By J C Suresh

TORNONTO | MEDELLIN, Colombia (IDN) – Deteriorating land degradation caused by human activities is menacing the well-being of the world’s 3.2 billion people, driving species to extinction, escalating climate change, triggering mass human migration and whetting conflict, according to an evidence-based assessment of land degradation and restoration.

The perils of land degradation, which cost the equivalent of about 10 percent of the global annual gross product in 2010 through the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, are spelt out for policymakers in the report produced by the 129-member Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).…

By Rita Joshi

BONN | NAIROBI (IDN) – Africa has generated a distinct message for the next round of international climate negotiations in Poland from December 3 to 14, 2018, which states: Action on climate change and sustainable development together is the way forward for Africa.

This top-line message emerged from deliberations during the Africa Climate Week in Nairobi. Some 800 delegates from 59 countries, including ministers and other high-level government and international officials, together with non-state delegates, offered their insights into the challenges and possible responses to climate change, and “harvested” those insights for consideration in the official international climate negotiation process.…

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – African countries are faced with the huge challenge of funding climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes to ensure sustainable development. Hard hit by the impacts of climate change manifested in persistent droughts, floods, storms, rising sea levels and other forms of disasters, they are linking actions on tackling climate change as key to attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A joint project of the 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is providing support for the purpose as part of a joint project with the Global Climate Change Alliance+ (GCCA) by way of offering technical assistance, promoting knowledge sharing, initiating regional dialogue, and facilitating regional partnership on climate change issues.…

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 100 member states of the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) have adopted an initial strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping and, as a matter of urgency, phasing them out.

The plan adopted by IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) during its 72nd session at the organization’s headquarters in London on April 13, includes a specific reference to “a pathway of CO2 emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals”.…

NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the globe, geologists, climate scientists, biologists, chemists, physicists are alarmed, and if there are uncertainties these are whether danger is in the offing very soon or in a few years; about whether our prospects are calamitous or only troublesome.

The lack of dread among the general public about the risks of irreversible damage is worrying. Politics and Science operate on different time lines and with different urgencies. The open question is if the governments of the world’s dozen or so wealthiest countries are up to organizing a workable, equitable and sustainable global response before it is too late.…

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

Following is a slightly modified version of an article, which first appeared on Other News, published by the writer, an eminent proponent of “information that markets eliminate”. You may read his articles and comments on Facebook @robertosavioutopia. He warns that while the world is heading for catastrophe, the governments are not taking their responsibility seriously.

ROME (IDN) – The European Union (EU) appears to have decided to scale down its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which was adopted by consensus by all the 195 member states of the UN Climate Convention and the EU, and has been ratified by 172.…