Results for Climate change

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the United States took another major step toward establishing itself as a rogue state on June 1, when it withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. For years, Trump has indulged the strange conspiracy theory that, as he put it in 2012, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.” But this was not the reason Trump advanced for withdrawing the US from the Paris accord. Rather, the agreement, he alleged, was bad for the US and implicitly unfair to it. - Joseph E. Stiglitz.

"Deeply disappointing," is how the incoming President of COP23, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, this morning responded to the decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Bainimarama said the impacts of climate change "are obvious, and humankind ignores these facts at its peril."

As climate change negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, between 8 – 18 May, to discuss rules and processes to implement the Paris Agreement, the Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Gebru Jember Endalew is concerned little is being done to support poor and small countries vulnerable to climate change. Underdeveloped Pacific Island nations such as Tonga also lack the capacity to adequately protect their population from natural disasters, increased drought and sea level rises.

Last month, the United Kingdom enjoyed its first full day without the need for coal power since the Industrial Revolution began. That’s remarkable news – and a sign of the future to come as the country that began humanity’s centuries-long romance with burning black rocks is now moving on. Just as the fax gave way to email and whale oil gave way to kerosene, so is coal giving way to cleaner forms of energy. And that handover will happen faster – perhaps fast enough to let us at least slow down the pace of climate change – if the massive and mighty insurance industry would play its part.

With the exception of launching a nuclear war, it is hard to think of anything a US president could do that is liable to harm more people than last month’s order canceling rules issued under former President Barack Obama to freeze the construction of new coal-fired power plants and shut down many old ones. President Donald Trump’s order followed his pledge to rescind stricter fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and his announcement that he wants to slash spending on climate science. By Peter Singer.

The Pacific Whale Declaration was endorsed and signed today by 11 Pacific countries at the Whales in a Changing Ocean conference, ending on a high note in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. The declaration focuses on stronger whale conservation in the Pacific region with Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Tonga signing on today.

The depletion of water sources in places around the world by 2040, will affect up to 600 million children worldwide, warns a UNICEF report released on March 22 to mark World Water Day. The report focuses on how the wellbeing of children is threatened by lack of access to safe water and how a changing climate will worsen the situation in the future. Pacific Island countries face particular challenges.

A huge crack on the Antarctic Peninsula, across the Larsen C ice shelf, set to break free an enormous iceberg six times larger than Tonga’s combined landmass, is being monitored by scientists at Project MIDAS, an Antarctic research group. The crack is more than 100 miles in length and 1,500 feet across and the ice mass could break free within the next few months. The loss of the ice shelf, which acts as a barrier to the flow of land ice, can cause ice to move faster into the ocean contributing to a faster rise of global sea levels.

A new climate change adaptation project for Tonga, likely to cost more than $40m in grant financing, is expected to be submitted to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) board for approval in June.