NavBar Custom

Saturday 30 July 2016

Mary Robinson (UN Special Envoy on Climate Change) on Responding to the Impacts of El Nino and Mitigating Recurring Climate Risks


20 MAY 2016:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointments of Mary Robinson of Ireland and Macharia Kamau of Kenya as his Special Envoys on El Niño and Climate. 

These appointments come at a time of great urgency. Drought and flooding associated with El Niño have created massive needs across the world, especially in the four worst affected regions of East Africa, Southern Africa, Central America and the Pacific.

Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years. One million children in Eastern and Southern Africa alone are severely acutely malnourished. And global food insecurity is not expected to peak before December.

The Impacts of Climate Change in Ethiopia

Over the last decades, the temperature in Ethiopia increased at about 0.2° C per decade. The increase in minimum temperatures is more pronounced with roughly 0.4° C per decade. Precipitation, on the other hand, remained fairly stable over the last 50 years when averaged over the country. However,
the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation is high, thus large-scale trends do not necessarily reflect local conditions.

The projected increases in the inter annual variability of precipitation in combination with the warming will likely lead to increases in the occurrence of droughts. Furthermore, heavy rains and floods are projected to increase as well.

These impacts include:

  • Agriculture, Food Security: The increasing year-to-year variability and increases in both droughts and heavy precipitation events lowers agricultural production with corresponding negative effects on food security.
  • Water: The availability of clean drinking water is likely to decrease due to the increasing evaporation and the increasing variability of rainfall events.
  • Health: Incidences of malaria in areas of the highlands where malaria was previously not endemic. The warming is further expected to cause an increase in cardio-respiratory and infectious diseases.
  • Ecosystems, Biodiversity: Climate change but also human drivers such as forest fires threaten forest ecosystems. Furthermore, a large number of plant and animal species is threatened by extinction, as climate conditions are changing too quickly for them to adapt.
  • Infrastructure: Heavy rainfall events and floods cause damages to roads and buildings.

It is important to notice, however, that other factors threaten the livelihoods of Ethiopian  communities as well. For example resource degradation and the over exploitation of natural resources such as fire wood is one of the key issues in association with the environmental decline.


Climate Change:How Skewed Are We...Really? (HSAWR?)

A resource for people looking to find out about the science and the impacts of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).

This is accomplished by curating scientific, political and business videos, news reports, surveys and polls as well as creating original content.

(CHECK OUT OUR HSAWR ORIGINAL VIDEOS)
The Pentagon," calls CLIMATE CHANGE an “urgent and growing threat to America's national security” and blames it for “increased natural disasters” that will require more American troops designated to combat bad weather.

Stern Triple Shot from Climate One




Stern Triple Shot

Research interests

  • The economics of climate change;
  • Economic development and growth;
  • Economic theory;
  • Tax reform;
  • Public policy;
  • The role of the state and economies in transition.
While federal experts warn that it will cost $44 trillion to rid the U.S. economy of carbon, Citibank counters that failing to act on climate disruption could result in over $44 trillion in public and private losses over the next 25 years. The true cost of either keeping or ditching fossil fuels was up for discussion at a recent Climate One event.

At the Climate Change Conference in Paris last fall, Former World Bank Chief Economist Nicholas Stern noticed a shift in attitude. People around the world came to Paris equipped with a deep understanding of the issues, including the current impact of climate disruption and the risks of a warming planet. They were hungry for examples of cities that were functioning in a sustainable way, and what they saw were cities that offered an abundance of benefits to their residents. “For me, the key change was the understanding of the real attractiveness of the alternative route,” says Stern. “The investments that you make, you shouldn’t see [them] as ‘costs.’ You should see them as investments with very powerful returns.”

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Westly also felt inspired by what he saw at the talks in Paris. Two elements that he saw intersect for the first time were galvanized political movements promoting sustainable energy and the breakthroughs in clean energy technology necessary to make those goals cost-effective. “If you think about it, we’re that close to having a world where you may not be having to pay a penny for electricity at home if you buy low-cost solar,” Westly predicts. “You may not even be paying a penny for gas ever again. When you’re not paying for electricity or gas? Wow, that is a whole new world.”


Climate Change:How Skewed Are We...Really? (HSAWR?) A resource for people looking to find out about the science and the impacts of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). This is accomplished by curating scientific, political and business videos, news reports, surveys and polls as well as creating original content. (CHECK OUT OUR HSAWR ORIGINAL VIDEOS)
The Pentagon," calls CLIMATE CHANGE an “urgent and growing threat to America's national security” and blames it for “increased natural disasters” that will require more American troops designated to combat bad weather.


What I'm Reading Today July 30


Today's assignment: Urban Health and Well-being

Environmental Pollution: The effects of high temperature on cardiovascular admissions in the most populous tropical city in Vietnam

Climate change is a major public health threat due to the effect of extreme weather events on health . A significant increase in number of hospitalizations occurs in relation to exposure to high ambient temperature and previous studies have shown that one of the predominant causes of hospital admissions associated with high temperature is cardiovascular diseases (CVD) 
Conclusion: this study reports an increased risk of cardiovascular admissions in relation to high temperature and heatwave events in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest and most populous city in tropical Vietnam. The findings suggest that an additional prevention program that reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, might be to establish public health preparedness and interventions to minimise the adverse effects of high temperatures. Further research should be conducted for better understanding of the roles of individual-level factors, which can involve modifying the relationship between temperature and cardiovascular morbidity
2010 -Vietnam is in record heat again: the announced temperatures were around 40-41oC (104-105.8oF), the actual outside temperatures usually went up to 45-46oC (113-114.8oF)
Exploding Planet

Climate Change:How Skewed Are We...Really? (HSAWR?)

A resource for people looking to find out about the science and the impacts of Climate Change and Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).

This is accomplished by curating scientific, political and business videos, news reports, surveys and polls as well as creating original content.

(CHECK OUT OUR HSAWR ORIGINAL VIDEOS)
The Pentagon," calls CLIMATE CHANGE an “urgent and growing threat to America's national security” and blames it for “increased natural disasters” that will require more American troops designated to combat bad weather.