Give Priority to Environment

By Ajay Vaishnav

Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh's decision to impose a blanket ban on mining in 'no-go' areas is welcome. It makes sense to push for a complete ban in mining in 'no-go' areas, which is just 35% of the forests under purview. A skewed mining policy allows states vast discretionary powers in allocation of contracts, which has led to rampant illegal mining and blatant encroachments in reserved forests. The reluctance of many states in implementing much-touted safeguards like monitoring and compensatory afforestation is obvious. Cases like the illegal mining reported in Karnataka expose the hollowness of eco-friendly rhetoric by state governments. In that context, it's a relief that someone's there to crack the whip.
It is unfortunate that some view Ramesh's pro-environment stance through the grid of development alone. Such an opposition fails to recognise the urgent need to arrest environmental degradation, which is frequently irreversible. If corporations indulge in unabashed loot and state governments play footsie with them, it's incumbent on the Union ministry of environment and forests to lay down a line in the sand by declaring environmentally sensitive zones to be no-go areas. Corporations and state governments cannot be trusted to clean up afterwards, once you let them in. It's all very well to talk about a golden mean, but let the message sink in first that environmental destruction must be prevented at all costs.
And even if mining companies go into ecologically sensitive zones with the best of intentions, sometimes the damage done to the environment and bio-diversity is irreversible. Not to mention that burning the coal which gets mined will further pollute the air and add to the greenhouse gases that are causing the planet to warm up. More expensive coal will spur the search for greener energy sources.
Courtesy: The Times of India

Taj Mahal Threatened by Pollution

AGRA, INDIA: The Taj Mahal in Agra, India is one of the world's great sights, but it is in danger of being irreparably damaged by air and water pollution.
Twelve years ago the government started a programme to save the monument, with Bill Clinton saying that pollution had done "what 350 years of wars, invasions and natural disasters have failed to do."

In 1998, when the white marble of the famous monument began to turn yellow, warning bells went off. India's Supreme Court ordered that more than £90 million be spent on restoring the country's most famous monument. Conservationists have taken a number of steps to curb pollution in Agra which is a growing manufacturing centre. Cars have been banned from within 500 metres of the monument. An LED display gives a running tally on air pollution. Diesel-run rickshaws have been replaced by cleaner vehicles, a road by-pass has been created and there has been heavy investment in a refinery to reduce emissions.
But despite these actions, a new report has found that pollution levels have increased dramatically; so much so that emissions of nitrogen oxide have reached higher levels than those of twelve years ago. more>>
Courtesy: treehugger.com

EPA Reports Reduced Toxics in 2009 in New England

BOSTON, US: Fewer toxics were released into the environment in New England last year than in 2008 and the weak economy may have been one reason. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says about 21.9 million pounds of chemicals were released in the six states in 2009, the most recent year available. That's down by about 2.4 million pounds from 2008.
In the U.S., 3.37 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released, down 12 percent from 2008. EPA spokesman David Deegan in Boston says the reasons may include a fall in business activity due to the recession and tougher environmental standards.
The EPA says chemicals released into the air, land and water include ammonia, sulfuric and hydrochloric acid and copper compounds used in manufacturing, mining, electric utilities and in commercial hazardous waste.
Courtesy: The Associated Press

Sweden's King Focuses on Environment

The King's speech began his speech, as always, with the words 'Dear Swedes, at home and abroad' and continued by looking at the environment, where he compared the Earth to an apple with a thin and brittle skin.
'If the Earth was an apple, so life on Earth for humans, animals and plants is as fragile as the dew on the apple peel that can be so easily wiped away with a sleeve" the King explained to the Swedish people. There was no mention of the recently published biography which goes into lurid detail about the King's numerous affairs with younger women including Camilla Henemark, the singer from the pop group Army Of Lovers.
According to a survey published today 63% of Swedes said they would like to see the King make way for his 33-year-old daughter, Victoria, within the next 10 years. Only 30% said he should reign until his death, while the remaining seven percent did not offer an opinion.
COurtesy: http://www.thelocal.se/31068/20101225/

