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Zeenatara Islam zeenatara@yahoo.com 11/04/03 11:12 AM |
KYOTO PROTOCOL & BANGLADESH Kyoto protocol-->Changing Market climate for emissions trading Ottawa- canada is in the process of ratifying Kyoto. On December 10, 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien ratified the Kyoto Protocol. This represents an important step forward in the fight against climate change. The Kyoto-Protocol to the United Nations Fraemwork Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was adopted in December 1997 in Kyoto, contains, for the first time, quantified, legally binding commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized countries. It also gives consideration to the function of biological systems as sources and sinks uf greenhouse gases. Offsetting emission reduction commitments against the sources and sinks of terrestrial ecosystems was a very contentious issue throughout the negotiations for the Kyoto-Protocol. Please give your feedback regarding Kyoto protocol in connection to Bangladesh? IF you have any good article about Kyoto protocol that relates to Bangladesh. Lets talk! |
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Mohammed Z Islam info@bangladesh2000.com 11/16/03 1:42 PM |
Regarding kyoto protocol and South asia CANSA members felt that neither the INC nor the UNICED processes were adequately addressing some of the priority questions of Southern countries, particularly the South Asian countries. Further, CANSA members recognized that there were some myths about population issues and the consumption questions were not highlighted sufficiently in the research. It was also noted that climate change will exacerbate climate related natural disasters and the poor would again be victims due to climatic instabilities. Thus the First Regional Meeting of CANSA identified the following three key research areas for focussing CANSA research activities. 1. Climate and Poverty The objective of the research is to establish the linkages between poverty and climate change. For both the government and the NGOs in South Asia, poverty alleviation is the central focus of their planning efforts. Poverty is already an unbearable state and is a major retarding force in development. Impacts of climate change are likely to affect those who are already most vulnerable. The issues arising out of the discussions and which may be included in the paper are : What is the contribution of the poor to the Global Warming problem at the levels of : individual household community country How much control do the poor have over their existing life style? To what extent do the poor have to adapt, migrate or to change agronomic practices as a consequence of impacts of GCC? What role do international forces play in perpetuating and directing life-style of the poor through trade, aid or determining research agenda? While it has been argued that it is difficult to identify winners or losers of climate change at a conceptual level, in reality, the poorest are the least able to bear the burden of change and consequently, the greatest losers. For example, the impact of cyclone of similar intensity killed over 100,000 people in Bangladesh while the casualty in the Mississippi delta was less than one hundred. The relative impacts on the country's economy are qualitatively different. The ability of the poor to bounce back is limited and their existing vulnerability is accentuated by climate change related impacts. Dynamics of poverty is independent of climate, but exacerbated by climate change. |
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Zahid Hassan 12/08/03 10:54 PM |
Climate change connect all of us Lets look into four different general aspects of climate change and think how we can help or contribute. 1.changing our climate The sun's heat is the source of energy for life on earth. Although some heat radiating from the sun is reflected back out of the earth's atmosphere, much is absorbed by heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides. The concentration of these "greenhouse gases" is increasing because of human activity and the result is the "enhanced greenhouse effect". When burned for fuel, the carbon stored in fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal is released in the form of carbon dioxide. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 30%. If emissions continue at today's rate, concentrations will double by the middle of the next century. 2.greenhouse gas Naturally occurring greenhouse gases (such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) keep the Earth warm enough to support life. Scientific studies show that a variety of human activities release greenhouse gases. These include the burning of fossil fuels for electrical energy, heat and transportation. By increasing the concentration of present greenhouse gases and by adding new ones like CFCs, humankind is capable of raising the average global temperature. 3.individual emissions Most carbon emissions, in fact 75 percent, come from industrial, commercial and agricultural sources. These are called "common emissions" because no single individual is responsible for them. Canadians individually account for 25 percent of emissions. These "individual emissions" are what you directly influence by your personal transportation choices, recreational interests and energy use in the home. Of course, the choices you're able to make are also affected by the standards and regulations set by governments and the commitment of industry to use energy-efficient technology. 