Adaptation and Loss and Damage Update: Regions Step up DRR Efforts and Resilience to El Niño, Human Mobility, Climate Change and Development Nexus Explored

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30 June 2016: As May 2016 became the 13th consecutive month to break the global temperature records, the world's regions' need to adapt to the changing climate grew stronger. 

 

In 2015-2016, the periodic warming of the central to Eastern tropical Pacific, known as 'El Niño,' was the strongest since 1997-1998, causing some regions to receive more rain, and others to receive no precipitation. These changes impacted agriculture, food security and nutrition among the affected populations. During the past few weeks, the world's regions, States and sectors have redoubled adaptation efforts, focusing on building resilience and managing disaster risks. The news reported in this Update also demonstrate that the role of cooperation, innovation and knowledge dissemination in advancing climate change adaptation efforts cannot be underestimated.

 

With health, gender, indigenous knowledge and climate migration featuring prominently among the recent weeks' adaptation and loss and damage-related developments, the initiatives reported in this update contribute to a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and accompanying targets, including 13 (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts), 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture), 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) and target 10.7 on migration and mobility, including the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.

 

Regions Face El Niño Impacts, Droughts, Floods

 

The statement released by the 43rd Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF 43), convened by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Naivasha, Kenya, from 30-31 May 2016, indicates that there is an increased likelihood of La Niña – El Niño's counterpart associated with cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the central and Eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – developing in the second half of 2016 that will affect the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) region. Floods are also more likely during the rainfall peak months of August and September in Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan. [Statement from GHACOF 43] [IGAD Press Release] [WMO Press Release on GHA]

 

To better understand risks and assess impacts from the 2015-2016 El Niño, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) conducted a 'Regional Consultative Workshop on El Niño in Asia-Pacific' in Bangkok, Thailand, from 7-9 June 2016. Participants from over 12 countries affected by El Niño received training on a standardized methodology to interpret, translate and communicate El Niño-associated risks in a timely manner. [Workshop Concept Note] [Workshop Programme] [ESCAP Workshop Webpage] [ESCAP Press Release]

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) convened a high-level meeting in Rome, Italy, on 30 June 2016, which highlighted the need for long-term action to address El Niño impacts in Central America's 'Dry Corridor,' including by building resilience for food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable populations in the countries affected by the phenomenon.

 

'Dry Corridor' refers to a group of ecosystems in the dry tropical forests region in Central America extending from the lowlands of the Pacific coastal area to most of central pre-mountain region of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and parts of Costa Rica and Panama. Subject to climate risks such as recurrent droughts, excessive rains and severe flooding, 'Dry Corridor' recently experienced one of the worst droughts in decades.

 

In the midst of the extreme drought affecting Dry Corridor, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) managing the recently expanded Panama Canal has been promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) through sustainable use of water. [UN Press Release] [FAO Calendar] [UNISDR Press Release] [Panama Canal Website]

 

Also in relation to droughts in Central America, FAO released a report titled 'Drought characteristics and management in the Caribbean,' which calls for countries in the region to enhance their capabilities to deal with more frequent and intense droughts brought about by climate change. The report discusses drought characteristics and management in the Caribbean, identifies national and regional agencies involved in drought management, and reviews information on their work at national and regional levels. It recognizes the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to seasonal droughts and outlines the socioeconomic impacts of droughts on water resources, fisheries, tourism, hydropower and communities' coping capacity. [Drought Characteristics and Management in the Caribbean] [FAO Press Release] [UN Press Release]

 

Climate change impacts on the poor in coastal Bangladesh were the focus of a World Bank Policy Research Talk by Susmita Dasgupta, Lead Environmental Economist, World Bank. Dasgupta highlighted heightened cyclonic inundation, rising river salinity and increased soil salinity among the current and growing risks with severe consequences for the poor. “Climate change is going to create severe poverty traps,” she noted. “Unless we address the climate change problem now, sustainable poverty reduction will remain a dream.” [World Bank Feature Story] More

 

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Canada, US, Mexico Forge North American Climate, Clean Energy and Environment Partnership

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29 June 2016: The leaders of Canada, the US and Mexico have released a joint statement on a 'North American Climate, Clean

Energy and Environment Partnership,' which aims to ensure a “competitive, low-carbon and sustainable” North America and includes the goal of achieving 50% clean power generation by 2025. During the North American Leaders' Summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto agreed to align climate and energy policies in order to protect human health and help "level the playing field for our businesses, households, and workers."