Petition Seeks to Declare National Green Tribunal Act Unconstitutional

CHENNAI, INDIA: A student of the School of Excellence in Law has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking to declare the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act 2010 as unconstitutional.
In his public interest litigation petition, M. Naveen Kumar, studying B.A., B.L. (Hons) course here, said that the Act received Presidential assent on June 2 this year. The legislation provided for constitution of the Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural resources and giving relief and compensation for damage. By virtue of this law, the National Environmental Tribunal Act and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act were repealed. The cases pending before the two forums stood transferred to the NGT. The petitioner said in cases where substantial questions relating to environment was involved, the High Courts were exercising their writ jurisdiction to provide remedy to the affected people. The blanket ban imposed under the new Act on the jurisdiction of civil courts expressly and the High Courts impliedly would be impermissible in law. Right to judicial review before the High Court had been recognised as part of the basic structure of the Constitution. more>>
Courtesy: The Hindu

Researchers Develop Reactor to Make Fuel From Sunlight

A simple reactor that mimics plants by turning sunlight into fuel has been demonstrated in the laboratory, boosting hopes for a large-scale renewable source of liquid fuel.
"We have a big energy problem and we have to think big," said Prof Sossina Haile, at the California Institute of Technology, who led the research.
Haile estimates that a rooftop reactor could produce about three gallons of fuel a day. She thinks transport fuels would be the first application of the reactor, if it goes on to commercial use. But she said an equally important use for the renewable fuels would be to store solar energy so it is available at times of peak demand, and overnight. She says the first improvements that will be made to the existing reactor will be to improve the insulation to help stop heat loss, a simple move that she expects to treble the current efficiency.
The key component is made from the metal cerium, which is almost as abundant as copper, unlike other rare and expensive metals frequently used as catalysts, such as platinum. Therefore, said Haile, availability would not limit the use of the device. "There is nothing cost prohibitive in our set-up," she said. "And there is plenty of cerium for this technology to make a major contribution to global gasoline supplies."
The fossil fuels used by vehicles, ships and aeroplanes pose the biggest challenge in the search for low-carbon energy, as they are highly energy-dense and portable, unlike alternatives such as batteries or nuclear reactors. An efficient, large-scale way of converting solar energy into a renewable liquid fuel could play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change. more>>
Courtesy: guardian.co.uk

Rise in Green Energy Consumption in Scotland

More than a quarter of Scotland's electricity now comes from renewable energy sources, according to official statistics. The amount of energy generated by wind, wave and solar power increased by a fifth last year and now accounts for 27% of the nation's energy consumption.
Energy efficiency drives are also thought to have accounted for a four per cent drop in the amount of power consumed.
Climate change minister Roseanna Cunningham said: "Scotland is blessed with abundant natural energy sources, particularly in our seas, and these figures follow a steady trend towards Scotland's energy becoming greener and cleaner. "As consumption here fell by four per cent in 2009, exports to the rest of the UK are rising, with nearly a quarter of all our electricity produced going south, contributing further to sustainable economic growth. more>>
Courtesy: lythamstannesexpress.co.uk

China Moves to Defuse Trade Row With US Over Green Technology

China tried to defuse a trade row with the United States over wind technology on Thursday, as bilateral rivalries threatened to dash global hopes for green energy co-operation.
Officials in Beijing said they were willing to discuss incentives for turbine manufacturers, which the Obama administration described as "illegal subsidies" in a request for talks on the subject at the World Trade Organisation.

The US claims China has given an unfair advantage to domestic firms by channelling hundreds of millions of dollars to them through a special fund established in 2008.
The United Steelworkers union (USW) is frustrated that this weakens the competitiveness of US firms such as General Electric in a Chinese market that has doubled in size almost every year since 2005 and is now the biggest in the world in terms of generating capacity. more>>
Courtesy: guardian.co.uk

