Climate Action

Image credit: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Two Minutes to Midnight on Doomsday Clock

By the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Citing growing nuclear risks and unchecked climate dangers, the iconic Doomsday Clock is now 30 seconds closer to midnight, the closest to the symbolic point of annihilation that the Clock has been since 1953 at the height of the Cold War.

The decision announced on January 25 to move the Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight was made by the 'Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board in consultation with the Board of Sponsors, which includes 15 Nobel Laureates.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 25 January 2018

Photo: Astro-Lab (Arctic Stratospheric Ozon Observatory) near Eureka Weather Station (Nunavut, Canada). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists Seek Trudeau's Backing for Canada as a Global Leader in Climate Research

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – In the face of U.S. President Donald Trump claiming that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive," international scientists have lauded Canada's achievements in the field, and called for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to re-invest in climate science.

In an open letter to him, released in Ottawa on January 22, hundreds of prominent international scientists have raised concern that a crisis is looming for Canadian climate and atmospheric research following the government’s failure to renew or replace the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) program which funded seven research networks.

: J C Suresh; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 24 January 2018

Photo: Leonardo Boff. Credit: onepeterfive.com/

The Earth’s Future Will Not Come from Heaven

Viewpoint by Leonardo Boff

The author is a Brazilian liberation theologian, author and campaigner for the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. He is a professor of theology, ethics and philosophy at universities all over the world and a member of the Earth Charter Commission. This article is a slightly modified version of an article that first appeared in Other News.

RIO DE JANEIRO (IDN) – Most readers will find it difficult to accept what I am going to express here. Even though it is based on the best scientific minds that have been studying the universe, for almost a century the situation of planet Earth and her eventual collapse – or qualitative leap to another level of reality – has not penetrated into either the collective consciousness or the major academic centres.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 20 January 2018

Planet Earth Suffers as Politics Rearranges the Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and his articles and comments can be read 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.

When Europe’s 28 Environment Ministers met in Brussels on December 20, to discuss the Commission's plan for reducing emissions, to comply with the Paris Agreement, they decided, with some resistance from Denmark and Portugal, to follow the direction taken by President Donald Trump who has meanwhile withdrawn from the Paris Agreement to privilege American interests – and this without any attention to the planet.

: Roberto Savio; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 28 December 2017

Photo: Global Landscapes Forum. Credit: Pilar Valbuena

The Price of Forest Degradation and Biodiversity Loss for Livelihoods

By Fabíola Ortiz

BONN (IDN) – Forest degradation and biodiversity loss carry a very heavy price for climate and people’s livelihoods. Restoring forests matters when it comes to growing resilience to climate variation and securing a healthy environment for future generations. This was the main message delivered by experts and community leaders who met in Bonn (December 19-20, 2017) to discuss a more sustainable path to conservation.

“We should stop seeing indigenous peoples, natural resources and forests as a problem. We could see them as a solution,” said Robert Nasi, director general of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) which hosted the Global Landscapes Forum, a large science-based platform on sustainable land use.

: Fabiola Ortiz; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 22 December 2017

Photo: Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The tropical rainforests of South America contain the largest diversity of species on Earth, including some that have evolved within the past few hundred thousand years. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists Urge Radical Change in 'Stewardship of the Earth'

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – A group of eminent scientists has issued a terse warning that to prevent widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss, humanity must practice a more environmentally sustainable alternative to business as usual. "Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out," they caution, backed by 15,364 scientist signatories from 184 countries.

In 'A Second Notice' to Humanity, published in the latest issue of BioScience, William J. Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M. Newsome, Mauro Galetti Mohammed Alamgir, Eileen Crist, Mahmoud I. Mahmoud, and William F. Laurance, write: "This prescription was well articulated by the world's leading scientists 25 years ago, but in most respects, we have not heeded their warning."

: J C Suresh; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 17 December 2017

Photo: In the third row from top, French President Macron (right) and UN Secretary-General Guterres (on his right) listen to a presentation at the One Planet Summit. Credit: A.D. McKenzie.

One Planet Summit Spotlights Funding to Fight Climate Change

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – Financing is key in the fight against climate change, said delegate after delegate at the One Planet Summit in Paris December 12, and this meeting was all about the money: where to invest it and where not.

The World Bank Group announced that it would not be financing upstream oil and gas after 2019, except for certain projects in the “poorest countries”, where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for those in need.

“The policy will change and change dramatically,” said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

: A.D. McKenzie; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 13 December 2017

Photo: Delegates gather for the 3rd UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi. Credit: UN Environment.

UN Environment Assembly Galvanises Nations to Act on Taming Pollution

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Amid a cacophony of voices, interests and expectations, the third high level United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), held in Nairobi from December 4-6, had a common denominator – a sense of strong desire and willingness among delegations for action to ensure a pollution-free world.

Some walked the talk. Indeed, in a bid to support the war against pollution, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland committed 35 million dollars to the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), a partnership of five UN agencies to support countries in greening their economies and tackling environmental challenges, while promoting better jobs and stable economic growth.

: Justus Wanzala; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 08 December 2017

Photo: Monks and nuns taking a Buddhist Volunteer Spirit for Communication training course at the BDP’s Training Center, Wat Nakhoun Noi, Nasaythong District, Vientiane Credit: Toung Eh Synuanchanh.

Village Buddhist Monks in Laos Initiate Environmentally-Aware Development

By Toung Eh Synuanchanh

This article is the 19th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BEUNGSANTHUENG, Laos (IDN) – A quiet revolution is taking shape in rural Laos, where environmentally-conscious village Buddhist monks are teaching people morality and meditation to spearhead a movement mobilising the people to economically develop their communities for living in harmony with nature rather than destroying it in the name of development.

At the Ban Beungsanthueng community, in Nongbok District in Khammouane Province of Laos, about 400 km south of the capital Vientiane, monks educate the villagers in Sila (Buddhist morality) and the way to live a good life (Right Livelihood), while protecting the environment. In this nominally communist country, the monks explain the linkage between humans and nature to villagers, and its importance to their livelihoods and well-being.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 December 2017

Climate Change Hopes Vanish into Thin Air

By Andrea Vento*

ROME (IDN) – The great hopes for a historical understanding to contain global warming in the wake of the proclamations of world leaders prior to the recent UN climate change conference in Bonn have evaporated.

The ‘climate’ of confidence surrounding the conference – held in Bonn from November 6 to 17, officially known as the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) and presided over by Fiji – soon disappeared into thin air as environmental experts looked at what, if anything, had been achieved.

Criticism has centred on the failure to establish either a "compliance control committee" or a "sanctioning mechanism" against countries which do not respect the commitments they have entered into.