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UN agency hails Belgium’s decision to accept Iraqi refugees
The United Nations today welcomed the return of Belgium’s refugee resettlement programme marked by the transfer of some 36 Iraqis who were previously sheltered in Syria and Jordan.
UN sends disaster assessment team as floods hit capital of Burkina Faso
A United Nations disaster assessment and coordination team arrives today in Burkina Faso, where torrential rains that have soaked much of West Africa have killed at least five people and forced around 150,000 others to find alternative shelter.
Humanitarian crisis in northern Yemen intensifying, UN cautions
As heavy fighting between the Government and rebels in northern Yemen enters its fourth week, the humanitarian crisis in the country is deepening, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.
Government moves to fast track power plant grid connection
Over 60GW of power is going to waste in the UK due to red tape blocking projects from connecting to the grid. Some 200 energy projects are currently backed up awaiting grid connection. Around a quarter of the power in the queue would comes from renewable sources. Energy and Climate secretary Ed Miliband has recognised the problem and proposed new rules to fast-track connection, with particular emphasis on renewables. The previous system gave power generators a connection date on a first come, first served basis, meaning projects that take a long time to deliver such as large scale coal or nuclear plants are effectively ‘bed blocking’ those that are far quicker to install, such as wind farms. Some renewable energy projects were facing a wait of several years for connection once complete, destroying investor confidence. Ed Miliband said: “Access to the electricity grid has been one of the key barriers to the generation of renewable energy in this country. We are determined to resolve this issue. That is why we took powers to do so in the Energy Act and today we are setting out our proposals. “We need these new projects to get hooked up to the grid as soon as they are ready - both to help tackle climate change and secure our future energy supplies. “The government will do whatever is necessary to bring about the transition to a low carbon economy and to give investors the certainty they need so that new renewable energy generation is built.” The Minister’s proposals have been outlined in a consultation document which asks industry which of three queue-busting options would be most appropriate. The choices effectively come down to who should pay for connection - those being connected, or all users of the grid. The consultation can be found at http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/open/open.aspx. Sam Bond
Scotland’s future under the microscope at conference
Published Date: 04 September 2009
By SHÃN ROSS
FIRST Minister Alex Salmond is to address a “troubleshooting” conference aimed at finding innovative ways of tackling some of the biggest issues facing Scotland over the next decade.
Experts from a range of disciplines will set out the challenges for the economy, energy and climate change, public services and globalisation and how to react to achieve a sustainable and economically prosperous future.The Scotland’s Possible Future conference to be held on 23 September at the George Hotel in Edinburgh, will also examine the position and perception of Scotland in the wider world. Mr Salmond, who will make the opening speech, will be joined by a range of high-profile speakers throughout the day.These include Professor Sir James Mirrlees, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Gerry Rice, from the International Monetary Fund, who will examine government and economic growth and finding Scotland’s “niche” in the global era.The future of the public sector, parliament and democracy and Scotland’s energy prospects are also on the agenda at the conference. Further details from www.mackayhannah.com or by phoning 0131-556 1500
‘Climate change is here, it is a reality’
John Vidal
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 September 2009 22.44 BST
One of the main water sources outside Moyale in Kenya runs dry. Photograph: Sarah Elliott/EPA
We met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their animals die of star vation this year in a deep drought, and who have now decided their days of herding cattle are over.
After three years of disastrous rains, the families from the Borana tribe, who by custom travel thousands of miles a year in search of water and pasture, have unanimously decided to settle down. Back in April, they packed up their pots, pans and meagre belongings, deserted their mud and thatch homes at Bute and set off on their last trek, to Yaeblo, a village of near-destitute charcoal makers that has sprung up on the side of a dirt road near Moyale. Now they live in temporary “benders” â shelters made from branches covered with plastic sheeting. They look like survivors from an earthquake or a flood, but in fact these are some of the world’s first climate-change refugees.
For all their deep pride in owning and tending animals in a harsh land, these deeply conservative people expressed no regrets about giving up centuries of traditional life when we spoke to them. Indeed, they seemed relieved: “This will be a much better life,” said Isaac, a tribal leader in his 40s. “We will make charcoal and sell firewood. Our children will go to the army or become traders. We do not expect to ever go back to animals.”
They are not alone. Droughts have affected millions in a vast area stretching across Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Chad, and into Burkina Faso and Mali, and tens of thousands of nomadic herders have had to give up their animals. “[This recent drought] was the worst thing that had ever happened to us,” said Alima, 24. “The whole land is drying up. We had nothing, not even drinking water. All our cattle died and we became hopeless. It had never happened before. So we have decided to live in one place, to change our lives and to educate our children.”