Kerala Cricket Association Gets Notice for Felling Mangroves

By Pankaj Sharma

NEW DELHI: Weeks after they celebrated the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nod to the Kochi Indian Premeire League (IPL) team, a bad news awaits cricket fans in the Indian state of Kerala. The ministry of environment and forest (MOEF) issued show cause notice to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) on Tuesday for allegedly felling mangroves to construct an international cricket stadium.
The ministry cited a report by its Bangalore regional office that accused KCA of violating environmental rules by destroying mangroves in the Coastal Regulation Zone-I (CRZ-I) at Parambimoola near Edakochi of Ernakulam district, for construction of the stadium.
According to the report, the site has backwater systems and till September 3, 2010, there were mangroves which were allegedly removed by September 22.
In its notice, the Union environment ministry asked the KCA chairman to take “appropriate action” in accordance with the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, under the powers delegated to the Kerala coastal zone management authority (KCZMA) for violation of the CRZ Notification, 1991, by KCA. The association has been asked to submit the report within 15 days.
Courtesy: DNA (http://www.dnaindia.com)

How To Make Your Car Economical?

A Bi-fuel CNG Car Does The Trick
Petrol price hits another new high: Drivers spend £8m a day more than a year ago
Dailymail, UK
Petrol price hiked by Rs 2.96 per litre
India Today
Petrol price hike: from Rs 8 to Rs 56 in 20 years
IBNLIVE.Com

Wow! That’s more than 200% raise in 20 years. But, 20 years seems to be a long time, consider this that the average individual salary rise worldwide in the same period was just over 120%. So, the difference in salary raise and rise in the cost of fuel prices is huge. It would not be wrong if I say that a large chunk of our monthly earning goes in buying the precious gasoline that drives us around. Some of us regularly get routine maintenance like servicing, engine tune-up, tyre pressure check etc to make our car more fuel efficient but how significant it is in terms of fuel economy.
There is another option that vehicle owners all over the world are exploring and that is to get a bi-fuel car. A bi-fuel car has two or more energy source unlike a regular car which is most likely powered by gasoline. There are many options for the second energy source like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or simple electricity provided by re-chargeable batteries, most common among them is CNG. A regular car needs a conversion kit to run on CNG, the process involves fitting a gas tank to store CNG, pipes to take the highly pressurised gas to the solenoid valve which then reduces pressure and delivers it to the fuel injectors for combustion inside your car's engine. This combustion or burning of fuel gives the power required to drive your car.
I got my car, a small sedan, installed with a CNG kit at 25,000 kms. I was spending around Rs 11,000 ($243) per month on petrol till that time, after the conversion to CNG the monthly expenditure on running my car came down to Rs 6000 ($132) and I could drive more as the mileage of my car increased from 14-15 kms/litre of petrol to 17-18 kms/kg of CNG At one point of time it cost me Rs 0.80 ($0.017) per kilometre to run my car on CNG. Now, that was economical and easy on my monthly budget.
A car fitted with CNG gets you more value for your hard earned money but, there are some pros and cons that must be kept in mind:
Let’s first discuss the negatives of a CNG fitted car:
> First, let’s accept it, CNG is still not very readily available. So, you have to insure that you know where to find a CNG filling station.
> You can get full tank of gasoline at any fuel station, but a full tank of CNG or any other gas is fully dependent on the pressure the CNG filling station is getting during the re-fill.
> The tank's capacity might be of 12/14 kgs or more, but you will never get a full tank. So, in a 12 kgs CNG tank the most I have ever got filled is 9 kgs.
> The power of the vehicle, while running on CNG, does go down a bit. So, while climbing a flyover you might have to switch to 2nd gear when same could have been done on 3rd or 4th gear if you were running on petrol.
> The car still takes ignition on petrol and gradually switches to CNG when the car gathers speed. The primary fuel is still gasoline.
> The engine and CNG kit has to be serviced more often.
Too much of negatives and you are thinking why should I get my car converted to CNG, but wait till you know the positive side of the story:
> Your car becomes a dual-fuel car so you always have a back-up. So, if a full tank of gasoline takes you, let’s say 340kms, then a tank full of CNG (say 9kgs) can take you approximately 166kms further.
> To switch between power sources you just have to click a button which is mostly fitted within the dashboard consol. And, this can be done when the car is still running.
> CNG is more environmentally friendly than your regular gasoline. CNG produces 90% less polluting agents and it gives off 40% less greenhouse gas emissions.
> Here comes the best part, CNG brings down your monthly car fuel expenditure to about 50%. Now, that is something that can't be ignored after all as they say, it’s all about money...honey!
Another aspect of a bi-fuel car, specially CNG car, that has to be taken into consideration is most companies don't make CNG fitted cars. You have to buy the kit and get it fitted from a professional. Also, please check with your manufacturer as once the kit is fitted the warranty of your vehicle can lapse. Check with authorities as local laws might need you to get your vehicle registration updated.
Taking everything into consideration a bi-fuel car gives you that extra edge over a single-fuel car, it may be fuel economy or environmental concerns or just the power to have something more than average car owners. I can tell you for sure that after having driven more than 66,000 kms mostly on CNG, I have never regretted my decision to install the conversion kit. Finally, whatever you do just remember, to love your car and you can get the best out of it.

