Water – a weapon of war or a tool for peace?
11/7/2023: The recent Kakhovka dam disaster in Ukraine is a painful reminder of how destruction of water infrastructure can cause enormous suffering in times of war. Researchers who have studied Yemen, Libya, and Syria say that attacks on civilian and environmental infrastructure have become more common in the past decade.
Source: Inter Press Service
Developing nations decry threat to UK climate finance
6/7/2023: A leaked memo suggests that the UK's promise to deliver £11.6 billion in international climate finance by 2026 is being dropped. A broken pledge is likely to sow further divisions between developed and developing nations at climate talks.
Source: Climate Home News
10% increase in primary tropical forest loss in 2022
27/6/2023: During the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, heads of 145 countries pledged to reduce global deforestation by 10% each year, targeting zero deforestation by 2030. In the first year after the Glasgow pledge, tropical forest loss increased by 10%.
Source: Mongabay
Bonn climate talks avoid break down on adaptation goals
16/6/2023: Talks on global efforts to adjust to the effects of climate change were rescued at the very last minute during climate talks in Bonn, following bitter divisions between developing and developed countries. Progress was essential to prospects of agreement on adaptation goals at the forthcoming COP28 summit in Dubai.
Source: Climate Home News
Rich countries fail to honour $100 billion climate finance
5/6/2023: Rich polluting countries are now three years overdue on their promise to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. Oxfam's latest report shows that while donors claim to have mobilized $83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was at most $24.5 billion.
Source: Oxfam International
Nigeria’s Happy City close to being swallowed by the sea
6/6/2023: A 0.5-meter rise in sea level could force 27-53 million Nigerians to relocate by the end of the century. Developed economies have agreed to set up a loss and damage fund but questions remain over its implementation. Meanwhile the city of Ayetoro is disappearing in rising ocean surges.
Source: African Arguments
India’s population question
1/6/2023: India is expected to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country sometime in July. However, India's total fertility rate has dropped below the replacement level of 2.1 and population is not the only determinant of environmental problems; it is their consumption pattern that leads to environmental degradation.
Source: Down to Earth
Last chance to save the Amazon
22/5/2023: The Amazon biome has already lost about 20 per cent of its original area, and experts say it is rapidly reaching a "point of no return", pushing it towards becoming a savannah. There are four key elements that could trigger a rapid and systemic transformation for the protection of the Amazon and its peoples.
Source: UN Environment Programme
Amazon Rainforest loss could reach new height in just 5 years
11/5/2023: A recent study has found that in the five-year period between 2021 and 2025, the Amazon could lose half the total forest cover it lost in the previous 20 years. Experts say the Amazon Rainforest is currently experiencing this pessimistic scenario.
Source: Mongabay
EU takes major step for ‘deforestation-free’ trade
19/4/2023: The European Parliament has voted for the Deforestation-Free Products Regulation which requires companies importing commodities to trace their source back to the plot of land where they were produced. Deforestation is second only to fossil fuels as a global source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: Human Rights Watch