- “Filipinos are rice-loving citizens because that’s our staple food and we find it harder to resist eating rice than any other kind of food.
- Fast food chains and restaurants even offer unlimited rice to their customers, while some of our citizens can live with almost any dish as long as they pair it with rice,” she said.
- Just as in most other Asian countries, rice is a standard fixture on every Filipino’s dining table, but Legarda warned they might find themselves with no other option but to turn to other staple foods as staple if authorities fail to address global warming concerns.
- “The sad fact, however, is that our rice production is greatly affected by the warming climate. If we want to continue enjoying eating rice with our dishes, we have to do something to address the risks brought by climate change and the threat of further rise in global temperature,” she said.
UN CLIMATE TALKS TURN HOSTILE OVER MONEY?
LE BOURGET, France: Angry developing nations warned on
Thursday (Dec 3) that increasingly tense UN talks aimed at averting
catastrophic climate change would fail unless a bitter feud over hundreds of
billions of dollars was resolved.
Negotiators from 195 nations are haggling in Paris over a
planned universal accord to slash greenhouse-gas emissions that trap the Sun's
heat, warming 
Earth's surface and oceans and disrupting its delicate climate
system.
Earth's surface and oceans and disrupting its delicate climate
system.
Taking effect from 2020, the pact would target emissions
from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas - the backbone of the world's
energy supply today - as well as from the cutting down of rain-forests.
The question of finance to help developing countries make
the shift to cleaner energy sources is "make or break", said South
African negotiator Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, who spoke on behalf of the G77 group
of 134 developing and emerging countries, plus China.
"It has to be clearly understood that finance is
critical," she told a news conference.
At stake is hundreds of billions of dollars that would need
to start flowing from rich to developing nations from 2020.
- However the developed nations have yet to fully commit to the financing deal.
- With frustrations at the conference mounting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the world's leading economies to honour the financing pledge they made at the last major climate summit six years ago.
- "I have been urging the developed world leaders that this must be delivered," Ban told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. "This is one very important promise."
- Of the US$100 billion to be mobilised by 2020, US$62 billion has been raised so far, he added.
More than 150 world leaders including President Barack Obama
launched the talks Monday, seeking to build momentum for the tough negotiations
ahead with lofty rhetoric about the urgency of the task.
But after three days of grinding discussions over a hugely
complex 54-page draft pact, bureaucrats unveiled a document just four pages
shorter and with vast stretches of text yet to be agreed.
Source: Agency
MALAYSIA SENDS CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN TO UN?
PETALING JAYA. Malaysia - Some 181 parties including Malaysia, have sent
INDCs to the UN for the COP21(UN Climate Change Conference) talks from Nov 30
to Dec 11.
Malaysia is the second last country in Asean to send its Intended
Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)
to the UN. Brunei has yet to do so.
Malaysia has sent its
climate change action plan to the United Nations for the UN Climate Change
Conference (COP21) in Paris.
In a document hosted on a UN website, the plan said Malaysia
planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 45% by 2030.
"This consist(s) of 35% on an unconditional basis and a
further 10% is condition upon receipt of climate finance, technology transfer
and capacity building from developed countries," it read on Saturday.
These details were laid out in an INDC paper, which the UN
acknowledged in a Nov 27 statement.
- The document can be viewed on the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change website (http://newsroom.unfccc.int/).
- The conference aims to draft a binding global agreement on how to take care of climate change.
- United Nations data showed that Malaysia was 26th worldwide in 2012 when it came to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fuel combustion.
- It contributed to 0.62% of global emissions then, with the average Malaysian contributing 6.7 metric tons of CO2 each year.
Malaysia's INDC document said that surface mean temperature
here went up by 0.14 to 0.25 Celsius every 10 years.
It added that the Government spent some RM51bil under the
10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) to "enhance resilience" against
climate change.
One effect of climate change in Malaysia, The Star reported
earlier, was that sea levels in some parts here might rise by 1m
by 2100.
by 2100.
Source: The Star
CLIMATE CHANGE CAN ALTER THE PLANET’S SHAPE
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - As melting glaciers erode the land, global warming could alter the shape of the planet, says a new study.
"Antarctica is warming up, and as it moves to temperatures above zero
degrees Celsius, the glaciers are all going to start moving faster,"
said study lead author Michele Koppes, assistant professor at University
of British Columbia.
"We are already seeing that the ice sheets are starting to move
faster and should become more erosive, digging deeper valleys and
shedding more sediment into the oceans," Koppes noted.
The repercussions of this erosion add to the already complex effects of climate change in the polar regions.
Faster moving glaciers deposit more sediment in downstream basins and
on the continental shelves, potentially impacting fisheries, dams and
access to clean freshwater in mountain communities, the study noted.
Faster moving glaciers deposit more sediment in downstream basins and
on the continental shelves, potentially impacting fisheries, dams and
access to clean freshwater in mountain communities, the study noted.
