Commonwealth backs $10bn Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation Fund

The clock is ticking. The UNFCCC’s Copenhagen summit is just 7 days away, and recent reports have been encouraging. Shortly after China and the US made announcements on commitments to reduce their GHGS, Commonwealth leaders backed a $10bn Climate Change fund. Proposed by UK PM Gordon Brown, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the fund seeks to provide immediate financial support to those States most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

UK PM Gordon Brown said on Friday that half of the fund should be aimed at helping the most vulnerable states to adapt to climate change, whilst the other half should be targeted at measures to reduce GHGs in the least developed countries.

The first funding would be made available early next year, before any international agreement could take effect, whilst there are suggestions that funds for the most vulnerable small island states would be fast-tracked and made available immediately.

contd… http://www.climaticoanalysis.org/post/the-commonwealth-announces-10bn-climate-change-fund/

Climate change: What price will future generations pay?

Climate change poses a huge barrier to a fulfilling future, argues Lord Puttnam, an ambassador for Unicef UK. In this week’s Green Room, he asks what price children will have to pay for three or four carbon-happy generations?  

Our children and those as yet unborn deserve to live in a world that is healthier, more equitable and which offers a sustainable future

When world leaders sit round the table in Copenhagen next month to try and tackle what has become possibly the greatest moral crisis of my generation, a unique responsibility rests on their shoulders as they try to decide what kind of world future generations will inherit.

What price will children have to pay for the three or four carbon-happy generations that have lived before them?

The prognosis is not good. In the past month alone, the world has been shaken by a series of disasters, such as typhoons and floods in the Philippines.

With weather-related disasters predicted to only increase in severity and frequency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the grave consequences others will face if we continue down the high emissions pathway we appear to have chosen – increased child poverty, inequity and death.

Carrying capacity

There is no doubt that my generation has uniquely contributed to this increasing chaos, and the burden my grandchildren and those of others will have to carry because of it.

What is less clear, however, is what price today’s decision makers will place on the well-being of future generations when carving out their response to climate change.

A new paper released by Unicef UK – Climate Change, Child’s Rights and Intergenerational Justice – makes it clear that their responsibility is huge, particularly when it comes to protecting the rights and future well-being of children.

Climate change is not just an environmental problem, it is a human rights issue. In fact it’s the biggest child rights problem of our time.

With the potential rise of up to 160,000 child deaths a year in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia directly resulting from climate change, it is children, the most vulnerable children, who will be caught at the centre of the storm.

They will unquestionably carry the greatest burden – both as children and as future adults – and yet they are the least culpable for its damage.

Unicef UK and the Children in a Changing Climate coalition have been working tirelessly to put intergenerational justice and child rights on to the climate change agenda.

contd… http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8374965.stm

Angry ‘girl child’ strikes Sri Lanka

by Malaka Rodrigo | SundayTimes | 30.03.2008

March is usually a hot month but heavy rains have lashed Sri Lanka this year. Meteorologists believe the prevailing weather is due to the La Nina conditions in the Pacific.

Farmers in Dehiattakandiya: A harvest destroyed by the freak weather patterns

Surveying his paddy fields in Anuradhapura, Punchi Banda had high hopes that he could sell his crop for a better price this year. He hoped that at least part of the debt that had been accumulating for years could be settled with this money. The paddy was ready for harvesting. Then came the rains. Punchi Banda could only pray to the weather gods. The continuing heavy rain flooded his paddy field and the ‘ready to harvest’ paddy was soon underwater. “It never rained during the harvesting period like this before,” he said in despair. The Maha harvest looked promising this time, but hundreds of paddy farmers like Punchi Banda now face the same fate in many districts because of the unseasonal rains.

March is traditionally a drier period for Sri Lanka between the north-eastern monsoon and the inter-monsoonal rains. The earth’s movement exposes Sri Lanka directly to the sun during this month, bringing swinging heat waves across the country. This year, the weather gods had different plans. Why? Is the unusual weather linked to the global warming phenomenon?