4.related environmental problems Our environment is composed of interdependent parts. In tackling climate change, you're also making an important contribution to solving other environmental problems. By taking a bus or bike, or buying more efficient appliances and cars, you not only reduce carbon emissions, but you also reduce toxic air pollutants and acid precipitation - which damage the health of humans, crops, forests and water. If you live in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island, reducing your electricity consumption also helps reduce the amount of nuclear waste generated each year in Canada. Even electricity generated by hydro dams can cause significant environmental damage by radically altering local ecosystems. By redirecting your biodegradable waste from the garbage to the compost, you not only reduce methane emissions (another significant greenhouse gas), you also enrich your soil - eliminating the need for chemical fertilizers - and reduce the land demands of your local landfill. |
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Monica Vargas monicavargas@routers.com 7/23/04 4:20 PM |
Peru's Snowy Peaks May Vanish as Planet Heat Up LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - The snow atop Pastoruri, one of the Andes most beautiful peaks and a big draw for mountaineers and skiers, could disappear along with many of Peru's glaciers in the next several years because of global warming, experts say. At 17,000 feet in the northern Andes, the glacier which covers famed Pastoruri has shrunk at a rate of 62 feet every year since 1980. Today it covers a surface area of 0.7 square miles, about 25 percent less than a quarter of a century ago. Pastoruri is one of 18 glacier-capped mountains in Peru suffering the effects of climate change, according Peru's National Environment Council, CONAM. "If climatic conditions remain as they are, all the glaciers (in Peru) below 18,000 feet will disappear by around 2015," CONAM's President Patricia Iturregui told Reuters in an interview. Pastoruri is a major tourist attraction near the city of Huaraz, 230 miles northeast of Lima, and is the country's most popular mountain for skiing. Peru has the most tropical glaciers in Latin America and has already lost 20 percent of the 1,615 miles of glaciers running through its central and southern Andes in the past 30 years, according to CONAM. Climate change, caused by greenhouses gases such as carbon dioxide, is considered one of the biggest longer term threats to mankind and could bring higher sea levels, devastating floods and droughts. The world has been heating up in the past 50 years and the Earth is at its hottest in 10,000 years, scientists say. "There are 18 glacial mountains in Peru and they are all experiencing melting," Iturregui said. The mountains' elevation will not change much when the glaciers disappear because the ice on their tops is not very thick, according to Mario Aguirre, head of the glacier study unit at the government's National Institute for Natural Resources (INRENA). MELTWATER THREAT "There are already predictions that show that we will have too much water in the future, increasing the risk of disasters but also causing droughts (in other areas)," Iturregui said. Peru is particularly vulnerable to climate change because some 70 percent its energy comes from hydroelectric plants, supplied mainly by meltwater from Andean glaciers. The meltwater is also used for agriculture and industry and to supply Peru's desert coast, home to more than half the country's population. But fast-melting Andean glaciers are also a hazard, causing catastrophes such as avalanches and floods. Thirty-five climbers died in Peru's Andes in the past five years after ice slabs and snow broke away from mountainsides due to melting caused by climate change, experts said. In a major catastrophe in 1970, some 25,000 people were killed when a mudslide caused by melting ice submerged the town of Yungay in the central Andes. More recently in 1998, a mud slide caused by melting ice at the Salcantay peak in southern Peru destroyed a hydroelectric plant near Peru's fabled Inca citadel, Machu Picchu. TOURIST RISK According to a study by Britain's East Anglia University, Peru is the country most at risk to global warming after Honduras and Bangladesh because of the proximity of its towns to glaciers and a lack of disaster prevention measures. Many tourist towns have sprung up at the base of the stretch of peaks known as the Cordillera Blanca and the Huayhuash in Peru's central Andes in recent years to take advantage of the growing interest in mountaineering and skiing. The mountaineering trend is also worsening the effects of global warming on the glaciers as thousands of climbers flock to the peaks, while locals collect snow from mountain slopes for ice, further eroding them, the government says. "The melting (of the Pastoruri glacier) has been accelerated by man's presence, by littering, by hikers and by snow collection for ice," Aguirre of INRENA said. Peru's cash-strapped government admits it does not have the funds to plan a major strategy against catastrophes or improve its water management overnight. In the short term, the government is also unlikely to warn climbers away from Peru or move tourist towns for fear of damaging its fast-growing tourism industry, an important earner of foreign exchange. But local authorities are evaluating whether to restrict visitor numbers to Pastoruri and CONAM says it is measuring water levels in glacial meltwater lakes in the Andes to be able to sound the alarm early if lakes threaten to spill over and cause mudslides. |