When the researchers compared glaciers in Patagonia and in the
Antarctic Peninsula over a period of five years, they found that
glaciers in warmer Patagonia moved even faster and caused more erosion
than those in Antarctica, as warmer temperatures and melting ice helped
lubricate the bed of the glaciers.
"We found that glaciers erode 100 to 1,000 times faster in Patagonia than they do in Antarctica," Koppes said.
Source: IANS
LARGEST EVER CLIMATE CHANGE MARCH ROLLS THROUGH NEW YORK CITY?
NEW YORK, USA - Over three hundred thousand activists walked through Manhattan on Sunday, warning that climate change is destroying the Earth - in stride with demonstrators around the world who urged policymakers to take quick action.
Starting
along Central Park West, most came on foot, others with bicycles and
walkers, and some even in wheelchairs. Many wore costumes and marched to
drumbeats. One woman played the accordion.
But their message was
not entertaining: "We're going to lose our planet in the next
generation if things continue this way," said Bert Garskof, 81, as a
family member pushed his wheelchair through Times Square.
The
crowds of marchers, which included actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark
Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly, wound through midtown Manhattan, joined
along the way by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former
Vice President Al Gore and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In New York organizers said there were around 310,000 marchers,
making it possibly the biggest single demonstration on climate change to
date.
The march was one of a series of events large and small
held around the world - organizers said 40,000 marchers took part in an
event in London, while a small gathering in Cairo featured 50-foot art
piece representing wind and solar energy -- two days before the United
Nations Climate Summit.
More than 120 world leaders will convene Tuesday
for the meeting aimed at galvanizing
political will for a new global
climate treaty by
the end of 2015.
EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE COULD ALTER FILIPINOS EATING HABIT?
MANILA, Philippine - Changes in global temperature could alter the eating habits of
Filipinos, particularly their fondness for eating rice, a lawmaker
warned citing findings of international experts.
According to Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on
Climate Change, Filipinos’ love affair with the staple cereal could end
eventually if they do not take necessary steps.
Source: Gulf News
CLIMATE CHANGE RIPS GIGANTIC ICEBERG?
THE PETERMANN Glacier grinds and slides toward the sea, terminating in a giant floating ice tongue, in this third in a series of three images taken by NASA's Aqua satellite along the northwestern coast of Greenland on 16th July.Like other glaciers that end in the ocean, Petermann periodically calves icebergs. A massive iceberg broke off in 2010 and now an ice island twice the size of Manhattan has broken free.
An iceberg twice the size of Manhattan broke free from Greenland's massive Petermann Glacier, which could speed up the march of ice into northern waters, scientists said on Wednesday.
- This is the second time in less than two years that the Petermann Glacier has calved a monstrous ice island. In 2010 it unleashed another massive ice chunk into the sea. The latest break was observed by NASA's Aqua satellite, which passes over the North Pole several times a day.
- "At this time of year we're always watching the Petermann Glacier," noted by Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service, because it can spawn big icebergs that invade North Atlantic shipping lanes or imperil oil platforms in the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. A large piece of the 2010 iceberg did just that but caused no damage.
NASA images showed the iceberg calving—breaking off from a floating river of ice called an ice tongue, part of the land-anchored Petermann Glacier—and moving downstream along a fjord on Greenland's northwest coast. A rift in the ice had been identified in 2001, but on Monday a crack was evident.On Tuesday, the satellite spied a bigger gap between the glacier and the iceberg, and the ice chunks further downstream were breaking up. "The floating extension (of the glacier) is breaking apart," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported. "It is not a collapse but it is certainly a significant event."
- One difference between the 2010 event and this one is that the present ice island broke off further upstream, where the ice was right up against the fjord's rocky side walls, effectively damming the glacier's seaward movement.
- "This piece that has been much further back, may have actually been providing more of a frictional force to cork (the glacier) up than the piece that broke off in 2010, which was much further out," said Andreas Muenchow, an Arctic oceanographer at the University Of Delaware.
- The 2010 break accelerated the Petermann Glacier's movement toward the sea by 10% to 20%, Muenchow said. The current break could have a greater effect on the glacier's movement.
Coastal glaciers like this floating ice tongue tend to block the ice flow headed for the sea. When ice chunks break loose, the land-based glaciers behind them often move more quickly, Muenchow said. The accelerated movement of the Petermann Glacier after the 2010 break was "noticeable but not dramatic".Muenchow said climate change was a factor in the current state of the Petermann Glacier. He said this glacier is as far back toward the land as it has been since the start of the Industrial Revolution more than 150 years ago.
THE MYSTERY OF HUNDREDS SEA MARINES APPEAR ON PHILIPPINE BEACH
MANILA, Philippines - It is reported, hundreds of living fish dramatically flocking in the waters of Naic in Cavite province near here since yesterday morning.
Naic Mayor, Edwina Mendoza said, residents in four villages rushed to catch a fish. Besides fish, other marine life like crabs, stingrays and shrimp also can be caught easily.
