Dhaka, July 5 (UNB) – Three days of incessant rains in Bangladesh have destroyed 273 shelters and injured 11 people in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camps, said UNHCR on Friday. “We remain on high alert, ready to deploy additional emergency response…
Category: Climate
Floating Antarctic ice goes from record high to record lows
Washington, Jul 2 (AP/UNB) — The amount of ice circling Antarctica is suddenly plunging from a record high to record lows, baffling scientists. Floating ice off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014.…
Indigenous rights approach a remedy to climate change crisis
By Friday Phiri Jun 29, 2019 (IPS) – The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) was held in Bonn, Germany to rally behind a new approach to achieving a future that is more inclusive and sustainable than the present – through the…
G20 summit: World leaders sans Trump agree on climate deal
Leaders have agreed on a climate deal similar to the one struck in Argentina in 2018. The US has again refused to commit to tackling climate change. World leaders attending the 2019 G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka…
Europe must answer the climate call
By Christiana Figueres Brussels – In early 2015, the European Union became the first major economy to set a post-2020 target for limiting greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. By committing to reducing emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2030,…
The world is running out of time
By Bertrand Badré Washington, DC – In 2015, the international community launched a renewed effort to tackle collective global challenges under the auspices of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21). But after…
America’s bipartisan climate-policy failure
By Mark Paul and Connor Rupp Sarasota – US President Donald Trump’s anti-climate agenda is in full swing. His administration has already taken action 117 times to repeal or weaken climate regulations, and much more deregulation is in the works.…
Getting to net-zero emissions
By Johan Rockström Potsdam –The leaders of the G20 countries head to Osaka this week for their annual summit. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will address them before traveling to Abu Dhabi to finalize the arrangements for September’s UN Climate…
We can’t stop climate disaster if big emitters don’t step up
By Frank Bainimarama SUVA, Fiji, Jun 27, 2019 (IPS) — Are the most climate-vulnerable nations of the world right to demand that developed and major economies commit to carbon neutrality by 2050? Should the poorest nations of the world insist…
New York declares climate emergency, first US city to do so
Dhaka, June 28 – New York City officials declared a climate emergency in an effort to mobilize local and national responses to stall global warming, reports CNN. It’s the largest city in the US, with over 8.62 million inhabitants. The…
Countries differ over review of achievements under UNFCCC
Bonn, 26 June (TWN) – Disagreements between developed and developing countries arose over the need to review the progress on achievements under the UNFCCC, at the Bonn climate talks. The talks which began on 17 June, are scheduled to end…
Developed countries push for changes to Adaptation Fund
24 June, Bonn (TWN) — Discussions over the composition of the Adaptation Fund (AF) Board and eligibility of Parties to the Board have become contentious at the ongoing climate talks in Bonn, Germany. This was due to the proposals by…
Guterres for world youth to keep leading climate response
Lisbon, June 23 – Older generations have “failed to respond properly” to the climate emergency said the UN chief on Sunday, while the young are “stepping up to the challenge” and taking the lead to slow the destructive pace of…
Developing countries’ concerns over details of UNFCCC meet
Bonn, 21 June (TWN) — Agendas of the next UNFCCC session, frequency of forthcoming meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) and participation of non-Party stakeholders in the process have proved contentious in discussions under the agenda item on…
Low in Bay of Bengal – Signal 3 for BD maritime ports
Dhaka, June 20 (UNB) – Maritime ports of Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra have been advised to keep hoisted local cautionary signal No 3. A low has been formed over the North Bay and adjoining coastal areas of the…
Desertification ‘more dangerous, more insidious than wars’
By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 18 2019 (IPS) – Businesses are being encouraged to follow the lead of the youth to halt desertification, reduce degradation, improve agricultural sustainability and restore damaged lands. “The youth is a very particular case. The…
No continent, no country not impacted by land degradation
By Desmond Brown Ankara, Jun 17 2019 (IPS) – The coming decades will be crucial in shaping and implementing a transformative land agenda, according to a scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework for Land Degradation…
What to expect from the Bonn climate talks this month
Bonn, 17 June, 2019 (Meena Raman) – As students, youth and environmental activists around the world staged recent protests and continue to do so demanding for urgent and greater climate action on the part of governments in combatting climate change,…
Islands of climate innovation
by Mike Eman Oranjestad – To live in a small island state today is to reckon regularly with the cruellest irony of climate change. Islands contribute little to global warming, but they are the first to suffer from its devastating…
Digital solution to plastic waste
It was once a shoreline buried by enough trash to render it invisible, warranting the unfortunate nickname “toilet bowl”. Now the Philippines’ Manila Bay beach is unrecognisably clean compared with a few months ago, a transformation so sudden and extreme…
How urban consumption drives global emissions
Strong action from mayors, business and citizens is driving down emissions created locally. But emissions from urban consumption of goods like food and clothing, along with materials used to construct urban buildings, are set to double without action. Emissions due…
BD allocates Taka 1bn to settle riverbank erosion victims
Dhaka, June 13 – A total of Tk 100 crore has been allocated in the proposed budget for 2019-20 fiscal years to facilitate rehabilitation of the people affected by river erosion. Besides, steps have been taken for managing water resource,…
Developing technologies for zero-carbon economies
By Nils Røkke Trontheim, Norway, Jun 11 (IPS) – Never before has half a degree (0.5C) meant so much for humanity. We are behaving as if we have time to deal with climate change. We don’t. The main problem is…
Climate change peril Uganda’s tree climbing lions, primates
By Wambi Michael Kasese, Uganda, Jun 12 2019 (IPS) – As climate change leads to increased temperatures in East Africa, a thicket of invasive thorny trees with the ability to withstand harsh climatic conditions have begun threatening Uganda’s second-largest park,…
In hot water? Study says warming may reduce sea life by 17%
Washington, June 11 (AP/UNB) — The world’s oceans will likely lose about one-sixth of their fish and other marine life by the end of the century if climate change continues on its current path, a new study says. Every degree…
Scaling up agroecology for sustainable development
In April 2018, the FAO hosted the Second International Symposium on Agroecology, following the first in 2014. With the main objective of moving from dialogue to action, the Symposium brought together different stakeholders and catalyzed inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. The…
EU Special Representative for HR Eamon Gilmore visits BD
Dhaka, EUDEL Press Office: EU Special Representative (EUSR) for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore visited Bangladesh on 10-11 June 2019. This visit, the first ever of a EUSR for Human Rights to Bangladesh, reflects the EU’s commitment to engaging with the…
Where did insects come from?
by Geetha Iyer The evolution of insects About 500 million years ago (MYA), the Earth experienced a remarkable evolutionary event. Called the Cambrian explosion, it resulted in the emergence of a plethora of life forms – some gigantic, others small;…
Japan’s government must exit coal
by Jan Erik Saugestad OSLO – Following the abdication of Emperor Akihito, Japan announced that its new imperial era would be called Reiwa (“beautiful harmony”). But if the Reiwa era is to live up to its name, Japan’s government must…
Bangladesh Sundarbans has Tk 19-billon carbon reserve: Survey
Khulna, June 7 (UNB) – There is a reserve of 5.6 crore tonnes of carbon in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, says a survey of the Forest Department. This carbon worth Tk 18,816 crore could be extracted without causing…