Parched
Kenya, a land more than twice the size of Britain, is everywhere parched. Whole towns such as Moyale with more than 10,000 people are now desperate for water. The huge public reservoir in this regional centre has been empty for months and, according to Molu Duka Sora, local director of the government’s Arid Lands programme, all the major boreholes in the vast semi-desert area are failing one by one. Earlier this year, more than 50 people died of cholera in Moyale. It is widely believed that it came from animals and humans sharing ever scarcer water.
Food prices have doubled across Kenya. A 20-litre jerrycan of poor quality water has quadrupled in price. Big game is dying in large numbers in national parks, and electricity has had to be rationed, affecting petrol and food supplies. For the first time in generations there are cows on the streets of Nairobi as nomads like Isaac come to the suburbs with their herds to feed on the verges of roads. Violence has increased around the country as people go hungry.
“The scarcity of water is becoming a nightmare. Rivers are drying up, and the way temperatures are changing we are likely to get into more problems,” said Professor Richard Odingo, the Kenyan vice-chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
“We passed emergency levels months ago,” said Yves Horent, a European commission humanitarian officer in Nairobi. “Some families have had no crops in nearly seven years. People are trying to adapt but the nomads know they are in trouble.”
Many people, in Kenya and elsewhere, cannot understand the scale and speed of what is happening. The east African country is on the equator, and has always experienced severe droughts and scorching temperatures. Nearly 80% of the land is officially classed as arid, and people have adapted over centuries to living with little water.
There are those who think this drought will finish in October with the coming of the long rains and everything will go back to normal.
Well, it may not. What has happened this year, says Leina Mpoke, a Maasai vet who now works as a climate change adviser with Ireland-based charity Concern Worldwide, is the latest of many interwoven ecological disasters which have resulted from deforestation, over-grazing, the extraction of far too much water, and massive population growth.
“In the past we used to have regular 10-year climatic cycles which were always followed by a major drought. In the 1970s we started having droughts every seven years; in the 1980s they came about every five years and in the 1990s we were getting droughts and dry spells almost every two or three years. Since 2000 we have had three major droughts and several dry spells. Now they are coming almost every year, right across the country,” said Mpoke.
He reeled off the signs of climate change he and others have observed, all of which are confirmed by the Kenyan meteorological office and local governments. “The frequency of heatwaves is increasing. Temperatures are generally more extreme, water is evaporating faster, and the wells are drying. Larger areas are being affected by droughts, and flooding is now more serious.
“We are seeing that the seasons have changed. The cold months used to be only in June and July but now they start earlier and last longer. We have more unpredictable, extreme weather. It is hotter than it used to be and it stays hotter for longer. The rain has become more sporadic. It comes at different times of the year now and farmers cannot tell when to plant. There are more epidemics for people and animals.”
‘We have to change’
Mpoke said he did not understand how people in rich countries failed to understand the scale or urgency of the problem emerging in places such as Kenya. “Climate change is here. It’s a reality. It’s not in the imagination or a vision of the future. [And] climate change adds to the existing problems. It makes everything more complex. It’s here now and we have to change.”
The current drought is big, but the nomads and western charities helping people adapt say the problem is not the extreme lack of water so much as the fact that the land, the people and the animals have no time to recover from one drought to the next. “People now see that these droughts are coming more and more frequently. They know that they cannot restock. Breeding animals takes time. It take several years to recover. One major drought every 10 years is not a problem. But one good rainy season is not enough,” said Horent.
Nor are traditional ways of predicting and adapting to drought much use. In the past, said Ibrahim Adan, director of Moyale-based development group Cifa, nomads would look for signs of coming drought or rain in the stars, in the entrails of slaughtered animals or in minute changes in vegetation. “When drought came, elders would be sent miles away to negotiate grazing rights in places not so seriously hit, and cattle would be sent to relatives in distant communities. People would reduce the size of their herds, selling some and slaughtering the best to preserve the best meat to see them through the hard times. None of that is working now.”
Francis Murambi, a development worker in Moyale, said: “The land has changed a lot. Only 60 years ago, the land around Moyale was savannah with plenty of grass, big trees and elephants, lions and rhino.” Today the grasses have all but gone, taken over by brush. Because there are fewer pastures, they are more heavily used. It’s a vicious circle. In the past, a nomadic family could live on a few cows which would provide more than enough milk and food. Now the pasture is so poor that those who still herd cattle need more animals to survive. But having more cattle further degrades the soil. The environment can support fewer and fewer people, but the population has increased.
“[Before] we did not need money. The pasture was good, the milk was good, and you could produce butter. Now it is poor, it is not possible,” said Gurache Kate, a chief in Ossang Odana village near the Ethiopian border. “Yesterday I had a phone call from the man we sent our cattle away with. He is 250 miles away and he said they were all dying.”