A l
ocal agricultural experts blame climate change as a cause of the incident.He said the phenomenon occurs due to factors such as climate change and increases of sea temperatures. The increase in temperature causes the fish swimming close to the sea surface for oxygen.
This phenomenon is reported had occurred for the second time in the waters of Cavite.
Source: Agencies
Naic Mayor, Edwina Mendoza said, residents in four villages rushed to catch a fish. Besides fish, other marine life like crabs, stingrays and shrimp also can be caught easily.
A l
ocal agricultural experts blame climate change as a cause of the incident.He said the phenomenon occurs due to factors such as climate change and increases of sea temperatures. The increase in temperature causes the fish swimming close to the sea surface for oxygen.This phenomenon is reported had occurred for the second time in the waters of Cavite.
FORESTS AND OCEANS DECLINE IN ABSORBING CARBON EMISSIONS
Scientists have warned that global temperatures could rise by six degrees Celsius by the end of the century, four degrees higher than previously predicted and at a level that could wipe out species and cause widespread natural disasters.
Source: The Agencies
- In addition, the study by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) said on Wednesday, that the ability of the world's forests and oceans to absorb carbon emissions was declining.
- The paper, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, comes in the run up to UN talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, aimed at crafting a pact to combat climate change from 2013.
- It said pollution "continued to track the average of the most carbon-intensive family of scenarios" put forward by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- Professor Corinne Le Quéré, the lead author of the study from the British Antarctic Survey, said: "The projections of climate that have been made before are always based on scenarios of climate change, so they tell that if the emissions are such and such you get 2C, if they are such and such you get six or seven.
- "What our study is doing is identifying that the trend in the CO2 emissions, particularly from fossil fuels in the past decades, is so large it is at the higher end of the emissions scenario and this is why I am saying that we are on the scenario for a 6C warming," she said.
- Under the IPCC's most extreme scenario, the Earth's surface will warm by around four degrees Celsius by 2100 compared with 2000 - a rise consistent with a wipeout of species, widespread hunger, flooding, drought and homelessness.
- The new report highlighted the situation in emerging economies, such as China and India, where emissions have more than doubled since 1990 and now emit more greenhouse gases than developed countries.
- Sarah Clifton of Friends of the Earth said, "This is yet more evidence, if any more was needed, of a strong and fair deal at Copenhagen in December in order to help us reduce emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change.
- "Politicians are hiding behind each other, no one wants to step up and take the action, and what we actually need to see is political leadership by the rich countries. We need emission reductions, commitments from the the rich countries of at least 40 per cent by 2020.
LEADERS WARN TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR CLIMATE DEAL
BANGKOK, Thailand - U.N climate talks kicked off Monday in Bangkok with leaders calling for delegates to break the deadlock over a global warming deal and warning failure to act would leave future generations fighting for survival.
Source: AP
- Negotiations on a new U.N. climate pact have been bogged down by a broad unwillingness to commit to firm emissions targets, and a refusal by developing countries to sign a deal until the West guarantees tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance — something rich countries have so far refused to do.
- "Time is not just pressing. It has almost run out," U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said, with a clock nearby showing there were 70 days until world leaders are scheduled to meet in Copenhagen to finalize a pact. "If we don't realize Plan A, the future will hold us to account," he said.
- Some at the conference pointed to the tropical storm that tore through the Philippines over the weekend, leaving scores dead, as a glimpse into the kind of turbulent weather that could be unleashed by global warming.
- "We are asking the negotiators to look outside these walls. They should realize that it is the people's lives at stake," said Dinah Fuentesfina, a Philippine activist from the Global Campaign for Climate Action Asia who was in Manila when the storm struck Saturday.
- Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister for climate and energy whose country will host the talks in December, told delegates the world was watching and urged them to build on the momentum that came out of last week's U.N. climate summit where 100 world leaders pledged their support for an agreement.
CLIMATE CHANGE CLAIMS 300,00 LIVES A YEAR
climate change magnifies the possibility that the future will bring droughts or floods you never saw in your old measurements."
London - Rising temperatures due to climate change already account for some 300,000 deaths a year around the world and could rise to half a million casualties by the year 2030, estimates published Friday showed.
Most of the deaths would occur as a result of long-term environmental degradation due to climate change, with causes including malnutrition and disease, while others would be the result of weather-related disasters.
A report on the human impact of
climate change, presented by the Global Humanitarian Forum in London Friday, put the current estimated costs of global warming at 125 billion dollars a year.
By 2030, the number of people seriously affected, either in the short term, for example through loss of their homes due to weather disasters such as flooding, or in the long term through water scarcity, hunger or disease, could rise to 660 million.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, described global warming as the "greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time."
Source: Top News
A report on the human impact of
climate change, presented by the Global Humanitarian Forum in London Friday, put the current estimated costs of global warming at 125 billion dollars a year.By 2030, the number of people seriously affected, either in the short term, for example through loss of their homes due to weather disasters such as flooding, or in the long term through water scarcity, hunger or disease, could rise to 660 million.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, described global warming as the "greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time."
Source: Top News
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