 

On advancing clean and secure power, the leaders indicate in their joint statement that the 50% clean power generation by 2025 goal will be achieved through, inter alia: scaling up clean energy through aggressive domestic initiatives and policies; undertaking a joint study on the opportunities and impacts of adding more renewables to the power grid; enhancing trilateral collaboration on greening government initiatives; strengthening and aligning efficiency standards; and building on North American leadership in international fora such as Mission Innovation to accelerate clean energy innovation.

 

On short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), Mexico will join Canada and the US in committing to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40-45% by 2025. The three countries will also collaborate to reduce black carbon emissions, promote alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and commit to adopt a Montreal Protocol HFC phase-down amendment in 2016.

 

On promoting clean and efficient transportation, the joint statement indicates that the leaders commit to, inter alia: accelerate clean vehicle deployment in government fleets; work with industry to encourage the adoption of clean vehicles; convene industry leaders and others by spring 2017 to collaborate on a clean North American automotive sector; reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from light- and heavy-duty vehicles; and encourage greener freight transportation by expanding the SmartWay programme to Mexico.

 

The leaders further: urge the adoption in 2016 of the market-based measure proposed through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to allow for carbon-neutral growth from international civil aviation from 2020; commit to reduce emissions from maritime shipping; indicate they will continue working towards implementing a North American Emission Control Area that includes Mexico; agree to collaborate with indigenous communities to incorporate traditional knowledge in decision making; and recognize a gender-responsive approach to climate action and sustainable development.

 

The leaders commit to: join the Paris Agreement in 2016; support implementation of the Paris Agreement's transparency and carbon markets-related provisions; phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025; promote universal energy access; work together to address energy security and integration, clean energy investment, and regional energy cooperation in the Caribbean and Central America; and align approaches to account for the social cost of carbon and other GHG emissions when assessing benefits of emissions-reducing policies.

 

The three leaders met in Ottawa, Canada, on 29 June 2016. [US Government Statement] [US Government Blog on Summit] [Government of Canada Statement] [Government of Canada Press Release] More

 

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The Climate…In Your Backyard

Dr. James Hansen

  The Open Mind, Hosted by Alexander Heffner <http://www.thirteen.org/openmind/science/the-climate-in-your-backyard/5468/>   I’m Alexander Heffner your host on The Open Mind. Joining me today is perhaps the world’s most famous climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, Director of Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Formerly the leader of NASA’s Space Studies, Hansen recently returned from the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Conference, where he pitched Warren Buffett and fellow investors on a carbon fee. His discussion, “Energy and Climate Change: How justice can be achieved for young people,” focused on the inter generational imperative of climate change and the harm climate disruption poses to us, Millennials and their children and grandchildren. Hansen’s newest study, alongside his European counterparts, projects more melted ice sheets, rising sea levels, and superstorms. As we have explored here on this program, the consensus of modeling forecasts, a dangerous doom and gloom, that puts in jeopardy the habitability of the planet, just decades from now. I want to welcome Jim, James, Dr. Hansen. Thank you for being here today.   HANSEN: Thank you for having me.     HEFFNER: Now, we were talking off camera. And in, in The Guardian, you said, in response to the Paris talks, “It’s really a fraud, a fake.” And I said, uh, well… More

Global Extreme Weather in June 2016

Understanding Climate Change.  As air temperatures get hotter more evaporation takes place leading to greater precipitation and flooding.

