15 April 2015, Severe drought due to climate change: Where and when? New research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) shows that some regions may see unprecedented levels of drought before 2050—drawing increasing urgency to calls for adaptation and updated water management policy. Many regions of the world, including the Mediterranean and the western United States, may see unprecedented drought due to climate change before the year 2050. These findings were presented this week at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria. Read More here
Yearly Archives: 2015
2 April 2015 World Resource Institute: Tree Cover Loss Spikes in Russia and Canada, Remains High Globally. “New, high-resolution satellite-based maps released today by the University of Maryland and Google on Global Forest Watch, a partnership of over 60 organizations convened by the World Resources Institute, reveal a significant recent surge in tree cover loss largely in Russia and Canada during 2013…” Read More here
31 March 2015 Despite deforestation, the Earth is getting greener. “Analysis of 20 years of satellite data has revealed the total amount of vegetation above ground globally has increased by almost the equivalent of 4 billion tonnes of carbon between 2003 and 2012. This is despite ongoing large-scale deforestation in the tropics. An Australian-led international team of scientists published the findings in Nature Climate Change, finding a range of causes for the increase. The increase in vegetation primarily came from a lucky combination of environmental and economic factors and massive tree-planting projects in China,” said Dr Yi Liu a lead author and remote sensing scientist from the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.” Read More here
28 March 2015, The Spectator, Sweden’s feminist foreign minister has dared to tell the truth about Saudi Arabia. What happens now concerns us all. Margot Wallström’s principled stand deserves wide support. Betrayal seems more likely. If the cries of ‘Je suis Charlie’ were sincere, the western world would be convulsed with worry and anger about the Wallström affair. It has all the ingredients for a clash-of-civilisations confrontation. A few weeks ago Margot Wallström, the Swedish foreign minister, denounced the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia. As the theocratic kingdom prevents women from travelling, conducting official business or marrying without the permission of male guardians, and as girls can be forced into child marriages where they are effectively raped by old men, she was telling no more than the truth. Wallström went on to condemn the Saudi courts for ordering that Raif Badawi receive ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for setting up a website that championed secularism and free speech. These were ‘mediaeval methods’, she said, and a ‘cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression’. And once again, who can argue with that? The backlash followed the pattern set by Rushdie, the Danish cartoons and Hebdo. Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador and stopped issuing visas to Swedish businessmen. The United Arab Emirates joined it. The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, which represents 56 Muslim-majority states, accused Sweden of failing to respect the world’s ‘rich and varied ethical standards’ — standards so rich and varied, apparently, they include the flogging of bloggers and encouragement of paedophiles. Meanwhile, the Gulf Co-operation Council condemned her ‘unaccept-able interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, and I wouldn’t bet against anti-Swedish riots following soon. Yet there is no ‘Wallström affair’. Outside Sweden, the western media has barely covered the story, and Sweden’s EU allies have shown no inclination whatsoever to support her. A small Scandinavian nation faces sanctions, accusations of Islamophobia and maybe worse to come, and everyone stays silent. As so often, the scandal is that there isn’t a scandal. Read More here