By Darryl D’Monte

COPENHAGEN  (IPS/TerraViva) – People living in the Himalayan region are increasingly confronted by rising temperatures and glaciers melting at an unprecedented rate, threatening their very survival. This much the world already knows.

Yet, experts say, there is still no accurate and reliable data on the Himalayan glaciers and many aspects of its ecosystem, which should facilitate determining mitigation measures addressing current and future impacts of climate change on the Himalayas.

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Copenhagen demonstrators and police. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi*

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – “It’s clear now – we’re not getting a binding deal at the end of tomorrow,” said the president of Friends of the Earth-United States, Erich Pica.

Industrialised nations are burying their heads in the sand and poor countries seem set to be forced to continue bearing the burden of global warming. The demonstrations, flyers, news media and all kinds of pressure to get the Western countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and compensate poor countries with financial resources and technology seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Continue Reading

Crédito: Fabricio Vanden Broeck

Por Mario Osava

RÍO DE JANEIRO (IPS/TerraViva)  “El archipiélago de Japón se hundirá dentro de un año”. El anuncio oficial se produjo tras una violenta erupción del monte Fuji, y luego se multiplicaron los terremotos por todo el país, desafiando al mundo a acoger a 110 millones de personas en pocos meses.

Una furiosa batalla diplomática logró una dubitativa solidaridad para evacuar a 65 millones de japoneses. Veinte millones se hundieron con las islas, muchos de ellos voluntariamente, por amor a la Patria o para ceder lugar en la fuga a los más jóvenes. Los demás, se supone, murieron antes, víctimas de temblores, tsunamis y otros cataclismos. Continue Reading

Claudius

By Claudia Ciobanu

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – An internal note from the UN Secretariat dated December 15 states that the current emission reduction pledges made by Annex 1 countries and the voluntary actions and policy goals announced by non-Annex 1 states “could lead to concentrations equal or above 550 ppm with the related temperature raise around 3 degrees.”

The UN note was leaked to some media and NGOs on Thursday evening, further emphasising the deadlock in negotiations. Continue Reading

Adriana Marquisio and Maude Barlow at the Klimaforum09. Credit:Stephen Leahy/IPS

Stephen Leahy* – Tierramérica

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Similar market-based solutions will be used to “solve” the growing water crisis, warned experts at the Klimaforum09, a parallel meeting a few kilometres away from the official COP15 talks. Continue Reading

Activists inside the Bella Centre on Dec. 16, 2009. Credit: A. Libisch/TerraViva

By Stephen Leahy

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Canada bears a large share of responsibility for any failure to make a breakthrough in reducing greenhouse gas emissions here in Copenhagen, say participants and civil society activists.

Canada is the only country to ignore its international obligations under the previous Kyoto climate treaty. It has blocked all attempts to get a new treaty to significantly cut carbon emissions, the activists and delegates from other countries charge.

“Canada is the dinosaur at these talks,” said Canadian David Cadman, president of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, an international association of local governments that hosted this week’s Mayor’s Conference on climate change here. Continue Reading

Activistas reunidos en el Klimaforum. Crédito: Daniela Estrada/IPS

Por Daniela Estrada

COPENHAGUE (IPS/TerraViva) Antes de develarse el resultado de la COP-15, organizaciones sociales latinoamericanas discutieron sus estrategias de cara a la próxima cumbre climática, que se celebrará en México en 2010.

“El primer desafío es profundizar, expandir, ampliar, fortalecer nuestra capacidad y nuestras articulaciones en la región. En estos momentos hay distintos movimientos, distintas redes, y nuestro reto es articular esos esfuerzos”, dijo TerraViva Beverly Keene, coordinadora internacional de Jubileo Sur. Continue Reading

Nancy Pelosi with colleagues Ed Markey (left) and Steny Hoyer. Credit: Raúl Pierri/IPS

Raúl Pierri

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – With only one day to go to the end of the climate change talks and no agreement in sight, it looks like it will ultimately be up to national legislators to effectively implement whatever agreement is forged here in the Danish capital.

That is the view taken at the COP15 by representatives of GLOBE (Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment) International. Continue Reading

Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development Erik Solheim. Credit: Rajiv Fernando/IPS

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Norway is the world’s third largest donor in terms of development aid as a percentage of GDP. Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development Erik Solheim spoke to IPS about the initiatives promoted by his country on environmental protection and its role during the Copenhagen negotiations.

Like most participants in the CoP15, Solheim declared himself not very optimistic about the fate of the talks, speaking to TerraViva on Thursday night, with just one day of negotiations remaining. Continue Reading

Nancy Pelosi junto a sus colegas y correligionarios Ed Markey (izquierda) y Steny Hoyer. Crédito Raúl Pierri/IPS

Por Raúl Pierri

COPENHAGUE (IPS/TerraViva) Todavía no hay acuerdo en la COP-15, pero en caso de que se geste uno en la capital danesa, serán los parlamentos nacionales los que tendrán la responsabilidad última de hacerlo efectivo.

Así lo subrayaron en la COP-15 (15 Conferencia de las Partes de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático) representantes de la Organización Global de Legisladores para el Equilibrio Ambiental (Globe). Continue Reading

La agropecuaria será el sector más afectado por el calentamiento. Crédito: Sociedad de Criadores de Hereford del Uruguay

Por Daniela Estrada – Tierramérica *

COPENHAGUE (Tierramérica) América Latina debería aprovechar el tiempo de que dispone para buscar un nuevo modelo de producción, consumo y distribución adaptado a las realidades del cambio climático. Pero sin un acuerdo mundial para reducir las emisiones contaminantes, para 2100 podría perder casi 137 por ciento de su producto interno bruto (PIB).

Esa es la conclusión del estudio “La economía del cambio climático en América Latina y el Caribe”, presentado el miércoles por la Cepal en la COP-15, que se desarrolla hasta este viernes en la capital danesa. Continue Reading

Imagen del libro "A Vulnerabilidade do Ser", cortesía de Claudia Andujar

Por Marina Barbosa *

COPENHAGUE (Tierramérica) En la mitología de los baniwas, yanomamis y  desanas, etnias que habitan el noroeste del estado brasileño de Amazonas fronterizo con Colombia y Venezuela, se encuentran explicaciones y advertencias sobre el cambio climático.

Según André  Baniwa, viceintendente del municipio de São Gabriel da Cachoeira, los efectos del clima ya fueron previstos por hombres de grandes poderes. Continue Reading

Kumi Naidoo. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

Claudia Ciobanu interviews Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace International

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) “Climate change is an opportunity to deal with all the issues of equity and justice that we have been struggling for all along,” said Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International in an interview with IPS on Thursday in Copenhagen.

“And perhaps this is why there is such resistance from rich countries: they know that if they do the right thing in Copenhagen, they have to begin to share economic power and to have a more equitable trading system because all of those things have to follow, otherwise you cannot deal with climate change.” Continue Reading

An activist from Arabs Against Oil. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) – In outlining a position on climate change, the League of Arab States must somehow account for looming problems like water stress – a problem found from Morocco in the west to the Gulf states in the east – and the importance of oil to the economies of many of the league’s members.

Dr Emad Adly, in Copenhagen representing the Arab Network for Environment and Development, says there was a time when countries like Saudi Arabia wouldn’t listen to even a mention of worldwide emissions reductions, for fear it would affect revenues from the sale of fossil fuels. Continue Reading