
| World Resources Institute:
|
| |
CorpWatch: Climate
Justice
|
David O’Connor,
2000, OECD:
Global capital flows and the environment in the
21st Century |
| Centre for European Economic Research(ZEW) |
| |
| MORE... |
|
|
