Key questions about "loss and damage" from climate change

 Following are the 8 key questions answered in the WRI's article:

1) What Is Loss and Damage?
2) What Counts as Loss and Damage?
3) What Is the Difference Between Mitigation, Adaptation, and Addressing Loss and Damage?
4) What’s the History of Loss and Damage in UN Climate Negotiations?

Report on climate change impacts and costs in Europe

Report, published by European Environment Agency, shows that climate change is already having wide-ranging impacts on ecosystems, economic sectors and human health and well-being in Europe. Climate change is affecting all regions in Europe, but the impacts are not uniform. Most impacts of climate change across Europe have been adverse, although some impacts have been beneficial.

Ancient civilizations that were destroyed by climate change

This isn't the first time climate change has threatened civilisation. Many scientists speculate that devastating environmental changes caused by climate change are largely to blame for disappearance some famous past civilisations. The decline in Ancestral Puebloans, who suddenly abandoned their distinctive homes in the Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon villages, located on Colorado Plateau, "coincided with a prolonged drought in the San Juan Basin between 1130 and 1180. Lack of rainfall combined with an overtaxed environment may have led to food shortages". 

Too hot to work... rising temperatures reduce productivity

Global warming will cost the world over $2 trillion a year in lost productivity by 2030, according to the study, published by the researchers from New Zealand.

U.S. researchers: climate change is a significant threat to the human health

New report The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, published by U.S. Global Change Research Program, examines how climate change is already affecting human health and the changes that may occur in the future. Climate change endangers people's by affecting food and water sources, the air we breathe, the weather we experience, and our interactions with the built and natural environments.

World Bank: over 1.3 billion people may be exposed to climate related risks by 2050

The report published by World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery states that total annual damage, averaged over a 10-year period, grew up tenfold during last 40 years and reached over $140bn in 2005-2014, and the average number of people affected each year exceeds 170 million. 

Pacific islands may disappear because of climate change

Study published by researches from Australia confirms the connection between human-caused climate change and quick shoreline erosion of 33 South Pacific reef islands, including five that were completely vanished between 1947 and 2014, as well as six with decrease of shorelines by more than 20 percent.

El Niño-induced weather extremes this year have cost billions of dollars in damage

According to Climate Central's analysis, exceptionally strong El Niño this year caused weather transformation leading to disastrous events like tornadoes, droughts, wildfire, floods, food and water shortages all over the world. El Niño shifts a large pool of warm ocean waters from the western to the central and eastern tropical Pacific, disrupting its typical atmosphere circulation patterns, what can impact weather thousands of miles away.

Chocolate lovers beware - its production requires over 17000 liters of freshwater per kilogram!

Global warming and quickly growing water use for human life and activity needs are the major risks leading to depletion of Earth's freshwater resources. Only 8% of water is used for domestic needs, while 70% - for irrigation, and 22% - for industry.

30 years on, Ukraine remembers Chernobyl disaster, but still heavily depends on nuclear power

Today Ukraine marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, world’s worst technological catastrophe. Over 100 times more radiation was released than by Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Thirty-one plant workers and firemen died in the immediate aftermath of the accident, most from acute radiation sickness. According to UN report, published in 2005, “up to 4,000” could eventually be killed by the invisible poison in Ukraine and neighbouring Russia and Belarus. 

Climate change challenges on Canada's Arctic coast

All of Canada’s  coasts, the longest in the world, are being impacted by changing climate, and these impacts will continue to increase in the future. It is an ice that distinguishes Canada's about 176,000 kilometres of North coastline from the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. Authors of the new report, published by the Government of Canada, have found that both, sea ice and ground ice within the permafrost, are very vulnerable to the global warming.

Greenpeace: 8,359 installed coal-fired power plant units consume as much water as one billion people

Coal power generation is one of the thirstiest industries, for example, a 500 MW coal-fired power plant needs to suck dry an Olympic-sized swimming pool of fresh water every three minutes for cooling purposes. Still, there are now 2,668 proposed coal power units all over the world with total capacity of 1300 GW.

Most exposed countries to sea level rise

Analysis of worldwide exposure to sea level rise and coastal flooding,  conducted by Climate Central,  relied on global data on elevation and population. Study showed that 147 to 216 million people live on land that will be below sea level or regular flood levels by the end of the century, assuming GHG emissions continue on their current trend. Read more at www.climatecentral.org

World Economic Forum: climate change is a top global risk in terms of impact

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2016   is based on the annual survey, in which almost 750 experts assessed 29 separate global risks for both impact and likelihood over a 10-year time horizon. A failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation was found to be the risk with the greatest potential impact.

Polar bear populations in Alaska and Canada have declined by nearly half

The bears rely on floating sea ice to mate, travel, and hunt. But thanks to climate change, this ice is melting quickly, forcing polar bears onto land, far away from their typical prey—namely, seals. Without seals to eat, many bears starve to death.

Climate change costs in Australia are rising fast

Variety of climatic conditions in Australia’s puts it particularly at risk to economic, physical and social loss when it comes to extreme events – droughts, floods, storms and extreme temperatures.

Rainfall rise in the Sahel region of Africa - a rare positive effect of climate change

Study, conducted by scientists from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at Britain's Reading University, states that  continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions was likely to help more rainfall and caused a greening of the Sahel region, south of the Sahara Desert from Senegal to Sudan.

Climate change may affect coffee lovers

Recent study, published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Journal, predicts severe negative climate change impacts on Arabica coffee production in Africa. The results of  another research, based on global circulation models, suggest  decreased areas suitable for Arabica coffee in America and Asia. 

High death toll from India’s heat wave...

At least 1,400 people died in India in less than one week from unprecedentedly high temperatures, which reached  50C  (122F)  In some regions. 

Climate Change in Court: From the Netherlands to the World

The Dutch courts have just been handed a lawsuit that will test litigation in the Netherlands with this question in a manner that has implications for the entire world. The allegation in the lawsuit brought by the Urgenda Foundation and 990 individual Dutch citizens is that the Dutch government has failed to respond to the emergency of anthropogenic climate change and that failure violates the fundamental human rights of not just Dutch citizens, but of the entire world as well.
The Dutch lawsuit is based on the Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations, a document drafted by an international panel of legal experts from across all the major legal systems. The Oslo principles contend that judges have the power and the duty to entertain litigation of climate change issues even if the international negotiations to that end remain deadlocked. Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com