Tag "Climate change mitigation"
Pakistani senator calls for climate cooperation with India amid water crisis
Leading Indian thinktank Niti Aayog warned in a report this month that 600 million citizens faced high to extreme water stress.
It did not have data for Jammu & Kashmir, the state the Indus flows through into Pakistan, but drinking water shortages have been reported.
In Pakistan, the meteorological department has issued a drought warning across most of the country.
Reservoirs are low and farmers planting less cotton in the parched soil, reports the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Sherry Rehman, opposition leader in Pakistan’s senate, told Climate Home News the two countries should treat it as a security priority.
With pressures of Indian dam-building upriver, population growth and climate change, the agrarian economy is now stretched at a 30-day water reserve capacity compared to the 1,000-day recommended standard.
“Our per capita availability of water has already dropped; we are using 77% of our available water resources so in that context at least having a water policy is a good omen.” Fears for water security are an ongoing source of tension with India, which controls water levels through a series of upriver dams.
“It is particularly important for Pakistan and India to address climate change in every forum available, including the Indus Waters Treaty, considering that we both share a depleting water basin,” said Rehman, who is a member of the left-wing Pakistan People’s Party.
“So those can have very major implications for the food security and also the livelihoods of the downstream population in Pakistan.” Khalid added climate change was increasing the strain on a water treaty that has withstood three conflicts between the South Asian nations.
“South Asian security policy makers need to appreciate that non-traditional security threats such as climate change pose as real a risk as traditional security threats.”
Understanding Today’s Climate Politics
Understanding Today’s Climate Politics.
More than a decade later, we know that climate change is literally baked into the atmosphere and while we continue the transition to a renewable resource-based economy, we must also address the impact of the global warming that has already taken place.
President Trump and his pals deny the importance of climate change, but they have inadvertently mobilized America’s businesses, states, cities and civil society to engage even more intensely in mitigating climate change and in building a renewable resource based economy.
The impacts of climate change are not immediate and are (still) largely in the future.
It was not a response to a model of damage that is coming, but a response to extreme weather events such as Katrina and Sandy that many experienced.
But understanding that the world is changing does not mean that people believe they should sacrifice their lifestyle to mitigate or adapt to global warming.
We are already seeing modifications of lifestyles with the development of the sharing economy.
And the business of ride sharing may take on some new forms.
By the middle of this century it will not be autos we consume, but “rides”.
We adapt our consumption patterns and they have the important impact of reducing environmental damage and mitigating climate change.
Calling China’s carbon market ‘ambitious’ shows how low the bar has fallen
Expected to begin later this year, the cap and trade system has been ballyhooed as an “ambitious” climate policy that will deliver a major portion of Beijing’s pledge to the Paris Agreement.
Building a carbon market of this size in China, where emissions have gone unmeasured until now, is indeed remarkable.
The details of how the policy is designed will ultimately determine its effectiveness.
Virtually all carbon market architects around the world have issued too many pollution permits.
Politics has also been responsible for the lacklustre performance of carbon markets.
This will determine the level of the carbon price and the amount of climate change mitigation that the policy is intended to deliver.
Another critical question is whether and how China will manage the carbon price over time.
Will there will be a price floor or some other mechanism to regulate the amount of permits available?
Calling it that without evidence of potential effectiveness is a sign of a low standard for what constitutes good climate policy.
We need to ask more of each nation’s climate plan.
Texas Currents – Spring | Summer 2017
The administration also wants to overturn more recent gains to protect waterways from pollution from coal-fired power plants, undo progress on climate change and clean energy, and more.
Texas in particular will suffer unless we stop these attacks.
The administration’s attempt to undo the Clean Water Rule must be stopped.
No state would benefit more from climate protection and clean energy programs than Texas, which leads the nation in renewable energy potential and already leads in wind energy production.
