In Current Events and Weather News:

Oxfam campaigns for PM to take action on climate-vulnerable Pacific

Oxfam’s calling for members of the public to join them in asking John Key to support a fair climate deal for our Pacific neighbours, and strong action in Cancun.

Click here to send a note to our PM.

The South Sudan swamped by floods

Flooding throughout the month of August has led to 57,000 people being forced from their homes in the South Sudan, leaving towns underwater.

Have a look here.

Australian Greens help Labor to form a majority

In forming a coalition with Labor, the Australian Greens have managed to secure a number of conditions from the Government; including the formation of a climate change committee.

To read more about the commitments they’ve made, take a glance here, and for more information about the Greens’ stance, look here.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary warns of further extreme weather if climate problem is not solved

Christiana Figueres, speaking at the Geneva talks on adaptation funding on September 2nd (see the Policy section below), warned that the latest string of extreme weather - Pakistan and Russia included - are a wake-up call to tell us that “a future of intense, global climate disasters is not the future that we want”.

To know what else she said, see here.

In Policy News:

The World Bank estimates that it will cost US $70-100 billion each year to adapt to climate change between now and 2050

On August 3rd, the Synthesis Report on the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change Study, or ‘EACC’, was released by the World Bank, predicting that climate adaptation will cost the world US $70-100 billion each year until 2050. According to recognised economist Dr. Samuel Fankhouser, the EACC “has produced the best and most detailed estimate of the global cost of adaptation so far… [and] …is also advancing our understanding of how to carry our adaptation assessments at country-level”.

See the article here, and the full EACC text here.

And while you’re on the website, check out the World Bank’s interactive, mapped, Climate Change Data Portal. It’s an incredible tool, especially for anyone who’ll be following the policy side to the negotiations. (Plus it’s so much fun to use!) Click here.

Switzerland’s top climate negotiator calls for a global fund for poorer countries

At a news conference on September 1st, Franz Perrez stressed the importance of the establishment of a global fund to help poorer nations introduce clean technology into their economies. He insisted that an “agreement on viable long-term financing is one of the very important building blocks for a new convention to combat the challenge of climate change”. His government had joined forces with that of Mexico to present an informal gathering for representatives of 45 states in Geneva on the 2nd-3rd, to try to establish how funding should be set up and who might provide it. He hopes an agreement might be reached by 2012 on how to create the mechanism.

Read the rest here.

Rajendra Pachauri still under pressure to resign

It would seem that Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the IPCC, is still under pressure to resign over inaccuracies in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report of 2007.

Take a look at what The Guardian has to say here, and the BBC here.

Marshall Islands leaders contact Columbia Law School regarding legal rights of disappearing islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is campaigning to draw attention to vulnerable nations’ plights. Approaching Columbia Law School, its leaders hope to stockpile knowledge to denote the legal standing of nations and their citizens when land masses have been irreversibly affected by the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels.

Read more (very interesting), here.

In Social News:

Conference speakers warn climate change will have “significant implications” on the health sector

Two GPs speaking at the Royal NZ College of GPs conference on September 3rd are telling other doctors to be prepared. They warn that the onset of climate change will mean a flood of new and more frequently seen ailments, including more accidents, gastroenteritis, skin cancer, depression and dengue fever.

Take a look here.

Danish political scientist changes mind over priority of climate change issue

Bjorn Lomborg, author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” has changed his opinion that AIDS or malaria are better to spend money on than climate change. In his new book to be released this month, he insists that climate change is a top priority – one to which we should devote US $100 billion a year. He maintains, however, that while climate negotiators have their financial figures rights (their estimates equalling the same total), they are looking to invest their money in the wrong places.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Renewable Fuels Agency finds that most UK biofuels do not meet environmental standards

While biofuels are meeting legal requirements, voluntarily enforced standards are not being achieved in the UK, the RFA has found. Under the EU’sRenewable Fuel Directive (RED), member states will be expected to ensure that 10% of transport fuel is from a renewable source by 2020.

Read the lot here.

In Youth News:

UN announces International Year of Youth

Taking effect August 12th, this year is the ‘International Year of Youth’.

Look in more detail here.

Global Campaign for Climate Action calls for more youth for ‘Adopt a Negotiator’ programme

Self explanatory; the programme has been so successful that GCCA want more people than ever before. All expenses paid to track negotiators at China’s and Mexico’s upcoming climate talks.

Drool over the ultimate in roles here.

AYCC is awesome

Just to remind you all, all over again, that Australians aren’t all bad (and hey, they can actually be pretty awesome) - let’s watch the Climate Elephant across the ditch, on YouTube, for the 59th (don’t deny it) time. For those who don’t know, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition’s Climate Elephant is the ‘elephant in the room’ that everyone’s tried to forget about, or sweep under the carpet; now openly campaigning for better government action on climate change in Australia.

Plus he’s uber cute. I mean… just look.

In Science News:

New research shows climate change has reduced number of plants available to soak up carbon dioxide

The world’s plants, according to a new study released on August 19th, are becoming less and less able to sequester carbon. In previous decades, carbon dioxide has been loosely converted into plant biomass. This decade, however, has seen an increase in drought - causing a loss of plants that would have otherwise absorbed an amount of carbon equivalent to Britain’s annual man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

More on that here.

State of ocean health in terrifying decline

Canadian researchers have suggested that a dramatic fall in phytoplankton since 1950 - a decline occurring at a “terrifying rate” - is linked to rising sea-surface temperatures and changes in the conditions of the ocean. If confirmed, their report said, it would represent a more dramatic change to the balance of our ecosystems than the loss of the tropical rainforests.

See the full article here.

To make things worse, a scientist from Sydney’s Macquarie University believes that it could take tens of millions of years to recover from the loss in marine life we are suffering at the moment. Continuing overfishing, and the effects of climate change-related ocean acidification, will only exacerbate the problem.

Take a look at the report here.

Australian Academy of Science report affirms that world is warming

The Australian Academy of Science announced in August that its “eminent collective of over 400 of Australia’s top scientists – affirms that the world is warming, that carbon emissions is driving change, that these emissions arise from human activity, and that if we do not reduce emissions, significant impacts on our society and environment will result”.

Have a peek at the article here.

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