Radioactive Spill At Uranium Mine In Niger

JOHANNESBURG: Greenpeace has received and verified reports that since December 11th, more than 200,000 litres of radioactive sludge from three cracked waste pools has leaked into the environment at the SOMAIR uranium mine in Niger, operated by French energy company AREVA.
Almoustapha Alhacen who carried out an inspection of the spill for NGO Aghir in'Man confirmed to Greenpeace that two hectares have been contaminated by the spill since December 11th.
“This new leakage shows that the bad practices at the AREVA uranium mines in Niger continue to threaten the health and safety of people and the environment”, said Rianne Teule, energy campaigner for Greenpeace Africa. “In contrast to AREVA’s statements claiming their operations comply with international health, safety and environmental standards, this new information shows that AREVA has not sufficiently acted to protect the Nigerien population”. more>>
Courtesy: greenpeace.org

Autism And Traffic Pollution Link Found

A child who lives near a freeway has double the risk of autism compared to other kids, researchers from California revealed in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. There has been a considerable increase in autism diagnoses over the last few years, which cannot be fully explained just by more awareness and changes in diagnostic criteria, the authors explained. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the incidence of autism in the USA rose by 57% between 2002 and 2006.
The researchers are from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) and the UC Davis MIND Institute.
Study author, Heather Volk, PhD, MPH, said: "Children born to mothers living within 309 meters of a freeway appeared to be twice as likely to have autism."
The authors believe that genetics together with environmental factors may play a significant role in the increase in autism rates.
Previous studies had shown that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can have a negative impact on a fetus' development. Some articles in academic journals had also identified a possible link between air pollution during an infant's first years of life and cognitive developmental delay. This is the first study, the authors wrote, to identify a link between autism risk and vehicular traffic pollutants.
The researchers gathered data from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment (CHARGE) study. They compared children with autism and typically developing kids. They were aged between 24 and 60 months when the study began and lived in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco. Controls were recruited from the state of California birth files and were matched for frequency to the autism cases by gender, age, and broad geographic area. Each family was evaluated with a personal visit. All the children were assessed, and autism assessment was carried out using well-validated instruments.
The investigators tracked where the mothers lived while pregnant, during their first, second and third trimesters, as well as when the babies were born. They also noted what distance each household was from a freeway or major road. Gestational ages of participants were identified with the help of ultrasound measurements as well as prenatal records. more>>

US State Proposes Stringent Pollution Curbs

By FELICITY BARRINGER

SAN FRANCISCO, US: California regulators on Thursday adopted the nation’s most comprehensive rules to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, a move that will put the state far ahead of the rest of the country in energy reform.
The regulations, which reward industries most effective in achieving the cuts by allowing them to sell credits to polluters, will create the largest market for carbon trading in the country. Ten states including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and the New England states are participating in a less extensive system known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which covers only electric utilities.
The California program, which will take effect in 2012, is designed to gradually reduce emissions to about 15 percent below 2012 levels by 2020. A state proposition that would have hobbled its enforcement was soundly defeated in November’s election. more>>
Courtesy: nytimes.com

Solar Power, Spain Shows The Way

Special

By Sonia Van Gilder Cooke

The plentiful sunshine of southern Spain is being harvested to generate electricity day and night. Driving through the baking landscape of Almería, it is no mystery why this Spanish province is home to a novel type of power station that generates electricity by harnessing the heat of the sun.

