Tag: climate change

Insight into the sensitivity of global temperature Scientists have developed important new insight into the sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth's radiation balance over the last half million years. The sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth's radiation balance (climate sensitivity) is a key parameter for understanding past natural climate changes as well as potential future climate change.In a study in Journal of Climate, researchers from the Universities of Southampton and Bristol for the first time reconstructed climate sensitivity over five ice-age cycles based on a global suite of records of sea surface and polar temperature change.These are compared with a new reconstruction of changes in the Earth's radiation balance caused by changes in greenhouse gas concentrations, in surface reflectivity, and in insolation due to slow changes in the Earth-Sun orbital configuration.The study calculates global mean climate sensitivity, but also considers its relationship with latitude. This is important because many of the past radiative changes were not equally distributed over the planet, in contrast to the more uniform distribution of the modern radiative changes due to rising greenhouse gas levels.The researchers infer that Earth's climate sensitivity over the last half million years most likely amounted ...

ICS explained that shipping is committed to improving efficiency The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) - the principal international trade association for ship operators representing all sectors and trades and over 80% of the world merchant fleet - has called on delegates at theUnited Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 17) in Durban, to give the International Maritime Organization (IMO) a clear mandate to continue its work on regulating shipping's CO2 emissions, including the development of Market Based Measures.ICS explained that shipping is committed to improving efficiency per tonne-km by 20% by 2020 with further significant improvements thereafter, and that the achievement of this goal would be greatly assisted by the recent IMO agreement on technical regulations to reduce shipping'semissions.Speaking alongside IMO officials on 29 November at a special UNFCCC event on international transport, ICS Director of External Relations, Simon Bennett, said that it was "no secret that Market Based Measures are controversial.However the shipping industry recognises that the need to prevent climate change is a political challenge as much as a technical one, and thatshipping needs to play a constructive part in the discussion about MBMs."As demonstrated by the recent IMO agreement on technical measures, ICS believes that IMO is ...

Agreement to define how the international community will address climate change Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the set of decisions reached by countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, saying they represent a significant agreement that will define how the international community will address climate change in the coming years.After extended negotiations over the weekend, the 194 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed on a package of decisions, known as the Durban Platform, which include the launch of a protocol or legal instrument that would apply to all members, a second commitment period for the existing Kyoto Protocol and the launch of the Green Climate Fund.In a statement issued by his spokesperson Mr. Ban said the new accord is "essential for stimulating greater action and for raising the level of ambition and the mobilization of resources to respond to the challenges of climate change."Mr. Ban also welcomed the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, stating it will "increase certainty for the carbon market and provide additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change."In addition, Mr. Ban said he was ...

Outcome of the Durban Climate Change Conference and what it means for IMO The United Nations Climate Change Conference has concluded its seventeenth session (COP 17/CMP 7) in Durban, South Africa, meeting from 28 November to the early hours of11 December 2011.As anticipated, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), serving also as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, focused more on rallying political will for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (in particular, the issue of the second commitment period for emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol and the establishment and making operational of the Green Climate Fund, as decided under the Cancún Agreements of 2010), rather than on pushing ahead with the preparation and adoption of a legally binding instrument to that effect.As far as sectoral approaches are concerned, including international maritime transportation, the Conference noted the progress made by IMO in adopting, in July 2011, regulations on energy efficiency for ships under MARPOL Annex VI, as part of its three-pillar work plan to limit or reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from international shipping, as well as the Organization's continuing work on market-based measures.Although the question ...

How the oceans can save us For decades environmentalists have fought to save our oceans from the perils of overfishing, climate change, and pollution. All noble efforts -- but what if environmentalists have it backwards? What if the question is not how to save the oceans, but how the oceans can save us?That is what a growing network of scientists, ocean farmers, and environmentalists around the world is trying to figure out. With nearly 90 percent of large fish stocks threatened by over-fishing and 3.5 billion people dependent on the seas as their primary food source, these ocean farming advocates have concluded that aquaculture is here to stay.Seaweed is one of the fastest growing plants in the world; kelp, for example, grows up to 9-12 feet long in a mere three months.But rather than monolithic factory fish farms, they see the oceans as the home of small-scale farms where complementary species are cultivated to provide food and fuel -- and to clean up the environment and fight climate change. Governed by an ethic of sustainability, they are re-imagining our oceans with the hope of saving us from the grip of the ever-escalating climate, energy, and food crises.The Death and Rebirth ...