▶ TAKE ACTION: Tell your representative and senators to oppose the President’s disastrous budget proposal Legislature Misses Opportunities on Environment The Texas Legislature wrapped up its regular biennial session at the end of May without strengthening protections for public health and the environment as Clean Water Action and our allies in the Alliance for Clean Texas called for.
Effort to Stop Sewage Discharges Above Edwards Aquifer Stymied Among its numerous other missed opportunities, the Texas Legislature failed to prevent more treated sewage to be discharged into creeks within the Edwards Aquifer contributing and recharge zones.
The Edwards is a vast underground water supply that provides habitat for numerous species and drinking water for almost two million Texans.
Battle Over Dripping Springs Discharge Permit Continues The small city of Dripping Springs is still pursuing a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that would allow it to discharge up to 995,000 gallons of treated sewage into Onion Creek (see photo) each day.
Public Pressure Prevails as Plans for Disposal Well Canceled In a major victory for Clean Water Action and the environment, Bluestone Natural Resources has dropped plans to drill a disposal well a mere 400 feet from Lake Arlington and 9,000 feet from its earthen dam.
Spring for Water 2017 Thanks to all our members and event sponsors who made Clean Water Fund’s Spring for Water 2017 a huge success!
Seeding The Clouds – Should We Mess With Our Earth’s Climate?
Seeding The Clouds – Should We Mess With Our Earth’s Climate?.
Spencer McNab Wikipedia CC 3.0 Cloud seeding involves putting particles, gasses or chemicals like silver iodide, dry ice or SO2 into clouds or where clouds are forming, encouraging snow, ice or rain precipitation.
The changes can increase the amount of heat radiated back into space and help cool a warming world.
But more recently it has been investigated as a way to reflect back heat into space in order to mitigate global warming.
The next deadline is 2020, when we have to start reducing emission by almost 10% per year until midcentury.
Changing the Earth’s albedo, or reflectivity, is what these strategies target.
Enter cloud seeding.
Usually, the temperature drops and water begins to precipitate on a particle of something like dust or salt, called atmospheric aerosols.
We actually have sufficient understanding of these systems to begin evaluating cloud seeding.
For example, we know that temperature and precipitation cannot both be controlled at the same time, that summer monsoon precipitation would be reduced with seeding, that even if global average temperature could be kept from increasing, there would be cooling and warming in different places not easily predictable beforehand.
West Coast shores are bathed in ocean acidification “hot spots”
A new study of a 600-mile span of coastline found some of the lowest pH levels ever measured on the ocean surface, showing that significant acidification can be found in waters right along the shore.
But the news from the study, detailed May 31 in the journal Scientific Reports, isn’t all bad: Some areas had more moderate pH levels, and both these and the hot spots persisted in the same areas from year to year.
This could give researchers and officials looking to protect marine life a map of where to concentrate efforts to mitigate against rising ocean carbon dioxide levels.
The ocean absorbs much of that excess carbon dioxide, and as it does so, the pH of the ocean water declines, meaning it becomes more acidic (just as CO2-laden soda is more acidic than regular water).
Some of the sensors from the study are still in place, and Chan is working with citizen scientists in marine reserves in Oregon to better understand local conditions.
Such detailed information is useful for local officials trying to mitigate the impacts of ocean acidification.
Chan was part of a panel of scientists convened by California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia to look at the issue of ocean acidification along the West Coast and whether any mitigation could be done on the local and regional level.
One hatchery saw an 80 percent decline in oysters because of acidic waters.
In response, the industry and regional governments implemented an early warning system so that hatcheries can take measures like treating water to prevent damage to their oysters.
Chan has spoken with oyster farmers in Washington about how they might use the coastal acidification maps his work has generated and what they would do if the area they grow oysters in turned out to be a hot spot.
