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Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 18 April 2011 Representatives from more than 30 countries are expected to hammer out a formal agreement for future discussions on forest and climate issues when they meet next month in the Republic of Congo, reports the [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 24 February 2011 Ancient megadroughts that lasted thousands of years in what is now the American Southwest could offer a preview of a climate changed by modern greenhouse gas emissions, researchers reported on Wednesday.  A giant dust storm during the 1930s Dust Bowl. The scientists found these persistent dry periods were different from even the most severe decades-long modern droughts, including the 1930s “Dust Bowl.” And they determined that these millennial droughts occurred at times when Earth’s mean annual temperature was similar to or slightly higher than what it is now. These findings tally with projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others, according to study author Peter Fawcett of the University of New Mexico. The results were published in the current edition of Nature. “The IPCC model suggests that when you warm the climate, you’ll see extended droughts in this part of the world and this is what the paleo record seems to be telling us,” Fawcett said in a telephone interview. “When you’ve got past temperatures that were at or above today’s conditions, conditions got drier.” Continue reading A thousand year drought Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 22 January 2011 New research shows that 2010 set new records for the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, expected to be a major contributor to projected sea level rises in coming decades.  The shocking rate of Greenland’s ice melt is a wakeup call “This past melt season was exceptional, with melting in some areas stretching up to 50 days longer than average,” said Dr. Marco Tedesco, Director of the Cryospheric Processes Laboratory at the City College of New York (CCNY – CUNY), who is leading a project studying variables that affect ice sheet melting. “Melting in 2010 started exceptionally early at the end of April and ended quite late in mid- September.” The study, with different aspects sponsored by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA, examined surface temperature anomalies over the Greenland ice sheet surface, as well as estimates of surface melting from satellite data, ground observations and models. In an article published today in Environmental Research Letters, Dr. Tedesco and co-authors note that in 2010, summer temperatures up to 3°C (5.4°F) above the average were combined with reduced snowfall. The capital of Greenland, Nuuk, had the warmest spring and summer since records began in 1873. Continue reading Ice sheet melt sets new record Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 December 2010 By 2030, climate change will indirectly cause nearly one million deaths a year and inflict 157 billion dollars in damage, according to estimates presented at UN talks on Friday.  Poor countries will face acute exposure to climate change The biggest misery will be heaped on more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries, but the United States will pay the highest economic bill, it said. “In less than 20 years, almost all countries in the world will realise high vulnerability to climate impact as the planet heats up,” the report warned. The study, compiled by a humanitarian research organisation and climate-vulnerable countries, assessed how 184 nations will be affected in four areas: health, weather disasters, the loss of human habitat through desertification and rising seas, and economic stress. Those facing “acute” exposure are 54 poor or very poor countries, including India. They will suffer disproportionately to others, although they are least to blame for the man-made greenhouse gases that drive climate change, it said. “Without corrective actions” a press release accompanying the study said, the world is “headed for nearly one million deaths every single year by 2030.” Continue reading Climate: a million deaths a year by 2030 Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 07 November 2010 Farmers around the world are adopting new ways of producing food that both help cope with climate change and reduce farming’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new FAO website on ‘climate-smart’ agriculture published today.  Rice is the 2nd largest emitter of the greenhouse gas - methane Burkina Faso’s Yatenga province is being reclaimed through the use of an improved version of traditional “planting pits” known as zaï – now lands which were once barely productive are achieving yields five times greater than before. In northern Cameroon, traditional varieties of millet, sorghum and maize had low resistance to water scarcity and production there typically suffered in the face of lowered rainfalls and droughts. Starting in 2006, Cameroon’s national agriculture research institute developed improved varieties of these crops, and with support from FAO established farmer seed enterprises and got them into farmers’ fields, where today they are producing good yields in spite of unfavourable conditions. In Mozambique, smallholder farmers are getting paid for sequestering carbon through the adoption of various agrofoestry practices and reducing deforestation and degradation of forest lands. Farmers in Vietnam are being encouraged to use special “digesters” that transform farm waste into biogas used for daily cooking and lighting needs and also create nutrient-rich slurry for fertilizing fields. And on Bohol Island, in the Philippines, improved infrastructure has helped improve water management and stabilized rice production, while rice farming techniques that use less water were introduced, stretching local supplies still further – and reducing production of greenhouse gases in the paddies. “A shift to climate-smart agriculture helps advance several important goals: doing so will not only help shield farmers from the adverse effects of climate change and offer a way to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester atmospheric carbon, but can also improve farm yields and household incomes,” said Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources. Continue reading Farmers adopt ‘climate-smart’ agriculture |
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