Animal and plant populations would need to move to keep up with recent climate change One if by land, two if by sea? Results of a study published this week in the journal Science show how fast animal and plant populations would need to move to keep up with recent climate change effects in the ocean and on land.The answer: at similar rates.The study was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and performed in part through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California at Santa Barbara."That average rates of environmental change in the oceans and on land are similar is not such a surprise," says Henry Gholz, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology."But averages deceive," Gholz says, "and this study shows that rates of change are at times greater in the oceans than on land--and as complex as the currents themselves."Greenhouse gases have warmed the land by approximately one degree Celsius since 1960. That rate is roughly three times faster than the rate of ocean warming. These temperatures have forced wild populations to adapt--or to be on the move, continually relocating.Although the oceans have experienced less warming overall, plants and animals ...

Geneva on 29-30 September The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued a notice stating that it will host in Geneva on 29-30 September an Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on climate change impacts and adaption: a challenge for global portsWith over 80 per cent of the volume of world trade carried by sea, international shipping and ports provide crucial linkages in global supply-chains and are essential for the ability of all countries, including those that are landlocked, to access global markets.Ports are likely to be affected directly and indirectly by climatic changes, such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events and rising temperatures, with broader implications for international trade and for the development prospects of the most vulnerable nations, in particular LDCs and SIDS.Given their strategic role as part of the globalized trading system, adapting ports and transport systems in different parts of the world to the impacts of climate change is of vital importance. A good understanding of risks and vulnerabilities is a pre-condition to well-designed and effective adaptation response measures that enhance the resilience of systems, structures and processes and minimize the adverse effects of climatic factors.To help advance the important debate on how best to ...

One of the most hotly debated questions It's been one of the most hotly debated questions this week: Is climate change driving Hurricane Irene?"No one is going to point to Irene and say this is climate change," Kim Knowlton, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Huffington Post. "But we can say that we are seeing the fingerprint of climate change this year."Knowlton was of course referring to the growing list of extreme weather events that have ravaged the U.S. in 2011 -- from tornadoes and flooding, to droughts and heat waves. And now millions of Americans, many of whom have never seen a real tropical storm in their lifetime, are facing a major hurricane.Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes with "more destructive potential" have been linked to climate change as far back as the 1970s, Knowlton said. And higher wind speeds and larger quantities of rain are expected to accompany future storms, much like the one currently beating its way up the East Coast. Whether or not climate change actually affects the frequency of hurricanes is more intensely debated.Jay Gulledge, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Pew Center on Global Climate Change, told HuffPost in an ...

Rising temeratures cause the release of persistent organic pollutants Despite a global decrease in the production of certain toxic chemicals, we may be in for an onslaught.That's because rising global temperatures are causing the release of persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT and PCBs, which have been locked in arctic ice for more than half a century.Although the chemicals were created to provide societal benefits, such as killing mosquitoes and protecting crops, it didn't take long for scientists to see they were having devastating effects on the environment.Studies have shown many of these chemicals can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems. And they don't just wash away. Persistent organic pollutants, as the class of chemicals is known, stick around for decades before finally breaking down.They also are attracted to fatty tissue in animals and pass through the food chain from one animal to the next.Recognizing the dangers of these chemicals, dozens of wealthy nations joined forces in 2001 to ban 12 of them by signing the Stockholm Convention on POPs (persistent organic pollutants). Yet since that ban, scientists had noticed localized upticks in atmospheric concentrations of these chemicals, especially over the Arctic.These reports inspired a team of Canadian ...

One of the biggest threats to our world Most people would agree climate change is one of the biggest threats to our world. But opinions differ on the nature of this threat, how it will affect our lives and what we must do to face it.Politicians, diplomats and security experts across the board -- not only in the Western world -- share the assessment that climate change might have a serious impact on international peace and security. It is not difficult to see why: rising sea levels threaten the very existence of small island states in the Pacific and the loss of coastal shores to the sea leading to population resettlements.The increased scarcity of potable water -- as a consequence of wells becoming brackish due to salty sea water -- adds to rivalry and tension. Overwhelming evidence shows this has already begun to happen: it is not the subject of a scientific discussion in an ivory tower.Let there be no doubt: we are not talking about a small number of people on a remote island having to give up their stretch of the beach. We are talking about sea level rises that might seriously impact the lives of millions of ...