Even North Korea Thinks Donald Trump’s Decision To Quit Paris Deal Is ‘Short-Sighted’
Even North Korea Thinks Donald Trump’s Decision To Quit Paris Deal Is ‘Short-Sighted’.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the isolated state’s Foreign Ministry described Trump’s decision as “the height of egoism” ― and said it showed the U.S. was “seeking only their own well-being even at the cost of the entire planet.” “Global warming is one of the gravest challenges that humankind is facing today and the Paris Agreement that called for nationally determined contribution to the reduction of GHG emission is the outcome of decades long efforts to mitigate it,” the spokesman said via the state-run KCNA news agency.
“The selfish act of the U.S. does not only have grave consequences for the international efforts to protect the environment, but poses great danger to other areas as well,” the spokesman added.
Reuters America will join Nicaragua and war-torn Syria as being the only three countries that are refusing to take part in the climate deal, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions around the world.
Nicaragua, however, is reluctant to sign up because its government believes the commitments do not go far enough.
Despite its dismal human rights record, North Korea has emerged as an unlikely advocate in the battle against global warming and has signed the Paris Accord.
The ministry spokesman blamed Trump’s “America First” policy for the withdrawal, and said it was “high time” the world “stopped pondering over the dangerous ideological trend which is surfacing in the U.S. with the emergence of the Trump administration.” “Whoever chooses to blindly follow the Trump administration overpowered by its bravado should be fully aware that the judgment of history shall take them all as one,” the spokesman added.
Leaving the Paris Climate Agreement: Your Questions Answered
Leaving the Paris Climate Agreement: Your Questions Answered.
This was one of the many campaign promises President Trump made and one he decided was worth following through on.
Three studies were done to figure out exactly what impact the Paris climate agreement would have on the job market.
So these jobs that would have been lost because of the Paris agreement may have been replaced by jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Despite leaving the Paris agreement, the U.S. will likely continue to see jobs grow in the renewable energy sector.
There were many, many companies that supported staying in the Paris agreement.
Well, as the world transitions away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, there is a great deal of money to be made.
They want the U.S. to be a part of the agreement so they can sell their tech to companies and countries around the world.
Given the support many companies have for renewable energy, along with its falling costs, we’re not likely to see any decline in its use.
An agreement between countries around the world to set goals in reducing their emissions.
An Unmitigated Disaster: Executive Order on Climate Change Puts Us All in Danger
Author: Aimee Delach / Source: Defenders of Wildlife Blog President Trump’s latest Executive Order threatens recent strides to combat climate change. We’ve
‘Pakistan seventh among countries vulnerable to climate change’
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid on Wednesday said Pakistan was among the top five countries having a dedicated law on climate change which would help the country progress and achieve sustainable growth.
Addressing a press conference, the minister said the Pakistan Climate Change Act 2016, which was passed by the National Assembly and then by the Senate on March 17, would create certain institutions which would help the country evolve measures to mitigate and adapt to impact of changes in weather conditions triggered by unsustainable development around the world.
Zahid Hamid said Pakistan was now the seventh most vulnerable country to impacts of climate change.
“We needed the Climate Change Act to mitigate and adapt to the unstoppable adverse effects of changing climate,” said the minister.
Zahid Hamid said with a law specifically dedicated to climate change, the approval of Pakistan Climate Change bill was a historic, red-letter day for the entire climate movement of Pakistan.
Explaining the new institutions, Zahid Hamid said that the Pakistan Climate Change Council would be chaired by the prime minister and will include chief ministers, provincial environment minister, chief secretaries of AJK and Gilgit Baltistan and representatives of non-governmental organisations, scientists and researchers as its members.
He said the council would approve and monitor implementation of comprehensive adaptation and mitigation policies and may direct any government agency to prepare and implement climate change projects.
The minister repeated that given the projected economic growth trajectory, emissions in Pakistan were expected to increase from 405 metric tons carbon dioxide to more than 1, 603 metric tons of CO2 in the next 15 years.
“We have sought $40 billion from the international community to reduce emissions by 20pc in the future and another Rs14 billion annually for mitigation and adaptation measures against challenges posed by the climate change,” said Zahid Hamid.
Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2017
