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UNESCO says Great Barrier Reef not in danger
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on May 30th, 2015
Deutsche-Welle: UNESCO has stopped short of listing the Great Barrier Reef as endangered but expressed concerns over its health, as environmental groups say the Australian government must up efforts to protect the unique ecosystem.
"This decision has been described by some as a reprieve for the reef. It is not a reprieve - it is a big, red flag from UNESCO," said Shani Tager, Greenpeace Australia Reef campaigner said in a statement.
UNESCO said it welcomed the Australian government's efforts to protect the...
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Ban highlights climate risks as Vanuatu counts dead Cyclone Pam
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on March 16th, 2015
Deutsche-Welle: Attending a UN disaster avoidance conference in Japan, Ban said islands and coastal nations needed "special attention." Before Pam struck Vanuatu late Friday, Pacific islands had repeatedly warned that climate change means higher weather risks.
"Climate change is intensifying the risks for hundreds of millions of people, particularly in small island developing states and coastal areas," Ban told the conference.
What we are discussing here is very real for millions," he said.
France, which...
Study says sea levels rising quicker than thought
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on January 16th, 2015
Deutsche-Welle: US researchers have used probability theory to calculate that the global mean sea level rose slower throughout most of the 20th century than previously thought. But more recently, it may be rising faster.
A new study helps clarify the mystery of why the sea levels seem to have risen faster than was expected during most of the 20th century.
So far, researchers assumed that worldwide, the oceans have been rising constantly by 1.6 to 1.9 millimeters per year. But this was far more than could be...
Permafrost thaw threatens Arctic infrastructure
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on December 19th, 2014
Deutsche-Welle: Global warming is changing the Arctic - while some herald the opportunities that come with easier access, the thaw could literally yank the ground out from under communities. DW talked to an expert about the risks.
DW: Why should we be concerned about warming and thawing in the Arctic?
Hugues Lantuit: Permafrost is frozen ground in the Arctic, and it's currently warming at a fast pace. What we've done in a European Union project is to build for the first time an integrated database on permafrost...
Africa hopes Lima meeting will re-energize climate talks
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on November 27th, 2014
Deutsche Welle: At the upcoming UN climate change meeting in Lima (COP 20), African groups are hoping that progress can be made towards the goal of reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions. COP 20 - the acronym for the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - begins in Lima, Peru, on December 1, 2014. It is seen by environmental experts as a crucial springboard to COP 21 in Paris a year later, where it is hoped a binding and universal agreement on limiting the effects...
Greenland ice melting at record speed
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on August 22nd, 2014
Deutsche-Welle: Satellite data shows ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are declining at record speed. The annual loss of ice has doubled in the case of Greenland and tripled in the West Antarctic compared to figures from 2009.
Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven mapping elevation changes of Greenlandic and Antarctic glaciers have found ice sheets are melting at record pace. Per year, the ice sheets dump some 500 cubic kilometers of ice into the oceans. The researchers say that...
Antarctic melt could raise sea levels faster
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on August 15th, 2014
Deutsche-Welle: Cold, white, forever icy – the Antarctic should be the last place to melt in a warming climate. But a new study shows the ice continent could become the major contributor to sea level rise before the end of the century.
Melting ice from the frozen continent of Antarctica currently makes up less than 10 percent of the observed rise in global sea levels - the rest comes from the thermal expansion of warming seas, and from melting glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet.
But a new analysis by an...
UN warns world unprepared risk from climate change
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on March 31st, 2014
Deutsche Welle: The UN's expert group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published the second part of its broader Fifth Assessment Report on Monday, containing updated climate forecasts and a stronger warning to governments. It assesses the impacts of climate change, and how vulnerable and adaptable human and natural systems are to it.
The latest report warns that rising carbon emissions will increase the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and migration. The impact of climate change, the IPCC...
Cost of climate change high on Davos agenda
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on January 24th, 2014
Deutsche Welle: Issues related to climate change are taking center stage at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. In WEF's Global Risk Report, extreme weather events are viewed as the second biggest threat to societies.
From within the Davos Congress Center, you can see skiers racing down the slopes outside of the World Economic Forum. Looking at the snow outside, some participants might wonder why there's so much talk about global warming.
Not so Christiana Figueres. Standing in the snow, the UN climate...
UN expert warns climate change happening now
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on November 10th, 2013
Deutsche Welle: Climate change is erasing jobs, choking water supplies and permanently shifting the way people live, a new report from the UN University has revealed. Climate expert Dr Koko Warner warns that action is needed now.
The United Nations University has released the second volume of Pushed to the Limit, a study that examines evidence of loss and damage caused by climate change from the perspective of affected people in nine vulnerable countries. In the run up to the climate conference in Warsaw, Dr...