These shifts driven by climate change are bringing profound changes. Ibrahim Adan said: “The cow has always been your bank. Being a Borana means you must keep livestock. It’s part of your identity and destiny. It gives you status. Traditionally livestock was central to life. The old people saw cattle as the centre of their culture. Pride, love and attachment to cattle was all celebrated in song. My father would never sell cattle. They were an extension of himself.”
Now, for people like Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima, all that is gone, and with it independence and self-sufficiency. “The money economy is creeping in, as is education and the settled life,” said Adan. “Young people see the cow now as more of an economic necessity rather than the core of their culture.”
The great unspoken fear among scientists and governments is that the present cycle of droughts continues and worsens, making the land uninhabitable. “This isn’t something that will just affect Kenya. What is certain is that if climate change sets in and drought remains a frequent visitor, there will be far fewer people on the land in 20 years,” said Adan. “The nomad will not go. But his life will be very different.”
African farmers encouraged to plant trees to boost agriculture
Farmers in Africa are being encouraged to plant a particular species of acacia tree that boasts a wide array of useful traits - including helping to stave off climate change. Around 800 scientists meeting in Nairobi for the second World Congress of Agroforestry this week said that the tree, known as a Mgunga in Swahili, had beneficial properties that made it almost unique. As a nitrogen fixer the tree provides a free, organic source of fertiliser while offering fodder for livestock, wood for construction and fuel and windbreaks and erosion control. The Mgunga is also unusually well adapted to thrive in soils across a wide range of African climates, from sub-Saharan to the humid tropics. Persuading farmers of the advantage of tree planting would also go some way towards offsetting the damage being done through deforestation elsewhere on the continent. “The future of trees is on farms,” said Dennis Garrity, director general of the World Agroforestry Centre, or ICRAF. “Growing the right tree in the right place on farms in sub-Saharan Africa–and worldwide– has the potential to slow climate change, feed more people, and protect the environment. “This tree, as a source of free, organic nitrogen, is an example of that. There are many other examples of solutions to African farming that exist here already.” The tree is already widely used by farmers in many parts of Africa, where its properties are already widely recognised. “Knowledge of this tree is farmer-driven,” said Mr Garrity. “We are now combining the scientific knowledge base with the farmer knowledge base. There is sufficient research on both sides to warrant dramatically scaling-up the planting of this tree on farms across Africa through extension programs. “The risks to farmers are low; it requires very little labor, and delivers many benefits.” “Thus far we have failed to do enough to refine, adapt and extend the unique properties of these trees to the more than 50 million food crop farmers who desperately need home-grown solutions to their food production problems,” he continued. David Gibbs
Miliband’s new mayor poo-poos global warming ’scam’
Mayor Peter Davies has urged local residents to halt plans for wind farms ‘blocking out sunlight’ and encourages driving as we are ‘in the age of the car’
Allegra Stratton, Political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 September 2009 17.24 BST
The newly elected mayor of Doncaster has described global warming as a “scam”, posing a direct challenge to the town’s MP, climate change cabinet minister Ed Miliband.
While Miliband pursued international diplomacy in India, ahead of December’s crucial climate change summit in Copenhagen, mayor Peter Davies urged local residents to use the law to halt the building of wind farms whose effects he said included “blocking of sunlight”. On hearing of Davies’s intervention, Miliband replied immediately on Twitter: “Disgrace given the science and the scale of the threat.”
Davies’s comments came in a statement issued earlier this week making clear to voters where he stood on forthcoming plans to erect wind farms in the Doncaster region. Davies, who represents the English democrat party, made clear neither he nor his council had a role in the decision-making process but said; “These [wind farm] developments have little or no benefit in terms of contributing to decreased energy consumption, nor do they have any beneficial effect on the planet’s climate in response to the great global warming scam.”
Davies went on: “I would certainly not want one of these monstrosities anywhere near my property, nor do I want to see them blotting the landscape of the English countryside and waterways and causing grief and concern to local people in terms of noise and the blocking of sunlight.
“I therefore urge the public to oppose these developments through legal means provided so that good old-fashioned English justice and common sense may prevail.”
Davies was elected in June with 25,344 votes as mayor and his cabinet oversees the carbon intensive portfolio of transport. In a recent newspaper interview he suggested he wanted to encourage car use within Doncaster, saying it would boost business. “Like it or not,” he told the Daily Mail, “we live in the age of the car”.
Under his stewardship, Doncaster council has announced plans for more parking spaces and a review of bus-only routes. Doncaster’s town centre is currently pedestrianised.
Since entering office he has cut his own salary by 60% from £73,000 to £30,000; given up the use of a chauffeured mayoral car and abolished the council’s free newspaper.