Weather experts at the Meteorology Department believe these unseasonal rains have been caused by conditions related to the phenomenon known as La Nina – meaning ‘girl child’ in Spanish. The phenomenon, which is said to have an impact on global weather patterns, takes place when there is a drop in the sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

The large-scale variations in atmospheric pressure between the Pacific and the Indian oceans affect the trade winds. When the wind moves across large oceans, it absorbs water that later comes down as rain or storms. Recently there has been a change of temperature in the eastern seas near Indonesia/Sumatra which is believed to be due to the La Nina phenomenon.

The famous El Nino is the opposite condition of La Nina and usually brings drought conditions to countries like Sri Lanka. Climatologists say that during the last century El Niño and La Niña events occurred in equal numbers with an average return period of about four years. They usually last about a year and peak in the northern hemisphere winter. But there seems to be a change of the patterns. Scientists are still looking for a Global Warming “fingerprint” on El Nino La Nina conditions. But many believe it is likely we will see more El Nino/La Nina because of global warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the UN’s scientific arm studying climate change — warned that the frequency of extreme weather patterns like heavy rainfall will increase due to global warming.  IPCC vice chairman Mohan Munasinghe says the recent changes in weather patterns in Sri Lanka are consistent with climate change. He also points out that we do not as yet have the detailed climate change models specific to Sri Lanka, to prove these phenomena.

According to Prof. Munasinghe, who shared the Nobel Peace prize on behalf of IPCC for its work on climate change, the need of the hour is to build a climate change model for identifying the patterns. The Meteorology Department established a special unit called ‘The Centre for Climate Change Studies’ (CCCS)’ to research climate change patterns impacting on Sri Lanka. Established by a special Cabinet Memorandum in 1999, the unit’s main tasks include research, monitoring, gathering and dissemination and execution of models of climate change. Though having initially conducted some research, of late, the CCCS has been dormant. Even the UNDP – the United Nation’s body on poverty alleviation — in its Human Development report, points out that the economies based on agriculture would be badly hit. Unfortunately, paddy farmers in Sri Lanka had to taste this bitter truth during the last few weeks.

“This time, the rain is devastating,” said Anuradhapura’s Senior Irrigation Engineer Frankie Perera. He says disturbances to paddy cultivation due to heavy rains or prolonged drought conditions have increased over the past few years.  Mr. Perera says the sudden heavy rains are of little use to the irrigation systems. Heavy rain fails to fill irrigation tanks which are the lifeline for paddy farming. The irrigation tanks depend on the seeping water that slowly flow from catchments areas. Sudden intensified rain doesn’t give time for the soil to absorb water and it just flows to the river system. It also causes soil erosion and fills the canal system with mud.

Paddy farming needs a spread-out rainfall and the traditional Yala and Maha seasons are designed according to such predictable weather patterns. The despondent farmers like Punchi Banda battling to save their harvest would not have any clue of La Nina, El Nino or global warming. Many of them will never know about the “child girl” that brought trouble for them. They can only pray for a better Yala season. But will the next season too be affected? Will there be a drought instead of unexpected rain? With global warming and climate change, nothing appears to be predictable.

Climate culprits
La Niña is a phenomenon that occurs due to cooler sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific ocean. During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 0.5 °C. Like La Nina means “little girl”, the El Nino meaning “little boy” in Spanish is the opposite. During El Nino, the sea surface temperature will be higher than normal, atleast by 0.5 °C .

What are the global impacts of La Niña?
Both El Niño and La Niña impact on global climate patterns, the tropics being especially vulnerable. For instance, some parts of Asia can be prone to drought during El Niño, but are typically wetter than normal during La Niña.

How are sea surface temperatures monitored?
Observations of conditions in the tropical Pacific are essential for the prediction of climate variations. Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean are monitored with data buoys and satellites.  To provide necessary data, a network of buoys that measure temperature, currents and winds in the equatorial band are set up in the ocean. These buoys transmit data that are available to researchers.

http://sundaytimes.lk/080330/Plus/plus000018.html