Economic and Social Sustainability of the Cayman Islands

The next four decades are going to be extremely challenging in many ways. They will be challenging not only economically and socially, these islands will also be challenged by a changing climate, exposing us to much higher levels of risk, as well as exposed politically to violent winds of change. There are also the issues of energy security and sea level rise that will have to be addressed .   The leadership of these islands have time and again proved themselves incapable of visualizing and planning for the future, and the concomitant issues that we are going to faced with in the medium and long-term. I often feel overwhelmed by complacency, given that the only forward thinking runs in four year cycles and is politically driven.  The Cayman Islands have never liked planning and as I often repeat "failing to plan is planning to fail". https://youtu.be/3DfzrrdPXQU      

Has veteran climate scientist James Hansen foretold the ‘loss of all coastal cities’ with latest study?

Has veteran climate scientist James Hansen foretold the ‘loss of all coastal cities’ with latest study?

Firstly, Hansen says they may have uncovered a mechanism in the Earth’s climate system not previously understood that could point to a much more rapid rise in sea levels. When the Earth’s ice sheets melt, they place a freshwater lens over neighboring oceans. This lens, argues Hansen, causes the ocean to retain extra heat, which then goes to melting the underside of large ice sheets that fringe the ocean, causing them to add more freshwater to the lens (this is what’s known as a “positive feedback” and is not to be confused with the sort of positive feedback you may have got at school for that cracking fifth grade science assignment). Secondly, according to the paper, all this added water could first slow and then shut down two key ocean currents – and Hansen points to two unusually cold blobs of ocean water off Greenland and off Antarctica as evidence that this process may already be starting. If these ocean conveyors were to be impacted, this could create much greater temperature differences between the tropics and the north Atlantic, driving “super storms stronger than any in modern times”, he argues.   “All hell will break loose in the North Atlantic and neighbouring lands,” he says in a video summary. More

 

Environmental Degradation Leading Cause of Deaths Globally, Says UN Report

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Degradation Leading Cause of Deaths Globally, Says UN Report

 

 

 

23 May 2016: Environmental degradation and pollution cause almost a quarter of all deaths, up to 234 times as many premature deaths as occur in conflicts annually and the deaths of more than 25% of all children under the age of five, according to a UN report released to coincide with the second session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-2). The report, titled ‘Healthy Environment, Healthy People,' emphasizes the importance of a healthy environment to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and addresses dangers posed by air pollution, chemicals, climate change and other issues linking environmental quality to health. 

 

The report finds that in 2012, an estimated 12.6 million deaths were attributable to deteriorating environment conditions, with the highest proportion occurring in Southeast Asia and in the Western Pacific, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa. Deaths related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are rising in all regions.

 

In a discussion on what is impacting or driving such trends, the report points to ecosystem disruption, climate change, inequality, unplanned urbanization, unhealthy and wasteful lifestyles, and unsustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns. The publication highlights, in particular, that climate change is exacerbating the scale and intensity of environment-related health risks, with the WHO estimating that 250,000 additional deaths could occur annually between 2030 and 2050 from climate-induced malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.

 

The report also explains that: air pollution kills seven million people annually, with 4.3 million of those deaths from household air pollution; lack of access to clean water and sanitation results in 842,000 deaths annually from diseases that cause diarrhea, which are the third leading cause of deaths of children younger than five; approximately 107,000 people die annually from asbestos exposure, and 654,000 died from lead exposure in 2010; and natural disasters have led to 606,000 deaths since 1995.

 

The report then goes on to illustrate how investing in a healthy environment can bring multiple benefits. For example, by phasing out nearly 100 ozone-depleting substances (ODS) up to two million cases of skin cancer and millions of eye cataracts may be prevented each year. In addition, eliminating lead in gasoline has prevented an estimated one million premature deaths per year, and reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon and methane, could reduce global warming by 0.5°C by mid-century, and save 2.4 million lives a year by 2030.

 

To achieve these benefits, the report recommends: detoxification and removing harmful substances from and/or mitigating their impact on the environment; decarbonization and increased use of renewables; decoupling resource use and changing lifestyles; and enhancing ecosystem resilience and protecting natural systems, including protecting and conserving genetic diversity and terrestrial, coastal and marine biodiversity; strengthening ecosystem restoration; and reducing pressures from livestock production and logging on natural ecosystems. [Publication: Healthy Environment, Healthy People] [UNEP Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage of UNEA-2]

 

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