In a full statement, Miliband said the greatest threat to Doncaster’s natural environment was climate change not wind turbines. Miliband has previously said in March that opposing wind farms should become as socially unacceptable as failing to wear a seatbelt.
Global warming has made Arctic summers hottest for 2,000 years
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 September 2009 19.00 BST
Global warming has nullified the effect of increasing distance between the sun and Earth during the Arctic summer solstice. Photograph: National Science Foundation
Warming as a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has overwhelmed a millennia-long cycle of natural cooling in the Arctic, raising temperatures in the region to their highest for at least 2,000 years, according to a report.
The Arctic began to cool several thousand years ago as changes in the planet’s orbit increased the distance between the sun and the Earth and reduced the amount of sunlight reaching high northern latitudes during the summer.
But despite the Earth being farther from the sun during the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice, the Arctic summer is now 1.2C warmer than it was in 1900.
Writing in the US journal Science, an international team of researchers describe how thousands of years of natural cooling in the Arctic were followed by a rise in temperatures from 1900 which accelerated briskly after 1950.
The warming of the Arctic is more alarming in view of the natural cooling cycle, which by itself would have seen temperatures 1.4C cooler than they are today, scientists said.
“The accumulation of greenhouse gases is interrupting the natural cycle towards overall cooling,” said Professor Darrell Kaufman, a climate scientist at Northern Arizona University and lead author of the study.
“There’s no doubt it will lead to melting glacier ice, which will impact on coastal regions around the world. Warming in the region will also cause more permafrost thawing, which will release methane gas into the atmosphere,” he added.
Scientists fear that warming could release billions of tonnes of methane from frozen soils in the Arctic, driving global temperatures even higher.
On a tour of the Arctic this week, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon urged nations to support a comprehensive accord to limit greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the organisation’s climate summit in Copenhagen in December. The accord has been drawn up as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
The latest study comes months after scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned that within the next 30 years Arctic sea ice is likely to vanish completely during the summer for the first time.
Kaufman and his colleagues reconstructed a decade-by-decade record of the Arctic climate over the past 2,000 years by analysing lake sediments, ice cores and tree rings. Computer simulations of changes in seasonal sunlight levels caused by the Earth’s elliptical orbit and the shifting tilt of its axis verified the long-term cooling trend.
The scientists showed that summer temperatures in the Arctic fell by an average of 0.2C every thousand years, but that this cooling was swamped by human-induced warming in the 20th century.
“This study provides a clear example of how increased greenhouse gases are now changing our climate, ending at least 2,000 years of Arctic cooling,” said Caspar Ammann, a climate scientist and co-author of the report at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
The Arctic began cooling around 8,000 years ago as natural variations in the Earth’s orbit and angle of tilt reduced the amount of sunlight reaching high latitudes. Today, the planet is one million kilometres farther away from the sun during the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice than it was in 1BC. This natural cooling effect will continue for 4,000 more years.
Previous research has shown that temperatures over the past century rose nearly three times as fast in the Arctic as elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. This is due to an effect called Arctic amplification, whereby highly reflective sea ice and snow melt to reveal darker land and sea water, which absorb sunlight and warm up more quickly.
Carbon emissions per person, by country
Looking at a country’s total carbon emissions alone doesn’t tell the full story of the country’s contribution to global warming
Roll over the lines to get the data.
Looking at a country’s total carbon emissions doesn’t tell the full story of a country’s contribution to global warming.
China, for example, is the world “leader” in total emissions (6018m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide) since it overtook the US (5903) in 2007. But all that really tells you is that China is a fast-developing country with a lot of people.
A more useful measurement is carbon emissions per capita (person). Under that measurement, the average American is responsible for 19.8 tonnes per person, and the average Chinese citizen clocks in at 4.6 tonnes.
Examining CO2 per capita around the world also shows us the gulf between the developed world’s responsibility for climate change and that of the developing world. While Australia is on 20.6 tonnes per person (partly because of its reliance on CO2-intensive coal) and the UK is half that at 9.7 (explained in part by relatively CO2-light gas power stations), India is on a mere 1.2. Poorer African nations such as Kenya are on an order magnitude less again â the average Kenyan has a footprint of just 0.3 tonnes (a figure that’s likely to drop even lower with the country’s surge in wind power).
These differences â along with countries’ historical contributions to global warming â are a crucial part of climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December. Even the former UK deputy prime minister John Prescott recently said that per capita emissions are the fairest way of thrashing out a deal in Copenhagen. Guardian readers believe it’s fairer too.
⢠DATA: CO2 emissions per person, per country
For full article and all data see:http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2009/sep/02/carbon-emissions-per-person-capita
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