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Archive for November 29th, 2013
Typhoon Haiyan: climate change is increasing the intensity of extreme weather events
Posted by Guardian: Paddy Ashdown on November 29th, 2013
Guardian: Three weeks ago the most powerful typhoon ever recorded to hit land destroyed parts of the Philippines. The devastation has been catastrophic, flattening homes, schools and hospitals and leaving thousands dead and 5.5 million children affected.
Unicef has worked in the Philippines since 1948 and experienced staff returning from the worst affected areas such as Leyte are reporting having never seen anything like this – not even after the Asian tsunami on Boxing day almost a decade ago. They have...
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China: Desert lake shrinking faster than ever
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 29th, 2013
Guardian: The rate at which China's largest desert freshwater lake is shrinking has accelerated dramatically in the past four years, figures show.
Hongjiannao Lake, several hundred kilometres to the west of Beijing, has been disappearing since the 1970s, due to a combination of coal mining and climate change. But the speed at which it is losing area has increased rapidly since 2009, when it measured 46 square kilometres (sq km), down from 67 sq km in 1969.
Data released by local meteorological agencies...
Pitting profits and food supply against the natural world
Posted by Conversation: None Given on November 29th, 2013
Conversation: The arguments for increasing food demand are well publicised and well understood. By the middle of this century, the planet’s population will top nine billion, presenting a third more mouths to feed. Much of the world is getting richer, which leads to changes in diet such as increasing meat and dairy consumption, foodstuffs that use up more resources than crops. Countries are also becoming increasingly urbanised, leading people to want food that is cheap, convenient and, inevitably, wasted. Current...
Pakistan: ‘Climate changes increasing workload on women’
Posted by Express Tribune: None Given on November 29th, 2013
Express Tribune: The impact of climate change is mostly discussed in terms of global warming, agriculture and health but on Thursday, a seminar organised by Shirkat Gah looked into how the women in Pakistan have been affected by the climatic change in Sindh’s coastal belt. “The lack of fresh water has severely affected the people, especially women,” said Sikandar Brohi of the Participatory Initiatives. “Give them fresh water and they’ll start walking on the path to development eventually.” Shirkat Gah, women’s...