For over 20 years, the Plataforma Solar de Almería, sited on an almost rainless plain in the south of the province, has been at the forefront of research into solar thermal power generation. Helped by Spain's sunny climate and generous government subsidies, this has led to the construction of 10 solar thermal plants across the country in the last three years alone. Some 50 more are planned.
Within the centre, parabolic dishes lie strewn about like huge discarded toys, but the site is dominated by a giant white tower. Thousands of mirrors, known as heliostats, surround it, catching sunlight and focusing it onto a receiver on top of the tower. This concentrated sunlight produces superheated steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity. more>>

Soil Erosion Threatens To Leave Earth Hungry

Lead story

Arable land is turning to desert or to salt at an ever-faster rate, essening the hope that we can feed our booming population

By John Vidal

Within 40 years, there will be around 2 billion more people – another China plus India – on Earth. Food production will have to increase at least 40%, and most of that will have to be grown on the fertile soils that cover just 11% of the global land surface.
There is little new land that can be brought into production, and existing land is being lost and degraded. Annually, says the UN's food and agricultural organisation, 75bn tonnes of soil, the equivalent of nearly 10m hectares of arable land, is lost to erosion, waterlogging and salination; another 20m hectares is abandoned because its soil quality has been degraded.

The implications are terrifying. "The world is facing a serious threat of a major food shortage within the next 30 years. We are trying to grow more food on less land while facing increased costs for fertiliser, fuel and a short supply of water," says Professor Keith Goulding, head of sustainable oils at Rothamsted research station and president of the British society of soil science.
Lester Brown, president of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, says it takes between 200 and 1,000 years to renew 2.5cm of soil. "The thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet's land surface is the foundation of civilisation. This soil, typically 6 inches [15cm] or so deep, was formed over long stretches of geological time as new soil formation exceeded the natural rate of erosion.

eut sometime within the last century, as human and livestock populations expanded, soil erosion began to exceed new soil formation over large areas." Soil erosion is not a high priority among governments and farmers because it usually occurs so slowly that its cumulative effects take decades to become apparent, says David Pimentel, professor of agricultural sciences at Cornell University. "The removal of 1 millimetre of soil is so small that it goes undetected. But over a 25-year period the loss would be 25mm, which would take about 500 years to replace by natural processes."

Soil erosion also leads to lower crop productivity because of loss of water, organic matter and soil nutrients. A 50% reduction in soil organic matter has been found to reduce corn yields by 25%. Countries are losing soil at different rates. The US, which just avoided turning the Great Plains into a dust bowl in the 1930s, is still losing soil 18 times more rapidly than it is forming it. China's desertification may be the worst in the world, Brown ays. "Wang Tao, a leading desert scholar, reports that from 1950 to 1975 an average of 600 square miles [1,550 sq km] turned to desert each year. By century's end, nearly 1,400 square miles [3,600 sq km] were going to desert annually.

Over the last half-century, some 24,000 villages in northern and western China have been entirely or partly abandoned as a result of being overrun by drifting sand." The problem is highly visible in the grasslands of Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. In 1950, Africa was home to 227 million people and 273 million livestock. By 2007, there were 65 million people and 824 million livestock. more>>
Courtesy: guardian.co.uk

