Climate Change News
Earth Alert: Confronting Climate Change - INTER PRESS SERVICE
"Abnormal" weather is becoming the norm in many parts of the world. Average temperatures, precipitation and wind patterns are changing, and non-climate factors -primarily the accumulation of greenhouse gases produced from human activities - are driving this change. Find out more about the forces behind climate change - but also about the growing citizen awareness and new climate policies towards sustainable development. The 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) took place in Copenhagen in December 2009. World leaders were expected to discuss a legally-binding international climate treaty, however no deal was sealed. History was not made. Scientific consensus and the acceptance of the scientific findings is no longer an issue. The main snag to any comprehensive global plan appears to be the issue of financing, particularly the funding of climate initiatives in developing countries by public or private backers in industrialised countries.

Earth Alert: Confronting Climate Change - INTER PRESS SERVICE
  • WEST AFRICA: Water Shortage Threatens Wildlife
    The story of a pair of buffalo aggressively prowling the edges of a village in eastern Burkina Faso is a warning sign of severe water stress in the region which threatens humans and wild animals alike.

  • 2011 - A Year of Weather Extremes, with More to Come
    The global average temperature in 2011 was 14.52 degrees Celsius (58.14 degrees Fahrenheit). According to NASA scientists, this was the ninth warmest year in 132 years of recordkeeping, despite the cooling influence of the La Niña atmospheric and oceanic circulation pattern and relatively low solar irradiance.

  • OP-ED: After Durban, Latin America Looks Towards Rio+20
    After the climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa in December, there is space to continue advancing in the short and medium term. Now the attention of Latin America and the rest of the world is turned towards the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development taking place this June in Rio de Janeiro.

  • NICARAGUA-HONDURAS: Re-Greening the Border
    Ignacia Matute looks back nostalgically on the days when the hills around her home in northwestern Nicaragua were blanketed in green, and she woke every morning to the sounds of birds singing in the treetops and the rushing waters of the nearly Coco River.

  • CUBA: Adapting to Climate Change Proves a Complex Challenge
    No one who lives in this fishing village on the south coast, 70 km from the Cuban capital, can forget the devastation wrought by hurricanes in 2008.

  • Thematic Social Forum Awash with Criticism for Green Economy
    Critical voices raised against what was dubbed "the gospel of green capitalism" resonated in every discussion and street march held during the Thematic Social Forum, which brought thousands of activists to the capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil.

  • U.N. Panel Launches Blueprint for Sustainable Development
    A long-awaited report by a U.N. high-level panel on global sustainability recommends several far-reaching proposals, including the establishment of new institutions and the creation of global indicators, aimed at protecting the world's environment and strengthening the U.N.'s sustainable development strategy.

  • THEMATIC SOCIAL FORUM: Working Towards a Never-Ending Democracy
    For five centuries, Europe has taken it upon itself to enlighten the world, teaching it ways to address and overcome crises, from ideas and wars to missionary work and genocides.

  • ARGENTINA: Drought Threat Looms Again
    The low humidity in Argentina's most agriculturally productive region has already caused a decline in grain yield - in particular corn and soybean - with ensuing losses for producers and the government.

  • Shale Gas a Bridge to More Global Warming
    Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being "fracked" in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown.

  • Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
    Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts.

  • PUERTO RICO: Cleaner Energy Sources Prove Divisive
    As Puerto Rico seeks to lower soaring utility rates while simultaneously shifting toward cleaner energy sources, it faces grassroots opposition to two major projects even though at least one is 100-percent renewable.

  • Britain Boosts Economic Ties with the Caribbean
    As China sees its influence continue to grow in this part of the world, a delegation from the United Kingdom arrived in Grenada last weekend with a proverbial carrot for its former colonies, vowing to create new opportunities for trade, investment and innovation "in our respective economies".

  • The Green Economy, Boon or Menace?
    The development of the green economy is the subject of pitched debate among specialists. While some believe it will deepen social inequalities and increase corporate control over natural and biological resources, others highlight its potential role in protecting the environment and creating employment.

  • Money Is All That's Green in Biodiesel
    The only green in biodiesel fuel is the money producers make from it, new research has revealed.


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