Uncertainty In Carbon Footprint Calculating

How much is that new computer server contributing to your company's carbon footprint? What about the laptop you bought your child for Christmas? As it turns out, answering those questions may be more difficult than you might think.
The results of a recent study by Carnegie Mellon's Christopher Weber found that the calculation of carbon footprints for products is often riddled with large uncertainties, particularly related to the use of electronic goods.
Weber, an adjunct professor in the university's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a research staff member at the Science & Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., found that a cache of variables from production and shipping to technology used in creating a product can alter the accuracy of carbon footprint labeling.
In particular, Weber and his team studied an IBM computer server. "We found that the use phase of the server accounted for an estimated 94 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with the product,'' said Weber. "This finding confirmed the importance of IBM's ongoing efforts to increase energy efficiency of its server products and the data centers where servers are used.''
However, while the study confirmed the importance of server energy efficiency on the product's overall carbon footprint, it also highlighted the large uncertainties in quantifying the server's carbon footprint. "Variability in the electricity mixes of different markets led to vastly different impacts of product use and greenhouse gas emissions in different geographic locations,'' said Weber. "Further complex systems requiring integrated circuits and several generations of technology increase the uncertainty of carbon footprint estimation for electronic goods,'' Weber said.
Still, globally more and more companies are seeking to estimate the carbon footprints of their products, and sometimes are going further into products' environmental impacts on water and pollution. This can be an even more difficult task to estimate.
"Given the increased interest in product carbon footprints, we need to continue to question the accuracy of carbon footprint techniques, especially for complex information technology products. At this point, carbon footprint estimation methodologies are not accurate enough to warrant putting footprint labels on most products,'' said Weber.
(Provided by Carnegie Mellon University)
Courtesy: physorg.com

'China: The Biggest Polluter'

By Jack Dini
In 2009, the US drop in carbon dioxide emissions was the largest since data collection began in 1949. They were 7 percent lower due to slow economic growth, a drop in energy demand of almost 5 percent, a drop in electricity generation of 4 percent, the use of more efficient technologies, and the addition of cleaner sources of energy (natural gas and renewable energy), Worldwide, emissions dropped 1.3 percent, mostly a matter of the economy. The last time carbon dioxide pollution dropped worldwide was in 1999.
So this is one plus of economic downturn. However, if you think the present economic downturn is bad, imagine what it would be like if we followed the suggestion of Professor Kevin Andersen of the UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research who submitted a paper in Cancun saying ‘rich’ nations such as the US should halt economic growth over the next 20 years while allowing developing nations such as China and India to continue their explosive growth and emissions growth. He suggests enforcement of economic growth restrictions in nations such as the US should be similar to World War II-style rationing.

Let’s take a brief look at China and India:

China’s carbon dioxide pollution jumped 8 percent from 2008 to 2009 and India’s went up over 6 percent. In 1990, the developed world produced 65 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide. Now it is less than 43 percent as those countries have cut about 10 percent of their emissions while the developing world has more than doubled their overall emissions.
China has long relied on coal to fuel its economic growth as about three-quarters of its electricity output is produced by coal-fired power stations. China totaled 46 percent of the world’s coal consumption in 2009, and amount 3.5 times more than the United States consumed and China became a net importer of coal when it imported 113 thousand more tons than it exported.
India’s coal consumption has been increasing at 6 percent per year since 2000 and its net coal imports in 2009 were 74,000 short tons, about two-thirds of China’s level. Although India is endowed with less coal reserves than China, with 7 percent of the world’s total, its growing dependence on coal consumption will make it a growing contributor to carbon dioxide emission. more>>
Courtesy: canadafreepress.com

Breakthrough At Cancun

Delegates from193 countries agreed at Cancun to cut carbon emissions and help developing countries tackle climate change as part of an "historic" deal to help stop global warming.
To rapturous applause, they signed up to the first truly global climate change agreement under the umbrella of the United Nations, following all-night talks in Cancun.
The negotiations, at a luxury resort in Mexico, repeatedly came close to collapsing as different countries tabled objections. Eventually only Bolivia refused to accept the deal, on the grounds that it would not be enough to end global warming, which it described as "tantamount to genocide".
But as exhausted delegates became increasingly impatient, the protests of the radical South American country were swept aside. Apparently losing her temper, Patricia Espinosa, the Mexican Foreign Secretary who presided over the talks, gavelled through the agreement in the early hours of the morning.
Her action was greeted with a standing ovation as relief swept through the conference hall after two weeks of tense negotiating. The Indian environment minister described her as "a goddess" for her achievement.
The UN has been attempting to achieve a deal on climate change for more than 15 years but found it impossible to get all members to agree. Last year in Copenhagen the talks came close to collapse, embarrassing world leaders who had jetted in to "save the planet". This time expectations were kept deliberately low for fear of killing off the UN process completely.
However the Mexican presidency managed to keep the process alive by making great efforts to include poor countries and by holding open meetings.
The deal falls far short of what some scientists and environmentalist claim is needed to stop catastrophic global warming. But it represents a significant step towards the eventual goal of many, which is a legally binding treaty aimed at preventing temperatures rising more than 2C (3.6F) this century.
For the first time all countries are committed to cutting carbon emissions under an official UN agreement. Rich nations also have to pay a total of £60 billion annually from 2020 into a "green fund" to help poor countries adapt to floods and droughts. The money will also help developing countries, including China and India, switch to renewable energy sources including wind and solar power.
It is not yet decided how the funds will be raised, although preferred options are a new tax on aviation or shipping, or increased carbon taxes more generally.
A new fund will be also set up to help poor countries protect rainforests. The controversial scheme, known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, also came close to collapse but was saved by an agreement to protect the rights of indigenous peoples, while also leaving the door open for big business to make money from carbon markets. more>>
Courtesy: telegraph.co.uk

Progress Toward Compromise on Climate Change

CANCUN, MEXICO - As they headed into a late-night session Friday night, delegates from 193 nations were making progress on a modest package of measures aimed at addressing climate change worldwide.
Mexico, which is hosting the U.N.-sponsored talks, appeared to break a logjam between the industrialized and developed world as it unveiled a proposal detailing how rich nations would help poor ones cope with global warming, as well as how major emerging economies could show they were cutting their own carbon output.
Observers from the environmental community applauded the outline, describing the compromise agreement as modest progress. "It puts us on a path so the process can keep moving forward," said David Waskow, climate change program director for Oxfam America, adding that although "it's not everything we want, we're pleased."
Mexico's proposal includes all the basic elements of what delegates had set out to achieve at the start of this year's talks, including the establishment of an international "Green Climate Fund" to help developing nations curb their emissions and respond to climate impacts; a framework for compensating rainforest nations for preserving standing forests; a new method for transferring clean-energy technology from industrialized nations to developing ones; an international registry of nations' emission-reduction commitments; and a process for monitoring the fulfillment of those pledges.
It appeared to satisfy key constituencies - including the United States, which had pressed hard for a measure to verify whether countries including China and India were making the voluntary emission cuts they have promised to do in the years ahead. But Bolivia continued to criticize the plan as insufficient and too tilted toward industrialized nations, and it remained unclear what final consensus would emerge from the negotiations.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa urged ministers here to build on the progress her government tried to capture in its proposal.
"We have to act with responsibility and resolve. Each of us will have to live with the consequences of our choices and of our actions," she said, triggering a standing ovation.
U.S. special climate envoy Todd Stern endorsed the proposal, saying it's adoption would "put the world forward on a more hopeful path towards a low emissions and sustainable future," sparking applause.
Even as negotiators worked doggedly to finalize a climate accord, new temperature readings released by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies show that 2010 now ranks as the hottest climate year on record.
An analysis of the combined land and ocean temperature readings from across the planet between Dec. 1, 2009, and Nov. 30 indicate that 2010 has surpassed what NASA scientists previously identified as the warmest climate year: 2005.

The accord is still a very long way from a legally binding international treaty, which could be years away, that would commit countries to steeply cut the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are warming the planet, destabilizing the weather, and contributing to catastrophic flooding and sea level rise.

Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, said in an interview there is a real disconnect between the science and current level of ambition by the world's policymakers.

While U.N. negotiators pledged last year in Copenhagen to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius, or by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial levels, the current level of emission cuts pledged by industrialized and developing countries will miss that goal. To hit that target, emissions will need to be cut 25 to 50 percent more.

"Of course, all of this is incredibly difficult. It is, in the end, about how we build the society of the future. We are in the middle of a paradigm shift," Hedegaard said.

Searching for metaphors to describe a complex topic riddled with jargon, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said global climate change is like a bus careering down a mountain road, with all aboard - all the countries of the world - wrestling to grab the steering wheel and hit the brakes. "It could crash," he warned. "But we want to avoid that."